Freelancer porting of Wing Commander ships

[gevatter Lars]

Nope 😿

 

[L.I.F.]

Nope 😿

*is Le Sad*

More seriously, here's DI's Intrepid with a couple of Hellcat, raging inferno not included:

 

[L.I.F.]

@Panther1.0

You might want to redownload the mod, I've noticed a handful of bugs, the worst being on the Pirate Thunderbolt that won't show properly, making the Sean Ashcroft mission unwinnable. I've also reworked a bit some of the meshes that should make gunfights less problematic overall.

EDIT 1: crap, the Thunderbolt bug is weirder than I thought, I'm still debugging it, I'll edit this post when it's solved and uploaded.

EDIT 2: that CTD doesn't happen in a regular fashion, though I haven't identified its cause, so I guess the game is playable, but there might be instabilities somewhere in Bretonia.

EDIT 3: so it isn't linked to the Thunderbolt itself, which makes things "interesting". I believe it might come from too large collision meshes for fighters, so I've optimized them even more in the released mod.

Doing a full campaign run to test for any bug. Now this sight as I'm doing jobs in Bretonia? It's worth everything:

EDIT 4: hmm, there seems to be an issue with campaign mission 5, where you go to Sprague. When leaving Cambridge, the dialogue with Juni doesn't trigger, when it does trigger correctly if I use my vanilla copy of the game. A temporary solution is to start the mission with a vanilla install and load the autosave with the mod once you cross the Omega 3 jump gate.

 

[Panther1.0]

Ok cool,i will L.I.F

very nice game shots !

Thank you

 

[L.I.F.]

I've found the issue with Missions 5 and 7, and it's kinda annoying: it seems to be a result of the .dll edits I've done to get the ships to take off manually. Problem is, without these .dll, it's pretty much impossible to have correct run-through landing bays, as either the fighter will land in reverse or take off in reverse.

 

[DefianceIndustries]

you also need to figure out the emit mapping.

 

[L.I.F.]

you also need to figure out the emit mapping.

True that, I need to learn a lot about FL, to be honest. Barely a month since I started tinkering with it. XD

 

[Panther1.0]

I've found the issue with Missions 5 and 7, and it's kinda annoying: it seems to be a result of the .dll edits I've done to get the ships to take off manually. Problem is, without these .dll, it's pretty much impossible to have correct run-through landing bays, as either the fighter will land in reverse or take off in reverse.

I'm at mission 4 now, need to play futher to reach other sectors so that I can start making some money to buy better ships and weapons etc.

 

[L.I.F.]

I'm at mission 4 now, need to play futher to reach other sectors so that I can start making some money to buy better ships and weapons etc.

The Sabre is a pretty reliable fighter for you right now as you're waiting for Junko to find information on Sinclair. You need to find a Concordia-class carrier, they're sold onboard and will last you all the way till Kusari, where the first planet in which you land sells the Thunderbolt. Also, I'll set things up so that you can buy the Bearcat in your first visit to Rheinland. Then you'll get the Lance on the Intrepid.

To get around the current bug, just use a vanilla install of FL - or one with the vanilla versions of server.dll and common.dll - load the Mission 05: Cambridge, Cambridge autosaved game and take off. Junko will talk to you, blah blah, and once you're in the Tau system, you can load the autosave from entering the system in the modded game again, it'll work properly.

EDIT: ah, hell, I put the original .dll back into the EXE folder, and the modified .dll alongside. You'll take off the wrong way, but that's the price to pay. :-P

EDIT 2: a pretty good illustration of an awesome part of the game's engine, when you set up the ship's mesh as multiple parts, these turn into debris after the ship destruction. Here in the case of a Vaktoth shot down by my Bearcat:

 

[L.I.F.]

So, amusing bug notice: in the large setpiece battle at the beginning of Mission 10, the game seems to take some issue at the way I've configured the carriers, most likely in their collision meshes... cue spinning carriers that will kill your framerate and probably force you to reload from the last autosave a few minutes ago. Amusing, annoying but not entirely game-breaking, as I managed to get through that part. I'll revise the collision meshes to see if it solves the issue.

EDIT: my test run of the campaign has reached the Osiris//Intrepid. Some work is still needed on the dock stuff to make the cinematics look decent, but OTOH...

Good old times, isn't it?

EDIT: and the scene works out properly - though I still need to learn how to make the game differentiate this ship from the normal Liberty ones when it comes to hangar files.

 

[NextYearInKilrah]

Fired up this mod after installing FL yesterday. This is awesome! The hellcat is a bit more agile than I remember from other WC games, including WCsaga for freespace. I did encounter a CTD though: when I found the derelict wrecks in NY I approached them then crashed when I was 10 clicks from them. Is there a fix for this in the works?

 

[L.I.F.]

Fired up this mod after installing FL yesterday. This is awesome! The hellcat is a bit more agile than I remember from other WC games, including WCsaga for freespace. I did encounter a CTD though: when I found the derelict wrecks in NY I approached them then crashed when I was 10 clicks from them. Is there a fix for this in the works?

Point by point answer:

* Thanks, that's pretty much why I made it!
* The agility of the craft has currently been made identical to compensate for the removal of most arcs for the guns, any gameplay modification will come after I finish my first campaign test run to check for bugs and glaring issues. My idea is to ultimately make all guns available for every fighter but tinker with their power sources, agility and so on until there's some more complex balancing and gameplay, though it's not going to be finalized soon.
* I wasn't aware of that crash. Can you reproduce it and give me the following information:
** At which point of the campaign are you?
** Are you using the files in the EXE folder, some or all, and which ones?
** What fighter are you using?
** Were you doing a random mission at the time?
** Where is the wreck? Ideally, a screenshot of your view before the crash as well as a screenshot of the map at that point would help me reproduce and test it.

Keep in mind that my first goal, beyond the replacements of ships and names, is to allow a campaign run without CTD, so I'm pretty much going straight from campaign mission to mission without exploring, modifying the files as I go and as I learn. Not pretty and it usually means the download link in the OP gives you a dozen different versions every day, but bug reports are really appreciated. I hope you'll enjoy the game!

 

[NextYearInKilrah]

The derelicts in question are located in the NY badlands. The crash happened whether I had the starting tarsus or the hellcat. BTW this was early in the game when I did not have access to the rest of Liberty. Also I did not have a mission active at that time. Whenever I got to exactly 10 clicks, boom. Sadly I could not get a screen of my actual distance due to the forums not being able to recognize that for some reason. Also I crashed when I launched from the Mississippi in Texas after landing on it to obtain a mission. Funny thing is I landed on the other carriers no sweat (makes no sense to me). I don't think I can get a screenie for that because it happened very quickly. I will put up a screen of the 1st CTD I encountered. Also, you should know I had random hard crashes where I was forced to reboot my PC completely. Not sure why. I can't make screens due to the randomness of these. I am using the exe the mod zip came with.

 

[NextYearInKilrah]

Found another CTD. When I get into Magellan and fight the bounty hunters, boom.

 

[L.I.F.]

The derelicts in question are located in the NY badlands. The crash happened whether I had the starting tarsus or the hellcat. BTW this was early in the game when I did not have access to the rest of Liberty. Also I did not have a mission active at that time. Whenever I got to exactly 10 clicks, boom. Sadly I could not get a screen of my actual distance due to the forums not being able to recognize that for some reason. Also I crashed when I launched from the Mississippi in Texas after landing on it to obtain a mission. Funny thing is I landed on the other carriers no sweat (makes no sense to me). I don't think I can get a screenie for that because it happened very quickly. I will put up a screen of the 1st CTD I encountered. Also, you should know I had random hard crashes where I was forced to reboot my PC completely. Not sure why. I can't make screens due to the randomness of these. I am using the exe the mod zip came with.



View attachment 10899

Thanks for the report! I've reproduced it successfully and solved it on my end, as shown below:

Found another CTD. When I get into Magellan and fight the bounty hunters, boom.

That one is weirder, since I went through that scene during my run.

Considering the previous issue, I'm pretty sure I know what to do: when I set up the new ships, I defined a new file architecture, with the Liberty Defender being for example in \DATA\SHIPS\LIBERTY\li_elite\ and the Hellcat replacing it in \DATA\SHIPS\Wing_Commander\Hellcat\ and modified the shiparch.ini to refer to these new paths instead.

Simpler, more efficient overall, but I must have done something I do not know that caused it to break down when some ships, usually spawned by missions (or in your case, wrecks) were spawned. I had this issue with the Excalibur fighters in the fleet battle of Mission 10 and solved the issue by replacing the original game files in their original place and getting the paths back to the vanilla ones. So I'll have to do it for every single ship in the game. Annoying but apparently necessary, though given that it's time-consuming, I don't guarantee that it'll be done before Sunday, though I'll indicate here when it's done.

 

[L.I.F.]

@NextYearInKilrah

I'm currently uploading the reworked version of the mod that should fix these crashes you've been experimenting (the files should be online within one hour of this post, as it's a pretty big upload on my side). Once you've installed it, you can delete the \DATA\SHIPS\Wing_Commander\ folder, it shouldn't be used anymore with the new folder structure.

EDIT: the mod is now updated and can be downloaded in its current version.

 

[NextYearInKilrah]

I'm currently uploading the reworked version of the mod that should fix these crashes you've been experimenting (the files should be online within one hour of this post, as it's a pretty big upload on my side). Once you've installed it, you can delete the \DATA\SHIPS\Wing_Commander\ folder, it shouldn't be used anymore with the new folder structure.

EDIT: the mod is now updated and can be downloaded in its current version.

Just tried it and it appears to have worked

 

[NextYearInKilrah]

Got 2 weird bugs to report: 1 another CTD and 1 fighting a faction. The CTD occurred when I would autopilot either away from or towards the Suffolk in NL. I did not take a screen of this. The other bug involves the corsairs. When I approach them to fight the ekapshi would just sit there and not react to anything. I have a screen for that

 

[L.I.F.]

Got 2 weird bugs to report: 1 another CTD and 1 fighting a faction. The CTD occurred when I would autopilot either away from or towards the Suffolk in NL. I did not take a screen of this. The other bug involves the corsairs. When I approach them to fight the ekapshi would just sit there and not react to anything. I have a screen for that

OK, I'm going to try and reproduce both bugs on my sides and will keep you posted. Thanks for the reports!

EDIT: fixed the Ekapshi, gonna check on Suffolk now.

EDIT 2: I cannot reproduce the Suffolk bug and will need more information. OTOH, I stumbled unto an amusing bug for my internal version:

And that bug is fixed, it was just in my own work folder. As for the Suffolk, still no joy in reproducing the reported issue.

I'm also glad to announce that I've managed to get the game to separate the Osiris from the other Liberty battleships when it comes to deck scenes, so you'll have the Lexington for normal ships and the Intrepid for the Osiris. Enjoy!

Pictured above, part of the end-scene, meanint that my campaign test run is successful with the core features! The mod can be downloaded and played quite safely (the only outstanding one AFAIK is in setpiece battles involving battleships, some collisions can still trigger an amusing but FPS-breaking battleship spinning, though it doesn't happen every time).

This was your mandatory green-tinted post, meaning that obviously the next game to be modded as a Wing Commander total conversion will be Fallout 3!

 

[gevatter Lars]

The image with the Durango class looks so good.