General problems I have with Oolite

[another_commander]

TheTrevor: Something must have gone wrong with your installation or passage from the old version to the new. Version 1.75.2 of Oolite does not use a batch file to start up and I am afraid that you have a case of cross-installation (different versions mixed on same folders). Running it through Dosbox is definitely not recommended.

My suggestion is as follows: Uninstall everything Oolite related from your machine. Make sure that there are no desktop or Start menu leftovers and reinstall version 1.75.2 of the game. Do not install in Program Files, as this may generate complications with folder virtualization in Windows. You should be able to launch the game from the Start menu and the related shortcut should point to oolite.exe and not to any batch file. You should be able to play normally at this point. If you still get 4-5 FPS, this is an indication that your graphics card drivers are not correct and/or don't support OpenGL, which is a requirement for running Oolite.

Once done, please post the contents of Latest.log (found in Oolite Logs in the game's Start menu items), after starting it up with Shift held down. Feel free to post Latest.log also in case of persistent problems, especially if your framerate does not improve. We may be able to take it from there, once we know that a correct installation has been performed.

[DaddyHoggy]

I guess I assumed the welly of a couple of Xeons would handle something that used to run on my old BBC model B ! Yes it's a business PC, I thought it if it handles Autocad and stuff, surely that's enough ? I have a Radeon x800 card here, would that improve things ? Sorry, I'm really not up on gaming kit. Steep learning curve, huh ?
And how do I get it to run except via Dos ?

We've got a big batch of Dell M90s at work - they've got Quadro 1500s fitted - they're brilliant for Autocad (as you say) but can't run Virtual Battlespace 2 (based on Armed Assault) for toffee. It's precision (for Autocad) v raw pixels/polygons (gaming graphics cards) and generally, never the twain shall meet.

Have you looked here: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/quadro-w ... er-uk.html

You don't specify if its the 32 or 64 bit version of XP Pro, nor the model of your NVS graphics. (The driver I've eluded too claims to support OpenGL 4.1 - so if this doesn't help post uninstall/reinstall then it could just be raw horsepower for OpenGL of your card.)

You could download the benchmarking utility FurMark which uses OpenGL to test your graphics card's oomph...

[drew]

And welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat!

That's twice now! <Jumps up and down in childish excitement>

Cheers,

Drew.

[DaddyHoggy]

And welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat!

That's twice now! <Jumps up and down>

Cheers,

Drew.

It seemed unfair to deny you the opportunity...

[SandJ]

... docking computer. It spends an awful long time jerking Roll back and forth, back & forth.
My keyboard, which is normally responsive, sometimes needs 2, 3, 4 key taps before Oolite responds.

That describes my first experience of Oolite too. Utterly unplayable and really frustrating.

Shift-F toggles frame rate display. I currently have 4-5 fps.

That was the clue to the solution for me, too. I was getting 4 FPS; now I get about 14-18 and it is OK. Anything less than that and combat is impossible.

A new message came in to my Gmail inbox.

Which means you have other stuff running at the same time. I have to terminate everything else that is running to get the FPS up. Google Mail is intermittently processor-heavy and you have it running in a browser which is also likely to be processor heavy as it updates the ads in the various tabs - close that browser! Any everything else.

Then you'll be like me - secretly playing Oolite every minute of the day when you're not being watched. It's like Elite was when I was 19 or 20; I'd spend all day in work and all night on my Speccy trying to become Elite. At least Oolite doesn't tell you "You have been boarded by pirates" at 4:20 a.m. when you haven't saved for a while - oh, that used to make me SO cross!!!

[Commander McLane]

At least Oolite doesn't tell you "You have been boarded by pirates" at 4:20 a.m. when you haven't saved for a while - oh, that used to make me SO cross!!!

I didn't know that Speccy Elite did that. That's certainly something we have to port into Oolite as well!

[SandJ]

At least Oolite doesn't tell you "You have been boarded by pirates" at 4:20 a.m. when you haven't saved for a while - oh, that used to make me SO cross!!!

I didn't know that Speccy Elite did that. That's certainly something we have to port into Oolite as well!

By all means. Go ahead. Be my guest. And when you do, please let me know your address so I can come round there and pull your goolies off at 4:25 a.m.


From section 3.10 of the alt.fan.elite FAQ here: http://bbc.nvg.org/doc/games/EliteFAQ.htm

3.10) Spectrum Elite
--------------------
Sometimes on docking, a message was produced: "Pirates have taken over your ship - Game Over"

I doubt this did much for playability.

It was put in "to encourage saving the game".

It did this if you docked more than x times without saving. I can't remember what x was. However, you only had to instruct it to save, you didn't actually have to connect up the cassette recorder and press "RECORD". So it taught you to pick the save option every time you docked, but never checked you actually did save it to tape.

So at 8:30 a.m. I would dash off to work, then come back home at 7 p.m. and go to reload only to realise I had never pressed the RECORD button once during the previous 13 hour gaming session.

[Star Gazer]

No, no, no, no no... ...please don't!

...I had almost forgotten that nasty little trick on the Speccy with the random pirates boarding. And yes, it would seem to always happen after many hours of play with a save. On one occasion I freaked my upstairs neighbours by screaming in rage in the middle of the night when it pulled that little stunt on me!

[DaddyHoggy]

I'm glad I had the C64 version...

[Commander McLane]

Okay, there you are.

1) Put the following few lines in a file named script.js inside your AddOns folder, in order to bring back the old Speccy days.

2) Have fun!

Code: Select all

"use strict";

this.name           = "Speccy_ending";
this.description    = "Pirates are taking over your ship";
this.author         = "Commander McLane";
this.copyright      = "© 2011 Commander McLane";
this.license        = "CC-by-nc-sa 3.0";
this.version        = "1.0";


this.startUp = function()
{
    if(!missionVariables.docking_without_saving) missionVariables.docking_without_saving = 0;
}

this.shipWillDockWithStation = function(station)
{
    if(station.isMainStation) missionVariables.docking_without_saving ++;
}

this.playerWillSaveGame = function()
{
    missionVariables.docking_without_saving = 0;
}

this.missionScreenOpportunity = function()
{
    if(missionVariables.docking_without_saving > 6)
    {
        mission.runScreen
        (
            {
                title: "Pirate alert",
                message: "Pirates have taken over your ship - Game over"
            },
            function()
            {
                player.ship.launch();
                player.ship.explode();
            }
        );
    }
}

[drew]

No, no, no, no no... ...please don't!

...I had almost forgotten that nasty little trick on the Speccy with the random pirates boarding. And yes, it would seem to always happen after many hours of play with a save. On one occasion I freaked my upstairs neighbours by screaming in rage in the middle of the night when it pulled that little stunt on me!

Weird. I don't remember this at all and I got to Elite on the Speccie. Maybe I saved often.

Cheers,

Drew.

[DaddyHoggy]

Okay, there you are.

1) Put the following few lines in a file named script.js inside your AddOns folder, in order to bring back the old Speccy days.

2) Have fun!

Code: Select all

"use strict";

this.name           = "Speccy_ending";
this.description    = "Pirates are taking over your ship";
this.author         = "Commander McLane";
this.copyright      = "© 2011 Commander McLane";
this.license        = "CC-by-nc-sa 3.0";
this.version        = "1.0";


this.startUp = function()
{
    if(!missionVariables.docking_without_saving) missionVariables.docking_without_saving = 0;
}

this.shipWillDockWithStation = function(station)
{
    if(station.isMainStation) missionVariables.docking_without_saving ++;
}

this.playerWillSaveGame = function()
{
    missionVariables.docking_without_saving = 0;
}

this.missionScreenOpportunity = function()
{
    if(missionVariables.docking_without_saving > 6)
    {
        mission.runScreen
        (
            {
                title: "Pirate alert",
                message: "Pirates have taken over your ship - Game over"
            },
            function()
            {
                player.ship.launch();
                player.ship.explode();
            }
        );
    }
}

Genius - could I suggest the saves quota has a random element - say 3+(a random number between 3 and 7) - so you could go as many as 10 docks without saving - just to add that additional element of risk...

[Commander McLane]

Genius - could I suggest the saves quota has a random element - say 3+(a random number between 3 and 7) - so you could go as many as 10 docks without saving - just to add that additional element of risk...

Thanks!

And you're welcome:

Code: Select all

"use strict";

this.name           = "Speccy_ending";
this.description    = "Pirates are taking over your ship";
this.author         = "Commander McLane";
this.copyright      = "© 2011 Commander McLane";
this.license        = "CC-by-nc-sa 3.0";
this.version        = "1.1";


this.startUp = function()
{
    if(!missionVariables.docking_without_saving) missionVariables.docking_without_saving = Math.floor(6 + Math.random() * 5);
}

this.shipWillDockWithStation = function(station)
{
    if(station.isMainStation) missionVariables.docking_without_saving --;
}

this.playerWillSaveGame = function()
{
    missionVariables.docking_without_saving = Math.floor(6 + Math.random() * 5);
}

this.missionScreenOpportunity = function()
{
    if(missionVariables.docking_without_saving < 1)
    {
        mission.runScreen
        (
            {
                title: "Pirate alert",
                message: "Pirates have taken over your ship - Game over"
            },
            function()
            {
                player.ship.launch();
                player.ship.explode();
            }
        );
    }
}

[SeaDog]

In case you didn't know, while 'c' (on my machine) is auto-dock, shift+c docks instantly - although it still takes game-time.

[Gimi]

Have you looked here: http://www.nvidia.co.uk/object/quadro-w ... er-uk.html

Thank you for this one DH. My Windows performance index for game graphics went from 5.8 to 6.4 (Quadro FX 770M) .
Not tested with Oolite yet, but looking forward to it.

(Drew; you are not allowed to correct my English, but I'm sure you will anyway. )