0xf754c8fe:0x08 Unknown

[NoseyNick]

So c'mon, this one deserves a ticket and deserves some research:
simpleEvent:0x08 has been seen hundreds of thousands of times in our captures.

Looks like:

Packet type 0xf754c8fe = JamCRC("simpleEvent")
Packet Subtype 0x08
Unknown float (usually 50.0, or 100.0, sometimes 0.0?)

The docs say "Has been hypothesized as having some relation to SoundEffectPacket", and indeed DOES often come BEFORE OR AFTER SoundEffectPackets:

SoundEffect(UTF16("dat/shieldsUp.wav"));
Unknown_f754c8fe_08(50);

Unknown_f754c8fe_08(100);
SoundEffect(UTF16("dat/weapon1.wav"));

DamageShake(0,2.99401211738586);
Unknown_f754c8fe_08(100);
SoundEffect(UTF16("dat/shieldHit.wav"));

... yet it seems it's NOT the volume of a sound-effect (or at least doesn't seem to make any difference to sound effect volume when tested on the DISCO server). It also seems to be sent to stations that don't get SoundEffect packets

Frequently comes right before/after DamageShake (as above)

Ideas?

[JordanLongstaff]

I'm in no position to try this now, but one idea to figure out what this does may be to write a proxy server that, whenever it receives these packets, changes their values to 0 before forwarding them to the connected client.

I suspect this would be a super easy task using IAN.

[JordanLongstaff]

Is there a particular client console that frequently receives this unknown packet type?

[NoseyNick]

Seems to be sent to ALL client consoles, unfortunately 😕

[JordanLongstaff]

I see. What's the most concrete instruction you can give me to try and detect this packet type?

[NoseyNick]

Choose Weapons. Start the game, you'll see Unknown_f754c8fe_08(0);
Put shields up, you'll get Unknown_f754c8fe_08(50);
Launch a torp, you'll get Unknown_f754c8fe_08(100);
They happen A LOT, they're almost always value 0, 50, or 100, and they're almost always immediately before or immediately after a sound effect packet, IF you get SoundEffectPackets (weapons doesn't, usually, unless they're also a mainscreen?)

[JordanLongstaff]

What is DamageShake?

[JordanLongstaff]

I find it very interesting that one of these packets gets sent when the shields get raised, but not when they are lowered.

[NoseyNick]

DamageShake is the packet 0xf754c8fe:0x05 - which I see the doc calls PlayerShipDamagePacket 🙁

[JordanLongstaff]

So the value 0 is sent (to all clients, apparently) when the game is started. The value 50 is sent when shields are raised. The value 100 is sent when a torpedo is fired or player damage occurs. What do these four events have in common?

[JordanLongstaff]

If multiple ships are present, either ship performing one of these actions will cause this packet to be sent to both ships.

[JordanLongstaff]

This packet is received when player damage occurs. I wonder if this also applies to single-seat craft?

[JordanLongstaff]

No, this packet is not received when single-seat craft take damage.

[JordanLongstaff]

One hypothesis of mine is that this packet somehow affects the client's choice of background music to play. AFAIK the main screen console is the only one that plays background music, but maybe that was intended for all of them at one point. I have noticed before that certain events like raising shields, firing torpedoes and taking damage make the game interrupt its current background music and play something with more urgency.