[chief1983]

Heat tells you it's either neutral or hostile if it's _not_ emitting a friendly IFF signal.  And in a heated battle, anything not emitting a detectable IFF signal is probably assumed hostile until visual ID or some other info from command determines it to be otherwise.

[Akalabeth Angel]

Even so, you've got a heat signature, and nothing else. It doesn't tell you anything about your target except location, and maybe velocity. Doesn't tell you who they are. "Captain, infrared scans detecting a heat signature in sector 2, on course x by y by z." That's all you've got. Are they friendly? Hostile? You don't know. Heat doesn't tell you jack.

       Uh, to quote the rocket page:

"When the enemy spots your ship by the exhaust plume, it not only knows that a ship is there, it also knows the ship's exhaust velocity, engine mass flow, engine power, thrust, acceleration, ship's mass and ship's course. Not only can it tell a warship from a cargo freighter with all that information, but it can also tell the class of warship, and maybe make a good stab at determining which particular member of that class it is.

In more detail: as mentioned above, propulsion system's exhaust velocity is revealed by the doppler shift in the emission lines, mass flow is revealed by the plume's luminosity, the thrust is exhaust velocity times mass flow, acceleration is revealed by watching how fast the plume origin changes position, ship's mass is thrust divided by acceleration, and ship's course is revealed by plotting the vector of the plume origin."

     So actually, from an engine emission, you can tell a great deal.
     If you can track the engine emission in a dogfight you can probably essentially track the craft itself. And if you need to put a few wide angle lenses or however you'd detect that on your craft, why not? A radar is what, just a rotating lense/dish itself. It's not all that different.

So maybe by the time of or near FreeSpace they've solved that. Maybe not. Maybe even with all their fancy tech. they can't fit enough of a computer on a small craft to handle that. Nothing is really said about it, but if these fighters have fusion power plants, they have to have a LOT of radiation shielding, plus the hull has to be fairly heavy as well, to survive stellar radiation plus radiation from heavy weapons. Doesn't leave a lot of room for the on-board computer.

        Eh, Freespace sensors are accurate enough to give relative speed of the target, not to mention the orientation of the target since they can guess accurately enough about what ship is attacking what target.

Plus, any combat pilot will tell you that if you make it so they have to pay attention to too many guages, dials, buttons etc., they'll die. So, given your usual military mentality, such systems are not going to be included as they are not effective, and they just create more cockpit clutter.

        The method that a computer determines target data is irrelevant to how that data is displayed to the ship's commander. It's all going to be the same data within the limitations of the information gathering process.

BTW, Akalabeth, you need a refresher course on your physics. The data you get from tracking a thermal signature that started at earth and was heading to Mars while you're at Pluto would be hours upon hours delayed, but there's no time dilation. Each second that passed, you'd get the next second's data, at whatever delay you were at due to the range.

     Hours upon hours?
     Light takes 8 minutes to reach Earth from the Sun, or 1 AU. Pluto is at most 49 AU from the Sun. Depends upon the relationship of the planets of course, but a ship leaving Earth for Mars, the information would get to Pluto in what, under 7 hours? That's not exactly a long time. Perhaps I should've specified more than there's no Stealth due to the Craft's exhaust, at which point people would say "but maybe the Shivans don't give off exhaust" or "maybe they use Grav drives, lalalala" or somesuch, at which point the heat of the craft would make it detectable.


      Anyway, as I said I liked the TVWP. No locking was fun. But Freespace, however fun, isn't an accurate universe. There are very few, if any games, on the market that are.

[rubixcube]

sorry are you supposed to put these in subfolders in the mod folder? The mod is working but the models aren't showing up
There all just Ullysses

[Jeff Vader]

You've failed somehow.

Click the "Troubleshooting FAQ" link in my signature.
Scroll down to the bottom of the thread.
Read the "Your fs2_open.log" part and act according to the instructions.
Post your fs2_open.log here.

[CaptJosh]

I think I know how he failed. He's calling the files that get downloaded folders. They're not. They're zip archive files. Their contents must be extracted to the mod directory. Furthermore, The Unification War Act 1 campaign must be selected also.

[Snail]

Well yeah I was trying to steal some of your ships for a few random mods I was doing, and I found that the Kestrel has some kind of radius problem or something. Instead of flying around like a normal person, it decides to fly very slowly about 5 meters from my ship and occasionally try to take a peek into my cockpit, firing the occasional shot. The table is clearly not at fault; as I tried a whole load of variations with no effect.

Is this normal?

[NGTM-1R]

That sounds like the Aeshma...

[Titan]

Well, then how does the AI work? Does it look for specific parameters, then decide how it's going to play?

[Androgeos Exeunt]

I don't think so. They use their primaries at short range, and missiles at anything beyond that. If they're armed with torpedoes, they'll make a beeline for the warship they are supposed to attack and fire at as maximum a range as they can get.

When it comes to dogfights, they will always try one of two tactics:

1. Flee so that another AI can smack their predator up; or
2. Out-circle the enemy.

They tend to do 2. more often on higher difficulties.

[Dey]

I ran into a problem with the demo.

Code: [Select]

Error: Could not load in main hall mask '2_MainScreen-M'!

(This error most likely means that you are missing required 1024x768 interface art.)
File: MainHallMenu.cpp
Line: 1114


Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
I haven't spotted this on the forums and I don't know why this problem occurred.
The mainscreens is just black and anywhere I click it will ask me if I really want to quit the game.
I'm using the 3.6.10 build of SCP if that's of interest.

[The E]

Could you run a debug build (fs2_open_3_6_10d.exe) and post the fs2_open.log from the data folder inside of your FS2 directory?

[Dey]

fs2_open.log:

Code: [Select]

==========================================================================
DEBUG SPEW: No debug_filter.cfg found, so only general, error, and warning
categories can be shown and no debug_filter.cfg info will be saved.
==========================================================================
FreeSpace version: 3.6.10
Passed cmdline options:
  -spec_exp 8.2
  -spec_static 3.5
  -spec_point 8.6
  -spec_tube 1.0
  -ambient_factor 70
  -env
  -mipmap
  -missile_lighting
  -glow
  -nomotiondebris
  -spec
  -normal
  -3dshockwave
  -no_vsync
  -dualscanlines
  -rearm_timer
  -targetinfo
  -3dwarp
  -ship_choice_3d
  -weapon_choice_3d
  -warp_flash
  -snd_preload
  -mod TVWP
Building file index...
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-enhanced.vp' with a checksum of 0xe0853b04
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-missions.vp' with a checksum of 0x9e0d67e1
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-models.vp' with a checksum of 0x8db9f490
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-movies.vp' with a checksum of 0x1b53b12f
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-normal.vp' with a checksum of 0xbae77fb9
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-Root.vp' with a checksum of 0x0998d700
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\FS2OGGcutscenepack.vp' with a checksum of 0x84396e99
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\multi-mission-pack.vp' with a checksum of 0x377695e0
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\multi-voice-pack.vp' with a checksum of 0xd50e7442
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\root_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0x3f08ae08
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\smarty_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0x0098ee1f
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\sparky_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0x749032a2
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\sparky_hi_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0x566add58
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\stu_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0xf2983309
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\tango1_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0xd4e3ad49
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\tango2_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0x799e46a1
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\tango3_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0x825f5ee0
Found root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\warble_fs2.vp' with a checksum of 0xa7037300
Searching root 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\' ... 1 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-enhanced.vp' ... 248 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-missions.vp' ... 12 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-models.vp' ... 97 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-movies.vp' ... 1 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-normal.vp' ... 101 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\TVWP\TVWP-Root.vp' ... 236 files
Searching root 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\' ... 49 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\FS2OGGcutscenepack.vp' ... 10 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\multi-mission-pack.vp' ... 110 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\multi-voice-pack.vp' ... 307 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\root_fs2.vp' ... 157 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\smarty_fs2.vp' ... 10 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\sparky_fs2.vp' ... 3027 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\sparky_hi_fs2.vp' ... 1337 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\stu_fs2.vp' ... 1777 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\tango1_fs2.vp' ... 32 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\tango2_fs2.vp' ... 15 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\tango3_fs2.vp' ... 10 files
Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\warble_fs2.vp' ... 52 files
Found 20 roots and 7589 files.
Setting language to German
Initializing OpenAL...
  Using 'Generic Software' as OpenAL sound device...
  OpenAL Vendor     : Creative Labs Inc.
  OpenAL Renderer   : Software
  OpenAL Version    : 1.1

... OpenAL successfully initialized!
Initializing OpenGL graphics device at 1280x1024 with 32-bit color...
  Initializing WGL...
  Requested WGL Video values = R: 8, G: 8, B: 8, depth: 32, double-buffer: 1
  Actual WGL Video values    = R: 8, G: 8, B: 8, depth: 32, double-buffer: 1
  OpenGL Vendor     : NVIDIA Corporation
  OpenGL Renderer   : GeForce 8800 GT/PCI/SSE2
  OpenGL Version    : 3.1.0

  Using extension "GL_EXT_fog_coord".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_multitexture".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_texture_env_add".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_texture_compression".
  Using extension "GL_EXT_texture_compression_s3tc".
  Using extension "GL_EXT_texture_filter_anisotropic".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_texture_env_combine".
  Using extension "GL_EXT_compiled_vertex_array".
  Using extension "GL_EXT_draw_range_elements".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_texture_mirrored_repeat".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_texture_non_power_of_two".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_vertex_buffer_object".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_pixel_buffer_object".
  Using extension "GL_SGIS_generate_mipmap".
  Using extension "GL_EXT_framebuffer_object".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_texture_rectangle".
  Using extension "GL_EXT_bgra".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_texture_cube_map".
  Using extension "GL_EXT_texture_lod_bias".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_point_sprite".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_shading_language_100".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_shader_objects".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_vertex_shader".
  Using extension "GL_ARB_fragment_shader".
  Using extension "GL_NV_vertex_program3".
  Found special extension function "wglSwapIntervalEXT".

  Compiling shader ->  null-v.sdr / null-f.sdr ...
  Shader in_error!  Disabling GLSL!

  Max texture units: 4 (4)
  Max elements vertices: 1048576
  Max elements indices: 1048576
  Max texture size: 8192x8192
  Can use compressed textures: YES
  Texture compression available: YES
  Using trilinear texture filter.
... OpenGL init is complete!
Size of bitmap info = 705 KB
Size of bitmap extra info = 40 bytes
ANI cursorweb with size 24x24 (25.0% wasted)
GRAPHICS: Initializing default colors...
SCRIPTING: Beginning initialization sequence...
SCRIPTING: Beginning Lua initialization...
LUA: Opening LUA state...
LUA: Initializing base Lua libraries...
LUA: Beginning ADE initialization
ADE: Initializing enumeration constants...
ADE: Assigning Lua session...
SCRIPTING: Beginning main hook parse sequence....
Wokka!  Error opening file (scripting.tbl)!
TABLES: Unable to parse 'scripting.tbl'!  Error code = 5.
SCRIPTING: Inititialization complete.
SCRIPTING: Splash screen overrides checked
SCRIPTING: Splash hook has been run
SCRIPTING: Splash screen conditional hook has been run
Using high memory settings...
Wokka!  Error opening file (interface.tbl)!
WMCGUI: Unable to parse 'interface.tbl'!  Error code = 5.
ANI 2_radar1 with size 209x170 (33.6% wasted)
Windoze reported 16 joysticks, we found 0
Current soundtrack set to -1 in event_music_reset_choices
Wokka!  Error opening file (armor.tbl)!
TABLES: Unable to parse 'armor.tbl'!  Error code = 5.
WARNING: "Unable to find WEAPON_LIST_TYPE string "Training#A"  in ship: Falcon's primary banks." at PARSELO.CPP:2525
WARNING: "Unable to find WEAPON_LIST_TYPE string "Training#B"  in ship: Falcon's primary banks." at PARSELO.CPP:2525
WARNING: "Unable to find WEAPON_LIST_TYPE string "Training#C"  in ship: Falcon's primary banks." at PARSELO.CPP:2525
WARNING: "Use of 'ballistic primaries' flag for ship 'Falcon' - this flag is no longer needed." at Ship.cpp:4127
TBM  =>  Starting parse of 'tvwp-turretangle-shp.tbm' ...
WARNING: "Spelling error in table file.  Please change "inital" to "initial"." at ModelAnim.cpp:69
WARNING: "Pbank capacity not specified for ballistic-primary-enabled ship Firebee. Defaulting to capacity of 1 per bank." at Ship.cpp:5377
loading animated cursor "cursor"
ANI cursor with size 24x24 (25.0% wasted)
Ships.tbl is : INVALID!!!!
Weapons.tbl is : INVALID!!!!
cfile_init() took 216
Got event GS_EVENT_GAME_INIT (49) in state NOT A VALID STATE (0)
ANI cursor.ani with size 24x24 (25.0% wasted)
Got event GS_EVENT_MAIN_MENU (0) in state GS_STATE_INITIAL_PLAYER_SELECT (37)
Someone passed an extension to bm_load for file '103rd.pcx'
WARNING! Couldn't load main hall background bitmap 2_MainScreen
WARNING! Couldn't load main hall background mask 2_MainScreen-M
ERROR: Could not load in main hall mask '2_MainScreen-M'!

(This error most likely means that you are missing required 1024x768 interface art.)
File: MainHallMenu.cpp
Line: 1114
    game_enter_state()    gameseq_set_state()    game_process_event()    gameseq_process_events()    game_main()    WinMain()    WinMainCRTStartup()    kernel32.dll 776beccb()
    ntdll.dll 77c0d24d()
    ntdll.dll 77c0d45f()
Int3(): From e:\storage\fso\fs2_open_3_6_10\code\globalincs\windebug.cpp at line 1235


[The E]

It seems your FS2 installation is corrupt.

Code: [Select]

Searching root pack 'E:\Spiele\FreeSpace2\stu_fs2.vp' ... 1777 files
stu_fs2.vp should contain 2355 files. While the file numbers for the other retail vps seem OK, the fact that a file like 2_MainScreen-M.pcx cannot be found is slightly worrying. I would recommend reinstalling FS2, see if that fixes the problem.

[NJSP 3002]

i dont know why but for some odd reason it says im missing 20 ship classes which is peventing me to play the game can anyone help? i downloaded every thing that was there to download so i dont know

[General Battuta]

You've got a rogue table somewhere. Could we have a screenshot of your FS2 directory? Do you have any mods selected?

[NJSP 3002]

see thats what i thought but all i did was select mod i click on tvwp then hit run the everything was good i just didnt have any ships

[Goober5000]

Did you choose the TVWP campaign from the campaign room?

[NJSP 3002]

yes i did

[Goober5000]

Post a screenshot of the "20 ship classes missing" message.

[Ziame]

Nvm, fixed. I bet the other guy doesn't have tvwp root extracted