Author Topic: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...  (Read 13192 times)

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Offline FUBAR-BDHR

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Not sure if that would cause this issue or not.  I'll have to test it out when I get time.
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Offline karajorma

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Problem was this line:
Code: [Select]
if (!ignore_player_mortality && (Player_ship->flags && SF_DYING)) {
The second part of that boolean will always evaluate to true.
Is this going to change the way end-mission behaves if it is fired after player death?



The fix made it work the way it should have when I added that line. You now have an option in the SEXP to make it check if the player is dead or not.
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Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Hm, I don't think that fix is the reason the "Wilderness" mission doesn't end, because I didn't die ;). But looking at the mission file I noticed that there is a suborder to destroy breaching pods. I don't think these ever appeared when I played it. Could that be the reason the mission didn't end? I haven't looked deeper into the script yet.

On a positive side I installed the VP viewer extractor tool and was already able to fix "Shadow Dancing" :). I just turned the wrong "Shadow Starfury" model into a Shadow crab and turned the "Shadow Destroyer" into a Shadow fighter, which should keep the mission balance intact as well. It works fine ingame, but how am I supposed to put the fixed fs2 file back into the vp pack? Do I need another tool for that besides the viewer? I also emailed the original creator of that mission for permission to fix it, but I haven't gotten an answer yet...

 

Offline The E

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
You do not need to put the mission file back in the vp, just put it in <TBP directory>\data\missions
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
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Offline Slasher

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Hm, I don't think that fix is the reason the "Wilderness" mission doesn't end, because I didn't die ;). But looking at the mission file I noticed that there is a suborder to destroy breaching pods. I don't think these ever appeared when I played it. Could that be the reason the mission didn't end? I haven't looked deeper into the script yet.



I don't know about Wilderness, but A View From the Gallery does include a wing of enemy breaching pods.  Their arrival/destruction doesn't impact the events in question as far as I can tell.

Here's the list of what has to be destroyed to trigger the end mission event:
Code: [Select]
$Formula: ( when
   ( is-destroyed-delay
      0
      "Alien Main wing A"
      "Alien Main wing B"
      "Alien Main wing C"
      "Alien Main Fleet"
      "Alien Advance Fleet"
      "Alien Advance wing A"
      "Alien Advance wing B"
   )
   ( send-message
      "Babylon 5"
      "High"
      "mission done yeah"
   )
)
+Name: mission done yeah
+Repeat Count: 1
+Interval: 1
+Team: 0

And the end mission event itself:
Code: [Select]
$Formula: ( when
   ( is-event-true-delay
      "mission done yeah"
      10
   )
   ( end-mission )
)
+Name: end
+Repeat Count: 1
+Interval: 1
+Team: 0

A lot of the attack wings come in waves, and if those particular directives are not showing up as completed despite their counters showing there are no ships left to be destroyed then I'm guessing a wave failed to show up.  This would result in that wing not being considered completely destroyed, thus not satisfying the conditionals for the first event above.  I'll have to look at the arrival and departure cues for those ships closer to see if anything is wrong there. 

 

Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
You do not need to put the mission file back in the vp, just put it in <TBP directory>\data\missions

I'm not talking about playing the missions, that works already :), but on how to present the fixed ones e.g. for the next DVD version. The original B5 Star Fury missions were all included into one vp file and I would like to keep it that way. Also my email to the pack creators was returned, any idea on how to contact them?

I have another problem for the experts here ;). In "Distant Star" and "In the beginning" the briefing screen is not shown. Also in "Shadow Dancing" there is a stage briefing, but again no second briefing, although I can't find any differences in the syntax compared to the working missions. What am I overlooking here?
« Last Edit: September 25, 2010, 05:03:02 pm by wesp5 »

 

Offline Slasher

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
If madaboutgames' contact isn't working, you could try sending a private message to IPAndrews.  He may have been one of the last people to have direct contact with MAG. 

karajorma's FAQ has some information on recompiling .vp files.  Check the bottom of this page.

Finally, the three mission above have the "No Briefing" flag checked in the Mission Specs editor.  In FRED2, hit Shift+N to open Mission Specs up.  The right side of this window is what you're concerned with.  You'll see the features I'm talking about over there.  In other words, the absence of a briefing in these missions is a design choice on madaboutgames' part.  "Shadow Dancing" has that first briefing, usually referred to as a "command briefing," because as far as I know it is not affected by the "No Briefing" flag. 

 

Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
If madaboutgames' contact isn't working, you could try sending a private message to IPAndrews.  He may have been one of the last people to have direct contact with MAG.

Are madaboutgames or MAG aliases of Shaun Williams? I tried the contact on the Heat Em Up webpage but that didn't work...

Quote
karajorma's FAQ has some information on recompiling .vp files.  Check the bottom of this page.

Thanks, I'll do that when the I'm ready. Yesterday I started removing the wave respawning and sensor-blocked fighters in "Twilight Struggle" as well as fixing the bad ship names.

Quote
Finally, the three mission above have the "No Briefing" flag checked in the Mission Specs editor.

Strange, because all of the missions have briefing text included. I'm not using FRED right now, but I'm editing the files directly because most of the time it's only about bad names and stuff. I'll have to take a look at FRED for this...

 

Offline The E

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Somehow, I don't think that contacting IPAndrews would do any good, based on his last appearances.
If I'm just aching this can't go on
I came from chasing dreams to feel alone
There must be changes, miss to feel strong
I really need lifе to touch me
--Evergrey, Where August Mourns

 

Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Somehow, I don't think that contacting IPAndrews would do any good, based on his last appearances.

Uh, I just read his profile: "Disgruntled Customer" and "This site stole my work". What is this all about? Is this another alias of Shaun Williams? I don't want to be accussed for "stealing" his work when I am just bugfixing it a little bit...

What I did up to now:

Shadow Dancing: Fixed two bad ship models/names by swapping a fighter and a battlecrab. Changed several ship numbers to start from 1 and not the object number. Changed the briefing so it is the same as with all the other missions.

Twilight Struggle: Removed respawning enemy waves and sensor-invisible fighter because it is not consistent with the episode and the mission. Lowered "pull out" event time so you can witness the end of the batte. Corrected two typos.

A Distant Star: Restored the already existing but diabled briefing.

In the Beginning: Restored the already existing but diabled briefing.

Other missions: Fixed occassional typos or half finished sentences.

 

Offline karajorma

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Starting to get into the Bug fixing/FREDding mood? :D  I did warn that could happen. :D

As for IP Andrews he's not the same person as MAG. I doubt MAG would complain too much about bugs in his missions being fixed if he's unable to fix them himself.
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Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Starting to get into the Bug fixing/FREDding mood? :D  I did warn that could happen. :D

It's fun and easy, and it has been my hobby with Bloodlines for a long time already :)!

Quote
I doubt MAG would complain too much about bugs in his missions being fixed if he's unable to fix them himself.

What I wonder is why these bugs are in there at all. Was he working under a deadline? I mean mixing up a starfury with a battlecrab or calling ships "Shadoo figher" or "hadow battlecrabs". Pure flippancy or what?

 

Offline Slasher

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
MAG was probably really enthusiastic about getting the missions out, hence the rush.  These things can happen. 

I was playing Relic yesterday because it's less torturous than my inverse trig integrals and noticed a few bugs/balance issues that never should have made it through.  Suffice to say a rerelease is coming out next month. :D

 

Offline FUBAR-BDHR

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Somehow, I don't think that contacting IPAndrews would do any good, based on his last appearances.

Uh, I just read his profile: "Disgruntled Customer" and "This site stole my work". What is this all about? Is this another alias of Shaun Williams? I don't want to be accussed for "stealing" his work when I am just bugfixing it a little bit...

What I did up to now:

Shadow Dancing: Fixed two bad ship models/names by swapping a fighter and a battlecrab. Changed several ship numbers to start from 1 and not the object number. Changed the briefing so it is the same as with all the other missions.

Twilight Struggle: Removed respawning enemy waves and sensor-invisible fighter because it is not consistent with the episode and the mission. Lowered "pull out" event time so you can witness the end of the batte. Corrected two typos.

A Distant Star: Restored the already existing but diabled briefing.

In the Beginning: Restored the already existing but diabled briefing.

Other missions: Fixed occassional typos or half finished sentences.

OK now that you have this file it in TBP Mantis along with the fixes and we can test and then decide how to re-release them if MAG doesn't show back up.

If you read this you will see why he shows up so infrequently.  http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=67409.msg1342508#msg1342508
No-one ever listens to Zathras. Quite mad, they say. It is good that Zathras does not mind. He's even grown to like it. Oh yes. -Zathras

 

Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
OK now that you have this file it in TBP Mantis along with the fixes and we can test and then decide how to re-release them if MAG doesn't show back up.

At the moment I have the separate fs2 files only, should I pack them back into the vp? Also I don't know what TBP Mantis is, the local ftp site or something? How do I access it? I could always just upload the files to FileFront and PM the link.

Quote
If you read this you will see why he shows up so infrequently.  http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=67409.msg1342508#msg1342508

Ah, now I understand. Still someone in this thread mentions that he has MAGs EMW missions. Maybe the demo could be expanded into a full campain using them for DVD 2.0?

 

Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Update: I think I'm through with most of the fixes and improvements and already packed the fs2 files into a patch to apply to the mod so there is no additional building of a vp needed. But I have two issues left with "A view from a gallery". Although I finally managed to get the fleet to deploy the breaching pods by setting their $Departure Cue: ( false ) , they appear to soon and don't move. Also although all enemies have been destroye, neither the two objectives to do so grey out, nor the mission ends and I can't see the error. Please help!

Also regarding DVD 2.0, I recommend to rename the Earth Minbari War Demo to Earth Minbari War Mini Campaign and do the same to the Dark Children Mini Campain. Thus it looks better and people'll know what to expect ;)!
« Last Edit: September 30, 2010, 05:10:31 pm by wesp5 »

 

Offline Slasher

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
In regards to the breaching pods, tweak their arrival and departure cues as you see fit.  If they arrive too early, increase the delay of their appearance after the main fleet from 61 seconds to something higher.  Then you simply need to edit their departure cue such that their departure location target is Babylon 5, and they head for it as soon as they arrive.  The example below has the Breaching Pods entering the mission about a minute and a half after the main alien force arrives.  A second later they head for Babylon 5's docking bay.



The mission breaking problem of hostile wings not registering as being destroyed can be solved similarly.  I've noticed each of the hostile fighter wings has 2 or 3 waves of about 6 fighters each.  They're set to launch from the enemy capital ships.  What's probably happening is that the caps are getting nuked before every wave can be launched, and the mission requires 100% destruction of the enemy waves.  When the arrival anchors for those fighter wings is removed from the mission, in this case the capital ships being destroyed, those wings stop showing up.  Any remaining waves will not make an appearance, and when the game checks to see if a wing has been destroyed it checks to make sure all the waves of that particular wing were destroyed too.  If you blow up the first wave of a 3 wave wing, for instance, you've only done 33% of the work the mission actually demands from you.  If the capital ship that deploys those wings gets blown up thereafter, before the remaining 66% can show up in the mission, this goal will never return true.  

There are number of ways around this.  For one, you can set the arrival location for all hostile ships to "Hyperspace" to guarantee all the fighters will eventually show up.  Alternatively, do an overhaul of the mission objectives such that only partial destruction of the total enemy force doesn't break the mission.  

 

Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
In regards to the breaching pods, tweak their arrival and departure cues as you see fit.

Hm, examining the file after your explanation, the pods probably just need a cue to start towards B5. I'll add a valid one.

Quote
I've noticed each of the hostile fighter wings has 2 or 3 waves of about 6 fighters each.

This may be the problem. I'll just remove the additional waves as no cruiser lives long enough to deploy them anyway ;).

 

Offline FUBAR-BDHR

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Not a good idea.  Good players will take out a wave long before the caps die. 
No-one ever listens to Zathras. Quite mad, they say. It is good that Zathras does not mind. He's even grown to like it. Oh yes. -Zathras

 

Offline wesp5

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Re: B5 - Star Fury Pilot...
Not a good idea.  Good players will take out a wave long before the caps die.  

Okay, I may be just a beginner, but the advance fleet drops 6 fighters and the main fleet 18. There were supposed to be 3 waves in the advance fleet and 4 waves in the main fleet which would make 90 fighters altogther. One of the capital ships would surely die before that number of fighters can be destroyed! Anyhow, I removed the additional waves and finally got the mission end soon after all cruisers had died :).

Speaking of which, I'm now playing "Investation", also by MAG, and I'm stuck in the mission where I should disable the fleeing freighters. I did so, some of them turning friendly and others not, but the mission does not continue. What am I supposed to do now? Disarm the hostile ones too? Is this another script bug?
« Last Edit: October 01, 2010, 04:27:23 pm by wesp5 »