Jump to content

Beam Rifle - Penetrating Ray doesn't always spread Disintegrate on 97% toHit


Purrfekshawn

Recommended Posts

Beam Rifle (Blaster) - Penetrating Ray power - has 100% chance to spread Disintegrate when it's NOT 97% to hit. When it's >97% toHit it also plays another animation (Charged Shot), although this may be intended. But its chance to spread Disintegrate varies depending on version - 100% change when ≤97% toHit and ≠100% chance when it's >97% toHit. This really messes the rotation & its AoE capabilities, because in team there's always 97% toHit, and it makes Penetrating Ray unreliable at some point. What could it be connected with?

To keep this game safe, We have to give it to the world.

Arc ID #13097 - Archvillain Beatdown, try it out!

Arc ID #21066 - Archvillain Beatdown - Past Edition!

Letz now talk about existing Incarnate Lore Pets:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/50351-incarnate-lore-pets-look-through-fix-and-improve/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

l've just made a testing on Private Server - and it seems Penetrating Ray quick shots have 100% chance to trigger disintegrate spread effect on Corruptor character. It's really sad, because they don't have access to Targeting Drone (Devices set).

 

Next step l'm gonna take is - to find out what exact byte in exact file on server is responsible for that effect and put here exact solution what is needed to fix this problem.

To keep this game safe, We have to give it to the world.

Arc ID #13097 - Archvillain Beatdown, try it out!

Arc ID #21066 - Archvillain Beatdown - Past Edition!

Letz now talk about existing Incarnate Lore Pets:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/50351-incarnate-lore-pets-look-through-fix-and-improve/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it seems to be l've found out the reason of this. And also there's solution how to fix it for ayone, who also wants to enjoy Beam Rifle on private server.

 

Also it's very important info for those who run this server, so please spend your time and listen carefully, maybe you won't regret it.

 

File "powers.bin", two of them are placed on SERVER in directory "C:\COH\data\bin\" and "C:\COH\data\server\bin\". It's better to change, although it seems only "C:\COH\data\server\bin\powers.bin" matters.

 

Open it in hexadecimal editor.

 

For "SCORE" version of "powers.bin" goto address "0x1582A68". For "Homecoming" version of "powers.bin" goto address "0x1582BB0". They differ for some reason (do they change powers?!).

 

There are following 4 bytes:

CD CC 0C 3F

It is actually floating point number, that's equal to 0.55. It's current chance of Blaster's quick Penetrating Ray to spread the effect.

Need to change it to

00 00 80 3F

Which stands "1". That's correct chance of disintegrate spread for other types of Penetrating Ray.

 

If "powers.bin" had already been changed before, in order to fix stuff you can search following 4 bytes:

F5 37 02 00

then 12 random bytes, then

F5 37 02 00

again

(F5 37 02 00 is the address of the string "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick", placed on the header of file "powers.bin" minus 24 (0x18) btw)

 

After that search forward for following 8 bytes (they should be pretty close):

00 00 C8 40 CD CC 0C 3F

and change them to

00 00 C8 40 00 00 80 3F

 

Update this way both of aforementioned files on the server, client modifications are not required. Result: 100% chance to spread Disintegrate with Penetrating Ray on Beam Rifle Blaster characters, as it's intended.

 

For players: client-side modification won't fix the bug, so have to use Private Server (like Me XD).

 

l'm not just mere player. l'm INTO THAT STUFF. So if you find some funk, wonk, etc. that is desirable to be fixed - you can ask me, perhaps l'll find out why that happens. l would be glad to help a team, that works for the good, and absolutely for free... But l wish to get a favor - fix Blaster's quick Penetrating Ray so l can play Mah Main Princess not only on private serva, but also hea. Or else l'll play Mah Main Princess only on private serva, and not hea XD.

7L6munc.jpg

And also We've found out that character's name length more than 100 characters sometimes may cause server crash XDDD. You hafta keep it in mind, when you shall extend Naming Buffer for Us. :-*

To keep this game safe, We have to give it to the world.

Arc ID #13097 - Archvillain Beatdown, try it out!

Arc ID #21066 - Archvillain Beatdown - Past Edition!

Letz now talk about existing Incarnate Lore Pets:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/50351-incarnate-lore-pets-look-through-fix-and-improve/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Also l found that it's safe to do this: copy contents of "subfile" (dunno how to call that record in "powers.bin" file) "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal" to "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick" and "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal" to "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick" from position like

0x600

to the end of record (simultaneusly increasing size of records to "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal" and "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal" sizes respectively). As sizes are changed - first DWORD of these records must be same as XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_Normal.

 

Because "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick" contains bugged chance to spread disintegrate, mentioned above in this post, its sequence:

00 00 C8 40 CD CC 0C 3F

needs to be overwritten to

00 00 C8 40 00 00 80 3F

 

Also need to correct DWORD value, that specifies "powers.bin" size, it's placed between header and data. It needs to be increased by 216 (0xD8).

 

Here's what l got when tried to do this. Dear devs, please make it happen because it looks so astonishingly beautiful @_@:

g012Z5B.gif

Result: Beam Rifle quick snipes now look like a real snipe, not the Charged Shot (visually distinctive and looks more powerful ^.^). It also seems so increase shot animation a bit, which might be considered as a slight Beam Rifle buff, but this is even for good, since it's currently kinda gimped, so buffing it a bit could be awesome!

 

Edit: Also need to correct "Villain_Pets.Corruptor_BeamRifle_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick" l somehow think.

 

To keep this game safe, We have to give it to the world.

Arc ID #13097 - Archvillain Beatdown, try it out!

Arc ID #21066 - Archvillain Beatdown - Past Edition!

Letz now talk about existing Incarnate Lore Pets:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/50351-incarnate-lore-pets-look-through-fix-and-improve/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beam Rifle (Blaster) - Penetrating Ray power - has 100% chance to spread Disintegrate when it's NOT 97% to hit. When it's >97% toHit it also plays another animation (Charged Shot), although this may be intended. But its chance to spread Disintegrate varies depending on version - 100% change when ≤97% toHit and ≠100% chance when it's >97% toHit. This really messes the rotation & its AoE capabilities, because in team there's always 97% toHit, and it makes Penetrating Ray unreliable at some point. What could it be connected with?

 

This is not a bug. The AOE damage is based on the length of the power's cast time. Fast snipe has a shorter animation, so it has a lower chance to AOE; 55% to be exact. Long snipe has a long animation, so it has a 100% chance to AOE. Working as intended.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Beam Rifle (Blaster) - Penetrating Ray power - has 100% chance to spread Disintegrate when it's NOT 97% to hit. When it's >97% toHit it also plays another animation (Charged Shot), although this may be intended. But its chance to spread Disintegrate varies depending on version - 100% change when ≤97% toHit and ≠100% chance when it's >97% toHit. This really messes the rotation & its AoE capabilities, because in team there's always 97% toHit, and it makes Penetrating Ray unreliable at some point. What could it be connected with?

 

This is not a bug. The AOE damage is based on the length of the power's cast time. Fast snipe has a shorter animation, so it has a lower chance to AOE; 55% to be exact. Long snipe has a long animation, so it has a 100% chance to AOE. Working as intended.

[*]Then why Corruptor/Defender Penetrating Ray quick shots have 100% chance to spread Disintegrate effect? Do they have longer animation? So quick shots are weaker on Blaster character, and same as powerful on Corruptor/Defender characters. Why? There's nothing weaker in quick snipes in any other powerset, no matter cast by Blaster/Corruptor/Defender, and then Beam Rifle has to be unique at this point. Seems somewhat wrong. In addition to that accuracy bonus may be provided by a teammate (via Tactics) - and weakening power through it looks like teammate trolling. And that shouldn't be a thing in any MMORPG.

[*]If it's not a bug, it should have been mentioned in a tooltip.

[*]l had never been in CoH, but as l know history - previously all Beam Rifle snipes had not 100% chance to spread disintegrate (most likely 55% chance), then devs decided to make it 100% to buff powerset. They buffed all of the related attacks (there are 6 of them: "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal", "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick", "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal", "Pets.Defender_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick", "Villain_Pets.Corruptor_BeamRifle_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Normal", "Villain_Pets.Corruptor_BeamRifle_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick"), but forgot about Beam Rifle Blaster's quick shots (it is "Pets.Blaster_BR_Snipe.Penetrating_Ray_Quick"). Quick Snipes became a thing before chance increase, right?

l'm glad you've answered me (most of GM's in most other games don't), but l still dare believe it's a bug and might be fixed for quality of life. Beam Rifle is pretty underpowered anyway (especially in AoE terms).

To keep this game safe, We have to give it to the world.

Arc ID #13097 - Archvillain Beatdown, try it out!

Arc ID #21066 - Archvillain Beatdown - Past Edition!

Letz now talk about existing Incarnate Lore Pets:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/50351-incarnate-lore-pets-look-through-fix-and-improve/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Then why Corruptor/Defender Penetrating Ray quick shots have 100% chance to spread Disintegrate effect? Do they have longer animation? So quick shots are weaker on Blaster character, and same as powerful on Corruptor/Defender characters. Why?

 

Because the quick snipe change is an Issue 24 feature that was being worked on at the time of the shutdown, and some changes didn't make it in. You can tell that the intended behavior is to have the animation time mandate the change to Disintegrate because the powers that spread Disintegration have a formula in the Excel files; the ones that are set to 100% just have a placeholder "1".

 

Whether that's a desirable balance point or not is up for debate (I don't play Blasters, so I don't know if Beam Rifle is underpowered or not) but looking at the source files, the intended behavior is the Blaster one.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Because the quick snipe change is an Issue 24 feature that was being worked on at the time of the shutdown, and some changes didn't make it in. You can tell that the intended behavior is to have the animation time mandate the change to Disintegrate because the powers that spread Disintegration have a formula in the Excel files; the ones that are set to 100% just have a placeholder "1".

 

Whether that's a desirable balance point or not is up for debate (I don't play Blasters, so I don't know if Beam Rifle is underpowered or not) but looking at the source files, the intended behavior is the Blaster one.

Well, are there other examples when Quick shots of snipes from any other Powerset become weaker than Normal shots of same snipers from same Powerset? If answer is no - then l think there should be used non-Quick animation time of Penetrating Ray in that formula for both Quick and non-Quick shots, that will give the result of 100% (and they used Quick time for that just by mistake). Or even they were going to make Penetrating Ray unique power, that is Reliable to spread Disintegrate, which is noted in its tooltip (not have chance to spread Disintegrate, but WILL spread Disintegrate). But it's just mah opinion. Anyway - lMO Beam Rifle would be more appealing and fun to play if chance was 100%, but it's just for me. It's not hell of a buff anyway.

 

Edit: if the formula is (cast_time+recharge_time)*0.04, which seems pretty likely, then chances are:

Signle Shot: (1+4)*0.04 = 20%

Charged Shot: (1.67+8)*0.04 = 38.68% ≈ 39%

Lancer Shot: (1.9+11)*0.04 = 51.6% ≈ 52%

Penetrating Ray (Normal, all classes (Blaster, Corruptor, Defender)): (4.4+12)*0.04 = 65.6% ≈ 66%

Penetrating Ray (Quick, all classes (Blaster, Corruptor, Defender)): (1.67+12)*0.04 = 54.68% ≈ 55%

 

They seem to approximate it before putting. But there's a deal, that Normal Penetrating Ray shot percentage is NOT 100% according to that formula, not anywhere near, while tooltip says "WILL", which points directly at 100% chance. Having placeholders on all 5 snipes, except just one looks wonky for me.

To keep this game safe, We have to give it to the world.

Arc ID #13097 - Archvillain Beatdown, try it out!

Arc ID #21066 - Archvillain Beatdown - Past Edition!

Letz now talk about existing Incarnate Lore Pets:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/50351-incarnate-lore-pets-look-through-fix-and-improve/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They also nerfed the "fast" versions of Archery and Assault Rifle insta-snipes. BTW, all this bold text makes your posts very hard to read, plus reads like yelling.

Well, if it's "nerfed" it's surely not intentional behavior. And thus should be fixed as well.

 

Recently l managed to develop a software, that can equalize Quick and Normal versions (within the file "powers.bin") of specific snipes for specific classes in all terms, except the stuff that needs to be different (charge time, interrupt time, animation times). But that will work only on if you have your own Private Server (like Me). Do you have it.

 

l could post here a link, that will allow you to fix this stuff, if you're playing on Private Server, but not sure if it's allowed by the forum rules. Also it might work erratically a bit, depending on which parameters you fill it with (in my test it corrected all Beam Rifle Quick snipe powers successfully).

 

This might be a bit offtop, but

In order to overall increase Beam Rifle's AoE capabilities (as it's currently gimped) l would increase Cutting Beam's target cap to 16, cone arc to 45° and Piercing Beam's target cap to 10, cone arc to 15°. Doing it on Private Server right now to see what happens. This slight splash buff might provide a bit more enjoyable gameplay for Us ;D.

 

To keep this game safe, We have to give it to the world.

Arc ID #13097 - Archvillain Beatdown, try it out!

Arc ID #21066 - Archvillain Beatdown - Past Edition!

Letz now talk about existing Incarnate Lore Pets:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/50351-incarnate-lore-pets-look-through-fix-and-improve/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, it seems to be even mentioned in patch notes:

 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/11cLJiSYlfueJheOumRywG8Evip2Mjmu_30Y6ePaetqY/edit

 

Beam Rifle’s Quick Snipe now has a 55% chance of Disintegration spread; regular slow Snipe chance remains at 100%.

But just why did they do that? And only for Blasters. Possible by mistake.

 

But no matter, l've 100% chance of it on Private Server & enjoy that. As well as Mastermind's Pets on Blaster Character. Very nice non-standard build n.n

 

sXIThST.png

To keep this game safe, We have to give it to the world.

Arc ID #13097 - Archvillain Beatdown, try it out!

Arc ID #21066 - Archvillain Beatdown - Past Edition!

Letz now talk about existing Incarnate Lore Pets:

https://forums.homecomingservers.com/topic/50351-incarnate-lore-pets-look-through-fix-and-improve/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...