[1.12] Module file issues (minor bugs)

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While looking over the data in the module files I’ve noticed a few things that probably need to be fixed:

The first is that the Cruiser Hi-Speed Point Defense module has the same name as the regular Cruiser Point Defense System module. This was causing crashes on some of my designs (which have also been reported several times in this forum). I have been fixing it for myself by changing the name parameter in one of the module files, but the fix should get into the official version. Any mission ship designs that are supposed to have Hi-Speed PD turrets should be updated, since that module is the one that is probably going to change name. According to the “Bugs Fixed” post it appears that this kind of issue won’t cause a crash in the future, but that shouldn’t be allowed to hide the underlying data error.

The second issue is very minor, and may not actually have any effect on the game’s playback (it certainly will have none on the actual combat). The Cruiser Pulse Laser module has an extra equals sign at the start of the line: “=soundvalue = 1” which makes my spreadsheets unhappy (they think that the column header “=soundvalue” should be interpreted as an equation).

The last issue may not actually be a bug, but it’s hard to tell. The Alliance Beam Laser is the only module in the game to have a “firedelay” stat. Possibly this is has some meaning that is different from “fire_interval” (which the module also has), but if there’s a special meaning it is used by a mechanic that only applies to this single weapon. Since I don’t think I’ve ever equipped the Alliance Beam Laser I don’t have any guesses. There are a few other parameters that are only used on a single module, but for all of them the meaning is clear (“decoyslive” is used only on the Multiple Warhead Missiles module, various cloaking parameters are only on the Cruiser Camouflage Shield module, etc).

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I’ll fix the naming thing for 1.14, 1.13 is already on the way so I can;'t change it now.
firedelay is a graphical thing. If you watch that weapon at really slow speed you will see what it does :smiley:

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Hmm, I’ll have to check it out. I’m glad the actual issues are fixed.

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The extra equals sign is still in the data file for the Cruiser Pulse Laser, as of version 1.23. I realize that I actually described the issue incorrectly the first time around. I should have referred to “=soundvolume” rather than “=soundvalue”.

There’s another data issue which may be entirely cosmetic: quoting of some text values is inconsistent. The “turret_sprite” field is quoted about half the time, as is “sound” (and they don’t even even tend to be quoted the same way a single file).

I did finally figure out what this does. It’s very subtle, to the extent that I couldn’t see it at all the first time I fitted the alliance beams to look for it (I was also timing the beams’ reload time, so I was letting the game run at 1.0x).

For anyone who’s curious, if there’s a firedelay parameter, rather than the beam appearing all at once the beam takes the specified amount of time to extend from the turret to the point of impact. There is one slight bug with the effect: the reflection of the beam off of a shield appears instantly, before the beam actually hits.