1.78 problem?
 

I started a new game Last night, and 3 of the AI races had some info missing from the AI settings file. I don't remember all of the error Messages, but one was something about if ships would move through a mine field. There were about 8-10 of these error message per race. I had just recently downloaded these races, and was wondering if the 1.78 patch would cause these races to have these errors. I just copied those lines from another race and added it to the settings file for each affected race, and that solved the problem. Of course, I don't know what the original race would have done in those situations. Has anyone else run into this situation?

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

These races must have been created with an earlier Version than 1.67. Probably even standard SE IV (= pre-gold). I had no error Messages with all my races I used in Version 1.67 when I installed the new patch and converted to Version 1.78.

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

I thought that was the problem. However, the description of the race didn't mention which Version of SEIV (or earlier Version) it was created for. So if that happens again, what should I do? Just copy lines from another modern file? How can you convert old races to the new Version?

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">If I were at home, I could give you the lines you needed to add. I'll try and get them when posted when I get home...it's not a big deal at all.
Also, someone has a program that will convert ai files from .49 to .68...it's in their signature!

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

Yes you did perfectly the right thing: copy the lines from an "up to date" race. You still may change it later ,if you see that it does not fit to the new race (which is quite rare) and then you are already in the modding business http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif .

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

Ok, thanks guys. It seemed the only thing to do, so that's why I copied those lines. I'd like to see those lines, however, so if you can post them, I'd appreciate it.

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

In the error message, it tells you which lines are missing, doesn't it?

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

Ahhhh, home!

Here are the lines I add to race_ai_settings.txt. They get me past all of those errors:

Ships don't move through minefields := false
Ships don't move through restricted systems := false
Clear orders on encounter enemy := false
Clear orders on encounter all := false
Percentage of total satellites to keep as planetary cargo := 40
Percentage of total drones to keep as planetary cargo := 40
Number Of Anti-Ship Drones Per Target := 3
Number Of Anti-Planet Drones Per Target := 3
Maximum Anti-Ship Drone Target System Distance := 5
Maximum Anti-Planet Drone Target System Distance := 5

Obviously, you can change the values to you liking, but these should get the errors to stop appearing. Good luck!

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

Well, like I said, it said such and such error occurred. So I compared a race that wasn't giving me an error to the race that was, and I discovered that several lines were missing from the older race. So I just copied the lines from the new race to the older one, and no more errors occurred.

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

Even though error Messages disappear, AI is still deficient (it is apparently pre-Gold). For example it will not use drones. You can copy all AI files (exept for AI_general.txt) from some Gold adjusted race (from TDM for example) with same race traits. It should improve race' AI dramaticaly.

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

I just encountered a problem with the map editor.
A friend tried to set specific starting locations
for a new email game, but the editor is changing
modified planet values (such as atmosphere) back
to the original settings. Did somebody else stumble upon this or is there a solution to this?

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

Is it the editor, or is it just the game changing homeworld values when the game starts?

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

It's the editor. It's just not saving the changed values. Btw, off topic: do you have any suggestion on how to achieve my goal (distributing fair starting locations and making sure everybody's starting on their planet type/atmosphere - We don't want randomized starting loc.) Thanks http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

I've not seen such problems with the editor, although I haven't used it extensively. How frequently are you seeing that, and under what circumstances?

As for spreading out start locations, it's fairly simple if you don't mind the map author knowing where all the potential start locations are. Just specify the valid start planets for first homeworlds. During startup, these planets will be changed in value. I think depending on your game setup settings, the atmosphere can either change, or only the correct type from the original map will be chosen for each empire. Someone might post who know more details on how that works, or you can experiment.

PvK

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

Until today (when I first installed the 1.78 patch), the problem did not occur, as´we did this for our Last game as well (map's editor is not playing). As for details:I'm generating a mid-life, 254 system universe, same as Last game when all was fine ;(

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I may have to do that to a lot of the races I've downloaded recently. Most of them never gave me any problems, but I think I'll double check all of them, just to be on the safe side.

Re: 1.78 problem?
 

Step-by-step instructions for converting pre-Gold AIs are at the link in my sig.

AFAIK, nothing in the Gold patches has changed anything you need to do to convert an AI to clear those error Messages.