My Nomad encounters are working fine, and the Nomads have the Nomad Cruise Disruptor in their loadout. The problem is they don't use it but more than once or twice.

Here's basically what's going on.

The Nomads do fire a CD, but only once... I logged into the system and went into cruise. The first Nomad group that I encountered CD'd me and I had to evade and go back into cruise. They never stopped my attempts to go into cruise, and once I was in cruise I was able to cruise around them until I got bored... They never fired a second shot.

Next I flew away until they were no longer on my scanner. A couple minutes later I encountered another group. Despite me flying around them for a couple minutes, they never fired a CD at me, only their guns.

I F1'd and came back in and the same behavior repeated. It seems they're only firing one CD and done.

Here's the important info:

[Zone]
nickname = Zone_St05_pop_ambient_01
pos = -22972, 0, -25117
rotate = 0, 46, 0
shape = ELLIPSOID
size = 45639, 24198, 24198
sort = 51
toughness = 19
density = 12
repop_time = 25
max_battle_size = 20
pop_type = Background
relief_time = 35
population_additive = false
faction_weight = fc_n_grp, 1
encounter = area_nomads, 15, 0.5
faction = fc_n_grp, 1

[Zone]
nickname = Zone_St05_pop_ambient_02
pos = 25270, 0, -18990
rotate = 0, -27, 0
shape = ELLIPSOID
size = 45486, 28486, 28486
sort = 51
toughness = 19
density = 12
repop_time = 25
max_battle_size = 20
pop_type = Background
relief_time = 35
population_additive = false
faction_weight = fc_n_grp, 1
encounter = area_nomads, 15, 0.5
faction = fc_n_grp, 1

[Zone]
nickname = Zone_St05_pop_ambient_03
pos = 4441, 0, 25117
rotate = 0, -15, 0
shape = ELLIPSOID
size = 53450, 30324, 30324
sort = 51
toughness = 19
density = 12
repop_time = 25
max_battle_size = 20
pop_type = Background
relief_time = 35
population_additive = false
faction_weight = fc_n_grp, 1
encounter = area_nomads, 15, 0.5
faction = fc_n_grp, 1

[zone]
nickname = zone_st05_pop_nomads
pos = 112, 2000, 547
shape = BOX
size = 53277, 4000, 57373
sort = 51
toughness = 19
density = 12
repop_time = 30
max_battle_size = 12
pop_type = Background
relief_time = 12
faction_weight = fc_n_grp, 10
encounter = area_nomads, 15, 0.85
faction = fc_n_grp, 1
encounter = capitalships_Nomads, 15, 0.15
faction = fc_n_grp, 1

Nomads spawn just fine, they shoot their guns, they just don't use CDs.

from faction_prop.ini

[FactionProps]
affiliation = fc_n_grp
legality = unlawful
nickname_plurality = plural
msg_id_prefix = ignore
jump_preference = jumphole
npc_ship = MSN13_Nomad_Fighter_Populator
npc_ship = fc_n_no_fighter_d15-18
npc_ship = Nomad_Gunboat
npc_ship = Nomad_Battleship
mc_costume = mc_fc
firstname_female = 229608, 229608
lastname = 229608, 229608
rank_desig = 197140, 197140, 197140, 10, 15
formation_desig = 197808, 197820
formation = fighters, fighter_guild
formation = gunboats, gunboat_wall
formation = battleships, battleship_wall

from npcships.ini

[NPCShipArch]
nickname = fc_n_no_fighter_d15-18
loadout = no_fighter_loadout02
level = d15
ship_archetype = no_fighter
pilot = MSN13_Nomad_Fighter_Ace
state_graph = FIGHTER
npc_class = unlawful, class_fighter, d15, d16, d17, d18

from loadouts.ini

[Loadout]
nickname = no_fighter_loadout02
archetype = no_fighter
equip = ge_nf_engine_01
equip = infinite_power
equip = ge_s_scanner_02
equip = no_thruster, HpThruster01
equip = armor_scale_11
equip = nomad_cruise_disruptor01, HpTorpedo01
equip = nomad_gun01_mark03, HpWeapon01
equip = nomad_gun01_mark03, HpWeapon02
equip = nomad_gun01_mark03, HpWeapon03
cargo = special_nomad_gun01, 1
cargo = special_nomad_gun02, 1

from pilots_story.ini

[Pilot]
nickname = MSN13_Nomad_Fighter_Ace
inherit = story_light_fighter_hard

[Pilot]
nickname = story_light_fighter_hard
gun_id = gun_story_fighter_hard_style_a
missile_id = story_missile_fighter_ace
evade_dodge_id = evade_dodge_fighter_style_c
evade_break_id = evade_break_fighter_style_b
buzz_head_toward_id = buzz_head_toward_fighter_style_b
buzz_pass_by_id = buzz_pass_by_fighter_style_b
trail_id = trail_fighter_style_a
strafe_id = strafe_fighter_style_a
engine_kill_id = engine_kill_fighter_style_a
mine_id = mine_light_fighter_a
countermeasure_id = countermeasure_a
damage_reaction_id = damage_reaction_fighter_style_a
missile_reaction_id = missile_reaction_fighter_style_a
formation_id = formation_fighter_style_a
repair_id = repair_fighter_both
job_id = story_job_fighter_a

The pilots exist, they recognize as hostile, they shoot guns, they shoot at least the one CD, and after that it's as if they don't even have a CD anymore.

What am I missing, what should I do?

Things to try:

1.
toughness should match the encounter, so the 19 should read 15

toughness = 19

encounter = area_nomads, 15, 0.5

in all zones


------------
this is the encounter in EW05:

toughness = 19
density = 3
repop_time = 25
max_battle_size = 4
pop_type = Background
relief_time = 35
faction_weight = fc_n_grp, 10 <----------10 ships spawn, yours only has 1
encounter = area_nomads, 19, 0.250000
faction = fc_n_grp, 1.000000


with you having only 1 ship spawning it is not able to fulfill the requirements of
the 'area_nomads' definition which is:

[EncounterFormation]
ship_by_class = 1, 1, fighters
pilot_job = assault_leader_job
make_class = wanderer
ship_by_class = 3, 3, fighters
pilot_job = assault_job
make_class = wanderer
formation_by_class = fighters
behavior = wander
arrival = cruise
allow_simultaneous_creation = yes
zone_creation_distance = 0
times_to_create = infinite
[Creation]
permutation = 0, 3

So, instead of being able to spawn a leader and 3 fighters, the encounter is broken

2.
how much CD ammo did you give them?
If only 1, that would be a problem for the first encounter

Once that is fixed test again and I will look deeper into the rest of your coding

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I don't understand what you mean by 'faction_weight = fc_n_grp, 10 <----------10 ships spawn, yours only has 1'
I get Nomads out the whazoo, they're just not firing the CDs.

Your point is taken on the toughness, I'm changing that as we speak. I'll let you know if that helps.

I did give them ammo after noticing that the other Nomad loadouts that had CDs also had cargo = ammo lines. I had assumed that because the gun is set to uses_ammo = false, and it works fine without ammo for a player, that it would do the same for an NPC. After I added the ammo, it still didn't work.

So, if you could further explain point 1, that'd be appreciated, and I'm changing the toughness level to match the encounter level.

On the area_nomads setting, should my encounters be spawning 12 instead of 10 to match the 1+3 of the encounter?

I'll let you know and thanks for responding.

R

I thought toughness for the zone could not be lower than the highest level encounter within that zone.
ie. If i had encounters of level 19, the zone would have to be toughness = 19, but every encounter below that level would also show up.
If the toughness were set at 15, any encounters above level 15 would NOT show up.
Is my understanding in error?

If set to 15, nothing tougher should show up, correct (and your npcs are set to 15 so this is good).

Next up, faction_prop:

npc_ship = fc_n_no_fighter_d15-18
This is the only ship you have designated for them.
For normal encounters (factions) it would be recommended to have ships designated all the way to level 1, but nomad encounters don't have this restriction, so you are good here.

I would add this back:
firstname_male = 229608, 229608

I noted in my tutorials an error that occured if the female was omitted, perhaps there is an error here because you omitted the male. Worth a shot anyway.

...
npc_class = unlawful, class_fighter, d15, d16, d17, d18 (vanilla had FIGHTER, not class_fighter)

Loadouts:
equip = nomad_cruise_disruptor01, HpTorpedo01
cargo = nomad_cruise_disruptor01_ammo, 20 (this is how vanilla defined it, check yours)

Lastly, after playing a bit and shutting down the server, what does your flspew say? (clean this out before you launch the server so only errors from this session are recorded).

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Probably should mention that we have missions against nomads (fc_n_grp) working using an Adoxa plugin that makes it work with the vanilla faction.
I believe that's why the male name was deleted. It didn't look right when getting the missions. I'll look at that and see.

Also, the pilot was established at level 15 because missions against level 19 Nomads were too easy. We reduced the mission level to 15 but gave the d15_d18 ships the same pilot, ship, and loadout so that more Nomads would show up for the mission. Now instead of a half-dozen Nomads and you're done, you get waves of them and sometimes a dozen or more at once.

Back on Wednesday I did add the cargo = (ammo for nomad cd) line to the loadout because I noticed that some of the loadouts for the MSN nomads had that entry as well despite the gun being set to uses_ammo = false. That didn't fix it either.

Again, we don't have a problem with Nomads spawning, they're all over the place.
We don't have a problem with missions against Nomads, those work fine also.
The problem seems to be only that the Nomad ships don't fire CDs.

I'm actually thinking about giving the Nomads an Outcast pilot and a Hornet CD or something just to see if it's the pilot or the gun.
I was hoping there was something simple in the zone setting that would be causing it.

By flspew.txt you mean the fl-server-errors-log.txt file from the server, correct?

flspew/flspit is an internal error checker for freelancer. Found in the the following hidden folders on XP:
%USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Freelancer

Place this file anywhere and double-click it. It takes the vanilla mass of garbage and condenses it to readable format.

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huh, all these years and i never knew flspit existed. I knew about flspew of course, but my understanding is that flspew shows problems on the client side, fl-server-errors-log.txt shows problems on the server side.

As NPC encounters and behavior are entirely server-side I didn't even look at flspew.txt.
There's nothing that jumps out at me other than a lot of missing mp3 codec messages.
Here it is, perhaps you're better versed in interpretation.

http://67.167.62.237/uploads/flspew.txt

Don't worry about that loadout error. That's related to a lootable wreck in the system and should have no bearing on the matter. I had it in just the server mod and it's been working fine. I've added it into the client mod just to get rid of the error.

Well that was painful to look through, heh

[1/4/2012 3:37:20 PM]
ERROR:General:StreamingSound: missing MP3 codec?
WARNING:General:set_gamma_function() called outside of create_buffers/destroy_buffers
WARNING: Failed to get start location

WARNING: get_system(St02) failed.
WARNING: get_system(St03) failed.
WARNING: get_system(St03b) failed.
WARNING: get_system(St02c) failed.

ERROR: 0x98dbab0e: Unable to find [Loadout] 0x818aa247.

WARNING: CExternalEquip: Object (0xb24de3c0) missing hardpoint (HpRunningLight01) for item (0x924a48cf)
WARNING: CExternalEquip: Object (0xb24de3c0) missing hardpoint (HpRunningLight02) for item (0x924a48cf)
WARNING: CExternalEquip: Object (0xb24de3c0) missing hardpoint (HpDockLight01) for item (0x94a7d787)
WARNING: CExternalEquip: Object (0xb24de3c0) missing hardpoint (HpDockLight02) for item (0x94a7d787)

ERROR: ArchDB::Get(2547721671) failed <-------(rm_space_police01)

ERROR: ArchDB::Get(3098097218) failed <-------(wplatform)

ERROR: 0x98dbab0e: Unable to find [Loadout] 0x818aa247.

WARNING:General: DA SYSTEM: trailing references

[1/6/2012 3:32:16 PM]

ERROR: 0x98dbab0e: Unable to find [Loadout] 0x818aa247.

--------------------
Nothing jumps out. Try running the server on one machine and join it with another, then look at the client spew.

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What do you think...
The loadout does have the nomad cd ammo but when you scan the ship, it doesn't show up in the scan list.
Would that be because it's not listed in select_equip.ini or goods.ini?

If you have not modified it, the nomad cd does not require ammo (even though you can see where DA added some)

[Munition]
nickname = nomad_cruise_disruptor01_ammo
explosion_arch = nomad_cruise_disruptor01_explosion
hp_type = hp_gun
requires_ammo = false

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Yeah, and yet they don't shoot but the one CD...

Just to clarify a point, FACTION WEIGHT in encounters isn't used in Freelancer, you can delete those entries and no harm is done. I removed them from all my encounters without any issues. Adoxa told me this ages ago and he's not wrong as i've tested this theory in depth. The line isn't read in the exe file at all. You don't need them in any encounter or patrol path.

_________________

Yeah, I noticed that as well and removed those lines. It seems that FLE puts them in automatically when creating the zone.

FLE does include them as well, but they are also present in the original code as we all know. Yet another feature that doesn't work or was removed, tbh i can't see the use for it anyway as the percentages for who turns up are defined in each separate encounter anyway.

_________________