Posts by Twisticals

  • No Infocards

    Is there anything changing in 1.8 that will help with "IDS?" issues?


    I am sure Vista(the dog's mother that it is) is at fault here. Frustrating restarting Freelancer game 2-3 times before it works =(

  • No Infocards

    I will recognise the FL lives on for many many MANY years (and have done so). This is a true classic and I am frankly surprised MS isnt doing a follow up FL2 - the sequel just needs to have a little more story, and open the code up for more modding and we have a winner. Blizzard did it with Warcraft, even put a modding program with it to encourage more modding and look at the audiance they hold.. smart move Blizz!


    I still think Freelancer is holding it's own against all the new release space sims out there too, personally I always compare space sims to FL and find they fall short every time. X-universe is the closest, and has some amazing features that would be so much fun in a multiplayer space sim - but there is it's major downfall.. no multiplayer. The voice acting is rubbish too, and actually ruins the story for me, but that is something easily fixed.


    -T

  • No Infocards

    Quote

    Originally posted by SWAT_OP-R8R


    now that statement I can not agree with as I wouldnt want to compare those 2 mods with each other... as they belong to very different categories


    I cant wait till Mod awards 2009 - I really feel Crossfire will have 1 hell of a mod for the show.
    -T

  • I'd just like to say

    I know this is an old post, but I have to say I had the same unpleasant installation experience. Installing the mod wasnt the highlight of my weekend.. But when it worked (though I still have issues with IDS tags) on Monday morning at 2am... O MY GOD, what a mod!
    -T

  • No Infocards

    Yes I agree Azadur, OP's work has been fantastic. Many a retail product have been shoved in the bin due to simulair frustrations mentioned above, but this mod is so spectaculair I have endured many many hours of irritation knowing the end product is worth it.


    and with 1.8, CF is going to blow Discovery out the water and leave them bleeding for many years to come----again.


    Now All I ask is for someone to look into this issue for me please. I am sure ther are people who dont bother even trying the mod because of the frustrations I experienced above and that would be a damn shame for them to miss out on the most fun, thoughtout, fantastic mod I have ever played.


    Best,
    Tristan

  • No Infocards

    Problem solving vista issue, I hope this helps:


    I wanted to update you on my mod installation progress and how I managed to get it to work again with Vista64bit - Note the reoccurring problem at bottom please:


    After 2 days of trial and error to install mod I managed a successful install (wont detail this unless you want me to).
    *After install it started up as it should but when I got into the game I found items/planets/NPCs and basically everything had a blank name or "IDS?" as it's title.


    So I did the following given that it was a read/write issue (I assume):


    *I uninstalled AVG
    *I installed freelancer as admin (clean)
    *I clicked freelancer dir and unclicked "read only"
    *installed FLMM as admin
    *Unticked "read only" for FLMM directory
    *Installed CF mod as admin (while FLMM was open as Admin)
    *Closed FLMM and opened again (as Admin)
    *Installed CF mod with FLMM (default settings)
    *Waited till done, went to FLMM+Freelancer and unticked "read only"..again
    *Ran Freelancer icon (as admin)
    *Auto Updated and clicked multiplayer from the CF client
    *played game with no problems


    ..Now this is where is gets weird:
    *Next time I came to play, opened freelancer (as admin)
    *started game, but this time I had noted the following issues:
    *when I look at any of the planets they have a blank name, also system names were blank but no issues with item names (ie none saying "IDS?").
    *I exit, unticked "read only" for FLMM and freelancer directory ... again (WTF!?)
    *Go back into game, it works fine, I then started the game a number of times since (each time unticking "read only" before I start - no problems
    *Today I forgot to "untick" so in-game, all planets were blank etc. I decided to quit
    *I changed all permission for each directory to full access for all users/system/etc. I unticked "Read only" for FLMM+Freelancer... but game wont give me planet names unless I do this 3 or 4 times. I am certain this is a read only issue as the read only attribute keeps coming back.


    I am happy to test anything you would like or send screen shots, I'll send a dxdiag if you want my system info too.


    FYI:
    Hardware: p4 quad core 3.0Ghz / 4GB RAM / 2x Nvidia 260 graphics cards (in SLi) / win Vista ultimate 64bit.



    Best,

  • How to: Reduce ISP Ping

    A word of caution on defragging:
    Defragging does wear HDDs down, so doing a full defrag daily is asking for trouble if you want your hardware to last. If Like me your upgrade hardware every other month, then it doesnt matter, it will only effect the next poor sucker who buys my gear (although I am terrible at hording old gear).


    IMHO, find a program that defrags while your system is idle and then do a monthly/bi-monthly full defrag.


    -Tristan


    PS: Maybe this should be moved to the support forum? MOD?

  • How to: Reduce ISP Ping

    I posted this in Ghostship's thread, but I thought I would make a new thread with more details for fixing these problems. I encourage people to ignore my spelling and to post additional problems/solutions.



    PINGS AND PONGS: ?(
    Firstly I want to explain a ping. Traditionally a Ping is tiny bit of code that is sent to the server of choice which just tells the server to send it back again, simple. The returned "pong" will arrive back at your computer allowing your computer to show you how long it took the code to do the round trip. This is (usually) measured in milliseconds(ms). A typical ping SHOULD be less than 100ms if the server is in your country and less than 350ms from the opposite side of the world.




    PROBLEMS that increase PING times:


    *Hardware, the longer it takes to get processed by your hardware the more milliseconds(ms) get chewed up.


    *Software, the more applications and software that is running the longer it takes for your ping/pong to get put through the CPU processing queue.


    *Phone line/cable quality Fibre (light) moves data more quickly than coax/copper does(electricity). Also line bad line quality can have terrible effect on lost data (lost data means it has to send it all over again)


    *ISP: your Internet Service Provider may use long/cheap transit routes, have bad contention ratios, bad ISP routers, network routing/hardware issues and a million other things. [3]




    SOLUTIONS :


    *Hardware: (save 5ms)
    Buy better hardware, (you might save 5ms [677] if you are lucky).


    *Software: (save up to 5-100ms)
    -Clean up old software!
    I would STRONGLY suggest disabling or even better, uninstalling any running applications. some culprits that chew background resources : MSN, ICQ, SKYPE, hardware Monitors, Vista gadgets, desktopimages/desktopvideo! and the biggest culprits - AOL software (eww), Norton!!/mcafee, anti-spyware/adware/virus/malware/etc. Now we all need protection, so I wont tell you what to keep, but if you know what takes the resources
    (this will save you loads if you don't already do this, software kills ms and could save you 5-100ms). [instagib]
    -Defrag your system (might save 5-10ms)



    *Phone lines: (Save up to 50% ping times)
    Possibly change to a new ISP using fibre or cable. You could also gather your neighbors signatures sign a petition to go with a particular ISP if they lay new cables in your area (this can work if you have the time and enough paying neighbors/customers) (could drop your ping by half if you have line noise or data loss) Use /ping in CrossFire to check ping/noise/dataloss (please confirm this)



    *ISP: (save 10-400+ Ping [104] )
    This is where it all goes wrong for a lot of people so I will explain this problem in much more detail with the following solutions- Change ISP, Talk to ISP/change ISP plan.


    If you are having issues with your ISP [wall]
    The first thing to do is talk to them[4]. Ring them up and say that you are having connectivity issues with a server (have the IP and ports of the server to hand) and ask them to prioritise it. If you have a cheaper connection you may find they don't know what you mean or simply don't allow customers to do it (costs them money: see 'extra reading' below). They may mention "traffic shaping" or "prioritised traffic" or other such terminology so I shall do my bext to explain what this all means in the following paragraphs. If your ISP refuses or doesn't know what you are talking about, think about an ISP that supports this feature (I have recommended mine at the end of this post).



    EXTRA READING (skip to bottom if you're bored :rolleyes: ):


    Those asking "What is traffic shaping".
    Traffic shaping is where an ISP allows certain traffic (in my case, games) to have first priority over web/video/p2p/etc, it also gives me priority over any customers on a lesser plan for all my traffic. Traffic shaping also normally allows you to get more direct routes to your destination, for example if I connected to CF Server from an ISP Called Talktalk they will send you down the cheapest route they can find (normally this gets routed all over the place to get the cheaper rates thus increasing your ping dramatically). If I connect with my current ISP, they will get the quickest shortest route to my gaming servers.


    Why are they cheaper, that doesn't make sense?
    Well some routes are cheaper because they aren't being used, this could be because they are just crap quality lines or most likely because they are a route that is not currently used because the users of that line are offpeek. An example route might me one that goes to south Africa then routes off to the States then Crete and finally to Germany (an over exaggerated example but you get the idea of how pings can increase very quickly). So your ISP may choose a long route because it doesn't clog up the direct cables that are under load by other ISPs paying more for the more direct route.



    I chose my ISP purely on ping, that is all I care about. It costs me more to ensure the best transit route but IMHO it is worth it. I have a ping of less than 60ms from London to the CF server in germany because of this.





    If any UK residents want the same service I use, choose Pro option from plus.net:<a href='http://www.plus.net/myreferrals/new.html?w645oK3%2FCguHYxTpF%2BrJmTsIFnCG12LIRAN0PMs7JvY%3D'><br>
    >Please use this link to get a discount and help my monthly fee too<</a> [wink2]


    PS I have already added CF server as global prioritised traffic so you wont need to ring them if you do change to the ISP I use [w00t]



    Thanks for reading guys, I hope it helps some of you out there.


    -T

  • DATASTORM Illegal?

    FYI:
    (sorry for those who use it) there are people successfully using Datastorm on the server atm. I wont name names, but they use it.


    And OP, could you make a legal basic mod like FL companion for us? It sure would be nice to be able to look at info we have collected (with our exploring) without base ideling for ages. I like to plot courses and check info on places I have been and cool things I have found. As well as notes on clans and other tidbits of info like that. Maybe just a mod that shows the map and allows adding notes to any point on the map?


    Cheers,
    -T

  • DATASTORM Illegal?

    Thanks OP, I guess that says it all.


    I also heard that DATASTORM is not going to be usable in 1.8 - so those that use may find that it doesnt work in 1.8. (rumor from ingame player - OP may wish to confirm this?)


    I am intrigued by this base that gives a PW for a forum Thread(?), I guess I'll have to hunt it out some day.


    Thanks for the Spoiler Zoop, not much there as you said but useful to know for when it develops - maybe some of you seasoned players would like to input on the wiki for newbies like me to read? I know I would use it.


    -T

  • SP campaign question

    I am pretty sure you cant otherwise people might hack their characters to have large amounts of credits and then bring them online. So there is too much room for abuse.


    In saying that, what did you have? -Maybe a kind sould will start you off with a loan to get you back to where you were and you could maybe pay them back?