[FUBAR-BDHR]

Zathras 2.2 available for dev testing only.  If your just playing the game this is not for you.

To use I suggest extracting into a new directory (something like Zathras2.2) and pointing the mod in the launcher there.  This way you can switch back and forth to confirm any issues with the previous version.  Of course you will need 3.6.14 or 3.6.15 exes. 

Know issues:

-Multiple warnings from the launcher about invalid flags such as -spec, -normal, -env, -glow.  These were removed and now default to on.
-Warning about the tech description of the Brakiri 57mm.  This is an old bug that was not caught before.  It is fixed in Zathras but there is no way around the warning as it still reads the 3.4b weapons.tbl first.
-A number of table entries have incorrect $detail distance entries.  These should start giving warnings in 3.6.15 builds r9346 and above.  I already have it fixed on my end and it will be in the next update.



Note I did not have time to test this very much and since it was almost 2 years out of date I threw it together the best I could remember.  It needs some major testing.

[karajorma]

I need to do a bunch of multiplayer bug fixing and I suspect this will be a good place to try out a few things I can't in Diaspora.

[Vidmaster]

Thanks a lot FUBAR. I do hope there are people who are willing to test it. Goddamn hand. Bored beyond belief here, nothing to do but watch TV. Holding a book is tiresome, typing with the left hand is ssssslllloooowww in addition.

[wesp5]

Of course you will need 3.6.14 or 3.6.15 exes. 

Do you have a quick link for those? And should we use 3.6.15, because wasn't 3.6.14 already outdated?

[Luis Dias]

Of course you will need 3.6.14 or 3.6.15 exes. 

Do you have a quick link for those? And should we use 3.6.15, because wasn't 3.6.14 already outdated?

3.6.14 is the stable official version. 3.6.15 are the nightlies, a lot less stable. Do what you want at your peril.

[wesp5]

Okay, so maybe 3.6.14 may be better. It would still cool if someone could link both here! Thanks...

[Luis Dias]

Okay, so maybe 3.6.14 may be better. It would still cool if someone could link both here! Thanks...

Come on they aren't that buried in the forum.... (are they?)

3.6.14 linked in this page:  http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=82648.0

3.6.15 nightlies here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?board=173.0

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Personally I prefer to compile my own so I can get call stacks and break into the debugger.   

Anyway as stated 3.6.14 is the stable build so if your planning on releasing anything anytime soon use that.  If not use 3.6.15.  I'd recommend having both so if you do find a bug in 3.6.15 you can see if it worked in 3.6.14. 

[wesp5]

Come on they aren't that buried in the forum.... (are they?)

I hardly look outside this forum, so when I did there were hundreds of different boards !

[Vidmaster]

There is this HIGHLIGHT at the top.

[wesp5]

There is this HIGHLIGHT at the top.

If you mean the Announcement board. I assumed this was for the boards themselves only...


Update: I have started testing MAGs Star Fury missions with Zathras 2.2 and 3.6.15 INF.

A distant star: No issues at all!

And now for a word: The Centauri Primus wins against the attacking G'Quan although the
latter starts with power beams. But it has to loose according to the show otherwise the
scripts break and the mission never ends. So has the Primus been enhanced somehow in
Zathras 2.2 or was this just bad luck of the Narn cruiser? It worked the last time I tried.

[Slasher]

Is this the first time the Centauri have won in that mission, or have you seen it happen before?

[Vidmaster]

As you know, I think MAGs missions are usually glitch-ridden and poorly balanced. It is probably nothing related to Zathras.

[wesp5]

As you know, I think MAGs missions are usually glitch-ridden and poorly balanced. It is probably nothing related to Zathras.

You are right, this was the eason I made my patch, because I still like the idea to replay events from the show !

I tried the mission again and this time the Narn cruiser won and everything worked out, so this has nothing to do with Zathras 2.2. I think I will update my unofficial patch for his missions and add a ending in case that the Centauri win...

[FUBAR-BDHR]

Well it is possible that both Zathras and the newer code have some things to do with it.  Object limits were bumped in the code and the weapons optimized in Zathras 2.1.  This means that all the guns that should have been firing but were not due to hitting limits (Centauri Twin Arrays are a good example) will now be working as designed.  This could easily result in a cap getting off a few more bursts then it used to if there are multiple ships firing at the same time. 

Of course not setting a guardian threshold so the ship that must win can't be destroyed is a mission flaw.  Never count on one ship always beating another.  Even a bad luck string of misses by one cap could cause something like this to happen. 

[wesp5]

Of course not setting a guardian threshold so the ship that must win can't be destroyed is a mission flaw.

Is there an elegant way to do this besides just setting the hulls which would be obvious on scanning?

Update: I gave the Narn cruisers two more beam salvos now, this should make sure it wins ! But I also
noticed that MAG forgot to include a sound file. Can this be added outside the vp file for a patch fix?

[karajorma]

A more elegant way is to set a series of decreasing thresholds. i.e cap it at 32 for a minute and then reduce that every x seconds to 26, 23, 18, etc. Avoiding numbers divisible by 5.

Basically you give the ship a little extra time to soak up the damage. If the player notices that the ship doesn't appear to take damage from a shot, they'll probably notice it later with lower hitpoints and think they were mistaken.

[wesp5]

A more elegant way is to set a series of decreasing thresholds.

Although my solution works fine right now, what are these thresholds you are talking about?

BTW, what are the keys to slow/speed up time in TBP? I did try SHIFT-,/. like in FS2 FAQs...

[karajorma]

I'm getting an error when running this in debug.

Code: [Select]

weapons.tbl(line 953):
Warning: Error parsing id# in XSTR() tag XSTR ("For their 57mm heavy pulse cannon, Brakiri designers chose to base their weapon off of the Narn 52mm and 75mm weapons... which was no small feat considering the Narn weapons sale practices.  Narn technicians would be sent along with the weapons so ensure that they weren't re-sold to 3rd parties, as well as prevent them from being reverse-engineered.  Brakiri agents managed to swap examples of both weapons for dummies, which were installed on test fighters which experienced "fuel core overloads", destroying all evidence of the theft.  Designers succedded in copying many of the higher yield power regulators, but chose more familiar technology in the focusing emitters, both for ease of local contruction, and to limit its apparent similarities to the Narn weapons from which they were based.  Unfortunately, the 57mm is a rather poor weapon.  It's poor weapon velocity and limited range are compounded by the low fire-rate.  Oddly enough though, it does considerably more dammage per shot than the Narn 52mm.  The Brakiri 57mm is best suited to knocking out subsystems on capital ships.", -1)

ntdll.dll! ZwWaitForSingleObject + 21 bytes
kernel32.dll! WaitForSingleObjectEx + 67 bytes
kernel32.dll! WaitForSingleObject + 18 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! SCP_DumpStack + 354 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! Warning + 430 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! error_display + 315 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! lcl_ext_get_id + 520 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! lcl_ext_localize_sub + 343 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! lcl_ext_localize + 47 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! stuff_string + 796 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! stuff_and_malloc_string + 96 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! stuff_malloc_string + 80 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! parse_weapon + 1453 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! parse_weaponstbl + 172 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! weapon_init + 79 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! game_init + 1588 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! game_main + 519 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! WinMain + 330 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! __tmainCRTStartup + 358 bytes
fs2_open_3_6_15d_INF_SSE2.exe! WinMainCRTStartup + 15 bytes
kernel32.dll! BaseThreadInitThunk + 18 bytes
ntdll.dll! RtlInitializeExceptionChain + 99 bytes
ntdll.dll! RtlInitializeExceptionChain + 54 bytes


I'd hazard a guess that the issue is the quote marks in that table but I'm not certain if the issue is with Zathras or my own screwed up install (I haven't run TBP for over 2 years and my folder is a complete mess of loose files (Earth Brakiri War seems to be a main contender for the cause).

[FUBAR-BDHR]

I'm getting an error when running this in debug.

* FUBAR-BDHR smacks Kara for not reading the know issues area of the release post.