"Splash damage" Error.

[moed]

There are times when I finish a quick battle and when the enemy ship is exploding, a DOS box appears stating:

"Setting splash damage for (whatever ship name I was fighting) to (then the x, y coordinates)"
"TypeError: call of non-function (type module)"

It stops gameplay and if I type "resume" in the DOS box, it brings me back to the game... Sometimes in Map view??
Has anyone ever encountered this and is there a fix?

Update: I believe it has something to do with Nano FX.

Also attached is a console report.

[King Class Scout]

I got this ALL the time, including the map view switchover.  other times, typing "resume" would lead to a stack of dos boxes with no info whatsoever, which was an indicator of a CTD.  if someone has a solution to this, even I'd be interested.

and, yes, I think it has to do with Nano.

[Mario]

Try disabling explosionfx completely that or play in full screen mode. I think windowed mode is finicky in that regard most of the time.

[moed]

I got this ALL the time, including the map view switchover.  other times, typing "resume" would lead to a stack of dos boxes with no info whatsoever, which was an indicator of a CTD.  if someone has a solution to this, even I'd be interested.

and, yes, I think it has to do with Nano.

What does CTD stand for?

[Mario]

Crash to desktop

[moed]

Try disabling explosionfx completely that or play in full screen mode. I think windowed mode is finicky in that regard most of the time.

Thanks Mario. Good to be back among you all after so many years away.

I gotta ask though, why the heck would playing in windowed mode have anything to do with splash damage crashes?? I can't even fathom the connection of the two.

On the other hand, I know that BC is an old game with it's own peculiar "quirks", so....

[Mario]

Because in fullscreen mode python interpeter ignores script errors mostly while in windowed it does what it does.

[moed]

Try disabling explosionfx completely that or play in full screen mode. I think windowed mode is finicky in that regard most of the time.

Well, I tried all what you advised on and STILL get the DOS box error. Only difference was that in full-screen mode, the DOS box never appeared but the gameplay/screen just froze. So I had to do a ctrl-alt-del to get to Task Manager and exit the game.

One interesting thing I notice however is when I play the very first QB after launching the game, and only one on one, whether I win or lose, whatever ship blows up does NOT stop the game. But, any other QB after that brings up the DOS box very soon after a ship blows. Or, if the very first QB after launching the game is with multiple ships, the first ship to blow will not stop the game, but any successive ship after the first one will bring up the DOS box??!!

Has ANYONE ever found the cause for this and most importantly, is there a fix?

[moed]

Well, I tried all what you advised on and STILL get the DOS box error. Only difference was that in full-screen mode, the DOS box never appeared but the gameplay/screen just froze. So I had to do a ctrl-alt-del to get to Task Manager and exit the game.

One interesting thing I notice however is when I play the very first QB after launching the game, and only one on one, whether I win or lose, whatever ship blows up does NOT stop the game. But, any other QB after that brings up the DOS box very soon after a ship blows. Or, if the very first QB after launching the game is with multiple ships, the first ship to blow will not stop the game, but any successive ship after the first one will bring up the DOS box??!!

Has ANYONE ever found the cause for this and most importantly, is there a fix?

So here's the situation, I experimented with a bunch of different settings and discovered that recently, I got the high-res fix for non-KM installs to up my BC res to 1920x1080 which is not native to the game resolution choices. It works fine but in a nutshell, non-KM BC installs with this fix does NOT  like it when it comes to explosions!

As I mentioned before, if playing the very first QB 1 on 1 with another ship, the loser that explodes causes no DOS box/freeze to manifest itself. But any explosion after that first one causes the issues. So, after trying many different scenarios/setting changes and other stuff, I decided to lower my game res to one that's native to BC. The issue never came up again after all successive explosions in QB!

Now here's the thing, I really want to have my game res at 1920x1080 but if I do, the problem persists... and I don't have the Python programing knowledge to rectify the problem.

I know the BC community has some top-notch Python coders out there that can probably deal with this issue so I'm putting out the call to see if someone wants to take this on as it's a serious problem. I did this first hard part in researching and isolating the cause, now it would be great if my fellow "Starfleet software engineers" out there could take the reigns and see if this can be fixed 

Thing that I can't understand is whoever created the BC higher res fix in the first place didn't more thoroughly test out all the possible ramifications of that fix?!

[Mario]

Or it could be related to BC thinking since it's running on a non native resolution that it's running in some kind of windowed mode which makes the python console window show (what you refer to incorrectly as the dos box).

Just play the game using DXWnd (it's what I do) and I play it in fullscreen mode using a native BC resolution.

Probably KM installs fixed the exception which is why the python window is not visible in this instance.

[moed]

Or it could be related to BC thinking since it's running on a non native resolution that it's running in some kind of windowed mode which makes the python console window show (what you refer to incorrectly as the dos box).

Just play the game using DXWnd (it's what I do) and I play it in fullscreen mode using a native BC resolution.

Probably KM installs fixed the exception which is why the python window is not visible in this instance.

What is "DXWnd"?

Yes, my KM install never has this issue.

Here's the thing, I obviously realize that I can play the game in a BC native res but on my 27" monitor, the BC native resolutions look terrible!  The objective here is to have one of this communities' Python coders hopefully FIX the existing problem... If that's possible.

[King Class Scout]

DXwnd is effectively a booster.  I'll let someone with better knowlege explain.  i'm one of the ones that can't get it to work, probably because I have all stock hardware

Mario is most likely the last python coder left around here!

[Mario]

DXwnd is effectively a booster.  I'll let someone with better knowlege explain.  i'm one of the ones that can't get it to work, probably because I have all stock hardware

Search dxwnd here, I posted my settings in one of the threads with screenshots. That might help you (maybe if you've not tried).

[moed]

Search dxwnd here, I posted my settings in one of the threads with screenshots. That might help you (maybe if you've not tried).

Well, I tried DXWnd and it didn't work for my installs. 

[Mario]

You are starting the game via DXWnd right?

[moed]

You are starting the game via DXWnd right?

Yes, I followed the instructions carefully, and yet, I get an immediate game crash. I tried different resolutions and other settings, no luck.