@Highwayman, yup you're right about the Nial. For some reasom when you add hardpoints with Hardcmp it sometimes makes duplicates.

@Oddball, hmm looking at empathy.ini it should have a few more entries for some more of the orders enemies. As it is now, its best to do jobs for them killing nomads and imperials. They are allies of the federation, but the fastest way to gain rep is to kill their enemies. I think i might increase the rep gained by doing missions for them (and the others). In order to get the Anubis custom, you do need a rep of +0.85. If that seems way off (and you have made a real effort to get it), i'd be tempted to open up market_ships and reduce it to a more reasonable amount. By now you should have been allowed access to their ships.
The Sons of the free do seem to be missing their empathy entries. They are meant to be onle against the Imperial Navy and the Slave traders.

@Red777, i do have a question actually, what do you use to convert the = "0xada42c42" into a more readable format?

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i do have a question actually, what do you use to convert the = "0xada42c42" into a more readable format?

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not sure what you mean. From a programmers point of view the 0x at the front of 0xada42c42 just means that it is a hexadecimal number - which I'm sure you already know.

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ERROR: ArchDB::Get(0x89b1d005) failed. ID=-1984835579
ERROR: ArchDB::Get(0xa0e5e288) failed. ID=-1595547000

Open select_equip.ini and right at the top you'll see 12 or so commodities, move them to the bottom of the file to get rid of the errors. You were asking for an architype that doesn't get created until later in that file (cargopod_blue & lootcrate_blue).

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If I read this correctly, the implication is that 0x89b1d005 and 0xa0e5e288 refer to cargopod_blue & lootcrate_blue ? If this is so then a either the format of the hex number indicates something, like first 2 digits mean equip type, second 2 refer to colour, etc. Or the whole number itself is an index into a lookup table. Either way someone has this data on file.

If I can help in way or you can clarify the above I will be happy to oblige.

Rgds.

So how would i normally translate those numbers into the actual equipment/ship name? I've done the select_equip fix, i just wanted to know how i know what those numbers are refering to.

Edited by - Mace_166 on 6/17/2006 6:33:52 AM

@ Mace, CRCTool is one of Anton's little gems, it creates a database of every nickname, CRC and hash code in FL, it's how I know which piece of equipment is which as I've got a database of your mod.

bug report time

A CTD in the Liabefa system, I entered through the Miogre Jumpgate and took the TL to Jordan Stronghold, I then took the right hand TL and had only just docked with it when the CTD happened. As there's no patrols in that area and spew only gave me the usual missing hardpoints, the only thing I can come up with is maybe there's a dodgy encounter in either the TL zone or the base zone.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

I saw that you have a reply. Hope this helps you. Offer still stands. Just spent the last half hour trying to post a reply and feeling a bit annoyed. My actual error is:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error '80040e31'

Timeout expired

/t/forum/post_info.asp, line 503

If it's because I keep trying to paste large chunks of text into my replies could someone let me know?

cheers

Mace, I just sent an email to the hotmail address that you list with the mod. Just stuff that I tried to say on here but kept getting that error when posting.

Rgds.

Mace

I have been making slow progress in the hex code stuff.


I dl'ed the CRCtool program and generated the database.

I created a text database, seached it on screen for some hex codes from
FLSpit, o.k. Checked the file itself and it is flat ascii with the hex codes and
associated lookup data (though it is a big file!).

Checked that I can query the text database in a dos box with findstr to
search and retrieve hex codes (just as a bit of extra validation).

What I propose do is write a little script that takes the output of the FLSpit routine and lookup all the hexcodes and print them to the screen with the
associated info and print something like :

FLSpit : ERROR: ArchDB::Get(0x89b1d005) failed. ID=-1984835579
cargopod_blue
(C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\Data\EQUIPMENT\select_equip.ini)

It can always be redirected to a file if you need to.

If this sounds o.k. then I get on it first thing tomorrow, should only take an
hour or two.

I'll need a bit more time to make this portable, i.e. as a Windows exe, as I have
only been running Python scripts on my machine so far and I can't expect everyone else to install it. I don't think this is a big deal but haven't looked into it before.

Plus I haven't played with all the options in CRCtool yet and got a definitive idea of the text output so I might be able to add a few more bells and whistles.

Let me know if this will do the job, I check in later / tomorrow a.m.

Rgds.

think i have another one for you the thargon heavy fighters can not equip shields dont know if thats correct or a glitch wish i could be more help

@ Red, the CRC's that you get from FlSpit only tell you the nickname of the offending item, it doesn't tell you where it is or what is causing it. As an ini basher it didn't take me long to figure out what the problem was with cargopod_blue, once I knew what item it was. However most of the errors in FlSpit aren't as obliging, take the missing hardpoint errors, CRCTool tells you thier in the shiparch, the problems actually in 1 of possibly 4 completely different files. Then there's the errors that don't have any CRC numbers or give any real hint to the problem. Freelancer debugging has a lot of tools that point us in more or less the right direction but unless you know what your looking for you could be staring at it and not realise it, basically debugging a mod is a hands on job where you take the data from all of the debug tools, and slowly work your way through each and every ini file there is fixing each and every bug, typo and bad coding by hand.

@ MACE, I'm fixing the files that give me RED errors on my server, so if you want any help bud or you just want the files I fix let me know, I'm always willing to help fix bug's.

@ highwayman, you are being of help bud, any glitches you find will help MACE fix the mod.
**shuffles of with a new headache**

Edited by - Bejaymac on 6/17/2006 1:17:33 PM

@Bejaymac, yeah cheers for you help. I'g like to get rid of all of the red errors and the bulk of the yellow ones before releasing the next version.

@Highwayman, Yeah , you're right. In shiparch, the thargoid destroyer and warship it dosen't have the ", HpShield01" part of the shield entry.

I have just changed the version number for Frontierspace. I still need to have the number confirmed, but a couple of people have commented that it would be easier having a unique version number.

Hey Mace

A bug to report.......

In the Holm system, Battleship Schlesien, Mission Board....A Rhienland Military mission to go and destroy Rhienland Special Forces ships.....

Uh, aren't they allies?

Bejaymac

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the CRC's that you get from FlSpit only tell you the nickname of the offending item, it doesn't tell you where it is or what is causing it.

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I know, but looking at the FLSpit output line:
FLSpit : ERROR: ArchDB::Get(0x89b1d005) failed. ID=-1984835579

and plugging the hex code e.g. 0x89b1d005 into CRCTool retrieves the info

cargopod_blue
(C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer\Data\EQUIPMENT\select_equip.ini)

so I can automate that process with a routine that takes all hexcodes from a FLSpit file and runs them through the CRCTool database to create a report.

BUT - I take your point that all the info required isn't in the spit file so I will hang fire on this for now. What I will do is a bit more digging so that I get a better understanding of what is involved in modding so that I might be able to help in future. I've read through some of the stickies in the editing forum and I'm getting a background.

Edit: I see your point Bejaymac, you can identify the file, but it doesn't tell you what is wrong, i.e. the data needs to be at the bottom rather than the top. I'll keep plodding on...

Regards,

Edited by - red777 on 6/18/2006 1:36:25 AM

Red keep pluging away bud, moding is lucky in that you can use short cuts to avoid long hours of repetative coding, but even with all of the tools we have debugging still requires long boring hours of ini editting. At the moment I'm getting rid of the invalide ini blocks in the base & room ini's, this means searching through each and every one of them and as I have to BINI most of them before I can check them it's kind of taking forever, 4 hours and I'm only just about 1/3 of the way through them.

Mace I've found several bases that only have 1 room assigned to them, thier using prison station mitchell's deck, as this is for the story only it means that all anybody will see is a black room with a launch to space button. I've also found one CTD candidate EW05_01_Base, it has a bar, deck & shipdealer which is perfectly normal, but on checking the shipdealer ini you see that it was meant for a cityscape and is coded for that. Anybody who uses the launch pad, commodity or equipment buttons will CTD as they point to someplace that doesn't exist. I've also noticed a large number of rooms that ain't being used, I'm guessing thier another of FLE's little flaws.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

EW05_01_Base dosen't actually exist. It isn'y in the universe.ini or the system file. There's a few of them like that. Not really sure what they are going on about. I notice though that the base details are in the Ew05 folder.
There's a bunch of bases (the destru) ones that only use one room. Its ok, they are not dockable, they are generic destroy bases for different factions. They may have npcs to keep the patrols happy and they are bases to get the voice. They might have a medium_moor on their archetype, but player ships are either berths or large_moors.
I'm going to plan the next version for July 1st (depending on how much i get sorted through).