Planetfall 2.0 (apparently)

[Nite Owl]

Have not yet had a chance to actually fly about with v2.5. Did have the time to give it my usual Read the Files and Try to Learn Something™ once over. Most impressed by the included scripting tutorials. Learned a lot about arrays and such which might come in handy at some point.

Thanks Once Again.

[Cholmondely]

From Famous Planets:

"0 8" ={description = "Zaatxe is a rich corporate state in the Pulsar Worlds with an abundance of red sand. Zaatxerian sand is a so-called ultraconductor and is used in computers. There are countless plants that convert the Zaatxerian sand into computer related products. Spacers seldom touch down on the surface due to the extreme sandstorms and the very dangerous fauna. The Zaatxeian deadly Ouenbeoid is a 30 metre long sandworm and the lethal spotted craboids, of which there are plenty, are known for their fast and often deadly attacks.";};

Can one increase the turbulence on Zaatxe below (say) 5km - and possibly even add "sand" to the effects?




"0 10" ={description = "Teaatis is mildly well known for Teaatisian vicious brew. The thick gaslike cloud cover of the planet produces droplets which are rich in acid, which are captured by large screens under the cloudfactories. The concentrated acid is mixed in the Teaatisian vicious brew and sold on the juice market for consumption by some insect and frog species. Humans are advised to drink something else.";};

Can one increase the wear and tear/hull damage on the ship from landing?

[Wildeblood]

Can one increase the turbulence on Zaatxe below (say) 4km - and possibly even add "sand" to the effects?

I know you meant to write 4km, because that's where the red zone on the altimeter starts. And, my guess is the substantive answer is: yes, but it would be javascripted, not just tweaking a planetinfo parameter.

[Cholmondely]

Can one increase the turbulence on Zaatxe below (say) 4km - and possibly even add "sand" to the effects?

I know you meant to write 4km, because that's where the red zone on the altimeter starts. And, my guess is the substantive answer is: yes, but it would be javascripted, not just tweaking a planetinfo parameter.

Since it is Phkb's javascript which actually introduces the turbulence, I suppose that it would have to be. A shame. I find that the OpenStep legacy script actually makes a little sense to me, but since the Javascript is so superior in its capabilities, there seems little point in mastering it.

But no, 4km was just a wild guess at the height of a sandstorm. Sorry!

[phkb]

Can one increase the turbulence on Zaatxe below (say) 5km - and possibly even add "sand" to the effects?

The height is tweakable as a global setting - I hadn't really considered having it as a local setting. It shouldn't be difficult to add, though.
As for the sand effects - yeah, not as sure. Not sure I could come up with something that wouldn't be immersion breaking. Signs are definitely pointing to "maybe", with regular dips towards "no".

Can one increase the wear and tear/hull damage on the ship from landing?

Again, had this as a global setting. And again, shouldn't be difficult to allow this to be tweakable on a system level.

[Cholmondely]

Can one increase the turbulence on Zaatxe below (say) 5km - and possibly even add "sand" to the effects?

As for the sand effects - yeah, not as sure. Not sure I could come up with something that wouldn't be immersion breaking. Signs are definitely pointing to "maybe", with regular dips towards "no".

I was thinking more in terms of what one is actually flying through on the way down to the beacon. Would it be that difficult to create clouds/sandstorms/rainstorms/lightening storms to fly one's ship through?


The reason for all this is a desire to emulate the FP descriptions. To be blunt, what happens in-game on the planet surface will be much more important. There is little point in a fabulous atmospheric landing to a boring old F4 screen with little to do that is not already on the Coriolis above!

[phkb]

I was thinking more in terms of what one is actually flying through on the way down to the beacon. Would it be that difficult to create clouds/sandstorms/rainstorms/lightening storms to fly one's ship through?

I'd would need to create a visual effect (which is the easy bit) that is then thrown up in front of the player in increasing amounts. The issue is: what will that visual effect be? Probably some form of shader, which is the hard bit. I have examples from the planet rings OXP that *might* be transferable to this task, but I;m really not sure. Thus, the "maybe" with a healthy dose of "possible no".

The reason for all this is a desire to emulate the FP descriptions.

This I understand. I will give it a go (once I've finished off a couple of other projects), but no promises at this stage.

[Cholmondely]

I was thinking more in terms of what one is actually flying through on the way down to the beacon. Would it be that difficult to create clouds/sandstorms/rainstorms/lightening storms to fly one's ship through?

I'd would need to create a visual effect (which is the easy bit) that is then thrown up in front of the player in increasing amounts. The issue is: what will that visual effect be? Probably some form of shader, which is the hard bit. I have examples from the planet rings OXP that *might* be transferable to this task, but I;m really not sure. Thus, the "maybe" with a healthy dose of "possible no".

The reason for all this is a desire to emulate the FP descriptions.

This I understand. I will give it a go (once I've finished off a couple of other projects), but no promises at this stage.

I can't see it as too urgent.

The only real stuff to do down on the planet is the Feudal States stuff. How many trips will players make down planet? Will they ever notice that Zaatxe's turbulence is just the same as anywhere else's? And ditto for Teaatis's wear and tear! And neither is a Royal House of Santaari (Feudal Teaatis has a TL of 3 and so misses out!).

[phkb]

The only real stuff to do down on the planet is the Feudal States stuff. How many trips will players make down planet? Will they ever notice that Zaatxe's turbulence is just the same as anywhere else's? And ditto for Teaatis's wear and tear! And neither is a Royal House of Santaari (Feudal Teaatis has a TL of 3 and so misses out!).

But it's good to point out some of the exceptional cases. That gives me some idea on the things I need to allow for so individual systems can be made more unique.

[LittleBear]

Small thing I noticed in the names file is that at lines 1003 to 1005, there is a missing pair of brackets round the 9 array so not all types get the type of base bracketed off.

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				"New 4 (9)",
				"{1 4 } 9",
				"{5 4 } 9",
				"{6 4 } 9"

[phkb]

Small thing I noticed in the names file is that at lines 1003 to 1005, there is a missing pair of brackets round the 9 array so not all types get the type of base bracketed off.

Thanks for that. If you want to patch your version prior to an official release, the lines you quote should look like this:

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				"New 4 (9)",
				"{1 4 (}9)",
				"{5 4 (}9)",
				"{6 4 (}9)"

[phkb]

I'm prepping to add this to the DM. However, I'd value some input on the best approach to take.

At the moment, I've kept the identifier from the original Planetfall ("oolite.oxp.Thargoid.Planetfall"), so the new version is a straight upgrade to the old one. However, I've made some radical changes to the original (fixed points for the different landing sites, atmospheric turbulence, and so on). If I leave it as it is, players will get this at the upgrade to the old version, and have a completely different experience landing on a planet. That might come as a bit of a shock.

So, my options are:
(1) Leave it as it is, and give players a surprise. Having something a bit unexpected happen doesn't have to be a turn off.
(2) Leave it as it is, and pop-up a message to players when they load a game for the first time with the new version, informing them of the changes. Could be a bit distracting, though.
(3) Change the identifier so that it's not a straight upgrade, make this new version incompatible with the old one, and thus give the player the choice as to when (and if) they take on the new version. The downside to this is that OXP integrations become a bit messy, as some OXP's might decide to support version 1.51, rather than 2.0, and also that two quite different versions end up being "supported". Essentially, this makes more headaches for me, rather than the players.

If there's another option I haven't considered, please shout it out. (In a figurative sense, rather than SHOUTING IT WITH TEXT! )

Let me know your thoughts.

[Cholmondely]

I'm prepping to add this to the DM. However, I'd value some input on the best approach to take.

At the moment, I've kept the identifier from the original Planetfall ("oolite.oxp.Thargoid.Planetfall"), so the new version is a straight upgrade to the old one. However, I've made some radical changes to the original (fixed points for the different landing sites, atmospheric turbulence, and so on). If I leave it as it is, players will get this at the upgrade to the old version, and have a completely different experience landing on a planet. That might come as a bit of a shock.

So, my options are:
(1) Leave it as it is, and give players a surprise. Having something a bit unexpected happen doesn't have to be a turn off.
(2) Leave it as it is, and pop-up a message to players when they load a game for the first time with the new version, informing them of the changes. Could be a bit distracting, though.
(3) Change the identifier so that it's not a straight upgrade, make this new version incompatible with the old one, and thus give the player the choice as to when (and if) they take on the new version. The downside to this is that OXP integrations become a bit messy, as some OXP's might decide to support version 1.51, rather than 2.0, and also that two quite different versions end up being "supported". Essentially, this makes more headaches for me, rather than the players.

If there's another option I haven't considered, please shout it out. (In a figurative sense, rather than SHOUTING IT WITH TEXT! )

Let me know your thoughts.

DGill's Feudal State's is the only OXP where this might be important. I'd say that it should be his call. (Personally I'd go for #1 - I'm all for surprise improvements!).

[MrFlibble]

I'm seeing this in the debug console on loading my savegame:

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Exception: TypeError: tempalloy[0].script.allowSpawnShip is not a function
    Active script: PlanetFall2 2.5
    planetFall2_worldScript.js, line 985:
    					allowed = tempalloy[0].script.allowSpawnShip(pfKeys[i]);

And this in the log:

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15:59:52.519 [script.load.notFound]: ***** ERROR: Could not find script file feudal-planetfall-conditions.js.
15:59:53.712 [script.load.notFound]: ***** ERROR: Could not find script file feudal-planetfall-conditions.js.
15:59:53.775 [script.javaScript.exception.notFunction]: ***** JavaScript exception (PlanetFall2 2.5): TypeError: tempalloy[0].script.allowSpawnShip is not a function
15:59:53.775 [script.javaScript.exception.notFunction]:       AddOns/PlanetFall2.oxz/Scripts/planetFall2_worldScript.js, line 985.

Using latest dev version on LinnuMint.

[phkb]

Thanks for the report. I’ll get onto this shortly.