Oolite Bulletins

Hi

Just stumbled across Oolite a few days back and remembering Elite from Spectrum days (over 20 yrs ago) thought I'd give it a whirl..... OMG this is even more addictive than I remember

Anyways, quickly made my 256 kills and set off on the Constrictor mission, made my way to Reesdice then followed the planet infos and made the jump to Galaxy 2 in pursuit.

..... and that's where the trail goes cold.... I've been hopping all over Galaxy 2 and no sign or messages as to where to find this thing.

Do I just need to summon more patience and keep looking through G2 or have I made a fatal blunder somewhere and need to go back? (I hope not as I've been Quick-Saving over the same slot the whole way ).

No spoilers please... just a "yeh, you're on the right lines" or a "HAHAHA - go back and try again" will suffice

Thanks
~crypto~

cryptotheslow wrote:

Anyways, quickly made my 256 kills and set off on the Constrictor mission, made my way to Reesdice then followed the planet infos and made the jump to Galaxy 2 in pursuit.

..... and that's where the trail goes cold.... I've been hopping all over Galaxy 2 and no sign or messages as to where to find this thing.

Welcome to the friendliest board this side of Riedquat!™

Keep going in G2. It is there, I did the mission about a month ago or so.

Not spoilers, more hints (encoded using ROT13, so you can decide whether or not to display this).:

Gur zrffntrf lbh ner ybbxvat sbe jvyy pbzr hc ba gur S7 cynarg qngn fperra. Fhttrfg lbh urnq gbjneqf gur abegu rnfg bs gur tnynkl.

Hi, cryptotheslow, and first of all welcome to the boards and of course to this great game!

Yes, isn't it a revelation to re-discover Elite after all these years? I remember what a revelation it was when I first came across Oolite, and I've been hooked ever since.

As far as the Constrictor is concerned, you're still on track. Just keep jumping around and keep an eye on the F7-screen. That's where a hint eventually will materialize.

If you get tired of aimlessly ploughing through Galaxy 2, there is a small OXP (expansion to Oolite) called Constrictor_morehints.oxp. It just gives a message on the F7-screen of some more planets in Galaxy 2, so you come across it more often.

Just download, unzip if necessary, and place into your AddOns-folder, and off you go!

Right on, commander!

Wow... that's what I call fast And thanks for the welcome.

I'll scrub up on my ROT13 tomorrow and have a read - this was one of those desperate "OK... now I really I give up, should have been in bed hours ago, can't face another hyperspace... will someone please hit exit for me because I can't do it.... AAARGH" umm... type of threads

I'm going to resist the temptation and get some zZZzzzz and come back to it fresh tomorrow.

Thanks
~crypto~

Would quote in this reply but can't as I'm Mostly Harmless running around with a Pulse Laser thinking I rule the universe....

Thanks for the welcome

And yes - it is a revelation re-discovering Elite - if a little worrying when I think back to how much time I spent on it the first time around..... but I'm going to put that down to having to save games to cassette all the time

Elite for the Spectrum was all wire frame ships... and I have tried a few PC ports of later versions (Frontier was it?) and the blocky textures and fills, gaudy colours etc. just somehow don't work. But Oolite seems to capture the simple but horrifically addictive game-play of the original whilst adding some real prettiness to the graphics that we could only have dreamed of in those 48K Spectrum days

I'll keep searching Galaxy 2 until I find it.... and as much as the extra hints sound tempting (thanks)... I'm adamant I'm going to get these native missions done in old-fashioned style before looking at the OXPs. At least that is what I say now...... if I don't get it by the weekend my resolve may well weaken

Thanks
~crypto~

Yeah, welcome cryptotheslow. As McLane says, the joy of discovering this game after years without Elite is immense. I only found Oolite eight months ago… I’m hooked all over again.

Have you got some nice eye-candy OXPs installed yet? I recommend System Redux for beautiful planets and moons, and the Griff ship set for beautiful ships.

Enjoy.

cryptotheslow wrote:

I'll keep searching Galaxy 2 until I find it.... if I don't get it by the weekend my resolve may well weaken

I wouldn't be surprised if you do it tomorrow!

cryptotheslow wrote:

Elite for the Spectrum was all wire frame ships...

the wireframe setting in Oolite is rather nice, I use it a bit
(just hit "P" in flight then "f2" -- it's under "Game options" if you haven't already tried it)

Cmdr Cryptotheslow said;

Would quote in this reply but can't as I'm Mostly Harmless running around with a Pulse Laser thinking I rule the universe....

Ye well, first of all, welcome to the Oonivese.

My younger brother sent me the link to V1.65 back in 08. and he wrote
"Don't be loosing your heed in this one like you did with Elite!"

I wrote back less than a month later;
"Too Late! Already nearing Elite status."

Cryptotheslow says;

But Oolite seems to capture the simple but horrifically addictive game

Not bloomin joking there. Speacialy when you get into some of the oxp'ers.

Just how bad it can be.
I have the base game, my addons and save games on a memory stick, on my key ring, just in case my friends want to see what I do when I'm not out.

www.rot13.com does quick and easy decrypts and encrypts.

cryptotheslow wrote:

Wow... that's what I call fast And thanks for the welcome.

I'll scrub up on my ROT13 tomorrow and have a read - this was one of those desperate "OK... now I really I give up, should have been in bed hours ago, can't face another hyperspace... will someone please hit exit for me because I can't do it.... AAARGH" umm... type of threads

I'm going to resist the temptation and get some zZZzzzz and come back to it fresh tomorrow.

Thanks
~crypto~

Blatant plug*
While your in G2 after you have completed that mission you may as well give BlackjacksBullion a whirl (small mission)

To save a Quote spamfest....

@El Viejo - No eye-candy installed yet, but have now found Griff's thread about his ship graphics... truely beautiful. Installing those is going to have to wait for the weekend when I have more time.

@Zbond-Zbond - The options I have on the F2 menu are to turn Reduced Detail to ON, which appears to do very little on a quick check - and Reset to strict gameplay which when I try, the game just freezes on launch in the purpley-blue launch from the station transition - so no idea if that is the wire-frame mode you mean.



I have to say, I'm kind of amazed this game has such a thriving community - the response and welcome here has been fantastic, I was thinking I'd check back in a few days and maybe have an answer So thanks everyone.

As a somewhat lazy off-topic aside..... I just grabbed the v1.65-6build2 from the Ubuntu repos to get up and running, should I be worrying about grabbing a newer version? And if I do will my saved game simply work?

Thanks again
~crypto~

cryptotheslow wrote:

I just grabbed the v1.65-6build2 from the Ubuntu repos to get up and running, should I be worrying about grabbing a newer version? And if I do will my saved game simply work?

1.65? That might explain some of the problems you mentioned.

No you don't want that. Current version is 1.73.4 is much better and supports many more features.

Forget about 1.65. The current and highly recommended version is Oolite 1.73.4 (you find a download link in the forum of your OS).

Oolite has made amazing steps forward since version 1.65. For instance there is no shader support in 1.65, therefore all the Griff ships are only possible on the latest test versions. The current test version is also more reliable and contains less bugs than the "official" 1.65.

The next "official" Oolite release is going to come some day, although it is difficult to predict, especially the future.

OK - point taken The whole "test" naming was putting me off... I thought it might be buggy Beta nonsense.

I want to use the Griff ships so I'll put the upgrade on my list for the weekend.

Will my saved game work OK from 1.65 > 1.73.4? I'll make sure I copy it out before the upgrade of course, just wondering if there are any blatant gotchas to avoid before I walk blindly into them.

Thanks