"Hoshikaze 2250 - Stars of Call" Adventure Project

A place to discuss mods in development and concepts for new mods.
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Mutos
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Hi all,


The Traffic Manager Station is ready and runs fine. It is created in the <OnGlobalSystemCreated> event and the <StationType> includes some static data which are read and used to compute other system-specific data. The TMS runs a recurrent event that for now just creates extra freighters and pirates when the system becomes overly quiet.

For now I do not release the 5th mod ZIP because I still got a random crash problem with the pirates at around 5000-15000 ticks, even when I stand still on a planet, press A and let the traffic flow around. It probably comes with the way I manage the pirates' orders to destroy and loot a random freighter. I'll rewrite this part to be able to deliver something stable.

EDIT #1 : just found the most blatant problem, but there seems to be still some crashes left, around 40000-60000 ticks rather than 5000-15000, maybe another bug in a less frequent event...
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
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Mutos
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Hi all,


The 5th testbed release of the Soc Adventure Mod is finally out ! I just updated the ZIP on the Xelerus Mod Reporitory.

The screenshot didn't change since 4th post as the ships are the same. Main changes are the following :
  • - Behavior code for freighters and pirates,
    - Stronger file breakdown leading to smaller and more numerous files,
    - Inclusion of a Traffic Manager Station,
    - Systems are really becoming lively !
    - Extensive testing to ensure no bug is left (or I so hope ^-^...) !
Image

It features the following :

Code: Select all

Topology with systems, freighters and pirates for the Adventure Mod "Stars of Call" set in the Hoshikaze 2250 universe.

WARNING : copy your saved game before entering the Adventure, because it will be overwritten !!!

In this 5th version of the Stars of Call Adventure Mod, you begin to do some stuff, but mostly observe the traffic in the systems :
	- Fly around the Core League systems,
	- Observe traffic in the system you're flying in :
		- Insystem freighters coming and going among the settlements,
		- Interstellar freighters coming through the systems,
		- Pirate ships attacking freighters and looting their wrecks, then jumping out.
	- Create new freighters and pirates around your position,
	- Attack ships and loot wrecks to see how they react and what they are made from.

Author :
	Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
	http://hoshikaze.net

Includes :
	Adventure Cover Screen based on the Rosetta Nebula given by schilcote, with added scroll text
	Adventure End Screen based on the regular Transcendence End Screen
	28 systems belonging to the Core league, one of the main Human states :
		Based on actual stars, hyperlinked to fit the Hoshikaze 2250 universe,
		For now, 10 systems, including Sol, are fully modded,
		Other systems are just stars with Gate and Startup Markers orbiting around,
	Startup markers in each system :
		Startup system can be changed at will,
		One has only to edit the startupSystem field in PlayerShip tags,
		Useful when exploring and testing systems.
	Planetary "standard orbit" markers allowing docking with planets :
		Testbed for docking screens, menus and actions,
	Redefined StarGates graphics to make them appear as Hoshikaze 2250's JumpPoints,
	Redefined player ships for maximum speed of .99*C,
	SystemWide Freighters specific to the Hoshikaze 2250 universe :
		Based on the Antares I stats, modified for Hoshikaze 2250 integration,
		Uses renders from existing DoGA-CGA 3D models,
		3 ships :
			"Shire-IS" with a blank texture and a stained texture,
			"Caravelle" with a blank texture and a rusty texture,
			"Percheron Escort" with a specific texture.
		Simple behavior functions :
			They actually move insystem between the parking orbits,
			When attacked, they strike back at the attacker,
			When attack cease, the freighter has a growing chance to give up.
		Redefined dock screens to create new SW freighters near the player ship.
	InterStellar Freighters specific to the Hoshikaze 2250 universe :
		Same graphic design as SystemWide Freighters,
		Modified behavior :
			Enter the system by a jump point,
			Seek a random destination and dck to it,
			Jump out by a random jump point.
		Redefined dock screens to create new IS freighters jumping in from the jump point nearest to the player ship.
	Pirate ships specific to the Hoshikaze 2250 universe :
		Basically souped-up freighters,
		Specific behavior :
			Upon entering the system, they seek a random target ship,
			They attack that ship until it is destroyed,
			When target is destroyed, they loot the wreck,
			When looting is over, they jump out by a random jump point.
		3 classes based on "Shire-IS", "Caravelle" and "Percheron" freighters,
		Redefined dock screens to create new pirates jumping in from the jump point nearest to the player ship.
	Traffic Manager Station :
		Created once in each and every system by the OnGlobalSystemCreated event,
		Hold static data relative to the extent of traffic in every system,
		When created, extract the data relative to the current system and the number of dockable stations in the system,
		Compute min and max number of ships for SW Freighters, IS Freighters and Pirate Ships,
		Create a startup insystem traffic consisting of a random number of SW Freighters,
		On a recurring event, may create IS Freighters and Pirate Ships to match traffic level with system-specific data.

Systems List (see http://wiki.hoshikaze.net/index.php5?title=Core_League for full details)
    * Cradle/Capitol Systems
          o Sol				Modded with distances reduced to keep graphics performances bearable
    * Planetary Colonies
          o Hope			Not Yet Modded
          o Heaven			8 Planets including a Human colony, 3 Asteroids Belts
          o New Earth		Not Yet Modded
    * Multiple Hub Systems (more than 3 jump points)
          o Barnard's Star	2 Asteroids Belts, no Planet
          o Gl 229			Not Yet Modded
          o Gl 399      	5 Planets
          o NN 3622			Not Yet Modded
    * Other Hub Systems (3 jump points)
          o Gl 252			2 Planets & 1 Asteroids Belt
          o NN 3660			Not Yet Modded
          o Gl 651			Not Yet Modded
          o NN 3753			Not Yet Modded
          o Gl 902			5 Planets, including a gas giant w/ trojans
          o NN 3006			1 giant Asteroids Belt
          o Wo 9209			Binary, Not Yet Modded
    * Simple Link Systems (2 jump points)
          o Gl 534.1		Binary Star w/ 2 Asteroids Belt & 2 Planets
          o Gl 121			Not Yet Modded
          o NN 3076			5 Planets
          o Gl 387			Binary, Not Yet Modded
    * Dead-End Systems (only 1 jump point)
          o Alpha Corvis	3 Planets, 2 Asteroids Belts
          o Gl 380			5 Planets, including a full gas giant system
          o GJ 1001			11 Planets
          o NN 3001			7 Planets
          o Wo 9615			Binary, Not Yet Modded
          o Wo 9220			Binary, Not Yet Modded
          o NN 3079			Not Yet Modded
          o Gl 302			5 Planets
          o Wo 9185			Not Yet Modded

ID notation
	My Modder ID	: 0xD410
	Entity IDs		: 0xD410TNNN
		T	: Type
			0	Adventure/Extension
			1	Stellar System Type
			2	Station Type
			3	Ship Class
			4	Item Types
			E	Scripts (not used in UNIDs)
			F	Resource String
		NNN	: Number in type
	Extension IDs
		0xD4100TNN
			T being one iof the above type
			or 0 if mixed types defined
			in the extension

Needs :
	Entirely based on Periculi's "Adventure Topology Accelerator", aka "ATA",
	Includes ATA's 2 files : ATA-GateGlobalsD8.XML and ATA-StarSystemsD6.XML.

Files included :
	The Adventure itself					HK-001-Adventure-SoC-033-ZIP-005.XML
	Core League Systems Definition			HK-101-Systems-CoreLeague-030-ZIP-005.XML
	Common Station Types					HK-201-Stations-Common-016-ZIP-005.XML
	Core league Station Types				HK-202-Stations-CoreLeague-030-ZIP-005.XML
	Traffic Manager Station					HK-203-Stations-TMS-002-ZIP-005.XML
	SystemWide Freighters Ship Types		HK-301-Ships-SystemWideFreighters-019-ZIP-005.XML
	Pirate Ship Types						HK-302-Ships-Pirates-011-ZIP-005.XML
	Interstellar Freightes Ship Types		HK-303-Ships-InterStellarFreighters-006-ZIP-005.XML
	Specific Shield Items					HK-401-Items-Shields-004-ZIP-005.XML
	AI Generic Scripts for all ships		HK-E01-IA-Ships-002-ZIP-005.XML
	AI Scripts for stellar systems			HK-E02-Systems-002-ZIP-005.XML
	AI Scripts for SystemWide Freighters	HK-E03-IA-SystemWideFreighters-002-ZIP-005.XML
	AI Scripts for Pirate Ships				HK-E04-IA-Pirates-003-ZIP-005.XML
	AI Scripts for InterStellar Freighters	HK-E05-IA-InterStellarFreighters-002-ZIP-005.XML
	Periculi's ATA Extension				ATA-GateGlobalsD8.XML
	Periculi's ATA Extension				ATA-StarSystemsD6.XML
	Folder holding all HK resources			HK-resources

Minor interference with Periculi's Navigation Computer :
	Both Adventure and NavComp work,
	StarGates graphics redefinition as JumpPoints is overriden by NavComp's own StarGates redefinition :
		Would need an override in the Adventure file,
		For now I just don't use NavComp.

Known Bugs :
	Beware of high numbers of asteroids in systems :
		NN 3006 originately used a 5000+1500 asteroids field,
		It made the game crash when jumping outsystem then back in,
		I fixed this by using only 1500+150 asteroids,
		I didn't check all systems, there may be more with similar problems.
	Observed once a stargates placement bug :
		I fixed the places where stargates should be placed,
		On rare occasions, all stargates ended up placed around a single orbit,
		Could not reproduce this problem at will.
	Observed a crash problem on extended runs (approx. 50000 ticks) :
		Game crashes at around 40000-60000 ticks,
		Appears sometimes (1 out of 30 runs),
		Might be causes by an event scripting bug, but for now, origin hasn't yet been discovered.

Installation :
	Unzip XML files and resource folder to Extensions folder,
	Create a New Game,
	Choose the "Hoshikaze 2250 - Stars of Call" Adventure.
As usual, there are still many more thinks on the To Do List :
  • - Police fighters and patrol ships,
    - Enhanced behavior for good-looking battles between pirates and police,
    - Mining ships exploiting the asteroid belts and fields,
    - Redefined stations for display and/or docking,
    - Marketplaces and shipyards on stations,
    - Hoshikaze 2250 specific ships, stations, items and devices.
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
darksider
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Here's my reports and suggestions based on v005:

1. Transcendence gets a noticable lag or a "micro-freeze" moment
once in a while, which is mostly unimaginable in vanilla Transcendence.
(I think I remember that I'd got similar "lags" on Hoshikaze v003
each and every time I shot freighters, but I doubt if it is the same problem
I experienced on the current version)

2. With physics in Transcendence, it is a little bit tough to fight
against a pirate ship (or a freighter maybe) when the maxspeed
is the lightspeed.
Especially missles are mostly useless when they can't gain additional acceleration by themselves.

3. I got the following messages when I returened to the Sol system
after I had shot some freighters and pirates and gone away

Welcome to the Sol system!
OnOrdersCompleted [Rhône]: Identifier expected: Nil ### (sysAddObjTimerEvent timeWait sourceShip nextEvent) ###
OnOrdersCompleted [Lode Runner]: Identifier expected: Nil ### (sysAddObjTimerEvent timeWait sourceShip nextEvent) ###

(by the way, "ô" isn't in the 7bit ANSI character code and
I had to use unicode set to read/write properly on my text editor.
- maybe it's one of the reasons that proper romanization of
Japanese words is rather unpopular in Japan, ironically)

4. Line 137 in "HK-001-Adventure-SoC-033-ZIP-005.XML.XML"

Code: Select all

	<!-- Image resources -->
	<Image UNID="&rsJumpPoint;"		bitmap="HK-resources\HK-002-SoC\JumpPoint.jpg"	bitmask="HK-resources\HK-002-SoC\JumpPointMask.bmp" backColor="0x00000000"/>
The "bitmask" here is grayscale, so you should not define the "backcolor"
- just delete it and you'll get a proper semitransparent image.

5. The "New Freighter" command on planets is no longer working and
gives an error message; maybe it's an obsolete function and not really a problem.

6. About the screenshot on Xelerus; the maximum size of image
you can upload is 1024x768, so maybe you should run Transcendence
in windowed mode (with /windowed switch) and capture the screen,
then crip the image and upload so that we can have a nicer looking image.
Or you can simply change your display resolution down to 1024x768 temporary.

7. More about in-game images; I think I can improve (though very slightly) StandardOrbit.jpg and upload it somewhere, if you'd like.
If you're going to make a brand-new image in the future, well, never mind.

It's got too long but that's all for now!

EDIT: The error on "OnOrdersCompleted" continued to appear in while staying in the Sol system.
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Mutos
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Hi darksider, hi all,


Thanks darksider for the test and comments ! I'm just back from 1 week in Normandy, away from anything computerized ^-^ So I'll examine in details your comments tomorrow morning. I'll try to get answers to everything, but some may take a while.
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
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Mutos
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Hi all,


Sorry, have been busy all the time with work from office, my dog who got ill and hundreds of mails to catch up on ! Please a little more time and I'll be able to devise an answer ^-^
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
darksider
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Nah, don't worry, I have never expected things to be so easy. And I guess you've got to prepare for a convention, so I'll probably start to worry about your project a couple of months later.
The sooner the better of course, but that does not mean you have to hurry up with everything, and actually I'd prefer a firm and grounded work to a hasty one.
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Mutos
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Hi darksider,


Thanks for your answer, however it'll be more of a question of days than months, hopefully ^-^ Next week I'll be able to answer something grounded.
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
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Mutos
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Hi all, hi darksider,


For darksider : here are first attempts to answer your questions !

1/ Micro-freeze
I think it's because of the fixed delays between events, that causes too much events to be fired at the same tick. I'll try to fix that by randomizing the event delays. If my hypothesis is the good one, then it'll be OK...

2/ Speed and maneuver
I've seem that... I'll scale everything down. But it shows me the difficulty to balance a game for the kind of hard-science vs space-op gameplay I want for the SoC game I'm developping from scratch as a parallel project. Anyway, I've got some tuning to do on ships parameters to make them individual. I just took one Antares chars and duplicates them, only making minor changes.

3/ Error on OnOrdersComplete
I saw that sometimes. I must trace everything in this function to see what is happening nd fix it. As for the ANSI thing, I'll check names and fix them to be compatible.

4/ Background color
Thanks for the tip, I'll fix that in the next release.

5/ Error on Dock "Create Freighter"
It's an obsolete function. Anyways, I'll drop this command and replace it with a full "Create New Ships" chooser panel on the ship's panel. This way I'll explore the chooser panel concepts and commands !

6/ In-game pics for posting on Xelerus
Thabks for the tip again, I'll try it next time...

7/ Improved Orbit pic
Thanks for any improvement ! For everyone, feel free to contact me if you think you can improve on any aspect of this Mod...

And, darksider, be reassured, your post was in fact notably shorter than many of mine ^-^
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
darksider
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Ah, you don't need to convert the current 8bit ANSI code; it's more of a problem of my own side (my local text editor) and it's just another trivial thing after all, though I'm not against the change anyway :)

About the speed of ships - well, I think the fundamental problem here is that the world of Transcendence is mainly based on Newtonian mechanics and not the theory of relativity, which could make stuffs more "realistic" at the cost of greatly decreased simplicity.

By the way, I uploaded the "better" standardorbit.jpg image on Xelerus as a test, so please download it and decide if it's useful.
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Mutos
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Hi darksider, hi all,


Many thanks darksider for the Mod ^-^ The standard orbit image is much more contrasted and vivid, the stars could well be useful, and not only to me but to other adventure developpers, and I much like the calligraphy, even if you qualify it of "poorly-written scribble" ! Btw, are you Japanese or learning Japanese ?

And as a side note, you managed to take Mod Number 256 ! You're opening the era of two-bytes Mods ^-^
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
darksider
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Thanks for your compliment :)
As for your question, yes, I am, and if you are very careful you might be able to confirm it judging from grammatical errors on my posts.
I guess this forum is more international than it first looks.
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Mutos
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Hi darksider,


Indeed this forum IS very international, but writing in English hides that fact. As for grammatical errors, I think we're on a par ^-^ I'm not a native English speaker, either !
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
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Mutos
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Hi darksider,


Had next to no time the pas weeks, but lately I found time to check the following points :

(1) Randomized the recurring events and it seems to ease on micro-freezes.
(4) Fixed the JumpPoints transparency, they look better now.
(7) Integrated your image, it has far better contrast.

As for events, I wonder if you did encounter some crashes. I tested one thing : I just create a game and let it go, without my ship even movng, but with time acceleration on. It usually crashes between 5000 and 10000 ticks. For now I haven't a single idea of what could be causing that. I tested it on 2 different computer, an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ w/ WXP SP3 and an Intel Core Duo 3 GHz w/ XP SP2 : same behavior.

Next fixes to come : point (3) and (5). The latter will be easy to fix and the first will be fixed using debug messages to see what's going on.

Point (2) requires a notable background work, I'll get to it asap. And for point (6), i'll try it when I'll publish my next version.
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
darksider
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Mutos wrote:As for events, I wonder if you did encounter some crashes. I tested one thing : I just create a game and let it go, without my ship even movng, but with time acceleration on. It usually crashes between 5000 and 10000 ticks. For now I haven't a single idea of what could be causing that. I tested it on 2 different computer, an AMD Athlon XP 2500+ w/ WXP SP3 and an Intel Core Duo 3 GHz w/ XP SP2 : same behavior.
Well, no, I'm a bit annoyed at the "micro-freeze" and frequent disk access (probably to write debug.log) but I have never encountered crashes of that kind.
Started the game selecting Wolfen, and turned the weapons off and autopilot on, and waited for a while, and then got hit by Stiletto missles twice and blown to the outer space at about 50% of lightspeed.
Tick : 21891 in debug.log, and no error report or crash. Well that's all I can report now :?

My current system is Sempron LE-1100 (1.9GHz, CnQ turned on) on AMD690 chipset, and Windows XP SP3 (jp).
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Hi darksider, hi all,


Thanks for the information. The 005 configuration works, I just pushed it to 229000 ticks on the Athlon, so I must have broken something in my further developments. I'll check that and when I post 006, I'll try to make it stable !

EDIT #1 : I'm currently trying to sort out the different changes I've made from 005 version. I think I'll recode them from the start with stricter code checks.

EDIT #2 : I validated nearly every change and I think I found the problem : it has something to do with the parameters in some ship classes. Now I have a ToDoList where I write down every development step and I always validate each line at least up to 50000 ticks.

EDIT #3 : validating every minute change takes time, but it pays in the end. I found another issue in the EMP Missiles that equip the Police Patrols, resulting in 10000-15000 ticks crashes. I'll soon be able to resume development with a cleaned-up framework. Testing to 50000 ticks is slow (5mn on the Core 2) but it is necessary to ensure minimal quality for releasing a Mod.

EDIT #4 : I seem to have a problem with my Transcendence installation or even my system, because I keep getting random crashes even with previously validated mods. Solving that issue before getting back to true moddev.
@+

Benoît 'Mutos' ROBIN
Hoshikaze 2250 Project
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