Is there something wrong with FLAKs in TC?

[Painman]

They seem to work fine at first, but after you've been buzzing around killing stuff for a while, they stop hitting.

Well, they still seem to hit, but don't register any damage... I was fighting a Xenon Q, it was less than 2 Km away from my Boreas, FLAK explosions were going off all over it, but only my PPCs were actually chewing away at it. Same with fighters. For several minutes after I leave a dock with my M2, they work fine, ripping fighters to shreds, but after a time fighters will be swarming all over me, FLAK will be blowing up all over the place, but the fighters don't take a scratch.

Then, once I dock somewhere and subsequently undock, they're OK again... for a while.

Anyone else notice any strange FLAK behavior?

[Sandalpocalypse]

out of curiousity, do you have a hard time hitting missiles with any gun at the same time the flaks are kaput?

[Painman]

Hard to say... I only have the rear turret currently set for Missile Defense (and that's full of FLAK too). I'll have to set others to MD and see what happens.

[KoshZdryh]

1)Do you notice a fps drop ?
2)Do the flaks sound "weird" when they miss ?
3)Do you have AQC on ?

[Tanall]

I've seen flaks go wonky too, and in my case it seemed they were detonating beyond the target (overshooting in other words). Shutting down the game and restarting from an earlier save fixed it for me, though.

[BillSheil]

This sounds suspiciously like a widely reported bug in X3R when FLAKs would stop working if you saved and reloaded a game in space.

They would still apparently fire though, but just have no effect.

Jumping (even to a gate in sector) would fix this.

[KoshZdryh]

You don't need to jump,you just need to have clear space around.

[Painman]

1)Do you notice a fps drop ?
2)Do the flaks sound "weird" when they miss ?
3)Do you have AQC on ?

1) No.
2) No.
3) Yes.

[KoshZdryh]

Try AQC off.
Please reply if you notice any improvements [more hits than with AQC on].
Also disable ffdshow sound filter [if you haven't already].

[Painman]

Thanks for the tips.

I do have FFDShow; first I'll kill that (just added x3tc.exe to the audio codec's exclusion list); next I'll try ACQ. One thing at a time

[Scoob]

Hi,

I posted a thread on this very subject in Tech last night.

I summary... I had my Split Panther equipped with Flaks & I could see it hitting the Xenon PX I was following with the F3 camera repeatedly. However no damage whatsoever was caused. It's only when hit with more conventional HEPTs, PACs and Phased Repeater Guns that damage was delt.

I left the ship fighting for ages, and because I use the weapon switcher mod my Panther always tried to use the 'best' weapon for the job. It mostly chose to use Flaks which simple weren't doing any noticable damage.

This was the first time I'd used Flaks in TC, the same number of hits in Reunion would have torn that PX apart in short measure.

Cheers,

Scoob.

[Painman]

Update:

The FFDShow audio codec may have been the culprit; after excluding x3tc.exe from it, things seem to be OK now -- I spent a good chunk ot time loitering around in a Xenon sector killing whatever jumped in, and the FLAKs kept on working.

I'll continue to monitor the situation.

If it was indeed the codec, then it looks like this is a tech issue rather than a gameplay one -- Sorry for putting it in the wrong forum, but it really appeared like a gameplay thing.

[brekehan]

How does one determine if they have this ffdshow codec?
How does one exclude X3TC from it?

[KoshZdryh]

There is a specific sticky in the TC technical support forum.

[Embody]

1) No, its not ffdshow, the flak bug happens to me too, but I dont even have it installed.
2) Does not appear to be AQC, I have always had mine off.
3) FPS drop? nope, quite random..

[KoshZdryh]

4)The CPU is overloaded ?Cos I bet this doesn't happen when there are only few small ships around [10 km].
3)How about the weird sound when they shoot ?

Any other suggestions please ...

[GBlair4811]

I had this problem aswell I was trying out an Odysseus I had just fit out and the flaks didnt work, I remember thinking I was gonna have to change them out, but then when I loaded the game up the next day, they were fine, hitting as they should.


Couple notes on the subject. The flak's 'appear' to be hitting at their maximum range when bugged, shots go through targets to get to its max range then explodes. However, even when you get a ship at the max range and the explosions are hitting it dead on, it does 0 damage.

[Painman]

Maybe I'm misattributing cause and effect here? But excluding FFDShow *did* appear to have some effect. I can stay in a Xenon sector indefinitely without the FLAKS conking out (moderate amount of enemy fighters).

I tried out a Patrol in Menelaus' Paradise in between scouting Xenon sectors, it spawned a huge load of Pirate M6 and assorted fighters - it totally bogged down my system and I didn't survive the onslaught despite a few attempts, but the FLAKs worked properly throughout...

Now, however, I'm having the trouble again trying to complete a Xenon patrol mission in Black Hole Sun... loading a Salvage Insurance save, fwiw.

-Upon closer inspection, the FLAK blasts *do* appear to be firing past he fighters... they don't sound weird, though.

-Rear FLAK turret still appears to work for Missile Defense... I can shoot them down and get the confirmation beep.

-Quitting game and reloading the save doesn't help.

-Docking at a station and reloading an autosave doesn't help.

[KoshZdryh]

Put all the settings to minimum[including resolution],mute music,remove HUD,turn AQC on/off...there must be something.
PS:Then put ALL to maximum and see the differences.

[GBlair4811]

Im pretty sure its nothing to do with frames as I had this problem myself and it was fine the entire next day, even during lagfests.