Taxi Galactica v1.0

[Cholmondely]

Do you mean something like this?

https://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/File: ... rs_0.1.oxz

Notice the version number and the date. Be brave, try it anyway. Let me know if it still works?

Bryon Arn took yours and transmogrified it into Passenger Comms (3 years after you left?).

Phkb then took his and transmogrified it into Enhanced Passenger Contracts (with oodles of other stuff too, making the contracts rather more complex).

[Bicorn]

No need for an update to this one at the moment, as it doesn’t need to directly support PF2. Taxi Galactica contracts are from system to system. It was the In-System Taxi OXP that needed PF2 support, which has been done.

The contracts work now, but there's a little hitch if used in combination with the Additional Planets OXP - the landing site names don't say what planet they're on, so if the system has multiple planets/moons figuring out where you're supposed to go can be a little tricky. Would it be possible to, for example, rejig the f5f5 screen's "travelling to <main planet>" part to say "travelling to <planet the site is on>"?

Also noticed a little cosmetic thing - if you're past the contract deadline, "...arriving within <some time>" says "...arriving in no time", which looks a little strange. Could it be changed it to say "...arriving late"?

[phkb]

The contracts work now, but there's a little hitch if used in combination with the Additional Planets OXP - the landing site names don't say what planet they're on, so if the system has multiple planets/moons figuring out where you're supposed to go can be a little tricky. Would it be possible to, for example, rejig the f5f5 screen's "travelling to <main planet>" part to say "travelling to <planet the site is on>"?

In-system Taxi 1.4 should be in the manager shortly, and includes the name of the planet in the description. However, I found that details of the passenger on the F5F5 Manifest screen are too long and you quite often miss important details because it gets cut off by the side of the screen. Important things like how long you have to deliver the passenger. And unfortunately I have no control over that - the passenger list is a core code thing. Which also means I can't do anything about the "arriving in no time" issue either. Well, at least not easily.

Anyway, more thought is required on how to clean this up while still utilising the built-in passenger system.

[Wildeblood]

Do you mean something like this? Noisy_Passengers_0.1.oxz

Bryon Arn took yours and transmogrified it into Passenger Comms (3 years after you left?).

I re-read that 2014 thread this morning; that was a pleasant trip down memory lane. Thankyou, Cholly, I had wondered why that Noisy Passengers script existed, and would never have remembered without your guidance.

[Bicorn]

The contracts work now, but there's a little hitch if used in combination with the Additional Planets OXP - the landing site names don't say what planet they're on, so if the system has multiple planets/moons figuring out where you're supposed to go can be a little tricky. Would it be possible to, for example, rejig the f5f5 screen's "travelling to <main planet>" part to say "travelling to <planet the site is on>"?

In-system Taxi 1.4 should be in the manager shortly, and includes the name of the planet in the description. However, I found that details of the passenger on the F5F5 Manifest screen are too long and you quite often miss important details because it gets cut off by the side of the screen. Important things like how long you have to deliver the passenger. And unfortunately I have no control over that - the passenger list is a core code thing. Which also means I can't do anything about the "arriving in no time" issue either. Well, at least not easily.

Anyway, more thought is required on how to clean this up while still utilising the built-in passenger system.

Strings starting to exceed their allotted space is definitely an issue I've been noticing, it can be a problem with some of the extended planet descriptions too. That sort of thing often becomes an issue when things get more complex than what Elite/Oolite was originally planned for, like how if any new cargoes are added the purchase menu no longer fits neatly in one screen.

[Cholmondely]

Strings starting to exceed their allotted space is definitely an issue I've been noticing, it can be a problem with some of the extended planet descriptions too. That sort of thing often becomes an issue when things get more complex than what Elite/Oolite was originally planned for, like how if any new cargoes are added the purchase menu no longer fits neatly in one screen.

I think that part of the problem is that there is no information (at least that I've found) on how long the description on the F7 page should run. And the various OXPs which squidge up the page to allow more to be crammed in seem not to give such information either - presumably due to their role in fixing what were then issues and not thinking so much of future needs.

[Bicorn]

Strings starting to exceed their allotted space is definitely an issue I've been noticing, it can be a problem with some of the extended planet descriptions too. That sort of thing often becomes an issue when things get more complex than what Elite/Oolite was originally planned for, like how if any new cargoes are added the purchase menu no longer fits neatly in one screen.

I think that part of the problem is that there is no information (at least that I've found) on how long the description on the F7 page should run. And the various OXPs which squidge up the page to allow more to be crammed in seem not to give such information either - presumably due to their role in fixing what were then issues and not thinking so much of future needs.

I think what font you're using probably affects it too.

[Cholmondely]

Strings starting to exceed their allotted space is definitely an issue I've been noticing, it can be a problem with some of the extended planet descriptions too. That sort of thing often becomes an issue when things get more complex than what Elite/Oolite was originally planned for, like how if any new cargoes are added the purchase menu no longer fits neatly in one screen.

I think that part of the problem is that there is no information (at least that I've found) on how long the description on the F7 page should run. And the various OXPs which squidge up the page to allow more to be crammed in seem not to give such information either - presumably due to their role in fixing what were then issues and not thinking so much of future needs.

I think what font you're using probably affects it too.

Not sure about the fonts.

I'd been given to understand that some mystical matter referred to as "GPL" (or some such) had laid various metaphysical constraints on the manipulation of these screens.

[phkb]

I'd been given to understand that some mystical matter referred to as "GPL" (or some such) had laid various metaphysical constraints on the manipulation of these screens.

GPL, or OpenGL, is the the tool we are using to put images (text, ships, etc) on the screen. The width of the font in use will have a direct bearing on whether things fit on the screen. However, where things get mixed is that the core code assumes text will only be a certain width on screens like the F5F5 Manifest screen, and it doesn't check the width of the text and auto-wrap it. But we, the OXP development community, keep wanting to put more info on that screen.

To make matters more complex, In-System Taxi is trying to leverage the built-in Passengers system, adding the in-system location to the passenger name when adding the passenger. That's fine if your in-system location is short, but for all the planetary locations the description is quite long. Thus, epic overruns.

I'd like to come up with a solution that works for 1.90, rather that fixing core code, but I'm not sure if that's possible. Anyway, as I said, more thought required.

[Cholmondely]

I'd been given to understand that some mystical matter referred to as "GPL" (or some such) had laid various metaphysical constraints on the manipulation of these screens.

Just stumbled across this: The text display area is 512 units wide, regardless of window size.

Presumably there are height constraints as well.

I remember, five years ago, struggling with Ramen's Planner OXP and finding that using it was painful to say the least (just try correcting a spelling mistake!). One presumes that the infelicities attendant upon its utilisation are a direct consequence of these metaphysical constraints. Ramen does write that "this OXP doesn't do very much yet", but still...


Edited to add this: The official UI overhaul challenge thread (2018)

[Bicorn]

I'd like to come up with a solution that works for 1.90, rather that fixing core code, but I'm not sure if that's possible. Anyway, as I said, more thought required.

I don't suppose the system allows showing destinations in an abbreviated form?

[Wildeblood]

I don't suppose the system allows showing destinations in an abbreviated form?

Be specific, please? What is "the system"? What is "destinations"?

[Wildeblood]

Just stumbled across this: The text display area is 512 units wide, regardless of window size.

Presumably there are height constraints as well.

480 units high, lines of 16 units each. I always thought the display area was a square, 480 wide, too.

[phkb]

I don't suppose the system allows showing destinations in an abbreviated form?

If by "system" you mean the built-in passenger contracts system, what appears there is completely up to us, as we're the one's pushing text into the passenger contract which then ends up on the screen.

The issue with abbreviating the destination is how to do it in a way that keeps the intent clear to the player. They still need to know (a) what planet to go to and (b) what landing site to land on. Landing sites have the default form of "Place Name (Place Type)". The bracketed text could be stripped out, leaving "Place Name", but we still need to add the planet name, which would result in "Place Name on Planet Name", which is still quite long.

What would be better would be if we could replace or remove the system destination. A standard passenger contract has a system as the destination, because the assumption is that the destination will always be another system, and every contract ends at the main station. The In-System Taxi version has to keep the system name, which is always the current system, and then removes the passenger just before the standard contract system kicks in so it can do the processing itself. So we can't remove this text easily.

I have some thoughts on how to make the system work as intended, make it clear to the player, but keep the text inside the screen bounds. A bit complicated, but it could work. I'll report back after some testing.

[Bicorn]

I don't suppose the system allows showing destinations in an abbreviated form?

The issue with abbreviating the destination is how to do it in a way that keeps the intent clear to the player. They still need to know (a) what planet to go to and (b) what landing site to land on. Landing sites have the default form of "Place Name (Place Type)". The bracketed text could be stripped out, leaving "Place Name", but we still need to add the planet name, which would result in "Place Name on Planet Name", which is still quite long.

Stripping the bracketed text was what I was thinking of. It wouldn't completely solve the issue but it'd alleviate it, and that info isn't really important for the f5f5 screen, since you'll generally just be using it to see where to go.