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Fixing SMACX Bugs

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  • #31
    For vanilla SMAC (single player):

    See file attached to this post.

    See attached image for Fungi League.
    Attached Files
    Unofficial SMAC/X Patches Version 1.0 @ Civilization Gaming Network

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    • #32
      edit: Oh my, double post...please delete this one.

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      • #33
        - multiple air drops with right-click menu in a single turn, even from outside a base
        Fixed! Basically the problem was this. If you use the right click menu to do an airdrops it acts as if you had the little parachute cursor icon and directly calls the code to "move" unit to that location. Now, if you used the hotkey "i" it has a batch of code checking to see whether the unit has already moved, in an airbase/city and other restrictions. If it passes all the checks, it creates the parachute cursor icon which allows you to access the "move" code. Inside the airdrop move function it has code that handles if you try to airdrop into water, out of bounds (w/o orbital platforms) and some other stuff.

        The only parameter needed to be passed to airdrop hotkey check function is what I believe is the unit id (seems to be unique to each unit) where it will look up various info about current status. For the actual move function you pass three parameters, unit id, x coordinate, and y coordinate.

        So, my solution? For right click menu, redirect the call from move function to check function. However, this is not enough. It would defeat the purpose of right click if all it did was brought up the parachute icon. If unit passes all airdrop restrictions and conditions and gets down to code area where it would normally display parachute icon, for right click I would call the unit move function directly. I've just got to think of a good way to toggle between right click vs hotkey. Prob passing another parameter to check function.

        My guess this is why right click got bugged. They didn't want to have it display the parachute icon but forgot to include all the check code. So, another bug bites the dust.

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        • #34
          I knew I had posted a save of the air scramble bug - it's here (post #6) :



          In the search I was reminded of another thing that is really annoying



          EDIT: I think that if you can fix two other annoyments, then you'll earn eternal gratitude from all of us :

          In F4 (Base Operations), after visiting a colony and returning to the list, that colony still be in focus. Same when visiting another factions colony, that faction should still be the active.
          Last edited by BlackCat; February 14, 2009, 14:23.
          With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

          Steven Weinberg

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          • #35
            Originally posted by BlackCat View Post
            I knew I had posted a save of the air scramble bug - it's here (post #6) :



            In the search I was reminded of another thing that is really annoying



            EDIT: I think that if you can fix two other annoyments, then you'll earn eternal gratitude from all of us :

            In F4 (Base Operations), after visiting a colony and returning to the list, that colony still be in focus. Same when visiting another factions colony, that faction should still be the active.
            Ok, I'll add those two to my list.

            As for the crash, I've located the code where there is an pointer to invalid memory. Basically, it's trying to access something that doesn't exist and dies, horribly.

            I'll have to do some more analysis on function and see how it's suppose to work but my guess is this should be an easy fix. Famous last words...

            Also, does anyone know of a better method of running ACX in window mode other than this Japanese hooking prog called D3DWindower? I need run the game in window mode so I can debug it and while that prog works it can be annoying. Like if I alt-tab out I need to hit start menu key to access portions of the screen.

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            • #36
              Maybe this can help :



              looks like another prog though with some issues.
              With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

              Steven Weinberg

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              • #37
                Sorry, Poly hickup
                With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

                Steven Weinberg

                Comment


                • #38
                  Originally posted by scient View Post
                  Fixed! So, another bug bites the dust.
                  This is absolutely great stuff your doing for our community, scient!

                  I've been jotting things down over the last few days. Not sure if these are things you can look into (or want to look into), but thought I'd post them anyways:

                  Making gameplay better

                  - make AI's utilize aircraft better. Currently the AI builds aircraft, but for the most part the AI just flies them around from base to base. After some testing of increasing the "Belief" attack advantage and seeing the AI then utilize a/c in attack mode better, I think there is a subroutine that needs to be tweaked to encourage AI's to attack moreso using a/c.

                  - getting the AI's to build and utilize crawlers. This would be huge for AI's, as currently they build little to none, and rarely utilize them correctly.

                  - getting AI's to build units with the Clean Reactor special ability. One of the main weaknesses of the AI is that it kills its bases' production by cranking out bunches of units it then has to support. If the AI could be coaxed into building units with the Clean Reactor ability, then this would assist the AI's support woes significantly.

                  - up the priority of AI's building satelites. Here is another huge benefit the AI never really takes advantage of. If the AI's could be coaxed into building sat's, then they could definately stay competitive later into the game.

                  Nice to have

                  - get the random map generator to place the "Nessus Canyon" landmark. For some reason this landmark was never coded in for the purpose of random map generation. I think considering all the other landmarks are already coded that it wouldn't be too hard to code this in.

                  - in Worldbuilder randomize the Landmark landmasses. Currently the Landmark landmasses are essentially blocks of tiles. Example: Mount Planet is a square of tiles, Garland Crater is a square, Unity Wreckage is a rectangle. If these squares and rectangles could have a few land tiles added randomly here and there to break their blocky outline, I think that would add to gameplay as well as the sense/ joy of exploration.

                  Pie in the Sky stuff

                  - get the AI's to plunder bases. The AIs can always use cash, and they don't need the base facilities the way humans do. Also, usually when an AI conquers a base it usually loses it in quick order back to a human player, so plundering the base it to the AI's advantage.

                  - Seapods can produce Sea Monoliths. I've always thought the naval aspect of the game suffered.

                  - The Scenario Generator crashes like crazy. Most of us who utilize it long ago adapted the strategy of saving off the scenario we're working on about once every ten commands entered.

                  - ability to have more than seven factions in a game.

                  - Make it easier to pod a Battle Ogre Mk 3. Of course this might be one of those "be careful what you wish for" things....

                  - ability for the 8th Faction to conquer bases.

                  - Easter eggs: find any yet that you care to share, or to implement?


                  Anyways, just some thoughts from my end. If theres anything you think you can do (or want to do) from the list above I'm sure that would be greatly appreciated by our community.

                  D

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                  • #39
                    @Darsnan: I'll add these to my notes to look into at some point. These mainly are things that would be questionable to consider as fixes/bugs. First thing I plan on doing is resolving as many of the unquestionable game breaking bugs / exploits. Then I'll move on to things like these.

                    If I ever did work on some of these I would make them separate from my main fix patch. That isn't to say I don't agree with you that improving the AI and such would be a good thing.

                    - there is also a bug that scrambling a needlejet crashes the game.

                    Fixed! What seemed to be the problem is that there are some global variables which never get reset when "Air Scramble" is toggled. There is a function used in other areas during combat/movement which takes the current unit id and sets these globals. So, the current fix I've done is calling this function using the unit id of the jet being scrambled at top of "air scramble" code. I've got to do some more testing and analysis but it's now working 100% without crashing.


                    edit:
                    I thought I'd throw these in.



                    Last edited by scient; February 14, 2009, 18:59.

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by scient View Post
                      @Darsnan: I'll add these to my notes to look into at some point. These mainly are things that would be questionable to consider as fixes/bugs. First thing I plan on doing is resolving as many of the unquestionable game breaking bugs / exploits. Then I'll move on to things like these. ]
                      Your approach sounds very logical and well thought out: good luck on your bug killing crusade.

                      Originally posted by scient View Post
                      If I ever did work on some of these I would make them separate from my main fix patch.

                      Different Terran(x) files: this sort of falls in line with something I have been pursueing on and off over the years using the alpha(x).txt files (among others), which is "different worlds, different rules, different textures": its one of the things I've done over the years to keep the game fresh for me. If you ever do decide to start generating different Terran(x) files please do let me know, as I would be very interested in any ideas you'd have in this arena.

                      D

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                      • #41
                        Here's another "bug thread" that is much more current than the ones posted at Civ Fanatics:



                        Petek
                        "The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
                        -- Kosh

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                        • #42
                          Take a look at these multiplayer rules. These are written to prevent common exploits. While some of them are not bugs, others are clearly bugs. (The formatting was better under the previous Apolyton software).

                          Here are some rules I am using in the current ACDG6. In particular, rule #9 addresses a bug where you can change another faction's worker into a specialist. I believe that anyone would consider it a bug.
                          Unofficial SMAC/X Patches Version 1.0 @ Civilization Gaming Network

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                          • #43
                            No offense, but I really think that it's way more important to look at the issues concerning general play instead of some rare cases of abuse - if you don't like them - don't use them.

                            Edit: Well, if you are in doubt scient, I guess that your efforts are probably of the kind that will send you directly into the HoF
                            With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

                            Steven Weinberg

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                            • #44
                              More bugs (some duplicated in Chaos Theory's thread in my previous post):

                              1. "Ghost unit" appears at the pole:



                              The save file is attached to this post.

                              2. First base doesn't receive 10 free minerals if "look first" option is turned off:



                              3. All your faction's bases disappear and you begin again with a single Colony Pod and some units:



                              (very rare and I can't recall any save files being posted)

                              4. Battle odds display is inaccurate:



                              (plus other links cited in that thread)

                              5. All victory conditions are disabled:



                              (very rare)

                              Finally, not a bug, but something to add to Darsnan's wish list: Improve AI terraforming. Even just causing the AI to build more forests would be a great improvement.

                              Thanks again for all your work. BTW, in the "bug reporting thread" that I posted on Civ Fanatics, Firaxis programmers were unable to reproduce the interceptor bug, much less fix it. Good work!

                              Petek
                              Attached Files
                              "The avalanche has already started. It is too late for the pebbles to vote."
                              -- Kosh

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                              • #45
                                BlackCat,

                                I do find your comment offensive in combination with post #16.

                                You're entitled to your opinion; however, scient is interested in getting a complete list of bugs. He may choose not to work on some of them, but if something is universally considered a bug (being able to change workers of an infiltrated faction into a specialist is one of those) and it is easily fixable, then he may choose to work on them.

                                The fact that it is a specific rule in most multiplayer games means that it is not a rare case of abuse. In multiplayer games, it is not a question of "don't use them;" it is a question of keeping the game fair.

                                I manage to avoid the problem that annoyed you in post #16 above simply by first moving the gravship to the side of an intervening base and then to the final destination. I suppose someone could say that it is not so important to fix something that is merely a convenience.

                                So let's let scient decide what is important. If he doesn't want to address the F4 issue or other commonly acknowledged bugs, that is fine with me. I won't tell him what is important or not.
                                Unofficial SMAC/X Patches Version 1.0 @ Civilization Gaming Network

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