Too many scripts cause themselves to eventually stop working?

[soulmata]

I'm using X3AP with an assortment of mods. I've noticed some odd behavior that I can't explain other than the game eventually has too much to keep track of and ignores scripts.

For example, I'm using the "Colored Claimable Ships" script as well as the "Ship Killed Notifications" script. For the first few hours in-game, they work fine. Now, after some number of hours (say 20) in-game, they just stopped working. No amount of uninstall/reinstall or toggling on/off gets them to "kick on" again. I've also noticed by the same token that some scripts no longer can be turned off, or at least not cleanly. The Bounce script, for instance - sometimes the anti-collision just gets "stuck on", and I'm able to float my way through asteroids. If I reload the game, collisions work again.

Note none of this appears at first - the game runs fine for a while, but eventually things seem to break down and some scripts just don't function anymore.

Anyone else experienced this? Thoughts on how to get around it?

[builder680]

I have no idea about scripts not running after a while. I wonder though, what specs do you have and how old is your PC? It honestly sounds like you're running out of RAM after a while (which is why I ask). You might check your Task Manager when these things start happening and compare the amount of RAM used versus when you first load X3.

[soulmata]

My machine:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 at 4400MHz
32GB DDR3 1600 RAM
AMD R9 290X 4GB DDR5

I also run the game off a RAMDISK so that I don't have to worry about loading times off an SSD. My framerate is consistently in the hundreds of FPS if I don't have vsync enabled. Even on SETA 10x, my framerate doesn't dip below 54FPS. So the machine is plenty powerful for X3, even though it is single threaded.

I recently had a vanilla AP game that was around 100 hours in that I retired to find something more interesting. I've got a plethora of mods installed, and some of them seem to work consistently without any issue (Improved Races 2.0), and others seem to just "flake out" after a while (Bounce, Ship Killed Notifications, Colored Claimable Ships).

Additional note: I've noticed that when these scripts stop working, I also start seeing a bunch of messages missing in my game log. Example: When "Ship killed notifications" stops working, I also stop seeing any entries in the log that a ship was destroyed. The mission log is still updated with things like mission rewards and Phanon corp updates, but not ships being destroyed.

And the Colored Claimable Ships script, for instance, will still color Astronauts that escape into space, but it stops coloring ships.

And, as I've said, it doesn't start happening until the game has seen many hours of play. No amount of rebooting, reloading, stopping/starting scripts seems to fix it once it's broken in-game.

[builder680]

Well it ain't RAM lol. Just checking you had at least 4gb.

Only thing I can think of would be a bad script causing problems with others. Unfortunately the only solution to that is testing each one rigorously, which I doubt anyone has time for. Perhaps you could check their respective threads for anyone with similar issues.

[Nicoman35]

Could this be related to some bug on the hardcoded side of the game engine? Maybe some wierd memory error like in Skyrim occured with the open cities mod?

[X2-Illuminatus]

Please list the scripts and mods you are using.

[soulmata]

Of Course! I should have done that in the first post. Here's the list:

X3:AP with latest patch
Bonus Pack

TC Plots for AP
Enhanced Briefings
Colored Claimable Ships
Missile Monitor
Pirate Guild
Yaki Armada
Galactic News
Advanced Patrol
Numeric Race Ranks
Explorer Command Extension
jc hud
Impossible MIssion Difficulty
Advanced Opponent Balancing System
Ship Killed Notifications
Community Configuration Menu / Ware Manager
json parser 1.1 (realizing now there is a 1.2 available)
ATF Shipyard
Terran MOB
Terran Marines
Improved Races 2.0
Bounce
NPC Bailing Addon
Salvage Commands and NPC Salvagers
System Command Software
PhenonCorp



Of all of those, I think TC plots for AP is the most grandiose. I use the plugin manager for everything that comes in SPK format.

[DrBullwinkle]

I've noticed some odd behavior that I can't explain other than the game eventually has too much to keep track of and ignores scripts.

That does not happen.

What *does* happen is conflicts, when two scripts/mods change the same file (or text page). Just Guessing: If you remove the color-coded thing, do you get better results?

[soulmata]

I removed colored claimable ships, and Ship Killed Notifications still wasn't functioning, and Bounce was still intermittent (sometimes I could sail through stations, asteroids and other ships, sometimes I couldn't. Sometimes no ship owned by me in-sector could take damage from anything, sometimes they could).

Another anomaly happened last night... I encountered a new type of Xenon ships that I'm or sure is a conflict, bug or perhaps a script not intended or not fully functional with AP.

I've seen several Xenon ships called "Xenon Unknown Object". They are classified as M3s, have ~800MJ of shielding, 2,400,000 Hull, 8x PACs and 0 laser recharge, so as soon as their laser battery is empty they can't fire anymore. I'm fairly certain what's happening here is one of the scripts is attempting to add a ship to a Xenon fleet, and the ship isn't actually finished or supposed to be in-game.

Anyway, I figured I should start another game and cull any scripts and mods I don't particularly need.

[DrBullwinkle]

Most scripts are fairly safe. I use many more than you have listed.

Mods are more risky. Read the instructions for things like ATF Shipyard carefully... that sounds like a mod.

Testing in a new game is a good idea. Even if you do not keep the new game, doing the test will tell you whether your troubles are the result of a damaged save game.

You know that Bounce has a hotkey, right? And you followed the instructions in huge letters at the top of the Bounce thread?

[soulmata]

Yes, absolutely. I am very meticulous at reading instructions (I'm a software engineer by trade in any case, so I know the frustrations when people don't exercise due diligence in these things).

Bounce itself was turned on, and had been working normally. I'm only assuming that bounce was the actual cause of the collision weirdness, since it is the only script I use that affects collisions. Essentially what would happen is that the game, especially right after an intense fight, would leave collisions turned off for my property (and sometimes even my playership).

Do you use AP or TC with your scripts/mods? If AP, got a list you can share, so I could perhaps evaluate what at least "should work" based on your experience?

[DrBullwinkle]

Bounce also requires a wall file that matches your game. If you have modified versions of TShips (maybe some other types files as well?) then you will need to build a new wall file.

Double-check eldyranx3's packages. Some of them include mods to vanilla files. That is OK, but you must be sure to match versions carefully.

Everything on my list works with both TC and AP (except for Abandoned Ship Spawner for AP, which should be obvious. Hopefully. ).

There is also a list of Scripts and Mods that I use in my own game. It is far from a complete list, but it highlights some of my personal favorites.

[soulmata]

I started a new game with some mods removed and it didn't change anything wrt the colored ships and ship notifications... so on a hunch, I disabled Colored Ship Notifications, which is an AL script that says it "Resets itself every 10 seconds."

Well, 14 game hours into a new game, and the problem with other scripts no longer working hasn't resurfaced. I can't say for sure yet, but it appears that script may have been the cause. Which is good because I wasn't looking forward to giving up Terran Marines... I also have removed ATF Shipyard, hopefully I can put that back into place, since I would really like the Terrans to have shield fabs.

Also, thanks DrBullwinkle, some of the scripts you have listed I now prefer.

[Cycrow]

I've noticed some odd behavior that I can't explain other than the game eventually has too much to keep track of and ignores scripts.

That does not happen.

What *does* happen is conflicts, when two scripts/mods change the same file (or text page). Just Guessing: If you remove the color-coded thing, do you get better results?

actually it can happen, if there is so much going on that the game engine simply cant keep up, then it skips processing the scripts.
This happened more in the older games like X2, and less so in AP, but its still possible.

You can usually notice it when all ships in the game simply stop moving as the movement scripts are no longer being run.

The most common cause is when you get a script that keeps spawning new ships and you end up with sectors full of 1000's of ships