Mod Challenge

[Betelgeuse]

Basically making a hard to make mod is fun. So I have thought up some hard but doable challenges.

But first some rules.

Must be separate from other mods if you have 100 different stations its hard to tell if they are really dynamic or not.
Must be easily expandable. (ie don't just use tons of if) Adding a new item/station that is effected by the mod should be able to be done without touching the original mod.
Proof of concept mods are fine (ie as long as it works I don't care about late game stations messing it up.

ok on to the challenges

Easy:

Upgrade your weapon station: Can upgrade a weapon to a different weapon. The weapon it turns it into will always be the same for the same weapon.

One way maze: A network mod that has only one way gates. Only gates leading to non random systems maybe certain to appear. All paths must have a way to the end.

Hard:

Dynamic trading: Stations will vary what they will buy for what prices randomly. There at least must be 3 different buying schemes and the individual station types can alter prices taking their buying scheme as the base. (I would recommend getting the random values asap in game)

Dedicated Slots: Make an item that when taken to a dock can have things equipped into it. Each of its slots must be able to be defined by category. Different versions of this item need to have different amounts of slots. You will need to change the dockscreens. (I would recommend altering the player ship to have 100 slots and never using that to avoid trouble with it)

[Periculi]

That first challenge sounded too fun to resist, so here is my version:

Upgrade a Weapon Mod

This little mod works as own extension, just drop in extension folder and go find the station. It will only appear once per game, between levels 1 and 4.

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[Betelgeuse]

hmm not bad the only thing it doesn't to is it isn't easily expandable (its not bad in that regard though.
My recommendation is to add to the weapon a
data = "name of weapon you are upgrading too"
that way you can add weapons without ever having to know before hand and gets rid of the searching if you have lots of upgrades
you can add whole new paths in new mods this way without ever having to touch the original mod

if you are cleaver you can put as must as you want into a single data but I will let you find that out (not needed for the easy challenges anyway)

any questions?

[Periculi]

Are you axing me if I am cleaver?

What do you mean by data = "" ? To the upgrade list so that you know what you are getting?

And you talk about expansion, but what do you really mean there? If it is to increase the list of options, to make it expandable outside the mod I would have to create a separate global function- but either way, you have to add to the list the item and it's upgrade by hand and plan- so where's the difference?

To 'expand' that mod, you change the data list right there, to do it differently adds components to a simple system, which just complicates it for no reason.

[Betelgeuse]

to any item you can add data most do not use it currently (only fuels so far) so you can do whatever you want with it, basically the weapon itself would know what it upgrades into, no need for separate tables, searching or anything.

When I talk about expansion I want to make a new mod and not change the original but still use the original. Such as I want to add a new upgrade path. I can not be assured other mods have not already changed the paths already there so I can't just overwrite it so there needs to be some way too add to it without having to worry about these things (say I am creating some paths and someone else is too at the same time we don't know what the other is adding but would still like to just put it in the extension folder and have it work.

As for brute force (what you are doing, defining every case and doing a if for each case) it is often "simple" but as you go on it become unwieldy and slow.

[Periculi]

I hadn't gotten too deep into items yet, so learning about the data holder is new, thank you. I'll see what I can do with it.

[Betelgeuse]

this is a useful thread on it
http://neurohack.com/transcendence/foru ... =data#4964

[Periculi]

Not really useful for me, I don't know the scripting that well.

Introducing the

Eridani Labyrinth

This is a simple maze topology accessible through a new gate in Starton Eridani. Replace Transcendence.xml in your xml files folder and try not to get hopelessly lost.

[Betelgeuse]

hmm looks cool
I would make what the non random gates currently do like this
change

Code: Select all

			<StarGate Name="Inbound" DestID="Blue4D" DestGate="Inbound"/>

to

Code: Select all

			<Table>
				<StarGate chance="50"  Name="Inbound" DestID="Blue4D" DestGate="Inbound"/>
				<StarGate chance="50"  Name="Inbound" DestID="Blue4D" DestGate="Outbound"/>
			</Table>

That way you can't just keep pressing G and go around the ring and mapping it to prevent backtracking

It is a nice proof of concept though 8)

[Periculi]

Thanks

I might try the random code for the inbound gates.

[Ttech]

The one maze mod does not work for me. What version?

[Periculi]

It's 0.98d xml version. It doesn't go in extensions- it replaces transcendence.xml. Due to the way topology is set up it can't be placed in an extension at this time- so any mod dealing with topo changes is for transcendence running on the xml data not the tdb.

If you are already running it with the xml and correctly swapped the transcendence.xml file, then I am not sure what to tell you unless you let me know more about the error. I haven't seen any problems, but I haven't extensively play tested it either- it's just a little novelty maze, anyhow, more for reading the topology set up than for playing.

I play it with the new Jump to Beacon mod so that I don't get lost anymore. lol...

[Betelgeuse]

if you want to play more on topologies Ttech I recommend changing the systems to have more gates that way you can cool spider web type topologies (with two gate and three gate systems and a four gate in the middle)

[Periculi]

Yeah! It's easy to get dizzy but really fun to plan out and test play complex topologies. I think it's one of the funnest parts of the game to mod, but I seem to be in the minority.

[Ttech]

It's 0.98d xml version. It doesn't go in extensions- it replaces transcendence.xml. Due to the way topology is set up it can't be placed in an extension at this time- so any mod dealing with topo changes is for transcendence running on the xml data not the tdb.

If you are already running it with the xml and correctly swapped the transcendence.xml file, then I am not sure what to tell you unless you let me know more about the error. I haven't seen any problems, but I haven't extensively play tested it either- it's just a little novelty maze, anyhow, more for reading the topology set up than for playing.

I play it with the new Jump to Beacon mod so that I don't get lost anymore. lol...

So just drop it in the Trans.esxe folder? Ok