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Posted by: The DvD Dec 30 2007, 11:45 AM

You guys may remember that i used to be working on this mod called TSTW
I however kept getting IE's for a reason i could not explain. Very frustrating and it made me stop working on TSTW even .

However recently TSHyper has explained to me what could be causing these errors. Upon testing this it appeared that he was right. The IE is now perfectly recreatable and can also occur in unmodded Tiberian Sun. It occurs when the following happens:

Possible workaround

Replace lasers by modified railguns. It will take some messing around, and it looks differently, and also comes with it's own bugs.

Here's the Mammoth Mk. II's railgun modified to look like a laser:

[MechRailgun]
AmbientDamage=1
; Better not have any real ambientdamage, or your base defenses will damage your own units and buildings.
Damage=200
; Use damage just like you would for a normal laser
ROF=60
; ROF for railgun is tied to the duration (MaxEC) of the railgun particle. Since railguns will always have some particles that willt ake time to disappear, the actual ROF can never me faster than the MaxEC.
Range=8
Projectile=Invisible
; Can be anything you like, as long as it doesn't have an image.
Speed=100
; Leave the speed at 100
Warhead=RailShot
; Can be anything you like
Report=RAILUSE5
Anim=GUNFIRE
IsRailgun=true
; This is crucial
AttachedParticleSystem=LargeRailgunSys
; This too

[LargeRailgunSys]
HoldsWhat=LargeRailgunPart
BehavesLike=Railgun
SpiralRadius=3
; Decreased from 15 to 3. This makes the particles from the railgun appear in a much thinner line.
ParticlesPerCoord=.03
; Decreased from 0.1 , We don't want so many particles to show up
SpiralDeltaPerCoord=.03
MovementPerturbationCoefficient=.4
; Not sure what this does
PositionPerturbationCoefficient=30
; Not sure what this does
VelocityPerturbationCoefficient=.6
; Not sure what this does
Laser=yes
; The mammoth railgun actually had a laser showing in the middle already, but we need to change it's colour.
LaserColor=255,10,10
; Used to be 25,20,255, this is Red,Green,Blue for laser color. Changed to Red

[LargeRailgunPart]
BehavesLike=Railgun
MaxEC=70
; The speed of the particles disappearing! Very import, this was decreased from 70 to 30 to allow a higher ROF
ColorList=(255,50,50),(200,200,255)
; The colour of the particles. I think the starting colour should be close to the laser's actual colour, which was 255,10,10. After that, it changes to a bluish white.
ColorSpeed=.009
; Unchanged
Velocity=.3


Problems with this workaround

For charging laser weapons such as the obelisk, the charging animation doesn't show up anymore. This means that the obelisk will instantly fire on an enemy objects as soon as this object enters the obelisk's firing range. I'm currently trying to solve this problem.

Posted by: ^Rampastein Dec 30 2007, 02:15 PM

Hmm, I'm suffering from these WaveClass errors too, and I originally told TSHyper when it happens. (See page 2 from the thread "Internal errors" at the Reference and Information forum)

If I understand this thread's meaning right, this thread is for how to avoid WaveClass errors.

I made the lasers into railguns too sometime ago, but shortly after that I decided to start researching when the error happens.
And I've never got an error because of lasers after I changed Visual Details to Low/Normal, and it was a much easier solution than changing the lasers to railguns, and railguns also stop to slopes and cliffs.

Sonic Beams still cause the error though.

Since I have 2 PCs, and this worked for both of them, I think this could help you too. (And anyone who is suffering from these errors)

Posted by: The DvD Dec 30 2007, 04:10 PM

Well railguns dont have to stop at cliffs as long as you dont use ambient damage.

Changing those visual details is a good one... since it is possible to enable all animations for the medium detail level too, i could force the medium detail setting and avoid the problem with the lasers...

I'll just replace the sonic tank with the mammoth tank in my mod.

Posted by: TSHyper Dec 30 2007, 07:57 PM

Awesome DvD, if i can help in anyway, give me a shout

Posted by: The DvD Dec 30 2007, 09:36 PM

Luke, it may be worth looking into Rampastein's suggestion, about the medium details level?

Posted by: TSHyper Dec 30 2007, 11:31 PM

To be honest, im starting to get confused, TO dont have any WaveClass errors at all, so i cant trigger any. And i have never seen visual details effect it before...

Posted by: The DvD Jan 1 2008, 01:08 PM

How weird? Since it also happens in unmodded TS, as far as my testing showed...

Posted by: TSHyper Jan 2 2008, 11:05 AM

Well, its not TO that is immune to them, its a problem with TS handling it at a certain resolution...

http://www.ppmsite.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17174

Posted by: ^Rampastein Jan 2 2008, 07:21 PM

Are you sure? I always play with 800x600 on my old computer.. and I get these errors in that comp too.

Though I need to have about 20 disruptors firing before it crashes, so it isn't that bad of a problem..
I'll try 800x600 with my newer computer too, though I remember experiencing this problem about a year ago when I used 800x600 on my newer computer. (Didn't know how to get a bigger resolution then)

A response to your guestion about it happening in 640x480 at PPM: http://www.tiberiumweb.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=2638&st=30 in the IE thread I posted to you are 640x480.
So it does happen in that resolution too.

Good luck in continuing this research.

Posted by: TSHyper Jan 2 2008, 07:45 PM

I would think many Disrupter's at any resolution would trigger a WaveClass IE, but as we know, the game has problems with 1024x768, and VK knows the problem it seems...

Posted by: ^Rampastein Jan 3 2008, 08:16 AM

Hmm. I'll just hope VK gets this fixed then.

I just did some tests on 1280x1024 and 800x600 on my newer computer, and even in those resolutions the game crashed instantly even when there was only 1 disruptor.

I quess I'm just unlucky

Posted by: TSHyper Jan 3 2008, 08:29 AM

So... hmm, this is odd. Im really lost again to what causes it. VK is our hope now >.>

Posted by: Yuri 08 Jan 3 2008, 09:10 AM

I would also like to note that I get the error immediately when playing with 800x600 resolution too.

Posted by: Dutchygamer Jan 3 2008, 10:10 AM

What? Is this true. If so, there goes my theory...
FYI, I have my resolution on 1152 x 864 now, and it hasn't crashed at all yesterday... Maybe it depends on the computer/monitor you're using. This is so confusing

Posted by: Anderwin Jan 4 2008, 01:17 PM

Then you got the same problem like me, I did test and test.

I find out this:

You can do it fire to the south with no problem if you move your camera fast over it, it worked fine for me after 2-3 times I get a IE.
The Mammoth MK II and Ghost Stalker do not have this problem, I do not get any IE from it.

This IE have never happened to me before I start test and read what happened.
Because if you do not think on it, you will press the unit again and then move it again.
And you will really do not get this IE if you on the same point with your camera, and if you move it and your unit fire a unit it will blow up or it will stop firing because the other enemy unit are dead.

But IS only the south. West south and east south you will get the IE again.

The red line show where the IE can get, I have try this more and more.

It's will happing to everybody in anybody resolutions 800*600 to 1650*1050 (my biggest resolution).



This is wrong.


Is worked fine. The IE just happening to the south points.


If you get weapons firing from everywhere you will not get a IE even if you move your camera hundreds if times.




Titan: Laser turret
Wol: Obelisk of light
Ghost Stalker: Same
Mammoth MK II: Same
Dis: Same

But if you fire distinctly weapons to the south I did not get any IE. *strange*


Edit: Now I get a IE on distinctly weapons to the south, sometimes I do sometimes not :|. *very strange*

Q: What if a AI do the same with it units? Will we get a IE then? Just wondering.

Posted by: ^Rampastein Jan 4 2008, 01:35 PM

Emm.. we were talking about disruptor's firing off the southern viewable area all the time..
You should've read this thread better ><

And, if an AI player does the same, it will happen.

Posted by: TSHyper Jan 4 2008, 01:39 PM

*Sigh*

Everyone seems to be going around in circles. Lets hope VK will just hurry up...

Posted by: Anderwin Jan 4 2008, 02:54 PM

I find out somethings. Did there really read what I WROTE?
Edit: It's happening to south west and south east to. Not only south. Therefor I try the dist in circle but when I try it I did not get any IE. So its much be a single unit some do it, not many?.

What happing if you place laser and sonic toghter?

And BTW you do not need to change the MK II weapon because it do nothing with the IE. It do not make a IE.

Posted by: GameMaster0000 May 11 2008, 01:13 PM

It has any other factor to make this error. Cause that to day I tested it firing at south directly then move screen up and down and all direction no occur any error.

Posted by: The DvD May 11 2008, 07:50 PM

And today i think i had the error even when i was not scrolling.. frustrating.

Posted by: TSHyper May 11 2008, 08:18 PM

Sonic errors are to do with Alpha blending, so anything that frustrates the calculation of that alpha blend will trigger it. But it seems common that scrolling can mess the calculations up...