incremental patch discussion

[Deliverator]

My view is that we should make the next release version 1.8 and use the fixed installer. The 1.7 installer doesn't work with either Steam or Direct2Drive installs which are fairly common. Although we have a workaround, it is a fair amount of hassle for people and some will not have the patience to follow it.

 

[davidlallen]

The zipfile isn't that much of an inconvenience, I wouldn't think. But numbers are cheap, so we can easily do 1.8 instead of 1.7.1.

 

[davidlallen]

According to mediafire, there are 600 downloads of the (not completely working) installer for 1.7, and 70 downloads of the zipfile for 1.7. I could release a full installer version 1.8 at 100 MB and everybody would download it. Or, I could release a 1.7.1 patch at 5 MB along with a steam compatible installer of 1.7; then only the interested steam users would download the steam compatible one. Not that bandwidth costs anything, but I am inclined to do the second. What do you think?

 

[Deliverator]

I'm easy either way really.

Can you include a small bugfix if you are assembling a 1.7.1 patch? My new DuneWars.py code mistakenly had "elif" rather than "if" in the two highlighted places:

	def cannotConstruct(self, pCity, iBuilding):
		self.Initialize()
		pPlay = gc.getPlayer(pCity.getOwner())
		if ((iBuilding == self.iBCatch) or (iBuilding == self.iBLiet)) and pPlay.getCivics(self.iCArrak) != self.iCPara:
			return true
		[COLOR="red"][B]if[/B][/COLOR] (iBuilding == self.iBSSilo) and pPlay.getCivics(self.iCArrak) != self.iCSpind: 
			return true					
		[B][COLOR="Red"]if[/COLOR][/B] (iBuilding == self.iBFrcSld) and (pCity.getNumRealBuildings(self.iBHseSld) > 0): 
			return true
		return false

Also, can you include the unit changes from this post please? I have playtested and the new version of the Raider seems quite nicely balanced.

I have been playtesting Ix and one thing that stood out as wrong is the fact that Spiders (Strength 14) are available at Mechanization which is a prerequisite for Solid Fuel which enables Walkers (Strength 11). This makes Walkers obsolete before they are even researched. I think Spiders at Mechanization is fine, so perhaps we could move Walkers to Low Energy Vehicle?

This highlights an issue we have discussed before: the X axis position in the tech tree is not a good indication of the number of steps required to research a tech. As Ahriman I think has said before, beelining is too easy for a lot of techs and we need more AND requirements to make it a little harder in some cases.

I'll give some more feedback on Ix when I finish the game.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

I agree with the part about beelining. Right now in our SG we can get Kindjal Soldiers without having researched Fanaticism, Jihad or Harsh conditioning (which is a dead end). I would make Harsh Conditioning, in addition to Vendettas, a prerequisite for Assault Doctrine (not Vendettas which gives guardsmen rather than melee).

 

[Deliverator]

if iBuilding == self.iBFrcSld and pCity.getNumRealBuildings(self.iBHseSld) > 0: 
	return true

This code in cannotConstruct does not seem to work properly. I have a House Shield Generator in my capital, but I have found by changing the Python on the fly that getNumRealBuildings is returning zero for the HSG despite the fact that I have one built. Is it possible that either (a) the fact this is my capitol or (b) the fact that I have used up my four National Wonders could be causing this? Anyway, it still seems to be possible to build a Force Shield in a city with a HSG in some cases.

 

[davidlallen]

This code in cannotConstruct does not seem to work properly.

No access to the game till tomorrow. Does getNumRealBuildings take a building id or a building *class* id? Which are you passing it? Are both of these variables in self set to a useful value (not -1)?

 

[davidlallen]

I am back. I have uploaded "Dune Wars 1.7 for Steam", exactly the same game files as 1.7 but with a new installer. In unrelated news, I have also uploaded Fury Road version 11. I will investigate some feedback from the Christmas break and release Dune Wars 1.7.1 on Sunday.

 

[davidlallen]

This code in cannotConstruct does not seem to work properly.

I am not able to reproduce this. I start a game; using WB I give myself Ablative Shields and look in my city build list. It shows I can build FSG; that is correct. Next I give myself a HSG, and look in my city build list again. The FSG is now gone from the build list; that is also correct, but not what you found. Are you doing something different? The cannotConstruct routine also checks certain other things such as whether you have the proper civic to build a Reservoir of Liet. Are these other checks working for you?

 

[Deliverator]

Figured it out - I had pCity.getNumRealBuildings instead of pCity.getNumRealBuilding. Works fine now.

 

[davidlallen]

Figured it out - I had pCity.getNumRealBuildings instead of pCity.getNumRealBuilding. Works fine now.

Good. Please double-check you had python logging and exceptions turned on. This typo "should" have thrown a python exception. These exceptions make debugging much faster.

 

[davidlallen]

Well, there will be no 1.7.1 release today, if you had not guessed by this point.

Sometime between 1.7.0.3 and 1.7.0.6, an infinite loop bug has crept in. So far I am unable to debug it. It happens every 9-player game between turn 360-400. I have tried cutting down the civs in WB; I have tried setting breakpoints; I have tried smaller games. Nothing seems to work yet.

Although I'd like to have a release out to combine all the patches, it isn't worth a 100% infinite loop bug. I will update when I can find a fix. Some related technical discussion is at this thread.

 

[Ahriman]

I agree with the part about beelining. Right now in our SG we can get Kindjal Soldiers without having researched Fanaticism, Jihad or Harsh conditioning (which is a dead end). I would make Harsh Conditioning, in addition to Vendettas, a prerequisite for Assault Doctrine (not Vendettas which gives guardsmen rather than melee).

I don't think we should be forcing fanaticism, or jihad. I don't mind there being *some* dead-end/optional techs. One of the things I like about the tech tree design is the flexibility to be choosing multiple paths.

I don't mind Harsh Conditioning being added. I think the best AND requirement for Assault Doctrine is probably the tech that allows Naib's Chosen (I forget the name).

I have some suggestions for specific changes in the Modpacks forum thread.

Best of luck with finding the loop bug.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

Any luck with the next patch? (Can't wait till next weekend and I don't want to play generic BtS any more!) Thanks!

 

[davidlallen]

1.7.1 is released. I found the cause of the hang, which is the "unload transports in danger" feature. Sephi provided the code, but for a software engineering reason I put it somewhere else than where he suggested. This caused the hang, although I still do not understand why. I moved the code one other place, and it did not hang but did not actually unload transports either. So I moved it to where Sephi originally suggested and now it hangs at the start of the game. I will try to figure this out, but I was so frustrated I just removed it and released everything else.

Attached the updated issue list.

I recently got "Dragon Age: Origins" and this is consuming a lot of my free time now.

 

[AnotherPacifist]

 

[AnotherPacifist]

There seems to be a problem with Mahdi spread. Mahdi was the only religion I adopted, and yet, later on when I conquered cities, it did not spread to them. (You can see from stats that I only built 13 cities, the rest were conquered or "annexed").
The save is from just before I won a terraforming victory.
And the core cities having no Mahdi really sucks. (Can we make it like Imperial which allows 1 missionary?)

 

[keldath]

hey guys,

great work on 1.7.1,

question: what happened to the corporations??? where did they go?

issue : for next version - you need to remove the multiple production option - its from older version - its not available either on or off.

second thing: you guys still havnt fixed the missing icons for corporation screen(that iunderstand isnt used anymore - but still..)
and the espionage icon.

 

[davidlallen]

what happened to the corporations?

As listed in the release note, the palaces now directly give +3 commerce per spice, so no corporations are needed.

issue : for next version - you need to remove the multiple production option - its from older version - its not available either on or off.

You put it in. I never understood what it does. Is it causing you a problem?

you guys still havnt fixed the missing icons for corporation screen

I can't figure out what is wrong. I think it is related to the theme files somehow. If you can make any sort of suggestion about how to fix it, that would be great.

 

[keldath]

"the palaces" ? what places? you mean spice give +3?

multi production - ts not causeing any problem - its just that theres no sdk for it - you asked me to remove it and leave the lead from behind.
so basically - on/off isnt doing anything - can be removed from the xml.


mm.. i have looked at this icon thing - was trying to find the source, didnt think to look in the theme folder, good idea, ill check it out.

1. i love the new hills
2. i love the new rock features
3. the mod is awesome.