Invisible Gun Fire from Mission Solars

jericus

what weapon effect are you using? you may need to hex edit the weapon_large in the freelancer.exe. it’s a shot in the dark.

its sound like an FX problem. also you can look in the effect_types.ini increase the lod to 0, 10000. find the effect that the weapon is using in the weapon_equip. in the effects.ini it will have a type. eg

weapon_equip

[Munition]
nickname = turbolaser_ammo03
hp_type = hp_gun
requires_ammo = false
hit_pts = 2
hull_damage = 2000
energy_damage = 0
one_shot_sound = fire_capship_forward_gun
munition_hit_effect = li_plasma_03_impact
const_effect = Purple_turbolaser_proj---this one
lifetime = 14.000000
force_gun_ori = false
mass = 1
volume = 0.000100

[Effect]
nickname = Purple_turbolaser_proj
effect_type = EFT_WEAPON_LARGE_PROJ ----- find this
vis_beam = turbolaser_beam_Purple

in the effects_type you will find

[EffectType]
nickname = EFT_WEAPON_LARGE_PROJ
priority = 1
generic_priority = 1
lod_type = EFT_LOD_LARGE
radius = 100
visibility = EXIST_OFFSCREEN
update = CULL_UPDATE 
run_time = -1
pbubble = 1250, 1500 ---- try changing this to 0, 10000

that with the exe hex edit worked for me.

good luck. hope it helps

JONG

hex edit the weapon_large in the freelancer.exe. it’s a shot in the dark.

Hex edit? where?

I am not understood very much your meaning, after your meaning is undergoes these processing, can see the weapon the light beam?

jericus

–------ Effects --------
– 6250000f in server.dll, 0x84ADC, 0x86AEC = square of maximum effect draw distance (vis_beam) ~FriendlyFire

eft_explosion_large (limited duration):
– 100f in freelancer.exe, 0x212AF0, 0x212AF0 = on-screen radius of effects, affects size-on-screen-based cutoff (make larger to increase cutoff range)
– 15f in freelancer.exe, 0x212AF8, 0x212AF8 = max run time of effects
– 100f in freelancer.exe, 0x212B00, 0x212B00 = unknown, likely the first value of pbubble
– 500f in freelancer.exe, 0x212B04, 0x212B04 = visual cutoff range of effects (second value of pbubble)

eft_weapon_large_proj (infinite duration):
– 50f in freelancer.exe, 0x212C58, 0x212C58 = on-screen radius of effects
– -1f in freelancer.exe, 0x212C60, 0x212C60 = max run time of effects
– 100f in freelancer.exe, 0x212C68, 0x212C68 = unknown, likely the first value of pbubble decrease
– 500f in freelancer.exe, 0x212C6C, 0x212C6C = visual cutoff range of effects (second value of pbubble) increase – 15f in freelancer.exe, 0x213158, 0x213158 = on-screen radius of vis_beam effects
– 100f in freelancer.exe, 0x213168, 0x213168 = unknown, likely the first value of pbubble for vis_beam decrease
– 500f in freelancer.exe, 0x21316C, 0x21316C = default vis_beam cutoff range (second value of pbubble for vis_beam) increase

eft_damage_large_smoke (infinite duration):
– 20f in freelancer.exe, 0x212DE8, 0x212DE8 = on-screen radius of effects
– -1f in freelancer.exe, 0x212DF0, 0x212DF0 = max run time of effects
– 100f in freelancer.exe, 0x212DF8, 0x212DF8 = unknown, likely the first value of pbubble
– 500f in freelancer.exe, 0x212DFC, 0x212DFC = visual cutoff range of effects (second value of pbubble)

w0dk4

I’m pretty sure this cannot be fixed through any hex edit yet as it is a known Freelancer bug. Would be nice to figure it out (seems like FL is not sending the Fireweapon packets to the client).

JONG

– 100f in freelancer.exe, 0x212C68, 0x212C68 = unknown, likely the first value of pbubble decrease
– 500f in freelancer.exe, 0x212C6C, 0x212C6C = visual cutoff range of effects (second value of pbubble) increase
– 100f in freelancer.exe, 0x213168, 0x213168 = unknown, likely the first value of pbubble for vis_beam decrease
– 500f in freelancer.exe, 0x21316C, 0x21316C = default vis_beam cutoff range (second value of pbubble for vis_beam) increase

Thanks for your reply.

So I need to:

1.edit those four lines hex and increase all of its value.

2.edit weapon_equip
[Munition]
nickname = turbolaser_ammo03
hp_type = hp_gun
requires_ammo = false
hit_pts = 2
hull_damage = 2000
energy_damage = 0
one_shot_sound = fire_capship_forward_gun
munition_hit_effect = li_plasma_03_impact
const_effect = Purple_turbolaser_proj–-this one
lifetime = 14.000000
force_gun_ori = false
mass = 1
volume = 0.000100

3.edit effects.ini
[Effect]
nickname = Purple_turbolaser_proj
effect_type = EFT_WEAPON_LARGE_PROJ –— find this
vis_beam = turbolaser_beam_Purple

[EffectType]
nickname = EFT_WEAPON_LARGE_PROJ
priority = 1
generic_priority = 1
lod_type = EFT_LOD_LARGE
radius = 100
visibility = EXIST_OFFSCREEN
update = CULL_UPDATE
run_time = -1
pbubble = 1250, 1500 –-- try changing this to 0, 10000

then I can in my mod saw the solars gun fire, and solve the “Invisible Gun Fire from Mission Solars” of problem, am I right?

rik_starkiller

I think I can safely say no this won’t work, not in multiplayer anyway. All this will do is enable you to see gun fire from standard solars from further away.

I think W0dka has probably summed up the problem correctly.

Cheers,
Rik

JONG

Thanks for W0dk4 and Rik reply, maybe Adoxa can fix this problem, if him has time. ^_^

? Offline

Wait.
If missile turrets are working try for example:

[Munition]
nickname = turbolaser_ammo03
hp_type = hp_gun
requires_ammo = false
hit_pts = 2
hull_damage = 2000
energy_damage = 0
one_shot_sound = fire_capship_forward_gun
munition_hit_effect = li_plasma_03_impact
const_effect = li_missile02_drive ; <-- here
lifetime = 14.000000
force_gun_ori = false
mass = 1
volume = 0.000100

Next try any long-time effect for example from plasma fountain:

[Munition]
nickname = turbolaser_ammo03
hp_type = hp_gun
requires_ammo = false
hit_pts = 2
hull_damage = 2000
energy_damage = 0
one_shot_sound = fire_capship_forward_gun
munition_hit_effect = li_plasma_03_impact
const_effect = rtc_mis5view ; <-- here
lifetime = 14.000000
force_gun_ori = false
mass = 1
volume = 0.000100

Moreover you may take flak and make it’s const_effect like turret same ways as above.

rik_starkiller

Morning, I took a bit of time this morning, to review all the stuff on LR and do a little testing this morning, and this is probably stuff that a lot of you already know…

I created a new mission solar, copied from Space_Freeport01 and added a number of additional turrets to it. I find the vanilla ones difficult to test with as there aren’t many and they don’t cover every angle around the base.

I defined the new base in solararch.ini created a new loadout in solar\loadouts.ini and then put new solar in killablesolars.ini

I upped the difficulty of the 4 solars pilots in pilots population.

These are the results:

OpenSP

solar_type = Defensive_Solar - will fire both projectiles (missiles/torps) and turrets, and the turret/gun fire is visible.

solar_type = Big_Solar - will only fire projectiles. Guns don’t fire.

Multiplayer

solar_type = Defensive_Solar - will fire both projectiles and turrets, turret/gunfire is invisible, but I know it’s there because it’s damaging my shields (and there’s nothing else on my scanner).
solar_type = Big_Solar - will fire projectiles and turrets, turret/gunfire is invisible (shield damage).

Other things of note:

the weapons turrets are never rendered on the base (or wep platform).

the “freeport” base would often damage itself from the invisible gunfire.

archdb errors in FLServer where it couldn’t find the new base or weapons platforms (when they spawned) I believe a bunch of guys on the old LR managed to circumnavigate this by adding a duplicate entry in shiparch.ini.

So it’s riddled with bugs even in the vanilla code.

@Helloween I did try those alternative const_effects, but as I suspected, they didn’t show up. Flak is no problem as I create FLAK from projectiles and have done in the past.

Adoxa I know you’re a busy man but is there anything in here you could work with?
In particular it’d be very nice to get rid of the archdb errors that pop up, so at least we could get them launching Flak projectiles without having to create duplicate entries in Shiparch.ini?

Cheers,
Rik

DwnUndr

I believe he is referring to these errors:

ERROR: ArchDB::Get(2837983242) failed = Large Space Station (rm_space_freeport01) 0xA928300A
ERROR: ArchDB::Get(3098097218) failed = Defense Network (wplatform) 0xB8A93642
ERROR: ArchDB::Get(2547721671) failed = Observation Post (rm_space_police01) 0x97DB25C7
ERROR: ArchDB::Get(2686061189) failed = Outpost (rm_space_mining01) 0xA01A0A85
ERROR: ArchDB::Get(3064446595) failed = Defense Network (small_wplatform) 0xB6A7BE83

There are more, every solar that can be spawned in a random mission. These show RED in the console and show in the error log even though they are not errors. The objects spawn in space and work as they should. I believe the only reason they show is because they are ‘virtual’ and don’t exist in the system ini file.

rik_starkiller

He is! Thanks Dwn.

adoxa

common.dll	0995B6	FF10->9090 = disable "ArchDB::Get" random mission spew warning PART 1 ~adoxa
common.dll	0995FC	FF12->9090 = disable "ArchDB::Get" random mission spew warning PART 2 ~adoxa

```What's actually happening is GetArchMaxHitPts tests for a ship archetype first, displays the message when it doesn't find it, then tests for the solar. Part 1 disables the ship message (which is really all that's required); part 2 disables failing to find a solar, so the message only shows up when it also fails to find equipment.

As for making it visible, that will have to wait…

NeXoSE

Change the Solar’s type to weapons platform 's the only way.

AND, if you cannot see fires even it’s already weapons platforms, you might be want to use missile instead those guns, flak, you know, set missile to rocket, so it will has gun’s behavior. Just remember set the missile’s auto_turret = true.

DwnUndr

Wow, you constantly amaze us adoxa

rik_starkiller

Great, thanks Adoxa! Good to see you back around!