[MoO] Master of Orion 2 unofficial patch

[Ponkyo]

Found a small bug in the game: when moving a ship, point defense weapons fire when set to yellow. I was trying to save them for some fighters, but they fired on incoming missiles even if they were disabled.

 

[Rocco.40]

if you don't want pd to act against incoming flyers when moving ship, you need to redden them.
from the 150 manual: "a reddened weapon (besides Spatial Compressor) does not automatically fire at incoming missiles anymore, except during ‘Seeking Missiles’ phase at the end of each combat round."

 

[Ponkyo]

I know red works, but yellow also means not to fire yet pd fire, just saying.

 

[Rocco.40]

but it doesn't mean that per se, in fact the classic meaning is that both reddened and yellowed pd beams would fire against flyers when moving ship. in 1.50 we chose to disable firing for reddened but not for yellowed pd.

 

[AdmiralLoknar]

@Ponkyo Pls do update O2M tool and revert the parameters list in free edit back to the original mode (not alphabetical order), cause the sorted button no longer works. Doing this will greatly help me update my mods.

 

[Ponkyo]

There's no "original mode", parameters appear either sorted or as they are saved in the file.

Edit: latest version now groups parameters by type when creating a new mod from templates, this should improve visibility in Free Edit for new mods. For older mods, you can create a new Core mod and then use Insert Script to apply the old mod.

 

[Rocco.40]

ok, so latest O2M version is now 3.15
original post with link to download location is in this thread, here:
https://forums.civfanatics.com/thre...unofficial-patch.562652/page-19#post-15596482

 

[AdmiralLoknar]

@Ponkyo Very appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Bladrov]

One small change I'd very much like to see is in ship development. Instead of it defaulting to the top of your weapons list, where your oldest techs are, it could default to the bottom of the list where your most advanced techs are. I have tendinitis in both arms and this would save a bit on wear and tear, plus it would just make ship design a bit easier in general.

 

[Ponkyo]

Instead of it defaulting to the top of your weapons list, where your oldest techs are, it could default to the bottom of the list where your most advanced techs are.

You mean sorting techs in the game's ship design list? I think they are just listed in the order they are defined. Adding a sorting algorithm to the 1.50 patch may be difficult, not sure if it's possible...

One quick fix would be to make yourself a mod where you re-order all techs as you please, but that may also be difficult because most techs are referred to by other stuff so you will have to change more than just the techs.

 

[Bladrov]

Actually what I was thinking was to leave it sorted the same way, but have the cursor go to the bottom where your newest techs are . . . but looking at it now, I see that it puts the best weapons at the top. I'm confused now. I'll have to play the game some more to find out what it was that was bugging me.

Something else I'd like to see is the ability to take on a new colony or ship leader by dismissing one of your current ones. So if a really good one comes along, the game could give you the option to dismiss one of yours, showing them and their abilities. Of course, this is a Not Trivial change to make, so I wouldn't expect it of the fan patch. But it is something I'd enjoy seeing if it were to happen.

 

[Ponkyo]

You can make a small mod and set only leaders_no_limit = 1;
Then you can hire as many leaders as you want.

 

[Bladrov]

You can?? But what will happen then? The interface only supports 4 of each type; would your first become invisible and inaccessible, or something?

 

[Ponkyo]

There will be two small arrows near the portraits, you can click them to page up/down:

 

[Bladrov]

I almost had to pick my jaw up off the floor with that one. Thanks Ponkyo!

 

[Bladrov]

This is great - so now I'm excited to try the latest version. It said it installed successfully, but when I run Orion150.exe in DOSBox, it errors out:

An error occured, MOO2 1.50.17 will now terminate.
You current configuration is broken, the following problem(s) have been detected
:
warning: mod file 150\mods\VDC\RAINBOW.CFG doesn't define mod_id (skipped)

raceicon.lbx is missing: unable to open 'raceicon.lbx'
shipname.lbx is missing: unable to open 'shipname.lbx'
starname.lbx is missing: unable to open 'starname.lbx'

Correct manually or reinstall

The copy of this message can be found in ORION2.LOG

I've attached the file; I had to rename it .txt for the site to accept the upload.

 

[Ponkyo]

For errors: you must fully install MOO2, all lbx files must be in the game's folder. You can also manually copy them from the game's CD to avoid reinstalling the game.

For the mod warning: your mod is invalid, I suggest you use O2M, the link is above in Rocco's post, it's much easier to make and install mods that way:

create new empty mod
insert script:
leaders_no_limit = 1;
save
go to launcher and activate your mod
launch game

 

[Bladrov]

Huh. Classic 1.31 runs fine; my daughter and I have a game of that going, tunneling IPX through DOSBox. I also tried installing the game to its own folder following the directions in the troubleshooting section of the manual (copy the CD to a subfolder, make all the files writable, install from there, apply the 1.31 patch, then the 1.50), and it did the same thing. I'll try the O2M like you suggest.

Edit: Oh shoot, O2M won't run in Wine! Now what do I do? I've installed this, through the DOS installer, to its own folder, Orion2F. I applied the 1.31 patch and it runs. Then I applied the 150 patch, but it gives the same error - but also missing credits.lbx and diplomse.lbx.

Aha! I copied those files from the CD subfolder up into the main Orion2F folder, and now the game runs. Thanks!

But my goodness it runs slow, compared to 1.31! I have it set to 15000 cycles... It does seem to run a little better as a dynamic core with 32MB of memory and loadfix=63.

Oh, I see: it runs well through the launcher. I hadn't tried that because the launcher never worked for me before. But now, apart from crackling sound, it works well. Overlay didn't quite fix it, but running it as ddraw did.

 

[Ponkyo]

You probably have to install dotNET3.5 to run O2M if you're using Wine.

If it doesn't work, you'll have to stick to manual modding. You can read the MANUAL_150.PDF provided with the patch for further details.

Meanwhile I've attached the mod for unlimited leaders made in O2M. You need to unzip it in the 150\mods folder. If you still encounter issues, hopefully Rocco will help you out, he's the expert when it comes to manual modding.

 

[Bladrov]

Ah, I see now what I was thinking of originally. It's when you go to change a weapon in ship design. If you're changing Neutron Blaster to Phasor, for instance, the list goes all the way to the bottom but I have to scroll up to get to Phasor. The list should include No Weapon and your most recent weapons, rather than show the weapon just above the currently selected, then show down to all the primitive stuff like Nuclear Missile.

I guess it's not such a big deal in the scheme of things. I've just always wished it wouldn't make me scroll up in that window.