Oolite Bulletins

Probably a minor problem, but not one that I can solve.

Recently, in my usual overexcited state flailing of arms and drinking of tea and typing words on computer etc., a splosh of beverage inexplicably arrived on the keyboard.

So the space-bar stopped working.

For some purposes it was sufficient to copy a space from somewhere and paste it where necessary.

But in Oolite situations where a PressSpaceBar action was required, the option was unavailable. That means when CRASHING (I'd just quit, then re-start), VISITING the BankOfThemBlackMonks (I couldn't enter their equipment showroom, for example, but could just launch instead, with my loan), or INVESTING in easy-money-opportunities at the HoOpyCasino (where the hoops would not appear...because I could not press the space-bar as requested).

Having now replaced the keyboard, and arrived a month late at the Black Bank, with disastrous consequences! I find that all the spacebar-triggered functions work fine, except at the casino where the hoops still do not appear. I have re-downloaded & re-installed the hoOpy OXP, copied and relocated the Oolite game, run it as a disk image, created separate AddOn folder, deleted and re-installed the application both as a disk image and as a cut+pasted desktop application, but ever since launching directly from a casino that first time - when the space bar had dissolved its contacts in tea - the casino game has remained unavailable.

Just for reference, I did complete the entire Iconics mission without a space bar (just "f1" launching directly from TheLink base when it asked me to "Press Space, Commander") and everything else requiring spacebar-action now works again (without any delete/re-install).

Have I wrecked something important??????

Just a thought but to me this sounds a little like a plist caching problem. Have you uninstalled the Hoopy oxp, then re-run the game before installing the oxp again? If you just deleted it, then extracted and copied the oxp in again, Oolite would not have updated it's cache, and conceivably you would still have your old problem.

Had it been my keyboard damaged like that, I'd just remap the space bar to another key by editing a copy of keyconfig.plist and putting it in Oolite/AddOns/Config. When I got the new keyboard I'd just delete the modified copy.

Zbond-Zbond wrote:

Just for reference, I did complete the entire Iconics mission without a space bar (just "f1" launching directly from TheLink base when it asked me to "Press Space, Commander") and everything else requiring spacebar-action now works again (without any delete/re-install).

Have I wrecked something important??????

YES. Some oxp's set a mission variable when showing a missionscreen and expect the player to make some sort of choice. Pressing F! is than not anticipated and the oxp keeps waiting for an answer. And because the missionVarriable is saved, and often means his message is still on display there will not happen anything anymore.

UPS and Ionics (latest version) is programmed in a way it won't suffer from these hangs, but not all oxp's are written fool-proof.

So in general: never launch from within a missionscreen with F1

But there is hope. As far as I know, zevans is trying to convert it to JS. Hopefully he converts it so that also hanging games start again. (Checking for the value HOOPY_ENTER even when this value should never appear in a saved game)

So editing the mission variable in his gamesave should fix the problem?

Diziet Sma wrote:

So editing the mission variable in his gamesave should fix the problem?

Yes, or deleting the line: "mission_hoopy_casino = HOOPY_ENTER" or replace HOOPY_ENTER by HOOPY_REVISIT

thankyouse for the recommendations.
"messages" in the form of ghostly monks haunting my terrapin and once, long ago, some interstellar hoops, are all explained.
so I'll try deleteOXP/playGame/re-installHOoPY (which I hadn't done)
____________and then How-I-Will-Laugh as I prove that the hoOps are NOT loaded in the casino's favour THEY ARE LOADED IN MINE!!!!!!!
i just gotta keep playing long nuff.. .. ..

cheers

You could rescript the hoops...

Speaking of re-scripting hoopy
There should be a choice of games to play for example pontoon shouldn't be too difficult to implement. Or a version of that uses only numbers no suits needed.

Diziet Sma wrote:
So editing the mission variable in his gamesave should fix the problem?

EricWalch wrote:

deleting the line: "mission_hoopy_casino = HOOPY_ENTER" or replace HOOPY_ENTER by HOOPY_REVISIT

.. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. so ?where is this "gamesave" -- I've looked in the Oolite file, but can't see anything in any of the folders there; perhaps I'm opening the wrong one?

I tried deleting HoOpy.oxp & restarting game without it, bought (2)new ship(s), but still cant get a game .. .. although the option was there once, some time ago.

In your Oolite folder should be a folder called oolite.app and inside oolite.app should be a folder called oolite-saves. Look in there for your game save files. Leastways, I'm pretty sure that's where it would be.. I don't have a Mac I can check.

Yes, there is an Oolite Saves folder. I'm not sure where it is, but will have a look there now..

1st Edit
The folder called "Oolite-saves" is created in the Home portfolio, along with various other folders e.g. "Pictures" on a Mac

2nd edit
In my saved game, the following entries exist for mission_hoopy_casino
(the 42 might relate to Ionics which comes next in the list)

<key>mission_hoopy_casino</key>
<string>HOOPY_MAKE_CHOICE</string>
<key>mission_hoopy_casino_die</key>
<string>42</string>

..so not sure what to delete or modify?

Zbond-Zbond wrote:

..so not sure what to delete or modify?

Don't edit the save file when you are not sure. When an oxp is buggy it is better to replace the oxp itself to prevent more and more people getting such problems. It needs only a few lines to be changed (Did it yesterday)
Will test it later today and than upload it. It will resurrect a crippled save file as you have. Just a quick hack as zevans will probably create a real update of this oxp in JS.

EDIT: On second thought, why should I test it myself. You are currently more experienced in its use. I put my changed copy here: Hoopy Casine 1.0.1 Let me know if it behaves correctly. When yes I'll put the link on the wiki.

The hOopyCasino OXP (above) works fine, thank-you EricWalch for altering it.

I didn't think it was particularly a bug, knowing that an F1 launch was likely to jinx things a bit, but the correct remedy of a replacement keyboard is also now completed, and in fact I have just had a major win (200 Cr) on the new hOops

Just for anyone's reference, I deleted the old hOopy OXP from the Oolite AddOns folder (by dragging the OXP to the trash basket), closed the AddOns folder, and then dragged the new hOopy1.0.1 folder to the AddOns folder. I then re-started the computer.

I didn't move or re-install Oolite or my save file or edit anything.

Thanks for the support!

zb

Eric Walch wrote:

Just a quick hack as zevans will probably create a real update of this oxp in JS.

Just to say I am still on the case, been a bit busy in real life this week!