'88 Flak's FLHook

Some of you may know about or have used the FLHook version that’s used in '88 Flak. It’s currently one of the only FLHook versions that’s publicly released (including source code) and still being actively developed. In this thread I hope to highlight its main features and how it’s different from the plugin version.

Development of '88 Flak’s FLHook began about 1.5 years ago because the community wanted to see functioning repair turrets in the mod. Since then many other features have been added. These include (not a complete list):

• Balanced cloaking devices, based off of code by w0dk4. I’ve slightly rewritten the code to allow cloaking devices to have individual cloak warmup and usage times. The /cloak command also prints timing information when it fails.

• Alternative solar repair method that gradually repairs the solar over a configurable amount of time

• Docking restrictions - docking with solars can be limited to those who have a certain item in their cargo. The amount of the item, whether it should be mounted, and whether to remove it upon dock can be configured.

• Internal equipment mounting restrictions - mounting certain engines, armor, etc can be restricted to a certain group of ships.

• Mobile docking - player-flyable ships that other players can dock with. This requires a base in every system that the player is actually docked with (called the proxy base). Currently, docking is initiated with the /dock, or /d command. The number of ships allowed to dock with a certain mobile base is configurable. Players can only dock with those in their group.

• Improved death messages - death messages are much more detailed and show exactly what a player was killed with and by whom. The length of the messages is configurable, and the elements in the message are sorted from highest damage to lowest damage.

• Death penalties - a percentage of a ship’s worth can be charged to the player upon death. If the player does not have sufficient cash, items are taken at random from a list (the chance of taking a certain item is configurable). Systems where the death penalty does not occur can be defined and set dynamically through admin commands.

There are also a number of new user/admin commands. Highlights include:
Admin commands:

• Group commands - remove and add players to groups and send cash to group members.

• Much improved beam command - four different beam command configurations are possible, which include kicking after beam, the beam in the plugin version, kill beam, and the original beam.

• Command to enable/disable NPC spawns on the fly (invaluable for testing).

User commands:

• /afk

• /sendcash

• /help (includes command-specific help through /help <command></command>)

• Marking commands - players can mark objects for either themselves or for their entire group, which is very helpful for group coordination. If you don’t know what a mark is, this screen (taken by Fox) illustrates them. The two bots have been marked, so they always show in the Important contacts list, show up on the edge of the screen like hostiles do, and have special carots on the HUD. Solars can also be marked.

• Partially rewritten /autobuy command that saves a “template” of your ship and attempts to restore that template by buying ammo and other items.

• /transfer command for transferring items between characters.

For a complete listing of features and commands added, please consult the changelog, located at the end of readme.txt.

Both '88 Flak’s FLHook version and the plugin version attempt to fix bugs that were in v1.5.5. The two versions differ greatly in how they implement new features, however. The plugin version relies on plugins to extend the functionality of FLHook while the '88 Flak version integrates new functionality directly into FLHook. This makes the plugin version more flexible, since it’s easier to add and remove features on demand. However, all of the features in '88 Flak’s FLHook are not present in plugins and there are plugins that offer features that are not found in '88 Flak’s FLHook. However, since the source code for '88 Flak’s FLHook is freely available, plugins could be made for the features by anyone who has basic C++ know-how and an understanding of FLHook’s code structure. If you want to do this, I highly recommend taking a look at flak_common, a plugin that I created to make this task easier.

As I stated before, all releases of Flak’s FLHook can be found here. The latest complete release is v1.6.5 (zip).

Questions? Comments? Feel free to leave feedback.

I actually use the IDE from VC++ '97 (VC5). The Ultimate++ project file is included because it’s a free IDE that works with the (also free) VC++ 2003 (VC7) Toolkit, which includes the compiler that works the best with FLHook. You can also use Code::Blocks with the VC++ 2003 Toolkit, which I’d suggest trying before Ultimate++, since it’s a better IDE and can import the VC6 project file.

A note on using Code::Blocks: I just tried importing the VC6 project file and building FLHook. Though it compiled fine, the linker complained that it “cannot open input file ‘…/source/libs/server.obj’.” The fix is to open the build options and modify the FL library files on the “Linker settings” tab. The last four entries in the “Link libraries” list need to have .lib appended to the path, so it should look like this.

For those who are experiencing the health overflow problem: the issue is most likely that you’ve enabled NPC collision damage. Specifically, CollisionDamageNPCs in the [General] section. It should be left on the default setting of no because it’s buggy.

Thanks to JONG for reminding me of this bug and sorry for any problems it may have caused.

I’m glad to announce the final release of 1.6.5! Sorry it took so long :).
If you are using the death penalty feature, I strongly recommend upgrading to this version, as it fixes a pretty bad exploit related to the DP.
Download: 7z, zip

Full changelog:

• Fixed getting account dir failing on some computers (http://the-starport.net/f/index.php?topic=853.0)
• Added ship repairing based on type of ship or presence of mounted item (see [ItemRepair] and [ShipRepair] in ini)
• Added blowfish encryption option for the socket connection
• Fixed addcargo kicking upon launch when adding items not sold at base (bug introduced in 1.6.1 when addcargo was partially rewritten)
• Added new admin command addcargom that adds mounted cargo
• Added list of items to automatically mount upon ship purchase (see [AutoMount] in ini)
• Fixed docking restrictions cargo being removed when player canceled dock
• Fixed cash being deducted when attempt to buy item was blocked ([ItemRestrictions] in ini)
• Added list of items that cannot exist in space (see [NoSpaceItems] in ini)
• Added list of items that are automatically marked when they spawn (see [AutoMarkItems] in ini)
• Added setting to drop the shields of a ship when starting to warm up the cloak
• Changed autobuy to run when player launches to space (so player can sell loot before autobuy tries to buy items)
• Fixed DP not being charged if player launches in a system on the no DP list and then dies in a system not on the list
• Fixed DP not being charged if player turns off the DP notices (bug introduced in 1.6.3)
• Fixed players being able to remark a ship once it has started to cloak
• Fixed a mobile docking bug where players would follow the carrier’s jumps if the carrier died and the players had not launched