[Echelon9]

Tested compile on Mac, it at least builds against latest trunk (r8627). Haven't given it any more fulsome testing.

Patch that will apply cleanly against that revision attached -- no operative changes.

[attachment deleted by a ninja]

[Zacam]

Using the last posted patch, I was able to get confirmation of compile on OS X, and confirmed compile on Windows. Still need to test compiling under Linux.

Nothing jumps out at me as needing correction, and my tests with the MediaVPs and Blue Planet did not produce any odd behaviours.

Assuming that Linux has no issues, I'll have this committed by Tuesday afternoon (It's now Monday for me right now) unless anybody else can come up with anything that needs correction.

I attached a mildly altered version that I'll be committing, baring any issues.

[attachment deleted by a ninja]

[Zacam]

Committed r8629

Would still like more feedback regarding this, but honestly it's been long enough that anything potentially still outstanding on it is probably minor enough or fringe enough that it can be dealt with while live.

[Nuke]

it did make me get an understanding for how ridiculously complicated the engines damage computations are. it gave me headaches. so glad its finally in.

[Droid803]

YES. YES. YES.
/M. Bison.

[Goober5000]

hurr durr

How many people tested this patch with this in mind?

make sure i didnt break the game's damage mechanics

This revision is apparently the cause of the recently discovered difficulty bug.

[Nuke]

i figured with the big red letters it would have been at the top of everyone's list.

the main feature/bugfix of the patch was the ability to tell the game when to do the damage calculations for difficulty scaling. the difficulty scaling was done before the armor-damage calculations originally. so i added +Difficulty Scale Type:, which can be set to one of 3 things "first" (default), "last" or "manual". if set to manual, then no difficulty scaling would be done (new features gave you access to the scaling factor and you could use explicitly it in your calculations). if this mode was somehow defaulting to manual it would explain why this is happening. but thats just a theory. il take a look at this tomorrow when my brain isnt tired and the contents of my freespace2 folder is brought up to date.

[Macfie]

hurr durr

How many people tested this patch with this in mind?

make sure i didnt break the game's damage mechanics

This revision is apparently the cause of the recently discovered difficulty bug.

Actually, I believe this problem was commented on several times but was commented on as a change in the AI response.  Which was generally blown off with the comment that there had been no change to the AI and no further investigation was performed.

[Goober5000]

Sounds like groupthink.  Can you point to specific posts or quotes so that we can learn to avoid falling into those traps in the future?

[General Battuta]

hurr durr

How many people tested this patch with this in mind?

make sure i didnt break the game's damage mechanics

This revision is apparently the cause of the recently discovered difficulty bug.

Actually, I believe this problem was commented on several times but was commented on as a change in the AI response.  Which was generally blown off with the comment that there had been no change to the AI and no further investigation was performed.

Sounds like groupthink.  Can you point to specific posts or quotes so that we can learn to avoid falling into those traps in the future?

No, actually, last time Macfie brought this up, I told him the AI shouldn't have been changed and if he was observing change it was a serious issue that needed to be investigated.

Let me go get the specific quotes.

e: actually apparently i just trailed off like a slackjawed moron http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=83485.msg1669976#msg1669976

[Mongoose]

Hey, if I had a nickel for every time I did that, I'd...

So when this bug gets sorted out, would it be grounds for a re-release of 3.6.16 final?  Because I feel like the last thing we want to be doing is pointing newbies at an official version that's liable to slaughter them on a regular basis.

(Meanwhile, like a masochistic idiot, Mongoose keeps using this build...)

[chief1983]

Higher difficulty levels probably aren't having as big a difference, so our veteran players probably didn't notice anything with it.  But we'll be version bumping, not trying to release a second 3.6.16.  Probably expect a 3.6.16.1 as soon as this is fixed.