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The following posts were taken from the original Infogrames'
Independence War Messageboard prior to its removal. They deal
primarily with scripting questions and their answers. This
all comes courtesy of Maril, who did the work of searching for
them and compiling this file.

 

Nanoprobe posted 11-04-99 01:14 AM PST
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I think it goes something like...
DOCKPT SCENEITEM,DOCK_NORMAL,DOCKTYPE_UNIVERSAL(or COMMAND),AngleX,Y,Z,PositionX,Y,Z,Priority

When two objects are docked, the ship with the docking point with the higher priority is the one that 'tows' the other ship.


- Nanoprobe
9366: Nanoprobe's I-War Homestead | E-Mail

Stephen Robertson posted 10-20-99 07:00 AM PST
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Many of the custom models created by users tend to have lots of polygons. This can slow down the game if there are lots of ships on-screen.

So, when you're designing and modelling spaceships for I-War you need to take into account LOD (Level Of Detail) models. That is if you want more than one or two ships on screen at a time!
The way that LOD works is that there are actually three different sizes of objects:
High Def (3Dfx mode only For when you're close to the ships) Medium Def (For ships that are a little distance away) and Low Def (For ships far off in the distance).

A typical High Def object might be 700-1000 polys with high-res textures. A low def might be 100-200 polys with medium-res textures, and a low-def would be 50 polys, or even just a couple of polys in a cross shape, with 'card-board' cutout style textures showing the ship.

High Def shapes are used only for 3Dfx - they are placed in the Sh_3dx directory.

Medium Def shapes are like the software shapes and are placed in the shapes or sh_3dh directories.

Low-def shapes are placed in the shapes or sh_3dh directory and have the suffix _LOW.

If you implement LOD models then your custom ships will perform much better in the game, with much less slowdown.

-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems



R2D2:

How is PLACE_RANDOM used? What is the number for?
A tip for using jumppoints for incoming craft:
First, create the jumppoint. Use NOCONTACT, INDESTRUCT and make it *real* heavy so that PBCs won't turn it.
You may want to use it relative to player (in front of player so he will see it). To make its facing towards player, ORIENT jumpgate with player.
After this, CALL Indie's JumpgateSequence.
Then create the ship. ORIENT it with jumppoint. Then SPAWN it from the jumppoint.

You should make a subroutine that makes the jumpgatemodel smaller, use Indie's jumpgatesequence but use SUB instead of ADD, and make it RETURN if variable i is 2000.

After you have used that subroutine, and create an another jumpgate, you can't see it. This is because the game doesn't show small objects that are too small to be seen. So, use SIZE JumpMd,150000 before creating the jumppoint. After CREATE_SHIP use SIZE JumpMd,2000 to make it small but still visible.


Did ya understand?

I'm getting something ready soon... I just need good shp files for Hyperion (and textures for it, too) and Omega (most of the guns are missing). Can someone make yellow/orange jumpgate textures for incoming ships?

Indie posted 10-18-99 06:22 AM PST
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I think I-War tends to combine separate collission model boxes as one. This means that this:
**** ****
**** ****
**** ****

turns out in the game as:

************
************
************

The way to work around it is to create a new box in the center that belongs to layer 'neg'. Anything that is inside this 'neg' box can be flown into.

Since my explanation didn't make any sense to anyone, please download the jumpgate/jumppoint from my site and look at the BOX model. That should be self explanatory and make a lot more sense than my ramblings above...

-Indie

Indie posted 10-18-99 06:24 AM PST
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I should have known that figure would not show correctly...
Stephen Robertson posted 10-18-99 07:13 AM PST
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Note that you can't shoot through _NEG boxes, even though you can fly through them.
-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems

UberSlayer posted 10-18-99 07:43 PM PST
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Well, I know exactly what you're talking about Indie. However, let's say your front view is like this:
******
******
** **
** **


You can make three boxes and be able to fly through the bottom two "spikes" However, if you have a slanted model like this:

******
******
*** ***
** **

You cannot just take a box and rotate it. If you've ever looked at my battleship, it has several wings that you can fly between. I had to create several smaller boxes to handle the diagonal wings. Personally, I think that the Bship.zip is an exellent tutorial ship for learning.


UberSlayer

 

Stephen Robertson posted 10-13-99 05:52 AM PST
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Use DIRECTOR - it's in the script manual. However it's a bit buggy
-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems

Dreadnaught posted 10-13-99 07:06 AM PST
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Yes, director. I think it goes something like
DIRECTOR Dreadnt,Dreadnt,[CAMERA#],TIME#

I used it to film my part of the Chaos movie. However, I havn't gotten the command to work in Defiance, strangly enough.

-Dreadnaught

Don't put them in the .shp file otherwise ALL ships created with that .shp file will use them in all missions.
Instead put them after the #INCLUDE e.g.:

#INCLUDE corvette.shp
NEW_ALLEG LASTSHIP,COSA
ADD_SENSE LASTSHIP,SN_INDIE
(I'm not sure if the sense flag SN_INDIE exists - I'm typing this at home without my script reference.)

-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems

James Moore posted 10-04-99 02:40 AM PST
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The weapon commands are
WEAPON_DMG Dreadnt,0,250,80
Weapon damage: Ship, Weapon index, damage, armour penetration
WEAPON_BEAM Dreadnt,0,250,2500000,2000000,150
Weapon beam: Ship, Weapon_index, recharge time (in centisecs), half range(cm), Velocity (cm/s), Expiry Time(in centisecs)

The ‘Ship’ is the Ship item name. The ‘weapon index’ is the number of the weapon in the .shp file, counting from the first as 0.
If you want to slow a beam down, reduce its velocity value.

To stop a ship repairing, you can use the REPAIRS OFF command

Enjoy
James
Particle Systems

R2D2 posted 10-04-99 01:03 PM PST
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Correction: Beam weapons can be done by using that WEAPON_BEAM command and putting that velocity to 200000000 (i could be wrong 'bout that). Then it's really fast, but it doesn't look like a beam... so shadow vessels with that continous beam (with Merciful's laser and recharge time 0) could be done, but Minbari beam? No. Perhaps if you could CALL_WHEN a ship shoots a weapon in WEAPON_INDEX.
Too bad that REPAIRS only works on the player ship. Perhaps you could make it somehow with CALL_WHEN DAMAGE_LT and variable which is taken from ships amount of damage before repairs...

My mission is almost finished! I think I can manage to get it ready for tomorrow night. Without thunderbolt model, I'm afraid.

The Merciful posted 10-06-99 04:02 PM PST
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1)
In the scripting document it is mentioned that in line: ENGINE LASTSHIP,30000,10500,0,0, 140,140,140, 1000, the second numerical value is 'subthrust'. What it is? I tough it were same as lateral thrust, but the player ship seems the use lateral thrusters just fine even if I define 'subthrust' as zero.
2)
The engine thrust lights for yawn, pitch and roll have definitions: ...TH_LAT_DOWN,TH_PITCH_NEG.... I know what they are, but is there a similar definition for _forward_ thrust? (Would allow better Starfury .shp file. )

Thanks.

Dreadnaught posted 10-06-99 07:14 PM PST
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Good questions! I'm curious. I thought subthrust was lateral too, but I guess not.
-Dread

CapnEnder posted 10-06-99 10:36 PM PST
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How would I change the normal acceleration of the dreadnaught?
Nanoprobe posted 10-07-99 02:41 AM PST
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The second value, as far as I can figure out, is the reverse thrust.
There are also specific lights for forward thrust, not sure what though.

- Nanoprobe
9366: Nanoprobe's I-War Homestead | E-Mail

R2D2 posted 10-07-99 06:25 AM PST
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1)That doc file says that MAX_THRUST is not used. I think there should be that SUB_THRUST is not used. MAX_THRUST can be used to set the thrust limit.
2)I don't know. But one thing: Thunderbolt looks better when there are no thrusters for lateral, turning etc.

CapnEnder, that is the first number of that ENGINE line. Just edit the PCorvette.shp file in psg/resource/scripts/ships (after you've deslabbed, of course).

Nanoprobe, it isn't reverse thrust, because it is always the same value as the normal engines.

UberSlayer posted 10-03-99 01:41 AM PST
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Ok, I did a quick test, and have confirmed the BOX model designations. I have the following:
SYS_1=Weapons
SYS_2=Shields (both upper and lower)
SYS_4=Attitude Thrusters
SYS_8=Main Thrusters
SYS_16=LDS drive
SYS_32= ?? (I assume this is hull)
SYS_64=crew module
SYS_128=CPU

If you wanted to designate multiple targets, you simply add the numbers together. In otherwords, if you wanted a specific area of your ship to be the LDS, shields, and main Thrusters, you would tag the surfaces as "SYS_26" (2+8+16=26) There is no docking targeting subsystem.

Now, question for steve... how is the docking handled? I am assuming it is in the shp model but must correlate to a surface on the BOX model.

UberSlayer

Indie posted 10-03-99 09:28 AM PST
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This should come in handy. Thanks.
-Indie

R2D2 posted 10-03-99 09:41 AM PST
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Dock points are designated in the shp script, but i don't know (or emember) how the direction is set.
Stephen Robertson posted 10-03-99 09:46 AM PST
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Dock points are set using the DOCKPT command. See the script document for details.
-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems

Stephen Robertson posted 09-29-99 08:13 AM PST
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Nebulas are a combination of a spherical model and an associated texture. If you can create custom textures for the game you can create new nebulas.
-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems

Stephen Robertson posted 09-14-99 05:07 AM PST
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Collision box models are used for defining complex collision boxes, e.g. for the fighter carrier when you can fly through the hangar bay.
They are also used to define the subtargets of a vessel.

In a collision box model you draw boxes which roughly outline the shape of the ship. (This is quite easy in lightwave modeller).

However each vertex (or point) on a box must not be in line with another vertex in another box or the collision model won't work.

Using surface names you can specify the different substargets, and negative collision boxes.

Subtargets have the following surface names:
SYS_1
SYS_2
SYS_4
SYS_8
SYS_16
SYS_32
SYS_64
SYS_128
SYS_256

Any box with one of these as a surface name will show up as a subtarget. I don't have the information to hand as to which one is which system.

If you use a _NEG surface name then the collision box acts as a negative collision area, which you can fly through (See the navy carrier), however you can't shoot through it.

-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems

Dreadnaught posted 09-13-99 02:47 PM PST
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DOCK Corvette,Station,1,0 I think should work.
-Dreadnt

SpooRancher posted 09-13-99 03:09 PM PST
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Don't forget to give the ship a docking port.
DOCK_READY Destroyer,0,DOCK_NORMAL
DOCK Destroyer,Station,0,4

(Taken and from Division; but I changed the names.)

FleetAdmiral Mad Squirrel posted 09-13-99 03:12 PM PST
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is that the DestopyerMd thing or the Destoyernt thing, or is it the name,
DOckling is a hassles

SpooRancher posted 09-13-99 03:28 PM PST
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It's not the model (md) or the name "UNO", its the sceneitem.

R2D2 posted 09-02-99 07:36 AM PST
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Is there a way to make ship without WEP and ENG workstations? If i add weapons to command module it doesn't work anymore. Or, can ship's cannons be made ARC_TIGHT in WEP mode? Ship without ripple-mode? Can ripple fire's speed be set? Can I turn computer-assisted fire mode off or make weapons that don't move even 6 degrees?
That's a lot of questions, but the first is most important.

R2D2 posted 09-02-99 07:41 AM PST
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Easy way to set command module detachment off?
Rhadamanthus posted 09-02-99 09:42 AM PST
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I don't know any of this for sure... but I'd be willing to bet that it is possible to input weapon arcs as raw angles, and that P.S. just set up the constants ARC_Medium, ARC_Wide, etc to simplify the matter. They would do this, I imagine, because the actual angle numbers are expressed in radians or some other hard-to-manage format.
If you don't get a quick answer from the big guys, I'd suggest you just try dumping some raw numbers in the place of ARC constants, just to see if it crashes the script. If it doesn't, then you can test a few values to see what they represent. I would suggest starting with the number 0. If that works at all, it will probably have the effect of a total gimbal lock.
The only immediate reason I can see why it might not work, is if the ARC constants are of a type that contains multiple elements of data. There's a word for that in programming, but right now it eludes me...

-Rhad

Stephen Robertson posted 09-02-99 09:52 AM PST
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If your ship only has one weapon or less it's assumed to be the command section, and you don't get the WEP or ENG stations.
Unfortunately this means you can't add extra weapons to the command section :-(

Also you can't turn off ripple fire or alter its speed, either, or alter the PBCs fire arcs in WEP mode.

-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems



R2D2 posted 09-02-99 10:36 AM PST
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Heh! I found a solution: I can turn F3 and F4 off from keybind.ini! Does the same commands work in mission script? I guess no, have to test. Is there a way to unbind a key? I guess no already.
Oh darn, i meant rapid PBC, not ripple. But i found a solution this already (WEPRAPID). Can its speed be changed? (A lucky guess: no)

But PBC fire arcs always the same in WEP?

Rhadamanthus, i have to test that too.

Stephen Robertson posted 09-02-99 01:09 PM PST
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You _may_ be able to use the keybind.ini commands in your mission script. In that case you could bind the F3 and F4 keys to strange shifted keys that the user doesn't know about - good thinking there!
-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems


R2D2 posted 08-25-99 09:03 AM PST
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What the **** is 3dp? I know it's a symbol used somehow with CREATE, but how or why it's used?
There's two files containing information about stars, planet, moons & lagrange points (Body_t2.txt and excelrichsys.gsv). Wich one can used with PLACE_BETWEEN?
Excelrichsys.gsv has much more lines than Body_t2.txt.

Hmm... I remember that 3dp was used more than one time mainly with stations. But what is that?!?

Stephen Robertson posted 08-25-99 10:19 AM PST
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3DPs are 3D primitives. Each ship in the game is actually a 3DP, but the 3DP feature is used to add child objects to other objects This is used for the GKON and Saltlake stations to link the rotating section to the static section.
-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems

R2D2 posted 08-25-99 12:41 PM PST
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Thank you, Steve. Now I at least understand something of it. When I looked the Reference Guide again, I noticed 3dp is used in ADD_CHILD command. So ship's 3dp name is created with CREATE command (am I correct?).
About my other question, I think it is excelrichsys.gsv.

Can PLACE_BETWEEN be used to move player's ship to different system?

There's L4 point in almost every system. If I want to create a indie ship between L4 and something in Alpha Centauri using PLACE_BETWEEN while player is near L4 in Metallake, how can I do that? FIND_PLANET only finds planets in local system.

Hmm.. a wild guess: I have to use SYSTEM before FIND_PLANET? Somebody tell me if I'm correct.

Stephen Robertson posted 08-26-99 01:35 AM PST
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PLACE_BETWEEN only works in the current system.
-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Defiance Project Lead
Particle Systems

R2D2 posted 08-26-99 05:50 AM PST
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So i have to create that ship when player arrives in Alpha Centauri. Thanks again.

Dreadnaught posted 08-23-99 09:27 PM PST
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I was thinking a little while ago, and I came up with a new way to script. While I am not sure how this could be fully implimented, I think it's a concept that should be explored.
As all scripters know, to give a ship its characteristics you must assosciate it with a .shp file using the #INCLUDE statement. Now, if you open any .shp file you will see that it is just a layout of features for a ship known as LASTSHIP

This LASTSHIP is why it is so critical for the #INCLUDE statement to be used after the creation of a ship. However, the information contained in the ship file can just as easily be used in the script itself; the statement is used for convienience and consistency.

Because of these factors, any valid scripting command can be used and used again in a .shp file.

For example: if I wanted to give the same order to a series of ships after creating them, I could make a .shp file called "order.shp" containing the order for LASTSHIP. So, if I put #INCLUDE order.shp after making each ship I would only have to type that to give each ship orders.

I know the drawbacks are apparent: someone downloading your script would have to place the "order.shp" in the "/scripts/ships" directory. And, a change in orders mid-script would be impossible using this technique.

Comments? Ideas?



Manaboy posted 08-24-99 06:26 AM PST
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Im going to investigate
md posted 08-24-99 11:07 AM PST
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I thought of this a while ago. I concieved that it would allow you to #INCLUDE loads of stuff, not just ships or orders, how about entire missions.
However it didn't work as planned

Dreadnaught posted 08-24-99 07:57 PM PST
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Oh, well there goes another idea!
-Dreadnt

Indie posted 08-17-99 10:48 AM PST
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Have you tested that Nanoprobe? As far as I know that is exactly what I have been trying. It didn't seem to work. I even tried copying one of the movies from the CD to my HD just to make sure the format was correct.
Of course, I could be doing something wrong. It happens.

So PS...
to summarize:

1. What is STAGGER and FLARE?

2. How do you play custom missions from your hard drive in I-War?

3. What do the LOITER and SAFELOITER orders do?

I'll settle for 'I don't know.' -reply, but I hope you know the ansrews.

Nanoprobe posted 08-18-99 04:12 AM PST
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This has gotten bumped closer to the bottom again - no, Indie, I haven't tested it, but it's reasonable to assume that that's correct as it's the way PS does it (unless they have something up their sleeves ).
- Nanoprobe
9366: Nanoprobe's I-War Homestead

James Moore posted 08-18-99 06:16 AM PST
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A1) STAGGER is the time before the light comes on, allowing you to have lights flashing in sequence. Not sure what FLARE does.
A2) put the custom script on the command line. (example)
-noslab -powers -nologos C:\PSG\RESOURCE\SCRIPTS\Test\Test1.scr

A3) The LOITER order makes a ship hang around a point, the alpha parameter in Order_params
SAFE LOITER works the same way.

James
Particle systems


Indie
James Moore posted 08-20-99 03:19 AM PST
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Nanoprobe is right – you simply Regload the Smacker when you Regload the ships, then PLAYVIDEO in the script
REGLOAD Movie,"\psg\resource\video\m01_1.smk",BRVIDEO
PLAYVIDEO Movie

Brett – you use
ORDER 1,0,LASTSHIP,"Loiter",0,0,40,70,0
ORDER_PARAMS 1,LASTSHIP,L5pt,0,0

This has the ship loiter around the item L5pt
hope this helps

James
Particle Systems

Nanoprobe posted 08-20-99 04:06 AM PST
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Indie: you can use:
CAM_FIXED (fixed external)
CAM_TRACK (tracking view, doesn't always work)
CAM_CHASE (chase view)
CAM_PLAYER (unknown)
CAM_CONTACT (contact view)
CAM_PURSUIT (another chase view i assume)

Anon: give me two minutes and I'll find the thing for you, do you have Go!Zilla?

- Nanoprobe
9366: Nanoprobe's I-War Homestead

Andrew posted 04-06-99 07:47 PM PST
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I'm thinking at doing an anti-matter mine.
Anti-matter missiles...

I got this from a post by James earlier in the year;

To alter a weapons stats you need to use these commands

WEAPON_DMG Dreadnt,0,150,55
WEAPON_BEAM Dreadnt,0,100,200000,600000,400

These details are for a normal PBC

Weapon damage: Ship, Weapon_index, damage, armour penetration

Weapon beam: Ship, Weapon_index, recharge time(in centiseconds), the half range( in cm), the bolt Velocity (in cm/s), the bolt Expiry Time( in centiseconds)


I haven't quite worked out were to use it yet but it has loads of potential.

I'm also thinking of doing a small anti-matter powered drone, with big thrusters, 4 aggressor LDAs, and a bad habit of setting of it's powerplant if it is destroyed, or run's low on feul.
Of course it would verge on unplayable, but we have some pretty hot shot captains out there.

I also want to figure out how to do that chaos restraining beam, seen in the artifact, can it be set as a weapon on the dreadnought?

I also want to try and make a disrupter beam, the missiles irritate me.

Thats my ranting, for now...

-Andrew

Star Junkie 2 posted 04-12-99 04:59 PM PST
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Don't worry, it's still the original star junkie, as a result of my intake of the energy from dead stars I often develop multiple personalities.
Anyway, I've begun scripting: I can create a ship, I can make it fight, I am just getting the basics down, but: I CAN'T DOCK!

If I put the scene at wolf 359 and create a feul refinery, I can't dock to it, yet if I'm in Sol I can dock to Salt Lake! In the Stock.scr I see nothing like DOCK_READY for the saltlake or anything else, yet I can dock.

Now, if I use DOCK_READY on my refinery (I named it the Rowan Midland after a drilling platform I worked offshore on with undersea robotics) it doesn't seem to make a difference.

I've tried dissecting other missions on clues to this but I can't see anything consistent with those scripts pertaining to docking, please help, Ive been working on this one for hours, I need relief from it so I can go to work tomorrow!

Andrew posted 04-12-99 05:27 PM PST
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I think the problem is that you should be using the DOCK_NORMAL command instead. I think DOCK_READY is used to make specific dockports on a ship ready usually after you have made a DOCK_UNREADY statement and need to change it back. I think these commands are used to make sure te player can only dock to specific dock ports, you can then use the DOCKED check as the trigger to make other dock points ready.
So I'm sure but try;

DOCK_NORMAL LASTSHIP

after you create your refinery.

-Andrew

Andrew posted 04-12-99 05:30 PM PST
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I wish the BB would leave my spaces alone, I put them there for a reason.
-Andrew

Star Junkie 2 posted 04-12-99 06:04 PM PST
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Andrew - No go.
Autopilot approach still works, all the auto's work except Autodock. When I press F8 my ship just sits there - correction, my ship seems spin to the right very slowly, dunno why because my yaw, pitch, roll etc are all 0, it's not my joystick - I seem to like the keyboard better anyway. When I press F8 it does seem to pause for a split second, but thats it > .

I've got :
CREATE_SHIP Bla,bla,bla

DOCK_NORMAL LASTSHIP

before I had:
Bla,Bla,Bla

DOCK_READY RwnMdlnd,0,DOCK_NORMAL I think (already erased)

maybe I need to try:
LASTSHIP DOCK_NORMAL

Well...

Andrew posted 04-12-99 09:59 PM PST
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Found the problem!!!
The dockports for the fuel depot are set to OFF in fueldepot.shp file, change these to ON and it should work.

An alternitive is this line;

DOCK_READY RwnMdlnd,1,DOCK_NORMAL
or,
DOCK_READY LASTSHIP,1,DOCK_NORMAL
after CREATE_SHIP Bla,bla,bla

Sorry about my last comment I looked it up and DOCK_NORMAL is a flag, not a command. It's just when I tried to open the manual I kept getting an invalid page fault, and I didn't want to reset the pooter to make it work.

I'm going to try it, after I log off the net.

-Andrew

Star Junkie 2 posted 04-12-99 11:43 PM PST
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No good!
DOCK_READY ,1,DOCK_NORMAL doesn't work for me. Evan if I park another Navy corvette out there I can't dock with it.

It doesn't seem to matter if it's a fuledepot.shp, Refinery.shp, or evan 'SaltLake.shp' I simply cannot dock.

However, when I'm at Sol I can dock w/ saltlake, I dunno. This is gonna bug me until I get it, I don't want to do any other scripting till I do get it!

Do any of the coders out there wish to put me out of my misery! When I get like this it becomes my whole life...

Star Junkie 2 posted 04-12-99 11:50 PM PST
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Correction: thats:
DOCK_READY RwnMdlnd,1,DOCK_NORMAL

No go, I'm gonna get it though!

I'm a winky kind a guy y'know ...pardon me.

Andrew posted 04-13-99 12:01 AM PST
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You could try setting the dreadnaughts dock collars on...
DOCK_READY,Dreadnt,0,DOCK_NORMAL
DOCK_READY,Dreadnt,1,DOCK_NORMAL

that might be the problem.

-Andrew

Star Junkie 2 posted 04-13-99 09:25 AM PST
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That doesn't work,
Evan if I go into the shp file and change the docking ports to ON it doesn't help!

Star Junkie posted 04-13-99 03:57 PM PST
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Somebody, anybody, help me!
I'm still waiting. ;o

Andrew posted 04-13-99 04:28 PM PST
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I've tried it and yes, it doesn't work.
If I work it out I'll let you know.
Where is someone from Particle Systems when you need them, I know they don't support the DevKit but they do know the answer.

-Andrew

James Moore posted 04-14-99 01:40 AM PST
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Make sure all of the dockports are READY and that the ships are not of opposed alignments
DOCK_READY LASTSHIP,0,DOCK_NORMAL
Should be added to both ships
If that doesn’t work, try adding
ADD_SENSE LASTSHIP,SN_HAPPY_TO_DOCK
To both ships.
James
Particle Systems


Tarid posted 04-14-99 10:42 AM PST
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Something else with the docking, please PS give the player the opportunity to decide with wich side of his ship he's docking.
Another thing, in "A new frontier" I was docked with a c-fighter and the station (don't ask why), when I undocked Icrashed with the station. Smart mh?

Star Junkie posted 04-14-99 11:43 PM PST
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It doesn't work!
I appreciate all the advice, I'm sure I've got all my syntax right.

Okay:
DOCK_READY LASTSHIP,0,DOCK_NORMAL

added to my refinery and the Dreadnt doesn't help. And:

ADD_SENSE LASTSHIP,SN_HAPPY_TO_DOCK (are you pulling my leg?)

added to both ships does not work.

The curious thing about this is that if I fly toward my refinery and press F8 my speed will suddenly declerate to 0, then I'll just sit there. If I fly toward it again and press F8 it will decelerate and stop again, may be related.

I dunno, but I'm sure that someone else out there has had this issue and has fixed it... that means really perturbed.

Stephen Robertson posted 04-15-99 01:10 AM PST
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Welcome to the world of I-War Scripting!
This sort of problem is what we get almost daily while writing the defiance missions

James is right about making sure all the dockpoints are ready. Also make sure your dockpoint is actually on the outside of the object. If it's accidentally inside the object then the game may prevent the ship from docking to it.

Normally ships of opposing allegiance won't dock to each other the flag SN_HAPPY_TO_DOCK allows any ship to dock to another.

It still seems to me that a dockpoint isn't ready. Instead of using LASTSHIP try using the actual symbol name of the ship you want to modify, so that you're sure your commands are working on the correct ship.

-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems


Indie posted 05-28-99 05:28 AM PST
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Question 1:
Make sure that the ship you are flying and the ship you want to dock to _both_ have docking points designated (Look at ship file for DOCKPT-commands) and that they are set READY.

DOCK_READY Ship1,DockingPointNumber,DOCK_NORMAL

DOCK_READY Ship2,DockingPointNumber,DOCK_NORMAL

Question 2:

Are you aware that the co-ordinates are in centimetres? Annoying 1 & 2 are actually 100000cm = 1km apart. Close enough for big ships to collide...

Except of course waypoints. They are apparently in metres. Why? I don't know... Ask PS.

One more thing, HCORVETTE means the ships is designated SALVAGE in the game.

If that didn't solve the problem, ask again.

-Indie

RAidley posted 06-14-99 01:38 AM PST
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I've not tested this, but I think your problem is the WAIT_UNTIL DESTROYED that appears twice in the indie_group_one section. It usualy breaks the engine to have 'waits' before the cameras are set up - this kind of processing ought to go in the 'Main Mission' section.
Rich

Nanoprobe posted 06-15-99 03:39 AM PST
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Oh and also - there is a very (probably) fatal problem with one of your ships - Salty.
If you look in stock.scr, for the Sol system, Salty (although it's in all caps) is loaded by default as Saltlake, and I bet you've just cut n pasted the code and forgotten to change the names.

It's the declaring Salty twice that's probably hosing the game! Change all references of Salty to to Salty2 in your script. It should work then.

- Nanoprobe
9366: Nanoprobe's I-War Homestead
Nanoprobe posted 06-15-99 03:32 AM PST
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Dammit - Have to get my password right!
Anyway - as you probably already know, each allegance has it's own PBC colour. Y'Know, Red for Indie, Yellow for Navy, Green for Neutral, and Blue for SecPat. Now, if you wanted to make it look like an Indie ship was firing blue cannons, then you'd probably want to see if there is currently any model in the shapes folder that would look good bolted onto that ship. I'm serious, there is a way to get ships to fire different coloured beams, just like this: create the 'external' cannon, and set it's mass and engine power to 0 (can't move). Dock it to the ship, and make it so the cannon can't undock. Change the allegance of the cannon to the one with the colour you want. Then use these commands:

NOCONTACT Cannon
ORDER 1,0,Cannon,"?????GunPlatform",0,0,60,80,0
CALL_ONCE_WHEN DestroyCannon,DESTROYED,Shipwithcannon

DestroyCannon:
DESTROY Cannon
RETURN

Replace ????? with the relevant allegance, so that the cannon does not end up shooting it's own ship. The rest you figure out .

- Nanoprobe
9366: Nanoprobe's I-War Homestead

Dreadnaught posted 06-21-99 04:35 PM PST
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I'm making a new mission and I have some questions:
1) How would I make a new waypoint, say, 3000 Km from Earth's L5?

2) What is the sceneitem of the L5 and the sceneitem of Saltlake Base?

3) How could I order a ship to avoid a particular ship while maintaining an attack?

Thank you all for your time!



AdmiralBrett posted 06-21-99 04:38 PM PST
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Since i was here and all.......
A1.

RELATIVE L5
WAYPT Waypt1,"Waypoint1", 0000000,3000000,-110000,ON,ON

AdmiralBrett posted 06-21-99 04:39 PM PST
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Oh, dont use the second ON, as this links all the waypoints created after this

AdmiralBrett posted 06-21-99 04:41 PM PST
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Look in the 'psg\resource\geog\excelrichsys.csv'
There you will see numbers by each of the planets and Lpoints etc.

Then put.....


FIND_PLANET L5,"2"

Or whatever the number is.

Then you can from then on refer to the L5point as "L5"


AdmiralBrett posted 06-21-99 04:42 PM PST
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and finally.....
Add this under the order for the ship:

IGNORE_NAV Thingtobeignored
IGNORE_WEP Thingtobeignored

and replace "thingtobeignored" with the appropriate sceneitem name

Brett

AdmiralBrett posted 06-22-99 05:47 PM PST
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This week i will be mostly using (fast show quote, bitz only )..............
EMIT_GT

This is a cool term i just discovered in the scripting guide (funny, i could have sworn it wasnt there before )

What it does is.......

when a ship has thermal trace of Greater Than (GT) the number given afterwards (e.g. 3.8) then something cool can happen.

This is especially cool in undercover or stealthy missions *(INDIE-you know where you can use this )* As you can use a line such as:

BRA_IF Yadead,EMIT_GT,Dreadnt,3.8


Yadead:

NEW_ALLEG Dreadnt,INDIE

This would mean that if you went above 3.8 summins, then you would become indie and the navy guys would kill you OR you can becaome NAVY while you are COSA to be undercover in a deal (hint Indie

Ok, just thought it was cool anyhue

Brett

Stephen Robertson posted 06-22-99 01:40 AM PST
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You can do it in the defiance campaign - We now have turreted weapons. You can dock a turret to a ship and it will rotate freely.
It can only rotate on one axis however, So you can't aim up and down.
You could remote log-on to a turret, and use the auto-target feature to alter the guns elevation - just rotate round to face the enemy and fire!

-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems

Stephen Robertson posted 06-23-99 02:04 AM PST
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You have to be very careful with the turrets, as they don't have any rotation limits. So you have to dock them onto places where they can rotate freely without shooting through the ship, e.g. on the extreme top and bottom of a ship.
-- Steve
Stephen Robertson
Particle Systems