GearHead2 v0.612

[Joseph Hewitt]

I've just uploaded GH2v0.612 to SourceForge. After this release I'm going to start working on some of the changes outlined in the roadmap thread- said changes are likely to break save files (or at least the core story), so I wanted to get this out before I started.

Here are the major changes, with comments:

- Lots of bugs fixed, thanks to a user known only as Buffered. Open source rocks.

- Missile launchers get a +4 bonus to total range. Note that this isn't a +4 bonus to their range stat, but a bonus of 4 tiles to each range band. A missile that previously had range 5-10-15 will now have range 9-14-19. Also note that the +4 is an unscaled bonus, so a mecha missile with range 20-40-60 will now have range 36-56-76.

- PC should not get hungry during long flights, and attempting to move backwards while flying has no effect.

- Scavenged limbs get the name of the mecha they were taken from as a designation.

- I forgot to add the new meshes to the test mode. Sorry about that.

Try it out, let me know if you encounter any problems.

[Phil Munoz]

In arena mode, I have flying mecha crashing into the ground for no apparent reason.

The mecha is something I wrote (size 1 battroid that can transform into a aerofighter, very similar to a cogan).  I had it transform into aerofighter mode.  Flew out towards the enemy, found one and fired a GM-1 from a missile launcher installed inside a shield (the shield was on the arm that transformed into a storage module).  The enemy makes a successful dodge, and the mecha that launched the missile crashes to the ground.

The mecha also crashes while turning or moving.  Nothing is attacking it as far as I know.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Quoting: Phil Munoz

The mecha also crashes while turning or moving. Nothing is attacking it as far as I know.

Zip the save file and send it to me, I'll see what the problem is.

[Phil Munoz]

I e-mailed the savegame.  I also found that in arena mode, it's possible for a mecha to leave the area unintentionally, when an aerofighter makes a long turn near the edge.  (I press 'a' to attack an enemy outside the normal firing arc, and it begins to turn by itself, then leaves the area when it comes into contact with the edge of the map)

[SharkD]

Quoting: Joseph Hewitt

- Scavenged limbs get the name of the mecha they were taken from as a designation.

Awesome! Could you do this for all modules? I.e. one of the body modules have a speed/power modifier, doesn't it?

[peridot]

I downloaded the source and tried to compile it under Linux; compilation proceeded just as it had with the previous version, but running the program it just bails out with:

$ ./gearhead
get fences failed: -1
param: 6, val: 0
An unhandled exception occurred at $0811510E :
EInOutError : File not found
  $0811510E
  $080A9AB0
  $080AAC39
  $08059AA4

The images and meshes are missing from the zip file, so I copied them over, and now I see the initial poster shot before it bails out.

[Joseph Hewitt]

Compile it with the following commandline:

ppc386 -dDEBUG -gl -Sh gearhead

Plus maybe a -dASCII if that's the mode you're using. Run it, and let me know the error message then. This will give more detailed information.

[E Albright]

I'm not sure this is precisely a bug, but it doesn't seem like it should be happening. I started a new campaign on Yatate Spinner, with my starting mecha as a Shard. I found the arena organizer, he offered to let me fight, and I accepted. The arena was  a maze of twisty little passages, all alike - no aerofighters allowed. So I went in on foot, and of course got my head handed to me.

Might it be good to check if a player has a usable mecha before setting them out in an arena?

[Erathoniel]

Nah, because what about us hackers/mad combat-happy geniuses who chose to go on foot for any ground battle because we can?

There should probably be a notice, though.

"Are you sure you want to go in there on foot?

[Daemonward]

Not a bug, but when I tried to load my RPG save, I accidentally started a new game with my character's CHA file. Starting a new game automatically saves over the RPG file, so I lost a few hours.

Maybe when starting a new RPG campaign from a CHA* file, the game should check to see if a matching RPG* file already exists and ask for confirmation if it finds one.

[peridot]

$ ./gearhead
get fences failed: -1
param: 6, val: 0
An unhandled exception occurred at $08132238 :
EInOutError : File not found
  $08132238  LOAD_OBJ_MESH,  line 125 of gl_objreader.pp
  $080BA94E  GENERATEPROPMESHES,  line 1970 of glmap.pp
  $080BC4B3  GLMAP_init,  line 2310 of glmap.pp
  $08059AF4

Any possibility I'm just missing some mesh? None were included in the zipfile, so I just copied over the ones from 0.611. It would be nice if the error message included the file name...

(Incidentally, the get_fences line and the param occurred with 0.611; I think they're some quirk of my OpenGL setup. I have to switch to windowed and software rendering to get 0.611 to work at all.)