Posts by Cybernaught

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Hey SWAT,


    Sorry I was MIA there for a bit. Real World stuff. Anyway, I went and looked at the server.dll file you mentioned and found the "086AEC" Offset, but wasn't sure where to put the edit value you recommended (start of the line {00}?)


    This actually brings up another issue: I've been doing my mod testing in SP rather than MP, which Iknow I'm not supposed to do, but I have never been able to get FLServer to work right for some reason. It starts, and let's me specify a name/port for my server, but then it just says, "....LOADING..." in the Status window, and never changes. I tried going to FL MP after getting that far, but no server option appears.


    Since the edit you are recommending is to the server.dll file, does that mean that it will only affect the game while in MP?

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Well, thanks for answering half of my question (sort of)... You do understand that I'm asking these questions in order to broaden my understanding of how the game engine works, right? Such a short and uninformative answer doesn't really help me with that quest for knowledge. I'm guessing at this point that you are either uninterested in providing a more thorough explanation, or that you are just very busy with other things, both of which I can respect. Is there anyone else you could recommend who knows the game well enough to provide me with detailed answers I'm looking for? I really hate the thought that I'm imposing on you so much.


    UPDATE: I managed to discover a reference to the term, "gf_neutronstar" in the effects.ini file in the DATA/FX Folder. I changed the "effect_type =" entry in effects.ini from EFT_EQUIP_ATTACHED, to EFT_EQUIP_ATTACHED_INSANELY_LARGE, and now my neutron star effect begins to become visible at a range of 23K from my ship, and fully visible at 20K. While this is a definite improvement, it still does not allow me to see the effect as I want it to be. I then went and looked in the effect_types.ini file at the entries for EFT_EQUIP_ATTACHED*, and saw that there are two parameters that change depending on which one you choose: "radius =", and "pbubble =". The radius values for each type are 100, 1000, & 5000 respectively, while the pbubble values are (500, 2000), (3000, 7500), & (10000, 20000) respectively. I've attempted to alter these values to higher numbers (i.e. radius=50000; pbubble=80000, 160000), but doing so doesn't change the range at which the effect becomes visible in-game (still ~20K).
    At this point, I can think of only three possible reasons why nothing happens when the values are changed: 1) 20K represents a hard-coded limitation of the FL game engine on effects like gf_neutronstar (may require a hex edit to expand?) 2) There are only certain values that these arguments can accept as legitimate, and I haven't stumbled upon one of these yet, or 3) There are other parameters in other .ini files that need to be changed along with the changes I've described above before it will produce a change in the rendering distance of the effect.
    Following option #3, I noticed that these EFT_EQUIP_ATTACHED* entries each includes the parameter: "lod_type = EFT_LOD_LARGE", but I couldn't find an .ini file named "lod_type(s)". What I did find is that the first six entries in the effects.ini file are of Type "EffectLOD", so presuming that this is what "lod_type" is referring to, I went and looked at the parameters for EffectLOD entry #3 which includes the parameter: "type = lod_type_large" and found the following three sub-entries: "max_lod_screen_size = 100", "min_lod_screen_size = 7", & "min_screen_size = 5". I tried changing these values to higher numbers (i.e. 1000, 500, 100 respectively), but again, no change in-game was observed, and this remained the case whether I used default, or modified values in the radius & pbubble entries in EFT_EQUIP_ATTACHED_INSANELY_LARGE. I also went and changed the LODRanges and render_distance values in the SolarArch.ini entry for neutron_star back to really high numbers, but this didn't affect the outcome either.


    So at this point, I feel that I've exhausted all avenues of troubleshooting this issue that I can think of. Is there anything else you can think of that I may have overlooked, or am I truly at "wit's end" on this?

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Dang. Oh, well, I guess this project is gonna have to be shelved for the time being.


    In case your still up for training a newb, can you tell me what the various values used with the "visit =" parameter means? I know that "0" = "Not visited yet, do not display on Navmap", and "1" = "been there, got the T-shirt, display on Navmap", but what does 32, 36, 128, etc. mean? Why does the game need more values beyond the obvious 0 & 1? If you've got the time, I'd love to learn more about how this game is wired.


    Thanks SWAT.

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    I think we've been barking up the wrong tree with this problem, SWAT.


    I managed to find the reference to "rtc_mis5view_effectcf", and I included the files it was pointing to. But the same thing is still happening, which tells me the problem I'm facing has nothing to do with the how the effect itself is set up.


    Any idea what else could be causing this? Could it be the size of the star system (160,000) or some other system parameter? Just trying to think outside the box now.

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    OK, I went and looked at your neutron star entries in the EW03.ini file, and the big differences were:


    1) You have no planet_death Zone set up for your planet_neutron_800 (and neither does Vanilla FL). Apparently, FLE creates such zones automatically when placing Planet Objects in a System. As a result, I had assumed that such Zones were required. So I deleted the zone to see if doing that alone would allow my neutron star effect to render at greater distances. It did not.


    2) Whereas my system.ini entry for the neutron effect specifies "archetype = neutron_star" directly, yours specifies, "baxter_hazardcf", and you also include a Loadouts entry for "blhazard3". Your modified baxter_hazard also uses the modified "loadout =" entry, "baxter_mission5cf", which in turn refers to the modified entry, "rtc_mis5view_effectcf", and this is where my investigative trail ends because I have no idea what this entry means, or what other file entry it may be referring to. Your modified "blhazard3" entry is set up to point to the neutron_star entry in the Loadouts file, and associates it with the nav bouy's mounting point, "HpFX01". It is important that I reiterate at this point that the neutron effect in my Mod does work, it just doesn't render the effect beyond a very limited range, so I'm not sure what all of this "spaghetti script" you are using is accomplishing. Can you explain to me why the game needs to refer to the baxter_hazard effect (and all related entries/loadouts thereafter) in order to produce a proper rendering of the neutron_star effect, because it just isn't adding up for me right now. What I can see is that you completely bypassed (i.e. did not use) the neutron_star archetype found in the SolarArch.ini file altogether, so my question is, why did you choose to do that, and how did you figure out that a modified baxter_hazard effect would do the job instead? I hope you can appreciate how confusing all of this is to a novice modder such as myself. I really want to understand what is going on here and even more importantly, why. Please forgive me if I am starting to impose upon you too much. I know you're busy with other things, so I really appreciate the time you are taking out of your schedule to address my concerns.


    3) the Vanilla FL neutron star uses a gravity ring entry, and you keep that entry intact in CF1.9, whereas my neutron star does not have such a ring. I am only mentioning this because it is an obvious difference between my set up and yours. As far as I can tell, this shouldn't impact anything else, but if I am wrong about that, please enlighten me.

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Quote

    my neutron star effect has no lods at all


    OK, I tried commenting out the LODRanges entry in the SolarArch.ini file, but nothing changed. here is what the whole Solar entry looks like:



    And here is the System.ini entry:

    Quote

    [Object]
    nickname = EW14_neutron_star_01
    rotate = 0, 0, 65
    pos = 0, 0, 0
    visit = 1
    archetype = neutron_star


    As far as I can tell, the only other file involved in producing the pulsar effect is the Solar\Loadout.ini file, but the applicable entry there just mounts the lighting effect to the bouy object, so I haven't fiddled with it. If there is more to it than this, I'm not aware of it.


    Would you be able to post your own .ini entries for comparison?


    Thanks.

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Quote

    There are various hardcoded values that you can not edit unless you find the correct offset in the compiled program libraries.
    That offset completely disabled the spin inertia of the game.


    Isn't that like swatting a fly with a sledge hammer? Will a lack of inertia affect other things I might add to my Mod later?


    Quote

    All other patches are community build and are client side bug fixes. Version 1.4 is the latest version of this community patch but I actually can not really tell you if its really good. Some changes in my eyes are "risky" and some modders also experienced side effects of the so called fixes.


    If I use the unofficial patch, will everyone who wants to play my Mod have to have that patch loaded as well? From your response, it sounds like the bug fixes are not worth the risk that the patch may pose to me in my efforts to build a Mod. Could you please confirm if this is your position on the matter?


    Quote

    My mod is based on the 1.3 SDK that was released earlier. The 1.3 SDK for sure contains less fixes than the 1.4 version but personally i dont care about that since i had more than enough time doing own bug fixes.


    I downloaded that SDK, but frankly, I didn't understand how to use it (or why). FLE decompressed all the .ini files for me, and FLDev let's me modify the .dll's, so not sure what to do with it.


    Quote

    The gf_neutronstar is what the name says.... a neutron star effect that was originally created for the omega 5 neutron star.


    I thought the Neutron Star was in Omega-41? Anyway, so what you're saying is that the effect gets listed in FLE's zone creation tool, but it was never intended as a legit entry for the "spacedust=" parameter? Are any of the gf_effect entries supposed to be used with zones, or should I ignore them altogether from now on?


    Quote

    The neutron star effect is a large effect that is not meant to be used as dust.
    All dust entries have a fixed lod definition allowing them to be created only close to the player ship.


    I see where you are going with this, but I deleted the zone, so there is no "spacedust = gf_neutronstar" entry in the system.ini file anymore. I am now using just the entries for the Neutron "Planet", and the Neutron Star "Nav Buoy" that creates the Pulsar effect, and it works, but you can only see the effect once your ship closes to extremely close range (<1200M). How do I get it to show the effect from any point/distance in the system? The Neutron Star Object in the SolarArch.ini file contains LOD ranges and an entry for rendering distance (these are the values I mentioned in my last post), but changing these hasn't worked. (Consequently, I was able to successfully change the range at which Nomad jumpgates become visible to the Player by changing its LODrange parameter, so that's why I thought it would work with the Neutron Star effect too.)
    So having said all that, is there anything else you can think of that I haven't done to make it visible at long range?


    My apologies if I'm becoming a nuisance. It seems like every answer only stirs up more questions. I really appreciate you taking the time to help me with all this.
    Aloha.

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    I installed the 1.1 Patch and sure enough, 7C was right where you said it would be. And changing it to "EB" fixed the spin problem, thanks. Just out of curiosity, what did the change in value actually do, and why was a hex edit the only way to fix it?


    Now that I am running Patch 1.1, does that mean that I don't need to use the Quickfix 1.0c anymore? While I was at the Lancers Reactor website looking for 1.1, I also found other unofficial patches labelled as "1.4" (one was simply titled, "Unofficial FL Patch 1.4", while the other was titled, "Advanced FL Patch 1.4") Are these the same thing? Should I use one of these in addition to 1.1?


    Now back to my question about gf_effects... What does the gf_neutronstar effect do? I take it that it will only affect the space immediately around my ship, and only when I am within the zone boundaries where it was set, right? But what effect does it produce?


    Another issue: I can't get the Neutron Star pulsar effect to be visible at ranges greater than 1200M from my ship. I want it to be visible from any point in the system (system size = 160000). I've set the distance_render = 160000, and the LODranges to 3000, 10000, 20000, 40000, 80000. But it doesn't change the situation any. What should I be doing instead?

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Quote

    hexedit the common.dll and change the offset 0E698E from 7C to EB


    Oy veh!


    Sorry to keep pestering you, but the Hex Editor I downloaded presented me with Offsets that didn't quite match up with the Offset you said to modify. The closest Offset Value I could find was, "000E6980". So, the first two #'s in the series of Offsets always starts with "00", and the last digit is also always a zero. At the top of the 16 columns of hex values are the hex column values, "00, 01, 02, ... 0E, 0F", etc. I tried cross referencing the Offest value above with Column 0E, but the hex value in that slot wasn't 7C (it was D9). The closest Offset value to have 7C listed among its slots was, "000E6960", and it had two such values in column's 00 and 03 respectively.
    I'm pretty confused by all this. Not sure what to do now. Any suggestions?

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Thanks SWAT, I appreciate you taking the time to respond.


    I'm not planning on spending any money on a Hex Editor, so I'll just pick a free one off the Internet.


    Are any of the "gf_<effect>" entries actually useful for anything then? I am also working on a Neutron Star in another system, and I noticed the, "gf_neutronstar" entry in the FLE zone creation tool. Can you tell me what the effect is when using this, and whether it makes sense to use it with only certain zone options or not?


    Again, I thank you for your time and attention.

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Wow, now that's a mind blow. The way that particular entry is set up to be selected in FLE makes it look as though you won't get the dynamic asteroid effect without selecting it. If I hadn't selected that entry to begin with when I created the zone, would FLE still have set up the particular asteroid.ini file to include the Dynamic lava asteroid entries, or is this one of those "catch-22" situations where it was a necessary step, but it comes with unwanted baggage in the end? Speaking of which, what is that particular entry actually doing anyway if not activating the dynamic event for the zone? Just curious to understand the 'whys & wherefores' of the initialization process better.


    Thanks again!

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    Here is the related Zone info:


    And here is the specific Asteroid.ini info:


    Looking back at your post more closely, you said to edit the Zone entry, but the only "dust" entries there are both necessary to produce the dynamic asteroid effect, aren't they? I definitely want that effect for this field.

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    OK, I commented out the lines for the Dust entry in the system's .ini file, but it's still happening. Any other possibilities?


    Another issue: I am using the Blackhole_Well object in this same system, and I have managed to get it to spin, however, it only spins for a short period of time and then stops. The slower I set the spin rate, the faster it seems to reach the point when it stops spinning. What is causing this, and is there a way to get it to spin slowly and continuously forever?


    Thanks for your help, SWAT.

  • Funky issue when flying through lava asteroid field

    I have created a system that features a large, lava asteroid field, but when I enter it, a strange thing happens. Above my ship, I see a stationary, burning and smoking effect just like the effect you see following dynamic lava asteroids around. Any idea why this is happening and how to get rid of it?

  • Displaying Munition Stats

    Hello gang,


    It's been a while since my last post [hard at work on my Mod!]


    Anyway, I have run into a problem that I would like to field to you experts. I have created a Mass Driver Canon that requires ammo to fire, and everything works, but when I select the ammo icon in the equipment shop, there is no Stat info generated for it to go along with its IDS_Info. Its blank. I know the game engine pulls this info from the .ini's, but I don't know how it does it. If anyone knows how to correct this, I'd be very grateful to hear about it.


    Thanks!