System26- new screen shots posted! Full size, large images

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Is System26 able to generate binary systems ?
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Periculi
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Is it possible to make mainly Solarites and possibly Sung appear in the Sol branch even though its level suggests Ares and Ranx? This would be useful for making a Xenophobe or Urak branch.
Well, actually I was just experimenting with taking over control of the system level from script- and yes it is possible.

Basically, a systems default is to call for a random choice for a station confined by environment type filters for the system and level as defined in its structure definition the <SystemType> tag.

I have set up script where I override the filters by ignoring them- in other words, I produce my own list of stations to choose and disregard the normal building filters to place them at <OnCreate> time. I used some markers to mark the random locations that were chosen, then I remove the stations that got built if any are there and replace them with the stations I want to have- with no problems about level or filtering.
Is System26 able to generate binary systems ?
System structures are tricky, and there aren't a lot of options for building them that offer the flexibility and ease that the default system definitions make use of.

It is actually preferable to use the system definitions when it comes to the planets and other structures.

I am sure that I could get it to generate a binary system, but it is done easier in the system definitions because they have some XML tags that you can't easily reproduce.

My plan was to leave the system structures alone and focus on altering smaller scale items- stations and secondary planetoids and moons.

So, yes, system 26 will be using binary systems as the classic game does- no it won't generating them, but it can alter nearly everything else in them.

One of the problems is that you lose the Orbit indicator if you remove an object that is a world scale, and can't place a new planet with an orbit. So, unless you prefer no orbits shown, it is best to leave the systems intact for that part of the process.
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How easy is it to hardcode a binary (or trinary) system and then have system26 reference it at an appropriate branch?
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It would be fairly easy to do, just like adding it in to the default topology with a custom system definition. In Sys26 you additionally need to synchronize the map data to the actual topology structure so that it can be mapped.

For each Node there is a corresponding data set, any changes to a node need to also change the data.

Mainly System26 controls access to systems in the structure of nodes, it doesn't create them. I haven't found a way to create new nodes. System26 is an array of lots of nodes, which then get their gates turned on or off to create a network when the map is loaded.

Every game has the same nodes in the same topology structure- but every node has a large number of gates which allow it to dynamically change it's linkage when certain gates are turned off.

For example SE has 26 gates- 3 of those gates go to systems that are named for the classic C1 star systems: (C1 = Groombridge, Lalande, or 5 Indi). So to get System26 to create a link that is identical to the default topology I only need to turn on 1 of the 3 options C1 - and remove all the other gates in the system.

Now, let's say that SE got it's usual C1 and a random gate- so a random link for SE is chosen from it's set of links excluding the set of C1 links, and so it gets set up in the game-
(SE = link to Groombridge and a link to Xi Adhil (for example))

In System26, the topology uses No Random gate links, and No Prev gate links. Every single link is absolute and goes to a uniquely named Node. Every gate goes to a linked pair, associated to a grid pattern as if the nodes are placed on a big grid.

Every Node has a unique numeric value on this grid to calculate it's position and links from.

Every gate always gates to the same position on the imaginary node grid.

There are no nodes that can be randomly named, such as a C1 having either the names Groombridge, Lalande, 5 Indi. All the names are static for a node in order to be able to accurately show them in the map viewer. (there isn't any way to get the system name from a remote system that I could find)

All the random control has been moved to the map generator so that the decisions that are made can A) be done before the systems actually get created and B) be available when the game starts as data for the map viewer.

So, without system 26 functions to control the topology the game delivers a huge map with systems that all have 26 gates. (this is just the grid gates- systems will be using more gates for some special arrangements and places to easily mod in new material like custom systems)

You enter at Eridani, and find too many gates! But every gate goes to a system on the grid (except that borders exist and all lead to a Dummy system). You can play through all 531 systems if you want to.

But with the system 26 functions that control the gates, you can reproduce just the classic linear topology, make branches and networks, and a whole bunch more.

This is an improvement on SS topo mainly because it allow only one system definition to have all the gates- SS topo used a StarSystem1 (one gate) StarSystem2 (two gates) StarSystem3 (three gates) ... up to 5 gates. So, if there are 7 systems that are environmental/structure defines, for each number of gates you needed 7 systems - 26 gates times 7 systems! 182 StarSystem definitions, no way! How about ANY number of gates in just 7 systems... sounds much better to me.

System26 allows one set of systems to define the MAX number of gates, and then simply gets rid of the excess gates. Thanks to kaypy for the inspiration and sample NetProto1 mod on xelerus. I did have to redesign the gate removal code, and all the other parts for it to work, but the idea to remove gates goes to kaypy. (Good idea!)
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Periculi
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:lol: My save game is 1.5 mb at the start of the game.

Now, I don't really care but this indicates that System26 is storing too much data permanently that it doesn't need.

The good news is that I think I found a way to fix it.

On the upside, I got the mapper to do some pathfinding through a network and tell me which links were made to where and if it managed to get to the goal system or not.


Edit- Hmm.. Sav is 746 kb now that I added a function to clear the processing variables after they are done .. yay!

Down to 640, and that's probably because the topology, massive data set, and other functions are all in the sav.

I think I might be able to shave some more off that later, but it's stable at 640 and doesn't go up from there- the map data isn't added to once it's been completed, it just gets altered to suit the current situation.
F50
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NICE

ok. So back to an old question: Does System26 redefine standard ships and stations? I assume from the previous posts that it redefines all star systems.
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Terran systems a.k.a Sol could use different planet images.
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Periculi
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@ F50- No, sorry, not planning an Epic scale mod here, just a massive map mod. :lol:

(oh, you posted while I was writing.. yay! and, Yes, terran system planets could be whatever you like to make them.)

I haven't altered any of the original stations or ships.

I did get rid of Elysium in favor of a jump-to-beacon alien jump drive,
but I do actually plan to add it back in.

Most of my changes are additive so far, except for the <StarSystemTopology> and <SystemTypes> tags which I have drastically changed; although everything is still called the some for the most part. Like &ssPointJuno being called Point Juno and also all the unique systems have the exact same node ID- Eridani => SE, St. Katharine's => SK, for them all.

Node that were removed were all the random generating type, such as C1- these Node ID are all now changed over to using the system 26 naming system.

I have had to create a unique StarGate station for each of the gates used. A small inconvenience, compared to the results.

I have a small set of new items that allow me to put image icons on lists for special uses. I plan on expanding on this to meet my decorative goals. I really wish that (list "Title" &rsPointerToImageResource; "Description") would work in the customPicker! But, alas, it seems to only eat items for images!

I added a new start position that is a 'bootstrap' for system26- you now have to dock with the Mod Configuration Station in an empty system at the beginning of each game. You'll love it. I am putting the finishing touches on a PlayerShip Lab that allows you to totally refit you ship before entering the game, instead of doing it in the xml outside transcendence (for those days you want to start in a level 9 system and just blast things into pieces)

This mod is huge, and I am starting to think I will need to find a place to draw the line- the features list for Map editing alone has gotten hugely out of control and spans several notebooks full of other ideas... and all those things really are just extras- hopefully I will find a stable, playable version out of the insane development project this has turned into. :P
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Periculi
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Oh sweetness!

I figured out how to get the stargate names to change. If you have never reconned a gate, it's Unknown, and doesn't show up in the gate list for the system.

If you get a sys map, it might show you Unknown Gate instead of the gate name- once you recon it it will show you either the name of the known system or Unknown System.

If you go through the gate and come back, it shows you the proper name of the system.

If you buy information from a cartography data vendor, you will get the known states set to known, but it doesn't point out the gate on the system map when you get there- you still must go locate it in the system. :)
F50
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One more feature I would like:

The ability to generate a static System26 configuration.

Basically I want to use System26 to configure an SS topo, and then use System26 to create a mod that uses that configuration so I can put it up on Xelerus as if it were a regular SS topo mod (which you can't configure in-game).

This would allow one to use System26 to make a branch for your new faction that you just created and to distribute it with the faction.


Sorry if this sounds impossible, but now I'm sure Periculi can do anything. :P
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Periculi
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Basically I want to use System26 to configure an SS topo, and then use System26 to create a mod that uses that configuration so I can put it up on Xelerus as if it were a regular SS topo mod (which you can't configure in-game).
Hmm.. There is a small problem with that- transcendence doesn't have a write to file command. You can't use it to alter any files except the save file.

If you just want to make a map mod for System26 that's what it is designed for! But it can't produce topology tags.

The thing of it is- you will want to convert over to System26 and drop any other topology. I would just for the use of an in-game map viewer. Not to mention the map editor, randomizer, and selectable start position!


Here is what you can do-

You can create a map using the in-game map editor, which could be distributed as a Save game file to other people using the System26 mod.

You can also write new map data sets using a text editor to pass around to other people using the System26 mod. To make this easier than writing a map using the <Node> method, I have been putting together a map assistant that helps you by providing all the information you need so that you can easily write your map in a System26 user map format.

So- to create a static map is easy. You have 2 fairly simple routes to choose.

System26 only works with it's own topology- you must have the System26 <StarSystemTopology> and other functions for it to work. You can alter the System26 topology structure, but you must also alter the map massiveArray data that System26 is using that represents the <Node> structure.

If you have an idea to make a small branch off the classic topology, this is possible with the System26 mod, and you get all the other benefits like the network mapper.

In other words, System26 is a highly mod-able topology already- you don't need to create new nodes! To create a quick static topology is the easiest thing in the System26 mod to do- each node in the topology is represented in the user map by a list:

(list "SE" "Node47" "Cond1") <--- there's Eridani, it has a static connection to Node47 (Groombridge) and a Cond1 which is defined something like (list "Cond1" "getOneEQ" "Node13" "Node14" "Node15" "Node17" "NoNode") which tells the map builder that Cond1 is using the operator getOneEQ which makes it read the listed nodes and choose one of them with equal odds. Notice that it can also take "NoNode" which means that no node of the set was selected (one of the many ways to deal in random gate decisions).

If you have a custom system you want to add, that's another story. For this I have left hundreds of gates waiting to be pointed to a custom system. To add it in to the system requires a bit of work, but not much more than you would need to do if creating a new system and node branch for it to be in.


The thing about mapping in transcendence is that no matter which way you try to deal with the topology you have to do some thinking.

That is why System26 has an In-Game Map Editor- you just create a map there, but then the only problem is that the only place that map is saved is in your specific Save game.

However, I don't see a problem with exchanging save files as maps- people who don't want to write a text map will have the option to use a save game.

But the best maps will be coming from the map resolver using the extended map operators- which allow for a complex dynamic structure to be created, in some cases even more dynamic than anything I had achieved with the SS topology.

For your purposes, F50, I think you might prefer to use the user maps you can make in your text editor for the System26 format. If you want to add in some custom systems and place them in the topology, we can work on it and try to develop an easy method to inject modded systems into System26.

Not very many people have released mods that offer new systems to take on- so I don't see the small, few difficulties of adding new systems to System26 discouraging those of us who do make them- it's not that hard to do, and once you have a custom system added you can reuse it in many, many ways.

I like working on them better than the topology nodes so far- and I have done a lot of maps using either method.

The System26 user maps are compact lists, so it's easy to see more systems and fairly simple to keep track of where you are- plus, the map validation will help find your errors- something that the topology as it is doesn't really do- you don't know that you have broken gates in a custom topology until you find them. In a System26 map, the validator will find any bad map data and tell you (or just fix right there!). And, the fact that all the nodes already have static working links all the time means that you won't be running into any broken gates that break your game!
F50
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Ok, then I may try to figure out a nice way to do that when you release your mod.

An idea I have is to keep track of all the changes made to the topo, and print the functions called to make those changes to a dockscreen. Copy those functions down (by hand) and put them into the globals tag, and the config is saved.

Then all you have to do is remove all ways to change the topo in-game from the XML (placing comments in the code by a documented procedure) and you have a static map.
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It's similar but easier than that.


But, I am having a huge issue here and I don't know what's causing it.

It seems related to destroying the excess stargates when creating a system, but in my prototype mod the method worked fine with no problems!

Right now, I am trying to figure out what is going on with these issues-

-The systems aren't being saved when you leave and return the game treats it like your first time there.

-The save game is being corrupted.

Oddly, when I remove the little line that actually removes the gates, everything appears to be working normally again- except that that is the single most important line for the entire idea behind this mod! The gates must be removed!

I am building another test system to see if I can reproduce the error and figure a way around it, but it's not looking good at this time. :(
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Periculi
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8) Found some solutions!

Ok, so barring no further weirdness things should come together fairly quickly.

I am still working out some error catching and feature screens- too many little loose ends in there still, but it's just a matter of polishing the mod up for release from here.

If I understand you correctly F50, System26 will be able to do exactly what you want- and I actually think that as far as factions and such go- if it's just creating new stations in a system, the next phase of the System26 project involves taking control of the system builds far enough to establish the filters and population size of a system- I want to be able to throw in 'hostile only' or 'Luminous only' or whatever stations in systems where and when I want them, so if your faction is using some stations and doesn't need a custom system definition, we can experiment with placing them via the system builder instead of through a custom system- should be easy enough to set a filter on the system builds that caters to specific factions.
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I'm still trying to understand how the systems grid works, let's consider a 4 stargates only system: is that connected to neighboring systems like Battleships game grid ? (so a C2 system is connected to C1,B2,D2,C3 ?)

If each system has up to 6 systems, is that a 3D grid ?

If it has more than 6 systems (as some pictures you posted, if I'm not wrong), is that a n-dimensional grid where the number of stargates are 2*n the order of dimensionality of the grid ?
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