The thread that started it all

[Mark Pagliaro]

what where they thinking only 5 cars at one time! I noticed when driving with the latest paths because of this issue that a two way street seem rather unactive as all 5 cars are going the same direction. Still these paths are awsome! Thanks kipo/knux and any others that where combined.

[kipo]

yeah been testing with closer nodes for the last couple of days, and there wasnt any noticeable difference, traffic will never be as it was in gta3, something that always bothered me too since the original vice city, was that with 5+ stars (fbi), almost all traffic disappears.

Maybe someone can make a trainer-like program to increase the number of cars that spawn in your "bubble"?

[MarcelusWalus]

Hi, havent been here in a long time . Anyway... I can give you guys web hosting, plus mirror your mod as well, what ever you need. I should say as well its a fast server, depending on were you live of course, Im in Calgary, Canada, and i usualy get around 250 - 300 kb/sec d/l. I probably wont be around here much, but Outback can give me a shout, he knows how to get ahold of me.

 

Also on another note im working on a app that can change some data that needs to be changed... I'm about half done it already, and hopefully if everything goes as planned it "should" be done by the end of the weekend, but dont hold me to that since i have other major things that I need to get done. Once again Outback can get in touch with me.

 

Cheers,

Marcel

Edited February 22, 2004 by MarcelusWalus

[BigNekkidSnake]

I guess no one will see my question or know howe to fix it but anyway BUMP!

[Craig Kostelecky]

I thought I'd let everybody know that I've given up on trying to solve this black vehicle bug. I've tried everything I can think of and that Cruiser is still black.

 

(I did notice that it worked a lot better in my regular Vice City, so maybe there's something we've changed that's screwing it up.)

[ghost of delete key]

Have the "unnecessary" dummies been weeded out of all the vehicles?

VC does not use steering wheel, indicators, and one or two others that occur in III cars. While in general practice, these dummies' presence does not normally appear to interfere with the operation of VC, It may be possible that having these in a whole collection of cars could cause unforseen results; in a patient, a doctor would call it "non-specific symptoms"... symptoms which appear to bear no relation to the cause, but nonetheless do. As a general rule, I have always made sure that any model going into Vice has EXACTLY the same dummies with the same names as in the model being replaced. No more, no less; no chance of it being the .dff structure to cause funny business. Only after this point will I experiment with 'optional' or nonstandard dummies and objects.

[Blunted1]

If anyone would like to host a release, I guess I am a good person to contact.

We could use as many mirrors as people are offering for the next installer that I release.

 

Also, I would like to strongly suggest organizeing the radio stations for download, even if it has to be from a number of different hosts due to file size.

I am more than willing to organize all of this if everyone is cool with that.

 

 

If anyone has any objections feel free to let me know, otherwise when the next installer is ready i will begin contacting some/all of the people on this list to discuss hosting.

 

And if no one has any objections about the radio stations, I may begin organizing that even sooner.

The average radio ADF file is 30MB (give or take) so anyone willing to host one or more of the radio stations can post here or contact me via PM.

 

 

I know the radio stations are easy enough to make for anyone who has gta3, but you would be suprised how many people I have had to help get them running properly.

Edited February 22, 2004 by Demarest

[Blunted1]

Good god man, this thread is turning into a mess.

 

I have seen the same bug reported over and over and over and over and... well Im sure you get the point.

 

Someone with way too much time on their hands should really gut this thread.

Some of it is help that should be posted in the help section, the rest is just a mess.

I'd suggest collecting everyones pictures of bugs as well as descriptions, then delete every post in this thread (or start a new bug thread) and post every known bug in a thumbnail pic that can be enlarged, in the first post before anyone else posts there.

 

That way the SSV LOD pocking through will not be reported another thirty times

 

And then when a bug is fixed someone can make a red rubber stamp like pic that says [FIXED] and then edit the picture with that pic over top and the link to the fix underneath, so everyone knows that bug has been fixed and how to fix it.

 

 

Just an idea because this seems to be getting a little out of control.

[Blunted1]

Im not sure how many of you downloaded the installer I made, but if you did the first thing you may have noticed was a correctly colored Cartel Cruiser.

 

I beleive someone already said before me....

this is supposed to be a team project, instead of holding onto the cars until they work perfectly exactly the way you want them to.... why not release what you have now to the public?

 

You could just release what is working, but I would suggest releaseing the whole thing.

I will stick every car you have, includeing the black cartel cruiser, into my next installer and that way everyone can have a go at fixing the thing and maybe it will be fixed alot quicker that way.

 

 

If you really do not want to release them, maybe you will consider giveing the files you have to me and so that I can take a look at them?

 

Thank for considering

[Blunted1]

I would suggest trying my installer, but that is alot to download just to fix your weapons even if it could come in handy later.

 

If you like I will glady send you a weapons pack that may fix your problem, but you will have to meet me on MSN messenger sometime so we can discuss your problem before I make a patch specifically for you.

 

 

P.S. everyone should be carefull with skins right now. From what I have heard the Fido model is basically a beta. In any event, it is incorrect and has a number of slight imperfections.

I have made a number of custom models for myself and there are a few that I can load before starting a new game, and then there are a couple that will crash the game everytime that I select them BEFORE starting a new game, but not AFTER starting a game and then loading them through the pause menu

 

In other words... if skins cause you problems... dont use them

 

Hopefully the Fido model itself will be fixed and will be identical to the gta3 model and its texture grid so that the original gta3 skins can be used for GTALC. That way there will already be hundreds available online that do not need to be altered

[Blunted1]

I'm just wondering if anything is happening with the rest of the weapon HUD's

 

Particularily the Fist HUD, as that would make a very big difference as far as looks go.

The nightstick would also make things look better as you collect them from cops very easily.

If we are going to keep the other weapons in the game (even if they aren't used unless called upon by cheats) we should change those HUD's aswell.

 

Hopefully none of these are hard coded in anyway.

If anyone knows which TXD file the fist, night stick etc are contained in I will glady give it a shot myself.

[Blunted1]

@Demarest

 

It was mentioned before about spawning the bike and heli and possibly changeing that to a combo of two buttons, so that gamepad users arent left in the cold with no way to run besides spawning endless lines of helicopters and bikes behind them slowing their game down considerably....

 

Just wondering if that is anywhere close to finished? From what someone here says that is extremily simple and could be done in a matter of minutes by someone who knows what they are doing.

 

Also, until there are places to save and missions to accomplish... etc, I would love to see a collection of guns and other items at even just one of your hideouts.

Running around collecting everything gets tiresome and I dont want to have to run a trainer everytime I want to use guns or replace armor.

 

 

Anyways, those are the two features I would love to see for a next version of my installer so I thought I would ask you since they are aparently so easy to code. If you do not want to add this to an official release that is completily understandable, but maybe you would consider throwing it together for my use?

I would really appreciate it, if you don't mind and have the time, but I understand completily if you don't want to and I can find someone who is willing, so please just let me know either way, thanks

Edited February 22, 2004 by Blunted1

[Demarest]

As some of you may realize, this has been far from the easiest time in my life. In fact, it's a miracle that I'm still alive at all, and this is partially because of illspirit and others that you wouldn't know. While this is of no consequence to the lot of you and mayhaps to some, not a good reason; it is MY reason. With Blunted1 specifically, I'm still not entirely over being accused via PM of being somebody who's doing everything just for show. If I had any choice over this aspect of my life, it would not be the way it is and it truly hurt being accused of that when I've only been open to the community about it because it is only with their help that I've been able to carry on.

 

I will say that during this time of my life, I've tried very hard to go the extra mile to answer people's questions board-wide including coding, picture taking, and working on my walkthrough some. I use my time as productively as possible to both pass the time as well as remind myself that I do have reasons to continue on with my life instead of wallowing in the sorrow until my butterfly returns.

 

In the coming week, I do have tues and wed off of work as well as fri and sat. That's a lot of practically continuous off time. Combine that with Blunted1's recent release pack killing any excuse I could make about not having an updated LC pack, and I can all but guarantee that you will have an updated SCM within a week. My goals include redoing the parked cars to better reflect the official car conversion list, changing the spawning button, and seeing what part of the original code I can include. I understand what it is to want an updated, but I also understand that I've heard very little about any GXT or ped updates. I really didn't want to have to recode the game twice, but I guess I have no choice. Just know that on-screen text is going to be awkward at the very least.

 

But again, no guarantees. For whatever reason, the commitment seems to make me shy away from something more. I'll work on that.

[Demarest]

None of them are hard coded. fist.bmp is part of hud.txd and all of the others are actually a part of their weapon's TXD. While I would like to be able to have the game be without the night stick and such, I do agree that until we figure out how, we could benefit from having the HUD for them. In my next code release, I'll try to include an anti-weapon thread that will automatically drain the ammo of any weapon you pick up that was not in GTA3.

[Demarest]

I agree to release them.

 

@Blunted1: If your installer includes a correctly colored Cartel Cruiser, then you wouldn't need the black bugged one, would you? Forgive me if I misunderstood your post.

[Demarest]

I don't think any thread on its 2nd page could be considered out of control. Maybe I'm just calloused from our 53 page main thread.

 

At any rate, those are good suggestions. In my upcoming free time, I may just do that. Thanks for the suggestion.

[Demarest]

Let's keep all discussion public to help encourage the publicness of this mod while disouraging any potential dissension from private talk of public matters.

 

Once the official beta is released (which I believe is only cars and a SCM away from being a reality), all hosts available will be called upon. I do ask that mirroring not occur until the release itself is tested by several people to ensure lack of game freezing bugs. After that, mirror away as I would expect official releases to be further between at that point.

 

As for the radio stations, I have mixed feelings. I understand and can appreciate helping people to get it taken care of. At the same time, I don't want to do anything to get this mod into trouble with our heroes at R*. Since I don't KNOW FOR SURE what R*'s take is, I can't know for sure what my opinion would be. So do whatever you think is best, just know that if you decide to go ahead with it, it's something that might have to be removed without notice.

[Blunted1]

Let me clear up that I am not accuseing you of going through personal problems "for show". The comment I made was suggesting that maybe a video game forum is not the best place for your love life to unravel and for you to contemplate suicide. And I do believe that some of it is a bit over the top (my own personal opinion)...

 

but let me apologize for that, right here and now. It seems you are getting a lot of help and support from people here and if that gets you through the day then who am I to complain about it?

 

So I am truelly sorry for that comment Dem. I am sure you can apreciate it was not completily off base, but disagreeing with something that is helping you cope is not something I want to do.

I wish you all the luck in your personal life, despite the fact that I have nothing to do with that part of your life.

I know things are tough but you will come out the other end stronger and wiser no doubt.

 

I dont want any problems with you Dem, so if we could let the past rest in peace and go on with the future I think it would be benificial to everyone.

 

 

The main.scm changes that i requested would take you a few minutes to complete and the would not interfere with the GXT or the peds whatsoever.

If you could possibly update those two things and release that it would make a world of difference to me Dem.

If you would rather not then I will have someone else do the code for my release as I would like to have an updated installer ready in the next day or two includeing some changes that will make a large impact for some like the two mentioned.

 

I get the feeling you do not want to help me by makeing those two changes, so unless you say otherwise i will go now to find someone else to code for me.

 

I dont think you should waste your time doing anything twice becuase something else isnt being worked on.

If I get any spare time from everything else I am doing I will atleast look at the GXT as that seems like it should be fairly straight forward, and I will get a friend who is into textureing to look at the peds for me, although from what i have read that might have to wait for the new editor that someone is makeing.

 

 

[Blunted1]

Releaseing the is essential to keeping this public and keeping the public working to help you.

 

@Dem

No you didnt misunderstand, but the cruiser I have is very well a different model as I got it somewhere else.

I would be more than willing to look at theirs but I can't until it is released or atleast passed on to me.

 

Lets not walk on thin ice with each other anymore There is no way I am going to bite your head off for asking a simple respectfull question like that one, dont worry

[Blunted1]

The fact that they will host and that we need hosts I agree is public, but some may feel that the details or arrangements of hosting should be private or would atleast rather it that way themselves.

 

Just giveing them the option

If they do host their link will be public and that is what is important.

 

 

About the radio, I know... I am stuck in the same position.

I want to keep it the way it is so people will need the CD for the radio but that doesnt really take away and people will easily get around that if they have to.

 

Going ahead and just doing it is definitly a leap, and possibly in the wrong direction, but if has any problems they can contact us and I will personally hound each individual host myself until they remove the radio stations if that is needed.

 

I dont think it makes it any harder to use their game without a CD in anyway though. The problem is the CD crack that is needed to let you hear them.

Maybe if anyone is able to, they could remove whatever it is in the EXE that tells it to read the sound from the CD instead of the harddrive.

That way it will still check for the CD, but not read the audio so you can listen to GTA3 audio.

 

That would make happiest, maybe they would even be willing to provide the edited EXE if they are concerned about their product being released for free

Edited February 22, 2004 by Blunted1

[Blunted1]

 

I don't think any thread on its 2nd page could be considered out of control. Maybe I'm just calloused from our 53 page main thread.

 

At any rate, those are good suggestions. In my upcoming free time, I may just do that. Thanks for the suggestion.

Well not THAT out of control

 

I just mean that it is only on page 2 and no one can make any sense of it already, it is next to useless.

The first page was unorganized, now the second page isnt even unorganized... its basically a broken record of the SSV LOD poke out glitch.

 

Glad you like my suggestions But they will require some free time

 

You may also want to organize the pics by city for easy viewing

 

 

 

Until then if everyone can double and triple check every bug that has been reported thus far before posting a bug they found that will really help Demarest when he gets the time to organize everything.

 

 

Edited February 22, 2004 by Blunted1

[Blunted1]

Please reconsider.

 

I like the nightstick and I like cops beating you until you actually whip out a gun and shoot at them. That adds to the game in my opinion.

 

If not how easy will it be to mod it back to nightsticks?

It would probably be going too far from a port to suggest the mod that makes cops shoot at you and your wanted level to raise just for walking around with a gun.... I think its dumb to walk by a cop with a rocket launcher or uzi and have them walk right by you

 

This is getting to the point of enhanceing GTA3. I do agree with the exacct port idea, but why leave out things that actually do make it better? Especially when they are small changes like this?

 

The guns, if there are no pickups, then you cant pick them up

Leave the additional ones for people with the trainer to play with as extras.

They will not be available in regular game play anyways.

But if the gun is there why make it useless by draining it?

 

I will work on the HUD icons for the rest of the weapons if no one else currently is. The fist especially needs to be done.

Edited February 22, 2004 by Blunted1

[JamesSHF]

This is probably more welcome in the WEAPONS thread, so I'm posting it there too.

I'm all for removing the NightStick, simply for GTAIII authenticity.

 

If you edit the line in weapon.dat to

 

 

NightStick      MELEE       2.4   250  100  1000 8   -1.0 0.6   -1.0   -1.0	0.1  0.65	0.30	unarmed    	0  99 6  	0  99 12	99  -1  -1    102000  0

 

 

it uses the attributes from the "Unarmed" animation, and the cop hits you with his fists and not with the NightStick. It's a copy of the Unarmed stats, so the hit damage is the same as when you get hit.

No sign of the NightStick when you're being beaten up.

[JamesSHF]

code didn't work, and I fixed it in my next post

can a mod delete this post please?

Edited February 22, 2004 by JamesSHF

[Blunted1]

that works too....

 

I love it

That way those of us that want a nightstick can change that line with ease

 

Good job again James

 

[EDIT]

OK I'm done the Fist hud.txd

 

http://calzinger.net/misc/hud.txd

[EDIT]

Edited February 22, 2004 by Blunted1

[Blunted1]

Yes they are definitly the same size.

 

I'm just wondering if any of the sounds have been transefered from gta3 to VC by anyone or if there is a conversion table that would tell me which files I can replace with which.

 

The police radio may be difficult if it depends on where you are and the game relating that information but it seems it would be fairly simple to switch files such as what the pedestrians say and such.

 

[EDIT]

Also, if the cars are going to be released soon, it would be a good idea to get started on the sounds the cars make. Figureing out which sfx file is for which car is probably going to be quite the task, but a table for both gat3 and VC cars and their sound files will probably be required

 

If anyone knows which sound files go with which cars from gta3 or VC please feel free to start a table of what you know and others can add to that

[EDIT]

Edited February 22, 2004 by Blunted1

[Blunted1]

This thread is getting confusing too

 

No wonder not much is being contributed in this area, no one knows what to do

 

This is EXACTLY why the documentation that Demarest speaks of is VITAL to getting something as simple as the text finshed and done with so we can actually get Demarest working on the missions and other goodies....

without this he can't begin

 

If at all possible can we get a list going of what has been done, what is left to do, and what is most important for Dem to get the codeing started?

 

....and PLEASE, if you edit the GXT, use the readme and update what has been done

[spaceeinstein]

Does more traffic cause lag? The game already lags around the lots.

[Demarest]

But does he still drop it when you kill him? I guess it won't matter. In the next week, I'll try to release an updated SCM. I'm going to put the first force code in. It's going to be a code that keeps you stripped of all weapons that you're not supposed to have, like the night stick. I think we should also make it official then that all SMGs are GTA3's Uzi, etc. If we duplicate weapons, it will make it easier to control what weapons are avilable. The force code I mentione will just be a temporary fix on my part since I'm not doing the weapons myself yet.

[Demarest]

@Blunted1: Let's not do this again. You knew--as everybody does--that this project's mission is a direct port. Let's not start on the "how can we improve it" kick. I understand that some things are going to be different which is why we're doing this. But the weapons are already going to be awkward for the simple fact that VC has less weapon slots than GTA3. Let's not complicate it. As stated before, the cops in both game behave almost identically, regardless of their weaponry. If you have one star, they try to physically assault you. If you have 2 or more, they shoot at you. If you are at 1 and are on top of a car or other unreachable area, they shoot at you. Whether or not they have a night stick doesn't change this. As for the spotting somebody walking around with rocket launcher, that is way beyond the scope of this project. I'm surprised somebody would even mention it. I made an unofficial mods thread for such things. Thanks for the HUD upgrade. That'll be going into the release, correct?

 

As for the night stick, I already left my opinion in the weapons thread.