PTR-The Gemini Sector

    Sir Spectre: I agree. In the next release, the Centurion will have a better engine. I´m trying very hard to please the majority of players without alienating others. It´s a very difficult balancing act. This IS, after all, a Freelancer mod. As such, Freelancer players make up the majority of players. So, we´re trying to give them a new experience, without annoying them. BUT!!! As a Wing Commander/Privateer mod, there are fans of those games to please, too. Combining the two games, with their various differences is difficult. Over the course of these many changes, I´m slowly tweaking things to accomodate as many as possible. With luck, the final version will be a compromise that everyone can live with. Ya know? With all the problems I´m having... I wonder what the guys making the mods with Star Wars, Star Trek, Wing Commander, and other game´s ships, must really be having one heckuva hard time balancing things! Watch your 6!

    Chemus: <font size=1 face="trebuchet ms"><BLOCKQUOTE><hr size=1 noshade>In the nature of help, I found that barroom crashes are intermittent, and suspect that one faction or other is not configured right. This afternoon I was able to enter the Perry Naval Base Bar, and talk to people. IIRC, there were Russo, and Privateer agents. I don´t recall if there were Confed Agents in the bar. But I think that you might want to check Lynch agents. I don´t remember seeing any around on bases, and they often are insidious in their fomenting of strife. For profit, that is. <hr size=1 noshade></BLOCKQUOTE></font><font face=´trebuchet ms, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica´ size=2> Upon further testing... I discovered that this isn´t due to a corrupt mbases.ini, even though it was corrupt. It appears that either a Bribe, a Rumor, or a Mission is the culprit. I´ve eliminated the personnel, and mbases.ini as causing this CTD. I seriously doubt that it´s a rumor, as I´ve found, and seen, every rumor. The bribes also seem to be an unlikely source, as I´ve encounter most, if not all bribes. So... I´m going to concentrate on the missions. Not sure which one it could be, but I believe that that is where the problem most likely lies. Watch your 6!

    Update: I´m not sure which, if any of the following are the culprit, or not, but I´m addressing them all: 1) The Faction &quot;co_ni_grp&quot; gave out no missions in the original Freelancer. --Removed them from the mod, too. 2) In the &quot;VignetteParams.ini&quot; I had removed every faction but those in the mod. --That may´ve been an error, as they´re still in the FL engine. Restored all factions. 3) There are several possible encounters: -Exclusion-Take out an enemy base. -Open-Hunt down enemies. -Field-Capture/Assassinate so-and-so. With the following subtypes: -Lawful vs Unlawful -Unlawful vs Lawful -Unlawful vs Unlawful -Unlawful (There are no Lawful vs Lawful, or Lawful, missions. Only badguys cause trouble.) In many of the Gemini Sector´s Systems, I only placed a few of the combinations. This may cause a CTD when a mission is called for, and there is no area set aside in the system for such a mission. So... I´m bringing all 12 Vignette Area types into every system that has even one base in it. On a side note: Chemus just sent me a new mat file for the Sabre. So, hopefully, it´ll finally have a decent texture! Watch your 6!

    Wilkommen! Howsomever, all I did was take the existing mat file and use the UTF Editor to swap the names of the materials in the file. If you drink, don´t park. Accidents cause people.

    Chemus: Irregardless of WHAT you did... YOU DID IT! I´ve been trying to get that texture fixed for almost a year! Update: Somehow... Not 100% sure how... I´ve made the mod OpenSP/MP, without encorporating the OpenSP v1.1 mod by Xerx. Really wierd, and really neat, too! Eliminates about 1.4mb of the mod´s total size. The only downside? You start the game already on the base. No flying in to land. (Small price, I think.) Watch your 6! Edited by - warzog on 11/20/2004 11:18:31 PM

    Downloaded version 4.5.....deleted restart.fl file in Freelancer game folder thats automatically set up on install. On first mission apon first kill for the mission had a CTD reinstalled Freelancer fresh....deleted first download of Privateer the Reckoning 4.5 and downloaded again then reisntalled...deleted restart.fl in My Games folder still get CTD from first mission on first kill Quixotal Edited by - Quixotal on 11/27/2004 10:51:46 AM Edited by - Quixotal on 11/27/2004 10:53:02 AM

    Quixotal: I´ll check it out, thanx. (I seldom run missions, myself.) Edit: CTD verified! It would appear that my attempt to fix the 2-part random missions has failed miserably! Which is really wierd, because there appear to be more mission types showing up now, than before. I´ve done some troubleshooting, and the problem is in the system ini´s, and nowhere else. Argh!!! (That´s 70 files!) Along the way I managed to fix a couple of minor bugs that have plagued me for a while. I appear to be getting some new &quot;zone&quot; errors. The mod is apparently looking for zones that aren´t there, yet. Give me time... I´ll figure it out! Watch your 6! Edited by - warzog on 11/28/2004 12:24:29 AM

    I´m not sure what has caused this but I´m getting CTD´s all over the place...I tried to abort the mission that I originally took out right off starting planet and it CTD´d .....I started new game and decided to do a an artifact run to Oxford. Everything went ok til I tried to get lock on the docking ring for Oxford from map and no docking ring was indicated. Apon flying to the planet and finding the docking ring I attempted to land and had another CTD Quixotal Edited by - Quixotal on 11/28/2004 9:10:50 AM Tried going to another planet in Saxatogue .....Same thing apon trying to land CTD Edited by - Quixotal on 11/28/2004 4:30:30 PM

    Just a thot on the problems you have been having with corrupted files Warzog. Have you tried doing memory diagnostics on your computer? One thing that can cause intermittant problems with the memory, but does not show up with the POST diagnostics that your computer carries out at startup is the mixing of different memory speeds. Ie 400Mhz DDR with 333Mhz DDR etc Some people have said you can do this but for my experience as a hardware tech it causes nothing but problems. Try using DocMem20 or Stability test memory checkers..these are available online for no charge from CNET and other User tech places Quixotal

    I haven´t had any other CTDs, just the one after killing one enemy. It may have something to do with the new OpenSP mode I´m using. In the EXE folder, delete the &quot;NewPlayer.fl&quot; file. Load Xerx´s OpenSP, and edit the &quot;M13.ini&quot; file: Change the system to GS58. Change the base to GS58_01. It won´t solve the in-mission CTD, but it may fix the others. Edit: If you still have v4.0, you might try substituting files between the two. InitialWorld.ini would be one... NPCships.ini... Empathy.ini... FactionProps.ini... I´ve tried some, but not all of them. (Working nights makes it rough. On my way out the door in a few minutes.) Edit #2: Well... I loaded up v4.0, and began swapping files with v4.5... It´s not the new &amp; improved ships, shiparch, or ship loadouts! It´s not the new ground crews, mission payouts, shields, or AI!! It´s not the new engine fires/trails, or the new market_misc!!! Gonna check the new Gemini.DLL, Initialworld.ini, NewPlayer.fl, M13.ini, and the MPNewPlayer.fl, next. I think it´s gonna end up being a combination of the Empathy.ini, the FactionProps.ini, and the NPCships.ini. But FIRST!!!! (I´m gonna get some sleep! ´nite all!) Watch your 6! Edited by - warzog on 11/29/2004 8:14:04 AM

    Update: The Gemini.DLL appears to be highly unstable. As it was made using Freelancer Explorer, and edited with PE Explorer, isolating the cause is difficult. Suffice it to say, the file appears to delete unused, or sections that I created by making wrecks, and then deleting the wrecks. FLE also appears to have a built-in limit to the number of entries, or to the size, of the DLL. (A limit I appear to have reached, or exceeded.) If anyone can build a new Gemini.DLL for the mod, I can email the best version I have as a guide. In the meantime... I´m going to, this weekend, use FL-IDS, to rewrite every single entry in the file. It appears, to me, that FLE and PE Explorer, use different formats for writing DLL files. During a recent series of tests, I got a CTD everytime I entered space... I discovered that it was because a ship´s ID_Info was bad. When I edited the Gemini.DLL using FL-IDS, not only did the CTDs stop, but then I also had to add Xerx´s OpenSP mod to get everything working again. I´m also getting an error in the bars... Not sure of the cause, but it appears that the mod is looking for some kind of zone, and can´t find it. Haven´t been able to discover if the Mission related crash has been fixed due to all of the other problems. That, and the new AI is a pain-in-the-butt to go up against in a Tarsus! I´ve had battles lasting 15 minutes without a single kill! Watch your 6!

    Update: My attempt to rewrite Gemini.dll using FL-IDS has failed miserably! While it is possible to rewrite it, it doesn´t actually rewrite. What it does is write a new entry, renumbers the old &amp; new entries, but only reads the old entry. Quite impossible to use it as is. And the mod is, for all intents and purposes, dead in the water. I may be forced to try... Nope, rehashing the original dll´s will cause other ctd´s, I tried it before... And with all of the different SDK´s and unofficial patches, a scripted version is out of the question. I really dread having to go back to xml. I need a break! Watch your 6!

    Update: Sassafrassafranastan!!! Well... I´m going through and editing all of the original Freelancer DLLs that I can. (Which will cover almost everything, except for the systems themselves.) Luckily, I saved a copy of the Gemini Sector, and it´s DLL, from when I´d just completed placing all of the systems, and jumpholes. I´m hoping that I´ll be able to simply use it as is, and script out any info that´s missing from it. And, since we´re using very few weapons from FL, I think I can modify the names and information on the unused weapons to help name/ID the many bases, and wrecks, in the mod. We´ll see... Watch your 6!

    Just in case you´re interested, WCNews spoke of a project that modeled the Steltek Scout, which I can´t remember if you have or not. I suppose it is a weaker adversary than the drone, because the drone was a front line weapon from what I can recall. If you´re interested. <font size=1 face="trebuchet ms"><BLOCKQUOTE><hr size=1 noshade>WCU Privateer Finds Steltek Presence While work on reaching the milestone version 1.0 release continues, the <A href=´http://priv.solsector.net/´ Target=_Blank>WCU Privateer</a> team are still hard at work on the models for the project, and it´s time for the Steltek to get the treatment. First up is the drone, famous for showing up when you want it least. Sadly the pictures aren´t very high resolution and these thumbnails are all we have right now. <img src=´http://www.wcnews.com/newershots/thumb/wcuprivsteltek1t.jpg ´> Next up is the Steltek scout, and it looks like someone decided to let the thing dock at a mining base. <img src=´http://www.wcnews.com/newershots/full/wcuprivsteltek3.jpg ´> <hr size=1 noshade></BLOCKQUOTE></font><font face=´trebuchet ms, Verdana, Arial, Helvetica´ size=2> Sir S Edited by - Sir Spectre on 12/9/2004 12:38:52 PM

    ___________________________________________________________ Sir Spectre giving the Spammysburg Address on 5/13/2004 22:21 PST: 12 posts and 2 days ago, we brought forth on this forum a new direction, conceived in spam and dedicated to the preposition that all posts are created useless. Now we are engaged in a great civil disobedience testing whether that thread or any thread so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great forum of that nonsense. We have come to dedicate a portion of that forum as a final resting-place for those topics that gave of their importance that spam might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this ... blah blah blah, spam spam spam.

    No, we don´t have the Steltek Scout, yet. Quite frankly, I don´t recall ever actually seeing it, until I started working on this project. BTW-that project is a brand new, complete recreation of the original Privateer game, using the Vega engine. Should be nice, when it´s finished. Watch your 6!

    The scout is the ship that comes in the point of time when you actually have a conversation with the Steltek in the game, it´s in a scout ship. You remember that part right? When your gun is charged up to defeat the drone, it´s the scout ship that gives it to you. I´ve heard the Vega Strike engine is sort of clumsy. Sir S

    ___________________________________________________________ Sir Spectre giving the Spammysburg Address on 5/13/2004 22:21 PST: 12 posts and 2 days ago, we brought forth on this forum a new direction, conceived in spam and dedicated to the preposition that all posts are created useless. Now we are engaged in a great civil disobedience testing whether that thread or any thread so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great forum of that nonsense. We have come to dedicate a portion of that forum as a final resting-place for those topics that gave of their importance that spam might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this ... blah blah blah, spam spam spam.