POST DEFINITIVE MODS/PROGRAMS HERE!!!

[Rollo]

Three little questions:

1) Sunday midnight: Is that 00:01 am or 11:59 pm on sunday? (I know it is not either one, but you get the idea )

2) Will the Vikings be part of the Modpack or should I send them to you as an "independant" shipset?

3) What is the largest attachment you can handle? Some emails do not accept large attachments (2 MB?) and the Devnull Mod Gold could be slightly larger.

Rollo

[Tampa_Gamer]

Rollo - three little answers:

(1) Whatever you prefer. I assure you that I will be sleeping at that point anyway

(2) Space Vikings will be in either way. You just need to keep them updated

(3) No limit on upload size.

[ 13 December 2001: Message edited by: Tampa_Gamer ]

[Atrocities]

Tampa, should we or should we not include AI with these new ship sets? I mean afterall, the AI for vs 1.57 is going to be all new, so what is the point of including "old" AI?

Here is the The United Freespace Alliance without AI.

I am almost finished with their counter race.

[Rollo]

Atrocities- Updating a 1.49 AI to 1.57 is only a matter of adding some lines and (maybe) creating new .emp files. While I am not sure if either Tampa or Shrapnel will do this before putting them on CD (will you or not?), you can quickly provide a patch after the CD release or I can do this for you before sending them in, if you want, so the AI does not produce errors running under 1.57. (hmm, nice long sentence )

Tampa- Sorry to ask again, but concerning Sunday at midnight: This is a little confusing for me and maybe my first question was not clear enough. I didn't mean if it matters sending in one minute earlier or later, but is that between Saturday and Sunday, or between Sunday and Monday?

Rollo

[Tampa_Gamer]

Atrocities - Include for now. We can always delete later.

Rollo - I meant late Sunday night (December 16th). I just need to have everyone's files by the time I start working on them (probably around 5am EST) Monday morning. I try and utilize time before I go to work and after I get home to get these things done.

Atrocities & Rollo - With regard to non-Gold AIs, I put a message to Aaron to see what he wants to do. There are several options, but without his permission, I do not feel comfortable posting examples of the AI_Default files from the current Gold build. There are essentially 3 files that must be modified to make the AI files "gold" compatible. These are:

(1) AI_Fleets
(2) AI_Strategies
(3) AI_Settings

Each of these files contains new settings in the Gold Version which when using pre-gold AIs, will cause errors. Note, I am not talking about the addition of Drones and Drone Carriers because Aaron has made it so they are not necessary (they can be added later).

One possible solution is to "deactivate" these 3 files in the AI (e.g. call it "old-AI_Settings.txt") so that the game will look to and use the Default_AI_[FileName] instead. I will keep you posted.

Unfortunately, neither I nor Shrapnel will have the time to go through every race, test and update for Gold. We are barely going to have enought time to run a cusory check and compile the 40+ mods coming in as it is.

-TG

[ 14 December 2001: Message edited by: Tampa_Gamer ]

[Suicide Junkie]

Pirates & Nomads Gold!

[Tampa_Gamer]

OK, for those who were asking about what they need to do to make their AI files compatible with Gold, I got permission from MM to post the relevant portions of the three files you need to change. Note these excerpts are from the AI default files and do not reflect my personal opinion on what the settings should be. That will vary from race to race. The are as follows:

(1) DEFAULT STRATEGIES DATA FILE
For each strategy, put the following three lines in at the end of each relevant section:

Type Priority Drones := XX (where X is the Last priority)

Dont Fire On Drones := False

Break Formation Drones := True

(2)AI DATA FILE - Settings
Add the following lines to the end

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

(3)AI DATA FILE - Fleets
Add the following line to the end of the file

Percentage of Fleets to use for defense := 70

NOTE: Obviously the above changes will not enable the AI to actively use Drones and Drone Carriers, that can come later and is much more involved. But for now, these lines should prevent any errors from occuring.

Other members of the Gold beta test team, if I missed anything, please add to it here.

Thanks
-TG