Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Pathfinder,

I now got the B5 Mod Gold and B5 AI files. how do I combine the two files? Where exactly do the AI files go?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The hard way. Unzip to a stand-alone folder and the go in and copy/cut each races AI folder from there and place in the B5 MOD/Pictures/Races (or Neutral Race) folder. Pain but I do not have the Version of winzip that has a self-extracting capability.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The hard way. Unzip to a stand-alone folder and the go in and copy/cut each races AI folder from there and place in the B5 MOD/Pictures/Races (or Neutral Race) folder. Pain but I do not have the Version of winzip that has a self-extracting capability. </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ok, thanks for the info. Whenever I have the time, I'll do that.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Okay peeps, the main file (to make the weapons) is almost done. But unfortunately I had to drop a very cool idea. Because I'm not that skilled with programming I chose to use Excel to make file which could help creating every weapon in The Mod. I wanted to implement a lot of things I had floating around in my mind. One of the ideas was to give each race a different resource useage for creating weapons. So each race uses different resources (different quantities) to create the same weapon. I was almost done implemnting it when I discovered I had to make 2640 different sections to accomodate it all in an ordely fashion. So I had to drop it.

I do have a small question about excel. I use Excel XP and I want to make a "listbox". How do I do that?! Please help me with this. Maybe I'll be able to implement the race specific resource useage then.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

hey, don't look at me, I'm happy when I can use it for standard deviation.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Don't know much about excel.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

So nobody has a good idea about my question regarding Excel?!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Well I've never used a list_box in my life http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
But after extensive http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif testing (Excel 2000 only)-

1. Open the View menu and goto Toolbars > Forms.

2. On the Now visible Forms Menu choose the 4th icon down on the Left (at least in Excel 2000), place/size the listbox

3. Now Right-Click (you can assign a macro at this stage, for when the listbox is selected) to get the properties.

4. In properties you can of course cahnge the size of the box, also on the Control Tab You can assign the cells to get the list from (directly or by an assigned name), and the cell/s to write to.

O.K. thats the basics and I still don't know how to use them properly (for similar stuff I normally use the Data Validation List option). I have only been able to get them to output the number of the option on the list to the written to cell, and only with the Single selection option.

Best of luck
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Oh yeah! Now this rocks! Thanks for the info mate!

Okay, as soon as I have internet back at home (currently I'm posting from my work), I'll post the main creation file (the excel stuff. Then you all can give critisism, advise, demands and so on.

Till soon dudes!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

SJ and I have come accross a possible mix-up and do not agree on it... go into your B5 Mod\Pictures\Events folder and look at these two images:
IntelEspionageByUs.bmp
IntelSabotageByUs.bmp

Do these look like they should be switched? The espionage is a guy with a PPG and the sabotage is a guy using high-powered binoculars.

[ November 15, 2003, 03:36: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Foregive my stupid question, but whatever happened to Val?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">He "disappeared" about this time Last year. Made a brief appearance in February and not heard from since.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

With regards to the immage issue... Yes, one does not usually sabotage with binoculars and spy with a PPG. Switch'em.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Yep, I say switchem as well.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

That is a shame. When people are active for so long, and then just dissappear one has to wonder what happened to them. Are they alive, are they well?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hey guys and girls,

About Val, yeps. Pretty strange. I got a mail from him back in february, but that was all. Just like the other people I don't know Jack S!!t about his situation, but I sure hope he's alright and if he is. I sure hope he takes a look at 2.0 (when it is finished).

About the pics: Swithed them. Thanks for the info guys!

Btw: the main construction file (the help file I talked about) is nearing completion. I think it's ready the weekend.

Bye, bye, till soon!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

For the players of B5 mod PBW,

I notices that our PBW B5 Mod is slowly dieing off with about half the game positions open now. The length of time between moves is also increasing. I'm losing focus with my race the Narn Regime.
I will be out of town for Thanksgiving, so I'm not helping neither.
If there anyone interested in B5 mod, check it out at SE4 PBW, Babylon 5 game. There some real neat empires open. Be advise, this game is a slow developing game, thus it take so time to build up ones empire. So if you take over an open empire, your not at any real disadvantage.
After ninty turns invested in this campaign, I would like to complete it.

Lighthorse
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

PBW being down did not help the turn rate any... and several times the game failed to process automatically on PBW before it went down, which increased the delays. But don't worry, the game will be going fully auto after Thanksgiving (probably Saturday or Sunday). http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

You're right about the PBW being down didn't help any. My problem is I prefer gaming on SE4, t han any other computer game, bar none. My top seconds computer games are combat missions and the three total war games. I still enjoy SE4 star trek and B5 mod above all other games.

Lighthorse
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Looks like we get a new turn long before the deadline. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Has anybody mentioned how very useless solar panels are?

1) They need storage to match their supply gathering, or its all wasted.
2) They need to be more powerful (50 points vs 1000's for basic reactors?!)
3) They should be cheaper than reactors.

I suggest 50% the power output per kt size.
And 50% the mineral cost per energy generated, with little to no rads cost. (All relative to reactors)

Given reactors of size 5kt provide 2500 power per turn, that would mean solar panels of size 10kt should provide, perhaps 1500/2000/2500 per turn.
A cost of 200 would make it 50% less than the reactor.

I also think reactors could really use a rads cost increase, especially for the advanced level ones.
Is there some taboo about having rads cost higher than minerals cost??

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You'd have to ask Val... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

SJ: PM

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

I thought solar panels just a remnant from earlier mods from which this mod was derived. They have long since disappeared from my Version of the mod (since I never saw them in the series, except maybe for the mysterious Vorlon "wings").

In recent games I have become convinced that the Hyach are much too good for the sake of the game. As you mod this, you need to make them less powerful - they have excellent cloaking, superior laser weapons and PD weapons, and no counterbalancing flaws. Birthrate alone (plus maybe a reluctance to build colony ships) would keep them in check.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Uhm... You see solar panels in every single episode.

Most prominently on the station itself.
Which points towards them being more economical, if bulky and useless on most warships.

PS:
Jimbob, I don't think I got your PM...

[ November 30, 2003, 22:48: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

I always saw them as heat diffUsers, myself. Maybe I was just engaging in wishful thinking, though. Why would anyone with a large fusion reactor (referred to multiple times) bother with solar panels?

Heat, OTOH, especially WITH a reactor, would be a problem in a densley populated station with a circular cross-section.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

I think the solar panels could make up most of the standard-operations power requirements, while the fusion reactor would be used for peak periods, such as during eclipses, rush hour, and combat.

The sunlight is also free, while fuel isn't, and it can't be blockaded http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif .

[ December 01, 2003, 01:18: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Unless, of course, you are the Shadow and bring in a planet killer to blot out the sunlight. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif The Vorlons can get a similar effect with their planet killers, but not nearly as effective.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Maybe. Since B5 was in orbit aroubd Epsilon 3, though, and it was fusion not fission, what are the odds that the smart builder relied on there being more hydrogen available than sunlight? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Having looked at the panels in question, it seems that you are right, thought. They LOOK like solar power panels... but then what do we know about how 25th Century heat diffUsers would look?

It seems simpler to ignore the whole solar panels/reactor fuel question, but it WOULD make the game much more interesting to have fuel supplies be large but limited.

That would especially be true for fighters....

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Of course, if you kill the planet, are you worried abouthow much sunlight gets in to reveal the remnants? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Of course, if you kill the planet, are you worried abouthow much sunlight gets in to reveal the remnants? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">You can blockade with a Shadow planet killer easily. Just move it over the target base or planet to blockade, half the work is done for you. Shadow planet killers do not have to be used to destroy planets. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Unfortunately, the only Vorlon based weapon that seems to exist is the improved neutron laser. Shadow based weapons have a few sizes of improved molecular beams, and that is it. So much potential, so much not there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif I think that in the Gold Version of the mod, Vorlon-based and Shadow-based "weapons" should just be cool improved mounts, so any weapon can be enhanced without having to triple the number of components. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Plain old Hydrogen isn't terribly good for fusion reactors. Not enough neutrons in it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
You need to pull the minute amounts of Deuterium and Tritium from your collected gas, and that is where the big costs would come in.
http://www.webelements.com/webelemen...xt/H/isot.html
(Tritium has a half-life of only 12 years, and thus isn't in the chart). Neutron bombardment will make you some.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

It is estimated that 1 in 7000 hydrogen atoms are deuterium. Not exactly rare or expensive!

My point is that a fusion reactor as the sole source of power makes far more sense than a mixed fusion reactor and solar panels in an orbiting station. Has anyone any actual evidence that the panels on B5 are primarily solar panels and not heat diffUsers? My copy of the B5 Security manual cals them "Heat Exchangers and Emergency Solar Collectors."

I don't think the game needs to bother with such things as "emergency power sources" else we will get into such trivia as having both "gravitational" and "magnetic" drives on the White Stars!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

That matches the abundance given in the link below. When 99.99% of your starting material is not what you want, I'd call that pretty rare.

The economics of it are unknown, but the cost, though low, is probably not trivial.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Given their use as emergency power, they'd certainly be able to generate enough for rotation and lifesupport.
And, since there are zero costs to using solar panels if you've got them already, they'll always be generating some juice. (As I recall, the star was pretty much always at approximately the correct angles during "daytime")

Considering the station activities, lifesupport would be a very major portion of the peacetime energy budget (if you count illumination too).

Thusly, I would conclude that the solar panels will be juicing up the station for most of the day-to-day operations, with the reactor providing night/combat/peak usage services. Likely running at low output or just "warmed up" all the time except for maintenance cycles.

-----

PS:
All I really want is for the mod to have a viable set of Solar Panel components as an alternative to reactors in some situations. (Long-term, medium-low energy use bases and probes)

Some modest energy storage components would be nice too. Perhaps 4-turns worth of generation build into the solar panel component?

[ December 05, 2003, 03:46: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Seems the thread is a bit dead recently! I hope this is just because of the release of Victoria http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

In any case, are we agreed that the radioactive resource is too widely available and too little required?

It would be pretty simple to fix both problems. However, I think that rads should also be needed more in the weapons field (and thus for satellites)... but I am coming to the belief that it is in the area of satellites that solar powered weapons and launch systems should really shine. (pun intended) If we get rid of the auto-refuelling nature of planetary facilities, then the satellites will need a power source, and THAT is where solar will "shine"!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Where can I download the latest Gold Patch for B5 and which one is it just to make sure?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Setellites have infinite supplies via hardcode, so that dosen't really work.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Go to my post (June 15, 2003) in this link:

http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=50;t=000001

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">The truly sad thing is that once upon a time I think I actually knew that! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/blush.gif

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Sorry for the adsence lately. But things are very busy at work right now. I have only one more thingy to calculate before I can release the main help file for B5 2.0. Sit tight.

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

woohoo

looking forward to it man!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Ah great http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif , tomorrow I (and my GF) will leave for the USA. Nowadays my GF is my secretary (oh, yeah!! Now I won't have a jealous wife when I say I have scr#@&d my secretary http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif !) I'm afraid I won't be able to do some work on The Mod untill 2004. Sorry lads. Hope I can make it up to you guys.

Anyway, have a nice time during the holidays!!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Is this mod done and where can one get it?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">See my post about 3 down, has a link. Nope, isn't finished but no work being done on the linked Version. Timstone is working on a modification of the B5 MOD...

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

With all the Posts this thread has, one cannot help but wonder where it all went wrong.

Where is Val?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Tim:

as always, and for many of us: If you'd like some help, there are plenty of free hours in the day for me. I could help with the mod, it's just that I don't have the time to do a mod.

let me/us know!

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Hi guys and girls,

My first glimpse of America was very good. I might come to like it afterall.
As I said many times before I can't use your help yet. It's cool of everybody to offer help though. Only when the main help/construction file is ready I can offer jobs. Sorry for the long wait. The file WILL be ready when I return from my trip to the USA. So sit tight and wait a little while longer. Till soon!

Edit: Thanks so much for all the offerings for help. Really, really cool. Thumbs up for you all! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

[ December 29, 2003, 23:22: Message edited by: Timstone ]

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

Pathfinder, Thanks for the link! I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but now that I am back into a semi normal schedule I'll give it a go. Does this patch address all those error Messages that pop up on the core Mod files?

Re: Babylon 5 Mod
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">It should.