D2X-XL Bug Reports - MS Windows

[TechPro]

Diedel,

No command line options being used. C:\Descent2\d2x-w32.exe

D2x.ini
-fullscreen
-grabmouse
-sound22k
-nocdrom
-gl_trilinear
-gl_alttexmerge
-playermessages
-noredundancy
;-player tnt
;-nomovies
-gl_reticle 1
;-timeout 0
-shortpackets
-pps 10
-noredundancy

I see the same thing on my Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows 98 systems. All running the same version of D2X-W32.

[Diedel]

Please try v1.5.0.

[Sirius]

Oh, and for the minimisation problem - check the shortcut you are using to launch it (if any) doesn't have the Run field set to 'Minimised'... otherwise it's just going to annoy you.

[TechPro]

ver 1.5.2 seems pretty nice! Those textures are shown right like they should.

Game play even feels smoother. Did you do something to improve that?

[Diedel]

Game play even feels smoother. Did you do something to improve that?

Hm. Nothing I'd know of. Maybe some of my changes had this as a side effect - but that would amaze me.

[Pumo]

Don't know if it's just me, but i've been experimenting this problem in D2X-W32 even with newer versions.

Even when i add a ; or remove these lines:
-nocdrom, -noredbook and -nomovies,
the game doesn't read the data from the CD.

There is no movies, every time i set to play the redbook instead of MIDI, it says the Descent 2 CD it's not inserted and on briefings, every time a robot movie will appear, it says again a message about D2 CD not present. But the Descent 2 CD is on the drive all the time!

So what i'll need to do?
It's a D2X bug or a config issue?

Please help

[Kirby]

Hello...

I come here to offer becoming a guinea pig to test a d2x-w32 port for linux

I have been trying to port it myself....I thought it would of been as easy as compiling it using g++, but I guess not.

Anyways, I'm still trying...compiling kdevelop for some reason

PM / IM me anytime (also on #ngemu at EFnet)

[Sapphire Wolf]

About the "Custom Vertigo Data Bug", I think it occurs when you have the Descent 2: Vertigo campaign in your Missions directory

[Diedel]

Yeah, but: What is this bug? What's its effect?

Kirby: PM sent.

You might want to contact Marix, who was trying a Linux port of D2X-W32, too.

[Kirby]

oh my....I should of mentioned before I am persistent instead of smart. I have little clue what I am doing I am, however, willing to learn...

I know linux and some basic Java, but that's about it

Don't get mad...I was just hoping to test

[D3Hack]

Something w/ cameras...

If I sit in a place that has a camera trigger, then go to the place that the camera is transmitting to, any object that had been on my left would appear on the right, and vice versa (In other words, the view is mirrored)...
...Or is it supposed to do that?
[edit]Resolved by mirroring the texture on the viewing wall. [/edit]

The following should definitely be fixed, though: If I am looking @ a camera view, and the camera view has another camera view in its view (Tongue Twister alert!), the other camera view will not be displayed. If you're not understanding me here, just say so.

One last thing: robot triggers only affect one side of the target wall, when they should affect both.

[Diedel]

Camera views will not display other cameras' views. Engine limitation.

Who says a trigger will operate the adjacent wall of its target wall as well? It won't. If you want it to, add the other wall to its target list.

I still don't know what your 'Vertigo bug after playing Entropy' is.

[D3Hack]

Who says a trigger will operate the adjacent wall of its target wall as well? It won't. If you want it to, add the other wall to its target list.

Really? I could've sworn it used to work like that...

I think there may be a bug with the new auto-select thing... I can't select Vulcan or Spreadfire anymore! Only Gauss and Helix! Even if I don't have them! Incase it would help, here is my primary autoselect list:
-Helix
-Omega
-Plasma
-Spreadfire
-Gauss
-Vulcan
-******* NEVER AUTOSELECT *******
-Fusion
-Phoenix
-Super Laser
-Laser

Colored lighting bug: I have a door with a red light behind it. The door is not affected by the color of the light on either side.
Until I open it, that is. Then it becomes red on both sides!
In this case, I see 2 problems:
1. It is not affected by the color of the light when it is closed.
2. When it is open, it is affected by the color of the light on both sides, yet it should only be affected by the light on one side.

[Diedel]

U get the Gauss instead of the Vulcan even if you don't have it?

Need to look into that again.

If you have the Gauss, the Vulcan will be skipped. Who wants to use the Vulcan if he can have the Gauss? Same goes for Spreadfire/Helix.

Re robot triggers:

They use the same code as regular triggers, they are just executed when the robot they belong to gets killed. So there cannot possibly be a difference between regular and robot triggers.

[D3Hack]

Yep, that issue got fixed now. Thx.

However, now I can't select Gauss if I don't have it, but I still can't select Vulcan or Spreadfire at all. Maybe it's supposed to work that way, but I don't really like that scheme. There are cases where I would want Vulcan more than Gauss...

[Diedel]

D2X-W32 should chose the Gauss for you when you switch to Vulcan and have the Gauss, and otherwise should leave the Vulcan on. I tried this yesterday, and it worked. You can however not switch to the Vulcan if you don't have Vulcan ammo.

[D3Hack]

Yes but shouldn't it select the Vulcan if I already have the Gauss selected?

[Diedel]

No. Why would anybody want to use the Vulcan if he has the Gauss?

Edit: I have added a smart weapon switch toggle to the gameplay options menu to turn this behaviour on/off.

[DCrazy]

I think you might want to turn it off by default, as Vulcan uses less ammo and fires faster than the Gauss, so there's definitely a motivation for using it over Gauss.

[Diedel]

The Vulcan has no power and eats ammo like nothing. Pit equally skilled players against each other, one with a Vulcan, the other with a Gauss, and the Gauss player will win (imho). The Vulcan just ain't cut it.

[Image]

Vulcan sucks!

[D3Hack]

Pit equally skilled players against each other, one with a Vulcan, the other with a Gauss, and the Gauss player will win (imho). The Vulcan just ain't cut it.

My off-hand guess, by contrast, would be that the player with the Vulcan would win. But if we want to debate which weapon is better, we can start another thread.

Anyway, D2X-W32 now seems to ignore my -player switch in d2x.ini...

[Diedel]

Anyway, D2X-W32 now seems to ignore my -player switch in d2x.ini...

When launching it from DLE-XP? Use the player profile entry from the preferences dialog.

[D3Hack]

Actually, it happens when I'm not launching from DLE-XP.

I resolved the problem by adding the ".plr" extension onto the switch. It didn't used to need that...

[Kyouryuu]

A note to D2 level designers: D2X-W32 now supports more than one boss robot per level, where you will have to kill all of them to end the level. Previously, the level was ended if you killed just one of them. I think that's a nice enhancement especially for coop geared missions. Toggle it in the gameplay options menu.

Whoa, awesome. Back when I was making levels 6 years ago I had made tons of levels that had as many as 20 boss robots scattered around. I used to focus on the weakest boss and try to avoid the others. Can't do that now. Eesh.

Out of curiosity, how does that affect levels from back then that actually had more than one boss robot with the intent that killing one of them kills them all? (I.e. Mandrill level 3, Entropy 2 level 3).

[Diedel]

Kyo,

you need to activate that feature with the 'Multiple Bosses' switch in the gameplay options menu. Deviations from D2 standard behaviour in D2X-W32 are always optional (if they aren't, tell me and I'll change it, because that's not what's intended).

[arieligena]

Hi Diedel, some suggestions:

Dx2-w32:
- I suggest not releasing dx2-w32 too much, just 1 release per week (or longer time). It implies saving time modifying history in website for you and some order (for me) with versioning. I like new features/fixes in a row.
- Why 2 movie quality settings in 2 different menu places? I want them together.
- Please improve loadgame screenshot, it shows like old vga and I cannot recognize where is the ship and what time/level does it have (am I blind?). In savegame interface please add a timestamp/level for each savegame.

Website:
- This forum/topic is a bit hard to find from your website to make bug/suggestions. Why not putting directly there? bug/suggestions phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5893

Thanx for the always wanted port.

-----------------
Pumo:

Copy the mvl files to your descent2 folder in hard drive. dx2-w32 doesn't access my CD too.

[Image]

Have you looked into your d2x.ini file to see if "-nocdrom" is active? If so, it's preventing the use or even regagnition of the CD in drive. To take it out, simply (lazy way) add a ";" at the beggining to comment it, or (normal way) take it out entirely

[Diedel]

Hi Diedel, some suggestions:

Dx2-w32:
- I suggest not releasing dx2-w32 too much, just 1 release per week (or longer time). It implies saving time modifying history in website for you and some order (for me) with versioning. I like new features/fixes in a row.

My way or the highway.

(Who says I don't like spending time updating the web site?)

- Why 2 movie quality settings in 2 different menu places? I want them together.

Where?

- Please improve loadgame screenshot, it shows like old vga and I cannot recognize where is the ship and what time/level does it have (am I blind?).

I don't like that either, but this is not a priority.

In savegame interface please add a timestamp/level for each savegame.

Too much effort.

Website:
- This forum/topic is a bit hard to find from your website to make bug/suggestions. Why not putting directly there? bug/suggestions phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=5893

I will put links to the appropriate forums on my website.

Thanx for the always wanted port.

You're welcome.

[Skyalmian]

A couple of bugs I've noticed.

1. If there are around 95+ robots on screen, the game crashes without warning. This occurs when I blow up a robot that has 99 robots within. "Render Full Mine" being on/off has no effect on this.

2. After destroying a robot flagged as a boss that contains copies of itself, the copies do not simultaneously blow up. What I mean is, in one of my levels, to vastly increase the explosion amount for the boss robots, I had all of my bosses contain 99 copies of themselves: Spider robot has 99 Spider robots within, Alien 2 Boss has 99 Alien 2 Boss within, etc. In normal Descent 2 DOS, when the bosses explode, all 99 robots within all bosses explode immediately after they are spewed, thus creating one hell of an explosion that would destroy you no matter how far away you were. This no longer happens, even with "Multiple Bosses" unchecked. The 99 copies are spewed and wander about for a short time until the game gets angry and crashes.

3. If possible, can you up the maximum render limit for particles? I've noticed that if too many 2D plasma cannon blobs or other weapons are on screen, they go invisible because of some render limit.

[Diedel]

Skya,

interesting. I will look into this. I have increased the object limit to 3500 already, that should have taken care of properly displaying even a lot of weapon sprites. I am amazed you encounter this problem. Maybe there's another limit to object count I haven't yet found.

[Fusion]

Please forgive me if this issue and solution has already been mentioned:

I just installed PC D1 and D2 Last weekend after holding onto "The Definitive Colection" for some time, having bought them @ work. I got the D2x-w32 file, ver 1.5.4 and I am having the same Vulcan/Gauss cannon selection issue as well. I also can't go from Spread to Helix, (assuming I have it, not sure) as well. Is there and update to the D2x that fixes this issue?

</slight off topic>
Speaking of D1, I also installed the D1X 1.4.2 files, but when I first started it up, it popped up in a little window. It was only after I went into my shortcut's Compatability(sp?) tab of RightClick/Properties that I was able to fix it some what. I told it to go straight to a 640x480 screen size whenever I launched it. Is there a way to do the same thing, w/o having the window bar showing? </end off topic>

If I wanted to patch for MP purposes, how do I do that? PD's patches for D1 @ D2 seem more geared for DOS.

Fus

[Diedel]

Fusion,

check www.descent2.de for the latest versions of D2X-W32, a list of D2X-W32 cmd line switches and the D2X-W32 manual.

Come back if you've read that stuff and still have questions.

Skya,

I have fixed the boss spawning bosses issue, but cannot reproduce the crash on 95 or so bots on screen.

[BUBBALOU]

Who wants to use the Vulcan if he can have the Gauss?

Someone who can kill you and every player around you faster with the vulcan than the guass, like me!

[Diedel]

Then you should turn off smart weapon switching.

[Sirius]

3500!?!

...that should take care of just about everything! Now the only thing I need to keep track of is walls...

[Diedel]

Max. wall number has been increased to 2046 for D2X-W32 levels ...

Max. trigger number has been increased to 254 für D2X-W32 levels - for each standard and robot triggers; i.e. all in all you can have 508 triggers.

[D3Hack]

Here's a suggestion: How about triggers that enable/disable other triggers?
I don't know how hard it would be to implement... but it would be very cool if you could.

[Diedel]

Nice idea. I'll see whether this can be done reasonably easy.

Another nice idea would be a trigger that destroys a robot. Think of an extremely tough bot (probably indestructable) which you have to destroy by finding the right trigger ...

I'd also love to have "master triggers" that trigger several regular triggers. That way you could have a trigger turn off the light, open a wall with bots behind it, and operate a matcen all together ...

Matcens producing powerups would be nice (and easily feasible) too ...

Btw, I don't know how to reproduce your new level naming problem.

[D3Hack]

Nice idea. I'll see whether this can be done reasonably easy.

Another nice idea would be a trigger that destroys a robot. Think of an extremely tough bot (probably indestructable) which you have to destroy by finding the right trigger ...

I'd also love to have "master triggers" that trigger several regular triggers. That way you could have a trigger turn off the light, open a wall with bots behind it, and operate a matcen all together ...

Matcens producing powerups would be nice (and easily feasible) too ...

*starts drooling just thinking about all that stuff... and the possibilities*

Anyway, D2X-W32 doesn't show a mission's custom "credits.pcx" at the end of the level if the mission has one (the mission's "credits.pcx" should appear instead of the default one as the background at the screen where it says "Level <insert number here> Completed! <insert level name here> destroyed!" after a level).

Also, the credits text flickers like crazy under any circumstances at 640x480 screen resolution (maybe the text not being drawn quickly enough?)...

It's not any big deal, but the "delshiftb" cheat code doesn't give you powerups spawned by robots, yet it's supposed to give you all weapons on the level.