Zoom Crash Starts at Chapter 3

[Gniarf]

Originally Posted by Chancellor23

I extracted the contents of Levels.pak and have access to Level_03_The_Hill.lua. I have some questions about this process: Do I have to extract all of the files in Levels.pak and put them into \NecroVisioN\Data\levels\ (and delete the levels.pak file)? Or can I extract only Level_03_The_Hill.lua and put it into \NecroVisioN\Data\levels\Level_03_The_Hill\?

You do NOT need top extract all the files from levels.pak. You can extract only some files (in \NecroVisioN\Data\[pakfile name]\[appropriate subdir]), modify them, keep levels.pak and the game will use the modified files.
Personally I prefer extracting all files and deleting the .pak because:
1-either the game uses my modified files or it crashes
2-no archives to uncompress -> faster loading times.

note: for subtitles.pak, "pakfile name" should be "Movies".

Originally Posted by Chancellor23

The Game.CachedWeapons table contains the weapons that will be available during the level. I see you replaced the Gew98 with the SMLE.

Ugggh! Sorry, I was probably too tired back then and didn't modify the right entry, I should instead have replaced Gew98 by SMLE in the Game.PlayerEnabledWeapons array.

Originally Posted by Chancellor23

The self:StartWithWeapon object needs to change from “Gew98” to “SMLE”.

It's not an object but a funtion call, but that's just a detail.

Originally Posted by Chancellor23

I don’t know at this point, if I need to swap the ammo to the SMLE or if the SMLE shares the Gew98 ammo, like the Luger shares the Colt ammo.

Ammo is shared(as far as I remember).

Originally Posted by Chancellor23

These modifications still didn’t work.

WTF²? The files are probably in the wrong directory or not named properly; it should be NecroVisioN\Data\levels\Level_03_The_Hill\Level_03 _The_Hill.lua .Try extracting all the content of levels.pak and renaming the archive to levels.bak; if the game crashs then the files aren't extracted correctly (that dual directory issue again? No wait, we already did the empty loader.lua experiment, so we know the correct subdir).

Originally Posted by Chancellor23

The fact that the SMLE was not cached for Chapter 3 implies that it doesn’t appear in this level. [all and the stuff until the end]

1-You know when you use the nvnweapons code you get all weapons, but not all weapons are cached, yet you can still use them.
2-I once made a mod that removed all forms of caching (AFAIK), it was supposed to reduce loading times. I think it did indeed, but there was some lag each time we brought up a weapon for the first time (because the game had to load the weapon on the fly).

In short: you don't have to bother about caching to use a weapon.

[Chancellor23]

All right. For reference purposes, I’ve attached a copy of my modified Level_03_The_Hill.lua file so you can see if I’ve coded anything incorrectly. My changes:

• Added the SMLE to the Game.CachedWeapons table.
• Substituted the SMLE for the Gew98 in the Game.PlayerEnabledWeapons table.
• Changed the self:StartWithWeapon value to SMLE.

Assuming that the SMLE shares ammo with the Gew98, I did not modify the Player.Ammo table.

Originally Posted by Gniarf

You do NOT need top extract all the files from levels.pak. You can extract only some files (in \NecroVisioN\Data\[pakfile name]\[appropriate subdir]), modify them, keep levels.pak and the game will use the modified files.

That’s what I thought. It was like that in Painkiller. Unfortunately, that’s what I did and it didn’t work.

Originally Posted by Gniarf

WTF²? The files are probably in the wrong directory or not named properly; it should be NecroVisioN\Data\levels\Level_03_The_Hill\Level_03 _The_Hill.lua .Try extracting all the content of levels.pak and renaming the archive to levels.bak; if the game crashs then the files aren't extracted correctly (that dual directory issue again? No wait, we already did the empty loader.lua experiment, so we know the correct subdir).

I triple-checked the pathnames and file placements. The game did not crash upon launch; so, I’m sure I got the filenames and pathnames right. This time, however, I simplified the process because NVN doesn’t seem to be using the individual modified files. In C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspyr\NecroVisioN\Data, I created a subfolder named “Levels”. I copied all of the extracted files and folders into that directory, which is named C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspyr\NecroVisioN\Data\Levels. Then I swapped the modified Level_03_The_Hill.lua into C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspyr\NecroVisioN\Data\Levels\Level_03_The_H ill. To be on the safe side, I moved the levels.pak source file out of the C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspyr\NecroVisioN\Data folder to a safe place so there would be no confusion when I launched the game.

This did not work. I still got the Gew98 and the crash in Chapter 3.

So, I moved the Levels folder to my user profiles Data folder: C:\Users\Paul\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\Aspyr\NecroVisioN\Data\Levels. Because I removed the levels.pak file and the Levels folder out of C:\Program Files (x86)\Aspyr\NecroVisioN\Data, I thought the game might crash. It didn’t. Chapter 3 loaded successfully. But I still got the Gew98 as my startup weapon and aiming still crashes the game.

Final Verdict: I’m going to uninstall and remove all of the NVN folders from the Programs (x86) folder and my user profiles folder. I’ll check the Windows Registry while I’m at it. Then I’m going to reinstall the game, create a new profile, and play through to Chapter 3. If NVN still crashes, I’m going to try playing through the level without aiming the Gew98. Or give up on the game.

This is not a lucrative career. What I really am not looking forward to replaying is that head-shot Challenge Room. That was really rough. Everything else was easy.

[Chancellor23]

I don't know why, but the file didn't attach. Let's try again.

[Chancellor23]

Ok. Now I have what I finally consider a Major Development. After all this playing around, I cannot uninstall NVN. I've located the InstallShield Installation Information folder for the app. The error message I'm receiving is that the Setup.exe file is missing. That is true, although where it went and how it was deleted I do not know. I will do an extensive system search, though. I usually keep "protected operating system files" hidden. Unless I need to see them—like now.

I'm going to copy the Setup.exe file from the DVD into the appropriate InstallShield Installation Information folder.

Here's a list of the files that I found in the InstallShield Installation Information folder:

• _Setup.dll
• data1.cab
• data1.hdr
• layout.bin
• setup.ilg
• setup.ini

Do I need to copy anything else into the folder besides Setup.exe in order to make the uninstall successful? For example, do I need to copy data2.cab or ISSetup.dll or setup.bat?

Thanks.

[Chancellor23]

I had to run the uninstaller from the DVD. All gone now. Reinstalling to base config + Aspyr Patch 1.2. We'll see how a new profile and playing through Chapter 3 works out before deciding whether or not to continue with this app.

No more modding.

[Gniarf]

Originally Posted by Chancellor23

No more modding.

If you say that there is little I can do for you. I wish you Good luck.

I just wanted to say that I tried your Level_03_The_Hill.lua and upon starting the 3rd level, I had the smle in my hands...

[Chancellor23]

Originally Posted by Gniarf

I wish you Good luck.

Thank you. And thanks for helping me out. It was pretty scary for while when I couldn’t uninstall the game. The Control Panel Programs and Features list told me that the app wasn’t even installed. Finding the correct InstallShield folder was an educational adventure, too. Pure luck that the DVD Setup.exe worked.

Originally Posted by Gniarf

I just wanted to say that I tried your Level_03_The_Hill.lua and upon starting the 3rd level, I had the smle in my hands...

Well, the good news is that I figured out how to change the code successfully. The bad news is that it didn’t work for me. Who knows why? Especially since I extracted the whole Levels.pak file and removed the Levels.pak file from the Data folder. It’s like there’s another, immutable installation hiding somewhere on my system. (There isn’t. I searched.) When I get back to Chapter 3, I’ll probably give the file one more try. I mean, if the file works, maybe I just need to apply it to a new profile. If not, I’ll find a way to make it through. Despite the setbacks, I still like this game. Plus, I learned a little about Lua scripting.

You’re a good guy, Gniarf.