Some bugs I found

[Ramirez]

I've also been having the missile launch problem with the Rigel in Saleza Aeronautics. I've tried altering the launch position by a few meters but that doesn't seem to make any difference. Can we confirm how the missile launch position has changed under 1.70+?

[wild turkey]

This could be an issue with System Redux, please download the replacement script here then copy it to your Config folder.

Thank you for your suggestion but it didn't fix the problem. But I do get the folowing error message in console with the new version of the scrip.

Sorry, my fault , could you download it again from here please.

This one works. Thanks.

[JensAyton]

Can we confirm how the missile launch position has changed under 1.70+?

As far as I can tell, it hasn’t. In particular, missile_launch_position is still respected. (If it wasn’t being read, the missile would launch from in front of the ship anyway.) Most vexing.

[wild turkey]

I built V1.72 and the problem is fixed in that version. Also the problem with random bits of the space bar appearing in space has not happened in this version either so far. But I have not had the chance to test it extensively.

I also saw the same effect, space bar bits appearing in random places (rather funny at times!) under 1.65, and possibly 1.71.2, and it went away when I built from svn. Been playing it for a couple weeks now with no random sub-entities appearing, so I'd call it fixed. I saw the same thing with asteroids too, with them flying around, trying to dock with stations, even trying to attack me (!) but I had so many OXPs installed, and de-installed the majority of them at around the same time I upgraded my app version, so didn't report it because I didn't have enough data, and because it went away.

It does look to be fixed in V1.72 as i have now played it for a number of hours and it hasn't happened again. I when back to 1.71.2 and it happen again in that version on the first flight.

The problem with the missiles exploding as soon as they are launched is still there.

Haven't seen this one, thank Holy Giles!

The Tiger Mk1 is probably the worst affected by this problem. But i have seen other ships have the same problem when they fire missiles at me.

I'm trying to adjust the missile_launch_position in the shipdata.plist but have had no luck so far. How are the numbers for the missile_launch_position calculated?? In fact is there any docs on how to write a shipdata.plist. I'd like to have a go at making my own ship.

[caracal]

How are the numbers for the missile_launch_position calculated??

I think they're just X,Y,Z coordinates in meters. When making a model in Wings3D or Blender, you can ask the app for the coordinates of various parts of your ship, and pick the one that looks good for a missile launch zone.

In fact is there any docs on how to write a shipdata.plist. I'd like to have a go at making my own ship.

I've found this page to be invaluable when thinking about making an OXP. It's linked from the very bottom of the OXPs page.

[Commander McLane]

In fact is there any docs on how to write a shipdata.plist. I'd like to have a go at making my own ship.

Well, what about just starting from the Writing OXPs-section of the Oolite-FAQ, which has all the how-to and documentation-links you ever could need?

[wild turkey]

In fact is there any docs on how to write a shipdata.plist. I'd like to have a go at making my own ship.

Well, what about just starting from the Writing OXPs-section of the Oolite-FAQ, which has all the how-to and documentation-links you ever could need?

Thanks for the info. I have since tried to move missile_launch_position all over the place. In some positions it works a bit better but still some missiles explode on launch.

Oh well, might try a different ship.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

A note on missiles.

I noticed the missiles in v 1.71.2 seem a bit smarter than missiles in 1.65...

1 - Missiles now immediately veer off on intercept angles instead of heading straight for the target.

2 - Missiles rarely aim themselves for the target's exhaust anymore, they seem to want to hit their targets broadside.

3 - Missiles no longer spiral around a fleeing target, and go straight for the kill.

Take Point #1 into account when you fire a missile, and remember most ships launch missiles from the underside. That'll keep your missiles from whacking your hull.

[JensAyton]

Really? I was just cursing the spiralling silliness the other day.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

I haven't seen one spiral yet. So far in 1.71.2, all my hardheads that weren't ECM'd down have been killers. But I tend to laser my victims first before I let a missile loose; that makes injector-happy pirates run away or burn up their fuel dodging around.

EDIT: On that note, the bad guys seem to have gotten a lot more evasive in close quarters dogfighting. Did you do something with the AI code?

[Disembodied]

Missiles no longer spiral around a fleeing target, and go straight for the kill.

Take Point #1 into account when you fire a missile, and remember most ships launch missiles from the underside. That'll keep your missiles from whacking your hull.

If this is the case, then it might be necessary to add in a short burst of straight-ahead (or even ahead-and-down) flight at launch: this might be the reason why so many NPC ships' missiles seem to blow up on launch. If a ship is running away from you, then its missiles might be trying to reach you by burrowing their way through the ship that fired them...

[Cmdr Wyvern]

I'm sorry, my bad. I forgot, I'm playing with slightly modified hardheads.

I opened shipdata.plist, found the entry for "ecm-proof-missile", and added one line:

Code: Select all

		accuracy = 5;

Why? Well, when you spend that much cred on a missile, it better be able to hit what you're shooting it at. Just adding that one line makes them worth the gold.

If this is the case, then it might be necessary to add in a short burst of straight-ahead (or even ahead-and-down) flight at launch: this might be the reason why so many NPC ships' missiles seem to blow up on launch. If a ship is running away from you, then its missiles might be trying to reach you by burrowing their way through the ship that fired them...

I'll agree with that. A short wait period, say one second, added to the AI so they shoot out and clear the ship before turning to intercept the target might work. As it is, they're tracking the target as soon as they're shot, ergo, trying to go through the ship that launched them.

[Cmdr James]

missile logic certainly is different in the 1.7 branch. I changed it a while back. It was the first thing I did to the codebase actually.

Some people didnt like the perfect predictive interception, so it was changed to lead a target by an amount proportional to the accuracy (10 should be perfect, I think).

The spiralling was caused by missiles flying towards the location of your ship before you moved. Now that they lead the target, they are less likely to spiral.

Missiles never aimed for the rear of a ship, they were just bad at finding the ship, and so normally ended up behind -- now they are better and fly more towards the centre of the target (but due to accuracy, will still tend to strike towards the back).

I did think about creating a "launch phase" where a missile accelerates away from the launching ship, but it seemed like too much hard work at the time. I guess it would be easy to have a 5 second (for example) timer during which the missile flies straight and level.

EDIT: Im pretty sure there is already a launch phase before the missile is armed, so it should be even easier to make them play nicely.

[Cmdr Wyvern]

BTW, I added accuracy = 3; to the "missile" entry, as an experiment. That made the standard issue missiles less likely to pop themselves on the launching ships.

Neither missile types had accuracy tags before, and they were total crap because of it. Add the accuracy tags, and now a jameson has a reason to avoid dogfights till he can kit up with an ECM and injectors.

[Eric Walch]

Neither missile types had accuracy tags before, and they were total crap because of it.

without a accuracy tag oolite just generates a random value for each missile. So they are not by definition worse. They even could be better.