[colecampbell666]

I can't think of anything. Try a different build.

[McMad]

Like?

[colecampbell666]

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/board,97.0.html

[Jeff Vader]

Instead of throwing a pile o' stuff at you, I for one would like to present a single option: 20071028T. I've had good results with it. And in your case, it can't hurt to try.

[colecampbell666]

Try either of the ones in my sig. The first one is the best one I've found.

[MP-Ryan]

I can shed light on this problem.

It's an error from the arrival cue in the mission.  I've noticed it in Sync and Transcend, but not Blue Planet.  It appears to be confined to 3.6.9.  Simple solution:  Use a 3.6.10 build.

I believe it is related to the whole host of issues 3.6.9 has with red alert missions.  To my knowledge it has not been Mantis'ed, but it also does not appear in 3.6.10 builds.

3.6.7 does not experience the bug.  3.6.9 does.  3.6.10 does not.

A new pilot file will not resolve the issue in general.

[McMad]

Thanks for the info.

Is there any way to skip levels. I can't face playing through the first levels of Blueplanet again

[Jeff Vader]

Just try a 3.6.10 build first. If no luck, then create a new pilot and start over. The usual way to "skip" a mission is to fail it five times in a row. Or you could fiddle up a modified campaign file where the campaign starts from a later mission. And, that's about it. Unless you want to use the Mission Simulator and the key combination Ctrl + Shift + S, but that would really ruin the feeling.

[MP-Ryan]

Thanks for the info.

Is there any way to skip levels. I can't face playing through the first levels of Blueplanet again

You don't need to, unless you deleted your pilot.

Simply download a 3.6.10 build, dump it into your FS folder, select it in the launcher, and run with it.  Pilots can be used interchangeably with more recent builds, it's just reverting back that can be problematic.

That said, I've been using the same pilot in all the 3.6.10 builds with nary an issue.

[Hellstryker]

This poor guy, you've all been asking him random totally unrelated questions when it's a common red alert bug... all he needs is the latest build

[Jeff Vader]

This poor guy, you've all been asking him random totally unrelated questions when it's a common red alert bug... all he needs is the latest build

And what exactly did you do to help? At least we tried. And now the issue is solved. Touché.

Also, for the record, I've had abso-****ing-lutely no red-alert issues with 3.6.9. Well, apart from Homesick, but that, as we know it, is another story.

[colecampbell666]

I thought that it was a Red-Alert bug from the start.

[McMad]

This poor guy, you've all been asking him random totally unrelated questions when it's a common red alert bug... all he needs is the latest build

Yeh, shame it doesn't work though. None of the 3_9_10 builds I have tried have worked. When I run in debug with them they make no complaints until the problem should happen, then they crash.

[ssmit132]

You can also fix the problem by simply editing the mission in question to get rid of the red-alert.

(I had this very problem in Sync - I got into the mission and had the hud but absolutely nothing else - just black, endless black.

If that's the problem you had.)

[Wobble73]

You can also fix the problem by simply editing the mission in question to get rid of the red-alert.

(I had this very problem in Sync - I got into the mission and had the hud but absolutely nothing else - just black, endless black.

If that's the problem you had.)

I'm having the same problem with Procyon Insurgency, HUD visible everything else blacked out! 

I've tried newer builds (3.6.10), but it didn't help. I'll have try again with another pilot but I'm not sure it will work. And some of those missions are long and tortuous! 

[MP-Ryan]

AFAIK, it shouldn't happen in 3.6.10.  You may need to try a new pilot file if it is happening - its possible that encountering the bug has totally muffed your pilot in the first place.

Also, as someone else mentioned, you can delete the red alert flag.

If you can get it to happen reproducibly in a recent 3.6.10 build (e.g. one from May) with a new pilot file, then this should be Mantis'ed.  Like I said, I haven't run into it in 3.6.10 so I'm going to venture a guess your pilot is hosed and its not a simple matter of a build upgrade with an exisiting pilot but rather a build upgrade and a new pilot.

[McMad]

Well, I did make a new build 10 pilot earlier and had the problem, but I couldn't tell you if it was before may. Anyway, how do you remove a red alert flag? I don't know how you get at the FRED file from the .vp

[Jeff Vader]

Anyway, how do you remove a red alert flag? I don't know how you get at the FRED file from the .vp

Get VPView and extract the necessary mission file(s) from the vp. Next, open the extracted mission file(s) with Notepad. If there is a line that says:
+Red Alert: 1

, set it to
+Red Alert: 0

or just remove the whole line. Save, and place the modified mission file to \freespace\data\missions or \freespace\modname\data\missions (create the folders if/when necessary).

[McMad]

I can't find anything saying red alert in the file. Is there anything else it could be?
I would have thought it would be round here somewere:

Code: [Select]

+Game Type Flags: 1

+Flags: 327808

+Disallow Support: 1

+Hull Repair Ceiling: 0.000000

+Subsystem Repair Ceiling: 100.000000

+Viewer pos: 11997.007813, 8896.418945, -3212.658936
+Viewer orient:
0.013894, 0.000001, 0.999903,
-0.372030, 0.928206, 0.005169,
-0.928117, -0.372066, 0.012897

N.B. I did find the level name, whover it was who wanted to know: "Frankenstein's Monsters"

[Jeff Vader]

If it is a red-alert mission, the red-alert flag should be there. Use the search function of Notepad (Ctrl-F) and look for the word "alert".