Topic: SFC:OP - Editing ongoing Single Player campaigns

[D Boons Ghost]

Good day,

I've been playing SFC:OP again for the past couple of months (I kick myself for stopping in the first place) - and wonder if there are any other ways to edit an ongoing single player campaign and/or the maps?  I've tried the EDDBEDIT program, but at this stage of the game (several years and OS' later) the program dies on me once it 'reads the preliminary data' and creates the outputted .sds file.  I've also tried to use the map editor found at Xenocorp, but it, too, crashes on me no matter what I do. 

Basically, I'm looking to change around the political tensions in-game, as opposed to having to start an entirely new game to do so.  In addition, for the next time I do start a new game, I'd like to create neutral zones on the standard late/middle era map in the hopes it would make games a tad more interesting. 

I greatly appreciate any help on the subject.  I know how old and borderline out of vogue SFC:OP is these days, but the game remains one of my all-time favorites; I'd love to figure out ways to spice campaigns up.


Thanks! 

[Bonk]

Make a backup copy of this folder:
\MetaAssets\ServerProfiles\SinglePlayer

Then go over all the files in it carefully in notepad or wordpad.
Base your edits on:
http://www3.telus.net/NuclearWessels/sfc/mods.html

Examine the files in:
\Assets\Scripts\Campaigns

copy an appropriate one to base yours on.

Start a new campaign with your new settings. (will not affect old campaigns, and old campaigns will bug if run under them)

Maps: another matter - the editor is in the serverkit but it will only run on pre-vista windows. If you want to make a map you will need a working windows XP, 2K, 98 or 95 install.

[D Boons Ghost]

Thank you for the info, Bonk; very helpful and much appreciated.  Too bad about the maps, but that's the way the wookie stumbles (stupid Vista...).  Was hoping I could gut the Gorn down to a smaller area of map control.  Having them ranking so high at start seems 'off' to me. 

* And apologies if this has been asked and answered a couple of thousand times. 

[Bonk]

You're welcome. I have posted the current Forge map as a zipped mvm file around here somewhere... it might be to your liking more (F&E map basically).  edit: oh I see the Hydrans have eaten through the Klingons again already - well it was it the F&E map! 

I just realised your thread is titled "ongoing".  EDDBEDIT, should work... if it does not, try running its clean feature first, save and reload, then edit. Though I have really only used it on dynaverse databases, not singleplayer dbs.

There are certain settings you can change mid campaign, if they are not stored in the db but read from the gfs. It can take some fiddling. BUt we know what is in the flatfile, so by elimination we know what settings will take on a live campaign from the gfs.  (looking at the eddbedit source or the flatfile webmap code will tell you what is in the flatfile db).

[D Boons Ghost]

Apologies for beating a sleeping horse,

But after applying Bonk's recommendations concerning starting political tensions, I've run across another oddity:

I started a new Gorn campaign with Fed and Gorn relations set to 600 (in the metamap Fed to Gorn and Gorn to Fed settings).  The 'News' section rightfully announces that the Gorns are 'At War' with the Feds - and when scanning one of their hexes, it claims that the Gorn 'Distrusts the Feds'. 

However whenever I attack Fed space, I face off against Romulans - including fleet assaults on Fed bases and planets. 

Could my MissionMatching settings be off?  And if so, could someone point me in the right direction?

//weight to missions matching based on political tensions
[PoliticsScoring]
BonusForExactPoliticalMatch         =1000
LookingForOwnHexInOwn            =1000
LookingForOwnHexInAlly            =500
LookingForOwnHexInNeutral         =0
LookingForOwnHexInEnemy            =-10000
LookingForEnemyHexInOwn            =-10000
LookingForEnemyHexInAlly         =-10000
LookingForEnemyHexInNeutral         =0
LookingForEnemyHexInEnemy         =1000
LookingForAllyHexInOwn            =0
LookingForAllyHexInAlly            =1000
LookingForAllyHexInNeutral         =0
LookingForAllyHexInEnemy         =-10000

Thank you very much for whatever help provided.

[Lieutenant_Q]

I've noticed a similar things, relating to the Orion Cartels.  One mission I can be allied with them, and the very next mission I'm fighting the same ships that were helping me in the last mission.

I can draw an assumption based on what your saying here.  I am assuming that you've left the Gorn-Romulan relations the same.  The Dyna2 (and 3 as well) populates single player campaigns with "AI players" to supplement the random draws you get in missions.  There's an entry in your single player settings that controls the number of these AI players.  They interact with the D2 in the exact same way that another player would. (except there is no overall agenda for those AI players, they get a random assignment and try to perform that assignment in perpetuity)  Now the assumption that I am drawing here, is that you attacked a Fed Hex that also happened to have a Romulan AI in that hex as well.  Since your relations are worse with the Romulans than they are with the Federation, the mission matching faced you off with the Romulan.

[D Boons Ghost]

That makes a lot of sense.  Thank you Lieutenant_Q. 
I've long given up trusting the zoomed in hex scan displays, as the shown ships often do not match up with those in mission.

What doesn't make sense (which I just noticed) -- When I attack and/or take Fed hexes, the News reports that either Klingon or Romulan are the empires doing the damage.  Very odd one, that.


Edit:  After playing around with the faction settings, I seem to have fixed most of the oddities by assigning starting relations to 1000 between the Gorn and Feds.  Now Fed bases and planets are Fed, rather than Romulan.  And the News reports correctly.

Again, thanks for the help!