Sorry, here is a link. Just press ECM.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G3NkyK6rFe3XZmnHyraCfB1wsy099phN/view?usp=sharing
Sorry, here is a link. Just press ECM.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1G3NkyK6rFe3XZmnHyraCfB1wsy099phN/view?usp=sharing
Hello, all..
I'm "very late" in to all the D3D business, but in all the reading (and some YouTubes I've watched, incl Drew Wagar's) around FFE, and seeing the massively impressive differences D3D + AJ + nanite (+ Steve + Polaris' [etc et al] feedback) have made, after some initial struggles (a few years ago) with original FFE + DOSbox, I'm keen to have a better look, or "re-look", as the case may be..!
ONE QUERY, though, please, Andy J . . .
The scanner grid still ROTATES, and I (& others) don't see a real need or purpose for it... (Drew commented on it, in his stream..)
Would it be a simple enough thing for ME to "remove" that texture file, so it doesn't load (i.e. the program 'rotates' a "blank"/invisible scanner grid), and maybe modify the base dashboard view with a "fixed" scanner grid? O_O
(Further to this, must it have that 'bubble' over it? Slightly clouds the view, I feel? A 'clear' holographic would be preferred..?)
Or, if it's really that simple - as I've not delved into ANY files (or texture editing, ever) etc yet, myself! - is it something you could "simply" build into a future beta or update? Either permanently, or as an Option via your handy newer CFG program? =D
Thank you for ALL your continued(!!) work on FFED3D, keeping this project alive; and for considering my Q..!
I'm "very late" in to all the D3D business, but in all the reading (and some YouTubes I've watched, incl Drew Wagar's) around FFE, and seeing the massively impressive differences D3D + AJ + nanite (+ Steve + Polaris' [etc et al] feedback) have made, after some initial struggles (a few years ago) with original FFE + DOSbox, I'm keen to have a better look, or "re-look", as the case may be..!
ONE QUERY, though, please, Andy J . . .
The scanner grid still ROTATES, and I (& others) don't see a real need or purpose for it... (Drew commented on it, in his stream..)
Would it be a simple enough thing for ME to "remove" that texture file, so it doesn't load (i.e. the program 'rotates' a "blank"/invisible scanner grid), and maybe modify the base dashboard view with a "fixed" scanner grid? O_O
(Further to this, must it have that 'bubble' over it? Slightly clouds the view, I feel? A 'clear' holographic would be preferred..?)
Or, if it's really that simple - as I've not delved into ANY files (or texture editing, ever) etc yet, myself! - is it something you could "simply" build into a future beta or update? Either permanently, or as an Option via your handy newer CFG program? =D
Thank you for ALL your continued(!!) work on FFED3D, keeping this project alive; and for considering my Q..!
Hello and welcome @Acen ONYX !
Thank you for the kind words and for the feedback!
I'm not really sure why the scanner rotates either - possibly a case of "because it can" when FD decided to make a graphically enhanced Frontier!
It would be simple to add an option to make it fixed in a future build via an option, but it's easy enough to make it fixed yourself in the meantime: take a look in the FFED3D\Textures folder and you'll see tex254.png thru to text261.png which are the images for the scanner base.
If you copy text254.png elsewhere 7 times and then rename these to tex255.png, tex256.png ... thru to tex261.png, you can then copy them back the textures folder and overwrite the rotating versions. That'll give you a scanner that has a vertical bar pointing forward, but if you'd prefer a V pointing forward more like Elite: Dangerous has, then replace 254-261 with copies of tex258.png instead.
To get rid of the glass 'dome' over the scanner, if you look inside the FFED3D\Models folder, simply rename/remove sphere.x and it'll be gone!
You might also experiment with the config settings for panel lighting/star colour and specular values if you want to reduce or remove the directional lighting on the cockpit panel too.
If you have any more questions/problems then shout out and I'm sure if I don't get back to you that some one else will!
Right on, Commander! o7
Thank you for the kind words and for the feedback!
I'm not really sure why the scanner rotates either - possibly a case of "because it can" when FD decided to make a graphically enhanced Frontier!
It would be simple to add an option to make it fixed in a future build via an option, but it's easy enough to make it fixed yourself in the meantime: take a look in the FFED3D\Textures folder and you'll see tex254.png thru to text261.png which are the images for the scanner base.
If you copy text254.png elsewhere 7 times and then rename these to tex255.png, tex256.png ... thru to tex261.png, you can then copy them back the textures folder and overwrite the rotating versions. That'll give you a scanner that has a vertical bar pointing forward, but if you'd prefer a V pointing forward more like Elite: Dangerous has, then replace 254-261 with copies of tex258.png instead.
To get rid of the glass 'dome' over the scanner, if you look inside the FFED3D\Models folder, simply rename/remove sphere.x and it'll be gone!
You might also experiment with the config settings for panel lighting/star colour and specular values if you want to reduce or remove the directional lighting on the cockpit panel too.
If you have any more questions/problems then shout out and I'm sure if I don't get back to you that some one else will!
Right on, Commander! o7
Hello and welcome @Acen ONYX !
Thank you for the kind words and for the feedback!
I'm not really sure why the scanner rotates either - possibly a case of "because it can" when FD decided to make a graphically enhanced Frontier!
... it's easy enough to make it fixed yourself in the meantime: take a look in the FFED3D\Textures folder and you'll see tex254.png thru to text261.png which are the images for the scanner base.
If you copy text254.png elsewhere 7 times and then rename these to tex255.png, tex256.png ... thru to tex261.png, you can then copy them back the textures folder and overwrite the rotating versions. That'll give you a scanner that has a vertical bar pointing forward,
but if you'd prefer a V pointing forward more like Elite: Dangerous has, then replace 254-261 with copies of tex258.png instead.
To get rid of the glass 'dome' over the scanner, if you look inside the FFED3D\Models folder, simply rename/remove sphere.x and it'll be gone!
All brilliant, thanks so much Andy!
Much appreciated..!!
Be safe out there in the various blacks, Commander.. O7
One other thing I did want to ask, Andy ..
Back at the elite-games.ru 's site's "most recent" (April 2017!) post by you, a recap re FFED3D/AJ :
FFE D3D: AndyJ version (22.10.2014) | страница 12 (Elite Games)
www.elite-games.ru
The Optional Extra Skins (v1.01_ExampleSkins.zip file) link doesn't work. O_O
Are they important (despite being 'optional')?
I mean, are they different enough from eg nanite's stuff?
Again, I've not yet unpacked / installed / modded the lot, yet, as I've been "gathering resources" (and site links for support info)...
Looking in particular at the SAKER-III, I actually like the look of the below (took me AGES to find this particular image)
. . .
.. rather than, say ..
. . .
If that first one is in the "Example Skins" file, I think I'd really eally like to get my hands on them.
Thanks again!
- Acen
One other thing I did want to ask, Andy ..
Back at the elite-games.ru 's site's "most recent" (April 2017!) post by you, a recap re FFED3D/AJ :
... and at other similar posts I ended up trying ..FFE D3D: AndyJ version (22.10.2014) | страница 12 (Elite Games)
The Optional Extra Skins (v1.01_ExampleSkins.zip file) link doesn't work. O_O
Are they important (despite being 'optional')?
I mean, are they different enough from eg nanite's stuff?
Again, I've not yet unpacked / installed / modded the lot, yet, as I've been "gathering resources" (and site links for support info)...
Thanks for highlighting the issue with the lost Example Skins pack, I really must update the thread over at Elite-Games.ru!
To be honest, that particular collection is mostly redundant since the latest v1.17 beta3 build.
It dates right back to the very beginning of my builds and included a collection of skins for the Skeet and Viper MKII so that there would be a variety of different colours.
The latest beta updates these ships to use just a single grey-scale skin and shader which generates the various colours instead - and uses much less memory!
The only thing you are missing from it that you may like are an expanded set of skins for Steve T's awesome Viper model.
I've zipped them up separately and if you want them, you can grab them from here. (Extract into the root FFED3D folder)
If you haven't installed anything yet then I'll just recap how to set it up-
Install the main FFED3D pack that you downloaded first (Ittiz's at SpaceSimCentral is the most complete)
Then add FFED3DAJ_v1.11.zip & FFED3DAJ_v1.11_CoreFiles.zip over the top. (+the Viper skins if you wish)
Now add nanite2000's textures if you wish to use them (the planet surfaces are a must-have to be honest)
And finally... add the latest beta build over all of this. (as it will update nanite2000's texture cfg files with a couple of extra values)
You'll want to either edit the ffed3daj.cfg file at this point or use ffed3daj_config.exe to point it at nanite2000's terrain textures and perhaps choose whether to start full-screen or windowed etc.
Looking in particular at the SAKER-III, I actually like the look of the below (took me AGES to find this particular image)
View attachment 216733
. . .
.. rather than, say ..
. . .
View attachment 216734 .. or .. View attachment 216735
If that first one is in the "Example Skins" file, I think I'd really eally like to get my hands on them.
Thanks again!
- Acen
Bad news I'm afraid - this was just a render from a long lost site, well before the days of FFED3D and I think that the model was never released.
If you are curious - you can find the site via the Wayback Machine here: http://web.archive.org/web/20030724234129/http://devil.beyond.net.au/
Thanks for all that Andy, that's great!
I had a problem at SpaceSimCentral (SSC) the other day when I'd first joined; I left a message for @darkone, and I found his reply - and the downloads section - fixed when I went in today, so in fact I WAS able to grab a copy of the ExampleSkins, and I've even had a look.
So I know what you mean about the Viper skins! The SKEET is an almighty hideous ship.. and whatever the frak is with the pumping carousel .. thing .. ?!? >_<
I DO note, though, that in the ExampleSkins file, there were a few folders with an .ini file but NO skin graphics (texture/art) files..?
I might figure out why, once I get to installing stuff -- which I aim to do later this evening (UK time) -- but felt it worth mentioning while I'm here..
This is SO perfect - thank you.
Having read your various posts on your AJ version (here/Frontier, elite-games.ru, SSC . . and .. FrontierAstro..? anyway..)
.. I had been under the impression (wrongly, but now corrected!) that it was meant to be:
(('space-saving' spoiler box))
But you're saying that your 1.17 beta3 patch goes AFTER Nanite's . . so I'm REALLY grateful you'd thought to set out a fresh ordering..!! LOL
BTW . . . I DID also download JJFFE 28b (520kb) . . . would that confuse things? That's JJ's but not yours (AJ's); right?
Or is there something in JJ's 28b that I "need" to apply to FFE / D3D before your AJ files? O_O
Thanks! ^_^
Perhaps, after I get everything in and working, I might get inspired to teach myself TEXTURING... Recommend any FREE apps for that?
Thanks again!!
Thanks for highlighting the issue with the lost Example Skins pack, I really must update the thread over at Elite-Games.ru!
To be honest, that particular collection is mostly redundant since the latest v1.17 beta3 build.
It dates right back to the very beginning of my builds and included a collection of skins for the Skeet and Viper MKII so that there would be a variety of different colours.
The latest beta updates these ships to use just a single grey-scale skin and shader which generates the various colours instead - and uses much less memory!
The only thing you are missing from it that you may like are an expanded set of skins for Steve T's awesome Viper model.
I've zipped them up separately and if you want them, you can grab them from here. (Extract into the root FFED3D folder)
I had a problem at SpaceSimCentral (SSC) the other day when I'd first joined; I left a message for @darkone, and I found his reply - and the downloads section - fixed when I went in today, so in fact I WAS able to grab a copy of the ExampleSkins, and I've even had a look.
So I know what you mean about the Viper skins! The SKEET is an almighty hideous ship.. and whatever the frak is with the pumping carousel .. thing .. ?!? >_<
I DO note, though, that in the ExampleSkins file, there were a few folders with an .ini file but NO skin graphics (texture/art) files..?
I might figure out why, once I get to installing stuff -- which I aim to do later this evening (UK time) -- but felt it worth mentioning while I'm here..
This is SO perfect - thank you.
Having read your various posts on your AJ version (here/Frontier, elite-games.ru, SSC . . and .. FrontierAstro..? anyway..)
.. I had been under the impression (wrongly, but now corrected!) that it was meant to be:
(('space-saving' spoiler box))
Starting with the base FFE original
- FFE original PATCH 1.06
- D3D -- I have b1.12 - 24 May 2011?, all 219MB of it!! -- (I'm skipping Ittiz cuz I don't want those awful livemotions)
- D3D "update" v1.1 (774KB --> 2.3MB .exe) -- by your most reliable/prolific(?!) play-tester, Steve @ FrontierAstro -- his .TXT attached
- AJ Core 1.11 "150" (72MB), then the smaller AJ 1.11 "173" (3Mb)
- then the beta 1.17b3 (20+MB) . . . before add-ons like Nanite's etc
BTW . . . I DID also download JJFFE 28b (520kb) . . . would that confuse things? That's JJ's but not yours (AJ's); right?
Or is there something in JJ's 28b that I "need" to apply to FFE / D3D before your AJ files? O_O
Thanks! ^_^
Oh well; win some, lose some...
Perhaps, after I get everything in and working, I might get inspired to teach myself TEXTURING... Recommend any FREE apps for that?
Thanks again!!
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For some reason, my keyboard media keys have stopped responding whilst I'm in the game. I first noticed it after upgrading to v1.17 beta 3 but previous versions don't work either now. The media keys still work inside every other game I've tried so I'm just wondering what could have happened?
Hey everyone!
Hope all is good and sorry for the extended radio-silence lately - real life got a bit busy with a new job, and it has taken a while to get settled in enough that there was enough left over in the brain tank for my favourite project to get some attention again
So, I have a fairly modest patch for you all - v1.17b4...
First of all, the ecm/planet clipping bug that @polaris reported has been fixed. This was a slightly odd one, the depth sorting I added is primarily based on a 'distance from camera' value - which until now I'd thought was always positive, and I'd looked at the value once everything had been drawn. It appears that it is a value that FFE can flip to a negative on the ecm/energy-bomb when drawing around the player ship - so this meant that, treating it as an unsigned value and not a signed value at draw time - it flipped from being the closest object to the furthest away... so got drawn behind everything else.
Secondly, i've been enjoying reading the adventures of @Arioch over in the retro FFE thread: Frontier: First Encounters - or: how I learned to stop worrying and shove the Mouse. One of the issues raised there was that when a ship is destroyed, the 'target lost' message can push the 'Right on, Commander!" message out of view, so they aren't seen - so I've added a patch for that too. There shouldn't be any issues - but just in case, and as usual, the change can be switched off again if need be.
One comment I smiled at was the journey out for a certain meeting, then an impossible journey home... I always felt that was a bug and perhaps I'm not alone. It's on the bucket-list to patch out anyway!
And lastly, I took onboard @Acen ONYX 's feedback about the rotating scanner and added an option to turn this "feature" off should you choose to do so.
@Steve asked about the media keys not working. I hadn't noticed, but actually the same was happening on my own PC, perhaps since upgrading to Windows 10.
When I ran a debug build, the game didn't even get to see that the keys were being pressed...
For my own set-up - it appears that Microsoft IntelliType has been installed again as part of the keyboard drivers, to provide extended key functionality. Maybe I'd turned this off in the past, or the behaviour has changed - I'm not sure. Anyway, this was 'eating' the keypresses of the media keys and preventing the game from seeing them. The 'easy' fix is to turn this service off, but then of course you lose the extended keys elsewhere.... so, I took a look at what options there were, and IntelliType at least provides the option to set profiles for individual applications - and one option on a keypress is to run an executable. So I've included a little 'work-around' - an executable that'll broadcast a specified keypress to the application, and this then restores the play/stop + next/previous keys. It's called SendAppCommand and can be found in the +Utilities folder. See SendAppCommand.txt in that folder for more information!
The latest chat in @Arioch 's FFE thread has been about screen size and distortion... Widescreen modes warping planets and graphics so that they are no longer proportional compared to the original screen resolution. This seems like a good thing to look at next, and a quick experiment allows the visible field-of-view to display a wider view for wider screens instead of stretching things...
But - before I get too distracted by the next shiny bauble of a new "feature"... here's a patch to tide you all over...
FFED3DAJ v1.17beta4
Enjoy + stay safe commanders!
o7
AndyJ
Hope all is good and sorry for the extended radio-silence lately - real life got a bit busy with a new job, and it has taken a while to get settled in enough that there was enough left over in the brain tank for my favourite project to get some attention again
So, I have a fairly modest patch for you all - v1.17b4...
First of all, the ecm/planet clipping bug that @polaris reported has been fixed. This was a slightly odd one, the depth sorting I added is primarily based on a 'distance from camera' value - which until now I'd thought was always positive, and I'd looked at the value once everything had been drawn. It appears that it is a value that FFE can flip to a negative on the ecm/energy-bomb when drawing around the player ship - so this meant that, treating it as an unsigned value and not a signed value at draw time - it flipped from being the closest object to the furthest away... so got drawn behind everything else.
Secondly, i've been enjoying reading the adventures of @Arioch over in the retro FFE thread: Frontier: First Encounters - or: how I learned to stop worrying and shove the Mouse. One of the issues raised there was that when a ship is destroyed, the 'target lost' message can push the 'Right on, Commander!" message out of view, so they aren't seen - so I've added a patch for that too. There shouldn't be any issues - but just in case, and as usual, the change can be switched off again if need be.
One comment I smiled at was the journey out for a certain meeting, then an impossible journey home... I always felt that was a bug and perhaps I'm not alone. It's on the bucket-list to patch out anyway!
And lastly, I took onboard @Acen ONYX 's feedback about the rotating scanner and added an option to turn this "feature" off should you choose to do so.
@Steve asked about the media keys not working. I hadn't noticed, but actually the same was happening on my own PC, perhaps since upgrading to Windows 10.
When I ran a debug build, the game didn't even get to see that the keys were being pressed...
For my own set-up - it appears that Microsoft IntelliType has been installed again as part of the keyboard drivers, to provide extended key functionality. Maybe I'd turned this off in the past, or the behaviour has changed - I'm not sure. Anyway, this was 'eating' the keypresses of the media keys and preventing the game from seeing them. The 'easy' fix is to turn this service off, but then of course you lose the extended keys elsewhere.... so, I took a look at what options there were, and IntelliType at least provides the option to set profiles for individual applications - and one option on a keypress is to run an executable. So I've included a little 'work-around' - an executable that'll broadcast a specified keypress to the application, and this then restores the play/stop + next/previous keys. It's called SendAppCommand and can be found in the +Utilities folder. See SendAppCommand.txt in that folder for more information!
The latest chat in @Arioch 's FFE thread has been about screen size and distortion... Widescreen modes warping planets and graphics so that they are no longer proportional compared to the original screen resolution. This seems like a good thing to look at next, and a quick experiment allows the visible field-of-view to display a wider view for wider screens instead of stretching things...
But - before I get too distracted by the next shiny bauble of a new "feature"... here's a patch to tide you all over...
FFED3DAJ v1.17beta4
Enjoy + stay safe commanders!
o7
AndyJ
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Hi Andy, hope you're well and enjoying the new job! Somehow I didn't notice until today that you'd posted recently, so now I've installed v1.17beta4 and it all seems to work just great.
Unfortunately, I think I've misled you regarding the media keys issue; you mention the game not seeing that the keys were pressed but it's not the game I want to react, it's the music player running separately eg. Windows Media Player or Amazon Music at the same time as FFED3DAJ. Those programs don't react to the media keys when I'm in-game; I have to Alt-TAB out.
I haven't the foggiest idea what IntelliType is
other than I don't think my computer is running it (no IType.exe in the Task Manager>Startup tab) but my point is that I can be playing any other game such as Elite Dangerous or even something within Steam and when I press FN-F7 on my keyboard (pause/play) the music program I've got running in the background will pause the music - whether it's WMP or Amazon Music - and then I can pause the game and go and see who the hell has rung the doorbell 
So far the only program I've found where this doesn't work is FFED3DAJ.
It's not the end of the world, of course, but it worked so well before. I've tried old versions of FFED3DAJ and the problem persists - though they definitely worked before - so I guess something has changed in W10 and FFED3DAJ doesn't like it...
Anyway, great to hear from you again and looking forward to future patches!
Unfortunately, I think I've misled you regarding the media keys issue; you mention the game not seeing that the keys were pressed but it's not the game I want to react, it's the music player running separately eg. Windows Media Player or Amazon Music at the same time as FFED3DAJ. Those programs don't react to the media keys when I'm in-game; I have to Alt-TAB out.
I haven't the foggiest idea what IntelliType is
other than I don't think my computer is running it (no IType.exe in the Task Manager>Startup tab) but my point is that I can be playing any other game such as Elite Dangerous or even something within Steam and when I press FN-F7 on my keyboard (pause/play) the music program I've got running in the background will pause the music - whether it's WMP or Amazon Music - and then I can pause the game and go and see who the hell has rung the doorbell So far the only program I've found where this doesn't work is FFED3DAJ.It's not the end of the world, of course, but it worked so well before. I've tried old versions of FFED3DAJ and the problem persists - though they definitely worked before - so I guess something has changed in W10 and FFED3DAJ doesn't like it...
Anyway, great to hear from you again and looking forward to future patches!
Hi Andy,Thanks for highlighting the issue with the lost Example Skins pack, I really must update the thread over at Elite-Games.ru!
To be honest, that particular collection is mostly redundant since the latest v1.17 beta3 build.
It dates right back to the very beginning of my builds and included a collection of skins for the Skeet and Viper MKII so that there would be a variety of different colours.
The latest beta updates these ships to use just a single grey-scale skin and shader which generates the various colours instead - and uses much less memory!
The only thing you are missing from it that you may like are an expanded set of skins for Steve T's awesome Viper model.
I've zipped them up separately and if you want them, you can grab them from here. (Extract into the root FFED3D folder)
If you haven't installed anything yet then I'll just recap how to set it up-
Install the main FFED3D pack that you downloaded first (Ittiz's at SpaceSimCentral is the most complete)
Then add FFED3DAJ_v1.11.zip & FFED3DAJ_v1.11_CoreFiles.zip over the top. (+the Viper skins if you wish)
Now add nanite2000's textures if you wish to use them (the planet surfaces are a must-have to be honest)
And finally... add the latest beta build over all of this. (as it will update nanite2000's texture cfg files with a couple of extra values)
You'll want to either edit the ffed3daj.cfg file at this point or use ffed3daj_config.exe to point it at nanite2000's terrain textures and perhaps choose whether to start full-screen or windowed etc.
Bad news I'm afraid - this was just a render from a long lost site, well before the days of FFED3D and I think that the model was never released.
If you are curious - you can find the site via the Wayback Machine here: http://web.archive.org/web/20030724234129/http://devil.beyond.net.au/
I keep on forgetting to ask this. Is it OK to give a shout out over Lave Radio every time time good old FFED3DAJ gets an update?
I know we've got a lot of listeners who still play it occasionally.
Cheers
Colin
Sure - of course you can!
o7
Ah, I see! Yes, I'd thought that you meant that the in-game keys weren't controlling the music - and coincidentally they weren't working for me either.
There'll be an option in the next patch to turn off the media key support if it's not wanted - and these key-presses will pass through then to whatever else is running.
Just need to make a few final tweaks to how a couple of the graphics are being drawn for another change I've made - one that'll improve the 3D view on wide-screen displays...
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Happy New Year to all!
The new 2022 starts good for me, as I just was able to use the joystick with the help of the directions given by AndyJ for making a clean install and the great FFED3DAJ_Config.exe program that he made. So Yeay!
And thanks too, to Steve from FrontierAstro. (it sees the joystick now!)
Since I am still in the process of figuring out how everything works, I was wondering if there are some who also happen to use a Thustmaster HOTAS-X who can share their settings?
Pitch and Yaw seem to work but can it do roll too?
Also, the POV Hat 1 Mappings seem to do nothing.
TAI for any replies.
Edit:
I found this post from years ago:
It explains some things, but a copy of someone's good-working setup would still be very much appreciated!
The new 2022 starts good for me, as I just was able to use the joystick with the help of the directions given by AndyJ for making a clean install and the great FFED3DAJ_Config.exe program that he made. So Yeay!
And thanks too, to Steve from FrontierAstro. (it sees the joystick now!)
Since I am still in the process of figuring out how everything works, I was wondering if there are some who also happen to use a Thustmaster HOTAS-X who can share their settings?
Pitch and Yaw seem to work but can it do roll too?
Also, the POV Hat 1 Mappings seem to do nothing.
TAI for any replies.
Edit:
I found this post from years ago:
Last edited:
Hi guys,
Perhaps some of you remember me from a few years ago, though under a different account (just Quackymol). Reading back, the shame hits hard. I am no longer the computer idiot I seemed to be back then! (Got to start somewhere I guess)
Moving on, my interest in the project is still high, after my memory was jogged seeing this forum in my bookmarks from years ago.
I now have a mostly working install of FFED3DAJ, with all four of the nanite2000 packs listed in the first post installed, as well as an extra tweak from the SpaceSimCentral FTP thing (music replacement).
I can't recall much from my prior experience of FFE, however from my time with DOSBox, I do not think that the planet surface should be black, excluding structures such as surface installations. (see first image)
Of course this is a texture issue, but I reverted the old Textures folder to the original and changed the FFED3DAJ.cfg option for custom textures back to 0, and the issue persists. Is this an issue that carried over with the base install (which is the FFED3D-beta3-Ittiz.7z from SSC), or have I mucked up the whole install somehow?
Also, the issue is only apparent when close to the surface. From higher up, you can see the surface (I assume different textures are used when far away). (see second/third images)
Any advice on this would be appreciated.
Many thanks,
The (much wiser) Real Quackymol
P.S.
While I am here, the little movies that play in the top left when at a station have a tendency to freeze and play no audio. Is this normal as well? (Heh, to be fair, I didn't even know these were a feature of the game. I'd never seen them in FFE before today. They were probably missing from my game directory for DOSBox for some reason)
Perhaps some of you remember me from a few years ago, though under a different account (just Quackymol). Reading back, the shame hits hard. I am no longer the computer idiot I seemed to be back then! (Got to start somewhere I guess)
Moving on, my interest in the project is still high, after my memory was jogged seeing this forum in my bookmarks from years ago.
I now have a mostly working install of FFED3DAJ, with all four of the nanite2000 packs listed in the first post installed, as well as an extra tweak from the SpaceSimCentral FTP thing (music replacement).
I can't recall much from my prior experience of FFE, however from my time with DOSBox, I do not think that the planet surface should be black, excluding structures such as surface installations. (see first image)
Of course this is a texture issue, but I reverted the old Textures folder to the original and changed the FFED3DAJ.cfg option for custom textures back to 0, and the issue persists. Is this an issue that carried over with the base install (which is the FFED3D-beta3-Ittiz.7z from SSC), or have I mucked up the whole install somehow?
Also, the issue is only apparent when close to the surface. From higher up, you can see the surface (I assume different textures are used when far away). (see second/third images)
Any advice on this would be appreciated.
Many thanks,
The (much wiser) Real Quackymol
P.S.
While I am here, the little movies that play in the top left when at a station have a tendency to freeze and play no audio. Is this normal as well? (Heh, to be fair, I didn't even know these were a feature of the game. I'd never seen them in FFE before today. They were probably missing from my game directory for DOSBox for some reason)
Maybe someone here will be able to help:
I use a Windows 7 VM and it has this executable 'FFED3D.EXE'. My old laptop was Intel and FFE (OpenGL) worked flawlessly without issues. The old laptop was destroyed by a lightning strike and no longer exists. Though the VM data was on an external drive the game refuses to run on the new laptop (AMD). The Windows 7 VM is intact and works fine. The new laptop has an AMD processor, but now the FFE (OpenGL) game refuses to run.
The game starts to run and I see these messages
Loading models...
Loading effects...
Then it says 'ffed3d.exe has stopped working' and the game crashes.
Are there known issues with AMD CPUs for this version of FFE?
(As a side note, I can still play FFE via DosBox with the standard game graphics)
I use a Windows 7 VM and it has this executable 'FFED3D.EXE'. My old laptop was Intel and FFE (OpenGL) worked flawlessly without issues. The old laptop was destroyed by a lightning strike and no longer exists. Though the VM data was on an external drive the game refuses to run on the new laptop (AMD). The Windows 7 VM is intact and works fine. The new laptop has an AMD processor, but now the FFE (OpenGL) game refuses to run.
The game starts to run and I see these messages
Loading models...
Loading effects...
Then it says 'ffed3d.exe has stopped working' and the game crashes.
Are there known issues with AMD CPUs for this version of FFE?
(As a side note, I can still play FFE via DosBox with the standard game graphics)
I have heard from several sources from my time on a virtualisation IRC channel that AMD CPUs tend to be less suited to running VMs, however I can't see why programs wouldn't work altogether, especially as you say it was running fine on the previous laptop.
Was the VM drive attached to the laptop before the wrath of the heavens descended upon it? It's not impossible that something was corrupted if so.
Have you tried completely uninstalling then reinstalling FFED3D on the VM?
If you can, create a temporary second VM, identical to your other one, except for all the other programs you probably have - just the OS and FFED3D installed. If FFED3D works on the test VM, and the main VM still doesn't run FFED3D after reinstalling it, perhaps a more crucial part of the VM is corrupted. (Though if you say it works fine other than the FFED3D issue, this seems unlikely).
If it is of any help, I am running FFED3DAJ on a physical hardware PC with an AMD Ryzen 5 2600 and it is working fine, asides from the minor issue I mentioned here a few days ago, though as far as I know, my PC has not been the target of a divine assassination attempt so perhaps it is not a fair comparison
By all means post your results, or further questions. I or someone else will probably be here to help.
Best of luck,
The Real Quackymol
Thanks for your reply, the version of FFED3D which I am using is old as it was working ok for a long time and this VM is only used for FFE. I can try the above and hopefully get the OpenGL version running again. I am using a VM because my laptop is Linux and when I tried Wine it failed badly (the VM option is easier). Is there anyone here who has tried FFED3D (any version) with Linux?
BTW: FrontierGL works beautifully (via a Windows XP VM).
BTW: FrontierGL works beautifully (via a Windows XP VM).
Solved my issue with FFED3D, the issue was not what I expected and really threw me
For reasons I do not understand FFED3D is incompatible with VirtualBox 7.0+ (Virtualisation software). By downgrading to VirtualBox 6.1 (Linux is the host) it fixed the issue. As my earlier post said I had been using FFED3D for some time with an older computer until the hardware failed. The new computer had the latest available Linux version and when I installed VirtualBox it by default used the newer 7.0+ version
I don't know if the VirtualBox software is at fault or if this is a bug in FFED3D
glFrontier is happy with VirtualBox 6.x and VirtualBox 7.x versions and plays flawlessly
For reasons I do not understand FFED3D is incompatible with VirtualBox 7.0+ (Virtualisation software). By downgrading to VirtualBox 6.1 (Linux is the host) it fixed the issue. As my earlier post said I had been using FFED3D for some time with an older computer until the hardware failed. The new computer had the latest available Linux version and when I installed VirtualBox it by default used the newer 7.0+ version
I don't know if the VirtualBox software is at fault or if this is a bug in FFED3D
glFrontier is happy with VirtualBox 6.x and VirtualBox 7.x versions and plays flawlessly