Fallout 2 mod FO2 Engine Tweaks (Sfall)

[Timeslip]

I've been reading the steam forums, and there's a few posts there I find interesting...

Odd, I went to install sfall, and it seems that Steam already has it.

the high res patch does not work. just tried it.

Basic point of that thread was to change the first "Mode=" to "Mode-4", which unfortunately didn't change any of the color issues in the opening movie for me.

So apparently, sfall is included in the steam version of fallout 2, the high res patch doesn't work, and neither do some of the options in ddraw.ini. This is worrying; The version of the fallout2 exe that sfall works with is certainly one that the hi res patch works with; for sfall to be preincluded and semifunctional like that, it suggests that it's been modified. I know I (or presumably any of the others who've contributed to sfall,) haven't been asked for permission to include sfall in a commercial product, which is what this is apparently doing...

Anyone got a steam copy, and wouldn't mind poking at it a bit to find out what's going on? Failing that, I'll wait to see if there's any more interesting posts on the steam forums, and then drop steam an email.

this is the check for it to not be dude_obj

the (critter != dude_obj) is sufficient to exclude the player. If he's still getting a perk, then I'd guess that either there's a problem in your script that lets it reach that line without passing the check, or there's a bug in the script functions that add perks.

Alright, Timeslip, here's a request for you:

They can be made at any point inside fallouts code where I can inject a jump without breaking anything, rather than being related to existing script procedures. The only limit is that I have to know where the related bit of code is in fallout2.exe, and to have relevant values passed to get_sfall_arg I need to understand what it's doing.

I'm on holiday now, so no updates for a month or so, but I'll see what I can do when I get back.

 

[Dude101]

They must have least put you in the credits. I would be very hurt, but proud if it was me.

 

[killap]

They must have least put you in the credits. I would be very hurt, but proud if it was me.

Well, I was never approached for my work being included in the Fallout Trilogy sold in stores. It does come with my readme files (which have my name) so I am not terribly concerned. I am curious if the Steam version also includes my work.

 

[Nirran]

the new list functions will occationaly crash the game on map load,ive tried everything to kill it,if you want i will post my code(btw it is an engine bug on the ranged damage perk)

Nirran

 

[killap]

I have a report from someone saying that making use of the "CorpseLineOfFireFix" option does not change anything (setting it to 1 or 2). I have not verified it myself, so I cannot personally vouch for this. Here is the relevant comment:

I've downloaded the latest sfall, made all the ini changes and tried it out. The fix doesn't seem to work at all, no matter if you set it to 0, 1 or 2. I've tested them all multiple times with a Bozar and aliens, floaters and centaurs. Corpses will still absorb most of your fire, most noticeably if you fire at something which is standing right next to you and on a corpse. The corpse it is standing on will protect it from around 90% of your burst damage. I've tried some of the other new features in the latest sfall version and they do work, so it's only the burst fix which has no effect (maybe it only fixes single shots?).

 

[Timeslip]

Well, I was never approached for my work being included in the Fallout Trilogy sold in stores. It does come with my readme files (which have my name) so I am not terribly concerned. I am curious if the Steam version also includes my work.

It's the including a modified version without mentioning it to me part that I'm most concerned about. I could be getting bug reports from people saying that xxx new version is completely broken, but yyy old one worked, without having the faintest idea what was going on.

Edit: Opened a support ticket with steam with some of my concerns. Now to wait for a response.

tbh, if your patch has been included before, I expect that what's happened here is exactly the same thing except with a newer version of your patch. Since your patch includes sfall now then its ended up getting dragged along for the ride.

the new list functions will occationaly crash the game on map load,ive tried everything to kill it,if you want i will post my code(btw it is an engine bug on the ranged damage perk)

As they stand at the moment, you can't use them at any point where fallout is already in the middle of iterating through items, which could possibly include map load. On the other hand, they shouldn't crash anywhere where tile_contains_obj_pid didn't. (They both use the same mechanism for iterating.) I'll take a look when I get back from holiday.

I have a report from someone saying that making use of the "CorpseLineOfFireFix" option does not change anything (setting it to 1 or 2). I have not verified it myself, so I cannot personally vouch for this. Here is the relevant comment:

I know it used to work when I added it. I'll have to retest, it's possible that I've broken it at some point.

 

[Lexx]

This is very interesting. I didn't know that there is Killap's patch includet into the Fallout Trilogy box and now even a modified version of Sfall is used in the steam version.

I mean, from the point of copyright or general terms and conditions, I think they can do with this what they want anyway (as example, sue you...) but still, that they even didn't asked or just mentioned it... This is somehow dissapointing. For me the question now would be, who made this. Does this version comes from Interplay direct or someone other, etc.?

 

[Timeslip]

I mean, from the point of copyright or general terms and conditions, I think they can do with this what they want anyway (as example, sue you...)

Well, I've certainly breached their no-reverse-engineering EULA clause quite epicly. I don't think that's an excuse for them to use it though. More the exact opposite; it's like saying that they don't care about their own EULA and giving official approval to breaching it. I bet a lawyer could have a field day over that little fact alone.

For me the question now would be, who made this. Does this version comes from Interplay direct or someone other, etc.?

Hopefully I'll be able to let you know when steam responds.

 

[Nirran]

the new list functions will occationaly crash the game on map load,ive tried everything to kill it,if you want i will post my code(btw it is an engine bug on the ranged damage perk)

As they stand at the moment, you can't use them at any point where fallout is already in the middle of iterating through items, which could possibly include map load. On the other hand, they shouldn't crash anywhere where tile_contains_obj_pid didn't. (They both use the same mechanism for iterating.) I'll take a look when I get back from holiday.

apparently it only happens when more then one command is given during each loop,with display_msg it didnt happen

 

[Timeslip]

apparently it only happens when more then one command is given during each loop,with display_msg it didnt happen

Odd. All the heavy work is done by list_begin. list_next does nothing except return and increment a pointer, so it shouldn't matter what you do around it.

The loop could certainly be structured better than what I did in my example code, but that shouldn't make a difference. Was your 'more than one command' modifing other objects that the one returned by list_next at all? Since list_begin caches all the results, if you destroy an item before it's returned by list_next, you'll end up being given a dead pointer.

 

[Nirran]

i am adding stats,and i used the same code you did,not destroying objects with that code,i just spent an hour adding checks to make sure the stats werent too high,still does it

would having multiple lists cause the crash?

edit : is element in these same as set_critter_stat functions?


0x8204 - int get_proto_data(objptr, int element)
0x8205 - void set_proto_data(objptr, int element)

 

[Sorrow]

Hmm...
Any chances for new features for the Fo1 version?

 

[Timeslip]

Steam responded, with nothing but a copy/pasted note to contact interplay about any technical issues encountered running fallout 2. Since I don't recall mentioning any technical issues, it's obvious that no-one actually read my message beyond the words 'fallout 2' in the title.

I don't think the version of sfall included has been modified any more; issues with ddraw.ini changes not having any effect smell more like a vista UAC issue now. That doesn't mean that a standard version of sfall will work though; steam may well have wrapped ddraw.dll in whatever drm they use along with the exe. There's been reports of people trying to use the RP not encountering kaga, which is a pretty surefire symptom that sfall isn't working. For now, I've modified sfall to display an incompatibility notice and crash if used with a steam copy of fallout. (Pity I didn't include an autoupdate feature in sfall. Every copy of fallout2 they've sold suddenly stopping working would have got someones attention. )

That means that interplay have probably included killaps patch themselves, and dragged sfall in with it, rather than steam adding it to provide proper vista support or something. Whether or not killap minds, I do; with issues like the explorer.exe lockup problem sfall has caused, I'm not prepared to let them use it by default unless they're willing to take over maintenance responsibility themselves. (Or they could just give me the fallout 2 source code, and let me do it properly instead of all this buggy exe hackery I'm doing now... It's nice to dream. )

I just need to find someone who isn't sitting in 2 square foot of office space in india working from a flowchart and a couple of checklists really. I'll try steam once more, on the basis that they're more likely to care than the people who did the stealing in the first place, then have a whine at interplay. I think it's time for an interplay-steals-fan-made-work news post maybe?

Edit: I'm not going to have internet access for the next 3 or 4 days. Not the best piece of timing in the world...

would having multiple lists cause the crash?

No, it's designed to allow multiple lists running at once. (Hence the need for list_end to clear up the memory used by a list when you're done.)

edit : is element in these same as set_critter_stat functions?

iirc I changed those functions to accept a pid rather than an object pointer, so that may be a readme error. If not, then yes, it's the same.

Any chances for new features for the Fo1 version?

No.

 

[Dude101]

PM Brother None. I am sure he would news post it.

 

[killap]

Whether or not killap minds, I do;

I only mind in that I was never approached. Obviously, they are free to use my work, but I just wished they asked so I could give them newer files. Much has changed since my 2008 release and I hate people working with outdated stuff.

Also, the sfall that came with my patch was pretty outdated, so unless they included a later version of your work, then there will be people having issues with the compatibility message that used to come up. I used to see several messages regarding this and updating fixed the problem.

 

[Josan12]

I for one find this pretty amazing. I am actually struggling to believe that a commercial retailer (Steam) are actually including fan-made work in their product and then profiting from it. Is it really true!??! If so, it doesn't actually suprise me that much. I would imagine such double-standards are typical in the corporate world. I suppose i view it with kind of predictable, annoyed amusement.....

 

[Continuum]

(Or they could just give me the fallout 2 source code, and let me do it properly instead of all this buggy exe hackery I'm doing now... It's nice to dream. )

Yeah, it should be done in this way. Look at Altar Games: they make source code for UFO: Aftershock and UFO: Afterlight available for one guy and he's doing a patches which are officially approved by developers and can be d/l from official website.

Including and selling fan made content even without asking. But what else you should expect from such pathetic company like Interplay is?

Let's consider such scenario: someone did some art and used third party assets (textures for example) which can be only used for non-commercial purposes. Now some fucking genius from Interplay/Steam/whatever is taking it, not asking about anything and selling it!


----------------------------EDIT

I only mind in that I was never approached.

Yeah, but others people work is included in your project. And maybe some of them don't want to participate in this sick show. And don't want to help in boosting sells of Steam (never bought anything from them and they're not going to), or Interplay.

 

[Nirran]

just played through with no crashes at all past klamath,i think the crash bug was on my end,game didnt like my math,i changed it and played,seems fine now,sorry for the miss-report

edit : just finnished the den and primitive tribe(MegaMod) den was the worst before,no crashes

 

[killap]

I only mind in that I was never approached.

Yeah, but others people work is included in your project. And maybe some of them don't want to participate in this sick show. And don't want to help in boosting sells of Steam (never bought anything from them and they're not going to), or Interplay.

I understand that and I am not saying I am completely fine with all of this. I suppose at least my readme files were included, so those who participated in the unofficial patch are at least credited in some way. At least they were kind enough for that.

 

[Lexx]

Or it was a accident and the readme file shouldn't be in it OR they have been too lazy to write something own.