Oolite: The Next Generation - Galaxy 9

[pleb87]

WARNING: PLEASE BACK-UP YOUR SAVE GAME BEFORE ATTEMPTING THIS 'ALTERATION' - I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY DAMAGE DONE TO YOUR SAVE FILES.

Now, sorry for the disclamer but seeing as that probably got most of your attention I'll get on with it. For those of you who don't know how to do this, and are getting bored of the same old 8 galaxy Oolite (I'm not, but it's always fun to explore somewhere new!) then perhaps you'd be interested to know you can access a ninth galaxy in Oolite. And, the number of combinations of galaxies there are are nearly endless...

First of all, as the disclamer at the top of this post says, please back-up your save game file NOW! Your save games (if playing on Windows XP/Vista/7) are located in the C:\Oolite\oolite.app\oolite-saves (Replace C: with wherever you installed Oolite to). When you hav copy and pasted this somewhere else, you are ready to make some changes. Open up the file using Notepad or a similar text editor. Then scroll down until you get to a line that looks like this:

Code: Select all

    <key>galaxy_number</key>
    <integer>0</integer>
    <key>galaxy_seed</key>
    <string>74 90 72 2 83 183</string>

The first two lines control what galaxy you are in. Normally, this is a value from 0 to 7, representing Galaxy 1 to 8. Change this value to 8, so that the game now registers you are in Galaxy 9. Make sure you do this, as otherwise the game will assume the new galaxy you are about to generate is actually Galaxy 1 or 5, and the main scripts and other OXPs will also act o this being that galaxy...messy stuff - just put it to 8 to keep it all okay!

The second two lines control which galaxy this actually is, and this is where the fun begins. The bottom line has six 2-digit values. Change this to whatever you want, but remember you can only use 6 values! For this example, I am going to use 21 48 37 3 92 112 (but you can also use hex like 2b and a3).

Now your save file should look this this:

Code: Select all

    <key>galaxy_number</key>
    <integer>8</integer>
    <key>galaxy_seed</key>
    <string>21 48 37 3 92 112</string>

Okay, now fire up Oolite. Load up the save file you have just modified, and then press F6 (go to the first Navigation Screen). It should look like this:



Neat huh? Press F6 again to see your new Galaxy 9:



I've noticed that in some galaxies you can get large parts unaccessable without moving your ship further than 7 light years in the save file. This is probably why Braben and Bell chose the 8 galaxies they did. Press F7 to bring up the system descriptions:



Now some of these are brilliant! I did read somewhere that there was originally going to be 256 galaxies in Elite so I'm guessing this is why we are able to generate all these galaxies. But anyway, the rest is up to you. I have a whole new galaxy to explore...

Oh - one last thing. Some OXPs will obviously not work in Galaxy 9 because they are only designed to work in Galaxies 1-8 - you will of course have to manually edit these yourself (this includes System Redux!).

[Lestradae]

Reading that, the question is:

1. Would it not make sense to make adding whole galactic sectors oxp-able? It sounds that this might be very easy ...

2. A new equipment item that does a reverse galactic hyperjump would be nescessary so that you can come back again, nothing else. Should also not be too difficult, huh?

How much space this would open for the creativity of many here!

My 0.2 Cr

L

[Wolfwood]

I've always liked to think of the galaxies more as sectors rather than completely separate galaxies. Thus, instead of travelling from 1 to 2 to 3 to... etc. it would be far better if you could travel to whichever sector you liked to...

This easy way to add more and more sectors would make for an interesting new experience and develop the sense of how immense a galaxy really is.

[pleb87]

In theory you could already write an OXP for this galaxy, as long as you state in the script to use galaxy 8 but I don't know if the program will accept that or not (Haven't tested - will do so soon - waiting for microwave to *bing*). It should work though, as the save file points to galaxy 8 (which is actually 9...).

[Griff]

Very cool! anybody managed to generate a galaxy with sweary named planets in it yet? If i remember correctly Braben and Bell had to throw away a lot of galaxy seeds in the original Elite because they conjured up a planet named 'Arse' *chortle*

[Lestradae]

In theory you could already write an OXP for this galaxy, as long as you state in the script to use galaxy 8

Sure, but how would you get there without manipulating your savegame? I was suggesting an ingame way of getting to oxp-defined galactic sectors.

I've always liked to think of the galaxies more as sectors rather than completely separate galaxies.

I completely second that and also the rest of what you were suggesting.

The above opinions combined with the fact that another_commander has already suggested something into this direction twice, that it doesn't seem to be very difficult to implement and that the coolness factor of the possibility to add (and detail!) new galactic sectors via oxp will be a wish of many players I suspect, make this a veritable, serious proposal methinks.

EDIT: @Griff: And I can live with "Arse"

[pleb87]

Sure, but how would you get there without manipulating your savegame? I was suggesting an ingame way of getting to oxp-defined galactic sectors.

Ah, I see what you mean. Well, I have managed to modify the source of a trunk build Oolite I have and managed to get it to start you off in a completely different galaxy but that just creates more problems (because then a new set of Galaxies 1-8 are created and the OXPs use these!) Also, you can already create OXPs that are only activated in Galaxy 9 (just tried it!) but without changing your save game or modifying the source (not advisable!) there's no way to get there...

I've always liked to think of the galaxies more as sectors rather than completely separate galaxies.

This is how I saw them, I think I read somewhere they are supposed to be the eight arms of the Milky Way (does our galaxy only have eight arms?).

[another_commander]

The above opinions combined with the fact that another_commander has already suggested something into this direction twice, that it doesn't seem to be very difficult to implement and that the coolness factor of the possibility to add (and detail!) new galactic sectors via oxp will be a wish of many players I suspect, make this a veritable, serious proposal methinks.

Clarification: I have suggested something to this direction once, not twice and I had stated at that time that implementation would not be simple. There is more than just changing a 6-digit seed to be able to play with the galaxies.

[pleb87]

How about adding a script command that changes the galactic seed when you jump beyond galaxy 8 and another to switch it to galaxy 9? Or is that even more complicated, lol?

[Frame]

How about adding a script command that changes the galactic seed when you jump beyond galaxy 8 and another to switch it to galaxy 9? Or is that even more complicated, lol?

Atm galaxy seed and galactic chart number is read only... This means that it cannot be set, unless it is "hacked" as you did via save game file.

Also you would need to somehow modify the galactic hyperspace jump to even get there.. something that is strictly hard-coded today...

[another_commander]

Also, you need to reset the seed to what it was before the first time you jumped to G9, otherwise when you use the Galactic Hyperdrive it takes you to a completely new Galaxy 2. This is because the seed of the previous galaxy gets bitshifted to produce the seed of the next one.

[pleb87]

Ah... well we seem to have come to a dead end as far as this goes then, but I don't think this should be shelved so quickly. In the future, after more critical and demanding enhancements have been made, this could pave the way to expanding Oolite in a huge way...

One last question, I got the idea for this from a screenshot a_c posted of a Galaxy 9 he generated:

http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs129&d=08306&f=galaxy9414.png

How do you get these lines up on the nav screen? Do they have to be implemented through the source?

[Cmdr James]

You know that elite was deliberately restricted to 8 galaxies because the authors felt that having too many spoilt the feel of the game?

[Frame]

One last question, I got the idea for this from a screenshot a_c posted of a Galaxy 9 he generated:

http://xs.to/xs.php?h=xs129&d=08306&f=galaxy9414.png

How do you get these lines up on the nav screen? Do they have to be implemented through the source?

You can do that... buy the Advanced Navigational Array and press
Shift+6 (default). your set-up may vary...

but what key you use can be read in the keyconfig.plist file

[Lestradae]

You know that elite was deliberately restricted to 8 galaxies because the authors felt that having too many spoilt the feel of the game?

If the possibility for galactic charts/galaxies beyond 8 was included into the game, I'd suggest the usual: Make it oxp-able, but do not put it into the core game.

That way, those that feel the way you cite are not being bothered by it, and those that find it positively expands their game can have the option and do something creative with it.

Would it really be so difficult to implement this? (Please, again, take into account the total programming noob status of the asking person - me )



L