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How to avoid the 99.99km issue in skirmish

When you add custom crafts to the game and play a skirmish mission, a few crafts may appear far away. This happens because the SPEC.RCI file contains invalid/missing data. It is good to regenerate SPEC.RCI each time you make changes to the craft slots.

What is SPEC.RCI

SPEC.RCI is a file that contains the main characteristics of the crafts. It is used by the game engine to avoid to have to read the crafts files each time it needs those informations.

How to generate SPEC.RCI

1. run XWA from the command line with the "generate" option:

   Code: Select all

   XWingAlliance.exe generate
   

   You can also use the command from the launcher (Alliance.exe).
   Open the launcher, select "Advanced Options" > "Run XWA with Command Line".
   In the input box, enter "generate" and click "OK".
   XwaSpecRciGenerate.png
2. open the Tech Library
   You do not need to cycle through the crafts. You just need to enter the tech library.

Fascinating.

Thanks, JeremyFr.

Most of us have just gotten used to inserting "custom" craft in Skirmish missions BETWEEN "standard" craft (even if they are just Containers).
This new info will be beneficial.

However, Forum Members should be aware that "Spec.RCI" is NOT a text file, so they won't be able to check whether the regenerated file actually does anything, without testing in-game (unless there is something they should be looking for in a hex editor, or something).
Probably not important.

DARoot

Here is a little tool to easily view the content of SPEC.RCI:

Great find Jeremy. THanks.

Edit: Ok looks like it's just a table that caches the basic stats of all craft models like shield strength etc. The first column (index number of each model) will be helpful when referencing models in the HangarMap.txt files.

Thanks Jeremya! Like Bman said, a great find.
Unfortunately your SpecRciEditor doesn't on my computer. When I try to open a RCI-file (even a newly generated one), I get this error message: "Der Index war außerhalb des Arraybereichs". This should translate as "Index out of range exception". I'm on Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit, SP1. I also have .NET Framework 4.5.2 and Visual C++ 2013 Runtime 12.0.21005 installed.
Your older SpecRciEditor of XWAStatisticsView (version 1.0.3.11) works fine though.

Edit: This is the whole error message:

Rasalas wrote:When I try to open a RCI-file (even a newly generated one), I get this error message: "Der Index war außerhalb des Arraybereichs". This should translate as "Index out of range exception".

Corrected.

Bman wrote:Curious, can that file be used as a back door way to expand the craft table slots ? What if the Spec.RCI file is expanded with extra data records ?

Spec.rci can't be used to expand the craft slot table. Adding new records will not have any effect.

Thank you for the quick fix. It works now.

Hi. I'm new to this forum. I found your solution but am unclear as to how I am to implement it? Could someone please clarify what it means to "Run from command line"? thank you.

Hello,

1. Open a command prompt
2. Execute the following command:

   Code: Select all

   XWingAlliance.exe generate

   xwa_cmd_generate.png
3. Open the Tech Library
   xwa_techlib_generate.jpg
   A file named "SPEC.RCI" is created/updated:
   xwa_spec_rci_generate.png
   For DSUCP, its size is 11 Ko.

UPDATE

Hello,
I've updated the opt limit hook.

I've added generating the "spec.rci" file.

Now, when the "spec.rci" file is missing, then it will be generated when you launch the game.

@JeremyaFr I'll move this over to the new Guides section

Thanks.
I've edited the first post to add infos for the new launcher.