[X3:AP] Is there a way to fix the invincible missiles bug?

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Wheem
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[X3:AP] Is there a way to fix the invincible missiles bug?

Post by Wheem » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 03:59

The bug is this: M8 launched missiles (and possibly others, but I can't confirm that) become 100% invincible to all of my weapons fire - both main guns and turrets. Manually shooting Mosquito Missiles at them seems to have mixed results; sometimes they get destroyed in a single hit, and other times there doesn't seem to be any real effect (I haven't been using the bonus pack's MDM, so I'm not sure about that).

Anecdotal experience suggests that this bug triggers whenever I create a save (this time, an autosave at an Ore Mine) with an enemy M8 in the same sector. The only way that this bug seems to fix itself is by reloading an earlier save, but in my current game that means going back quite some time and redoing a fair few things - is there some other workaround? Leaving the sector and coming back didn't help at all, and obviously I can't go through the rest of the game without being able to shoot down missiles.

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Black_hole_suN
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Post by Black_hole_suN » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 08:28

its not a bug.. its one of those crippling design feature in X games where the HUD can only display the closest TWO incoming missiles at any given time..

in vanilla: the better solution is to use MDM from the Bonus Pack.. it works by launching Mosquito missiles at all incoming missiles within 10km. automatically as long as you have mosquito on board.

You can also configure your turret commands in Gameplay > Turret Commands

You can also spam Shft+T until you can target a missiles and shoot it down manually



if you plan to go modified, you can change things Globals.pck so that the HUD show you more missiles shot at you at any given time or giving mossie a blast small radius

Wheem
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Post by Wheem » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 10:02

It's most definitely a bug - neither my main guns nor turrets will do a single point of damage to the enemy missiles (specifically, Tomahawk Missiles from an enemy bomber, I'm not sure whether or not the bug has affected other ships/missiles). I can literally fly around dodging a Tomahawk Missile until it runs out of fuel (or until I eventually get hit), with my turrets shooting it the entire time, and it will never take even a single point of damage. Other times I can shoot them down just fine with either main guns or turrets; this bug makes them quite literally invincible to energy weapons.

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Black_hole_suN
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Post by Black_hole_suN » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 10:20

you are playing AP 3.1 right?? Heavy damage missiles such as tomahawks have hull values to them so it takes a few hits to take them down

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Post by Wheem » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 10:36

Yes, I'm playing AP 3.1, and I know that they have hull values and require several hits. The problem is, when the bug kicks in, they take 0 damage from my energy weapons. Literally none whatsoever. Turrets on "Missile Defense" can fire at them for an extended period of time (with nothing else in range) while I fly around dodging, and their visible "health bar" stays at 100% the entire time. My main guns are equally worthless, even though it's normally easy to shoot down the exact same type of missile when it's coming at me head-on, and still absolutely doable when I'm flying around dodging.

I've shot down plenty of the missiles on a number of different occasions, and there's definitely a bug that can occur which makes them invincible to energy weapons. The difference is completely night and day. It seems to happen any time that my game saves while an enemy bomber is in the same sector as me, and the times that it has happened before I just reloaded an earlier save and lost some playtime. I'm just curious if there's some kind of workaround that can get me out of having to do that again, since it's been quite some time since my next most recent save.

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Black_hole_suN
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Post by Black_hole_suN » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 10:41

I have not encountered this bug.. you can try and asking in tech support forum. they may have answer to this over there

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Post by Alan Phipps » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 13:13

There is/was a known bug in X3 TC/AP that if you saved *and reloaded* a situation where missiles were in flight, then those missiles could lose their collision detection and pass right through targets (and bullets pass through them) without a collision being detected and so end up just looping around until they timed-out. That was only missiles in flight at the time of the reloaded save though and not missiles still stored in ships in sector etc.

Are you seeing weapon hit graphic splash effects (ie collisions being detected) on the missiles or are the bullets just seeming to miss or pass through the missile?
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Wheem
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Post by Wheem » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 15:35

They seem to just pass through. I don't recall hearing the audible alert for a missile launch prior to docking at the mine, but definitely hear it immediately upon undocking. This bug is "permanent" also, right? Meaning that if I manage to flee the sector, I'll encounter the same issue with missiles from other ships?

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Post by Alan Phipps » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 17:24

"This bug is "permanent" also, right?" Not the bug that I knew about and described above; it only applies until there are no missiles in flight from after you reloaded.

Something similar can happen if you have too many missiles in flight at the same time. The cpu core running the game has to share its attention and guidance between all the missiles (and everything else going on in the game) so if the missile passes through a target wall or a bullet passes through a missile between frames or cpu attention snapshots then nothing happens to register a hit. Faster cpus and less 'busy' game situations see less of this happening.

I have never encountered exactly what you describe in vanilla X3AP or X3TC though.
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Wheem
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Post by Wheem » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 21:58

Did a little experimenting:
1) If I stay in the same sector (Circle of Labor), I simply cannot shoot down any missiles whatsoever with my energy weapons. I suppose it's because it's a war sector with multiple hostiles that have shot missiles at me from far enough away that I can't see them yet? If I outlast the first volley of Tomahawks (or manage to kill them with Mosquitoes), all future volleys remain impervious to my main guns and turrets.

2) If I jump out of the sector, all other missiles that get launched at me in a new area appear to be behaving normally.

3) I can't get anything in Circle of Labor to shoot more missiles at me if I leave and return, so I'm not 100% sure about that. Do missiles that were targeting the player immediately self-destruct (or enter an OOS combat phase with a new target) when you leave the area? If so, I'd think that the issue should be fixed, but I just can't get any of the 3 capitals or myriad of fighters to fire missiles at me after I leave and come back in. The (Rapid Response) M8 appears to have run out of missiles, and just jumps around the sector without firing at me.

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Post by Alan Phipps » Sat, 19. Apr 14, 22:22

If you go OOS to another sector, all missiles in flight just cease to exist. If you jump to a gate in the same sector, then missiles in flight (including homing missiles) may lose target lock after the jump and just fly on a straight line unguided. The latter behaviour seems to vary with different missile types <shrug>. More here.
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Dreadnaught_01
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Re: [X3:AP] Is there a way to fix the invincible missiles bug?

Post by Dreadnaught_01 » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 20:55

Wheem,

You're not crazy. Its happening to me also--and after god knows how many years of owning the game and playing occasionally in the X3 universe I finally decided to check the forums.

My current situation:

- I am reloading a save with missiles in flight
- The missiles targeting me are Phantoms fired from a Claymore bomber
- I was having very little difficulty swatting these missile before I reloaded in
- I am using MDM in an M6 Corvette (Khaak) and using direct fire from Kyon Alpha and Beta lasers
- The Mosquito missiles are completely useless and just swarm in circles around the Phantoms until they run out of fuel
- I can destroy them with Kyon emitters, but I might as well be trying to shoot down a M3+ with the amount of damage they sustain before them pop.

I think it is because the missiles were in-flight when I saved that they now have different parameters. My only chance to survive is to immediately jump out of the sector.

I doubt egosoft is doing much with this game anymore, but it'd be a relevant problem to do a quick patch for.

Dreadnaught_01 (aka Ctlbulldg06 [but my username is inactive and I can't unlock it])

Alan Phipps
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Re: [X3:AP] Is there a way to fix the invincible missiles bug?

Post by Alan Phipps » Sat, 11. Apr 20, 22:59

@ Dreadnaught_01: Yes that's pretty much exactly what I described 6 posts above and 6 years ago (!) I doubt that Wheem is listening any more after all that time.

PM a moderator and we might be able to help you retrieve your old username etc.
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