Inertia is annoying...help needed

[warren]

I realize the whole inertia thing supposed to add another interesting dimension to the game, but I wanna turn it off. Or at least make IDS more effective.

Anyone know how to do this???

[Vice]

Ironic, since we've got other players saying they want the IDS to be weaker and have far more drift

Fairness in multiplayer is the primary reason having a common physics system is preferred. But then that does inspire the question, would you be willing to disable multiplayer to use non-default physics settings? If not, how would you accomodate fairness in multiplayer between players using entirely different physics models?

[warren]

good point. But I don't do multiplayer (yet), and I think there should be a way of turning it off or changing its strength in single player mode.

Love the 3d cockpit though:)

[Vice]

This is something I'm probably going to need to review and consider carefully, then maybe come up with some kind of adjustment system for offline gameplay. But in the meantime:

Let me provide some advice on ways you can actually change the effectiveness of the IDS in flight (by as much as 200% and even disabling it as a few players have requested, even while it is active). All that is needed is manual thruster inputs. It's very simple, I'll explain. Say you want to increase the effectiveness of the IDS, you can double it's power to provide far sharper turns by applying thrust in the same direction you are turning. If you turn left, apply left directional thrust (engaging the right thruster to aid in adjusting for the left turn). With the IDS on, this doubles your rate of thrust and the course change can be completed twice as fast. Likewise for all other directions. You'll even notice that it helps offset your speed decrease for long duration turns. And you don't really use that much more fuel since you can complete a course adjustment nearly twice as fast, offsetting the the additional fuel use.

You can hold the IDS back from making course adjustments by simply applying opposite thruster input. So if you turn left, apply right directional thrust (engaging the left thruster to hold back the right thruster from adjusting the course). You'll continue drifting until you release the key/button or further change your course.

Using this option lets you further boost the performance of the IDS or reduce it on a scale from 0 to 200%.

[MMaggio]

I did not know that! I never even thought of trying that.
Brilliant! Just brilliant!
I gotta' ask, Did you intend that, or did it just evolved that way?

[Vice]

It was an intentional part of the design. Essentially, it's boosting thrust power beyond the fuel saving cruise mode IDS (similar to how the afterburner exceeds normal engine power, or military burn). The normal mode uses about 50% of the available power to help save fuel, but can be manually bypassed for additional performance.

[warren]

Thanks for the tip.

[warren]

Also, I don't understand how to add custom ships. In the "Starwraith Hub" it says,
"These ships are contained in zip files, for Evochron:Alliance these go into the Ship's sub directory, which is also the same for Arvoch Conflict."
But I don't understand how to get to the Ships sub directory. Where is it located?

[Vice]

You simply create it, then put the custom ships/textures you want in that folder. The instructions that come with the customizing kit ( http://www.starwraith.com/arvoch/downloads.htm ) provide details on folder names and filenames needed for the various options.

[tha_rami]

You actually have to create it in the main directory of EvoChron/Arvoch. You'll find those directories (by default) in C:\\sw3dg\\ (PRODUCT NAME).

[warren]

thanks

[warren]

I created a folder called "ships" in the right place, and I extracted a custom ship zip file in it, but when I played the game the ship wasn't there. What's wrong?

[Vice]

Not enough information there to determine what's wrong. What custom ship? What format? What filename?

[warren]

On the website that I'm trying to get the ship from it says, "ElecScout - This ship replaces the scout class." It was a zip file and I downloaded it to my desktop. Then I extracted the files in the zip file and put them in the new "Ships" folder I had created in C:\\sw3dg\\arvochconflict. The names of the files that I extracted were mplane1.X, mecha1.bmp, and YOGORE.bmp.
But when I played Arvoch Conflict the custom ship wasn't there.
This is the address of the website I was trying to get the ship from: http://www.whits-end.co.uk/swhub/ships.html

[Vice]

Sounds like you're trying to use an Evochron ship with Arvoch Conflict. Again, the customizing kit available at: http://www.starwraith.com/arvoch/downloads.htm will provide filename and folder details to import ships with Arvoch. In Arvoch conflict, you simply add more custom ships to the ones already available and they use the filenames shipX.x (or shipX.3ds) where X is the number slot where you want the ship to appear on the list, starting at 15 to be listed below the Neptune bomber.

[warren]

Where is the list the list of ships that are already available? The readme in the customization kit doesn't say where it is.

[Vice]

It's included with the game, the first 10 ships listed on the right side of the weapon/ship loadout screen. The Neptune class bomber is the last on the list.

[warren]

Maybe I won't download a whole new ship after all. But what is the location of the text files containing the info on the ships already available? (In case I wanted to edited their stats)

[Vice]

techdata.txt

Although for multiplayer consistency, their design parameters are fixed. However, you can import custom ships for desired configurations and use them in multiplayer with others using the same custom ships.

[warren]

ok thanks

[warren]

Why does the Evoch have the same agility and hardpoints as the Wraith but better sheilds and speed? I thought the ships were supposed to be balanced.

[warren]

Also, I decided to try loading that custom ship again by creating a text file for it and this time it appeared with the list of other ships in the game, but the game crashed shortly after I clicked on it. What did I do wrong?

[Vice]

Hard to say without seeing the ship object and data files and without knowing what error message was displayed. Not sure how to answer your first question except to say that the ships are organized in order of their class and design advantages (which can be one, two, or more areas).

[warren]

SORRY FOR THE LONG POST

The error message says, "ArvochConflict.exe has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience."
the first file is called ship15.x and it contains this information:
xof 0302txt 0064
template Header {
<3D82AB43-62DA-11cf-AB39-0020AF71E433>
WORD major;
WORD minor;
DWORD flags;
}
template Vector {
<3D82AB5E-62DA-11cf-AB39-0020AF71E433>
FLOAT x;
FLOAT y;
FLOAT z;
}
template Coords2d {
<F6F23F44-7686-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
FLOAT u;
FLOAT v;
}
template Matrix4x4 {
<F6F23F45-7686-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
array FLOAT matrix[16];
}
template ColorRGBA {
<35FF44E0-6C7C-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
FLOAT red;
FLOAT green;
FLOAT blue;
FLOAT alpha;
}
template ColorRGB {
<D3E16E81-7835-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
FLOAT red;
FLOAT green;
FLOAT blue;}
template IndexedColor {
<1630B820-7842-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
DWORD index;
ColorRGBA indexColor;}
template Boolean {
<4885AE61-78E8-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
WORD truefalse;}
template Boolean2d {
<4885AE63-78E8-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
Boolean u;
Boolean v;}
template MaterialWrap {
<4885AE60-78E8-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
Boolean u;
Boolean v;}
template TextureFilename {
<A42790E1-7810-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
STRING filename;}
template Material {
<3D82AB4D-62DA-11cf-AB39-0020AF71E433>
ColorRGBA faceColor;
FLOAT power;
ColorRGB specularColor;
ColorRGB emissiveColor;
[...]}
template MeshFace {
<3D82AB5F-62DA-11cf-AB39-0020AF71E433>
DWORD nFaceVertexIndices;
array DWORD faceVertexIndices[nFaceVertexIndices];}
template MeshFaceWraps {
<4885AE62-78E8-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
DWORD nFaceWrapValues;
Boolean2d faceWrapValues;}
template MeshTextureCoords {
<F6F23F40-7686-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
DWORD nTextureCoords;
array Coords2d textureCoords[nTextureCoords];}
template MeshMaterialList {
<F6F23F42-7686-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
DWORD nMaterials;
DWORD nFaceIndexes;
array DWORD faceIndexes[nFaceIndexes];
[Material]}
template MeshNormals {
<F6F23F43-7686-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
DWORD nNormals;
array Vector normals[nNormals];
DWORD nFaceNormals;
array MeshFace faceNormals[nFaceNormals];}
template MeshVertexColors {
<1630B821-7842-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
DWORD nVertexColors;
array IndexedColor vertexColors[nVertexColors];}
template Mesh {
<3D82AB44-62DA-11cf-AB39-0020AF71E433>
DWORD nVertices;
array Vector vertices[nVertices];
DWORD nFaces;
array MeshFace faces[nFaces];
[...]}
template FrameTransformMatrix {
<F6F23F41-7686-11cf-8F52-0040333594A3>
Matrix4x4 frameMatrix;}
template Frame {
<3D82AB46-62DA-11cf-AB39-0020AF71E433>
[...]}
Header {
1;
0;
1;}
Mesh Body { (here there are a bunch of numbers that would have been too long to put in this post)

The second file is called ship15.txt and it contains this information:
ShipName=Avenger
ShipScale=170.0
ShipAgility=1.0
ShipSpeed=1100
ShipArmor=10
ShipHardpoints=8
EngineScaleX=50
EngineScaleY=100
EngineScaleZ=100
EnginePosH=-6.7
EnginePosV=0.0
+Ship15
Lines=2
The F-132 Avenger is an experimental ship. Details are classified.
Speed: 1100 C/2000+ A Agility:? Hardpoints: 8

[Vice]

If you send me the files, I'll try it myself to see if the problem is with the model itself or something I can fix in the game: http://www.starwraith.com/contact.htm