[SOLVED] Radar range cannot be modded any more (4.2 Linux)

[x30n]

Hello

Version and language:
English, 4.20 GOG, Linux + Cradle of Humanity + Split Vendetta

Whether or not your game is modified using any third party scripts or mods:
modified / problem related to mod

Game start being played.
custom through editor

Exact nature of the problem, where and when it occurs and what you were doing at the time.
Changes to radar range values do not work. This includes ships and also satellites.

Example for the mod in ~/GOG Games/X4 Foundations/game/extensions/advancedsatelliterange/assets/props/Equipment/Satelite/macros/eq_arg_satellite_01_macro.xml

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<diff>
  <replace sel='//radar/@range'>150000</replace>
</diff>

This should give regular satellites a 150km range (excessive but good for testing). In previous versions this worked but I only have past experience with the Windows build.

The mod used are sectorsatellites (https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/4) including the optional mod advancedsatelliterange

No change to the range can be seen. The same goes for other range extension mods related to satellites. They differ slightly in the way they're addressing the rang parameter but are roughly the same. None work.

A similar issue can be observed with Extended Radar Range (https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/77).

I'm not sure if this is a problem of 4.2 incombatibility, the Linux build or a change to the system preventing increased radar range to prevent performance hits.

I'd like to know if other users have observed similar issues and if so, if this is a known problem (my search was not successful). Of course a solution would be great but let's start small

Any possibly relevant changes you have made to your game, system, or software before the issue occurred.
Fresh installation.

Kind regards
x30n

[CBJ]

The reason it's not working is that the game doesn't even try to read that value from that file! Whether that's intentional, and it's just a leftover value in the file, or unintentional, I'm not sure. I will have to ask someone else about that.

[Alan Phipps]

This might be better in the S&M forum, or do you see more as a Linux related topic?

[x30n]

This might be better in the S&M forum, or do you see more as a Linux related topic?

Hi

I had a hard time deciding about which forum to post in. I chose this one as I think it may be related to a change in the game mechanics preventing the value from being changeable. This is my first run on the Linux build so I wouldn't rule out that maybe there's a small difference. I base this assumption on the fact that I couldn't find much about this topic anywhere else. Other users may complain about lag (if the values are too high, etc) but not about the mods not working.

cu
x30n

[x30n]

The reason it's not working is that the game doesn't even try to read that value from that file! Whether that's intentional, and it's just a leftover value in the file, or unintentional, I'm not sure. I will have to ask someone else about that.

Is this a Linux only thing or does that affect all users? I might be able to build a windows setup for testing if that'd be of any help.

Also used a CAT unpacker to take a look at the original files. Seems to be same path and no change to the way satellites are described.

cu
x30n

[Imperial Good]

Is this a Linux only thing or does that affect all users? I might be able to build a windows setup for testing if that'd be of any help.

Probably affects both builds. It does not really make sense to have specific game logic for one build and not the other, given that both use pretty much the same hardware. That would just make things more difficult to debug.

[CBJ]

Is this a Linux only thing or does that affect all users?

This has nothing to do with Linux. Satellites in the game just make no use whatsoever of any radar range property defined in that file.

[x30n]

Is this a Linux only thing or does that affect all users?

This has nothing to do with Linux. Satellites in the game just make no use whatsoever of any radar range property defined in that file.

Hello again

It might have something to do with the Linux build. I just got a windows test setup working and there's no problem there.

Further analysis showed that there seems to be a problem related to mods not being loaded in the first place. I didn't know about the in-game Extension overview. Checked it and while the `advancedsatelliterante` mod shows up on the windows setup it's nowhere to be found in the Linux runtime.

Is there a log file or something where I could check if there are load errors? So far I'm not able to see any reason why some mods wouldn't load up in a Linux environment. Especially if they're just some xml files.

UPDATE:

Managed to get it loaded. Had some issues with sig files after changes. Helps to nail this down even further. So here's the current status of this mystery:

On Windows it works no problem.
On Linux the plugin is loaded along with `sectorsatellites` and the Egosoft DLC. All Extensions show up in the runtime list. When I place an advanced satellite (Range set to 500km) the range is vanillia. The difference to the windows test setup is clearly visible. So it's not an extension load problem, just that the value is not processed by the Linux version.

cu
x30n

[CBJ]

Once again, it has nothing to do with the Linux version. The code for loading this file does not differ between platforms.

To correct what I said earlier, however, the data is actually read. My guess is that your problem is caused by the fact that filenames in Linux are case-sensitive, so you need to ensure that the case of your mod's filename for this file is correct (I'm not sure whether that means it needs to match that of the original filename, or needs to be entirely lowercase), whereas under Windows it doesn't matter. This applies to all files and is not specific to this file or property.

[|K.O.S.H.]

you can also try to modify something else in the same file, to check if the file or the value is the cause.

If the case is the case, egosoft could solve this by making every path .toLowerCase() while reading ANY file (at least) on linux.
So, i would argue, if this IS indeed a problem, because i could also affect egosoft's own modifications.

Because you WILL somewhen run into this issue, when comparing paths...

edit: it would also help every modder, when they dont have to check every letter in their path...

[x30n]

Once again, it has nothing to do with the Linux version. The code for loading this file does not differ between platforms.

To correct what I said earlier, however, the data is actually read. My guess is that your problem is caused by the fact that filenames in Linux are case-sensitive, so you need to ensure that the case of your mod's filename for this file is correct (I'm not sure whether that means it needs to match that of the original filename, or needs to be entirely lowercase), whereas under Windows it doesn't matter. This applies to all files and is not specific to this file or property.

That's it. Basic but easy to overlook. All lower case does the trick.

It's a bit strange as the original path would be: /assets/props/Equipment/Satelite/macros

The working path for the extension is: /assets/props/equipment/satelite/macros

Anyway, this solves the issue.
Btw. also solves some other issues with mods that didn't work on the Linux setup.

THANK YOU!

cu
x30n