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-   -   Sniper functions show only black (http://forums.bots-united.com/showthread.php?t=6963)

[|*|] Nemesis D. 19-10-2008 17:15

Sniper functions show only black
 
I apologise if this issue has come up before, but I did a search and found nothing relevant.

Under Fritzbot, I cannot use either sniper gun effectively, both the rifles (Garand/K43) and the FG42 display only black in the sniper field of view. The game screen overlays are still there, such as health, ammo, steady meter, etc, and I can see the centre dot of my crosshair, but the rest is black.

So it technically "works" but is effectively useless. Binocs still work, mg42 mode still displays properly, just sniper guns are broken. Sniping still works under "normal" games without Fritz. I'm running ET 2.60B, Fritz Final, Windows Vista Premium, with ATi HD3200 780G on board graphics with 128MB "Sideband" discrete memory, with 256 shared system memory. I think the drivers are based on Catalyst 8.4 (they came on the mobo CD, no newer versions on mfr website).

Any ideas?

TomTom 19-10-2008 17:35

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
I think I remember reading about somebody with a similar video driver problem (if they were running a mod it was not FritzBot ET BTW). I'll have to search the splash damage and ETQW forums to see if I can find it again.

[|*|] Nemesis D. 19-10-2008 17:40

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
Thank you TomTom. I appreciate the extra efforts.

I'm a little paranoid about updating the video drivers without some reasonable expectation that it will fix the issue, as they are otherwise working fine.

TomTom 19-10-2008 17:51

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
In the meanwhile check the console (`) and look for any warnings and errors. You could turn on console logging too. And what are your ET graphics related settings?

What other mods do you run successfully (e.g do you run ETpub or ETpro OK?)

[|*|] Nemesis D. 19-10-2008 21:12

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
I will try logging the output from the console and see what happens. I have seen errors in there, but they did not seem related to me, though I don't know exactly what to look for.

I have run ETpub, ETpro, shrub, jaymod, etc, without issues. I will double-check them though.

I feel that the problem is unlikely to be related to drivers, as it does the same thing on my wife's laptop, which uses a different chipset entirely (ASUS M51-series w/ Intel Core2 Duo 5750 chip, nVidia 9500M GS 512 discrete graphics, latest drivers).

Resolution doesn't make any difference. I've run the game at 640x480, 800x600, 1024x768, 1152x856, 1280x1024, and 19020x1080 (custom), and all exhibit the same behaviour. FSAA and AF are set to application controlled. I've used both bi-linear and tri-linear filtering, both dynamic and regular lighting, vsync on and off, different texture detail settings, etc.

Are there any settings I should be looking for in particular?

TomTom 19-10-2008 21:51

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
Don't know. I gave up trying the internet search, and looked at the C code of vanilla ET for drawing the scope (CG_DrawWeapReticle in cg_draw.c) then drilled down till I hit what I think is what calls the Q3 graphics engine. Saw nothing like a Cvar affecting the ET game engine code. Also nothing I looked at would need anything changed for the bots so I doubt Mal touched these functions.
Once you start logging the console open the console and type /cvarlist to log your cvar values to the log file.

Since two computers running different video company chips have the same problem, I would;
1-create a new ET directory, put a fresh copy of ET in it (no custom maps), then add a fresh copy of FritzBot ET and see if ET or FritzBot has the problem
-or-
2- move all the other mods and custom maps out to temporary directories to check for conflicts (I had problems with ETpro and textures... at one point)

[|*|] Nemesis D. 19-10-2008 22:03

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
I'll try both the console logging and a fresh install and see what happens.

TomTom 19-10-2008 23:12

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
Look for any errors in the log file about
/gfx/misc/reticle_eq.jpg (-or- /gfx/misc/reticle_eq.tga)
and
/scripts/gfx_misc.shader (-or- gfx/misc/reticlesimple)

These are the two files in etmain/pak0.pk3 that create the black circle frame in the center of the display (the sides and crosshairs are done in the c code). If any other files in /etmain contain files inside them with these filenames then there is a conflict (or shaders containing "gfx/misc/reticlesimple"). Alternately the pak0.pk3 could be corrupt or the Fritzbot dll (cgame_mp_x86.dll or ui_mp_x86.dll ?) could be corrupt. If you are using a non-FritzBot client dll that could be the problem. The only client dlls that are known to work with a FritzBot server are plain ET, FritzBot ET and some versions of Whaleclient.

[|*|] Nemesis D. 20-10-2008 04:03

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
I just scanned the log. I could not find reference to any of those mentioned files.

I'm thinking about reinstalling the game at this point.

I also double-checked the other mods that I'd run previously, and now they all do it too. That tells me that the problem is with the files from /etmain after all... maybe?

[|*|] Nemesis D. 20-10-2008 04:57

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
I'm slightly closer to figuring it out. I reinstalled the game from scratch, then put in Fritz, and everything worked. I restored the /etmain folder from a backup I'd made and the problem returned, so a file in that folder is creating the problem.

I just need to figure out which one.

TomTom 20-10-2008 05:10

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
Very likely something recently added or corrupted in /etmain. For example the mini-mods that just change the look of the sniper scope (z_thermal_scope_ET.pk3 and z&z_NightVisionScope.pk3) do work, but if corrupt they would likely create a problem like what you are experiencing. Also check whether pak0.pk3 is corrupt.

[|*|] Nemesis D. 20-10-2008 18:29

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
How do I check it for corruption?

Are there mods out that will modify the file?

TomTom 20-10-2008 20:36

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
You can test the .pk3 files with winzip or winrar (just associate .pk3 files with whichever you prefer). You can unzip the shader file too (it is text) and look inside for...
/scripts/gfx_misc.shader
Code:

gfx/misc/reticlesimple
{
    nomipmaps
    nopicmip
    {
        map gfx/misc/reticle_eq.tga
        blendfunc filter
    }
}

BTW if you use /sv_pure 0 (unpure server) check also to see if you have a /script subdirectory(s) that might have a bad .shader file (you can test for this by setting /sv_pure 1, exit and restart fritzbot).

It is possible that some mod could modify pak0.pk3 but most mods won't. Generally they will install some of their own pk3 files that may contain a modified version of the files needed. ET will then load the newer version of the file either from the mods own subdirectory (for major mods) or if placed in /etmain then it is used because the packed file is loaded after pak0.pk3 (thus the z prefixing the sniper mod pak files mentioned earlier).

And while the shader and graphic are the most likely corrupted it is also possible that an unrelated file loaded before these is the culprit.
---
Using Windows explorer , the way I generally go about finding a problem file in etmain is I create a temp sub-directory, then move all the .pk3 files (except pak0 to pak3) into the temp directory. Then I test one of the 6 official maps and if the problem is gone I move a big chunk of pk3 files back in (no more than half of those that are in the temp directory), then retest, and repeat the move back until I find a group of files where the problem lies. Then I move that bad group into another temp directory and move half of them back, retest etc. eventually finding which file is incompatible. If the original problem only occurs with a particular map ( say a bad map texture) then I leave that map's pk3 file in etmain along with pak0-3 and use it for testing instead of one of the original maps. Basically I do a binary search method.

BTW I tested what the effect of a missing shader etc. would be, And you would not see black, so it is more likely a corruption or conflict.

[|*|] Nemesis D. 20-10-2008 23:38

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
Thanks for the help, TomTom, I'll let you know what I find.

[|*|] Nemesis D. 21-10-2008 00:04

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
The pak0.pk3 file is intact, and that function in the script location is present.

If I understand this correctly, it means that something loading after pak0.pk3 (anything with a filename that comes after it) is paving over the scope function with something black or incompatible?

I'm currently going through every file in there after pak0.pk3 looking for the problem in a manner similar to what you suggest.

Would it work if I put a bunch of 'z' characters in front of pak0.pk3, or would that screw up things that rely on that file?

[|*|] Nemesis D. 21-10-2008 01:08

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
Thanks for the help, TomTom, I'll let you know what I find.

TomTom 21-10-2008 05:03

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
Putting a bunch of zzz's in front of pak0 is a interesting idea and should be generally OK (except for some map script fixes in pak1 and pak2 and some menu changes in pak2). I briefly tested pak0 as "Copy of pak0.pk3" and it worked fine. Indeed it also exposed some mods that were included in a packed version of northpole (northpole_who.pk3 to be precise) that I had downloaded but never seen because N is before P.

Now if no .pk3 shows up to be a problem I would then check and see what is different in your standard .cfgs (default.cfg, server.cfg, etconfig.cfg...) though I can't think of what in a cfg could cause your problem. There can also be some problems when too many files are in etmain but again I don't believe that can result in your symptoms either.

[|*|] Nemesis D. 21-10-2008 05:28

Re: Sniper functions show only black
 
Well, I haven't nailed down which file has caused the problem, but I have fixed the problem.

I uninstalled the game, then backed up all the maps that I use with Fritz from /etmain, then deleted all files left in the dir (sent to recycle bin), except the etmain folder, which I just renamed as /etmain_backup.

I then reinstalled the game, patched it, and restored all the items from the recycle bin, and dumped my map files (and axis uniform mod) back into /etmain.

Problem solved. The game still runs all the maps I use, sniping works again, and as a nice side-effect, annoying clan crap has been removed from menus everywhere.

Thanks for all your assistance TomTom. You've been very helpful and friendly. I will keep trying to locate the exact source of the problem and let you know if I ever find it.


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