Posts by SWAT_OP-R8R

  • Crossfire - Upcoming changes, upcoming content

    I am aiming for a easter release of the next update.

    Actually I am far behind the schedule for that and still have lots of stuff that needs to be tested any fixed (if required) but I guess it should be possible.


    As in terms of fixes to lights and hardpoints the reported list of ships felt incomplete. Therefore I have digged a bit deeper and tested a large number of ships.

    Fixes are done to the following ships:

    At the moment I don't know 100% how to distribute these changes since it would require to edit chars on the server to apply all the changes. And we are talking about hundreds of chars which use these ships currently. Newly purchased ships would of course have the fixed settings. Old ones are tricky atm. Need to think about a solution.


    Further changes will include a reshade update to the newest version and the introduction of the FLsharp plugin.

    For convinience reasons I'll just copy/paste what the plugin does.


    • Fixed a bug that caused the lights of a trade lane to never turn back on after the trade lane gets disrupted.
    • Fixed a bug that caused waypoints to be cleared when the player reaches the coordinates in a different system.
    • Fixed a bug that makes the player ship a selectable target for creating waypoints on the nav map.
    • Makes the weapon flash particle effect play on all barrels instead of only on the first barrel.
    • Fixed a bug for the one_shot_sound not playing when firing multi-barrel launchers.
    • Fixed a bug for the ammo count not decrementing correctly when firing multi-barrel launchers.
    • Fixed a bug that caused the use_animation entries in weapon_equip.ini to not work, i.e. enables weapon animations.
    • Allows a gun's use_animation entry to be played on the parent (e.g. ship) if the animation name has a leading underscore (_); this leading underscore should not be included in the cmp file's animation name.
    • Fixed a bug that caused the client to not send the correct engine state of the player's ship to the server.
    • When playing on a server, ensure the client sends an update:
      • at least every 2 seconds;
      • when engine kill has been toggled;
      • if after every 0.25 seconds the ship's orientation has been changed to some extent.
    • Sets the minimum time between client-server updates to 40 milliseconds (or 750 ms while in a trade lane) such that jitter is prevented when playing with a high or inconsistent framerate.
    • Allow ui_music_test to play when the current background music has finished playing.
    • Added support for playing the ui_interface_test and ui_ambiance_test sounds when adjusting the respective sliders in the options menu; these sounds should be defined in interface_sounds.ini.
    • Automatically prevent crashes while adjusting the interface and ambience volume sliders in the event that the test sounds are not defined.
    • While adjusting the ambience and music volume, mute other background sounds accordingly so that the volume can be fine-tuned more easily.
    • Allows for up to 127 selectable resolutions in the general options menu; these are automatically determined based on the user's main monitor resolution.
    • Fixes the problem where the general options menu can't distinguish two different resolutions with the same width.
    • Makes the default resolution button in the general options menu select the user's main monitor resolution instead of 1024x768.
    • Prevent Freelancer from running with resolutions beyond the main display's capabilities in terms of horizontal and vertical resolution.
    • Sets the user's main monitor resolution as the default in-game resolution.
    • Instead of checking if the available resolutions are supported each time the option menu opens, do it only when needed (optimization).
    • Allows for the Ctrl + C hotkey to copy text from any Freelancer input box to the clipboard.
    • Allows for the Ctrl + V hotkey to paste text from the clipboard to any Freelancer input box.
    • Improved the slide-out animation for some UI buttons in the multiplayer menus.
    • When the "You must be on friendlier terms to purchase this." message is displayed in the Dealer menus, allow the exact reputation requirement to be printed too. Include %d in the IDS (S 1564, resources.dll) to make it work.
    • Fixed a bug that caused the Freelancer process to not always terminate after closing the game.
    • Automatically set rotation lock and auto leveling to the default value when launching to space to prevent control-related issues from occurring (e.g. mouse flight not working).

    The use of the plugin requires to un-do some workarounds of the past (working on that atm). Furthermore are plenty of edits required to make everything compatible with CF.

    Most notable for players will be the weapon animations. For that to work all weapons in the game need to be reviewed and tested. Most certainly new weapon animations need to be created for a large amount of weapons. CF custom weapons already have been remodeled to be compatible and were tested successfully.

    Vanilla weapons still need to be tested and fixed if required.


    - fix wireframes for custom weapons

    - removal of the vanilla FL (legacy) shader option

    - fixed the vanilla FL shader option

    - fixed a minor misconfiguration of the launcher options

    - fixed torpedo descriptions for alien factions

    - minor fixes of various ship hardpoints

    - improved turret camera settings

    - improved mouse input for window mode

    - Reshade update

    - alternative bug fix of a lighting issue in DirectX

    - improved dual mode target screen

    - 3d model replacement for Renaisance guns

    - 3d model replacement for various Coalition guns

    - 3d model replacements for torpedo launchers

    - 3d model replacements for cruise disruptors

    - 3d model replacements for Codename weapons

    - 3d model replacements for Codename MkII weapons

    - OpenGL is set to the default launcher option

    - player ship status added

    - weapon groups toggle added

    - included CFUIchanger Tool (switch UI option from installer without using the installer -> for now the only way to make changes or apply fixes to UI without releasing a new installer)

    - fixed modern Crossfire UI maneuver bar not having an autohide function

    - removed redundant code in modern Crossfire UI

    - fixed several wireframe models of player ships

    - fixed a minor rendering issue in certain base menus

    - partially removed a workaround that was meant to fix wireframe issues but caused LOD issues on low detail levels instead (it is intended to fully remove that workaround with upcoming updates since a better fix was found)

    - as result of the previously mentioned workaround issue, 178 ships got updated

    - 99 ship hitboxes improved

  • Honest Singleplayer-Campaign feedback

    Ok lets see if I have a few answers.


    - Oasis is supposed to be locked just like all other systems until the discovery of x-3043. However, due to engine limitations, which force the entire CF campaign to run in a single mission instance (unlike vanilla missions, which have one for each mission), it can happen that at certain situations locked gates open. This is not intended but can not be 100% avoided.


    - Following mission triggers and waypoints is highly advised throughout the entire campaign. In theory, the CF campaign needs further fail triggers, which prevent players from going off the rails. However, this is very hard to do and would take an insane amount of time. I have experimented with it for the very first mission (the way to New Berlin) but have not released anything yet since the amount of code for it to work is pretty large, and I was looking for better implementation. An alternative, at least for that specific mission, might be to let FL auto-generate a path, at least from system to system. That would give players more freedom and reduce the need for fail triggers. A disadvantage might be bugged autosaves if players decide to dock stations.


    - Once CF campaign started, you unfortunately can not take a break from the campaign until somewhat later. FL has hardcoded free-time phases between missions. All of them are already used by the vanilla campaign. More, in theory, can not be added unless you understand the code well enough to create plugins for just this purpose. This is beyond my knowledge at the moment. There is a workaround later during the campaign that allows you to explore, but implementation is pretty difficult.


    - The Nephele System exists in multiple "development states.". That is why it resets later on. This, unfortunately, is necessary for storytelling purposes. FL systems are static, but the storytelling requires revisiting them at a later point, and if major changes to the systems are part of the story, then there is no other way to do it. The same happens early on in X-3043 and later in Sol. Every time these systems are discovered for the first time, you probably should not try to explore them fully. Instead, wait until planets or stations can be docked with.


    - Teleports are sometimes necessary to progress the story without creating endlessly long paths to the next mission. Sometimes it is a pacing method; sometimes it is a technical requirement since the methods of how triggers are called are limited. There are moments in which this is the only way to trigger a cutscene that helps to progress the story.


    - Yes, the trains suck in that mission, and I have no real solution for that yet. I redesigned the mission twice already, which improved the situation, but its still far from perfect. The main issue is that I cannot script a reliable path for the trains since the spawn points around the gates are random. Each time they spawn at a different location, and each time the AI tries to calculate a new path. Some are working... others are not.

    Dunno, chaos theory, I guess.


    - It was and still is planned to make more capital ships available to players. The Order ships in Sol were meant to be rewards for automatic online events.

    Unfortunately, I did not have the time to fully implement the events yet. Let's call it work in progress (pretty high on my to-do list).

    For singleplayer there are no such plans yet (especially for the campaign mode). Maybe later when the multiplayer part of this event system is working.