v.1.4 bugs

[Preda]

I noticed some UFO-related bugs in v.1.4. The UFO-tracking window doesn't indicate UFO size very accurately, and there are many cases in wich a planter crashes, and in the tactical mission you see a Laboratory.

 

Can this be fixed by yet another patch?

[Slaughter]

It probably can, but I'd say chances are slim to none of ALTAR doing more patches for Aftermath. You'll probably have to mod it yourself to get it fixed, but I doubt it can be done without the source. I might bug Cenega a little to get the source released however...

[Kret]

Preda, you should note that some UFO types have 2 sizes, both planters and laboratory UFOs are such.

[Preda]

Preda, you should note that some UFO types have 2 sizes, both planters and laboratory UFOs are such.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Please do not insult my intelligence! Laboratories have branches growing out of them, unlike planters and bases.

[GigiDuru]

Please do not insult my intelligence! Laboratories have branches growing out of them, unlike planters and bases.

You can still insult mine (though I don't mind if you don't), as I obviously failed to realize these differences. I had only noticed that UFO layouts come in 3 sizes (or so I think).

 

But: by reading this thread I realize now how much I missed so I promise from now on to pay attention to the UFO alledged types and sizes BEFORE taking the guided (by Reticulans) tour to visit them.

[Kret]

Whatever, the thigs is, it isn't a bug.

[Accounting Troll]

There seems to be a certain overlap between the various classes of alien ship in Aftermath. I have sometimes had laboratories plant biomass nodes, and I have had a couple of games in which I have got the bionode material from the recovery of a wrecked laboratory.

 

Somewhere in the game files there is a bit that says what missions each class of ship can go on. If anybody feels like decoding it into a more meaningful form, it would make a great article for a future edition of the newsletter

[GigiDuru]

Somewhere in the game files there is a bit that says what missions each class of ship can go on.

Well, I think I found the UFO type and activity dependency by collating two files in gamedata.vfs. One thing is for sure, planters can do several types of missions and non-planter UFOs can plant too.

 

 

I put it in Excel format but I don't appear to have the right to attach files to my posts .

So what can I do ? I think I could somehow embed the table as text within a post but there should be a better way ...

[Preda]

Well, I think I found the UFO type and activity dependency by collating two files in gamedata.vfs. One thing is for sure, planters can do several types of missions and non-planter UFOs can plant too.

I put it in Excel format but I don't appear to have the right to attach files to my posts .

So what can I do ? I think I could somehow embed the table as text within a post but there should be a better way ...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

I'd like to know if you can fix this issue. It can get very irritating.

 

I think you understood the problem. I shoot down a medium planter or base and on the tactical mission I get a laboratoy. Also, the UFO tracking screen shows wrong-sized UFO in the pictogram.

[GigiDuru]

I'd like to know if you can fix this issue.

Sorry but I don't think I can.

 

In fact the discussion had slided a bit off topic: starting from the bug you indicated we arrived to discuss configured UFO and mission types. In fact this bug seems to have nothing to do with configuration if the game "forgets" the type of UFO it generated earlier.

 

However, one queston: besides of the UFO inside layout, is there anything else that suggests the wrong UFO type ? Because if in fact it is just the wrong layout, this COULD come from the game configuration. I will look and try to figure out the UFO layout configuration part but this seems trickier than "reading" just the UFO type.

[GigiDuru]

I gave it a first look but the result is not encouraging.

 

The easy part is that there are seven icons for displaying different UFOs. This means that 2 icons are "shared" by different types of UFOs. The same icon set seems to be used for display in both the UFO warning screen and the dogfight screen and it is possible to see this set.

 

But... there is no way to identify each icon within the set because different configuration files use different kinds of indexes and suffixes so there is no clear "name" (such as "planter-medium") to be found everywhere. The links should be done in the game program code which cannot be red. To complicate things further, part of it is in Czech.

 

As to the UFO interior, I think there are 5 different sets of fixed layouts. Each set has exactly 7 layout items for different UFO types (possibly corresponding to the 7 icons above).

 

 

If I find the time I'd like to try to solve the 7 image puzzle but I think I'm getting farther from solving any bug while seeking just another type of fun with this game...

[Preda]

I am not talking about the interior of the UFO, I mean the exterior. The craft itself is different from what I saw in the dogfight screen.

[Kret]

GigiDuru, mind me asking what files have you checked?

 

If checked the listofufotype.txt with the following content

 

; Exported from file: \\VELRYBA\ufo\Documentation\Design\Dogfight.xls
LIST_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE FIGHTER_0
   VIDEO_TYPE 2
   VIDEO_MARK 0
   ICONS 0 0 0 1
   WRECK 0
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE FIGHTERS
   VIDEO_TYPE 2
   VIDEO_MARK 0
   ICONS 0 1 1 1
   WRECK 0
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE OBS_0
   VIDEO_TYPE 2
   VIDEO_MARK 0
   ICONS 0 0 0 1
   WRECK 0
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE OBS_1
   VIDEO_TYPE 3
   VIDEO_MARK 0
   ICONS 1 1 1 1
   WRECK 1
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE LAB_1
   VIDEO_TYPE 3
   VIDEO_MARK 0
   ICONS 2 1 1 1
   WRECK 1
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE LAB_2
   VIDEO_TYPE 3
   VIDEO_MARK 2
   ICONS 4 1 1 1
   WRECK 2
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE PLANT_2
   VIDEO_TYPE 3
   VIDEO_MARK 1
   ICONS 3 1 1 1
   WRECK 2
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE BASE_2
   VIDEO_TYPE 3
   VIDEO_MARK 1
   ICONS 3 1 1 1
   WRECK 2
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE PLANT_3
   VIDEO_TYPE 3
   VIDEO_MARK 3
   ICONS 5 1 1 1
   WRECK 3
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE BASE_3
   VIDEO_TYPE 3
   VIDEO_MARK 3
   ICONS 6 1 1 1
   WRECK 3
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
 UFOTYPE
   UFO_TYPE BATTLE_3
   VIDEO_TYPE 4
   VIDEO_MARK 0
   ICONS 7 1 1 1
   WRECK 3
 END_OF_UFOTYPE
END_OF_LIST_OF_UFOTYPE

 

This backups my statement that one lab type ufo is similar to one of the planter ufos wreckwise. However, it also shows that Breda's "bug" can be fixed via mod if really needed.

 

This is what I can interprete for each value:

 

UFO_TYPE: This seems to be a name tag more than anythind else. Either some internal code or another file probably makes a reference to this.

VIDEO_TYPE: This determines what cinematics will be shown during the evaluation of the dogfight. Note that several ufo types share the same movies. Oddly enough, values are 2, 3 or 4 so a question rises from the missing possible 0 and 1 values.

VIDEO_MARK: I believe this refers to the begining of the cinematic where you see the player fighter wing and the ufo fighter wing break formations.

ICONS: These seem quite obvious, they determine what icons are shown on the dogfight screen for the ufos

WRECK: This determines the size of the ufo crash site and possibly landing site when applicable for the exterior part of the mission

 

I need to test all of this to finally confirm their functions.

[Preda]

it's Preda.

[Kret]

Sorry, the post was made during very late night hours, vision was kind of blury then

[Preda]

I don't really know how to install a mod, so if this will be done, I'd like to find out how to use it...

[GigiDuru]

GigiDuru, mind me asking what files have you checked?

If checked the listofufotype.txt with the following content...

 

It is this file indeed (and I agree to your assumptions Kret) , but together with strategic\configs\game\listofufomissions.txt which has entries for the different types of missions such as:

 

[Kret]

I think there are three levels or "strengths" for each type of mission

 

Yup, here're some lines from the listofphase_content.txt file

I'm assuming 1st digit if frequency or probability over the other missions and the second the strength.

  PHASE_CONTENT
   PHASE 6
   UFO_MISSION_PATROL 2 2
   UFO_MISSION_TRANSPORT 2 2
   UFO_MISSION_INTRUDE 3 2
   UFO_MISSION_PLANTING 4 2
   UFO_MISSION_BASEATT 2 2

 

I also think the 11 UFO_TYPE digits indicate the possibility to have different types of UFOs assigned to the given type of UFO

11 UFO_TYPE digits match the 11 UFO_TYPE definitions in the listofufotype.txt file.

I would like to note that in this last file, it would be less confusing to refer to these definitions as ufo wing sets rather than actual ufo types

 

I've been trying to discern what the VIDEO_TYPE and VIDEO_MARK values do. So far, reading the listofdogfight.txt brings me to this conclusion:

 

VIDEO_TYPE combined with a precalculated dogfight result AND the number of craft present in the UFO wing determines which cinematic sequence will be shown

Each cinematic sequence is divided into several short scenes that refer to individual bik files. Each of these scenes can be have to 4 entries for UFOs and 3 entries for human fighters and they're labeled from VIDEO1 to VIDEO4. Each of these have 3 entries reflecting dogfight over ground, sea or at night. The VIDEO_MARK comes into play here when the games needs to figure wich VIDEOx scene to load for ufos and it most likely uses a different variable when figuring what file to load for human craft.

Little oddity: planter and base ufos share the same cinematics according to their VIDEO_TYPE and VIDEO_MARK. This is applicable to both sizes of both ufos.

 

So with this we return to Preda's issue (again, sorry to have mistyped your nick as a S2 grenade), both the dogfight icon and the cinematic would be different BUT for the tactical part of the game the LAB_2 and the PLANT_2 ufo types (wings) share the same wreckege and so does the BASE_2 ufo for that matter, thus giving the impression that there's some sort of bug in action while it is more of a design most likely related to the game being rushed.

 

11 UFO_TYPES (wings)

7 Ufo Icons

4 Wrekeges

 

Reading the files, no wonder they didn't know how to begin with improving the interception part of the game for AS. The one in AM seems in my opinion a tad messy with the scripting and the dozens of bik files.

[Zombie]

I have the result in a more readable form (sent to Zombie, should appear soon I guess) and it seems quite plausible.

Well, here it is. GigiDuru's impressive spreadheet on UFO types and activity. It was created with Microsoft Excel and is 2.66KB zipped and 16.5KB normal. Enjoy, everyone!

 

UFO_Missions.zip

 

- Zombie

[Kret]

Viewed the file and liked the table. There's just 2 things that I believe are incorrect:

 

1st, the level 1 patrol missions are solely conducted by solitary observers, not a single fighter

2nd, the battleship's probability in the level 2 intrude should be 20%

 

Of course, I'm assuming that the 11 digits order matches the order in how the UFO_TYPES are declared, wich is something you do GiriDuru aswell in the table, don't you?

[GigiDuru]

1st, the level 1 patrol missions are solely conducted by solitary observers, not a single fighter

2nd, the battleship's probability in the level 2 intrude should be 20%

Oops about the 20%...

About patrol missions, I think you're right but this casts a shadow on my interpretation of the 11 digits.

 

Of course, I'm assuming that the 11 digits order matches the order in how the UFO_TYPES are declared, wich is something you do GiriDuru aswell in the table, don't you?

Yes, and I have a strong reason to believe it: first I didn't notice that there is an inversion from the natural order in UFO_TYPES (planters and bases are interlaced) and my table looked odd (bases did planting ), then I applied the same inversion to my table too and it made far more sense.

 

So I stick to this UFO type order. As far as fighters are concerned, there may be some distortion as fighters do not come in several sizes, so I interpreted size as "one" or "many". Maybe this explains the lone observer patrol mismatch (unless I did a mistake when translating the config file, in which case... oops again!). Unfortunately I cannot check again right now but I'll do it later today.

[GigiDuru]

1st, the level 1 patrol missions are solely conducted by TINY observers, not a single fighter

2nd, the battleship's probability in the level 2 intrude should be 20%

As I said, oops oops :mad: I checked the file again and found out I was (horribly?) wrong - and Kret was right in both cases.

 

Now, shall I update and resend the Excel via the same route or is it possible to update the posted version directly ?

[Kret]

Shamefull as it might be for a member of the Core Staff, I have no idea.

 

Returning to the original purpose of the thread. The simplest solution I see would be to change the wreck value number for the larger lab ufo to match the smaller lab ufo.

 

Would you be interested in that fix Preda?

[Preda]

So with this we return to Preda's issue (again, sorry to have mistyped your nick as a S2 grenade), both the dogfight icon and the cinematic would be different BUT for the tactical part of the game the LAB_2 and the PLANT_2 ufo types (wings) share the same wreckege and so does the BASE_2 ufo for that matter, thus giving the impression that there's some sort of bug in action while it is more of a design most likely related to the game being rushed.

 

Well, here's a contrary-proving screenshot. This is a crashed-planter model. NO branches whatsoever. I'll try to get a laboratory as well. Maybe I'm wrong, but it doesn't seem like the medium planter and medium lab share the same model...

 

https://img436.imageshack.us/img436/2656/plntr9wz.jpg

 

Returning to the original purpose of the thread. The simplest solution I see would be to change the wreck value number for the larger lab ufo to match the smaller lab ufo.

 

Would you be interested in that fix Preda?

 

If that would make the medium lab a small one in the game code, not really. It would shift the sizez and screw up. I can't remember if I got this pic before version 1.4 or after, but this 'bug' might be related to the patch itself, because I didn't notice it before.

[Kret]

Hmm... ok, I think I could made a custom mod to force the appeareance of each ufo for any given mission AND see if there's a chance for some sort of way to make the aircraft invincible

 

This way I'll probably manage to get a picture of each ufo crash site.