XWA.Exe Patches

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Re: XWA.Exe Patches

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Driftwood
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Post by Driftwood » Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:00 am

So, just a technical question. What does not rendering the starfield achieve? Does it increase performance? Does it add any new possibilities to be implemented? Can it be automatically overwritten by a generic starfield backdrop? How does this affect the hyperspace animation transition if at all?

And, speaking of the hyperspace animations can/how one go about improving it to HD visuals?

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Post by JeremyaFr » Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:32 pm

UPDATE

I've added the 'briefing overlay', 'textures size' and 'textures count' patches to the opt limit hook.
I've added the 'crafts count per region' patch to the mission tie hook.

Please redownload xwa_hook_opt_limit.zip
Please redownload xwa_hook_mission_tie.zip

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Post by Darksaber » Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:02 pm

Thanks Jeremy :)

Hmm just a thought these are now going to conflict with the patched DSUCP and XWACP so they will have to be removed from the exe with XwaExePatcher

Hmm strange I thought they might have conflicted and you get a message, but No :? :?
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Post by JeremyaFr » Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:54 pm

You don't get a message because the main hook doen't show an error message when a patch is already applied.

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Post by Darksaber » Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:10 pm

Ok I guess that's good, so there is no conflict then?
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Post by JeremyaFr » Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:15 pm

Yes, there is no conflict.

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Darksaber
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Post by Darksaber » Sat Jan 12, 2019 3:28 pm

Ok thanks Jeremy :)
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Post by Trevor » Sat Jan 12, 2019 7:44 pm

...so... what does disabling the starfield archive technically?...
Driftwood » Sat Jan 12, 2019 1:00 am wrote: So, just a technical question. What does not rendering the starfield achieve? Does it increase performance? Does it add any new possibilities to be implemented? Can it be automatically overwritten by a generic starfield backdrop? How does this affect the hyperspace animation transition if at all?

And, speaking of the hyperspace animations can/how one go about improving it to HD visuals?
Trev

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JeremyaFr
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Post by JeremyaFr » Sat Jan 12, 2019 8:48 pm

Not rendering the starfield leads to a black background in missions where DTM's starfield backdrops were not added.
When DTM's starfield is used, it overwrites the default starfield. So the default starfield is not visible and can be removed.
This improved a bit the performance.
The hyperspace animation is not impacted. It continues to work.

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Post by Bman » Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:12 pm

Also the starfield renders temporary "pixels" of light for a lack of better words. The planets, galaxies, stars etc. are static images encapsulated within .dat files like DTM's starfield. The hyperspace simulation is similar but has a series of static .bmp images, I believe complied by game engine into *.cbm files. The biggest benefit of disabling the default starfield is that it no longer affects custom made .dat files, like galaxy backdrops. And we can now have planetary level atmospheric backdrops, so you don't have "stars" rendering through the image if it has a dark background like mountains, clouds, and so forth.

This is great, thanks Jeremy. Oh, is implementing type-25 32-bit colored images with alpha channel into .dat files and .cbm files still a possibility?


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Post by JeremyaFr » Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:44 pm

Bman wrote:
Sat Jan 12, 2019 9:12 pm
Oh, is implementing type-25 32-bit colored images with alpha channel into .dat files and .cbm files still a possibility?
It is not yet supported.

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Post by Bman » Tue Jan 15, 2019 5:29 am

Thanks, sorry to bug you mate. :-) I'm chopping at the bit to implement some HD images for TFTC, but right now 8-bit indexed colors degrades things. :-) No hurry.

Edit: This is a decent VB writeup for coding for 32-bit color RGBA with alpha-channel. Not sure if it would be useful for OptechV2.x too at some point.
https://social.technet.microsoft.com/wi ... color.aspx
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Post by JeremyaFr » Sat Feb 23, 2019 4:57 pm

UPDATE

I've added these patchs to patcher.xml:
  • Remove campaign rank limit
  • Fix beam HUD scaling

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Post by JeremyaFr » Sat Mar 09, 2019 9:22 am

Hello,
Here is a patch to allow rebel starfighters to have a beam system:

Code: Select all

; Beam system for rebel starfighters
At offset 01BABF, replace 741E with EB29.

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Post by Darksaber » Sat Mar 09, 2019 8:55 pm

I didn't realize that Rebel Starfighter didn't have Beam Systems :?

So Thanks
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Post by Justagai » Sun Mar 10, 2019 3:06 am

Darksaber wrote:
Sat Mar 09, 2019 8:55 pm
I didn't realize that Rebel Starfighter didn't have Beam Systems :?

So Thanks
They aren't supposed to, but it can be overridden in the hangar. They couldn't get them through the assignment roster or through a mission editor.

The patch will allow Rebel fighters to have beams if they were set on the roster or through a mission editor.

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Post by JeremyaFr » Mon Mar 18, 2019 5:22 pm

Hello,
I've added this patch to XwaExePatcher.

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Post by JeremyaFr » Tue Jan 28, 2020 7:48 pm

UPDATE

Hello,
I've updated XwaExePatcher with the latest patches.

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Post by JeremyaFr » Wed Feb 26, 2020 5:40 pm

UPDATE

Hello,
I've updated XwaExePatcher.

I've added a [Hook] tag for patches that are included in a hook.

When a patch is tagged with [Hook], I recommand to not apply it with XwaExePatcher. The patch will be applied at runtime by the hook.

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Post by Darksaber » Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:14 pm

Hi Jeremy, sorry but I had login to say this, if all the patches that have [Hook] next to them are all in the Hook_Opt_Limit.dll why are they still included with XwAExePatcher?

If they have to stay in the Patcher why not group them together in the xml file

Also why isn't XwaExePatcher included with XwaToolsDownloader ?

Sorry, I'll mind my own business and disappear again :)
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Post by JeremyaFr » Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:31 pm

Hi Darksaber,

Currently, patches that have a [Hook] tag are either in the opt limit hook (Hook_Opt_Limit.dll) orin the mission tie hook (Hook_Mission_Tie.dll).

There is the "triangling to infinity" patch that is a bit different between the patcher xml file and the opt limit hook. If this patch was applied and the latest hooks are installed, then there may be an error message that says that the hook is not correctly installed (See triangling to infinity patch error). To fix this error, the patch has to be restored with XwaExePatcher. This is the Reason why I keep the patches in the patcher.xml file.

Nice suggestion about grouping the hooks' patches and XwaToolsDownloader. I will do that.

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Post by Darksaber » Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:53 pm

Ah!!! now I remember the triangling to infinity patch error, I thought there must be a reason why you left the patches in the patcher

Haven't tried this in a while, but what happens if someone applies all the [Hook] patches to an exe, but also have the hooks installed, does it come up with an error, or are the applied patches or the offsets in the Hooks ignored?

Your welcome with the suggestions :)
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Post by JeremyaFr » Wed Feb 26, 2020 7:57 pm

Done.

I've moved the [Hook] patches to the end.
I've added XwaExePatcher to XwaToolsDownloader.

When a [Hook] patch is applied, the hook will detect that the patch is already applied and there will be no error.

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Post by Vince T » Tue Mar 10, 2020 6:53 am

Hey Jeremy,
Could you take a look at the triangling to infinity fix? As I wrote in the Shader model thread, that fix caused the crassh upon hitting a HD model. I also wonder if that fix is still required? Testing out the VSD without it worked fine with some 115k vertices and only 20 textures.
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Post by JeremyaFr » Tue Mar 10, 2020 4:58 pm

There is an updated triangling to infinity fix in the opt limits hooks.

I keep this fix in XwaExePatcher to let the users remove it if it was applied before. It is better to use the opt limits hook.

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