[RELEASE] Towbar OXP v1.0

[Nite Owl]

Not at all related to the previous problems that others seem to be having. My Tractor Beam is working perfectly. Let us call this a wish list. If any of the following breaks the original or modified intent of the OXZ or is not achievable within the current coding possibilities then please ignore these requests.

As it is now you only get to put credits towards getting your Salvager's License while towing a ship and docking at a system's Main Station. My proposal would be that docking while towing a ship at any GalCop affiliated station would put credits towards getting your Salvager's License. Specifically thinking of Stations for Extra Planets, Super Hubs for Extra Planets, and the Kiota Stations from Wildships with the Kiota Station Relocator.

This one leans a little bit more towards "not in the spirit of the original or modified intent" but here goes anyway. Why can we not just purchase a Salvager's License with our hard earned credits? The repeated towing in of derelict ships to a system's Main Station to achieve this goal is a bit of a drag given the low prices paid for the hulls of the smaller ships that are able to be towed in by smaller ships. Even once a Commander is able to afford to upgrade to a larger ship the number of larger ships that must be towed in to get a Salvager's License remains fairly high. Perhaps the buying of a Salvager's License with credits could be made to be much more expensive then it would be using the "tow it in" method, perhaps by as much as a factor of 2 or 3.

[Cholmondely]

I was towing a derelict pirate and my injectors kept on breaking as I had to let go while being attacked by others. This happened 3 times. Each time the self repair system (Repair Bots .oxp) started trying to fix them and it used up 2 charges doing so (the bots were interrupted the third time).

I'm not sure I understood the circumstances described: you were attacked while you had a ship in tow and released the ship... were you injecting when you released? If not, do you have the towbar compatible injectors? If you have the compatible injectors, which injector equipment was broken and repaired by Repair System?

You made me realize there is a mismatch between Towbar and Repair Bots: if you don't have the towbar compatible injectors, your injectors will always be set to damaged (to disable them) while towing, and in that case it's a waste of charges for Repair System to fix them - I will solve this.

But I want to verify if that temporary damaged state is what you saw, or if you are saying that nothing was damaged while you were towing (that implies you have the towbar compatible injectors) and after you released the towed ship one of the injectors was broken (which one?), and in that case, does it happen when you release without being attacked (i.e., are you seeing battle damage)?

Apologies for the imprecision!

No, I never used the injectors during towing.

I had presumed that they would not work (and presumed that that was why the Space Station shipyard was trying to sell me towing injectors, which I had no intention of forking out for). And, that was why I dumped my tow - so that I could use the injectors and clobber the vermin from great distance (to avoid the nasty plagues which they are contaminated with) as is my current wont (in other words, I've yet to master dog-fighting! I just snipe from great distance).

I merely noticed that the injectors were broken (on my all-singing and all-dancing Vimana HUD) and that the repair bots were hard at work (also indicated on the V-HUD).

This happened a month ago, so I regret that I do not recall the full details (and Benedict is away on holiday so I can't bug him either!).

I do wish that I could do even half of what you can do on the programming front.

[dybal]

As it is now you only get to put credits towards getting your Salvager's License while towing a ship and docking at a system's Main Station. My proposal would be that docking while towing a ship at any GalCop affiliated station would put credits towards getting your Salvager's License. Specifically thinking of Stations for Extra Planets, Super Hubs for Extra Planets, and the Kiota Stations from Wildships with the Kiota Station Relocator.

I agree with you, not only about the Salvager License but also the taxes...

This one leans a little bit more towards "not in the spirit of the original or modified intent" but here goes anyway. Why can we not just purchase a Salvager's License with our hard earned credits? The repeated towing in of derelict ships to a system's Main Station to achieve this goal is a bit of a drag given the low prices paid for the hulls of the smaller ships that are able to be towed in by smaller ships. Even once a Commander is able to afford to upgrade to a larger ship the number of larger ships that must be towed in to get a Salvager's License remains fairly high. Perhaps the buying of a Salvager's License with credits could be made to be much more expensive then it would be using the "tow it in" method, perhaps by as much as a factor of 2 or 3.

I think it should be a little cheaper, since the salvager would be giving all the money upfront instead of a bit at a time for an extended and unknown period.

I PMed Norby about these and some other things I would like to change (I don't like to publish modifications that go against the original author intentions).

[Norby]

Yes, my intention was that Injectors be disabled only while a big mass is hang on the ship and functional again when released.

I agree with the suggestions above and I sent a detailed answer to dybal in pm.

[dybal]

 Towbar 0.109 is available on the Expansion Manager and here.

Changes:

• Towbar and Towbar Compatible Injectors have prices proportional to the ship's mass.
• Don't start the mission after the player buys towbar if the player's ship has less than 30t.
• Re-enables injectors after releasing the towed ship when hitch-riding a wormhole.
• Reduces the amount retained for the Salvager's License when salvaging at main station without a license from 100% to 60%.
• Uses $disableEquipment and $enableEquipment from Repair Bots OXP if available to disable/enable the injectors when towing without towbar compatible injectors.
• Stations with GalCop allegiance behave as main station.
• Player may choose to pay the full balance to the Salvager's License if enough credits are available.

With these changes, the next version of Repair Bots OXP won't try to repair fuel injectors that were disabled while towing a ship.

[dybal]

 Towbar v0.110 is available on the Expansion manager and here.

Changes:

• Fixes bug in the verification of player ship's mass before offering the mission after towbar is bought.
• Towbar equipment salvage payout pricing looks at the equipment's scriptInfo property 'towbar_max_salvage_price' to limit the salvage price of equipments (useful for money-sinks like Shield Cycler Manual Configurator Standard and Advanced).

[dybal]

Just upped the version number of  Towbar to v1.0. Available on the Expansion Manager and here.

For those of you who do extensive tweaking of this OXP, if you already did it for v0.110 you can skip this one or just edit the version number in the manifest of your tweaked version .

[Norby]

Yes, after 7 years of development we finally reached v1.0!

Tadaaa!

[commander_STyx2909]

Edit:
And I am even more sorry to report this affects 1.10 as well.

Code: Select all

23:12:11.375 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 0.110): TypeError: worldScripts.Lib_Config is undefined
23:12:11.375 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]:       /home/(censored)/GNUstep/Library/ApplicationSupport/Oolite/ManagedAddOns/Towbar-0.110.oxz/Scripts/towbar.js, line 702

.

Is it available through OXP Manager? haven't spotted it...


I am sorry to report the following problem with the actual available OXP. Really sorry.
Only OXP loaded in the game.

Testing protocol :
Add OXP
New commander
Normal
Launch
Pause.
Exit
Check Latestlog.log

Code: Select all

(...)
 AddOns
    ~/GNUstep/Library/ApplicationSupport/Oolite/ManagedAddOns/oolite.oxp.Norby.Towbar.oxz
    AddOns/Basic-debug.oxp
(...)
22:59:39.747 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: worldScripts.Lib_Config is undefined
22:59:39.747 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]:       /home/(censored)/GNUstep/Library/ApplicationSupport/Oolite/ManagedAddOns/oolite.oxp.Norby.Towbar.oxz/Scripts/towbar.js, line 702.

[phkb]

Can you add  Library OXP to your install? The problem looks to be less of an actual bug, but more of a require OXP not being defined as requried.

[dybal]

Can you add  Library OXP to your install? The problem looks to be less of an actual bug, but more of a require OXP not being defined as requried.

I didn't want to make it mandatory, since its lack doesn't hinder Towbar functioning at all, it only hinders the player's ability to configure it.

But not checking if Library is installed before attempting to register the configuration options with it was sloppy of me

Already commited a fix to github... looking at the commits, there are enough changes for a release... I will do it after the holidays (I'm taking a break...)

[Cholmondely]

If a new release is upcoming, can we try and organise some decent pubicity this time around?

* Will there be any new keys for Fast Action oxps?

Stranger translated some stuff into Russian, we can probably get some stuff in some other languages if we bug Cdr Day & Norby etc etc.

We need to update some of our old stuff like the reference sheets which are a couple of versions behind. I don't have the skills or the software or I would offer to help.

I'm busy for another couple of days or so - but can we have a tete-a-tete and discuss how to manage this to try and advertise Oolite a little? Let's not waste the opportunity.

Cholmondeley

[another_commander]

I think dybal refers to Towbar and you are referring to Oolite, or have I misunderstood? We are nowhere near ready for 1.92 yet. Still, if you have found inconsistencies in the reference sheet, then by all means feel free to list them in a new thread and we can take a look at them as soon as we get a chance.

[NorthenderPNE]

Got an error in Trunk with Towbar...

Code: Select all

20:08:20.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:21.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:22.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:23.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:24.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:25.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:26.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:27.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:28.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:29.800 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:30.800 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:31.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:32.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:33.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:34.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:35.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:36.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:37.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:38.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:39.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:40.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:41.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:42.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:43.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:44.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:45.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:46.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:47.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:48.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:49.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:50.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:51.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:52.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:53.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:54.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:55.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:56.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:57.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:58.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:08:59.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:00.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:01.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:02.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:03.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:04.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:05.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:06.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:07.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:08.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:09.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:10.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:11.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:12.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:13.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:14.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:15.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:16.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null
20:09:17.799 [script.javaScript.exception.unexpectedType]: ***** JavaScript exception (towbar 1.0): TypeError: system.mainStation is null

Just thought I'd post it.

[Nite Owl]

This error crops up for me as well when adventuring in Interstellar Space. No idea how to fix it as this one is beyond my coding abilities. It has to do with the towbar.js (main Towbar functionality script) looking for a system's Main Station to gather price information as it relates to goods that might be towed in on a Disabled Ship. Since there is no Main Station in Interstellar Space the script throws the error into Mr. Latest Log. The longer you are in Interstellar Space the more times the error will be thrown into the log.

Unfortunately dybal, the last person to update the Towbar OXZ, is no longer around so we are stuck with this one until someone with the coding expertise decides to take on the task. The error does not cause any sort of problem with the game, no crashes or major faults. It is just an annoyance in the log that corrects itself once a player returns to Regular Space. The towbar.js can then once again call up the information it is looking for from a Main Station.