A Babylon 5 Mod for the Final Frontier Mod

[Thorgrimm]

Well, that seemed obvious (to me anyway); I thought they'd been placed there until further notice.

Yup, they were placed there on purpose because they could be built even in the normal tech slots. It does not matter where they are placed. You can build the civ's fleet list AND the FF ships.

@Premier Valle, Give me an example in XML format what you are trying to describe. I am still not following you. Remember I can only go by what I have seen in the XML files. I had no one show me how to do it.

EDIT: If this is what you are talking about, notice it does point to the default unit to replace it.

		<UnitClassInfo> <!-- Oracle Scout -->
			<Type>UNITCLASS_ORACLE</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_UNIT_ORACLE</Description>
			<iMaxGlobalInstances>-1</iMaxGlobalInstances>
			<iMaxTeamInstances>-1</iMaxTeamInstances>
			<iMaxPlayerInstances>-1</iMaxPlayerInstances>
			<iInstanceCostModifier>0</iInstanceCostModifier>
			<DefaultUnit>UNIT_SCOUT_I</DefaultUnit>
		</UnitClassInfo>

Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Premier Valle]

OK, here we go:

What you see in the game are the unit classes, not the unit infos (well, in civilopedia you see the unit infos, but when playing you see the unit classes).

Here is a unit class example:

        <UnitClassInfo> <!-- UNITCLASS_SMALL_ATTACK_FIGHTER_I Template Class needed for UU -->
            <Type>UNITCLASS_SMALL_ATTACK_FIGHTER_I</Type>
            <Description>TXT_KEY_UNIT_SPACE_FIGHTER_I_NEW</Description>
            <iMaxGlobalInstances>-1</iMaxGlobalInstances>
            <iMaxTeamInstances>-1</iMaxTeamInstances>
            <iMaxPlayerInstances>-1</iMaxPlayerInstances>
            <iInstanceCostModifier>0</iInstanceCostModifier>
            <DefaultUnit>UNIT_SPACE_FIGHTER_I</DefaultUnit>
        </UnitClassInfo>

The default unit is the FF fighter, but, in the civilization infos:

            <Units>
                <Unit>
                    <UnitClassType>UNITCLASS_SMALL_ATTACK_FIGHTER_I</UnitClassType>
                    <UnitType>UNIT_AURORA_STARFURY</UnitType>
                </Unit>
            </Units>

Here we change the FF fighter, for the Starfury. Also note this:

        <UnitInfo> <!-- Aurora Starfury -->
            <Class>UNITCLASS_SMALL_ATTACK_FIGHTER_I</Class>
            <Type>UNIT_AURORA_STARFURY</Type>

That is the Starfury definition in UnitInfos, and here is the FF fighter:

        <!-- FF Fighter I  -->
        <UnitInfo>
            <Class>UNITCLASS_SMALL_ATTACK_FIGHTER_I</Class>
            <Type>UNIT_SPACE_FIGHTER_I</Type>

As you can see, both units have the same class (the default unit is the FF one), but when the default unit is overriden in the CivilizationInfos, the UU becomes available, and efectively substitutes the FF one.

In your code, you have two Class definitions, one for the FF unit, and one for the B5 unit, this last one, points to a FF unit, and the FF class points to the FF unit, then you override the B5 unit class to point to the B5 unit, but you still have the FF unit class.

You should only have one class, that gets overriden in the CivilizationInfos.

I hope it helped.

 

[Thorgrimm]

@Premier Valle, it more than helped, it showed me where my errors were. After a bit of fiddling around I ran a test with the T-Bolt and Olympus. It worked like a charm.

Now I gotta fix all the others!



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[Thorgrimm]

Small update. All units currently in are now entered correctly and no more double build mistakes.

Now I am going to add the Drazi Freehold Fleet List.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[hugh3sy]

can i have you guyz email address?

mine is hugh3sy@msn.com

because im looking for these updates.

 

[Premier Valle]

@Premier Valle, it more than helped, it showed me where my errors were. After a bit of fiddling around I ran a test with the T-Bolt and Olympus. It worked like a charm.

Great!, glad to know I was of help.

because im looking for these updates.

Just stay tuned, and you'll be up to date with the latest version.

I haven't been able to work on the hyperspace stuff so far, and sadly I still have no idea on how to do it, I've been thinking on "work around" solutions, like implementing a "jump engine" unit that is carried by a capital ship, so the jump engine will be the one that builds the jump point, and the capital ship should be able to make the jump, carrying the jump engine with itself.

But I still believe that somehow there is a cleaner way to make this work... in the mean time I made a Thread in the SDK subforum, but so far no one has been able to help.

 

[PsiCorps]

Hi all, well i think i've sorted my browser problems at last.
I've finally managed to play 2 games of the mod so far without interuption of a CTD.
First game i played EA with the rest as random races/leaders, normal Barbs, huge standard galaxy map, as opposed to the spiral galaxy on Noble. All victory conditions were available and the game was over after 125 turns, why? The AI started building the Astral Gate for human ascendancy victory. Lethke built it first game over. I was leading on points so was a little miffed.
Second game was much more like the game i want to play more of. I picked all of the Leaders and removed the Human ascendancy victory condition, had Raging barbs and permanent alliances, still on Noble. So far so good. Game starts and from the beginning it's a struggle. The barbs only attacked me a total of eight times i lost a colony to them but rebuilt it. I've played 180 turns and have nearly got all the techs.
Things i've discovered as i played. There were issues with the techs and after investigating i found that some of the techs had the pre requisite techs set as orprereq. This meant that you could go quite a way down one route of the tree without having to change to some of the earlier techs. I've changed all instances of the orprereq to andprereq in the tech tree. Will play test soon to let you know how it goes.
I've had some thoughts on the Jump gate issue and will post later on that in the developement fora once i've got it sorted in a format everyone will understand.

 

[Thorgrimm]

Hi all, well i think i've sorted my browser problems at last.
I've finally managed to play 2 games of the mod so far without interuption of a CTD.
First game i played EA with the rest as random races/leaders, normal Barbs, huge standard galaxy map, as opposed to the spiral galaxy on Noble. All victory conditions were available and the game was over after 125 turns, why? The AI started building the Astral Gate for human ascendancy victory. Lethke built it first game over. I was leading on points so was a little miffed.
Second game was much more like the game i want to play more of. I picked all of the Leaders and removed the Human ascendancy victory condition, had Raging barbs and permanent alliances, still on Noble. So far so good. Game starts and from the beginning it's a struggle. The barbs only attacked me a total of eight times i lost a colony to them but rebuilt it. I've played 180 turns and have nearly got all the techs.
Things i've discovered as i played. There were issues with the techs and after investigating i found that some of the techs had the pre requisite techs set as orprereq. This meant that you could go quite a way down one route of the tree without having to change to some of the earlier techs. I've changed all instances of the orprereq to andprereq in the tech tree. Will play test soon to let you know how it goes.
I've had some thoughts on the Jump gate issue and will post later on that in the developement fora once i've got it sorted in a format everyone will understand.

Outstanding! I also had noticed you could go DEEP into the techs, for example, engines and not have to use some of the early techs like space exploration and the like. I look forward to the new Tech XML.



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[PsiCorps]

Hi all, first attempt was a total failure, made all the changes required but then the mod failed to load. Going back to start again but do one tech at a time instead of all at once. If anyone has any other updates/uplaods/downloads on work they have done i shall endeavour to get it all into post #1 (as soon as i know the combined updates work)

 

[PsiCorps]

Hi Guys, i found the problem. As i made the techs rely on the <AndPreReq> the lines that link them on the tech tree have disappeared. I started at the bottom of the tree and edited Terraform and Colonization so they needed all the earlier techs and not just one of them. Play test worked fine. I couldn't build a colonization ship until i had all of the previous 5 techs which was good as my scout ship had by that time found some star systems to colonize.
There are now 2 choices.
1/ Keep going and do the rest of the tree until the mod fails to load.
2/ Do nothing and wait for some ideas on how to fix the problem.
Any suggestions?

 

[Agent327]

Hi Guys, i found the problem. As i made the techs rely on the <AndPreReq> the lines that link them on the tech tree have disappeared. I started at the bottom of the tree and edited Terraform and Colonization so they needed all the earlier techs and not just one of them. Play test worked fine. I couldn't build a colonization ship until i had all of the previous 5 techs which was good as my scout ship had by that time found some star systems to colonize.
There are now 2 choices.
1/ Keep going and do the rest of the tree until the mod fails to load.
2/ Do nothing and wait for some ideas on how to fix the problem.
Any suggestions?

From your example it appears the <AndPreReq> works, but doesn't display correctly on the Civpedia Tech Tree screen. I'd suggest a 3rd choice:
1/ Keep going and do the rest of the tree +
2/ Wait for some ideas on how to fix the problem +
3/ Keep a copy of the <OrPreReq> version for comparison (and as a backup).

 

[PsiCorps]

1/ Keep going and do the rest of the tree +

I've already got a completed version of what i want, just trying to narrow down at what point it fails to load due to the problem.

2/ Wait for some ideas on how to fix the problem +

Still waiting on ideas for this

3/ Keep a copy of the <OrPreReq> version for comparison (and as a backup).

Already done this
I'll post later once i know how far i can get before it fails to load.

 

[Agent327]

I've already got a completed version of what i want, just trying to narrow down at what point it fails to load due to the problem.

Keep it up! (And glad to see you're back to regular posting & updating.)

 

[Premier Valle]

Hi Guys, i found the problem. As i made the techs rely on the <AndPreReq> the lines that link them on the tech tree have disappeared. I started at the bottom of the tree and edited Terraform and Colonization so they needed all the earlier techs and not just one of them. Play test worked fine. I couldn't build a colonization ship until i had all of the previous 5 techs which was good as my scout ship had by that time found some star systems to colonize.
There are now 2 choices.
1/ Keep going and do the rest of the tree until the mod fails to load.
2/ Do nothing and wait for some ideas on how to fix the problem.
Any suggestions?

Glad to yee you around again man!

I say option number two, because, since you are already at it, you can engineer the tech file to be more accurate, what I'm trying to say is that not every technology necesarily requires a previous tech.

And a tought on hyperspace-related techs, we should make it so, that reaching up to "jump engines" can be done a little fast, since most capital ships in the game will have jump engines, they are to require the Jump Engines Tech.
Otherwise the game could become too slow (perhaps even boring) in the early game.

Just wanted to say that

 

[PsiCorps]

So far i've changed the <OrPreReq> to <AndPreReq> on Colonization, Terraform, Ship Construction and Basic Artificial Gravity and it's all still loading up and playable.
Some things i noticed on my last play test.
1. Fighters and Bombers do not gain experience i think we need to add this in to the mod it enables the player to build up his units against the Barbs/Pirates.
2. Pirates are forever destroying the Jump lanes, in effect the Jump gates. No one did this in B5 unless there was no other choice. Example Sheridan fighting a Shadow Ship. Is there anyway to make the Jump lanes un-pillageable?
3. After a ship is destroyed is there any way that some form of salvage can be left? This could be used to either add a bonus to a research project through reverse engineering a tech you have not yet learnt or as a hammer bonus to a systems production.
4. The Markab (unamed leader), when i encountered him, had the Hyach Homeworld. I would have changed the names in the files but haven't a full list of their colonies to work from.
5. Missiles are automatically generated by the starbases and relocated to the nearest friendly star system. You can then Rebase them anywhere you want. I don't feel this is very realistic, at least for missiles. Can we make it so that they have to be transported by a transport ship (or a military ship) or change the starbase so that it can store missiles? On planets you would need to build either a Munitions Dump or Missile Silos to store those missiles. Similar to the airfield, a planet can store 5 missiles, 25 with Munitions Dump or Missile Silo. A Munitions Transport can carry 5 Missiles but not fire/launch them.
6. Thought of some new techs to add, Genetic Engineering, Bio-Technology, Living Ships and to remove Fission Power and Beyond the Rim. (Watched the last episode of season 4 the other day Humans don't seem to be ready to go beyond the Rim until the Sun dies, Millions of years from now.)
Your thoughts please?

 

[Thorgrimm]

So far i've changed the <OrPreReq> to <AndPreReq> on Colonization, Terraform, Ship Construction and Basic Artificial Gravity and it's all still loading up and playable.
Some things i noticed on my last play test.
1. Fighters and Bombers do not gain experience i think we need to add this in to the mod it enables the player to build up his units against the Barbs/Pirates.
2. Pirates are forever destroying the Jump lanes, in effect the Jump gates. No one did this in B5 unless there was no other choice. Example Sheridan fighting a Shadow Ship. Is there anyway to make the Jump lanes un-pillageable?
3. After a ship is destroyed is there any way that some form of salvage can be left? This could be used to either add a bonus to a research project through reverse engineering a tech you have not yet learnt or as a hammer bonus to a systems production.
4. The Markab (unamed leader), when i encountered him, had the Hyach Homeworld. I would have changed the names in the files but haven't a full list of their colonies to work from.
5. Missiles are automatically generated by the starbases and relocated to the nearest friendly star system. You can then Rebase them anywhere you want. I don't feel this is very realistic, at least for missiles. Can we make it so that they have to be transported by a transport ship (or a military ship) or change the starbase so that it can store missiles? On planets you would need to build either a Munitions Dump or Missile Silos to store those missiles. Similar to the airfield, a planet can store 5 missiles, 25 with Munitions Dump or Missile Silo. A Munitions Transport can carry 5 Missiles but not fire/launch them.
6. Thought of some new techs to add, Genetic Engineering, Bio-Technology, Living Ships and to remove Fission Power and Beyond the Rim. (Watched the last episode of season 4 the other day Humans don't seem to be ready to go beyond the Rim until the Sun dies, Millions of years from now.)
Your thoughts please?

1. I agree totally.

2. I think there is by adjusting whether or not a ship can pillage or an improvement is pillagable.

3. Probably, but I think it will call for Python work.

4. The Markab are not in yet as a seperate civilization. The minors are scheduled for inclusion once I finish the fleet lists for the civs that are already in first.

5. Should be easy by just removing it's rebasing ability.

6. The techs sound good, and I agree with removing the Beyond the Rim victory condition and tech. I always turned off that victory condition myself. And I think by the time space was explored fission power would have been discovered by then.

Now an idea of mine. I think the homeworlds should have more of the initial buildings already in place for the setup. My reasoning is this, no space-faring species would leave their homeworld looking for more worlds without the proper infrastructure all ready in place.

Any thoughts on that?



Cheers, Thorgrimm

 

[PsiCorps]

Now an idea of mine. I think the homeworlds should have more of the initial buildings already in place for the setup. My reasoning is this, no space-faring species would leave their homeworld looking for more worlds without the proper infrastructure all ready in place.

Any thoughts on that?

Agreed, all buildings availble due to techs known should already be in place on their homeworlds.
On the back of that i've just been adding an extra free tech to the individual races as follows.
Minbari - Advanced Computers + Superconductors
Narn - Hydroponics + Solar Panels
Human - Missiles + Planetary Construction
Centauri - Laser Weapons + Missiles
Dilgar - Zero Gravity Training + Energy Transference
Brakiri - Superconductors + Solar Panels
Drazi - Missiles + Solar Panels
Pak'Ma'Ra - Advanced Computers + Hydroponics
Gaim - Superconductors + Energy Transference
All League of Non Aligned Worlds races have been changed from Advanced computers to Laser Weapons.
Opinions please?

 

[PsiCorps]

There is a file update in post #1 (B5-Mod-1.07f) of this thread if anyone would like to try it.

 

[Agent327]

Thx - will do!

 

[Agent327]

OK, first I got a message to check my graphics drivers and after reloading a "GFC Error: failed to initialize the primary control theme". (I DLed patch f, but not version d, because I already have that. Am I missing an e or what?)