ECM 4.1 BETA Patch - OUTDATED

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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

Post by God-is-a-Geek »

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 10:30 am 1.) Since you said before that you crash log is entirely empty. Could this be an OS / virus protection issue preventing the game from writing to the log file?
I do have a Virusscanner (ESET), but it is always offline (not active in RAM). The file "Crash.log" is also NOT writing protected...so where could be the OS issue?
Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 10:30 am 2.) Those crashes/freezes when trying to save are clearly DxWnd issued (I remember them as well, and many more). I dunno whether there is any nerdish trick to solve this.
Is DxWnd no longer being developed?

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 10:30 am 3.) In fact in ECM the first appearing of the Borg gets delayed in low tech epic games, but if they come, they search exclusively for player systems and leave AI alone. The number of cube limits and replication ratio after system assimilation is unchanged.
Using your ECM and playing Federation, Cardassians or the Ferengi with Borg "ON" in the settings, you have not any (zero!) chances to survive. The Borg will crumble your empire in the later game to a pitty village... :sad:
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

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Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 10:30 am 2.) Those crashes/freezes when trying to save are clearly DxWnd issued (I remember them as well, and many more). I dunno whether there is any nerdish trick to solve this.
I have never heard of Dxwnd causing any crashes. :shock:
now I do remember windows 7 was more prone to ntdll.dll errors and they do not create crash logs.

I do suggest windows 10 it does not have as many ntdll.dll errors.
God-is-a-Geek wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:24 am Is DxWnd no longer being developed?
yes it is, but I have not seen any improvement for game play on BOTF
here is link to Dxwnd development page.

https://sourceforge.net/projects/dxwnd/

you can update to latest version just do not overwrite the "dxwnd.ini" file. download package does not normally contain this file.

the files used by BOTF is located in "install path"/tools/dxwnd_windowed and "install path"/tools/dxwnd_Fullscreen

if you update you should do both folders.

current version of DxWnd in All in One is v2.04.32
latest version available is v2_05_48
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

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God-is-a-Geek wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:24 amThe file "Crash.log" is also NOT writing protected...so where could be the OS issue?
I'm just asking because an empty BotF crash log is really suspicious after playing several hundred turns with many crashes, regardless of game version and mod. :???:
God-is-a-Geek wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:24 amECM and playing Federation, Cardassians or the Ferengi with Borg "ON" in the settings, you have not any (zero!) chances to survive. The Borg will crumble your empire in the later game to a pitty village... :sad:
Sorry to hear that, but without the 'avoid AI systems fix' for Borg there won't be any AI empires left to oppose you. Since the AI is far worse in defending themselves against the Borg. :mad:

However here is info on limiting max number of borg cubes in game: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=3877#p51318

EDIT: As you see, the borg threat factor depends on the difficulty level. In ECM they are even more restricted. Also the creators of BotF bragged that no one can beat the game on impossible with borg on (so most afc member have become nobodies :razz: ).

thunderchero wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:56 amI have never heard of Dxwnd causing any crashes. :shock:
Of course you are right. I meant it fails to prevent those compatibility issues, perhaps due to the possibility that uneducated users (like me) might have failed to confugure it right. :wink: To clarify I'm talking vanilla BotF and no code messups really crashing with no log.
Last edited by Spocks-cuddly-tribble on Fri Mar 20, 2020 1:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

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God-is-a-Geek wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:24 amECM and playing Federation, Cardassians or the Ferengi with Borg "ON" in the settings, you have not any (zero!) chances to survive. The Borg will crumble your empire in the later game to a pitty village... :sad:
not true doing some testing yesterday as feds waiting on planet killer I took on a borg cube with 18 Defiants and won (lost 10 of them)
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

Post by God-is-a-Geek »

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 12:51 pm EDIT: As you see, the borg threat factor depends on the difficulty level. In ECM they are even more restricted. Also the creators of BotF bragged that no one can beat the game on impossible with borg on (so most afc member have become nobodies :razz: ).
I have beaten all Borg on impossible difficulty level playing the Romulan Star Empire and in the game (ECM) there were many Borg cubes...definitely more than in BoF (vanilla).
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

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thunderchero wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 1:12 pm
God-is-a-Geek wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:24 amECM and playing Federation, Cardassians or the Ferengi with Borg "ON" in the settings, you have not any (zero!) chances to survive. The Borg will crumble your empire in the later game to a pitty village... :sad:
not true doing some testing yesterday as feds waiting on planet killer I took on a borg cube with 18 Defiants and won (lost 10 of them)
Just one Borg cube is not a matter, but how will you survive --playing Federation-- against an invasion of 10 Borg cubes and more in a short time? You have lost 10 ships fighting just one Borg cube! How big is your fleet (what fleet size can your empire economically afford)? 20, 30 or 40 ships? Lets say 40...that is truely unsufficient against 10 Borg cubes.
thunderchero wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:56 am I do suggest windows 10 it does not have as many ntdll.dll errors.
Do not use Windows 10 ...it is spyware!
https://www.privacytools.io/operating-systems/
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

thunderchero wrote: Fri Mar 20, 2020 1:12 pmwaiting on planet killer I took on a borg cube with 18 Defiants and won
But just because you forced Nog to beam to the cube and beat their transwarp coils to pulp using his separated leg (he said you are the worst captain ever). :wink:

Also you lucky bastard having defiants available. I still remember my first vanilla, T1, impossible, Borg On game. Bad RNG forced me to fight them with miranda 2s and ambassador 1s. Good luck with that....

Btw 18 defiant to waylay the planet killer. I remember we had a conversation about its shiplist stats. I considered using the shildlevel feature to make it immune to regular weapons and force sacrifice-rammings. We had to discard it due to AI's inability to adapt to it.

God-is-a-Geek wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 1:12 amin the game (ECM) there were many Borg cubes...definitely more than in BoF (vanilla).
I just double-checked the ECM trek.exe and I can't see any deviations from the vanilla limits and probabilities. The borg random event has no cube limit on impossible with a minimum time-out of 50 turns until the next cube can be added. Replication probability after system destruction is 50% on impossible with a max limit of 16 cubes in game.

However, to be absolutely fair, there is another aggregative deviation to vanilla. This broken code sequence has been repaired: "If one of the empires reaches 50% of the cumulated current population of all empires then BotF adds a borg-cube to the game (assuming random events / BORG = ON & borg-cube cost check vs. empire fleets = OK and no time-out)." viewtopic.php?f=227&t=1331#p27090

That being said, the borg are always RNG based in BotF. So luck is a very unfair factor in BotF games.


Have a look at the concept of ECM: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3452#p46152

Overpowered cube stats and borg invasion strength on impossible are intended game features i.e. no issues ECM can address.

An edge case would be for instance reducing the firepower of the ferengi ships, since the game manual states they are weak in combat while their nominal firepower exceeds the corresponding klingon ships. But even in this case we don't have any hard data (in terms of analysed code sequences, res-files, clear paragraphs or developper comments) on how exactly to proceed. So ECM is bound to similar scientific rules like archeology.

God-is-a-Geek wrote: Sat Mar 21, 2020 1:26 amJust one Borg cube is not a matter, but how will you survive --playing Federation-- against an invasion of 10 Borg cubes and more in a short time? You have lost 10 ships fighting just one Borg cube! How big is your fleet (what fleet size can your empire economically afford)? 20, 30 or 40 ships? Lets say 40...that is truely unsufficient against 10 Borg cubes
Key factor is to kill the cubes before they obliterate a whole star system and get a chance to replicate (i.e. to early make hard sacrifices to stop them). If there is already an out of control invasion there are certain empire specific tactics to oppose them. From what I remember, for example, sacrifice about 20+ scouts, set to evade, and charge(or assault I don't recall what works better) with 8-12 heavy cruisers. All your shipyards produce 1 scout each turn to replace losses. In vanilla you can fight them much easier, not because they are weaker, but you can use many broken game mechanics to cheat around certain game limitations (i.e. srapping ships for money to support way larger fleets).

@ windows 10, I understand, even with windows 8 all my systems worked better :mad:
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

Post by God-is-a-Geek »

@Spocks-cuddly-tribble

Thx for your last reply! But one thing in BoF I do not understand: Why do not all Klingon ships have a cloaking device like the Romulans???

PS: I like to give the Klingon Empire a chance!
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

There is a vanilla save game bug wrt monster data supposed to be stored in and read from the gameInfo file. It doesn't occur in uninterrupted running games but only after loading a save game. I fixed one of them to prevent other monsters getting added multiple times after loading a save game, but of course there is more. When loading a game, pushing F6-key, ending turn, saving and repeating this all over again one can add unlimited borg cubes to the game on 'impossibel'. But be warned at some point the whole game might glitch out.

Due to these save game bugs, an other bug (Domination victory Borg task) sometimes prevents the borg from entering the game. Funny thing is that fixing this, but not the borg dynamic data in the save games (i.e. the current state of ECM), BotF under certain prerequisites 'punishes' cheating (i.e. reloading save game in order to change things in your favor) by adding borg cubes to the game. I kinda like it. :grin:


Savegame fixes for Borg TimeOut & Domination victory Borg task

Code: Select all

Borg_TimeOut 58FDE4 relocate relevant xrefs to 5A208C 

0x4E6EF change E4 FD 58 -> 8C 20 5A
0x4E79D change E4 FD 58 -> 8C 20 5A
0x4E7B8 change E4 FD 58 -> 8C 20 5A

0044F2EE                 mov     eax, ds:Borg_TimeOut
0044F39C                 mov     ds:Borg_TimeOut, eax
0044F3B6                 mov     ds:Borg_TimeOut, ecx


Domination victory Borg task done marker 58FDD0 relocate relevant xrefs to 5A20CC

0x4D6F6 change D0 FD 58 -> CC 20 5A
0x4D717 change D0 FD 58 -> CC 20 5A

0044E2F4                 cmp     ds:_1_if_victory_borg_done, 0
0044E315                 mov     ds:_1_if_victory_borg_done, ebp

Here is patch code:

Code: Select all

NAME: Savegame fixes for Borg TimeOut & Domination victory Borg task
DESC: Relocates Borg dynamic data missing in the gameInfo to unused areas of the alienInfo file
AUTHOR: Spocks-cuddly-tribble
URL: https://www.armadafleetcommand.com/onscreen/botf/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=3853&p=51581#p51581

# Borg_TimeOut 58FDE4 relocate relevant xrefs to 5A208C 

>> 0x0004E6EF E4 FD 58
<< 0x0004E6EF 8C 20 5A

>> 0x0004E79D E4 FD 58
<< 0x0004E79D 8C 20 5A

>> 0x0004E7B8 E4 FD 58
<< 0x0004E7B8 8C 20 5A

# Domination victory Borg task done marker 58FDD0 relocate relevant xrefs to 5A20CC

>> 0x0004D6F6 D0 FD 58
<< 0x0004D6F6 CC 20 5A

>> 0x0004D717 D0 FD 58
<< 0x0004D717 CC 20 5A

Also I'd like to patch the borg with an anti cloaking device (i.e. force auto-decloak for all ships fighting them). The coward habit of humiliating the borg with cloaked fleets is unfair and game-unbalancing wrt none-cloak empires. But I'd like to hear the opinion of the CIC on this :?:


God-is-a-Geek wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:29 amWhy do not all Klingon ships have a cloaking device like the Romulans???

PS: I like to give the Klingon Empire a chance!
That's not a question I can answer. And in vanilla & ECM klingons are one of the most powerful empires to play with on t4 & t5.
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

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Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:18 pm Also I'd like to patch the borg with an anti cloaking device (i.e. force auto-decloak for all ships fighting them). The coward habit of humiliating the borg with cloaked fleets is unfair and game-unbalancing wrt none-cloak empires. But I'd like to hear the opinion of the CIC on this :?:
It would balance things, but as you have told me before ECM is not about balance.... And I have never heard of borg having this ability and not mentioned in user guide.

As for fighting the borg I just use large numbers and I win some lose some.

Funny thing is, some of my most fun games I lost, and there is nothing wrong with that.
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

Post by God-is-a-Geek »

Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:18 pm
God-is-a-Geek wrote: Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:29 amWhy do not all Klingon ships have a cloaking device like the Romulans???

PS: I like to give the Klingon Empire a chance!
That's not a question I can answer. And in vanilla & ECM klingons are one of the most powerful empires to play with on t4 & t5.
I do really appreciate your work, and many thanx for bug-fixing. But who can answer that question? In movies the most of the klingon ships are cloaked, but in BoF only a few.
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

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God-is-a-Geek wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 8:52 am I do really appreciate your work, and many thanx for bug-fixing. But who can answer that question? In movies the most of the klingon ships are cloaked, but in BoF only a few.
you can give any ship cloak, by editing with UE
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

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Spocks-cuddly-tribble wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 6:18 pm Also I'd like to patch the borg with an anti cloaking device (i.e. force auto-decloak for all ships fighting them). The coward habit of humiliating the borg with cloaked fleets is unfair and game-unbalancing wrt none-cloak empires. But I'd like to hear the opinion of the CIC on this :?:
I think that it is a real bad idea. Playing on impossible difficulty level (Romulans) against a massive Borg invasion you have almost (zero) chances to survive. They will simply overrun your empire (my experience). But of course just one or two Borg cubes in the whole playthrough are not a matter.
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

Post by Spocks-cuddly-tribble »

thunderchero wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:24 pmECM is not about balance.... And I have never heard of borg having this ability and not mentioned in user guide.
God-is-a-Geek wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:39 pmI think that it is a real bad idea. Playing on impossible difficulty level (Romulans) against a massive Borg invasion you have almost (zero) chances to survive. They will simply overrun your empire (my experience).
Fair points, I agree with you guys. :up:


I had yet no opportunity to run tests or continue with coding. Another monster countdown feature needs to be adapted for savegames but has to be converted into a count-up to make it work correctly. So we just leave that one unfixed for now. :dwn:


God-is-a-Geek wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 1:39 pmjust one or two Borg cubes in the whole playthrough are not a matter.
Using the borg save game fixes, the minimum timeout (50 turns on impossible) works even for re-loaded games. So all extra cubes are ones own fault due to not killing the borg early and/or wrong fleet buildup (despite of knowing borg are on). This applies even more to ECM:
- first appearing is delayed to give player a fighting chance
- avoid AI systems fix gives player full control over borg replication


EDIT: If one thinks one was being treated unfairly by the Borg in ECM one should try vanilla, impossible, T1, small map, no minors vs all AI T5. If you don't get the job done, don't even think of entering multiplayer. Otherwise the pros will rain down an ungodly firestorm upon you. You're gona have to call the UN and get a binding resolution to keep them from destroying you. I am talking scorched earth. They will massacre you....

God-is-a-Geek wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 8:52 amwho can answer that question? In movies the most of the klingon ships are cloaked, but in BoF only a few.
If you have a look at the ship stats in general, size scale (negh'var vs vor'cha :shock: ), timeline (constellation :???: ) and the most powerful AI empire (ferengi :mad: ), the answer is quite obvious: they didn't care about canon or had no idea. Trek nerdism is kinda annoying (my name gives a clue how serious I take such folks), but the BotF kind of disregard is over the top. Anyways, unless you want to support a rebalanced shiplist option for ECM, this OT fits better in general chat.
I don't know how many bugs is too many but that point is reached somewhere before however many in BotF is.
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Re: - ECM 4.1 BETA Patcher Available -

Post by mytranquillity85 »

Hey everyone,

I recently found the botf CD and started playing again - discovered that the game still is alive after many years!
First of all thanks to anyone involved for all the work.

Now, I started playing the Vanilla version from the BOTF 2.0 All in One installer.
After encountering a few annoying bugs (e.g. minor races don't appear in diplomacy screen) I tried the ECM.

Unfortunately this version gives me some trouble. The Vanilla version runs very smooth and fast, but the ECM is slow - mouse is hanging, screen freezes for a few seconds sometimes.... not playable at all.

Any ideas how to fix this?
Running a Win10 with a GTX1050Ti

Thanks
Andy
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