[diamondgeezer]

Forgiveness, please, but I cannae seem to get my ballistic primaries working. I checked in the stuff from the 3.5 readme, just like it said, but the weapon tbl refused to parse properly.

Since the previous threads have slid off the board in to forum limbo, could somebody please post or link to a working entry for a ship and a primary weapon with the whole ballistic thing wired in properly?

[ZylonBane]

[insert usual rant against illiteracy here]

[diamondgeezer]

[Insert usual "Zylon is a wanker" rant here]


Has this been an unreasonable request? Or is the above post merely Zylon being Zylon?

[Goober5000]

I'd post a link, but what I had up here earlier may have been a previous (unofficial) version that wouldn't be compatible.  What exactly isn't working?  Can you post an error message?

On the other hand, we're still squashing bugs in the weapons management routines, so it might be due to this instead...

[Sesquipedalian]

Originally posted by diamondgeezer
[Insert usual "Zylon is a wanker" rant here]


Has this been an unreasonable request? Or is the above post merely Zylon being Zylon?

ZB is referring to his longstanding contention that the term ballistic has been misapplied in this case, rather than to anything to do with you, DG.

[ZylonBane]

Right.

[Nico]

Originally posted by ZylonBane
[insert usual rant against illiteracy here]

well, you're one to talk
check what illiteracy means

[diamondgeezer]

Originally posted by Sesquipedalian
ZB is referring to his longstanding contention that the term ballistic has been misapplied in this case, rather than to anything to do with you, DG.

I fail to see why this negates the validity of my earlier post


So - can anyone actually lend a hand here, or not?


------------------------

DG's opinions concerning ZylonBane do not represent those of the management

[Sesquipedalian]

It doesn't, and no one ever meant to say that it did.  I'd post something to help you with your problem if I had anything, but I don't.

[Goober5000]

Originally posted by Goober5000
I'd post a link, but what I had up here earlier may have been a previous (unofficial) version that wouldn't be compatible.  What exactly isn't working?  Can you post an error message?

On the other hand, we're still squashing bugs in the weapons management routines, so it might be due to this instead...

Update: The bugs should be squashed.  Use the latest build in the "weapons fixed" thread and see if it works.  If not, post the error message.

[diamondgeezer]

OK, I'll try it again tomorrow - but like I said, the error was apparently in parsing the weapons table rather than a ship problem. And I'd stil like a verified working copy of a B.P enabled ship and weapon, so I can be certain I'm doing it right

[Goober5000]

This works for me.

Modified Ulysses ship entry...

Code: [Select]

$Name:                          GTF Ulysses
$Short name:            TFight
$Species:                       Terran
+Type:                          XSTR("Space Superiority", 2939)
+Maneuverability:       XSTR("Excellent", 2940)
+Armor:                         XSTR("Light", 2941)
+Manufacturer:          XSTR("Triton / Mekhu", 2942)
+Description: XSTR( " ", 2943)
$end_multi_text
+Tech Description:
XSTR("Affectionately nicknamed 'The Bat' by its pilots, the GTF Ulysses is a well-designed craft that has had a far longer useful life than its engineers ever imagined. Developed jointly by Terran and Vasudan contractors, the Ulysses was first deployed near the end of the Great War. Its excellent maneuverability and high top speed give it an agility that pilots love, but at a cost of thin armor and a small secondary weapon loadout. The Ulysses is a better choice for offensive missions than defensive ones.", 2944)
$end_multi_text
+Length:          16 m
+Gun Mounts:      4
+Missile Banks:   1
$POF file:                      fighter01.pof
$Detail distance:       (0, 80, 300, 900)
; $ND: 42 42 244
$Show damage:           YES
$Density:                       1
$Damp:                          0.1
$Rotdamp:                       0.35
$Max Velocity:          0.0, 0.0, 70.0                  ;; in x/y/z -- z only specified forward.  use special tokens for backward movement
$Rotation time:         3.0, 2.6, 5.0
$Rear Velocity:         0.0
$Forward accel:         2.0
$Forward decel:         1.5
$Slide accel:           0.0
$Slide decel:           0.0
$Expl inner rad:        25.0
$Expl outer rad:        55.0
$Expl damage:           15.0
$Expl blast:            1000.0
$Expl Propagates:       NO                                                      ;; If set to Yes, then when the ship dies, the explosion propagates through it.
$Shockwave Speed:       0.0                                             ;; speed shockwave expands at, 0 means no shockwave
$Allowed PBanks:        ( "M-72" "Subach HL-7" "Akheton SDG" "Morning Star" "Prometheus S" "Prometheus R" "Lamprey" "Circe" "Maxim" "Targeting Laser")
$Allowed Dogfight PBanks:        ( "Subach HL-D" "Prometheus D" )
$Default PBanks:        ( "Subach HL-7" "Prometheus R" )
$PBank Capacity:        ( 1 )
$Allowed SBanks:        ( "Rockeye" "Tempest"  "Hornet" "Tornado" "Hornet#Weak" "Harpoon" "Harpoon#Weak" "EMP Adv." "TAG-A" )
$Allowed Dogfight SBanks:    ( "Tempest D"  "Hornet D" "Harpoon D" )
$Default SBanks:        ( "Harpoon" )
$SBank Capacity:        ( 40 )
$Shields:                       380
$Shield Color: 100 100 255
$Power Output:          2.0
$Max Oclk Speed:        94.0
$Max Weapon Eng:        80.0
$Hitpoints:                     180
$Flags:                         ( "player_ship" "default_player_ship" "fighter" "in tech database" "ballistic primaries" )
$AI Class:                      Captain
$Afterburner:           YES
+Aburn Max Vel: 0.0, 0.0, 150.0
+Aburn For accel:       0.7
+Aburn Fuel:            300.0
+Aburn Burn Rate:       50.0
+Aburn Rec Rate:        25.0
$Countermeasures:       25
$Scan time:                     2000
$EngineSnd:       128                   ;; Engine sound of ship
$Closeup_pos:           0.0, 0.0, -22
$Closeup_zoom:          0.5
$Shield_icon:           shield-f01
$Ship_icon:                     iconfighter01
$Ship_anim:                     ssfighter01
$Ship_overhead: loadfighter01
$Score:             8
$Trail:
+Offset: -7.75 -2.8 0.75
+Start Width: 0.25
+End Width: 0.05
+Start Alpha: 1.0
+End Alpha: 0.0
+Max Life: 1.0
+Spew Time: 60
+Bitmap: Contrail01
$Trail:
+Offset: 7.75 -2.8 0.75
+Start Width: 0.25
+End Width: 0.05
+Start Alpha: 1.0
+End Alpha: 0.0
+Max Life: 1.0
+Spew Time: 60
+Bitmap: Contrail01
$Subsystem:                     communication,  10, 0
$Subsystem:                     navigation,             10, 0
$Subsystem:                     weapons,                        20, 0
$Subsystem:                     sensors,                        10, 0
$Subsystem:                     engines,                        35, 0

Here, I basically took a Tempest and made it a ballistic primary weapon.  Make sure you put it in the Primary section - that may be the problem.

Code: [Select]

; ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
; M-72
;
$Name:                                  @M-72
+Title:                                 XSTR("M-72 Ballistic Primary", 3317)
+Description:
XSTR(
"Standard Issue
High-Payload Dumbfire", 3318)
$end_multi_text
+Tech Title:   XSTR("GTM MX-6 Tempest", 3319)
+Tech Anim:   Tech_GTM_MX-6_Tempest
+Tech Description:
XSTR(
"The GTM MX-6 Tempest improves upon its predecessor, the Fury missile. Faster and more deadly than the Fury, the Tempest is also smaller, enabling flight crews to load more into each Secondary weapon bay. The Tempest is a dumbfire missile, moving in a straight line from its point of release. The missile detonates when it strikes a solid object or when it reaches its effective range of approximately 600 meters. Tempests are best used at close range. With a velocity of 360 m/s, nothing outruns a Tempest.", 3320)
$end_multi_text
$Model File: Tempest.pof
$Mass: 0.1
$Velocity: 360.0
$Fire Wait: 0.30
$Damage: 45                                        ;; damage applied when within inner radius
$Blast Force: 0.2
$Inner Radius: 10.0 ;; radius at which damage is full (0 for impact only)
$Outer Radius: 20.0 ;; max radius for attenuated damage (0 for impact only)
$Shockwave Speed: 0                                         ;; velocity of shockwave.  0 for none.
$Armor Factor: 0.9
$Shield Factor: 0.5
$Subsystem Factor: 0.6
$Lifetime: 1.8
$Energy Consumed: 0.0 ;; Energy used when fired
$Cargo Size: 0.001 ;; Amount of space taken up in weapon cargo
$Homing: NO
$LaunchSnd: 90                                        ;; The sound it makes when fired
$ImpactSnd: 88                                        ;; The sound it makes when it hits something
$FlyBySnd: -1
$Rearm Rate: 100.0 ;; number of missiles/sec that are rearmed
$Flags: ("in tech database" "player allowed" "ballistic" )
$Trail: ;; Trail cannot be set if Exhaust is set
+Start Width: 0.1                                       ;; Width of trail nearest missile
+End Width: 0.2                                       ;; Width of trail before it "evaporates"
+Start Alpha: 1.0
+End Alpha: 0.0
+Max Life: 0.3                                       ;; how many seconds before trail disappears
+Bitmap: newmiss2 ;; Bitmap used to draw trail
$Icon: iconTempest
$Anim: Tempest
$Impact Explosion: ExpMissileHit1
$Impact Explosion Radius: 3.0

Lastly, remember to copy the sound entries as specified in the readme.

EDIT: Don't forget to allow the new weapon in the mission you're testing it with.  It's a primary, so it comes with a magazine of ammo determined by the cargo size.  With the M-72 here, you drop one weapon on the slot but get a magazine of 1000 bullets.

[diamondgeezer]

Thanks. That's all I wanted

[Rampage]

Do you think that this might have something to do with FS_OPEN 3.5.3 itself?  FRED2 can't open it, saying that weapons.tbl is invalid.  It didn't say anything about ships.tbl though.

[Goober5000]

Eh... It works fine for me.  Go back and double-check that everything is set up correctly.

[TrashMan]

Could anyone actually point me to that readme?

[Charmande]

ZylonBane has a point though... i mean, why are they called ballistic primaries when they're not even ballistic?  isn't "ballistic" like an artillary shell?  something that flies up, and come sback down?  i never quite understood why they were called "ballistic" primaries...  you could have named them something like.... ummm........ i dunno.  ..... maybe ballistic primaries IS the best name... i mean, i can't think of anything better.

[Black Wolf]

Originally posted by Charmande
ZylonBane has a point though... i mean, why are they called ballistic primaries when they're not even ballistic?  isn't "ballistic" like an artillary shell?  something that flies up, and come sback down?  i never quite understood why they were called "ballistic" primaries...  you could have named them something like.... ummm........ i dunno.  ..... maybe ballistic primaries IS the best name... i mean, i can't think of anything better.

A point - yes. A particularly important one - no. It's a name, something to identify the feature by. Does it matter if it doesn;t describe it precisely accurately? The point is that when you say Ballistic primaries, everyone knows what you're talking about, and that's what really matters.

[LAW ENFORCER]

Zylon wouldn't like that! Im pretty sure what he is arguing is that EVERYTHING in FS is ballistic not -nothing- (unless thats what char was saying?)

I belive your talking about balistic missiles that, after being fired and guied for a short time, move under gravitiy to miss their targets significantly....

[Goober5000]

At its most basic level, "ballistic" describes anything that moves and obeys the laws of physics.  Therefore, even the normal Freespace energy weapons can be ballistic, according to ZylonBane.  But normally we think of ballistic as having to do with projectiles, and this connotation fits ammo-based primaries quite well.

Originally posted by TrashMan
Could anyone actually point me to that readme?

http://fs2source.warpcore.org/readme/

[rant]

How many times do I have to provide a link?  It's literally in about five threads on this page - most notably the very first post in this stickied thread.  Please, make a little effort and search first.

[/rant]