Topic: CTD in certain TraceyG OP missions: is it just me?

[Kestrel]

I am playing OP single player using the amalgamated campaign with the Tracey G, Karnak, and NW missions combined.  I have been experiencing frequent CTD.  At first, I thought it might be a bad shiplist entry, but thanks to FireSoul's excellent model checking skirmish script, I have ruled this out (thank you very very much !)  

I have narrowed the problem down to the Tracey G "EnPtrlx_OP" missions, where x is A,B,C, or D.  The problem occurs every time the enemy AI has three opposing ships, regardless of how many ships are on the player team.  As soon as the first enemy ship is destroyed, there is a couple of seconds delay, the game freezes up, white screen, and error message.  This is very repeatible.

Has anyone else experienced this?  Is this an artifact of single player vs. multiplayer design?

The must frustrating part of this for me is that the 3 on 1 missions are often very interesting and challenging strategically.  It really hurts to maneuver around 3 opponents for an artful kill and then to lose the victory.

[Kestrel]

I deleted the 4 scripts in question from my campaign, and so far I have had no further CTD issues.  I wanted to make sure that script issues were causing the problem

[FPF_TraceyG]

Thanks for the feedback, this is the first I've heard of this problem. The mission that has 3 enemy opposition is the B patrol.

Just out of curiosity, in single player, do you have AI switched on in your single player gf settings? AI that actually show up on the map are treated by scripts as if they were actual humans and can be drafted. This aspect of the scripts has never really been tested since in campaigns,since typically the AI is switched off.
The only real difference between the Enemy patrols and the others is where they appear. I plan to do an update to fix a few other bugs also present, so thanks again for the info.

[nutnspecial]

Tracey,  I've found the same issue.  I'd be willing to test for you... If you can help me with the file name and setting (somethin' to search for in said file) I'd be willing to run it through my single player campaign....

Nutn.  

[The Postman]

I have played played all of the TG scripts extensively in single player without any issues. I do not know which settings could affect this but I will supply them if you let me know which ones  you need.  

[nutnspecial]

I've tried to search the .gf files for an 'AI' setting. (ref: Tracey's post above)  Text search.  I'm lookin' for the right file and string to search for.... ?  

[Kestrel]

I have to admit that I never mess with the .gf files.  If I knew more about them, it appears that I would not be having this problem.  Here is my best guess as to what Tracey is referring to.

In "MissionMatching.gf" there is a line that I have as "AllowHumanToHumanMatching= 1" that sounds suspiciously on the mark.  It also sounds like something that should be set to zero in a single player campaign.  I do not believe that I can change this value without starting an entirely new campaign, and Starfleet Headquarters has denied the request given my success in Klingon space.

Can anyone wiser in the ways of scripting verify my guess?

[Kestrel]

It looks like I guessed right.  I set "AllowHumanToHumanMatching= 0" in MissionMatching, write protected the file, and restored the missions into the campaign list.  So far, the missions work now without interrupting the campaign in progress.  Sorry to carry on a thread based on a bogus campaign parameter, but I believe I have learned something with everyone's help.

[FPF_TraceyG]

Actually, what I was referring to is to be found in the metamap.gf

The entries I'm referring to are almost at the bottom and look like the following in the stock file


// This section handles the creation of AI ships
[Census]

TargetPopulationToEconomicRatio      =0.02 // (0.02) This is the ratio of AI ships to current economy of an empire

OrionPopulationRatio            =0.15 // (0.15) This is the population ratio for orion pirates.

MonsterPopulationRatio            =0.025 // (0.025) This is the poplation ratio of Monsters.


These values control the number of AI ships you see on the map in the single player campaign and the dynaverse. Normally, in a D2 campaign, all of these values are set to zero, so we only have human players running around on the map. Leaving these values as they are will generate AI map markers that move around the map on each turn break according to an AI algorithm which you can set with other parameters. It is these AI that can be drafted into a mission, just like a human player.