SS2 Zygo Arena

[6651fc8e3ab73jimbob1141]

When i extract the files into my SS2 folder and then load it up and try to start a new game it crashes >.< whats going wrong here?

[6651fc8e3ad89voodoo47]

try using the new integrated fmselect. open cam_mod.ini and remove ; from the line with fm, that will activate it. next time you run ss2, the fm folder will be created, there you can place all the fms and and load the one you want to play when you run shock2.exe.

[6651fc8e3aea8jimbob1141]

remove ; from what line? i dont get what line you are telling me to edit here xD

[6651fc8e3af86jimbob1141]

ah i found it

[6651fc8e3b0b2jimbob1141]

but now what, extract the winrar into the FMs folder? because that just makes the FM window show me all the names of the folders and i cant run them >.< well i amde a folder in the FM folder and extracted contents to it and then loaded it up, but it still just crashes the same as before

[6651fc8e3b197voodoo47]

yeah, it crashes. will try to look at things tomorrow (technically today, as it's past midnight).

[6651fc8e3b2a9Zygo]

I'll have a look at it. Main mission works through ShockEd so it will hopefully be a fairly minor matter to fix, maybe even just recompiling through newdark.

[6651fc8e3b3c7Zygo]

Sadly it's not fixed by rebuilding the mission or anything simple like removing the custom motiondb so will need more in depth examination. I've added a warning to the first post until the situation is fixed.

[6651fc8e3b591gnartsch]

I am just playing this one.
It was on-hold since I thought this would be some pure UnrealTournament Arena mission. 

Ok, was quite some fun after all.
However some ingame story/instructions would have been nice.

Also I was always seeing a bug with all those 'Upgrade Terminals' since the very beginning.
After using on of them, chances are like 80% that the terminal itself will simply disappear after ~10 seconds.
I see that with all of them (Stat, Weapons, Tech, etc.)
I am playing using the original EXE, not the NewDark version.
Nothing helps, except for saving before using them and waiting long enough for them to disappear for a second - and hopefully reappear again.

Thanks !

[6651fc8e3b6d2Zygo]

The upgrade terminals are designed to disappear, they then reappear later either in the same or a different location. It's mainly to prevent 'turtling' or 'farming' advantageous locations, and working as designed.

There are some (basic; same style as the SS2 originals "Find Dr Watts" etc) note instructions to be had but nothing too spectacular.

[6651fc8e3b88bLarkSS]

I've identified the problem with this FM in NewDark. Apparently NewDark crashes if a cutscene gets skipped, regardless if it's because of a null data video file or if you use the provided fm.cfg functionality to skip cutscenes. Removing the Cutscenes folder provided with your FM and manually skipping them makes everything work happily. I ran through it for about 40 minutes without any crashes, though I did get lost and died of a hypo shortage, hehe. Hacking cameras didn't seem to show enemies on my map however (unless maybe it only shows up on the minimap?). (Works with spatially aware.) Also, this mod looks great with 2x32bit lightmaps.

FYI, if you are playing solo you can use fm.cfg to load directly into Arena.mis and jump straight into the action. Sure you lose out on a free skill point, but I believe earth.mis was only included for the sake of multiplayer.

[6651fc8e3bc36voodoo47]

Apparently NewDark crashes if a cutscene gets skipped

no. I've checked the avi files, and I suspect they are just renamed empty txt files - tried to replace them with renamed empty wav files, and this has worked, the orig cutscenes are skipped (I assume this was the intention) and the mod loads without crashing.

so yeah, while NewDark the new ffmpeg video player does indeed crash when trying to play renamed txt files, I don't really consider this as bug - feeding a media player with renamed txt files seems like a really bad idea, if you ask me.

[6651fc8e3bd46LarkSS]

Interesting. I tried the empty .wav trick and it indeed works. However, attempting to skip the cutscenes the correct way using fm.cfg crashes none-the-less (which is why I bundled my comment in regards with the blank 'video' files).

[6651fc8e3be50voodoo47]

hmm, you are right - fm_movie_disable does indeed crash the mod, no matter what is (or isn't) in the mod's cutscene folder.

[6651fc8e3bfccZygo]

I don't know where I got those files from, I don't think I actually made them anyway. I'd worked out the problem with the cutscenes yesterday, but then managed to confuse myself playing around with combinations of +s and movie names to get the movie skipping working via fm.cfg and wondering why it'd starting crashing again.

Anyway, I've attached an updated version with the new lighting + a newer nvscript.osm included as well. If someone can confirm it's working OK I'll attach it to the first post and remove the compatibility warning.

Additions, because I'm easily distracted: The monster pip thing will work without spatially aware once the 'plot' has progressed a bit, spatially aware just gives an advantage there (and for once is actually useful) and yes, earth.mis is included solely because of multiplayer- it's basically an empty level with one trigger to put some properties on the player.

[6651fc8e3c0dfvoodoo47]

yeah, (as there are no cutscenes whatsoever) it seems to work fine (for me, anyway). will play a bit more.

[6651fc8e3c21fLarkSS]

Working here too. You can include these if you want to remove the cutscenes without crashing NewDark. Also, you should consider rebaking the lighting in double resolution with a 9-point weighted average if you have the time. You may have to adjust lighting positions to correct oddities but it greatly reduces the blocky nature of standard resolution lightmaps.

[6651fc8e3c3a0Zygo]

Thanks for the files.

The arena.mis included in that archive should be new dark 32bit (medium 9pt default options, iirc) since I thought that reprocessing the level might fix it quickly if the problem was with something like path finding- though now that I think about it the new version would be incompatible with old SS2 versions. While everyone should be using new dark and anything new I do would be done with that exclusively, I don't on principle like invalidating compatibility for old versions unless it's necessary. Might leave the old archive up as well, assuming it's OK with Kolya.

[6651fc8e3c4f0Kolya]

Fine with me, but I think it should be explained in the first post what the versions are for.

[6651fc8e3c5d4Zygo]

Yeah, changed my mind as it was far too potentially confusing having two downloads there.

[6651fc8e3c6ccKolya]

I guess that's for the better. Due to the SS2Tool distribution most people have NewDark anyway. And if not, they should.

[6651fc8e3c809LarkSS]

For those running a version of SS2 older than NewDark for 4-player compatibility, you can still grab the old version of ZygoArena here. Also if I could throw my opinion in, I think a better option would be to include a folder/archive containing 16bit lightmap bakes of the maps within the main download. That way it's a simple installation for NewDark users, but those playing in a large group or on dinosaur computers for nostalgia can easily replace the files to play.

[6651fc8e3c915Zygo]

The new version ought to be MP compatible so long as everyone is using newdark- unfortunately I have no reliable way of testing MP myself at the moment as the cpu fan on my laptop has died. Mix and match between versions (I presume) won't work.

[6651fc8e3ca4fLarkSS]

Multiplayer works fine yeah, but for some reason NewDark falls on its face when it encounters 4-players. Usually it's not done often anyway due to bulkhead instability, but given your mod stays in one place and is filled with randomly-generated fast paced action, it sorta begs for group sessions. I haven't tried mix and matching (if the net code and map format wasn't changed theoretically this should work), but I have noted that loading a 32bit lightmap within a ddfix build locks up.