[Help] Editing power curve behavior?

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[Help] Editing power curve behavior?

Voyager
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Post by Voyager » Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:40 am

This is one where I'm not even sure what the right vocabulary even is...

Does anyone recall how in the original X-Wing and TIE Fight
er games, the Y-Wing and TIE Bomber would only gain/lose 6.25% of their speed per energy unit shifted, while the rest of the ships had a 12.5% speed change per energy shift.

This was done away with in X-Wing Alliance, but I was wondering if anyone knew how that function was controlled or could be modified? (Or even what it's proper name is?)

Thank you,

Harry Voyager

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capitanguinea
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Post by capitanguinea » Thu Jul 23, 2020 12:15 pm

If I remember correctly acceleration is misured angaist inertia in xwa and against top speed previously. Physics is a lot better in xwa

Voyager
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Post by Voyager » Thu Jul 23, 2020 3:15 pm

I'm not sure it would be stored under acceleration.

Recall if you divert all power to shields and weapon in the X-Wing, your top speed becomes 50 Mglt? Likewise, if you divert all shields and weapons to engines you get a top speed of 150 Mglt?

In X-Wing Alliance, if you do the one the Y-Wing, your top speed becomes 40 Mglt or 120 Mglt respectively. In X-Wing it was 60 and 100. As far as I recall, only the Y-Wing and TIE Bomber had that behavior though. That's why I'm wondering if it was really an editable parameter, or if it was something they hard coded for those two ships.

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JeremyaFr
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Post by JeremyaFr » Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:55 pm

Hello,
In the exe, it seems there is a different code for the Tie Bomber, the Tie Fighter and the Y-Wing.

Voyager
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Post by Voyager » Thu Jul 23, 2020 5:08 pm

Ok, and that code flag was only in the X-Wing and TIE Fighter games? Or is it also in X-Wing Alliance as well, and just set differently?

Am I right in assuming changing the behavior will involve learning how to make and manipulate hooks?

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JeremyaFr
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Post by JeremyaFr » Thu Jul 23, 2020 6:31 pm

It is in XWA.

Voyager
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Post by Voyager » Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:26 pm

Given that, I think I'm going to have to install TIE98 and try it again. I didn't recall the TIE Fighter having the different behavior too, but that does not necessary mean it didn't. It's interesting that the different code is still there in XwA, but the Y-Wing behaves the same as the other ships do. It occurs to me that I do not know if the TIE Fighter or TIE Bomber have the standard or modified behavior in XWA either, so I'll need to test them as well.

Thank you. So, I'm completely new at code modifying. Are there tools for this game that I could take a look at?

Voyager
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Post by Voyager » Mon Jul 27, 2020 1:38 pm

Very interesting. It appears that in X-Wing Alliance, the TIE Bomber does have the modified speed change, while the TIE Fighter does not. And after checking in TIE98, it appears that the TIE Fighter still has the conventional energy profile.

Voyager
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Post by Voyager » Sat Aug 01, 2020 5:22 am

JeremyaFr wrote:
Thu Jul 23, 2020 4:55 pm
Hello,
In the exe, it seems there is a different code for the Tie Bomber, the Tie Fighter and the Y-Wing.
Ok, so digging into this further, I think I may have not correctly understood what you were saying. I was interpreting it as, there was some flag that was different between the ships, but after getting Mxted4.2 and BinHexEdit, and looking at the available flags and binary values of unknown purpose, I'm not seeing a likely candidate for a specific flag that's used.* When you say "it seems there is a different code" are we talking about a code segment the community has directly seen, and can be accessed by existing tools? Or is this a case of something we are only able to infer exists, due to lack of other known options?

Of the tools that I've been able to find so far, I've tried Mxvted4.2, BinHexEdit with the BHEXWingAlliancev1.5 bhe overlay, and a number of the tools available via the XwaToolsDownloader. An initial read through of the available hooks didn't turn up anything that looked likely. I'm assuming the next stage is to get an appropriate compiler installed again and start cracking open some of the hook dlls to see if I can get an idea on how they are poking the executable around? There any sort of run-rules or good "start here" guides for that?

Thank you,

Harry Voyager


*As I know that the TIE Bomber exhibits the power behaviour, the TIE Fighter was reported to have the different code but does not exhibit the behaviour, and the TIE Interceptor has neither is the different code, nor the behaviour, finding that all three have matching Unknown word binaries (32767) implies that the behaviour could not be tied to anything in that unknown binary space, otherwise all three would have the same behaviour.

Addendum: Spotted the Hooks forum. I'll start digging through the posts there and see what I can come up with. Thank you.

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keiranhalcyon7
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Post by keiranhalcyon7 » Mon Aug 31, 2020 11:07 pm

Many of the craft special behaviors (for example, the SLAM system, S-Foil actuation) are defined in the behavioral code of the exe rather than in the craft stats; MXvTED only edits the craft stats, so toggles for these behaviors are not available in MXvTED. By using hooks to replace portions of the behavioral code, Jeremy has managed to do things like enable SLAM or S-Foils for any craft, using settings in .ini/.cfg files.

These are the impacts of the E energy bar on top speed, as far as I could determine:
Standard: 12.5% per tick
T/B: 6.25% per tick (half standard)
T/F: 12.5% per tick below nominal; 18.75% per tick above nominal (top speed 137.5 MGLT with standard cannon-only loadout)

My old theory was that the "half standard" behavior was originally coded for the Y/W in X-Wing, was moved to the T/B (by changing the affected craft index in an if statement) when they developed TIE Fighter, and forgotten about thereafter, remaining only applied to the T/B in XvT and XWA. But that does not explain the T/F's behavior, and Jeremy says there is still some special case for the Y/W, which I cannot discern. (Jeremy, would you mind elaborating on what the Y-Wing's special behavior is?)

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JeremyaFr
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Post by JeremyaFr » Tue Sep 01, 2020 12:21 pm

Hello,
For the Y-Wing, the shield strength delta is multiplied by 2.

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keiranhalcyon7
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Post by keiranhalcyon7 » Wed Sep 02, 2020 7:57 am

Meaning... that it charges/decharges its shields twice as quickly as other craft?

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