Fixing changes to EV

Restoring the original

So, I'm toying with the idea of finally making a plug-in for EV, and I'd been thinking that making it for EVN's "EV Classic" would be better for a variety of obvious reasons.

However, having a quick look at it, differences from the original quickly start to emerge (which is making me worry what might be lurking deeper under the surface):

•As documented, flares are now point defense weapons, and therefore much more s### at actually stopping missiles. I don't understand the technical side so I'll take him at his word that it's the best that can be done in the Nova engine. But why on Earth are they set to fire only to the rear? Whatever, uncheck a couple of boxes in Mission Computer and we're good to go.

•I'm fairly certain that proton shots used to travel farther than laser shots, but they definitely appear to terminate at the same distance in the conversion. I'm less certain on which box/es needs to be edited to fix this.

•Monty Python seems to not work; ships appear to be able to hit each other from the same distance regardless of who is fleeing and who is chasing. Do shots take into account a ship's velocity now more or something?

Anyway, those are the ones I've noticed so far. Anyone who knows of other differences, reasons for differences, or possible solutions will be very much liked by me if they post in this topic.

@harimogura, on 06 June 2012 - 11:38 PM, said in Fixing changes to EV:

So, I'm toying with the idea of finally making a plug-in for EV, and I'd been thinking that making it for EVN's "EV Classic" would be better for a variety of obvious reasons.

Definitely go for it. However if all you want is something that is closer, try using Guy's port. He spend months/years making it perfect.

Guy's Plugs

@evweb, on 07 June 2012 - 02:19 AM, said in Fixing changes to EV:

Definitely go for it. However if all you want is something that is closer, try using Guy's port. He spend months/years making it perfect.

Guy's Plugs

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the one I'm using. The problems I'm talking about are in that port.

@harimogura, on 07 June 2012 - 03:15 AM, said in Fixing changes to EV:

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's the one I'm using. The problems I'm talking about are in that port.

Ah, if you can find anything beyond the flares, I'd be amazed, since Guy literally took months to years going over EVERY last detail and getting it as close to EVC and EVO as possible.

But good luck.

This post has been edited by EVWeb : 07 June 2012 - 03:28 AM

@evweb, on 07 June 2012 - 03:28 AM, said in Fixing changes to EV:

Ah, if you can find anything beyond the flares, I'd be amazed, since Guy literally took months to years going over EVERY last detail and getting it as close to EVC and EVO as possible.

Well that is somewhat reassuring to hear; I'll cross my fingers that no more problems will emerge. It'd be interesting to hear the explanation for why flares only fire behind your ship though....

In any case, I've already mentioned two problems I'm having with lasers in my OP.

Quote

But good luck.

Umm, I was just thinking of making a plug (that is, a non-TC plug for EV that would build off of the original scenario). I didn't (and still don't) want to find any problems. The more exactly like EV it is, the easier it would be for me.

I read somewhere on the boards here not long ago some one changed the flares to not fire automatically anymore and be on demand like they used to be, so there should be a plug in for that somewhere already. I think the conversion is accurate, I've not really noticed any differences, and I actually think flares are better automated most of the time.

@reversepolarity, on 07 June 2012 - 03:40 AM, said in Fixing changes to EV:

I read somewhere on the boards here not long ago some one changed the flares to not fire automatically anymore and be on demand like they used to be, so there should be a plug in for that somewhere already. I think the conversion is accurate, I've not really noticed any differences, and I actually think flares are better automated most of the time.

Hey thanks for the tip, there is indeed a flare plug-in. It's much better, but I think the whole 30˚ inaccuracy thing needs to be turned off. I'm not sure what the mismatch is (when I open the original EV Data, it does indeed show 30 under inaccuracy), but when I fired up EV it looks like those flares go out in a straight line. Also, there's an explosion sound effect (like that of a missile hitting your ship) when a missile hits a flare in EV, but in the conversion there doesn't seem to be a sound at all.

While I was there I took a turn at firing off some turrets. I think I might just have been remembering it wrong as to my first point, because they do seem to terminate at about the same distance afterall.

As to my second point I think my suspicion may be correct. It seems that EVN takes a ships velocity into account and EV doesn't when firing laser bolts. With enough turrets and a fast enough ship in EV, you can fly with a little cloud of bolts hanging out underneath your ship. Again, I'm not sure that anything could be done about it, but it is a difference worth noting.

Now that I've flown around in the original, there's definitely more things there that I can't quite put my finger on yet. Controls just feel tighter, and everything seems more smooth. Makes the conversion feel a bit chunky by comparison.

@harimogura, on 07 June 2012 - 07:26 AM, said in Fixing changes to EV:

Hey thanks for the tip, there is indeed a flare plug-in. It's much better, but I think the whole 30˚ inaccuracy thing needs to be turned off. I'm not sure what the mismatch is (when I open the original EV Data, it does indeed show 30 under inaccuracy), but when I fired up EV it looks like those flares go out in a straight line.

Being the one who made the Active Flares for EVCN, I can speak to this issue. In the original EVC, flares did indeed have very slight inaccuracy, which you can spot if you look carefully. I suspect the 30° figure applied to the 20% speed reduction from the firing ship, so it amounted to only about 6° inaccuracy in practice.

In EVN, there is no way to match the 80% velocity figure while retaining the ability to impact missiles. In fact, the 30° inaccuracy you see in the wëap resources in Active Flares, does nothing. Instead it is the 180° SubTheta combined with the 100 Speed of the submunition that make the Active Flares deviate from a straight line. If you want to make them deviate less, I recommend changing the Speed of the submunition to something lower, like 50. I may well do so in a future update, after I determine what speed best approximates the EVC behavior.