Topic: OP+ Question  (Read 7541 times)

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jdmckinney

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Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #20 on: July 29, 2003, 10:07:42 pm »
Well, they might have been fine as pseudo-pirates before, but now the AI knows how to engine-double. I'd hate to see an LDR Democracy Battlecruiser come at me with doubled engines. I really wish doubling was a .gf setting that could be flipped on or off for each pirate slot, but oh well.

FireSoul

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #21 on: July 29, 2003, 10:24:47 pm »
Quote:

Quote:

Yeah, that's Moggy's fault -- he keeps asking me nicely. Thing is, I think the LDR and WYN don't belong in larger empires at all -- they should really be in mod campaigns where they occupy their own slots. In the meantime, they just clutter the other empires' lists, at least for someone like me who has to go in and check them all to see which ones should be restricted and which ones should be available. Either way, they're nice to have around, but are a pain to use in a campaign that makes sense. There's no good reason for Klingons and Kzinti, for example, to both have WYN ships just because the hulls are the same. It just doesn't fly in D2. Now, for GSA, it is no big deal. Let's just say I'm conflicted about these two races -- they weren't implemented so they could work well within SFC's existing races when Taldren added them in, but they are certainly fun ships to play. It's a campaign designer's problem.

On the other hand, an entire class of ships that all races have is another thing altogether -- there's no confusion about where they belong, just a decision to be made about whether they are worth making available, all things considered.  




I get a buggy OP game (can't get past the opening screen and I finally had to reinstall the game!) when I tried to move the LDR (camboro) and WYN (Tigerheart)  to the cartels. I can't get past the opening screen. I agree, Taldren put them in the game and I'd like to see them put at least in the pirate slots that way I'd run into them once in a while as I don't play them in SP otherwise. I do believe Chris Jone successfully moved them though...

FireSoul is there anyway to shift the location of the WYN/LDR? I doubt it would violate your "lets do this if we were Taldren philosophy, that is unless there is something about the pirate races that is too important to over write them.

Qapla!

KF  





I haven't even looked at moving races around.. It would be alot of work. Also, I disagree: it's not in the same style as for when the game itself got released.
.. I have an IDEA on how to do it, but it would take a heck of an effort to do.  

FireSoul

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Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #22 on: July 29, 2003, 10:25:46 pm »
Quote:

Well, they might have been fine as pseudo-pirates before, but now the AI knows how to engine-double. I'd hate to see an LDR Democracy Battlecruiser come at me with doubled engines. I really wish doubling was a .gf setting that could be flipped on or off for each pirate slot, but oh well.  




David, at least, implemented a single switch that can be put in the sfc.ini.

jdmckinney

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #23 on: July 30, 2003, 06:23:27 am »
Really? Does that turn it on or off for all cartels? That's a nice thing to have; shame it's not documented. What else should modders know about?

FireSoul

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #24 on: July 30, 2003, 06:27:34 am »
Quote:

Really? Does that turn it on or off for all cartels? That's a nice thing to have; shame it's not documented. What else should modders know about?  




nothing else that I know of..
I have documented the information on 25410 tricks on my sources and utils page:


    About patch 2.5.4.10:
    There are 2 hidden features in 25410. This is how you use them.
    1- New Arcs. Edit the shiplist and put in these arcs where you want them.
    FALX/FARX -> FAL/FAR + right down rear
    LSRF/RSLF -> LS+RF / RS+LF missing arcs
    RRP/RLP -> Rear plasma arcs good for some tugs and HDWs.
    LR -> L+R arc used on the Hydran Fire Support Pallet

    2- Disable Engine Doubling for all pirates. (Useful for Mods). Add AllowEngineDoubling=0 to the [Network] section of the sfc.ini to disable engine doubling for all pirates.

jdmckinney

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #25 on: July 30, 2003, 09:45:53 am »
OK, so if this is an sfc.ini change, how is that useful to anyone other than those playing a single-player mod? Is there a way to disable it in PvP for GSA or D2? Does it only affect AI use of doubling, or does it take it out altogether (meaning players can't double, either)?

Sorry for all the questions, but we need to know a little more.

Bonk

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #26 on: July 30, 2003, 09:53:26 am »
Very cool! (AllowEngineDoubling=0 that is...)

Any ideas on how to do this easily from an installer (NSIS or SFX/batch) without overwriting the whole sfc.ini file? I suppose I could figure it it out for myself, but hey why repeat the effort if someone has already figured out how.

I'm also curious about the NSIS installer, I've figured out simple scripts (get installation folder, set output folder, copy a few files...). I'm just using the "File" command but is there a way to drop in whole folders? I have a huge mod I'm working on and would rather use NSIS than the self exctracting rar (which runs a batch on completion) I am using now, but I would rather not have to make hundreds (thousands?) of "File" lines in my NSIS script...

Ah, scratch that second question, I just found the answer - use the /r switch on the "File" command! I also just figured out how to run a batch or other extrernal executable during the NSIS install (Exec, ExecShell or ExecWait), as well as the CreateShortCut command, too cool.

Oops, scratch the first question too! The NSIS command "WriteINIStr" will do the trick! That NSIS installer is just dandy!

Duh, I guess the answer to my questions was: RTFMS!   ...now I have a bunch of work to do...  

Bonk

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #27 on: July 30, 2003, 10:03:49 am »
 
Quote:

  OK, so if this is an sfc.ini change, how is that useful to anyone other than those playing a single-player mod? Is there a way to disable it in PvP for GSA or D2? Does it only affect AI use of doubling, or does it take it out altogether (meaning players can't double, either)?




I intend to use it on a mod I want to use for a D2 server. If everbody downloads and installs, no problem.
Using the NSIS installer, I intend to create a shortcut that will reset files to stock to allow GSA play and another to reconfigure the mod. I believe that using the NSIS system I could also create shorcuts that will just turn that switch on and off as desired (using WriteINIStr and DeleteINIStr) in additional executables created with NSIS included in the overall installation. Alternatively one could skip creating those shorcuts and the user can just install and uninstall the whole mod as desired.  
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 pm by Bonk »

Bonk

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #28 on: July 30, 2003, 10:48:41 am »
I just created two such executables like so:

EngineDoublingOff.nsi
Code:

Name "EngineDoublingOff"
OutFile "EngineDoublingOff.exe"
InstallDirRegKey HKLM "SOFTWARE\Taldren\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates" "Directory"
Section "" ;
WriteINIStr "$INSTDIR\sfc.ini"  "Network" "AllowEngineDoubling" "0"
SectionEnd ;




EngineDoublingOn.nsi
Code:

Name "EngineDoublingOn"
OutFile "EngineDoublingOn.exe"
InstallDirRegKey HKLM "SOFTWARE\Taldren\Starfleet Command Orion Pirates" "Directory"
Section "" ;
DeleteINIStr "$INSTDIR\sfc.ini"  "Network" "AllowEngineDoubling"
SectionEnd ;



   

Pestalence

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #29 on: July 30, 2003, 11:28:05 am »
If you are using the switch in the SFC.ini file for engine doubling... the HOST of the game will be the standard... IE

if bonk had engine doubling set to 0

and I had it set to 1 to allow engine doubling...

then it depends on who hosts...

say Bonk hosts.. pirates have no engine doubling

if I host, Pirates have engine doubling... it is that simple...

 

Bonk

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #30 on: July 30, 2003, 11:34:38 am »
Ah, thanks for the explanation Pestalence, It makes sense. I was wondering about that too.
So if used in a mod for a D2 server it should work fine. (Will be set to zero for all players)  
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 pm by Bonk »

jdmckinney

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #31 on: July 30, 2003, 01:24:51 pm »
Not unless you perform a CRC check on the sfc.ini (can it be passed/failed?) or everyone plays by the rules. Otherwise, anyone can change the setting on their end -- not that they would, but they could.

Bonk

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #32 on: July 30, 2003, 02:39:54 pm »
Yes, I realise that, I was going to mention that it would be nice if it could be included in the validatedclientfiles folder but each user will have a different sfc.ini because of resolution settings, install date etc.. so it wouldnt work anyway even if the security server could handle it. I have already tried including the NWMissionConfig.gf  (From the OP Configurable MIssions Beta) in the validatedclientfiles folder but it will not work. (another potential exploit). It seems the security server can only validate .exe .scr and .txt files.  Thanks for mentioning it anyway.  
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 06:00:00 pm by Bonk »

FireSoul

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #33 on: July 30, 2003, 03:56:19 pm »
Quote:

Not unless you perform a CRC check on the sfc.ini (can it be passed/failed?) or everyone plays by the rules. Otherwise, anyone can change the setting on their end -- not that they would, but they could.  




Not a good idea. sfc.ini ocntains the player's name, as well as settings such as volume, stored IP addresses, etc.
It is going to be different for each player. I don't think there's a way to check it.

Bonk

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #34 on: July 30, 2003, 04:14:40 pm »
Correct! (see my last post...)  

FireSoul

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #35 on: July 30, 2003, 04:16:37 pm »
It'll have to use the honor system..

Bonk

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #36 on: July 30, 2003, 04:31:20 pm »
Yup, should be OK. We havent seen any one edit their NWMissionConfig.gf on LB4 that we know of. With engine doubling, it makes a noise both players can hear (?), so your opponent would know right away. I think all the players here are interested in a good match and a little fun without cheating anyway, so no need to worry about it much I guess.  

Drakenred

  • Guest
OP+ Question
« Reply #37 on: July 28, 2003, 01:04:38 am »
Im not seeing the Fed CF or the carier variant show up at the shipyards, am I missing something? (that was one of my fav Fed CA "Variants" even if it was a unique class) untill the CB  

Rod O'neal

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #38 on: July 28, 2003, 01:30:45 am »
It's listed as "R-restricted" in the shiplist. I'm not 100% certain of all the designations, but I think that stops it from appearing in the players builds and allows it for the AI. If you remove the R it'll appear in the player's builds. The CAD's are also restricted. They aren't in the stock shiplist. They just have the "D-drone" designation there. Maybe it's on purpose, or maybe it's an oversight done during editing. I'm sure FireSoul will fill us in when he reads this though.  

Drakenred

  • Guest
Re: OP+ Question
« Reply #39 on: July 28, 2003, 01:47:33 am »
If I remember the "Backstory" from the modules that had thoes versions, the Fast Cruiser was a limited producion modle that was droped (suposedly becuase it was not worth the effort, but they often would win against any other CA hull out their during their "era" Ecluding other Fast CAs), the CAD was originaly a ship that was  mauled so badly that they had physialy lost the Photon mounts and the shipyard that it was at only had Missleracks, and was never a purpose build variant, unlike the fire suport CAF,(If i remember that one it was suposedly built to give the Feds a Starbase killer cruiser as a "Fed" anser to the Klingon/Romulan Maulers and the wall of Drones that (Cough)( Kizinti)(cough) Miriak Drone bombardment cruser could put on the map without actualy being on the map(LORD am i glad they did not impliment type III Long range missles, or starfish or spearfish or Drone armor(the list goes on and on)   but Im not sure about how many of thoes were built.