You should take a look at what you did and what the original file had in it and you should be able to see your mistakes....

Hint....Don't add numbers where they don't belong.

Thanks for your respone, BakedPotato!

By looking totally random at a system, I learned that the lane_id in the Traldelane encounter zone, should correspond to the attack_ids in the attack_patrol zone. (This is not clear in just every system, as the lane_id and attack_id often just havethe values 1 and 2, so I failed to see the correspondence.)

Nevertheless, my Tradelane is still among the safest in Sirius, which isn't what I intended.

Here are the entries for both the Tradelane and Attack_patrol zones:

(NB The GoatRiders part refers to a new faction, but, while debugging, I replaced them with the Corsairs to narrow the search for the error. As you might have huessed, without succes. Hence this post.)


[zone
nickname = Zone_Bw02_path_GoatRiders1
pos = -52000, 0, 19000
rotate = 90, 261, 180
shape = CYLINDER
size = 750, 30000
attack_ids = Burgundy_Duinkerken
tradelane_attack = 20
sort = 99
toughness = 7
density = 3
repop_time = 90
max_battle_size = 4
pop_type = attack_patrol
relief_time = 30
path_label = GoatRiders1
usage = patrol
mission_eligible = True
faction_weight = fc_c_grp, 10
density_restriction = 1, police_patroller
encounter = patrolp_assault, 13, 1.000000
faction = fc_c_grp, 1.000000

[zone
nickname = Zone_Bw02_path_GoatRiders2
pos = -40000, 0, 51000
rotate = -90, 141, 0
shape = CYLINDER
size = 750, 30000
attack_ids = Burgundy_Duinkerken
tradelane_attack = 20
sort = 99
toughness = 7
density = 3
repop_time = 90
max_battle_size = 4
pop_type = attack_patrol
relief_time = 30
path_label = GoatRiders2
usage = patrol
mission_eligible = True
faction_weight = fc_c_grp, 10
density_restriction = 1, police_patroller
encounter = patrolp_assault, 13, 1.000000
faction = fc_c_grp, 1.000000

[zone
nickname = Zone_Bw02_Tradelane_Burgundy_Duinkerken
pos = -63500, 0, 3000
rotate = 0, 201, 0
shape = BOX
size = 520, 520, 162856
property_flags = 131072
comment = . Tradelane to Duinkerken
lane_id = Burgundy_Duinkerken
tradelane_down = 20
sort = 4
toughness = 11
density = 6
repop_time = 15
max_battle_size = 4
pop_type = major_tradelane
relief_time = 15
faction_weight = fc_or_grp, 10
faction_weight = co_vr_grp, 20
faction_weight = gd_z_grp, 10
faction_weight = gd_im_grp, 20
faction_weight = co_me_grp, 10
faction_weight = co_hsp_grp, 10
faction_weight = co_ss_grp, 20
encounter = tradelane_trade_freighter, 1, 0.240000
faction = fc_or_grp, 0.100000
faction = co_vr_grp, 0.200000
faction = gd_zm_grp, 0.100000
faction = gd_im_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_me_grp, 0.100000
faction = co_hsp_grp, 0.100000
faction = co_ss_grp, 0.200000
encounter = tradelane_trade_transport, 1, 0.090000
faction = fc_or_grp, 0.100000
faction = co_vr_grp, 0.200000
faction = gd_zm_grp, 0.100000
faction = gd_im_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_me_grp, 0.100000
faction = co_hsp_grp, 0.100000
faction = co_ss_grp, 0.200000


Edited by - moonhead on 4/6/2004 10:25:21 AM

Well, I have been waiting for an answer to this same question for days now. But I guess I need to speak up and say so.

I am having very much the same problem as Moonhead; I have a single patrol path setup on a single tradelane on a mod that I KNOW works in every way up to this point. My path name is unique. I have assigned the attack patrol to the proper lane id. I have all of the parameters set up correctly but I get the kind of error you get when you are missing an encounter parameter. But I am not missing the encounter param. There is but one, and it is definately the correct one! It is patrolp_attack. That is what I used in the path and also the param I declared at the top of the system file.

Yet when I use the lane, every thing is cool. When the lane is attacked, I crash. Of course, I am guessing that is the reason. I can use the lane 9 times out of ten safely (tradelane_attack = 10) but sometimes when I use the tradelane, it just crashes to the desktop.

But nothing is missing:

[zone
nickname = Zone_SG01_path_mollys1_1
pos = -58837, 0, -48056
rotate = -90, -16, 180
shape = CYLINDER
size = 750, 82000
attack_ids = SG01_1
tradelane_attack = 10
sort = 99
toughness = 7
density = 3
repop_time = 90
max_battle_size = 4
pop_type = attack_patrol
relief_time = 30
path_label = mollys1, 1
usage = patrol
mission_eligible = false
faction_weight = fc_m_grp, 10
density_restriction = 1, patroller
density_restriction = 1, police_patroller
density_restriction = 1, pirate_patroller
density_restriction = 4, lawfuls
density_restriction = 4, unlawfuls
encounter = patrolp_assault, 18, 0.290000
faction = fc_m_grp, 1.000000

Another item that puzzles me is the density restriction items. I commented out the police_patroller and pirate_patroller, and the system crashes to desktop upon entering the system with those two commented out.

I could certainly use some advice here. Most of the time I have been able to figure out what is wrong without outside help. I do after all have a very large custom system complete with tradelanes, bases, custom ships and items, asteroid fields and nebulas, encounters, etc - all of it working fine. But I am stumped on this particular problem.

Thanks for any help in advance.

Edited by - LightRogue on 4/14/2004 9:37:15 PM

Sounds awfully familiar, LIghtRogue. Indeed, like you say, you can just guess what makes you crash, but I have made the same assumptions as you have (being, that the path encounter triggers the crash).

Having a zero % chance on a trade lane attack will be a blessing to the lawful NPC's in my (sofar) 9 new systems, but it will be a huge bore to the one playing the mod.

I'm curious what kind of experiences people have, especially the more experienced modders. I would also apppreciate to hear if people tried but did not succeed. Actually it would surpirse me if no-one besides LightRogue and me have been trying to do this.

This is only my second system in Freelancer but I have edited lots of other games over the past dozen years. There's not a lot in Freelancer that I can't do, but this one thing just has me stumped completely.

I'm a bit frustrated with the tutorials. One assault patrol tutorial shows the assault zone with two of the most critical elements missing - lane id and tradelane attack possibility!!!! That's not much help when two critical lines of the script are missing.

I got really frustrated with ids_names and that should not have happened. Ids names are a piece of cake when you realize that Mod Manager likes to delete your newly revamped dll file and replace it with the original (older version). But no one ever mentions that you should snag your newly revised dll file before Mod Manager has a chance to destroy it.

I know everyone tries hard, but little missing tidbits like that cause a lot of people hours and hours of frustration, to the point that they just give up.

Hopefully we'll get some help with this one. Some of these guys are pretty sharp.

LightRogue

---

I got really frustrated with ids_names and that should not have happened. Ids names are a piece of cake when you realize that Mod Manager likes to delete your newly revamped dll file and replace it with the original (older version). But no one ever mentions that you should snag your newly revised dll file before Mod Manager has a chance to destroy it.

---

Not to mentipn the fact that, with previous versions of FLMM, you had to turn-off the "read only"-property of your custom-dll (not of the original ones). It makes one indeed wonder whether some actions, like copy-dragging your dlls from Freealncer's EXE folder into one's mod's, are considered so obvious that they need no explaining...

Let's hope that this Patrol Path / Tradelane Assault thing is one of these obvious things (the other option being that it can't be done).

Heh! I definately agree. I'd rather feel like a fool for missing something simple and obvious than find out it just can't be done.

LightRogue