4.61 Bugs

[Steve Walmsley]

everytime i enter galactic map i've got error 76: "path not found: 'Flags\', it is loading gal map, but without flags

i also get some errors related to null when npr discover new system, but not always and it didnt happen anytime i discover new system

shut down buttons dont work neither

if i select command "load fleet with ordnance" (or something like that) for full colliers when targeting a planet i always lose all missiles (they are neither in collier magazines or on planet and there is no other pdcs or fleets in orbit), happened in earlier versions too

The problems you having suggest there may be some type of installation problem. Firstly, can you check if you have a Flags sub-directory in the installation directory.

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

Instantaneous Travel ----

did this by accident.  Had Ship A at Earth, a jump ship at a jump point a couple of billion klicks away.

In the group task screen, accidentally double clicked on the the Ship A entry on the far right hand side of the special orders, instantly transporting Ship A to the jump point.  That group then proceeded to jump into the next system (immaterial fact....)

The material issue is that Ship A was "popped" across a very large system instantaneously.

Perhaps the "transfer ships between groups" should have a proximity check on it, so that one cannot do a magic transport like this?

Played around with this concept and you can use the "combine task groups" function in the same way.......

This is working as intended, although it is really for use as an SM ability to sort out problems. I will add some SM password checks in this area.

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

Come on, how many pieces of software, even the database-based have problem with decimal separator. I've met NONE that would require me to change the decimal separator in the OS. Seems to me that this problem should have a rather trivial workaround.

It is quite cumbersome for me, as I don't have a dedicated machine for Aurora.

It is possible to write code that can handle multiple decimal separators but it has to be done from the start and its a lot more involved than writing normal code. If I had to go back and change every place in the code where this was an issue, it could take months and I probably wouldn't get them all anyway. I would rather spend that time adding new features.

Have in mind that the need to change the decimal separator will drive many European players away from the game.

Please remember that this is not commercial software. It's a free game. If someone would rather not play because they have to change their regional settings (which is four mouse-clicks), then that is entirely up to them. All I can say in that in the ten years of SA (the predecessor to Aurora) and 3-4 years of Aurora, no one has ever told me before that changing their regional settings is a major problem or that having to change them will drive them away from the game.

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

there is something wrong with pd auto fire, i see 7x thermal contacts (missiles at 34k kps) inbound at 400k km, my anti-missile radar is for lasers defence only and have resolution 2 (around 200k km range), fire controls set do final fire (i bet range means nothing, because pd fire at only 10k km while set to 5x). 5 secs later in events window i see 6x missile destroyed by lasers and still 7x missiles hit the target, like none was destroyed. im sure there were no other missiles, my powerfull thermal sensors would get contacts. that way ended first alien investigation destroyer group

A resolution 2 sensor will only pick up missiles at about 1/4 its normal range. You really need resolution zero sensors. The range for point-blank defence doesn't matter if you are using "Final Defensive Fire (Self Only)". However, it does matter for regular "Final Defensive Fire" as that is the range at which it will protect other ships. With regard to the 7 missiles hitting when you already destroyed 6. If there are two incoming enemy salvos, they may be shown as <Salvo Contact Name >(x2). Is it possible you missed seeing the (x2) on the end of the contact information?

in 4.6 i met precursors with no weapons ramming (!!!) successfully my cruisers. are no-weapon alien ships a bug? i dont know if its still there

Precursors may ram if they run out of ammunition and have no source of resupply. This was my solution to the problem of precursors in that situation causing yoyo bugs as they moved away a little, stopped until back in sensor range, moved away again, etc. Their chance to ram is low; its about the same as missile traveling half as fast. So a 5000 km/s ship has the same chance to ram as a 2500 km/s missile with no agility bonus. At the moment, only precursors can ram as they are robot ships.

Steve

[Father Tim]

You mean, only precursor ships can ram as only they possess the secret Precursor ramming technology, to o along with their compressed fuel tanks, advanced railguns, heavy lasers, etc.

Which brings me to more of a suggestion really, than a bug.  Precursors ships are not built with any of the 'advanced tech' available from ruins.  Maybe they should be?  Or at least a chance for it to be discovered in their wrecks.  (I can't rememer if precusors are actually designed the same way as player ships now, or if they just have certain 'powers' assigned to them.)

[Steve Walmsley]

I am seeing something similar in v4.61. It may just be the completion date is not being updated. The screen below is for Earth on 29th July 2082 if you look at the estimated completion date for the PDC refit its 25th July 2082
Regards

I don't think this is the same thing. If you look at the cost per unit for the refit, it is zero. This looks like either the original and the refit model are the same, or there is a problem with the PDC refit code.

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

You mean, only precursor ships can ram as only they possess the secret Precursor ramming technology, to o along with their compressed fuel tanks, advanced railguns, heavy lasers, etc.

Which brings me to more of a suggestion really, than a bug.  Precursors ships are not built with any of the 'advanced tech' available from ruins.  Maybe they should be?  Or at least a chance for it to be discovered in their wrecks.  (I can't rememer if precusors are actually designed the same way as player ships now, or if they just have certain 'powers' assigned to them.)

They are just the same as player ships, albeit with generally higher starting tech. Although the precursors are a set to a similar level in every game rather than given an amount of tech points relative to the player which maybe should be the case. The idea about advanced precursor weapons is a good one though. I will give that some thought.

Steve

[Steve Walmsley]

Steve -

This is a 4.46 bug, but I have no reason to believe that it isn't still a problem in 4.6x.  I have shipped several prefabbed PDC's from Strug Home to The Redoubt, along with six engineer regiments, and a small amount of each trans-newtonian resource.  Once everything was in place I set the engineer regiments to assembling the prefabbed PDC's on the industry window of the economics screen.  Everything appeared to be fine, with a completion date fourteen months in the future.  However, after numerous months of game time I checked the progress of the job and noted that it appeared that no work had been completed on the job (amount remaining "1"), and that the completion date still fourteen months in the future.  I advanced the time five days, and the amount remaining stayed the same, and the job completion date advanced five days.  There are no error messages, or any notations on the event updates screen as to any problems.  

To see just how far the problem extends, I cancelled assembly of the PDC and set the engineering regiments to construct 1 industrial capacilty.  The info on the industry tab showed that it would take just under 1 year, as the cost was 120 and the six engineer regiments had an annual production of 121.5.  However, after advancing the time five days, the screen showed no work completed and the estimated completion date advanced five days.  

The engineering units appear to be non-functional.  

I have just tested this and it is working as it should. Perhaps there is some reason the engineers are not being picked up as being at that location. Could you confirm that the Engineers are not inside a PDC and that the number of Engineers is shown next to the Industrial Capacity at the top of the Industry tab for that population.

Steve

[sloanjh]

in 4.6 i met precursors with no weapons ramming (!!!) successfully my cruisers. are no-weapon alien ships a bug? i dont know if its still there

Precursors may ram if they run out of ammunition and have no source of resupply. This was my solution to the problem of precursors in that situation causing yoyo bugs as they moved away a little, stopped until back in sensor range, moved away again, etc. Their chance to ram is low; its about the same as missile traveling half as fast. So a 5000 km/s ship has the same chance to ram as a 2500 km/s missile with no agility bonus. At the moment, only precursors can ram as they are robot ships.

Hehehehehe (that was a nasty chuckle :-)

John

[Steve Walmsley]

in 4.6 i met precursors with no weapons ramming (!!!) successfully my cruisers. are no-weapon alien ships a bug? i dont know if its still there

Precursors may ram if they run out of ammunition and have no source of resupply. This was my solution to the problem of precursors in that situation causing yoyo bugs as they moved away a little, stopped until back in sensor range, moved away again, etc. Their chance to ram is low; its about the same as missile traveling half as fast. So a 5000 km/s ship has the same chance to ram as a 2500 km/s missile with no agility bonus. At the moment, only precursors can ram as they are robot ships.

Hehehehehe (that was a nasty chuckle :-)

The warhead size is equal to the ship size, so a FAC is equal to a 20-point warhead and a 5000 ton ship is equal to a 100-point warhead (ouch!). The reverse applies, so the rammer takes damage equal to the size of the rammee (I think I just invented a word ). They have the same damage template as a missile. So it is possible to survive being rammed and even possible to survive carrying out a ramming. I haven't accounted for speed of impact because I would have to take into consideration the bearing and relative speeds of the two ships and that is more detail than the game normally requires.

Steve

[Hawkeye]

Come on, how many pieces of software, even the database-based have problem with decimal separator. I've met NONE that would require me to change the decimal separator in the OS. Seems to me that this problem should have a rather trivial workaround.

It is quite cumbersome for me, as I don't have a dedicated machine for Aurora.

Gee, people are dealing with the GUI in WitP and you are complaining because you have to change a single setting on your machine?   :wink:

[Kurt]

Steve -

This is a 4.46 bug, but I have no reason to believe that it isn't still a problem in 4.6x.  I have shipped several prefabbed PDC's from Strug Home to The Redoubt, along with six engineer regiments, and a small amount of each trans-newtonian resource.  Once everything was in place I set the engineer regiments to assembling the prefabbed PDC's on the industry window of the economics screen.  Everything appeared to be fine, with a completion date fourteen months in the future.  However, after numerous months of game time I checked the progress of the job and noted that it appeared that no work had been completed on the job (amount remaining "1"), and that the completion date still fourteen months in the future.  I advanced the time five days, and the amount remaining stayed the same, and the job completion date advanced five days.  There are no error messages, or any notations on the event updates screen as to any problems.  

To see just how far the problem extends, I cancelled assembly of the PDC and set the engineering regiments to construct 1 industrial capacilty.  The info on the industry tab showed that it would take just under 1 year, as the cost was 120 and the six engineer regiments had an annual production of 121.5.  However, after advancing the time five days, the screen showed no work completed and the estimated completion date advanced five days.  

The engineering units appear to be non-functional.  

I have just tested this and it is working as it should. Perhaps there is some reason the engineers are not being picked up as being at that location. Could you confirm that the Engineers are not inside a PDC and that the number of Engineers is shown next to the Industrial Capacity at the top of the Industry tab for that population.

Steve

Picture #1 shows the Industry tab of the Economic screen for The Redoubt on January 21, 2264.

[attachment=1:rd2eqbu6]1-21-2264.gif[/attachment:rd2eqbu6]

Note that there is the correct number of engineer units displayed on top, along with what I presume is the correct annual production capacity (at least there is a production capacity).  One hundred percent of the capacity is directed towards completing the assembly of the PDC, adn the completion date is given as 4-4-2265.  

Picture #2 shows the industry tab for The Redoubt on February 1, 2264.

[attachment=0:rd2eqbu6]2-1-2264.gif[/attachment:rd2eqbu6]

This picture is taken ten days later, and the amount remaining should have been reduced by a small amount, and the estimated completion date should have stayed the same.  Instead the estimated completion date has advanced by the same amount that the time has advanced, ten days.  

Hopefully that helps.

Kurt

[Steve Walmsley]

I have found a bug with NPR/Precursors FACs that means they don't attack correctly unless their target is being detected by a second ship. This is a significant bug that I have to fix and it will mean database changes. Therefore the next version will be v4.7 and a database update.

Steve

[gregor40]

Come on, how many pieces of software, even the database-based have problem with decimal separator. I've met NONE that would require me to change the decimal separator in the OS. Seems to me that this problem should have a rather trivial workaround.

It is quite cumbersome for me, as I don't have a dedicated machine for Aurora.

Gee, people are dealing with the GUI in WitP and you are complaining because you have to change a single setting on your machine?   :wink:

Heh, I also return to the memories of the times I had to modify autoexec.bat and config.sys to play games

Maybe I wan't clear enough - I have to change the decimal separator back and forth each time I want to play aurora. I do research and code development professionally and have some Excel and Matlab data sources, that will behave at least strangely when I would use them with . as a separator.

Steve - I don't want you to think, that I am pointlessly complaining. I am really amazed by the amount of work you did. That's why I am trying to contribute and to be as much constructive as possible.

Especially a non-commercial project requires support from the community. It would be a pity if people would be dropping the game just because of such a trivial thing as a decimal separator. But if I am the only one to complain - it would be a waste of time, if it so much work...

[ussdefiant]

A bit of a wierd thing here, i've got a 12550 jump cruiser with a 12750 capacity jump drive, and 3 12700 ton heavy cruisers with it that don't have jump drives, but when i tell they to go through a jump point, i get a message saying that the jump drive doesn't has enough capacity or something.

Code: [Select]

Audacious class Jump Cruiser    12550 tons     1273 Crew     2138.44 BP      TCS 251  TH 840  EM 0
3346 km/s    JR 4-50     Armour 2-48     Shields 0-0     Sensors 6/1/0/0     Damage Control Rating 8     PPV 42
Annual Failure Rate: 157%    IFR: 2.2%    Maintenance Capacity 852 MSP    Max Repair 784 MSP
Magazine 726    

J12750(4-50) Military Jump Drive     Max Ship Size 12750 tons    Distance 50k km     Squadron Size 4
Ion Engine E8 (14)    Power 60    Fuel Use 80%    Signature 60    Armour 0    Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 200,000 Litres    Range 35.9 billion km   (124 days at full power)

Trafalgar class Heavy Cruiser    12700 tons     1621 Crew     1918.8 BP      TCS 254  TH 840  EM 0
3307 km/s     Armour 4-48     Shields 0-0     Sensors 12/6/0/0     Damage Control Rating 8     PPV 98
Annual Failure Rate: 161%    IFR: 2.2%    Maintenance Capacity 755 MSP    Max Repair 150 MSP
Flag Bridge    


Also, this same save seems to have a fair bit of yo-yoing going on, even after my fleet smites a bunch of Precursor FACs that were lurking in-system. Currently stuck on 15 minute increments, with the occasional increase to 1:15:00 or 1:30:00.