[MOD] X2: Firelance 4.0.4 [RELEASE] [16/June/2012]

SteelRush · Post by **SteelRush** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 16:41

Slocket wrote:Got some more info. I did not see the Bonus Material unistall according to the official instructions, it still left the items for sale (Aegis system) in the game upon a restart; so to remove ALL offical scripts, I uninstalled and re-installed fresh the whole X2. Now no odd scripts running loose.

Uninstalled, then re-install X2.

I have US version 1.0 patch to 1.2, then 1.4.

I added the Bonus Material 1.04.01 without Gunnery crew or Fusion inject.

I used the noCD patch (thank God for small things).

I used Firelance version 1.3. Start new game.

I sent my Mercury to the SSP beta to wait there. I cruised my M5 to SPP Alpha in Argon Prime and docked. I filled my M5 up with cells. No problem. All contols and setting default for gameplay.

Now I fly over to the Mass Ammo Factory to sell my cells, and use 'U' to autodock, then hit ESC to skip the flying inside the station. Then CTD.

Tried to reload and try to dock again, manually, flying inside, etc. CTD every time.

Sorry, I do not know what is wrong. I can not get past even the second docking for my ship.

I am going to uninstall again to rid all scripts and play vanilla X2 to see if it is my computer or not. Reinstalling is painful.

My current theory on the CTDs is this. Firelance is X2 on steroids. It pushes the engine HARD. I think problems that normally wouldn't affect vanilla X2 are coming to light because of the taxing of the engine and system.

Try some of the fixes in the tech FAQ, most notibly, try turning off EAX and Auto-saving. Let me know if any of these help. Here's a link to the tech FAQ:

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25361

Also, those having voice issues, look at this thread:

http://www.egosoft.com/support/faq/inde ... &version=4

I've been playing the game without incident. No voice or CTD issues. If any of these solutions work, please let me know. There's not alot I can do when I don't have these problems personally to fix them. If you have these problems and wish to contact me via MSN, I'll be happy to try and help you sort through them and hopefully get a solution for everyone having them. But if it's just problems coming to light because of my theory, then I fear there won't be one solution for all.

D_Zorro · Post by **D_Zorro** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 16:50

will have to try that out. Thanks for the help stealrush.
There is one question though, why so little types of weapons ???

DZorro,

Stealth · Post by **Stealth** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 17:02

Would you rather we kept the original alpha-beta-gamma set?

The old "variety" of weapons wasn't as various as it seemed. The Beta weapons, while a mainstay, were always in the shadow of Gamma versions. On the other hand, Alphas were the runt of the pack, literally not even deserving of their weapon name, no matter which category they belonged to. In the end, we at XSS opted for using a much more varied grid, that would diversify the weapons and cut the numbers (and subsequently, make the weapons economy much cleaner) at the same time.

On the other hand, we experimented with changing even the hardcoded through a bit of creative use of OBJs, and as far as I know no other mod has weapons that behave so differently from one another. The best example would be the HEPTs - if you don't believe me, run up to that Centaur, poke it with a stick and try to avoid getting *directly* hit by the HEPT bolt - you'll be unpleasantly surprised.

SteelRush · Post by **SteelRush** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 17:48

D_Zorro wrote:will have to try that out. Thanks for the help stealrush.
There is one question though, why so little types of weapons ???

DZorro,

As Stealth said, I was looking for quality, not quantity. I was able to get a blend of unique weapons, while increasing availability of them. You won't be guessing anymore as to what's shooting at you.

EDIT - I plan to do one more modification to 1.03 and make it official in a few hours. It's clean and should not cause any issues for anyone. So stay tuned for that release.

quintis vindex · Post by **quintis vindex** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 17:52

Re: Ships,

I understand all of your concerns, and any inherent difficulty.

My deal is simply some visual variety, I would be perfectly happy with a ship (like Deadly's Roger Young or Sulaco, which are by far much more better looking than any in game ships) that had the exact same properties as the vanilla ships.

Eitherway, can't wait to get home from class and try this mod out

SteelRush · Post by **SteelRush** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 18:52

1.03 has been released. I've cleaned anything that could cause CTDs out, most notibly the scripts inside the CAT/DAT package.

The only official plugin changes this makes, is it strips the cost out of the Basic Patrols, and sets the resupply ships to give more MD ammo to Split/Argon ships.

See the tech FAQs listed if you are having voice or CTD errors.

Cisor · Post by **Cisor** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 19:25

Thanx for the update, SteelRush.

However, working on my sound causing CTD's theory (earlier post), I went and got the latest Realtek drivers for AC'97, dated 30/08/2005, and miraculously, I haven't had a single CTD since!!!! (My previous drivers were June 2005).

Maybe, if the AC'97 sound chip is the common factor for CTD's, it'll resolve everyone else's problems too.

Anyhow, a few more gremlin's I found;

1) In Siezewell, the Falcon M type says it comes with ION's but as you know it can only fit IRE's

2) I captured a Xenon L and as it was my first M3, used it as my personal ship for a while. BUT the IRE's don't fire properly on it. It's not an energy problem either, with a full bar, they mostly just won't fire. (Not a biggy, because who in their right mind would use a XENON L as their personal ship!)

Thanx for the follow up. Supporting software is never the fun part of IT, is it?

Aketzali · Post by **Aketzali** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 20:04

Cisor wrote:Maybe, if the AC'97 sound chip is the common factor for CTD's, it'll resolve everyone else's problems too.

I also have the AC'97 sound chip and have now installed the latest Realtek driver, but my game still crashes to desktop.

SteelRush · Post by **SteelRush** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 20:24

Cisor wrote:1) In Siezewell, the Falcon M type says it comes with ION's but as you know it can only fit IRE's

IDs occupy the former Gamma IRE slot, so that's why it is trying to equip them on the ship. It's hardcoded, I cannot change it.

Cisor wrote:2) I captured a Xenon L and as it was my first M3, used it as my personal ship for a while. BUT the IRE's don't fire properly on it. It's not an energy problem either, with a full bar, they mostly just won't fire. (Not a biggy, because who in their right mind would use a XENON L as their personal ship!)

I'll check into this and release a fix if need be.

Stealth · Post by **Stealth** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 20:28

Cisor wrote:2) I captured a Xenon L and as it was my first M3, used it as my personal ship for a while. BUT the IRE's don't fire properly on it. It's not an energy problem either, with a full bar, they mostly just won't fire. (Not a biggy, because who in their right mind would use a XENON L as their personal ship!)

Just for kicks, which ship did you capture it with?

Cisor · Post by **Cisor** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 20:32

Thanx, SteelRush.

@Aketzali: Did you install the WDM_A376 & AP_376 exe's? The latter are the drivers, and I think the former is Realtek's mixer (but may also contain codecs)? If not, give it a bash and let us know.

PS: I didn't need to install the 1.03 update. 1.02 is working fine now.

Cisor · Post by **Cisor** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 20:44

@Stealth: I caught it with the disco, just outside the gate in blockade sector 372 (I think that's what it's called). It was being shot up by Teladi Busters and Condors and I just got the final lucky pretty fizzle.

Which reminds me, the repairing costs don 'tseem to be in keeping with the new ship prices? Untweakable?

SteelRush · Post by **SteelRush** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 20:56

Cisor wrote:@Stealth: I caught it with the disco, just outside the gate in blockade sector 372 (I think that's what it's called). It was being shot up by Teladi Busters and Condors and I just got the final lucky pretty fizzle.

Which reminds me, the repairing costs don 'tseem to be in keeping with the new ship prices? Untweakable?

Unfortunately, that stuff is hardcoded. I'm doing good to get everything packed in I did as there are hard walls of limitations of things I can do, and even then I was able to flex the engine some.

I released a 1.03a version that fixes the Xenon fighters. Thanks for the bug report.

1.02 users, Hired Gunnery Crew support was removed in this version, as they slowed things down more than they helped. Note that weird things may happen if you use them in 1.03a.

Cisor · Post by **Cisor** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 21:20

@SteelRush: Yeah, I hear yuh, no criticism intended. You (and your team/testers) have done a temendous job in getting it this far.

About fighting:

Man, am I getting my butt kicked on a regular basis now. (I love it). No more taking on pirates in any old thing (TS or m4 or m5). Seems I'm finally going to have to use the Strafing Drive. Rats!! It somehow feels like cheating!
And now I'll need wingmen too. And I'll feel so guilty when they die! (I'm one of those players that goes in all alone, no matter what the game. Heck, I got through Republic Commando by telling them all to go hide over there behind that big rock until it's safe).

About the gunnery crews:

Is it completely borked or are you thinking of putting it back at some stage? (I kinda liked the way it perked up AI capital ships).
[/quote]

SteelRush · Post by **SteelRush** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 21:26

Cisor wrote:About the gunnery crews:

Is it completely borked or are you thinking of putting it back at some stage? (I kinda liked the way it perked up AI capital ships).

[/quote]

Well, here's the thing. I built combat AROUND the AI. Not the AI around the combat. That's why it plain works. You'll find AI capships more effective without it.

I did alot of simulated combat making this, and Stealth helped hammer out testing as well. With Gunnery Crews, there seems to be some lag added to their firing. Without it, they fire at the weapon's max potential.

Trust me, you won't miss it.

Cisor · Post by **Cisor** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 21:31

@SteelRush: Gotcha on the gunnery crews. I wasn't looking forward to hunting for crew anyway.

SteelRush · Post by **SteelRush** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 22:13

Cisor wrote:Thanx for the update, SteelRush.

However, working on my sound causing CTD's theory (earlier post), I went and got the latest Realtek drivers for AC'97, dated 30/08/2005, and miraculously, I haven't had a single CTD since!!!! (My previous drivers were June 2005).

Maybe, if the AC'97 sound chip is the common factor for CTD's, it'll resolve everyone else's problems too.

Anyhow, a few more gremlin's I found;

1) In Siezewell, the Falcon M type says it comes with ION's but as you know it can only fit IRE's

2) I captured a Xenon L and as it was my first M3, used it as my personal ship for a while. BUT the IRE's don't fire properly on it. It's not an energy problem either, with a full bar, they mostly just won't fire. (Not a biggy, because who in their right mind would use a XENON L as their personal ship!)

Thanx for the follow up. Supporting software is never the fun part of IT, is it?

Took a second for all this to sink in. This is an interesting theory. It seems my testers are not using AC'97 products, and when I was making the mod, I had a SB Audigy 2 ZS in my system. I have updated the main thread about this.

Anyone having trouble, please try this and see if it fixes your CTDs. Thanks again Cisor.

Cisor · Post by **Cisor** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 22:35

@SteelRush: Just hope it works for them too. Would be a shame if everyone who wanted couldn't get to enjoy your mod.

I hope the X3 team take a look at it too (and the Terradine mod). You guys have played the game and as players (along with all the plugin authors) have taken it so much farther than the original, gameplay, challenge and enjoyment wise.

And if you're thinking of adding some of the new ships... WOW!

D_Zorro · Post by **D_Zorro** » Tue, 6. Sep 05, 23:25

There was one question i forgot to ask noticed that the weapons are much stronger now, how about the shield recharge rate ??? Have they been increased too ??

I have not seen any mention about this though ??:?

DZorro,

SteelRush · Post by **SteelRush** » Wed, 7. Sep 05, 00:11

D_Zorro wrote:There was one question i forgot to ask noticed that the weapons are much stronger now, how about the shield recharge rate ??? Have they been increased too ??

I have not seen any mention about this though ??:?

DZorro,

Shields remain the same charging rate.