Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Those new armor definitions are just supposed to be cut & pasted over the old armor in the components.txt file...

I didn't include the whole components.txt cause its huge, and there were probably changes to other components by other people.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

That's what I did duder, and it broke my weapons. I'm investigting further

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Watch out for double blank lines... they'll be treated as an end-of-file. (Useful for debugging)

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

That's exactly what it was, a big fat double-blank line right after Emissive Armor VI. Thanks a lot duder, I appreciate it.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

How do you define "duder" ? I know (or just think know ) who is a dude. But duder ? somebody who makes dudes http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/confused.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

A duder is a dude... I guess. I dunno really, I just made it up/picked it up

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

... duuude.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

I created a new race, but the only difference was that I unchecked the psychic race option and took propulsion experts instead. Also, I checked the other races, and none of them can build weapons either, and they all use emp files that came with the mod.

maybe it has something to do with my components.txt?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

B5 MOD is supposed to be loaded in its own folder with its own components file.

[ June 04, 2003, 12:19: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

look man, I don't know where your car is

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

After finally getting my hands on the Gold update for this stupendous mod I've put in a couple of hours of play ... it's just like being a beginner all over again as I have no idea what order to research things in, what bit of tech does what etc etc http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif .

However (and I hesitate to bring this up as it seems churlish given the immense amount of effort that's gone into this), I've come across a few niggles and I wonder if they've been brought up before or if it's the result of something I've broken when I installed the files?

Firstly, the Gold update 'patch' has an error in the Minbari Scout entry in the DesignCreation.txt file; the text for Default Strategy was 'Maximum Weapon Range' rather than 'Weapons'. Every time I ended a turn this scolding dialogue would come up about an invalid entry - luckily it was specific about where it was so it was easy enough to fix.

Secondly, in the star map that I generated for the game, several systems have no name (and of course neither do the planets in those systems). No exactly a fatal flaw but a bit odd.

Thirdly, when you're in the Ship Design 'forms' the info box for the Ion Bolt weapons loses the text for Abilities at the bottom - it looks as if something is overlaying it and obscuring the words.

Fourthly, trying to use the Tech Areas part of the Technology Tree viewer (but not the Tech Levels strangely) causes an Access Violation in SE4.exe. Plus, you can't Export the tables for viewing outside the game (again, no problem with the Tech Levels).

An extra wrinkle is that if you use the page-up/down keys rather than the scroll bar then this happens much less. I found a text error under the Advanced Planetary Weapons entry in techareas.txt ('Balistic Weapons' rather than 'Ballistic') which I thought might be the cause but it wasn't http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif .

I hope you chaps who worked on this don't take this as whiny criticism as I'm immensely impressed by what you've done. So any help or hints you can give on how to cure these minor ills would be much appreciated.

[ June 05, 2003, 21:57: Message edited by: Sukerkin ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Check SystemNames.txt in the B5 mod data folder. If it has fewer names than the number of systems the map generates, it will make systems with no name. Do you have the B5 mod systemnames file, or the normal one? I forget how many names are in it, but it should have enough.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Something i like to do is copy and paste the MOO3 system name list into the SEIV list, this extends the list enough that you will never need to worry about nameless systems.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">1: Have not seen that kind of error in a while so whenever I put out the next beta that should be fixed.

2: A number of weapons have that. no idea what causes it and is not fixable as far as I am concerned. this would, if I am not mistaken, need code work and I don't know how to do that.

3: Never seen that...since it is an access violation again probably needs code work and I am not up to that.

and don't feel bad about *****ing about error. only way I find out about them is by someone telling me.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Thanks for the responses chaps, very much appreciated and I'm glad I didn't upset you with what might have been perceived as 'nit-picking' errors.

IF, I think that I've got the right SystemNames.txt files installed, as Last night one of my scouts flew into Zha'Ha'Dum ... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif !

When I started the game tho' I generated a large map (to give me a chance of not running into someone until I'd figured out what I was doing http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ) so it's probably just that there're too many systems.

Pathfinder, it's a shame that those little flaws appear to be down to the base code of SE4 and so aren't readily curable. Still, they're only small irritations rather than game wrecking bugs so it's a credit to the work of you and the team that they're all the problems to be seen of late http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif .

Much kudos to you gentlemen ... now all I need is a manual/strategy guide for the myriad facilities and technological devices :lol:!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Sukerkin: Hehe, I need one of those strategy guides too http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

I only bits and pieces of the AI, so I need help wading through all that is there..

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hi Pathfinder

I assume from that, that the documentation for the mod is in fairly standard condition for a software project then :lol:.

As you were kind enough not to mind when I reported those little 'bugs' I discovered, I hope that your patience will continue as, after a couple of days play now, I've found a few more.

1) I don't know if this is generally true as it's the only ship size I've put this many engines on so far but if you try to put more than 42 engines (Advanced Fusion III's in this case) onto the Large Repair Tug then the Movement drops to zero.

2) The level 3 facilities for Manufacturing Colony, Homeworld Hub and Colony Hub don't appear once you've attained the prerequisite technologies (B5 Standard race and Industry II).

3) If you upgrade a Base Space Yard then it exceeds the size limit as it seems to add an extra 50kT from somewhere. You have to manually remove the Space Yard component and re-add it.

Again, these are nothing major (tho' the level 3 facilities not showing up was a bit of a downer http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif ) and I'm enjoying playing the mod a great deal.

I do have a fair number of questions about what particular components and facilities do in conjunction with each other but I don't want to clutter up an already large thread with them.

Is it worth opening up a new discussion for technical questions or anomaly reporting on the B5 Mod do you think?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

As for #1, that is a limitation in SE4...
Maximum 255 points, after which it wraps around to 0 again.

Basically, think of it as the maximum engines the ship can support...
If you really need to go faster, use a smaller hull (less mass means the same thrust(#engines) moves it faster)

#3 Is, I believe, a family number problem. Hitting upgrade makes it use the ship yard instead of the base yard or vice versa.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Sukerkin: No, go ahead and post your questions for B5 here.

As for #2: Val kept dropping those techs out each time he did a new Version. I guess when I finish the next one, I'll add them back.

[ June 09, 2003, 03:02: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Well I realize that it is available somewhere (even in this thread), but I've been unable to find an up-to-date Version of the mod. I am having un-imaginable trouble with the Version I do have (the multiple downloads from the Malfador Mod list).

If it is at all possible I would appreciate it if someone could direct me to a place where I can find the data files at least or the full mod if possible.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Starcrusade: Gold or pre-Gold Version?

One place to go is:

http://www.xmission.com/~rstulce/B5Web.htm

Data files for B5 Gold:

1055128545.zip

[ June 09, 2003, 04:16: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hey Thanks, those data files fixed most of the problems. For some reason the files I downloaded didn't have proper component and setting files. I managed to get the settings updated by myself, but the components had a couple hundrederrors it was reporting, I didn't have the desire to fix that.

By the way that is the website I originally downloaded it from.

Thanks again.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Check out FQM (linked in my sig). It has 56,068 system names in it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

If you want to better understand the quasi-newtonian propulsion model (which B5 Mod uses), check out ~Chapter 17~ in SE4 Modding 101.

[ June 09, 2003, 06:00: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What you had then was the pre-Gold and using it with Gold. My guess is that the rest of your errors are from the AI's not have the proper Gold statements in them.

[ June 09, 2003, 11:14: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hi all!

A quicky. How do the restrictions and the requirements work in the Racialtraits.txt?
I tried filling in the name of the requirements (like: Crystallurgy, requirement: Temporal and restricted: Organic), but it didn't work. I could sellect Crystallurgy and Organic at the same time with no problemmo. Also the program didn't complained when I sellected Crystallurgy first and the Temporal. Hope you guys can point me in the right direction. Oh yeah, how many restrictions can be given? Val had 33 restrictions, but I need a few more.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Timstone: I really do not have a clue. Sorry.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">They do not work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Okay guys, I am back after 3 months without a computer (bad crash, ended up having to replace the whole thing).

I am catching up fast on what has been going on in my absence, and anxious to get into some work.

What needs to be analyzed/modded? PF, need anything done from your end (other than graphics, which I cannot do)?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Grumbler: Nothing that I know of.

YIKES! I was hoping to make a single zipped file of the MOD but the folder is 160 + MB!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

PF: Hehe... welcome to the world of huge bytes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

IF: Would you like to redo the sensors too? Just the way you did the armor? Excelent job of the armor by the way. Two thumbs up!

Edit: Oh yeah, I'll give the list of races and advanced options I've done (you see them in the Advanced Traits section when creating a new race).

Jimbob: Note the change of B5 Ancient Race to Ancient Race, B5 Standard Race to Standard Race and B5 Nomadic Race to Nomadic Race. In order to do it, I had to change Ancient Race (sees the whole galaxy at start of the game) to Ancient Travelling Race. Hope you like it.

Advanced Power Conservation
Advanced Storage Techniques
Ancient Travelling Race
Emotionless
Hardy Industrialists
Lucky
Mechanoids
Natural Merchants
Propulsion Experts
Ancient Race
Nomadic Race
Standard Race
Abbai
Belt Alliance
Brakiri
Cascor
Centauri
Descari
Dilgar
Drakh
Drazi
Earth Alliance
Gaim
Grome
Hurr
Hyach
Ipsha
Kirishiac
Llort
Lumati
Markab
Minbari
Mindrider
Moradi
Narn
Orieni
Pak'ma'ra
Raiders
Shadow
Shag'Toth (Soul Hunters)
Sh'Lassa
Streib
Technomage
Third Space Aliens
Torata
Torvalus
Triad Chaos
Triad Combined
Triad Neutrality
Triad Order
Vorlon
Vree
Walkers of Sigma 957
Yolu

[ June 15, 2003, 11:26: Message edited by: Timstone ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

I have resumed a several-months-old game as the Centauri and have noticed something I didn't see before. It may be a glitch, or it may be that I am just behind on a problem that was already solved.

None of the races seem to build spaceports under the AI!

Now some races are natural merchants and don't need them (but then they also don't get Homeworld hubs at the start of the game, which produces an almost-crippling lack of intel points early on, especially against the Vorlons or Shadows), but other just don't build them at all.

I tried going back and adding the trait "Scanner Jammer" to the trading port facility (and also made the TP facility family 1102 so that the AI wouldn't try to build manufacturing plants when it was still too early) and since scanner jammer was required by all the resource colony types but not yet used, and this seems to have no effect, even when I restarted the game.

Any clues? Anyone else encounter this?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Also, I am curious if anyone else thinks the engine system needs an overhaul?

I have modded engines for my own use, increasing the size of the engines to make the larger ships less impossible to design/calculate reactor requirments for, but was wondering if anyone else thinks that the whole system needs and overhaul to reduce choices and make the ship design sequence a bit more intuitive? If not, I will just use my mods for me and leave the topic alone on the board.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Grumbler: Don't care one way or the other myself. Don't have a clue as to how to do it. Hope what you do doesn't break other things that I did to get rid of the RCE's.

[ June 15, 2003, 14:46: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Oh and bTW Grumbler....Spaceports are an "ability" of trading Posts, colony hubs and manufacturing colonies. There are no separate space ports.

[ June 15, 2003, 14:51: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Sorry, PF, I meant to have the AI built Trading Posts without having to change any AI files.

Turns out the AI will build TP as the second facility when you add "scanner jammer" as an ability to TP and also (this is what I forgot to do) change the number of abilities to 10! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif

They only do this, of course, if there is no SP cabability already in the system.

As for the engines, I don't propose any changes in the basic system (which I like a lot) just in the numbers of engines needed to reach a given speed. In other words, do things like double every value so that one new engine does the work of two old ones (and maybe have some quad-sized engines so the old Agamamnon has more like 4 engines as in the series rather than 16!)

One thing we might want to consider at some point is having single "reactor" tech rather than the four we have now. It clutter up the ship design ccreen to have obsolete components presented, which seems inevitable with the seperate techs. However, that would change the AI_Research files, so we don't wanna do it until we are changing them for somethning else anyway.

[ June 15, 2003, 16:31: Message edited by: grumbler ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hmm... Grumbler, that is an excelent idea! Yes, I like it, why didn't I thought about that! Hmm... I'll implement it into 2.0. Thanks for the idea.

Edit: Ehh... you don't mind when I use your idea and implent it into 2.0? Hope not.

[ June 15, 2003, 16:33: Message edited by: Timstone ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Doubling the engine thrust will cause problems with the 255 MP limit.
Halving the Engines-per-move of all the hulls would prevent that problem, but would give you some rounding errors.

I took over as a replacement in the B5mod game on PBW, and I think the speeds are perfectly fine as is...

I have 5 MP warships, and 13(!) MP scouts.
I'm pretty sure the speed scale of this game is intentional, and quite fair.

Also, considering the speed of colony development, having slow warship speeds is a very good idea IMO.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hmm... maybe I was too fast on your idea Grumbler. Let us consider.

Q: Why do we have all the reactors in different flavours?
A: Well, you need different tech for each one of them.
Q: Why not put them into one big group?
A: Well, not every reactor is the same. One reactor might have a greater energy output, but is also a bit larger than it's predecessor. That way you have to make a choice between energy and tonnage-efficiency.

Maybe the idea to put them into one big group wasn't good idea after all. Hmm... I'm abit confused wether this might be a good idea or not. I mean, it's easier to put them into one group, but it's also a bit more clumsier to pick the right one for the job. I sometimes use older types of reactor even when I have newer reactors at my disposal. It's also more difficult for us to sort out which reactor is better than the one before (you must give the computer a clue which one is the weakest and which one is the best). Please people give your opinion on this interesting idea.

Edit: Ehh.. I might have made a little booboo. I asked IF to redo the sensors, but it was actually SJ who did an outstanding job on his armor. So, SJ, would you like to redo the sensors too? Sorry for the little confusion, my apologies.

[ June 15, 2003, 16:49: Message edited by: Timstone ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

The different reactors are basically to be somewhat "canon" and to give some differentiation (having all races with same old same old, well gets old...quick.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What changes were you looking for, anyways?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Well, make them a little bit more understandable for the mere mortal like me. I don't really understand anything of the sensors the way they are now. You did a hell of a job on the armor (even I get it now), maybe you could something simillar to the sensors too?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Timstone: I would like to work with you on this 2.0 mod, if I could. Maybe another forum or even a yahoo egroup would be better than confusing this effort even more, but I like the idea of taking what is here and "rationalizing" it in some ways that cannot be done without causing unexpected faults in what is a workable system right now.

SJ: What I meant was to double even component "hull" sizes when doubling output, so that the effect is identical, but yet i don't have to count to figure out whether I have 23 or 24 of these 5 kt engines on my battleship so as to make the total energy requirements work out.

The next effect would be zero, except that ships would lose their speeds due to damage in a less smooth curve. It also wouldn't take three times as long to refit a ship as to build it! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

TS: I have founf that when playing the game I actually only research the final stages in the existing reactor techs when I need something for a battleship. It is actually easier to get gravimetric reactors than A-M ones, and in general gravimetrics are better (though the small reactor is exactly like the small A-G one except more expensive).

If you want to keep some reactors out of the hands of some of the races, it should be trivial to add racial (i.e Ancient) requirements to the reactors themselves rather than to the techs needed to research them.

In fact, if you do things the way I envision, the ancients can do the same research that leads to, say, Fusion reactors for the younger races but get ancient ones instead. I mean, who believes that the ancients didn't have fusion reactors after a million years anyway!

On the issue of the sensors and ECM: the existing system seems to me to be quite intuitive and elegant. They are one of the few areas I would leave exactly as is, given my druthers (except that maybe the basic sensors get too expensive reletive to the extended and elite ones, but I haven't done the research to say for sure that this is true, and I expect SJ has!).

Timstone, if you look back at maybe January or February's Posts, SJ explained the whole thing rather nicely. It's basically a system of diminishing returns with the additional types of sensors, designed to restrict them to the hulls that can afford the space.

[ June 16, 2003, 01:06: Message edited by: grumbler ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Suggestions on how to get a decent, simple upload for those who want to play/use the B5 Gold MOD. The pictures folder is the hang-up. Simply too big and looks like (to me atm) that I'll have to load each race individually (bleah!).

I have WinZip V 8.1.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

I think there are some free "zip" programs that are better at "crunching" graphics files than good ol' winzip.

I will have to do some research to confirm this, though. Anyone have the answer off the top of their heads?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Not interested in another program. Just a simple methodolgy so that folks will have a simple way to d/l the MOD.

[ June 16, 2003, 01:19: Message edited by: pathfinder ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Grumbler: Thanks for the advise, but I'll continue alone on the mod untill I have some good idea how to give people (who want to) a clear and simple job. Sorry, be patient a little longer. In about two weeks I have full time again to continue on the mod. But thanks anyway for the enthusiasm, greatly apreciated. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hmm... we still have the biggest thread, but the Ice cream thread is closing in rappidly. We have to do something about this guys.
Come on, post like maniacs! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

IF:In response to your e-mail and the 1.49 MOD and PBW: A very slow game to say the least. Not sure that it is condusive to enjoyable play. This is my first PBW so I have no other experiences to compare it to.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Mostly I'm posting to keep us ahead of the ice cream thread http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

PF: I've only played a handful of PBW games as well, but they were all running considerably faster than this one. I think only proportions is much slower in terms of R&D.

Still loving it though http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Especially now that we're back on track with the game turns.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I haven't played any other MODs, but I have played many multiplayer SE4 games.

I agree that this is a very slow game, only my first colonies have managed to build ONLY 1 facility each...

I know you want a game that's more realistic in colony building, but I feel this is way to slow. As it is, your homeworld(s) are all you effectivly have for the entire game.