X-Wing Alliance Mission Update Project

[Mark Farlander]

Hello brave pilots, starship designers, weapon experimenters, hyperdrive technicians and tactical officers.
As you surely know, even though X-Wing Alliance is one of the best Star Wars games ever released, it suffers a huge problem: Mission Bugs.
My project is aimed at solving mission bugs and the logical inconsistencies coming from them.
The software I’m using to edit missions is AlliED v1.573. You can download it from here: http://www.troyed.com/x-wing/DLAlliED.html
It’s a bit old by now, but it’s still one of the best mission editors available.
I’m using the AlliED nomenclature to write about mission bugs and solutions in this forum.

Here are a few examples of the most ubiquitous bugs in the game campaign and their solutions:

Bug 1: Starfighters attacking escape pods instead of their targets.
Explanation: all the escape pods launched from damaged starships and stations are set to Global Group 0, so every Flight Group with order “Attack Global Group 0” can potentially attack them.
Solution 1 (recommended): all Flight Groups belonging to Global Group 0 must be reassigned to another Global Group, and all orders and conditions referring to Global Group 0 must be changed accordingly.
Solution 2 (not recommended): give “No AI ejection” status to every single Flight Group in the game campaign, even Starfighters because ejected pilots suffer the same issue affecting escape pods.

Bug 2: “Hyperspace Singularity” – all crafts coming from Region X and emerging via hyperspace in Region Y are placed at the coordinates (0, 0, 0).
Explanation: there is no entry point in Region Y linking it with Region X.
Solution 1: Add Tactical Role 2 “HYP from Region X” to the Hyper Buoy in Region Y with Tactical Role “HYP to Region X”, if present.
Solution 2: Add an Entry point buoy in Region Y with Tactical Role 2 “HYP from Region X”.
This latter solution will add a new Flight Group to the mission.

As you can see from these 2 examples there are usually more than 1 solution to a mission bug, but there is one less invasive than another.
I’m going to use this thread to discuss different solutions to solve bugs and which is the best one.
Any help will be much appreciated.

And I need gamers to help me testing the updated missions. Keep in mind that every solved bug needs to be checked against every possible behaviour of the player (escape from battle, attack the objectives in the wrong order…)

Some of you are probably wondering why such a project had never been done in all these 20 years.
The answer is simple: because there were many “unknowns” in the AlliED repository.
Thankfully a huge part of those unknowns has recently been tested, discussed, and resolved in a topic on the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade forum. This topic is called “Community project: AlliED unknowns repository”, and it is placed under the “Editing” section.
You can download the updated Class.txt and Conds.txt files from there.
This will be of great help to find mission bugs and solve them.

A few edits have been done to some missions in the past to make them compatible with the updated crafts of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project. Here is the list of the missions which have been modified: 1B0M4FW.tie, 1B1M1G.tie, 1B1M4G.tie, 1B4M5B.tie, 1B4M6B.tie, 1B5M2G.tie, 1B6M6B.tie, 1B6M7FB.tie, 1B7M1W.tie, 1B7M2W.tie, 1B7M3W.tie.
The Latest Fix to the campaign missions was kindly done by DTM, (Aug 12, 2017) adding and altering the dimensions of his starfield backdrop and fixing the illumination problem with previous versions of the missions. These ones are the missions you find when you install the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Craft Pack v1.5 or the Darksaber Craft Pack v2.5.
Another useful thing worth doing is keeping track of “the history of each mission”, I mean that every modification done in these 20 years should be written in a readme file.

I encourage any XWA fan willing to help solving mission bugs or testing partially updated missions to come forward.
I’ll keep the Steam community updated on my progresses.

[Rontagosh]

So, are you just writing XML or? Might be able to help with the software back-end.

I do have a modding request, and too lazy to make it myself: carrack cruiser with 80 mglt default playable speed.

[Mark Farlander]

There is a ready-to-be-used software you can use to change craft stats: it's MXvTED ver 4.1.
It seems I cannot post any attachments, but I can lead you to the site where to download it:
http://www.darksaber.xwaupgrade.com/
File Archive/Craft Editors/MXvTED ver 4.1 (Updated Jan 12, 2018)
Once you have downloaded, just run it and File/Select EXE File.
You will have to open your XwingAlliance.EXE (Files of type EXE files).
Then run again. Now you can change all the stats you wish.
The Carrack cruiser is Craft No. 131 CRKC.

[Mark Farlander]

You can also use BinHexEdit ver 0.5.25 which is an more all-round editor, but you will need XWAConv 1.12 to convert binary units to in-game stat units.

Alternatively you can also use AlliED. http://www.troyed.com/x-wing/DLAlliED.html
It's the mission editor I use to fix missions.
Select the Flight Group you wish, Orders menu, you can set a custom speed for each order.
Of course this will not change the default speed.
Hope this can help.

[Mark Farlander]

Sorry, my programming skills are limited to C++.
My intention was to use AlliED or YOGEME mission editors to fix bugs.
AlliED is a bit old but still works, YOGEME will be a much better mission editor with more options, but it's still in development.
Using editors could be a limiting option, I know.

[Rontagosh]

Appeciate the reply.

Wasn't aware of the YOGEME editor; will definitely check it out.

I'll look into debugging via editors when i have some time, thanks.

[Mark Farlander]

There is also another mission editor: New Horizons, but it never passed Beta version.

Let me know if MXvTED ver 4.1 works fine. The previous version (v4.0) had a few stat issues due to rounding effects.
I've discussed them here: http://xwaupgrade.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11897

[Kailus]

Are you still working on this? Just ordered a joystick so I could relive the good ol' days.

[EmotionallyBroken]

Is there a 64x exe?

[EmotionallyBroken]

Originally posted by spencer.emanuel:

Are you still working on this? Just ordered a joystick so I could relive the good ol' days.

Even if he isnt, there is still 20 years of work available for download to upgrade your experience! :)

[jlb39401]

I am playing this on Ubuntu through Lutris with a runner using Wine/Steam. I would love to use the DarkSaber stuff, but it is an executable which patches the program, instead of drop-in replacement files... so it doesn't look like there is an easy way for me to use it. Has anyone else gone this route? Got a fix, or an insight, or copies of the patched files?

[Rontagosh]

Lol, sorry...."Ubuntu through Lutris with a runner using Wine/Steam"

Just made me laugh a bit.

I hope someones around to help you with that, but that's a first for me.

[jlb39401]

Yeah, gaming on Linux is easier than it was, but still not a walk in the park. Recently felt the need to play back through some Star Wars games on a modern machine, and for the most part everything I have tried has been pretty good. Having some trouble with the tiny graphics, though.

[EmotionallyBroken]

Originally posted by Mark Farlander:

Hello brave pilots, starship designers, weapon experimenters, hyperdrive technicians and tactical officers.
As you surely know, even though X-Wing Alliance is one of the best Star Wars games ever released, it suffers a huge problem: Mission Bugs.
My project is aimed at solving mission bugs and the logical inconsistencies coming from them.
The software I’m using to edit missions is AlliED v1.573. You can download it from here: http://www.troyed.com/x-wing/DLAlliED.html
It’s a bit old by now, but it’s still one of the best mission editors available.
I’m using the AlliED nomenclature to write about mission bugs and solutions in this forum.

Here are a few examples of the most ubiquitous bugs in the game campaign and their solutions:

Bug 1: Starfighters attacking escape pods instead of their targets.
Explanation: all the escape pods launched from damaged starships and stations are set to Global Group 0, so every Flight Group with order “Attack Global Group 0” can potentially attack them.
Solution 1 (recommended): all Flight Groups belonging to Global Group 0 must be reassigned to another Global Group, and all orders and conditions referring to Global Group 0 must be changed accordingly.
Solution 2 (not recommended): give “No AI ejection” status to every single Flight Group in the game campaign, even Starfighters because ejected pilots suffer the same issue affecting escape pods.

Bug 2: “Hyperspace Singularity” – all crafts coming from Region X and emerging via hyperspace in Region Y are placed at the coordinates (0, 0, 0).
Explanation: there is no entry point in Region Y linking it with Region X.
Solution 1: Add Tactical Role 2 “HYP from Region X” to the Hyper Buoy in Region Y with Tactical Role “HYP to Region X”, if present.
Solution 2: Add an Entry point buoy in Region Y with Tactical Role 2 “HYP from Region X”.
This latter solution will add a new Flight Group to the mission.

As you can see from these 2 examples there are usually more than 1 solution to a mission bug, but there is one less invasive than another.
I’m going to use this thread to discuss different solutions to solve bugs and which is the best one.
Any help will be much appreciated.

And I need gamers to help me testing the updated missions. Keep in mind that every solved bug needs to be checked against every possible behaviour of the player (escape from battle, attack the objectives in the wrong order…)

Some of you are probably wondering why such a project had never been done in all these 20 years.
The answer is simple: because there were many “unknowns” in the AlliED repository.
Thankfully a huge part of those unknowns has recently been tested, discussed, and resolved in a topic on the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade forum. This topic is called “Community project: AlliED unknowns repository”, and it is placed under the “Editing” section.
You can download the updated Class.txt and Conds.txt files from there.
This will be of great help to find mission bugs and solve them.

A few edits have been done to some missions in the past to make them compatible with the updated crafts of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Project. Here is the list of the missions which have been modified: 1B0M4FW.tie, 1B1M1G.tie, 1B1M4G.tie, 1B4M5B.tie, 1B4M6B.tie, 1B5M2G.tie, 1B6M6B.tie, 1B6M7FB.tie, 1B7M1W.tie, 1B7M2W.tie, 1B7M3W.tie.
The Latest Fix to the campaign missions was kindly done by DTM, (Aug 12, 2017) adding and altering the dimensions of his starfield backdrop and fixing the illumination problem with previous versions of the missions. These ones are the missions you find when you install the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade Craft Pack v1.5 or the Darksaber Craft Pack v2.5.
Another useful thing worth doing is keeping track of “the history of each mission”, I mean that every modification done in these 20 years should be written in a readme file.

I encourage any XWA fan willing to help solving mission bugs or testing partially updated missions to come forward.
I’ll keep the Steam community updated on my progresses.

Did you realize you are now more owner/creator of XWA development more than anyone at lucas arts could possibly attempt to claim credit for at this point?

How does it feel to be "the" xwa guy/master/head of development?

Also what do you think of making a 64 bit version/loader? Think of the possibilities :)

EDIT: I see I've already posted here, maybe I should ask on his forums.

[EmotionallyBroken]

Originally posted by jlb39401:

Yeah, gaming on Linux is easier than it was, but still not a walk in the park. Recently felt the need to play back through some Star Wars games on a modern machine, and for the most part everything I have tried has been pretty good. Having some trouble with the tiny graphics, though.

those 2 milimeter UI buttons are awful, but those 4k pictures are breathtaking.

[Mark Farlander]

Sorry for the late reply. Yes, I'm still working on this and honestly I'm actually STARTING working on this. One of the worst part of mission editing is craft positioning. It requires many many tests.
However, one of the main contributors of the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade project has just developed a software to see the initial state of a mission. Well, it's not actually the initial state, it's just craft positioning if all the Flight Groups started at their respective Start 1 points in a row.
This release allows me and other guys editing missions to focus more on mission logic (conditions, orders,...) instead of testing positions and this will help sparing time.
Xwa Mission 3D Viewer is still a WIP version, but it has great potential.
If any of you are interested in trying this new tool (and making suggestions to improve it), it can be downloaded at the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade forum.
The section is Help Channel/Editing/WIP: Xwa Mission 3D Viewer by JeremyaFr
I'm planning to massively use such tool to see positions without actually loading a mission.
The software also implements the direction by reading both the Start 1 point and the Waypoint 1 of each Flight Group.
It still lacks reading the Arrival conditions, and surprisingly this can be an advantage for anyone editing a mission, because it serves to keep separate the 2 aspects (Waypoints and conditions).

Originally posted by 250RoundMags:

Did you realize you are now more owner/creator of XWA development more than anyone at lucas arts could possibly attempt to claim credit for at this point?

How does it feel to be "the" xwa guy/master/head of development?

Also what do you think of making a 64 bit version/loader? Think of the possibilities :)

Well, anyone at the X-Wing Alliance Upgrade is owner/creator of XWA development, and they are much more than me.
It feels I better understand the logic behind one of my favorite games, and this reminds me of the old battles I fought when I was younger (nostalgia of the old battles).
64 bit loader is a very long story... I don't think anyone is trying such a thing.