[Mod] Formation Collision Fix (FCF) v0.2.1a (9-10-09) Slight M4 Adjustment

Alkeena · Post by **Alkeena** » Sat, 26. Sep 09, 04:10

I've managed to make some major improvements, but I'm still working on it despite the lack of posts recently.

I've slowed down a lot because I'm taking the GRE on Monday so I've been a little preoccupied in real life. Should have a release sometime next week though.

Jaga_Telesin · Post by **Jaga_Telesin** » Sat, 26. Sep 09, 04:21

I didn't see this mentioned, though I could have been skimming the thread too fast.. have you (or anyone testing the package) done any performance metrics tests to see if the changes to collision avoidance have reduced the impact on the CPU and raised Framerates any Alkeena? In a typical X3:TC game there is a lot of in-sector avoidance being pushed from ships to the CPU (especially the larger ships), and hence they take a lot of processor time trying to fly around each other.

KaZTek · Post by **KaZTek** » Sat, 26. Sep 09, 10:21

Jaga_Telesin wrote:I didn't see this mentioned, though I could have been skimming the thread too fast.. have you (or anyone testing the package) done any performance metrics tests to see if the changes to collision avoidance have reduced the impact on the CPU...

I stopped reading right there and went straight to

Considering the HORRIBLE crash-avoidance routines in X3TC, I sincerely doubt that any sort of meaningful use of CPU cycles is happening. If it were, we wouldnt even need this, or even complain of suicide M5's.

snwboardn21 · Post by **snwboardn21** » Sun, 27. Sep 09, 02:54

Hey don't worry about rushing it, considering you are the first to do it and you have nothing to base it on we will all be very happy when you get a good working version done, and the amount of testing you have done speaks volumes. I will go ahead and get the BETA, because this issue is that big. Good work!

Foxbyte · Post by **Foxbyte** » Wed, 7. Oct 09, 17:52

Excellent work! I found your mod after I managed to scrap together a small fleet and half of them crashed into one-another, or got stuck inside the stargate's ring.

Though unless I'm installing it wrong [I've owned X3TC for all of a few days now] it overrides the Improved Ships/Combat mods I've got also. Anyway to make these play nice?

Jashashunter · Post by **Jashashunter** » Wed, 7. Oct 09, 21:23

I hope he hasnt died or forgotten us for the REAL WORLD.

Looking forward to hearing from ya Alkeena.

precurser · Post by **precurser** » Wed, 7. Oct 09, 21:39

This mod would definitly make my game more enjoyable. I'm still scraping off 4 of my rapiers from one space station in asteroid belt.

Jar B · Post by **Jar B** » Sun, 11. Oct 09, 15:58

Do you have any idea what modification marks the game ***modified***? I was under the impression that changes to bob-files are harmless.

Second thing, not really related to your mod: to get the faces of the collision bubble I probably have to calculate them from those bob-files, right? But none of those values look like the parameters of an ellipsoid. Am I looking in the wrong spot?

Edit: Ahh silly me! There's a TBullets in the catalog! ... Did you mention its changes?
Edit2: I've opened a new topic for my second question. You're welcome to join the discussion.

Sticks · Post by **Sticks** » Sun, 11. Oct 09, 17:17

-Increased ALL weapon ranges by 300m (not the frags from things like cluster flak though--flak bullet range increased, AOE once it explodes was not touched). This was done by increasing bullet lifetime, not speed.

nothing special

Motika · Post by **Motika** » Thu, 29. Oct 09, 23:19

someone else wrote:I prefer 3) more than others.

I know that attack scripts won't open fire before the ship is 3 Km from the target, regradless of weapon range.

a bit more tuning on the cameradummies position can be useful too. there were only a few hundred meters to let the M3's guns reach the station. I'd disregard IREs due to its uselsessnes in Station-busting.

that would keep PBG and PBE ships from dealing ANY dmage to stations... a script might change those ship's orders to "ship killing".

that got me wondering, does it mean that even if a weapon has a range of 10km the AI wont fire it unless its at 3km?

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Fri, 4. Dec 09, 16:27

FCF v0.2a is designed for and compatible with X3:TC v2.1 only

from OP

Apologies if I have missed something but does this exclude X3TC 2.5?
or just versions prior to 2.1

Also - Not sure if this will help at all but - is there any math/experience to be gained from X-Freak Cartmans endeavor producing FCS MKIII for X3R....
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=176241

HalcyonSpirit · Post by **HalcyonSpirit** » Sat, 26. Dec 09, 02:05

Hate to dredge up this topic, but I'd like to know if there's going to be an updated release for this anytime soon? I'm really looking forward to using this, but currently I'm unable to because it seems to be incompatible with Combat Mod 3. I don't know how to combine the changes from both so I'm stuck choosing one or the other, and right now CMOD3 wins out.

lLongshanks · Post by **lLongshanks** » Sat, 26. Dec 09, 20:23

Just a thought but could you increas weapon range by 50% and speed by 20%. This way ships wont have to get so close to fire. Right now M4/5s only get 1-2 secs of shooting before they need to pull up.

tougeman · Post by **tougeman** » Sat, 26. Dec 09, 23:47

I believe this project to be dead unfortunately.

. he hast responded in a very long time.

darkangel666 · Post by **darkangel666** » Sat, 15. May 10, 14:54

My Argon Discoverer disappeared. Its a "little" bit invisible. I am using FCF 0.2.1a and x3:tc 2.6 .

ezra-r · Post by **ezra-r** » Tue, 18. May 10, 19:01

anyone using this and 2.6 with success?

HalcyonSpirit · Post by **HalcyonSpirit** » Tue, 18. May 10, 20:29

I am, so far. It has its quirks, but nothing game-breaking as of yet.

Killjaeden · Post by **Killjaeden** » Tue, 18. May 10, 21:51

can you specify what these quirks are?

HalcyonSpirit · Post by **HalcyonSpirit** » Tue, 18. May 10, 23:59

Probably the most prominent is that it's more difficult to get the auto-pillock to do its docking procedure with M4 and especially M5 class ships. Sometimes it works fine, but other times it'll get stuck in a loop and be unable to enter the docking lane. I think it's due to the increased evasion margin for the faster ships; in more crowded sectors, or oddly shaped stations, it sometimes won't be able to calculate a permissible autopilot path. The remedy? Dock manually, either with the comms or the Docking Computer (or go OOS and have it dock itself).

A secondary thing that has little to do with gameplay is that with the smaller, faster ships, you can't really zoom in close on them in 3rd-person view. This is due to the increased bubble size perceived by the game to be "the ship" (it's the collision avoidance zone). Makes it difficult to take good pictures of the smaller ships, but other than that, it doesn't affect much.

Like I said, I've not encountered anything particularly irritating or game-breaking yet. Just be careful, because right now you can't remove this mod and continue in a savegame that was using it before, so make sure you backup your saves from before adding the mod and try it out first.

Phier · Post by **Phier** » Wed, 19. May 10, 05:55

Does it work with existing save games?

This seems like the answer to the prayer that egosoft said they don't have the resources to fix.

[Mod] Formation Collision Fix (FCF) v0.2.1a (9-10-09) Slight M4 Adjustment

Agreed