Oolite Bulletins

Posted: **Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:01 pm**

I am afraid that the old wiki version (1.1.1) was not the latest one. In the old oosat2 there was a 1.2 http://oldsat.alioth.net/node/27 by the original author.

I will try to get hold of that 1.2 version. The file-links on the above page refuse to download.

Posted: **Sat Dec 29, 2007 11:04 pm**

Try this one
http://oldsat.alioth.net/files/active/0 ... .v.1.2.zip

I am fast too

ha ha

Apply your changes to this one (since is the newest version from the original creator) and in the name of God add a condition in the script so the mission will start after the nova mission is complete (I don’t want anybody else to suffer as I did)

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:43 am**

ark wrote:
Apply your changes to this one (since is the newest version from the original creator)

I made a compare. It is only the shipdata file that was changed. As the read me says: some ships are a little bit stronger. All other files have even the same modification date. So I only needed to change the shipdata.plist and the readme file. I have done this and the correct one is now on line. (I'll also change the link in my old message)

Download: Deposed 1.2.1

ark wrote:
and in the name of God add a condition in the script so the mission will start after the nova mission is complete (I don’t want anybody else to suffer as I did)

Not possible, else Cmr Wombat would have done it himself. OK, when you do the nova mission right, you stay in the same system. But the nova mission almost asks for a galactic jump. It's also a possible ending and then you still have to cycle trough all galaxies to start deposed.
Both are very well compatible as long you do not galactic jump before you get the nova mission and don't galactic jump during the nova mission.

But telling this "not jumping" in the readme would be a kind of spoiler.

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:18 am**

Hi Eric Walch

I want for one more time to give you my compliments for the fantastic job you have done by tidying up all those abandoned oxps.

Eric Walch wrote:

ark wrote:
and in the name of God add a condition in the script so the mission will start after the nova mission is complete (I don’t want anybody else to suffer as I did)
Not possible, else Cmr Wombat would have done it himself.

I know that my scripting knowledge is far inferior that yours so probably you are right but since I looked in the script.plist of lovecats I cannot help myself by not asking you why not.

From script.plist of lovecats

{
wedding = (
{
conditions = ("galaxy_number equal 3");
do = (
{
conditions = (
"planet_number greaterthan 142",
"dockedAtMainStation_bool equal YES",
"mission_wedding undefined",
"mission_conhunt equal MISSION_COMPLETE",
"mission_nova equal NOVA_HERO"

The condition is there in the save game

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:55 am**

Eric Walch wrote:
Download: Deposed 1.2.1

Doesn't work for me

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:32 pm**

Try http://wiki.alioth.net/images/8/81/Deposed_1.2.1.zip

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 12:47 pm**

Doesn't work for me

I corrected the link now. Download: Deposed 1.2.1

I know that my scripting knowledge is far inferior that yours so probably you are right but since I looked in the script.plist of lovecats I cannot help myself by not asking you why not.

You are right that it is technically very easy. But by doing this you influence the game to much. When Deposed waits for the nova mission to be finished, it probably never will happen. The player that has also deposed installed knows he has to stay in the galaxy to do the mission and will not buy the thing that is needed to start the nova mission. .....

The only solution to this is give a player a complete clue. But than you don't need the check anymore. This were probably also things Wombat was also struggling with. The main bug of the program is that is plays in galaxy 4 and Wombat probably realised the consequences to late.

---

I have to add that in my opinion that check for the nova mission in Lovecats is wrong. There is no reason why you can not play it before the nova mission. The check in lovecats just complicates things as you have to do nova first. (And half of the players will jump out of the galaxy with this mission.) And the nova mission is such a short one that it is not worth waiting for.

Has anybody a clue who is the author? It is submitted at oosat by johnsmith without any reference or version number. (johnsmith is a active member here so I also posted him a pm) It's relatively short, so it needed just 13 lined to be added to make it compatible with other mission offering oxp's. Ill upload it at the wiki soon without any other modification than the 13 lines of mission compatibility code.

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 2:56 pm**

Eric Walch wrote:
Has anybody a clue who is the author? It is submitted at oosat by johnsmith without any reference or version number. (johnsmith is a active member here so I also posted him a pm) It's relatively short, so it needed just 13 lined to be added to make it compatible with other mission offering oxp's. Ill upload it at the wiki soon without any other modification than the 13 lines of mission compatibility code.

If memory serves johnsmith is the author

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:08 pm**

Just a thought, would it be easier to modify Deposed so that it is in another galaxy?

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:28 pm**

TGHC wrote:
Just a thought, would it be easier to modify Deposed so that it is in another galaxy?

The concept of “abandoned oxp adoption" has to do with maintaining, optimizing and bug-fixing them, not change them in any way. To move a mission oxp from a galaxy to another one is definitely a serious change (don’t forget that deposed is not a single mission but a series of missions). Far more serious than just put a condition to the script.plist in order to protect the new players from their ignorance.

I do not agree …. but finally this is Eric Walsh’s decision since he is the one that would have to do the change.

Posted: **Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:50 pm**

Ark wrote:
The concept of “abandoned oxp adoption" has to do with maintaining, optimizing and bug-fixing them, not change them in any way.

Exactly. The main idea is to include new insights in old scripts to make then more compatible with other scripts. That is not much work and won't really change the oxp in function. When I stumble over a bug, I alter it. I also do it to give better examples how script should be written, as new script-writers often take the existing script as example.

Changing the concept is to the original author. That is much more labour and creativity that I only would put in my own work.

Posted: **Mon Dec 31, 2007 12:44 pm**

There is a small problem. I also have done some maintenance work on Deposed (and informed the comOonity in one or two threads here), just wasn't able to upload it before christmas.

This is what I did (from the version overview in the ReadMe):

Made two changes to avoid clashes with other OXPs, and three cosmetic changes:
- Inserted queries before bringing up mission screens according to the method proposed by Eric Walch (see http://wiki.alioth.net/index.php/OXP_mission_offering).
- Changed file-names (of drug-factory) to make them more unique.
- Inserted a reset of all mission_variables except mission_deposed on finishing the OXP, in order to clean out the save-file.
- Inserted a missing condition-clause on refusal of the initial offering. In this case mission_deposed is set to NOT_PLAYED. No further offers are made.
- Fixed typos in the missiontexts.

Then I named it version 1.3.

I could upload it now, I just had no time before christmas.

So what are we going to do?

Posted: **Mon Dec 31, 2007 3:16 pm**

I think this Oxp is cursed somehow
How many versions of it exist anyway

I think the best solution in this case is "the best of both worlds"

Maybe we should write a guidline of some kind about the maintenance of abandoned oxps so we can avoid similar situations in the future.

Posted: **Tue Jan 01, 2008 11:48 am**

Ark wrote:
Maybe we should write a guidline of some kind about the maintenance of abandoned oxps so we can avoid similar situations in the future.

McLane did it right. He posted his intentions two weeks ago. I even read it, but it just slipped my mind. I'll figure it out with McLane that version 1.3 contains the best of both versions.

---

This time I did it proper. Jonhsmith returned my message and allowed me to upload an improved version of lovecats.

I made it mission clash proof. (or in my words MOP proof). Doing this I wondered why he asks for the conhunt mission and the nova mission to be finished. The first I don't understand, the second I can.

Problem is, again, the mission clash. On oolite 1.69 and newer the OXP's execute after the internal missions and a MOP mission will not overwrite the internal mission briefings. However, in Oolite 1.65 the internal mission runs after the external OXP's. This way there is always a risk that the nova mission briefing will overwrite that of an external mission.

I only see two solutions:

1) Check the nova mission is ended (also for deposed)

2) Add the following code:

Code: Select all

                  {
                      conditions = ("mission_nova undefined", "mission_wedding_started equal YES"); 
                      do = ("set: mission_novacount 0"); 
                  },

This forces the jumpcounter that starts the nova mission to zero as long the novamission was not started yet and lovecats is running. This will effectively postpone the nova mission till after completion of this mission. (The whole code has a galaxy-4 check so that is not needed again in above conditions)

The same can be done with deposed. For the mission it is bad in my opinion, but it is the only way to avoid a clash between mission briefings when playing on oolite 1.65 or older.
------

Looking at the nova mission, I also discovered a bug in my UPS-courier. Because of the random character of those missions it is theoretical possible that I am placing a mission in a system were the sun has gone nova. A target ship in such a system will just evaporate and the player will never be able to reach the main station in such a system. That mission will then never finish as intended. (I now added a check in the code for this rare event)

Thinking of this, any mission played in system 4 after the nova mission runs the risk that one of the key systems has gone nova and thereby makes it impossible to finish. A good reason not to wait for the mission till after the nova mission, but preferably do it before and postpone the nova mission. Anyone seeing any problems with this?

Posted: **Tue Jan 01, 2008 1:58 pm**

Eric Walch wrote:
Thinking of this, any mission played in system 4 after the nova mission runs the risk that one of the key systems has gone nova and thereby makes it impossible to finish. A good reason not to wait for the mission till after the nova mission, but preferably do it before and postpone the nova mission. Anyone seeing any problems with this?

Yes I see
The purchase of …. (you know .. the equipment that is needed for the initiation of the nova mission) starts a counter. So what solar system will be hit by the nova effect is also somehow random (Correct me if I am wrong).
That means that a planet crucial for the completion of deposed or lovecats missions (and every other mission that runs in galaxy 4) may be unavailable if those missions start after the completion of nova mission.

Now I can see clearly why the condition "mission_nova equal NOVA_HERO" in Lovecats script is not a very good idea.

You must approach the problem from a totally different point of view. Instead of taking care that any oxp missions in galaxy 4 will start after the nova you must do the opposite by suppressing that counter of nova mission. So the nova must be the last mission in galaxy 4 (The second solution).

That solves the problem partially because if someone installs a mission oxp for galaxy 4 after the nova mission is complete there is always the chance that a crucial planet will be unavailable.

I do not know if it is possible to create a code especially for galaxy 4 missions in order to prevent the above.

Oh boy galaxy 4 is definitely a bad one for mission oxps

Someone must inform Ramirez about that

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