The thread that started it all

[SteaVor]

The crusher shaking is basically finished now - there's only one error:

It's moving smoother than in III!

[Ben]

 

Well, that's not good enough! Make it authentic.

 

Nah, just kidding - sounds great . I'm about to email you the updated readme now (with Kon's no audio hardware solution included).

[SteaVor]

 

Well, that's not good enough!  Make it authentic.

It was pretty authentic not 2 hours ago, when I decided that alternating between two states (original position and to the left of the original position) didn't suffice (even though the animation looked alright in its choppiness).

Now there's five states - the crusher body moves half-left, left, half-left, original position, half-right, right, half-right, original position at the moment, with 5 ms between every transition. Looks great.

 

And I got the mail.

 

 

EDIT: Bah, just noticed that the dolphins are still around in LC's ocean.

 

EDIT2: FIXED, updated the animalkillingspree package - deleted lobster.TXD since it'll be gone in the next package anyway. Same Link.

Edited July 15, 2007 by SteaVor

[jp245]

(quitter sneaks in)

 

The "no audio hardware" error is misleading - it actually has nothing to do with audio hardware It comes from missing audio files. I saw it myself. Make sure they are installed properly (the procedure is somewhat touchy) and it should take care of things.

 

And the lobster is indeed only used as a #CUTOBJ in the VC mission "Treacherous swine". It's leftover junk - feel free to remove that crustacean.

 

(quitter sneaks out)

that didint heplp me at all sorry but its true

[SteaVor]

Did you follow the instructions in the HELP topic - did you double-check that all the audio files are inside the AUDIO folder of your LC installation?

 

 

 

BTW: Seems as if my prediction about the GML/LG CS bug being the last remaining one in the SCM coding segment might come true.

Let's take a closer look at the remaining SCM bugs:

 

- 14b, 17b, 18b don't have anything to do with the SCM - the solution for 3b is currently being implemented by MM

 

14b: hardcoded behavior or wrong model for the traffic lights?

17b: Engine limitation, cannot be fixed I think. You can remove this here since there's no way it could be fixed through SCM. It's already in the appropriate General Issues section anyway.

18b: That's interesting: Which files are separating the districts of LC in a way that the game recognizes a difference between them? We're treating all 3 islands as 1 huge area in the ZON files (thus no loading screens) and gta_vc.dat, so that's not it. A stripped SCM doesn't change the behavior either. Anybody there who knows which file tells the EXE what is what?

 

- the SCM isn't the culprit in the case of 13, 20, 35 either - their status depends on non-SCM issues that need to be fixed before they can be crossed off.

 

- I didn't experience 7 or 8b, could be crossed off for now.

 

- 23 is debug-mode only, and it might have been fixed completely (at least it seemed so when I tried it out recently)

 

The remaining bugs:

6 - Claude pauses slightly in mission Luigi's girls - no idea how to fix this - I'm running out of opcodes here!

11 - Sayonara Salvatore, really tough nut to crack

3-31 - GF suicide, exists in GTA3 as well, I might have a cheap solution for this

 

3-1 can be summarized as 'redundant mission bugs + animation/SFX issues'.

What about 'replace dodo with full wing' (A Drop In The Ocean)?

 

And that's it. I guess that stuff will keep you busy for a while, Ben.

 

And two questions:

Are all the VC weapon icons supposed to be yellow or should we use red to make it possible to distinguish between standard and bonus weapons?

 

Would it be safe to replace all the objects in the game (minus weapons, peds, vehicles) with their original GTA3 counterparts as soon as MM has released a stable ASI that supports the ability to switch culling on/off (sorry, don't know if the version distributed in test3 supports this already)? This would probably fix the 'transparent windows' issues. We need to do it anyway because the models that had to be edited don't look perfect with culling disabled.

Edited July 15, 2007 by SteaVor

[Ben]

Did you follow the instructions in the HELP topic - did you double-check that all the audio files are inside the AUDIO folder of your LC installation?

 

 

 

BTW: Seems as if my prediction about the GML/LG CS bug being the last remaining one in the SCM coding segment might come true.

Let's take a closer look at the remaining SCM bugs:

 

- 14b, 17b, 18b don't have anything to do with the SCM - the solution for 3b is currently being implemented by MM

 

14b: hardcoded behavior or wrong model for the traffic lights?

17b: Engine limitation, cannot be fixed I think. You can remove this here since there's no way it could be fixed through SCM. It's already in the appropriate General Issues section anyway.

18b: That's interesting: Which files are separating the districts of LC in a way that the game recognizes a difference between them? We're treating all 3 islands as 1 huge area in the ZON files (thus no loading screens) and gta_vc.dat, so that's not it. A stripped SCM doesn't change the behavior either. Anybody there who knows which file tells the EXE what is what?

 

- the SCM isn't the culprit in the case of 13, 20, 35 either - their status depends on non-SCM issues that need to be fixed before they can be crossed off.

 

- I didn't experience 7 or 8b, could be crossed off for now.

 

- 23 is debug-mode only, and it might have been fixed completely (at least it seemed so when I tried it out recently)

 

The remaining bugs:

6 - Claude pauses slightly in mission Luigi's girls - no idea how to fix this - I'm running out of opcodes here!

11 - Sayonara Salvatore, really tough nut to crack

3-31 - GF suicide, exists in GTA3 as well, I might have a cheap solution for this

 

3-1 can be summarized as 'redundant mission bugs + animation/SFX issues'.

What about 'replace dodo with full wing' (A Drop In The Ocean)?

 

And that's it. I guess that stuff will keep you busy for a while, Ben.

 

And two questions:

Are all the VC weapon icons supposed to be yellow or should we use red to make it possible to distinguish between standard and bonus weapons?

 

Would it be safe to replace all the objects in the game (minus weapons, peds, vehicles) with their original GTA3 counterparts as soon as MM has released a stable ASI that supports the ability to switch culling on/off (sorry, don't know if the version distributed in test3 supports this already)? This would probably fix the 'transparent windows' issues. We need to do it anyway because the models that had to be edited don't look perfect with culling disabled.

Ok, I've fixed all those up. I've also bolded the remaining bugs so that they're easy to see .

 

One question - is 20 an opcode emulation issue like 13 and 35? That's what I've listed it as for now, so let me know if I need to change it.

 

Is there anything on the table linked in 3-1 that can be marked as done?

 

As for the full-wing dodo - I don't know. I think that the full wing dodo was meant to be put in ADITO, but hadn't actually been put in. As to whether or not it's in now, I don't know .

 

With regards to the weapons icons, I made a decision that all VC icons should be made yellow because I felt that they fitted in better. space had converted most of them I think, but I don't know if he did them all.

 

I'm pretty sure that MM's latest ASI supports culling enabled/disabled, so theoretically you could replace all "environment" objects with the original GTA3 files. However, it's not that simple - GTA3 buildings had issues such as missing roofs, which means that the problematic files can't be copied over. And sorting through them all would be a pretty big task, which is why I think nothing has ever been done about it. I suggest you ask MM and wait to see what he says before doing it.

[jp245]

Did you follow the instructions in the HELP topic - did you double-check that all the audio files are inside the AUDIO folder of your LC installation?

 

 

 

BTW: Seems as if my prediction about the GML/LG CS bug being the last remaining one in the SCM coding segment might come true.

Let's take a closer look at the remaining SCM bugs:

 

- 14b, 17b, 18b don't have anything to do with the SCM - the solution for 3b is currently being implemented by MM

 

14b: hardcoded behavior or wrong model for the traffic lights?

17b: Engine limitation, cannot be fixed I think. You can remove this here since there's no way it could be fixed through SCM. It's already in the appropriate General Issues section anyway.

18b: That's interesting: Which files are separating the districts of LC in a way that the game recognizes a difference between them? We're treating all 3 islands as 1 huge area in the ZON files (thus no loading screens) and gta_vc.dat, so that's not it. A stripped SCM doesn't change the behavior either. Anybody there who knows which file tells the EXE what is what?

 

- the SCM isn't the culprit in the case of 13, 20, 35 either - their status depends on non-SCM issues that need to be fixed before they can be crossed off.

 

- I didn't experience 7 or 8b, could be crossed off for now.

 

- 23 is debug-mode only, and it might have been fixed completely (at least it seemed so when I tried it out recently)

 

The remaining bugs:

6 - Claude pauses slightly in mission Luigi's girls - no idea how to fix this - I'm running out of opcodes here!

11 - Sayonara Salvatore, really tough nut to crack

3-31 - GF suicide, exists in GTA3 as well, I might have a cheap solution for this

 

3-1 can be summarized as 'redundant mission bugs + animation/SFX issues'.

What about 'replace dodo with full wing' (A Drop In The Ocean)?

 

And that's it. I guess that stuff will keep you busy for a while, Ben.

 

And two questions:

Are all the VC weapon icons supposed to be yellow or should we use red to make it possible to distinguish between standard and bonus weapons?

 

Would it be safe to replace all the objects in the game (minus weapons, peds, vehicles) with their original GTA3 counterparts as soon as MM has released a stable ASI that supports the ability to switch culling on/off (sorry, don't know if the version distributed in test3 supports this already)? This would probably fix the 'transparent windows' issues. We need to do it anyway because the models that had to be edited don't look perfect with culling disabled.

i tried everything only my old version works now somehow i got the old one to work but not the new one...

[SteaVor]

3-20 can be easily fixed - we just need to adjust numbers denoting the particle type. The right ones can be taken from particle.cfg. See below...

 

3-1:

Craig should know more about this than me, I didn't edit any of those missions, although I'm confident that mission 39 and 41 are currently bug-free. I haven't played Plaster Blaster for ages, this mission really sucks IMO ('It was a decoy!' ).

 

There are some #DEADDODO references in the code as well, probably leftovers.

Edited July 16, 2007 by SteaVor

[Konstantinos]

 

What about 'replace dodo with full wing' (A Drop In The Ocean)?

 

There are some #DEADDODO references in the code as well, probably leftovers.

 

DEADDODO is the full wing "dummy" version with no collision that is used in ADITO, S.A.M. and also flies around the city with the "Zombie Elvis Found" sign. Also in Vice City.

 

DODO is the flyable version with clipped wings. GTA3 only.

 

I can't remember how it's done now in LC and I don't have the scm at hand, but these missions should definitely be using DEADDODO.

[SteaVor]

The DEADDODO model isn't used at all in the current SCM, it's just being requested and unloaded without being used to create a vehicle of this type (oh, and it's used in garage_accept_car opcodes for the IE garages - both of them).

Edited July 16, 2007 by SteaVor

[Konstantinos]

I found that lc scm after all (don't have lc installed though).

 

The way GTA3 handles the mission Dodos is by the 0358: create_drop_off_cessna (ADITO) and 033A: create_incoming_cessna (SAM) opcodes, that only require the model (DEADDODO) to be loaded, I think. But these aren't emulated in LC, so it uses the complicated CESNA_D and CESNA_I threads as substitutes. These use the DODO model right now, I think it's just an oversight that this wasn't changed to DEADDODO yet.

So yeah, (un)loading the DEADDODO for these missions in their current state is redundant.

Of course the ideal solution would be to get the cessna opcodes working... hello MM?

 

Why DEADDODO should be in the garage opcodes is beyond me. It doesn't make sense, it's of course DODO you are supposed to deliver

Edited July 16, 2007 by Konstantinos

[SteaVor]

And the garage opcode doesn't even work with model IDs (emulating the Securicar garage would have been SO much easier if it did), so it's completely unnecessary there (it isn't used there in GTA3 either, unlike the other instances that DEADDODO is currently correctly being used in).

 

Meanwhile I've fixed most of the particle bugs (this might include 3-20 if I can get it to work with one of the supported particle opcodes) after I've spent many hours* to research the differences between GTA3 and VC in regards to the particle IDs and created a basic number conversion table. It might very well be possible to recreate all of the particles correctly (dry ice in Chaperone etc).

Might only leave the chainsaw issue because the slot that the corresponding particle is taken from is obviously hardcoded. I can't check the blood issue here at the moment since my game is still censored even though it shouldn't... that means no blood and no chainsaw fun for me at the moment.

 

 

* I could have achieved this much faster if I hadn't played with the great visual effects that can be achieved with manipulating the parameters of the particle opcodes.

VC only has a greater number of particles to choose from than III, but the basic structure is the same. If you wanted to recreate GTA3 particle 10 in VC you would write 13, if you wanted to use 15, you'd write 18. Some more examples:

 

III value -> VC value

5 -> 7

10 -> 13

....

15 -> 18

18 -> 24

19 -> 25

65 -> 76

 

BUT: The entries in particle.cfg differ between III and LC, so they have to be converted to deliver the "true" GTA3 experience.

I've saved this table locally since it is necessary if need to revert them (when MM changes the internal table to fix the chainsaw issue).

 

@Konstantinos: The DEADDODO model has still the same wings as the DODO, I think (according to Zmodeler). And since the hardcoded opcodes for the cessna and the other plane have been substituted by working scripts it isn't necessary to load DEADDODO the way it is in III.

Edited July 16, 2007 by SteaVor

[Konstantinos]

 

And since the hardcoded opcodes for the cessna and the other plane have been substituted by working scripts it isn't necessary to load DEADDODO the way it is in III.

 

So yeah, (un)loading the DEADDODO for these missions in their current state is redundant.

That's what I said, innit?

 

 

The DEADDODO model has still the same wings as the DODO, I think (according to Zmodeler).

Nope. Not according to DFF viewer, anyway:

Also notice that the DEADDODO model includes wheels, while DODO is given them by default.ide. It's part of the fact that DEADDODO is type "plane", like AIRTRAIN - a type only used for non-flyable scenery planes. Flyabe planes are either "car" (DODO) or "boat" (SKIMMER). But I'm probably stating the obvious here.

Edited July 16, 2007 by Konstantinos

[SteaVor]

 

That's what I said, innit?

Yes, I merely wanted to substantiate it.

 

 

Nope. Not according to DFF viewer, anyway

Interesting. Zmodeler showed the differing propeller, but the wings overlapped perfectly in top view. You're of course right, don't know why it (apparently) showed the DEADDODO parts on the DODO.

Edited July 16, 2007 by SteaVor

[Konstantinos]

 

When I load up LC, the word Audio in the menu is purple, and at the bottom of screen it says "No audio hardware detected" - how do I fix this?

Having reinstalled LC recently, I realized why people are getting this error:

They forget to run AudioCleanup.bat in the Audio directory!

The missing audio file (called by launcher) is blank.mp3, which gets created by the .bat.

Problem solved

Edited July 16, 2007 by Konstantinos

[SteaVor]

That should still throw the '... file is missing' error in the launcher interface I think. And the readme states that the batch file should be run whether you install the GTA3 audio files or not. I think this step has to be added to the main installation instructions to make it perfectly clear that it should be run.

 

But yeah, that's most probably the solution.

[jp245]

When I load up LC, the word Audio in the menu is purple, and at the bottom of screen it says "No audio hardware detected" - how do I fix this?

Having reinstalled LC recently, I realized why people are getting this error:

They forget to run AudioCleanup.bat in the Audio directory!

The missing audio file (called by launcher) is blank.mp3, which gets created by the .bat.

Problem solved

thank you konstantinos yes i forgot to do that even tho i read to do it like a million times now my lc works good job guys

[Konstantinos]

I just realized that you can't use DEADDODO in 00A5: create_car. That's why it wasn't done yet - it's much more complicated, it would require making another regular vehicle like the flyable Dodo, but with full wings. Sorry.

[SteaVor]

I would implement it by making the DEADDODO a regular object that is controlled by a wanderer, but I know it isn't that easy (no pilot, unpredictable behavior if it's interrupted in any way...).

Edited July 16, 2007 by SteaVor

[jp245]

ok now i got a new error i installed this mod over my unmodded vice well i had one mod the vcs hud but that changes none of the files and i tried removing the files that make vcs hud work ingame and now when i try running lc it says unhandled expression then i readd them and it works... and also i get no guns when i type the cheat gunsgunsguns

Edited July 16, 2007 by jp245

[Konstantinos]

Here's something I omitted in the "VC features" discussion (sorry)... Since the idea to give all the VC special abilities as a 100% reward was accepted, it should include the fast reload. Could someone add that plz? If I can still make such requests, being a traitor and all

[SteaVor]

With your helpful post in HELP & QUESTIONS topic it's justifiable to grant you this request I guess.

That should have all rewards covered then.

Edited July 16, 2007 by SteaVor

[SteaVor]

That's because the GTA3 cheats aren't implemented in the ASI that is supplied with the package. It'll be included in the next stable version of IIItoVC.asi I suppose.

[jp245]

ok with the cheats but the hud problem is till have

[SteaVor]

Did you remove the DLL/ASI that controls the VCS hud? It won't be compatible with LC as it uitilizes its own HUD drawing procedures. It might be compatible if MM gets around to realize his 'module' idea.

[jp245]

yes i did remove them and when i do i get a unhandled something and when i put them back i can play then im all like ahfjklghorihjq

[Ben]

When I load up LC, the word Audio in the menu is purple, and at the bottom of screen it says "No audio hardware detected" - how do I fix this?

Having reinstalled LC recently, I realized why people are getting this error:

They forget to run AudioCleanup.bat in the Audio directory!

The missing audio file (called by launcher) is blank.mp3, which gets created by the .bat.

Problem solved

Thanks .

 

I'll fix that up now. Sorry to everyone that it wasn't clearer before.

[Ben]

Here's something I omitted in the "VC features" discussion (sorry)... Since the idea to give all the VC special abilities as a 100% reward was accepted, it should include the fast reload. Could someone add that plz? If I can still make such requests, being a traitor and all

Done .

 

And what SteaVor said.

[Ben]

Rightio, I've added the Fast Reload Ability to the first post - I've noted that we should include it after 100% (I think this would be most appropriate since GTA3 didn't have such an ability). Everything that's been done has also been crossed off.

 

In case people are wondering, I still haven't checked out the Marco's Bistro interior. I WILL get to it...

 

...eventually .

[Ben]

@SteaVor - I've marked 39 and 41 off for you.

 

As for 3-20 - I've left it as is for now. You seem to know what you're doing with it, so I'll leave you to it . I've also left the opcode emulation note as well - you mentioned it should be a relatively easy fix, provided you can get the opcodes working. As always, if you want anything changed, just let me know .

 

@Kon - You just can't stay away, can you? Don't take that the wrong way though - it's awesome that you're still hanging around, helping out, providing solutions and making suggestions/requests.