Heads Up!

[Southside Bucky 1]

This one fixes the Instant Action CTD:

 

http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...a1853e5497ba052

 

Regards.

 

Bucky

[Sky High 166]

This one fixes the Instant Action CTD:

 

http://bbs.thirdwire.com/phpBB/viewtopic.p...a1853e5497ba052

 

Regards.

 

Bucky

 

Unfortunately, the missing(sometimes) decals problem remains unresolved.

[Southside Bucky 1]

I had a feeling that might be the case.

 

Too much haste sorting that IA CTD...I don't think TK even saw our "decals sometimes missing" posts.

 

I wonder if P10ppy might be able to help with it?

[+p10ppy 2]

i had a quick look at it

it "looks' like the alias.lst may not be working for you guys (its a new feature)

i have not tested enough to see if i have the problem as well

 

there's 3 "new" nations and they use some of the decals from older nations which is pointed to by the alias.lst

 

NATION.ini

[Nation019]

Name=GERMANY_TEMP

ActiveDate=03/20/1918

AlternateDecal=GERMANY_OLD

 

[Nation020]

Name=GERMANY_OLD

 

[Nation021]

Name=RAF_OLD

DisplayName=Royal Flying Corps

 

[Nation022]

Name=USAS_OLD

DisplayName=US Signal Corps Aviation Section

 

 

ALIAS.LST

Insignia021.tga Insignia003.tga

Fuse021.tga Fuse003.tga

Insignia022.tga Insignia001.tga

Tail022.tga Tail001.tga

 

you can try extracting the second decal (objectdata.cat) on each line of the ALIAS.LST to your object/aircraft folder

and renaming them to the first decal on each line

bypassing the ALIAS.LST

 

worth a try anyway

i will try to have a better look in the next few days... (busy weekend)

 

good luck :yes:

[Sky High 166]

i had a quick look at it

it "looks' like the alias.lst may not be working for you guys (its a new feature)

i have not tested enough to see if i have the problem as well

 

there's 3 "new" nations and they use some of the decals from older nations which is pointed to by the alias.lst

 

NATION.ini

[Nation019]

Name=GERMANY_TEMP

ActiveDate=03/20/1918

AlternateDecal=GERMANY_OLD

 

[Nation020]

Name=GERMANY_OLD

 

[Nation021]

Name=RAF_OLD

DisplayName=Royal Flying Corps

 

[Nation022]

Name=USAS_OLD

DisplayName=US Signal Corps Aviation Section

 

 

ALIAS.LST

Insignia021.tga Insignia003.tga

Fuse021.tga Fuse003.tga

Insignia022.tga Insignia001.tga

Tail022.tga Tail001.tga

 

you can try extracting the second decal (objectdata.cat) on each line of the ALIAS.LST to your object/aircraft folder

and renaming them to the first decal on each line

bypassing the ALIAS.LST

 

worth a try anyway

i will try to have a better look in the next few days... (busy weekend)

 

good luck :yes:

p10ppy,

Thanks for your assistance.I cannot locate an ALIAS.LST. Perhaps you could indicate where it is, or could it be that it is missing in my game and that that is causing the problem? If so , how do I get one!?

Sky High.

[+p10ppy 2]

I had a better play with this and I don't think I have been able to replicate your problem

 

So it probably isn't anything to do with the alias.lst...

 

I have found one weird bug that may be related

running at default graphics (from a clean install) that seems to be related to the Camel (atleast i never saw it anywhere else...)

 

the fuselage roundel being randomly replaced (during the mission,multiple times) by random tga files... which flick back to the roundel with a view change or Screenshot

so that bug is most likely graphics related, I never saw it with my normal install (max graphic settings) only with the lower "default" settings... where it was quite regular

note it could just be a weird thing with my vid card running non-native

examples

 

If this is the problem you guys have, TK's probably got no idea what you mean...

 

If its a different problem (as i think) you probably need to post more info,

flight date

specific aircraft

reproducible

drinking a cup of tea at the time

graphic settings

modded install

screen shot

etc

before TK can help you

 

sorry i couldnt help more

[+drdoyo 2]

I don't know if this is what you all are talking about with the missing decals, and I havn't dug into FE as much as I do the other ThirdWire games but.....

 

If you are talking about DecalLevel=2 decals sometimes showing and sometimes not such as in he following lines from the SE5a decals.ini ......

 

 

[Decal023]

MeshName=Wing Lower Inner L

DecalLevel=2

DecalFacing=BOTTOM

FilenameFormat=BlackLetter

Position=-1.15,-0.49

Scale=1.5

DecalMaxLOD=3

 

All of TKs other games use a system of decal000 through decal099 for DecalLevel=2. The game engine "chooses" a random number in the 000 to 099 series for the lead plane unless specified in the campaignXXX_data.ini entries. This means that 1) unless you choose specific markings in the loadout screen for your flight (you will not be able to affect AI flights) in single missions, or 2) unless a marking range is specified for the squadron in the campaign_data.ini and losses have not exceeded this range or 3) unless there are 100 level 2 decals (decal000 to decal099) then chances are the game will assign a decal0XX outside the range of available decals for that location.

 

If this is what is being referred to, then it's not a bug, it's just insufficient decals available for the game to use and this has been present in the entire series.

[Southside Bucky 1]

Thanks for the input fella's.

 

I haven't got a clue what the technicalities of the problem are, and I have to say, as far as the official plane set is concerned, since I made a new install before adding the Nov 08 patch, I haven't seen the missing decal glitch since.

 

However, when I was trying out some add on planes, the missing decals problem came back, big time...It seems to me, that any add-on German planes using late war crosses will be missing all their national insignia and personal markings.

 

I sort of got round the problem by editing the DECALS.INI in the plane's skin folder. For instance, a section of the SSW D.III's original DECAL.INI looked like this:

 

[Decal010]

MeshName=WingTopO_L

DecalLevel=0

DecalFacing=TOP

FilenameFormat=Jasta4/D/TCross

Position=-3.2421,-0.0800

Scale=1.55

DecalMaxLOD=3

Reverse=True

 

The game no longer seems to recognise: "Jasta4/D/TCross", so I replaced all those entries with "Insignia". Thus:

 

[Decal010]

MeshName=WingTopO_L

DecalLevel=0

DecalFacing=TOP

FilenameFormat=Insignia

Position=-3.2421,-0.0800

Scale=1.55

DecalMaxLOD=3

Reverse=True

 

It then worked OK, although any personal markings, like Udet's "LO!", on his Jasta 4 SSW D.III still won't appear.

 

I had to do the same thing with the Pfalz D.III, 'cause the game won't recognise the title: "Plain Cross".

 

Hope this helps in trying to work out what the problem is.

 

Regards.

 

Bucky

[+p10ppy 2]

ah

ok thats much clearer :yes:

 

glad you worked out the stock problem Southside Bucky

 

the decal setup on those 3rd party planes is a little weird... and out of date I presume if it used to work....

 

you need a fuller path to the decal folder

replace things like

FilenameFormat=Jasta4/D/TCross

with

FilenameFormat=SchuckertD3/Jasta4/D/TCross

 

and all the decals should appear fine

 

find and replace with a competent text editor makes it semi painless... (i use Notepad++)

[Southside Bucky 1]

Nice one, P10ppy. Suddenly everything's clear... :yes:

 

Cheers, man.

[+p10ppy 2]

no worries

glad to help :yes:

[Southside Bucky 1]

I hate to impose on you further P10ppy, but do you have any idea why the gun muzzle flashes are now visible through solid objects, ie, upper wings, and even under fuselages?

 

I thought it might have rectified itself with a fresh install, but it's still happening.

 

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Bucky.

[+p10ppy 2]

can not replicate it sorry Southside Bucky

my default clean install and my "proper" install won't do it... and I think I tried most of the graphic settings

maybe post your graphic setting (option.ini)

mine are

[GraphicsOptions]

DisplayDeviceID=0

DisplayWidth=1680

DisplayHeight=1050

DisplayDepth=32

AspectRatio=1.600000

LensFlare=0

DetailLevel=4

ObjectDetail=2

ObjectTexture=3

CockpitTexture=3

CockpitMirrors=0

CockpitReflection=0

EffectsDetail=2

TerrainDetail=2

TerrainTexture=3

HorizonDistance=3

GroundObjectDensity=3

WaterDetail=2

CloudsDetail=0

Shadow=1

AntiAliasing=0

 

if you have any 3rd party effects packages installed, they may cause it as well

check near the end of your PARTICLESYSTEM.INI (shudder ) that the fire material looks like this (PARTICLESYSTEM.INI lives in the FlightData.cat)

 

[FireMaterial]

DepthBufferCheck=TRUE

DepthBufferWrite=FALSE

IgnoreRenderOrder=FALSE

AlphaTestEnabled=FALSE

LightEnabled=FALSE

UseLightLevel=FALSE

SpecularEnabled=FALSE

EmissiveEnabled=FALSE

AmbientColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

DiffuseColor=1.000000,1.000000,1.000000,1.000000

ZBufferOffset=2.000000

PriorityLevel=3

BlendOp=BLEND_INV_SRC_ALPHA_ADD_SRC

NumTextureStages=1

TextureStage[01].TextureName=Fire.tga

TextureStage[01].MipMap=FALSE

TextureStage[01].FilterEnabled=TRUE

TextureStage[01].StageColorOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

TextureStage[01].StageAlphaOp=TEXTURE_MODULATE_DIFFUSE

 

I'd be surprised if it didn't though...and it would affect much more than the muzzle flashes

 

 

maybe try updating your directx9 and vidcard drivers (always a pain I know)

 

post TK a screeny he will be able to help I'm sure

[Southside Bucky 1]

Hi P10ppy.

 

I've tested a few different graphics settings, but no change. The "FireMaterial" section in the PARTICLESYSTEM.INI is as it should be too.

 

It definitely doesn't happen in my FE+EP+Peter01FM's install either, so I'm kinda confident it isn't my DX9, or vidcard drivers.

 

I'll take your advice and ask TK.

 

Thanks again for your time and trouble.

 

Bucky

[+p10ppy 2]

It definitely doesn't happen in my FE+EP+Peter01FM's install either, so I'm kinda confident it isn't my DX9, or vidcard drivers.

 

Bucky

 

If you are using FE+EP+Peter01FM unpatched which seems to be recommended practise (all my installs are fully patched though)

there's a possibility that TK used some new video/DX9 features in the newest patches (and since the shaders et,al work in vista now, its a reasonable bet that he has imho)

which might explain the difference you are seeing between the two versions...

[Southside Bucky 1]

Hmm...All of a sudden I'm not so confident 'bout those drivers.

 

I'll check 'em out.