Oolite Bulletins

Cody wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:04 pm

Try Lave is Earth, and which OS are you using?

Oh, an OXZ.
Actually I'd rather try an oldfashioned OXP to begin with. if anyone can think of one that immediately and easily presents itself.

I use Mojave, 10.14.6

Take the .oxz change the suffix to .zip and extract the .oxp (and an oxz can be dropped into the old AddOns folder, where it will work happily). Of course, that's all on Windows - how things work on Jobsian devices is beyond my ken! The Mac version of Oolite is no longer maintained, btw.

Cody wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:43 pm

Take the .oxz change the suffix to .zip and extract the .oxp (and an oxz can be dropped into the old AddOns folder, where it will work happily). Of course, that's all on Windows - how things work on Jobsian devices is beyond my ken! The Mac version of Oolite is no longer maintained, btw.

That trick didn't work on my Mac, but too many possibilities as to why.

I did however manage to install this OXZ in the in-game menu, so that works and i got to see it. It's an instant, stunning demonstration of the improvements.

But sad to hear that Mac development is suspended.

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:31 pm

Cody wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 8:04 pm

Try Lave is Earth, and which OS are you using?

Oh, an OXZ.
Actually I'd rather try an oldfashioned OXP to begin with. if anyone can think of one that immediately and easily presents itself.

I use Mojave, 10.14.6

There was a chap called Murgh many years ago who wrote a rather spiffing "Lave.oxp" which I can personally recommend: try here - you get a moon, and a whole bunch of ship goodies.

The Links at the bottom of the page take you to other Lave oxp's/oxz's. Lave Academy is a jolly good one. That's where you got your pilot's license. And there is stuff to do there! If you go to Tionisla, do get the three Tionisla Orbital Cemetery oxp's & the Tionisla Chronicle Array from the Expansions Manager. If you have Broadcast Comms loaded you can interrogate the tombs to find out who is buried in each. (you will need to know how to operate MFD's).

You might also care to download Famous Planets and look at the new F7 pages. And see the Rough Guide to the Ooniverse on the wiki.

Famous Planets originally came with music and textures, but these were split off, etc., etc., and the current set up is poor compared to what used to be the case.

Oh! And do grab Feudal States, Commies, Dictators & Anarchies (systems oxz's). These colour the respective political systems. Diplomancy and Home System also add. So does Weapon Laws (makes the game rather tougher).



If you want to try something totally different, try Stranger's World (realistic physics and tweaked economics - a suite of some 2 dozen oxp's) or cim's SOTL: SOTL Exploration & SOTL Altmap (2 seperate scenarios).

As you have probably worked out oxz's are merely zipped oxp's with a superior handling system. Aegidian was against their introduction, as it deterred newcomers like myself from tweaking. But it has made things much easier and there are now 700 oxz's and another 400-odd oxp's.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:32 pm

There was a chap called Murgh many years ago who wrote a rather spiffing "Lave.oxp" which I can personally recommend: try here - you get a moon, and a whole bunch of ship goodies.

Yes, that was the one I started my futile attempts at reminiscing with. But that chap knew nothing about coding really, he just thought smirking advertising-dinghies in space seemed funny.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:32 pm

.. and there are now 700 oxz's and another 400-odd oxp's.

Your list of recommendations is seems a great starting point which helps against this feeling of awe looking at this vast number of expansions. I just have to take it a bit slow and make my way to Tionisla. Thanks.

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:30 pm

I did however manage to install this OXZ in the in-game menu, so that works and i got to see it. It's an instant, stunning demonstration of the improvements.

Excellent! [twangin' guitars]

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 10:30 pm

Cody wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 9:43 pm

Take the .oxz change the suffix to .zip and extract the .oxp (and an oxz can be dropped into the old AddOns folder, where it will work happily). Of course, that's all on Windows - how things work on Jobsian devices is beyond my ken! The Mac version of Oolite is no longer maintained, btw.

That trick didn't work on my Mac, but too many possibilities as to why.

I did however manage to install this OXZ in the in-game menu, so that works and i got to see it. It's an instant, stunning demonstration of the improvements.

But sad to hear that Mac development is suspended.

I use a Mac. Merely drop the unadulterated .oxz on your bright green "archive utility" icon (mine lives inside Launcher and is tucked away inside the Utilities folder) and it will blow it up for you. Then change the suffix to ".txt" and you can muck about with it to your heart's delight. If you change the suffix back, but to ".oxp", then you can bung it in your AddOns folder after tweaking or whatever.

NOTE: The Expansions Manager can do this for you (expand .oxz and bung it in ADDONS instead for tweaking/inspection). Details on the linked wiki page.

Depending on what you want to look at, try Hiran's Index of Artefacts (list of OXZ's, contained ships & equipment, contents of ReadMe's etc)

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Mon Dec 06, 2021 11:43 pm

..muck about with it to your heart's delight. If you change the suffix back, but to ".oxp", then you can bung it in your AddOns folder after tweaking or whatever.

Great, plenty of things to try.
But could you indulge me a wee screenshot of exactly where in the folder architecture your working AddOns folder is located so I can feel 100% certain about having done that right? As I said, my d/l didn't come with one and I have so far no confirmation that the Oolite app registers the contents of that folder no matter where I put it.

With the greatest of pleasure:

MacBook > Macintosh HD Users > (Account name) > Library > Application Support > Oolite > AddOns (and also ManagedAddOns).

Does that do it for you?

Being the sad case that I am, I moved aliases of both onto my desktop.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:42 pm

With the greatest of pleasure..

Thank you.
Hm. I have this exactly, so the issue is elsewhere then. I'll get to the bottom of it eventually.

On another note, I saw an OXZ of my old hoOpy casino in the in-game menu, found the ship and docked, but alas no gambling action, just normal docked status page. Has this not been working recently, or could it potentially be a conflict with something from all the other OXPs i grabbed?

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:56 pm

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:42 pm

With the greatest of pleasure..

Thank you.
Hm. I have this exactly, so the issue is elsewhere then. I'll get to the bottom of it eventually.

On another note, I saw an OXZ of my old hoOpy casino in the in-game menu, found the ship and docked, but alas no gambling action, just normal docked status page. Has this not been working recently, or could it potentially be a conflict with something from all the other OXPs i grabbed?

I don't gamble, so I never tried. I'll give it a stab - probably tomorrow - and report back. I must say, I am very very impressed with the way that you added little touches to your oxp's - the gambling, the personalities, all the stuff for Lave, etc.

The immediate thing that comes to mind is a possible conflict with an oxp which embellishes the F4 page (XenonUI, BGS, Better Screens, etc).


I first downloaded version 1.88 last summer. That created all of the folders, and my newer v.1.90 uses what v.1.88 created. I also have some of the older versions installed now (to try out the older .oxp's) and they all use the v.1.88 folders too.

I wish I knew more about this programming lark and could actually provide some decent help...

Do make sure to add LogEvents to your .oxp cocktail, if you have not done so already. It makes tracking down problems rather easier (such as those striking croupiers in the HoOpy casinos - is it a creepy and crummy Coomunin conspiracy?).

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 7:24 pm

Do make sure to add LogEvents to your .oxp cocktail, if you have not done so already. It makes tracking down problems rather easier (such as those striking croupiers in the HoOpy casinos - is it a creepy and crummy Coomunin conspiracy?).

Done.

I visited the casino again and this time I got to the gambling, that's to say I may have missed it last time because my old version began immediately and this new interface is found on f4 ship/system, along with several new ways of gambling, poker, dice, blackjack etc. that look quite intricate.

Anyway, my old simple idea of hoOpy casino was a take on the street gamble con of 'three inverted cups, under which is the ball?' and that I managed to figure out the random code while only bothering Giles for help to a minimum, which was an enormous triumph for me, it actually worked.

But now, something has happened. You can clean out the house once you figure out that the ball is ALWAYS under the left hoop. But I swear, it really did work back in the day..
[edit]
I stand corrected, I must have been on a crazy run. It's back to proper random.

Cholmondely wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 6:42 pm

MacBook > Macintosh HD Users > (Account name) > Library > Application Support > Oolite > AddOns (and also ManagedAddOns).
Does that do it for you?

Agh. Thank you. Finally.
It's always the stupid little things. I had been persisting with the global HD Library and not the hidden Library in my User partition.
All is totally well now. Thank you again!

Old Murgh wrote: ↑Tue Dec 07, 2021 8:08 pm

proper random.

<chortles>

Good. Now that you have Oolite working the way you need it to, you now have a galaxy of 1,000+ oxp's to explore!

Catalogs of oxp's:
Oolite.org:
*List on the Expansions Manager
Wiki lists:
*OXP List
*Guide to Unlisted OXPs
*Brilliant but broken... (some still work with older versions of Oolite)

Wiki essays possibly worth looking at:
*Oolite - contains an attempt to summarise how things have changed since 2003/4
*Lore - how views about this have changed since the Aegidian Era
*Oolite Literature
*(Rough Guide was mentioned above)
*Church of Giles the Creator
*Cheating - how views have changed since the Aegidian Era

Current big projects:
The once keen interest in racing seems to have utterly vanished away, I'm afraid.
Littlebear's Galactic Almanac (Beta) - it started off as "Random Station Names", but has gro-o-o-own.
RedSpear's Rescaling Experiment (long-running, windows only)
Hiran's multiplayer Oolite Communicator
Cody & Disembodied's HIMSN [Her Imperial Majesty's Space Navy] (languishing, but needs just a few touches to finish it off).
Montana05 has a number of different projects on the go in between rescuing old ship.oxp's - he's put a large number up on the Expansions Manager.
Phkb has been rejigging the vanilla code Keyboard configuration to allow foreign Linux users a chance to play the game with a full set of keypresses - and is mulling over a new tweak for anarchy systems where pirates take over the orbital station. His most recent magnum opus is Hermitage - manage your own Rock Hermit!

I hope that this is a reasonably honest synopsis of the current state of affairs...

And... there are also several people who are busy doing their own thing and who may well never publish publicly: CSOTB's Oolite 2.0, AGill's wonderful Feudal Nirvana & Frame's work on Babylon5.

And of course, our current intrepid YouTube streamer, Arquebus... Episode 6 might well be of interest...