[RELEASE] Montanas Resource Pack 01

[Nite Owl]

Any possibility of your additional Escape Pods/Capsules/Lifeboats not playing well with ESCAPE POD SLAVE FIX by phkb? Have not had the time as yet to personally test them out together so thought the question could be asked first. If you, or any else, has played with these two OXZs working well together let me know. Much appreciated.

[phkb]

Any possibility of your additional Escape Pods/Capsules/Lifeboats not playing well with ESCAPE POD SLAVE FIX by phkb?

My take is that there would be no issue. EPSF will only be triggered if a ship launches an escape pod when there are zeros in both ship.crew[0].insuranceCredits and ship.crew[0].legalStatus.

[montana05]

Any possibility of your additional Escape Pods/Capsules/Lifeboats not playing well with ESCAPE POD SLAVE FIX by phkb?

My take is that there would be no issue. EPSF will only be triggered if a ship launches an escape pod when there are zeros in both ship.crew[0].insuranceCredits and ship.crew[0].legalStatus.

I agree with phkp, this escape pods should be triggered by the core-game (rare) or another OXP and most of them have predefined pilots so while I don't say it's impossible to get an error (bug from an OXP while spamming for example) the chances are very slim.

[Cholmondely]

Continued here from SIRF - update Released thread

Just having a look around the resource pack http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/Montan ... ce_Pack_01 ; I'm liking the idea.

The "narcotics" cargo pods are of course, a joke. A way of attracting GalCop's attention while the real smuggling happens in pods labelled for "Radioactives" and "Biohazard" (and possibly "Holy Artefacts"), while the "narcotics" pods contain Oxo cubes, oregano and rabbit shit. Or am I betraying too much of my thoroughly spent youth? (He says, sipping a late night cup of vege Oxo instead of caffeine solution.)

Multiple types of escape pods - fairly obviously, given the variety of spacecraft. Don''t tell me - let me guess - picking up a poor dude in a spacesuit should be done at low speed, not pedal to the metal, rubber-side down. Otherwise ... you're going to need a screen wash next time you dock?
Download meter clicking away. I'll be back in a bit.

All cargo pods shouldn't be taken too serious, the best example is the detention container (slaves, prisoners) where I added some windows and a door. While the narcotics containers could make sense on a medical ship (medications) you obviously wouldn't use it to smuggle at GalCop stations.

The future target for all the escape crafts is to simulate more than 1 crew member on board of the larger ones. A lifeboat in general holds more persons than a capsule. The current release of the package includes a test run with prisoners in detention containers. After you brought them to a station the insurance/bounty is multiplied by a random headcount.

This project sounds like a never-ending can of worms! What about lobstoid space suits? Whatever escape equipment each of the individual liners use? CGC & Happy Eye Holy Artefacts containers? Cargo pods from the other manufacturers in 2000+ solar systems?

Not to complain though: I came across some quirium crystal after I nobbled a pirate yesterday - a very nice surprise indeed!

[montana05]

This project sounds like a never-ending can of worms! What about lobstoid space suits? Whatever escape equipment each of the individual liners use? CGC & Happy Eye Holy Artefacts containers? Cargo pods from the other manufacturers in 2000+ solar systems?

Not to complain though: I came across some quirium crystal after I nobbled a pirate yesterday - a very nice surprise indeed!

It's close to impossible to cover all aspects, and honestly I don't try to do so. I would see it as an extension trying to fix some logical problems of the core-game. While this package major purpose is still to support other OXP's (some features will only be activated with them) it also adds some modifications if installed standalone. Currently, for example, debris will show up at all ship explosions and splinter could include gold or platinum as well.

Regarding quirium crystal, there are actually some systems where you can find them in the corona of the sun, you should look out for "deadly solar", and yes, these suns are pretty rare.

[RockDoctor]

This project sounds like a never-ending can of worms!

Indeed!
If some of the worms are stiff, and thorny, one could even say that Montana (Monty? the man with a cargo-ship design in his history?) has made a rod for his own back. Well, whatever floats his (life) boat.

It's close to impossible to cover all aspects, and honestly I don't try to do so. I would see it as an extension trying to fix some logical problems of the core-game. While this package major purpose is still to support other OXP's (some features will only be activated with them) it also adds some modifications if installed standalone. Currently, for example, debris will show up at all ship explosions and splinter could include gold or platinum as well.
Regarding quirium crystal, there are actually some systems where you can find them in the corona of the sun, you should look out for "deadly solar", and yes, these suns are pretty rare.

I haven't had time (yet) to play that new system. But those sound like fun.

The core-game point of only having single "persons" in a lifeboat is ... definitely odd. I've spent many years working at sea, and here are a few things to consider if you're hacking lifeboats about. The design of lifecraft has a long history, and many of the lessons have been learned post mortem ; I doubt the mariners of space would throw away these lessons.

While every vessel I worked on carried enough "individual survival devices" (a neoprene suit designed to be able to be donned while floating in the waters of Iceberg Alley) for the entire POB (personnel on board), on each side of the vessel (because in sinking, there is likely to be a list, making one side and half the equipment useless), this has obvious limitations for use in space ("In space, nobody can hear your tears boil, except you"). {Edit : corollary - a single ships lifeboat would be on the midline. And probably not at the "front". Launching them from the rear would obviously disable the engines..} There are cases on record of people in the water being killed by collision with a craft attempting rescue (it leads to limitations on the sea state in which helicopters can attempt routine landings). My joke about wiping people off the windscreen was not much of a joke really - minus several million points for bad piloting.
The main design criterion for these individual survival suits is to keep the user able to help themselves (e.g. catching an holding a thrown line) for at least 6 hours, and alive and resuscitate-able for a good number of hours longer. Do you have "line launchers" in your emergency locker, as an alternative to using the fuel scoops - so a conscious victim can attach to your ship and come in through an airlock (edit : <b>footnote</b>)? In which case ... the "emergency 'air'lock" should be able to accommodate chlorine breathers, water breathers etc - maybe an extension of the technology in a regular slave-transport pod. Which would explain why governments which would never touch the profits of the slave trade ("No sirree! No slaves here!!") still have to be able to service such technology.
I hadn't realised that part of the backstory until I just made it up.
That has implications for people painting ships - the "emergency 'air'lock" needs to be clearly marked. After all, it might be you that needs to use it. Unless you're a heartless pirate, when you might put the conventional high-contrast markings near, say, the engine vents, so the evidence will get burned off.

• <b>footnote</b> Does the ship have a line launcher - or does the space-survival-suit include a magnet & line in the same way that all survival craft include a quoit and line? So even a user of fairly high-grade idiocy can get into contact with a passing (30m-ish) vessel, if they're still conscious. Hmmm, there's a logical difficulty there - survival craft carry quoits to pull individuals towards them, not individuals carrying quoits to try to snag passing (empty, automatically ejected) survival craft. While part of our "must pass, every 2-4 years" examination includes gaining entry to an inverted survival craft in the water, and dressing it for survival. Hmmm, I have to think on that, bearing in mind my point about not forgetting lessons learned.

Individual survival suits tend to make unrealistic assumptions about the level of training of passengers - when crowded ferries sink (the Herald of Free Enterprise, for example - the news broke while I was at sea, and made many people think about the recently-opened Channel tunnel compared to shipping), many passengers fail to don even a highly "idiot-proof" floatation device. Every damned time a passenger vessel sinks, you hear the same stories. It gets repetitive. As does the lack of attention passengers pay to safety briefings.

So you also need multi-person survival craft with idiot-proof (for even pretty high-grade idiots!) instructions, whereby one moderately trained crewman (we call this duty "cox'n", short for "cockboat swain") can save a small hoard of bodies. Sizes range from "up to 10" (because single people may need to get away in a multi-person survival craft - I remember one of the survival craft from the Piper Alpha was observed to land nearly a kilometre from the burning rig, with one singed life jacket inside and the on-release hooks primed to release on contact with the water ; clearly the person attempting to escape had read the instructions enough to know he needed to prime the release mechanism before the explosion that launched the lifecraft into the air. Vale.) The largest "totally enclosed motor propelled survival craft" ("TEMPSC") I've seen catered to 80 POB - with supplies on board for 14 days without assistance. Any bigger and you're really talking about a new design of vessel anyway.

Docking to and offloading of a survival craft can be one of several ways. If there is a spare mounting of the right size, the craft can be hauled on board using the launching hooks, then everyone offloaded through the loading hatches. Otherwise, a personnel transfer device (e.g. a smaller survival craft) can shuttle POB from the main survival craft to the rescuing vessel. If the rescuing vessel can't accommodate the number of victims, they might have to take the survival craft under tow to take them to a nearby safe haven - obviously at reduced speed and greatly reduced manoeuvrability.
Does the Ooniverse have a common standard for mating 'air'locks to 'air'locks, or for rigging an enclosed, partly pressurised tube between 'air'locks? I don't recall one. Given the variety of vessels in the Ooniverse, probably rigging a tow line would be the most generally applicable solution. The analogue is already part of a cox'n's and a master's obligatory training, and I'm sure is a classroom and practical exam at Lave Academy.

Not rendering assistance in such circumstances may not result in legal punishment, but you're going to be a pariah while people recognise you. Not every hand will be raised against you, but damned-few hands would be raised to help you. Or, indeed, willing to sell you fuel and consumables and services. You may have to travel to less law-respecting ports, and deal with nastier people, at higher prices for worse service, becoming a pariah if not actually a fugitive. A person who didn't yield assistance might not be legally "bad", but they are likely to be considered dangerously incompetent in all ways, and a prudent vessel's master would steer well clear of them. Particularly if they were in distress themselves later.

Hmmm, thinking out loud here (while the last few files copy) - a "universal emergency 'air'lock" would be an interesting equipment item. If I were the master of an RRS station. for example, I'd consider it an essential piece of equipment in any vessel whose master was bidding for my (RRS Corp's) contracts. Possibly it could incorporate a "tow hook" attachment (there's a "tow-bar" OXP - which I haven't played with. Yet. Onto the to-do list.). As safety equipment, no respectable shipyard paint shop would paint it anything other than "yum yum yellow" or "international orange". Maybe with UV and IR contrasting stripes.

Right, other things nearly ready. This is just a brain dump of thoughts around "lifeboats", and you can see some ideas crystallising which might actually yield something from my brain too. Being thrown into the Canadian sea, then being thrown a "2-6-2" grade suit to climb into, then bobbing around for an hour before being recovered ... really does stick in the memory.

[maik]

Very long and detailed insights, thank you! That just made the most interesting read at least of today

[RockDoctor]

Using (I think) Thargoid's Commodity Markets OXP, I'm getting a NaN twice for the buy (?) price for the qurium crystals. Or maybe it is a "{NAN}{decimal point}{NaN}, depending on how the number is constructed internally. The other modified numbers on the Buy/Sell screen seem to be working so ...

How does Thargoid's OXP pick up the existence of theis new commodity and calculate an appropriate buy/ sell price differential. Does Thargoid (or the core game) assume something about how a {Commodity} entity is defined, and the Qurium crystals not have the right runes carved turnwise rather than widdershins? Or ... something.
Screenshot : is on Box,but won't display here for some reason.
Does this "embed widgit" work ... no it won't, HTML, not BBcode. Try <iframe src="https://app.box.com/embed/s/x8co04bql1aaythcn1sr41ecpqqhy2nn?sortColumn=date&view=list" width="500" height="400" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen></iframe> Sod it. Can we shoot a programming language please?

[Cody]

Screenshot : is on Box,but won't display here for some reason.

Here you go!

[RockDoctor]

Screenshot : is on Box,but won't display here for some reason.

Here you go!

https://public.boxcloud.com/api/2.0/int ... ion=2.67.0

Looks very complex. and still doesn't work for me. I'm going to guess that Box doesn't like my current setup of anti-malware (I installed AdNauseam a few days ago, which is making a lot of sites... different). Could you see the PNG on Box?
While trying to get data off the wife's malfunctioning drive, I'm also trying to figure out why screenshots aren't going to my shared drive between the Windows and Linux systems. That's enough Oolite debuggerification for the day.
I made one jump after grabbing the "Qurium NaN" screenshot above, got wiped out by a nesto f those damned Dragon Geckos, and removed the OXP, so I don't see any testing of fixes. The SIRF looks pretty - but I'm wondering why alternating cylinders are contra-rotating. But that's a question for the original designer. I just hear the squeal of wearing bearings and seals.

[RockDoctor]

Now that I've removed the resource pack my latest.log contains

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.
.
reversecontrol 1.8
SIRF_populator 2.60
Smugglers_BlackMarket 1.5.7
.
.
.
18:06:15.375 [files.notFound]: ----- WARNING: Could not find texture file "GNSS-gecko_dragon_oolite_subents.png".
18:06:15.843 [files.notFound]: ----- WARNING: Could not find texture file "GNSS-gecko_dragon_oolite_subents.png".
18:06:16.268 [files.notFound]: ----- WARNING: Could not find texture file "GNSS-gecko_dragon_oolite_subents.png".
18:06:17.279 [files.notFound]: ----- WARNING: Could not find texture file "GNSS-gecko_dragon_oolite_subents.png".
18:06:17.477 [SIRF_station_selection_conditions]: SIRF added to the system, tech level = 11, price factor = 1.15
18:06:27.779 [screenshot]: Saved screen shot "oolite-001.png" (871 x 561 pixels).

Does that mean that the SIRF I was docked in - sorry, "the SIRF OXP that generated the station I was docked in" - still contains some references to the gecko_dragon ship which I'm trying to avoid ?

Now why isn't that screenshot going into my fscking oolite-saves folder? (not an SIRF issue)

[montana05]

Regarding NaN in combination with Commodity Markets OXP I will check Thargoid's code, hopefully I can find a way how to fix this problem.

Edit:
I installed Commodity Markets OXP and spend some time to reproduce your error, sorry, I can't. After visiting all stations in 3 systems the values of the prices were ok. Could you please send me your log next time this problem happen.


[files.notFound]: ----- WARNING: Could not find texture file "GNSS-gecko_dragon_oolite_subents.png" is a copy & past error of mine, I didn't change the file to SIRF Geckos. With the new coming V 2.61 this bug (and some other typos I found) are fixed.

SIRF_populator 2.60 indicates that you installed the original, not the compact version. With today both versions are available at the expansion manager. V 2.61 of the original (the one without gecko-killers) will be available shortly.