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Problem with Alex's Freedom Force Classic mod

Started by Pere_Ubu, August 14, 2018, 12:42:54 AM

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Pere_Ubu

Hi, I had a question about, yes, Alex's FFC mod. I was really excited about trying this out, since I bought both games on GOG and FFv3R seems to me to be the better of the two. One problem, though - the game gets as far as the pier scenario (where Minuteman has to disarm the bomb) and it crashes while loading the scenario files - it seems to be a "truck_nw" that it can't find. Is this a long-existing problem, i.e. do other people have this? How to get around it or solve it? (The version of the mod I downloaded is the one on Alex's Freedom Force page, the very first one on the page.)

BentonGrey

Howdy Pere, and welcome to the community!

Hmm...I haven't played the mod, but it sounds like the game is missing either a data entry or an art asset for the truck that figures into that mission.  It's possible that A) you got a bad download or B) this is a bug in the mod. 

I downloaded the mod really quick and checked it out, and both the art file and the entry seem to be correct in my version.  You could open up your FFClassic directory and look in Art/Library/Vehicles and see if the nw_truck is there and has the .nif and everything.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Pere_Ubu

Quote from: BentonGrey on August 14, 2018, 05:11:08 PM
Howdy Pere, and welcome to the community!

Hmm...I haven't played the mod, but it sounds like the game is missing either a data entry or an art asset for the truck that figures into that mission.  It's possible that A) you got a bad download or B) this is a bug in the mod. 

I downloaded the mod really quick and checked it out, and both the art file and the entry seem to be correct in my version.  You could open up your FFClassic directory and look in Art/Library/Vehicles and see if the nw_truck is there and has the .nif and everything.


Thanks for the welcome!

I poked around and here's the interesting thing - there's a directory for models called nw_truck, but the mod itself seems to look for truck_nw. Which are not the same thing, obviously. 

BentonGrey

In my download, the template name was truck_nw, but the data path was pointing to the correct place, nw_truck.  Is there a .nif file in that directory in your version?
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Pere_Ubu

There are indeed .nif files in nw_truck and the "animated truck" character directory, which I think is what actually crashed the game.

BentonGrey

Hmm...well, I'll see if I can replicate the problem this weekend and figure anything out.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Pere_Ubu

The actual error message: "no character template was found to generate possible actions for! truck_nw_animated"

This might change things.

BentonGrey

Ahh, that makes more sense.  Okay, this should be an easy enough fix.  Just open up FFEdit, if you've got it installed, go to the characters tab, find "truck_animated" and rename it to match the template "truck_nw_animated."  That SHOULD fix the problem.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Pere_Ubu

I do have FFEdit, but I can't edit the name of the truck_animated character as the field is greyed out. Do I have to direct FFEdit to use the files from FFClassic, and, if so, how? (I admit I'm totally clueless here at editing this game.)

BentonGrey

Ahh, yes, you have to direct it to the right mod.  So, open up FFEdit, on the first tab, Options, which is where it will start, look at the first entry, Primary Data Path.  This should be pointing at the default directory, ending in "\Data".  Replace "Data" with the mod you want to edit, in your case "FFClassic".  Then close and open the editor.  Once reopened, click on the "Characters" tab.  Find the truck, click copy (just to be on the safe side), then rename.  That will pop up a box that will let you edit the name.  Click save, exit, and try the mission again.  That SHOULD do it.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Pere_Ubu

Yeesh! "Rename" was 'way at the bottom of the UI, off my screen. THAT'S why I couldn't find it! But, yes, YESH! that worked. Much thanks! :)

BentonGrey

You're very welcome Pere; I'm glad it worked!
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Pere_Ubu

But now we have a new issue (see what I did there)  - The Case Of The Headless Nick .NIF!

Apparently the art for Nick's head is missing or misnamed. If his mug is supposed to come up during a cutscene, the game crashes.

alert: CTalkingHead::init, NIF has no main object, library\characters\nick\head.nif

I'm beginning to wonder about this. Might I have a corrupted download?

BentonGrey

Super easy fix for this one, fortunately.  Do you have any of my mods downloaded?  You just need the default head.nif, which you can drop in Nick's mesh folder.  You can find that in pretty much any non-vanilla character folder in any of my mods, or in the FFX3 folder.  It's included in its own folder, "defaulthead." 

I seemed to have the first issue as well in my download, and this one would make sense as an issue for a port between FF1 and 2.  In FF1, Nick had dialog, and so had an animated head.nif which was in his mesh folder.  In FF2, he doesn't, and so he didn't get one, and FF1 talking heads don't work in FF2.  The game doesn't always have problems when it can't find talking heads, but sometimes it chokes and crashes.  So, just drop in a default head, which will replace the animated one with just his portrait.  That should work fine.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/

Pere_Ubu

The problem this time was there *was* no directory for Nick's head under library/characters! I made the directory, dropped the defaulthead there and it worked. His head isn't animated, but it fits the little creep somehow.  :blink:

Pere_Ubu

Little creep indeed - when I chase down Pinhe- *ahem*, Pinstripe all over the map (Is he supposed to be able to jump on roofs?) and defeat him, I go back to "check on Nick" - there's a red square over him but I can't click on it, so he dies and I lose. 

BentonGrey

Ahh, no bounding box, which  :ffvstr: needs for things to be click-able.  I can fix that.  I'll look around and find a version with a bounding box.
God Bless
"If God came down upon me and gave me a wish again, I'd wish to be like Aquaman, 'cause Aquaman can take the pain..." -Ballad of Aquaman
Check out mymods and blog!
https://bentongrey.wordpress.com/