Oolite Bulletins

First things first of course. Now that the official version of Oolite is 1.77.1, the wiki oxp main list might be needing some updating.

Svengali wrote:

There's another showstopper - if I can't control my own settings and code runtimes anymore (OXPs are uncalled changing accuracy, energy, equipment, etc... or inject code) or entities are simply removed by other OXPs my motivation is nearly not existing anymore. We need solutions, otherwise it gets more and more pointless to write any mission related stuff.

Sorry for the thread derailment, but this is a very good point that is worth considering. I fell victim to this (twice!) with Xeptatl's Sword, which needed bugfixes to overcome problems caused by other OXPs. Specifically in my case an OXP which added a TL12 station to a TL9 system thus making equipment available that shouldn't have been available there, and another which caused a main station to be removed permanently (as in for ever, even after 'years' of travelling right round all eight galaxies). Both of these 'broke' the mission quite badly.
This is important as I think the future of OXPs probably depends more and more on mission OXPs. There are already more 'ship' OXPs than we really need, and with the promise of better 'default' models and graphics for the game, replacement texture sets etc are going to become less important. So the future probably lies more with ambience and mission OXPs.
I hope that all authors will be ever more vigilant when designing their future releases, and will keep in mind how disruptive a badly thought through (or not thought about at all!) feature could be to the work of others.

Smivs wrote:

Svengali wrote:

There's another showstopper - if I can't control my own settings and code runtimes anymore (OXPs are uncalled changing accuracy, energy, equipment, etc... or inject code) or entities are simply removed by other OXPs my motivation is nearly not existing anymore. We need solutions, otherwise it gets more and more pointless to write any mission related stuff.

Sorry for the thread derailment, but this is a very good point that is worth considering. I fell victim to this (twice!) with Xeptatl's Sword, which needed bugfixes to overcome problems caused by other OXPs. Specifically in my case an OXP which added a TL12 station to a TL9 system thus making equipment available that shouldn't have been available there, and another which caused a main station to be removed permanently (as in for ever, even after 'years' of travelling right round all eight galaxies). Both of these 'broke' the mission quite badly.
This is important as I think the future of OXPs probably depends more and more on mission OXPs. There are already more 'ship' OXPs than we really need, and with the promise of better 'default' models and graphics for the game, replacement texture sets etc are going to become less important. So the future probably lies more with ambience and mission OXPs.
I hope that all authors will be ever more vigilant when designing their future releases, and will keep in mind how disruptive a badly thought through (or not thought about at all!) feature could be to the work of others.

This topic sounds to me like it could use a dedicated thread, and perhaps have some kind of framework hammered out to make it easier to avoid conflicts..

Diziet Sma wrote:

This topic sounds to me like it could use a dedicated thread...

It has now

spara wrote:

First things first of course. Now that the official version of Oolite is 1.77.1, the wiki oxp main list might be needing some updating.

Good point. Should we do it?

Cool OXP, some unique features, and a beauuuuuuutiful ship Nice work, Svengali!

And so far it seems to work with 1.80 ...

I have a question -

V'z va T6 ng Dhovvfvf, vairfgvtngvat n zrffntr V tbg nobhg n fgngvba arne gur fha. V znantrq gb svaq gur fgngvba, naq nccebnpurq vg gb qbpx (gubhtug gjvpr nobhg vg, bjvat gb gur zrffntr, ohg jrag nurnq naljnl). V gevrq pybnxvat gb qvfnoyr zl ynfref, naq qbpxrq bx ... ohg gura pneevrq ba tbvat guebhtu gur fgngvba, naq bhg gur bgure fvqr! V gevrq qbpxvat ntnva hapybnxrq, naq gur fnzr guvat unccrarq.

V gubhtug znlor gur fbyhgvba jnf gb fubc gur ybpny GY13f sbe n arj fuvc, bar jvgubhg nal ynfref vafgnyyrq, ohg rira na hardhvccrq zbenl zrq obng naq gur ivagntr nqqre unir n sebag chyfr ynfre. Fb gung jbhyqa'g jbex.

Fubhyq V or noyr gb qbpx gurer? Be vf gurer fbzrguvat ryfr V arrq gb qb svefg gb ranoyr qbpxvat?

Hi,

does it work with 1.80? I wanted to install it, but the Wiki does not recommand it for versions above 1.77.

Greez Sarr

SARR wrote:

does it work with 1.80?

Based on the author's words I think it works, just a few pirates use old-looking ships.

Travis wrote:

I have a question -

Congrats - I think you are the first who found it. And yes, it's supposed to be dockable.

What you've encountered is a change introduced in v1.77 (before it was possible to model the dock 'in-place'). A fix for this change in Oolite would be to move the vertices in the .dat file and push the dock in place through shipdata.plist.

Bu, naq orsber nggrzcgvat gb qbpx, erdhrfg qbpxvat pyrnenapr (Fuvsg+Y). Guvf ranoyrf gur frpher pbzzf punaary (cevznoyr ivn Fuvsg+A, plpyr gb "Fraq vqragvsvpngvba" naq fraq vg ivn O). Jnvg hagvy lbh'ir tbg gur zrffntr gung gur fgngvba qvfnoyrq vgf ynfref.

Norby wrote:

SARR wrote:

does it work with 1.80?

Based on the author's words I think it works, just a few pirates use old-looking ships.

This was true for v1.77. But if I should guess then I'd say quite a few things are completely broken in v1.80. The escape pods and the background story may still be playable, but all sidequests probably won't work anymore.

Cool! Very pleased if I am the first to find it. I'm (fairly) new to Oolite, didn't think there was anything left unexplored ...

Thanks for the pointer - I managed to dock, though it took a bit of trial and error.

Fuvsg+Y ranoyrq qbpxvat pyrnenapr naq gur frpher punaaryf nf rkcrpgrq (znl unir unq gb fjvgpu ba qbpxvat cebgbpby va gur tnzr bcgvbaf svefg, V sbetrg). Gura (hfvat A) V tbg 3 bcgvbaf - Qvfpneq/Bcra Punaary/Fcrpvnyvfg - juvpu frrzrq yvxr n qrnq raq - hagvy V svanyyl ernyvfrq V arrqrq gb plpyr (A) naq fryrpg (O) naq plpyr naq fryrpg ntnva va dhvpx fhpprffvba gb fraq vqragvsvpngvba rgp naq trg gur fgngvba gb qvfnoyr gur ynfref. Nsgre guna V qbpxrq fhpprffshyyl

Svengali wrote:

Norby wrote:

SARR wrote:

does it work with 1.80?

Based on the author's words I think it works, just a few pirates use old-looking ships.

This was true for v1.77. But if I should guess then I'd say quite a few things are completely broken in v1.80. The escape pods and the background story may still be playable, but all sidequests probably won't work anymore.

What a pity Yes, various bits seem to work fine (Benus Triadon, the PAD, Vectors and other ships) though escape pods are erratic (some like like they'll trigger something interesting but turn out to be plain old slaves). Don't know about any sidequests yet, but it looks like I'm about to find out! Must be a nuisance having your OXPs/OXZs broken every time a new version of the game comes out

Travis wrote:

Must be a nuisance having your OXPs/OXZs broken every time a new version of the game comes out

Well, it doesn't happen with every new release, but the last couple of updates have introduced some more-than-usual major changes.. as will the next. In fact, what we have now and are working towards could almost be called Oolite2.

As for the Vector OXP, given his usual prolific OXP output rate, I'm guessing that once Norby gets to grips with the code, an update will follow in short order.

Hmmm yes it seems the mission at the Specialist station isn't working as expected.

V fcbxr gb Zrgu naq nterrq gb tb naq trg uvz fbzr Qrcuenp pelfgnyf. V ybnqrq hc ng gur fcrpvny znexrg ng Vagvfbne naq erghearq gb gur Fcrpvnyvfg fgngvba, bayl gb or bssrerq gur zvffvba ntnva - naq ab fcrpvny znexrg gb fryy gur pelfgnyf. Fb V thrff gur tnzr/zvffvba unfa'g ertvfgrerq gung V obhtug gurz

Svengali - I hope you're motivated to update Vector for 1.80 - it's a really intriguing mission! There are still things in the PAD that haven't come into play yet, feels like there's still lots more that I haven't explored ...

Travis wrote:

Hmmm yes it seems the mission at the Specialist station isn't working as expected.

For me it was clear that such a mission needs working and stable tools and mechanisms - not only to do specific tasks, but also to control the environment. The Vector uses Cabal_Common, Snoopers and OXPConfig and before it can be fixed these AddOns must be prepared for v1.80+ (which is not the case yet). Personally I've stopped to work on releasable OXPs in December 2013 when it got clear that the policy for Oolites stable versions has changed. I really think that v1.80 is not a stable v1.x version, but I absolutely agree with Oolites development team. Oolite must evolve.

Oof! I've been running around and around the sun of a certain world where the mission suggested I should find something, and I just don't seem to be able to bump into it. Is there a trick to it I should have picked up from the text?

Is there a trick to it I should have picked up from the text?

Not that I know of. I think the trick is trial and error :) It took me several trips, and a whole lot of persistence. Keep an eye on your cabin temp guage! Once within scanner range it's pretty obvious, but that doesn't narrow it down much - there's a lot of space out there. I finally found it using the V button for maximum coverage. The station is small and dark, so as long as it's between you and the sun, it'll show up as a little black blob. (On the other hand, if there's space behind it, you probably won't see it.)

Vs nalguvat, V guvax gur grkg vf n yvggyr ovg zvfyrnqvat. Gb zl zvaq, gur fgngvba vfa'g ernyyl "oruvaq" gur fha, sebz gur cbvag bs ivrj bs rvgure gur jvgpucbvag be gur cynarg. Ubjrire V guvax gur pbzzragf nobhg qvfgnapr naq natyr, naq gur arrq sbe urng fuvryqvat, ner npphengr.

Once you find it, try to signpost it somehow. I took loads of screenshots while cycling the space compass to show the station in relation to the witchpoint and the planet - and I still managed to lose it a couple more times :/

So far as I know the mission at the station is (still) broken, but I think it's still worth searching for. It looks awesome, and it has a bonus feature (that surprised the life out of me the first time!)