Broken Entities

Shadowvalor · Post by **Shadowvalor** » Sat May 25, 2002 5:28 am

Does anybody have fixed versions of the broken entities? The ones that don't open in the editor, can't be placed on NPCs, or in maps?

So far, I'd found that the Flame thrower ammo, and the 2mm EC Gauss ammo doesn't work, and I'm having a hard time makeing new versions without knowing their stats. I figure someone a little more profient than me woul dhave fixed these long ago?

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Sat May 25, 2002 6:48 am

What do you mean by "broken"? Are you sure that you have the entities and sprites unpacked from the bos files? They seem to work ok for me.

Shadowvalor · Post by **Shadowvalor** » Sat May 25, 2002 7:14 am

Broekn, exactly as I said. They can't be placed in the level editor or onto NPCs.

I don't have the sprites extracted, for lack of HD space. I have all the entities extracted, without overwriting the ones added from the patches.

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Sat May 25, 2002 7:22 am

Well I think not having the sprites extracted is part of the problem. The entities rely on the sprites to be visible on the map or in a character's inventory. Otherwise they will appear broken. You don't necessarily have to have them extracted but they have to be accessable by having the cd in the cd-rom drive.

Shadowvalor · Post by **Shadowvalor** » Sat May 25, 2002 7:31 am

I don't think the sprites are the problem. I can see them all, since I did a max install, and they're still present in the BOS files.

Only it fails to read some of the entities, such as the 2mm EC ammo, and Flamer Fuel.

The exact error message is "Failed Entity Read!"

Jimmyjay86 · Post by **Jimmyjay86** » Sat May 25, 2002 7:44 am

Where does that error pop up? Did it ever pop up in the normal campaign? It sounds like something else isn't working the way it should. Answer this checklist:

1. Patched 1.27?
2. What is your directory structure? (Program Files/Fallout Tactics/core/ - what subdirectories are here?)
3. Do you need to have a cd in the drive? - which cd?
4. Ever have any other errors?
5. Can you open up the 2mm EC sprite in Spray?
6. Can you open up the 2mm EC entity in BOSEE?

OnTheBounce · Post by **OnTheBounce** » Sat May 25, 2002 8:00 am

Jimmyjay86 wrote:1. Patched 1.27?

I know what Shadowvalor is talking about. He's getting a "Failed Entity Read" message when trying to open certain entities.

There was a problem w/the 2mm EC and Flamethrower ammo entities along with some others in the core campaign, and this was rectified when the game was patched. Unfortunately, when you extract the enties you'll end up overwriting the patched versions unless you tell WinZip not to do it.

Repatch the game. IIRC the patched versions are not compressed and should be readable by the Entity Editor. Personally, I got sick of this and simply created my own entities to replace them and they are in my custom directory.

The patched version of the 2mm EC is set to the "FMJ" ammo sub-type. If you want to simulate the effect of the ammo in FO2, set it so "Refined" and you will effectively have the 3/2 Dmg Mod, along w/a +40% Penetration Mod. Other than this, you can always fire up the RPGs and look at how many lbs. a "unit" of ammo weighs, divide it by the number of rounds and enter that value in the Weight field. As for the Barter Value, the unpatched versions have identical values, IIRC.

Cheers,

OTB

Shadowvalor · Post by **Shadowvalor** » Sat May 25, 2002 8:05 am

1. Yes, how else would I have the editors? I just reunpacked my entities, and then reapplied the patch in an attempt to fix this. It didn't work.
2. I don't want to list my entire directory structure, mainly because I forget how to write it to a text file. I have the following folders, however:
campaigns, editor, entities, gui, locale, missions, movie, music, sound, tables, tiles, user.
3. Full install, all data is read form my hard drive. Only time I need a CD is because of the copywrite protection. I can have any CD in the drive. I usually keep CD 1 in there.
4. I desync sometimes in multiplayer. I used to have the massive problem of not spawning whenever I used custom characters. That somehow corrected itself.
5. It's not the sprite. I can assign the sprite to other items and it works fine. Likewise, it's perfectly visable ingame.
6. The items work perfectly in game, only in the editor they do not work. No, the 2mm EC ammo entity does not open in BOSEE.

Red · Post by **Red** » Sat May 25, 2002 9:05 am

I dunno, but desynching and getting that entiry error is so common when you actually extract the entities over the ones that I just can't beleive it's something else...

Just apply the patch again, doesn't cost much

Plus people here confirm that the patched 2mm EM is fixed in the patch yet yours crashes...

Shadowvalor · Post by **Shadowvalor** » Sat May 25, 2002 9:30 am

I've already tried extacting them, then reapplying the patch.
It's not that I can't edit it that's the problem, it's that I can put it on my NPCs or in a map.

endocore · Post by **endocore** » Sat May 25, 2002 10:40 am

I too have experienced the exact problem you've described, Shadowvalor. There are really only two solutions to this problem that I can think of:

1) As suggested by OTB, don't waste any more time on it and just make your own .ent files to replace the ones that are giving you a problem. This is the best solution.

2) Swap files. For example, let's look at the troublesome ammo2mmEC.ent file. If you extract the original ammo2mmEC.ent file, dated 2/28/01, from your entities_0.bos archive, you should have no problem whatsoever using/manipulating this file any way you wish in the Entity and Level Editors (assigning it into inventories, modifying its values, etc.). Take the "fixed" file ammo2mmEC.ent dated 03/30/2001 that was installed by the patch and move it somewhere else. Assuming that you're not interested in actually modifying the ammo and only want to be able to assign it to the inventory of actors and other entities, use this original ammo2mmEC.ent when building your map and making your actors, and then when it comes time to play your map (if you want to take advantage of the "patched" EC ammo characteristics) rename this file to something like ammo2mmECoriginal.ent. Then take the "patched" replacement, ammo2mmEC.ent (originally dated 03/30/2001) and move it into your core\entities\items\Ammo directory. When you need to stop playing and edit stuff again, then just move the "patched" .ent somewhere else and rename the original back to ammo2mmEC.ent.

As you can no doubt see from the work involved in suggestion #2, OTB's original suggestion is probably the way you'll want to go to solve this problem.

Endocore