Announcement Spam

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delilah wild
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun, 5. Aug 12, 18:24

Announcement Spam

Post by delilah wild »

The repetitive announcements on the station were always annoying. A bit of atmosphere at first that quickly grows stale. A toggle to switch these announcements on or off should have been available in vanilla long ago.

In light of this, a mod was developed to silence these announcements. Available for many years it was was recently orphaned and thence removed by Steam. Now those who used the mod experience announcement spam every 5 minutes everywhere -- on any ship you fly, any ship you are a passenger on, any station you are standing on, and even your personal office. This makes the game unplayable.

Now is the time for Egosoft to add that toggle.
BitByte
Posts: 523
Joined: Tue, 14. Sep 21, 15:57
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Re: Announcement Spam

Post by BitByte »

What spam are you talking about when flying ship?
I only get warnings and if choosing targets (target info by voice can be disabled via settings) and if pilots have questions (under attack or pirate harrasment) but even those can be disabled via settings.
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stooper88
Posts: 293
Joined: Sat, 7. Jul 07, 02:48
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Re: Announcement Spam

Post by stooper88 »

Unfortunately, I suspect the deprecated mod may have left a residual side effect and broken the OP's game. I don't experience any station announcements anywhere except while on stations, and even then, not to any degree that has been bothersome or detrimental (that I've noticed).
Beware the pirate spacesuit patrols!
BitByte
Posts: 523
Joined: Tue, 14. Sep 21, 15:57
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Re: Announcement Spam

Post by BitByte »

I suspect the same. And only way to fix such issue is completely uninstall game, remove leftover folders and reinstall the game.
Zaihbot
Posts: 72
Joined: Fri, 14. Jun 24, 20:56

Re: Announcement Spam

Post by Zaihbot »

Mod in question was "No Ranks Thanks or Tannoys".

And yes, after removing the mod, you'll hear the station announcement everywhere, even if you are in space. With SETA enabled, you even hear the announcements pretty much constantly.

Scripts in question:

ext_01.cat
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Code: Select all

md/notifications.xml 781 1604054639 bba640a1d7de2de537d96efe725ed00f
md/playerreputation.xml 3108 1593016220 979d7653c1b1b8ffad2c64bc3bc8d149

ext_01.dat
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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<diff>
<!-- Remove station announcements -->
	    <remove sel="//cue[@name='StationAnnouncements']/actions">
		</remove>
	    <remove sel="//cue[@name='StationAnnouncements_OnUndock']/actions">
		</remove>
	    <remove sel="//cue[@name='StationAnnouncements_PrepareSpeak']/actions">
		</remove>
		<remove sel="//cue[@name='StationAnnouncements_PrepareSpeak']/conditions">
		</remove>
	    <remove sel="//cue[@name='StationAnnouncements_Speak']/actions">
		</remove>
		
<!-- Remove thanks messages for station defence -->	
		<remove sel="//cue[@name='IllegalActivityRewardConv']/actions/do_if[2]/add_npc_line"></remove>
		<remove sel="//cue[@name='IllegalActivityRewardConv']/actions/do_else/add_npc_line"></remove>

</diff><?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<diff>
<!-- remove the annoying rankup speech -->
		<replace sel="//cue[@name='FactionRepresentativePromotionCallback']/actions">
               <actions>
                <set_value name="$FactionRepresentative" exact="event.param.{1}"/>
                <debug_text text="$FactionRepresentative.name +' handling ' + event.param.{2}" chance="$DebugChance"/>

                <do_if value="event.param.{2} == 'ceremonystarted'">
                  <create_list name="$LogbookText" />

                  <!-- determine which licenses to add and applies those changes -->
                  <include_actions ref="CalculateLicences" comment="returns $ShipsAndEquipment, $PoliceCanBuy, $Subgroups, $LicencesToAdd[]"/>

                  <create_list name="$RepresentativeLines" />

                  <append_to_list name="$RepresentativeLines" exact="12117" comment="Outro, this triggers the 'ceremonycomplete' callback "/>

                  <!-- Add lines to the queue -->
                  <do_all exact="$RepresentativeLines.count" counter="$LineCounter">
                    <add_npc_line speaker="$FactionRepresentative" lookat="player.entity" line="$RepresentativeLines.{$LineCounter}" />
                  </do_all>

                </do_if>
                <do_elseif value="event.param.{2} == 'ceremonyline'">

                  <do_if value="event.param.{3} == 12109">
                    <!-- rank notification -->
                    <show_notification text="[{30003,1001}, '', $Faction.licence.ceremonyfriend.name]" />
                    <set_value name="$TitlePostfix" exact="$Faction.licence.ceremonyfriend.name" />
                  </do_if>
                  <do_elseif value="event.param.{3} == 12110">
                    <!-- rank notification -->
                    <show_notification text="[{30003,1001}, '', $Faction.licence.ceremonyally.name]" />
                    <set_value name="$TitlePostfix" exact="$Faction.licence.ceremonyally.name" />
                  </do_elseif>
                  <do_elseif value="event.param.{3} == 12111">
                    <include_actions ref="LicencesNotificationsAndLogbook"/>
                  </do_elseif>
                  <do_elseif value="event.param.{3} == 12115">
                    <!-- police licence notification -->
                    <show_notification text="[{30003,1010}, '', $Faction.licence.police.name]" comment="You can now purchase:"/>
                  </do_elseif>

                </do_elseif>
                <do_elseif value="event.param.{2} == 'ceremonycomplete'">

                  <substitute_text text="$Title" source="readtext.{30003}.{1017}">
                    <replace string="'$RANK$'" with="$TitlePostfix" />
                  </substitute_text>
                  <debug_text text="'Ceremony completed.'" chance="$DebugChance"/>
                  <write_to_logbook category="general" title="$Title" text="$LogbookText" faction="$Faction" />

                </do_elseif>
              </actions>
		</replace>
</diff>
(just in case someone has an idea, but should be probably posted in the modding section)
Nanook
Moderator (English)
Moderator (English)
Posts: 28181
Joined: Thu, 15. May 03, 20:57
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Re: Announcement Spam

Post by Nanook »

BitByte wrote: Fri, 24. Jan 25, 01:38 I suspect the same. And only way to fix such issue is completely uninstall game, remove leftover folders and reinstall the game.
That's a bit extreme. It should be enough to remove the extensions folder and start a new game, unless the mod actually changed game files. In that case, a file verification through Steam will probably suffice.

And yes, this belongs in the modding forum, so over it goes.
Have a great idea for the current or a future game? You can post it in the [L3+] Ideas forum.

X4 is a journey, not a destination. Have fun on your travels.
j.harshaw
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 2074
Joined: Mon, 23. Nov 15, 18:02

Re: Announcement Spam

Post by j.harshaw »

I'm unfamiliar with the cue that the code Zaihbot posted modifies, but if i'm reading it right, the station announcements every 5 seconds even when you're in space should stop if you deactivate the mod, land at a station, and leave your ship. you may have to go some place in the station like a manager's office or a bar.
note that this isn't an offer to support the mod or repair any damage it has done. just hoping it'll save someone having to start over.
delilah wild
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun, 5. Aug 12, 18:24

Re: Announcement Spam

Post by delilah wild »

Hi Folks.

Thanks for your thoughts and replies. Insightful and helpful.

I'll first try flying to a station myself, disembarking and going to one of the inner rooms. I've been teleporting or riding along on ships piloted by AI, and been to my personal office, but the announcements continue.

A question of clarification, if the above action does not work, is it possible to roll back to a previous save in the game, or fix the problem without starting a new game? I've been playing this 'thread' of the game since the release of X4, and I'd hate to loss it.

Edit: I tried flying and exiting to several stations and that didn't stop the announcement spam. I also tried verifying the files, and nothing was amiss.

Is it possible for me to search the files shared in the thread above and remove that code? Otherwise, I come back to the question of whether I can keep this thread of the game, or will have to begin again.
delilah wild
Posts: 29
Joined: Sun, 5. Aug 12, 18:24

Re: Announcement Spam

Post by delilah wild »

I guess this is where posts to Egosoft and mod problems go to die. :(
j.harshaw
EGOSOFT
EGOSOFT
Posts: 2074
Joined: Mon, 23. Nov 15, 18:02

Re: Announcement Spam

Post by j.harshaw »

delilah wild wrote: Mon, 27. Jan 25, 00:55 is it possible to roll back to a previous save in the game, or fix the problem without starting a new game?
Either should work as long as you're sure that no trace of the mod is still present.
cammy9r
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun, 28. Jan 07, 19:48
x4

Re: Announcement Spam

Post by cammy9r »

As a final option, would you be able to rebuild your game using the custom game creator? Just a thought as starting afresh could be off putting if you are far into it.

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