[SOLVED] Error with Neolite 1.1 and Thargoid missile set up

[DredgerMan]

Hi all,

I decided to load the TW OXP since I finally got the milshield and I could do with a bit more target practice. But although I get reasonably regularly a message from the talkative scanner that aliens have been detected in that system, I could never find one. Then upon checking the latest log, I got a lot of the following first warning and a single one of the second.

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be Neolite related again?

18:00:49.710 [ship.missileLaunch.invalidPosition]: ***** ERROR: The missile_launch_position defines a position (0, 0, -20.5) behind the <ShipEntity 0x195a6af8>{"Thargoid Warship" position: (-7293.18, 3193.32, 334112) scanClass: CLASS_THARGOID status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT}. In future versions such missiles may explode on launch because they have to travel through the ship.
18:01:22.986 [script.debug.syntax.addShips]: ***** Could not spawn: "qbomb 1 (0.1)" (must be two tokens, role and number)

EDIT:

I assumed that it was Thargoid Wars that gave the problem because that was the OXP I just installed. But after removal of that OXP I still get the error after the talkative scanner warning about aliens. Could the error be hidden until the script decides to plant a Thargoid in the system?

EDIT 2: renamed the topic to better fit the problem encountered

[Commander McLane]

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be Neolite related again?

Don't know how you get your feelings, but that's highly unlikely. An error in Thargoid Wars seems much more probable.

The first one is due to the questionable missile_launch_position of the 'thargoid_wars_decoy'. It's also currently harmless. (Many other Thargoid ships could have the same in their shipdata, though. It spreads through copypasta.)

The second one is due to a syntax error in the some script. Unfortunately it doesn't tell which one. Was there perchance a hint in the line above or below which you didn't copy? (I can neither confirm nor rule out Thargoid Wars as the culprit. I have only version 4.5.1, and that one doesn't contain a spawn command in any of its scripts.)

[DredgerMan]

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be Neolite related again?

Don't know how you get your feelings, but that's highly unlikely. An error in Thargoid Wars seems much more probable.

The first one is due to the questionable missile_launch_position of the 'thargoid_wars_decoy'. It's also currently harmless.

The second one is due to a syntax error in the some script. Unfortunately it doesn't tell which one. Was there perchance a hint in the line above or below which you didn't copy? (I can neither confirm nor rule out Thargoid Wars as the culprit. I have only version 4.5.1, and that one doesn't contain a spawn command in any of its scripts.)

Thanks, Commander, but as mentioned in the edit, the fault still happens even after removing the TW OXP, but I just realised that I may not have cleared the cache when restarting. I'll try that straight away.

As for the second error, it came straight after the pile of the first errors, no other identifiers in sight.

[Commander McLane]

Thanks, Commander, but as mentioned in the edit, the fault still happens even after removing the TW OXP, but I just realised that I may not have cleared the cache when restarting. I'll try that straight away.

Manually clearing the cache after removing (or adding) an OXP isn't necessary. Oolite rebuilds it in these cases. It's only after editing something inside an OXP (without removing or adding an OXP) that you need to clear the cache manually.

What you could do is browse through the shipdata of all OXPs that contain Thargoid Warhips and look for the missile_launch_position key in them. If it's defined as '0.0 0.0 -20.5' like in your error message, it's buggy. You could change the value to '0.0 -46.0 91.0', which is the value currently used by Oolite's own shipdata. You do need to clear your cache after that. The error message is produced whenever a Thargoid Warship with the wrong position coordinates launches a Thargon.

As for the second error, it came straight after the pile of the first errors, no other identifiers in sight.

It was most probably caused by a trader who was attacked by the Thargoids (or by something else, like yourself; no way to tell) and tried to defend itself by launching a Q-bomb. Only the OXP author messed up the syntax of the launch command. If there is no other information around the error message, the buggy launch command is in legacy scripting, not in JS scripting. The most likely candidate for that is the death_actions in some ship's shipdata. Unfortunately that's all the information (and conjecture) we have. If you want to hunt it down, you need to browse through the shipdata of all your ship-adding OXPs and search for the term 'qbomb'.

[ZygoUgo]

If you have Notepad++ you can save yourself an awful lot of time by searching through the files in your Addons folder automatically, it will list any incidences at the bottom of your screen, so make sure it isn't too generic. You can also replace any syntax with new by filling in the box below the search box, so long as there are no errors or it won't be able to find it

[DredgerMan]

If you have Notepad++ you can save yourself an awful lot of time by searching through the files in your Addons folder automatically, it will list any incidences at the bottom of your screen, so make sure it isn't too generic. You can also replace any syntax with new by filling in the box below the search box, so long as there are no errors or it won't be able to find it

Ooohhhh, thanks for that,ZygoUgo. That's going to save me some time!

[Eric Walch]

Don't know how you get your feelings, but that's highly unlikely. An error in Thargoid Wars seems much more probable.

You can't blame any error with a thargoid warship to thargoid wars, even when both words look very alike.

The only thargoids it contains are the decoys and they never release tharglets, so even those ships can't generate errors about misile positions.

[DredgerMan]

Why do I get the feeling this is going to be Neolite related again?

Don't know how you get your feelings, but that's highly unlikely. An error in Thargoid Wars seems much more probable.

Let's call it a hunch. I have found a few bugs in Neolite so far (WITH invaluable help of others, of course ).

As luck would have it, and using the hint from ZygoUgo I have tracked down the culprit. It was the Thargoid in .... uhhhh.... Neolite Core Replace 1.1 which had a missile launch of 0.0 0.0 -20.5. I replaced the value as you suggested and am ready to give it another go. I'll also re-install Thargoid Wars.

Eric, I guess your knowledge of the bits and my hunch have been correct .

[DredgerMan]

As for the second error, it came straight after the pile of the first errors, no other identifiers in sight.

It was most probably caused by a trader who was attacked by the Thargoids (or by something else, like yourself; no way to tell) and tried to defend itself by launching a Q-bomb. Only the OXP author messed up the syntax of the launch command. If there is no other information around the error message, the buggy launch command is in legacy scripting, not in JS scripting. The most likely candidate for that is the death_actions in some ship's shipdata. Unfortunately that's all the information (and conjecture) we have. If you want to hunt it down, you need to browse through the shipdata of all your ship-adding OXPs and search for the term 'qbomb'.

I think I foudn the culprit, again with the tip from ZygoUgo ( ).

The below was found in the Terrapin shiplist

<key>death_actions</key>
<array>
<string>spawn: qbomb 1 (0.1)</string>
</array>

Any idea what the values should be?

[Wildeblood]

[ship.missileLaunch.invalidPosition]: ***** ERROR: The missile_launch_position defines a position (0, 0, -20.5) behind the <ShipEntity 0x195a6af8>{"Thargoid Warship" position: (-7293.18, 3193.32, 334112) scanClass: CLASS_THARGOID status: STATUS_IN_FLIGHT}. In future versions such missiles may explode on launch because they have to travel through the ship.

Now if I were running this BB, I'd merge this topic with this earlier one with the title "Thargoid Wars" and a page of discussion of this very same error message:-

https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?f= ... 9&start=21

And if I happened to be in a cranky mood, I'd probably make some snooty remarks about people not bothering to search, and people trying to tell me how to do my job, too.

[Smivs]

Now if I were running this BB, I'd merge this topic with this earlier one with the title "Thargoid Wars" ...

Even though the problem seems to be with a Neolite OXP?

[DredgerMan]

And if I happened to be in a cranky mood, I'd probably make some snooty remarks about people not bothering to search, and people trying to tell me how to do my job, too.

Message received and understood, Wildeblood. I will refrain in future.

[Eric Walch]

Code: Select all

<key>death_actions</key>
		<array>
		   <string>spawn: qbomb 1 (0.1)</string>
		</array>

Any idea what the values should be?

Code: Select all

<key>death_actions</key>
		<array>
		   <string>spawn: qbomb 1</string>
		</array>

No idea when the '(0.0)' was supposed to do.

But a better fix would be to completely delete those lines and replace it by

Code: Select all

<key>has_energy_bomb</key>
		   <true/>
<key>has_fuel_injection</key>
		   <true/>

Than the q-bomb is not launched on death, but it might be deployed when almost dead and still able to run away from its own bomb.

(see also wiki)

[DredgerMan]

Locked and loaded, Eric. Many thanks for the assistance again.

And loaded the wiki link to the browser list. Looks like I might have some more reading to do.

[Commander McLane]

Code: Select all

<key>death_actions</key>
		<array>
		   <string>spawn: qbomb 1 (0.1)</string>
		</array>

Any idea what the values should be?

Code: Select all

<key>death_actions</key>
		<array>
		   <string>spawn: qbomb 1</string>
		</array>

No idea when the '(0.1)' was supposed to do.

The Terrapin is quite an old OXP, when general knowledge about the finesses of the scripting engine was still relatively low. Perhaps it was an attempt to put a random factor to the spawn method (spawn a qbomb in 1/10th of all cases)? That's of course pure speculation.

Anyway, glad that a rather long-standing OXP bug was found.