Visual freeze whenever Imperial Phalanx Fighter on screen.

Hi, apologies if this is already here somewhere, did a search of the forums and couldn’t find anything.

Running GSB 1.59 on a very old acer aspire 3500 laptop, windows XP sp2, so the problem may just be that the computer is to old, however it’s an odd one so I thought I’d bring it up and see if anyone knows of a way to fix it.

Basically, any time a Phalanx class fighter would be displayed on screen, the display locks up. It’s still possible to use the arrow keys to scroll away and after a moment the battle continues on. I did a quick test with a squadron of each of the three imperial fighter types, and it definately occurs only with the phalanx. Is there any particular visual gubbin that only this model uses? Only a single fighter is required on screen to lock the display however.

I do currently have the dreadnaughts mod installed but even with no modified units/modules in the battle this occurs. The problem has existed for the entire period of time that I’ve owned the game, even before installing the mod.

I haven’t tested exhaustively with all other races (only bought the last two expansion races finally last night), but as of this time, having played the game off and on for about a year, the Imperials are the only one that it seems to occur on. Has me scratching my head, any thoughts?

edit for game version number

" . . I sense something; a presence I’ve not felt since . ."

Greetings Shaitan and welcome to the forums.
In 2010, A member of the forum posted a similar problem, here is the solution that i offered that seemed to fix the issue

You need to go and look for a “Imperial Phalanx fighter.txt” located in <> \data\hulls\empire
it should read something like this:

[config]
classname = fighter
name = Imperial Phalanx Fighter
guiname = Imperial Phalanx Fighter Hull
sprite = Imperial Phalanx Fighter.dds
damagetexture = Imperial Phalanx Fighter_damaged.dds
hulktexture = imperial_hulks.dds
hulkUVstart = 8
hulkUVend = 11
width = 8
height = 8
powerproduced = 2.0
cost = 28
racename = empire

[bonuses]
0 = SPEEDBOOST,0.14

[runninglights]
0 = 128,161,200,1,2

[engineglows]
0 = 101,220,3,6,"imperialengineglow.dds","",1,1.0
1 = 155,220,3,6,"imperialengineglow.dds","",1,1.0

[targets]
0 = 28.00,138.50,1,1,1.00,113.00,55.00,164.00,SHIP_EMMITER_SMALL,
1 = 119.00,121.00,0,0,
2 = 160.50,126.00,1,1,130.00,75.00,191.00,177.00,SHIP_EMMITER_SMALL,

[slots]
0 = 128.00,101.00,TURRET,(101.00-100.00),(155.00-100.00),
1 = 100.00,152.00,STANDARD,
2 = 156.00,152.00,STANDARD,

[explosions]
0 = 0,128,128,EXP_STARTBREAKUP
1 = 0,128,128,EXP_FIGHTER_DESTROYED_LOD
2 = 0,128,128,EXP_FIGHTER_DESTROYED
3 = 0,128,128,EXP_BLASTGLARE

delete the the following lines (it gives the fighters some engine glows)

[engineglows]
0 = 101,220,3,6,“imperialengineglow.dds”,"",1,1.0
1 = 155,220,3,6,“imperialengineglow.dds”,"",1,1.0

and run the game again

Hopefully it will fix the problem.
Let us know how you go.
Darkstar076

Excellent! Got it in one. I’m happy to report that 30 Phalanx fighter pilots where summarily executed by the Tutorial fleet for crimes against my monitor without a hitch. (Well, technically 16 of them, but lets not split hairs.)

Many thanks for the prompt reply, the Imperial missions are much more enjoyable when you can look at something other than the mini map. :stuck_out_tongue:

Glad to be of assistance - the GSB community is very helpful here.
Just remember: You will find the same level of help when you try your hand at modding :slight_smile:

Just some final notes:

  • If the game ever patches itself, you may find you have to repeat the same process.
  • Should you start using some of the mods that introduces fighters, you may have to mod the mod.
    That is, if your using the same computer when it happens . . .