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Determining a new system''s region, and acception missions

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Post Sat Feb 24, 2007 12:15 am

Determining a new system''s region, and acception missions

Hello all,

I've been making some new systems, and I am able to get almost everything about them to work without any hitches - except for 2 things:
1) Determining which region/House the system falls into.
2) Getting missions to work (be available)

Ok, lemme explain myself here.
1) I can make the system, get all the contents good to go, and name the system with its own ids number. In its ids_info (listing the bases, corporations, etc), I can declare my system belonging to whoever (Liberty, Bretonia, Independent, etc.), and I use the FL naming scheme (Lixx for Liberty systems..) Ok, so basically, all is fine except for when i enter the system, it will give me the name of the system like it's supposed to, but it doesn't follow up with the region:
Example: drop into Nevada system, Liberty space. I see "NEVADA SYSTEM." scroll on my screen, but it doesn't finish with the "..., LIBERTY SPACE"
How can I get this to work?

2) I make sure my mbases file offers missions at each base, make it offer 2, 4 missions, and total of 100% of the time. I make sure there are mission vignettes in the system, as well as in zones with population suitable to mission targets (make sure got some Rogues flying around in mission vignette so i should be able to accept missions against them from LNavy). But I only get maybe 1 mission per base, and that's sometimes - no NPCs in my bars will offer me a mission...
So, can anyone give me a tip for this problem?

Thanks a lot in advance!

________
- Ro9ue
___________________________

Post Sat Feb 24, 2007 8:46 am

>Have you tried editing the info card to the new system?



>Try checking with the base characters on your stations/planets. There should be an option for the population there to offer missions per character.


(Are you using the FLExplorer to do this? If not, it's a useful tool to do what you're looking for)
Also, when you get a chance...I've got a custom multiplayer mission in mind that I could use your advice on.




Edited by - Rankor on 2/24/2007 6:48:10 PM

Post Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:05 am

As I said, I made the system's ids_info card (listing the bases, corporations, etc) declare that my system is part of Liberty. I also use the naming convention, though I really don't think FL cares much about that, as the majority of names/text info is controlled by ids stuff.

I'm wondering if there is a file like the InfocardMap that maps cartain systems to certain space/region names, having a name (like ", LIBERTY SPACE." ) mapped to each system in that area (Li01, Li02, Li03, Li04, Li05, Li06...). But I cannot find such a file, and I've got a decent grasp on most universe files... :-/

And also as I said, I make sure my mbases file offers missions at each base, make it offer 2, 4 missions, and total of 100% of the time. I also make sure that factions that offer missions have NPCs in the bars, who are coded to offer missions as well. However, they only offer missions (characters themselves) about 1x in every 30x or so - not at all that often.

I am wondering if it's related to one of these things:
a) the frequency of the encounters in the mission area. That is, if my cloud in which I want to have missions from LNavy against Rogues only has a chance of about 0.03 of the Rogue encounter, maybe that is what dictates the frequency of the mission offers against them. I don't know if this is true, just speculation.
b) the difficulty of the missions offered in mbases.ini corresponding to the difficulty of the zones in which missions are offered. I was thinking that since my encounters in the system are lvl19 and the missions offered in mbases are only up to 65 or 70 difficulty scale, maybe they have to be 100 to work? but then, the Hispania systems have lvl18-19 encounters, and they only use up to 57 diff scale or something, and they offer missions just fine.
c) or if NPCs must have rumors to say in order to offer missions. But even this should not be 100% accurate, as I do occasionally get mission offers from my NPCs who do not have rumors (b/c I don't want an officer in Nevada talking about the fields and patrol routes against Hackers in Colorado).

Or, my final idea is that there is an .ini file that I have to edit and enter each base that offers missions or something ... which I am hoping is not the case.

________
- Ro9ue
___________________________

Edited by - Ro9ue on 2/26/2007 9:06:20 AM

Post Mon Feb 26, 2007 9:14 am

And btw, I do use FLE for visually checking my work, though I do most coding by hand, as FLE always makes fields, zones, and other things pretty much FUBAR as far as compatibility and functionality goes. I do use it to build bases, as that is a very tricky (i dare say next to impossible) endeavor to manage effectively by hand. And for annoying positioning of stuff that's too bothersome to solve with trig, I just use it and copy the changes into my working ini to avoid FLE overwriting my comments and reduced 000000 in the file ( I freakin hate that ).

And sure, mail me or something about the MP mission. I can't say that I'm an expert on things of that nature, but I would be interested

________
- Ro9ue
___________________________

Post Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:08 am

@rankor
can you please contact me on msn or icq?
id like to discuss something with you if you have time... thx

MSN: [email protected] ICQ: 116193724

Post Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:16 pm

Hi Ro9ue, glad to see your still modding bud

1) The "space" name is tied into the systems strid name in the Universe.ini, how it's actually tied to it I don't know as I can't find anything in the INIs that refers to it, which means it's probably in the DLLs.

2) Could be any number of things bud as FL is fussy about encounters and missions. Without seeing your system ini I can't comment on the encounters, however your mbases entry should look similar to this :-

[MBase
nickname = Li01_16_Base
local_faction = co_hsp_grp
diff = 3
msg_id_prefix = gcs_refer_base_Li01_16_Base

[MVendor
num_offers = 8, 12

[BaseFaction
faction = co_hsp_grp
weight = 55
offers_missions = true
mission_type = DestroyMission, 0.000000, 0.112387, 100
npc = li0116_Cryer_001_m

The MVendor determines how many jobs are offered on the board, 2,4 for quiet systems and up to 8,12 for busy ones. Mission_type AFAIK is always DestroyMission, the next 2 numbers are the difficulty (lowest & highest), the numbers can be story dependent as they can be found in the Diff2Money.ini and the RankDiff.ini, the last is a weight to be split between all of the factions that use the job board.

[GF_NPC
nickname = li0116_Cryer_001_m
body = br_shipdealer_body
head = rh_bartender_head
lefthand = benchmark_male_hand_left
righthand = benchmark_male_hand_right
individual_name = 458777
affiliation = co_hsp_grp
voice = rvp111
misn = DestroyMission, 0.000000, 0.112387 <<<<
room = bar
rumor = base_0_rank, mission_end, 1, 131146
rumor = base_0_rank, mission_end, 1, 131147
rumor = base_0_rank, mission_end, 1, 131148
rumor = base_0_rank, mission_end, 1, 131149
rumor = base_0_rank, mission_end, 1, 131150

The "misn" is how the NPC's give out missions, it's the same as the "mission_type", but without the third number.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

Post Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:56 pm


1) Determining which region/House the system falls into.


No chance to get this working because it's hardcoded. Yes that sounds stupid but it's the way they did it! The only house you can make a system for, which "space"-anme shows up correctly is Rhineland iirc, because there is one place left empty.

Post Thu Mar 01, 2007 8:10 am

Hi Ro9ue, this can be of help. I had the same problem with random missions and here's what I discovered:

npcships.INI <-- found guilty

Now assuming you've edited this file (if not I can't help you) here's the problem. Adding things like this

From:

NPCShipArch
nickname = li_p_li_fighter_d3
loadout = li_p_li_fighter_loadout01
level = d3
ship_archetype = li_fighter
pilot = pilot_police_ace
state_graph = FIGHTER
npc_class = lawful, class_fighter, d3 <-- Look here


to this:

NPCShipArch
nickname = li_p_li_fighter_d3
loadout = li_p_li_fighter_loadout01
level = d3
ship_archetype = li_fighter
pilot = pilot_police_ace
state_graph = FIGHTER
npc_class = lawful, class_fighter, d3, d4, d5, d6, d7, d8, d9, d10, d11, d12, d13, d14, d15, d16, d17, d18, d19 <-- Here

Not only changes random encounters but also random missions' encounters.
But while it works fine with the first ones, it screws up with the seconds, in effect making random missions not available. That's it.

Don't know if this was already known to someone, if not, glad to help.


Edited by - 1001 on 3/1/2007 8:11:06 AM

Post Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:51 am

Alright, thanks guys - sorry I've not replied for so long. School has really taken over my time recently.
Anyhow, that's good to know about the hard-coded thing. Figures DA would do such a thing... Yeah, I have the system named properly, and I've got the infocard reading LIBERTY, but I don't guess it's going to work. Unless ... aha, I might have an idea. I'll have to see.

Bejaymac, thanks, mate - I'm still modding when I can make the time FL is getting a little ... old but it's still a favorite of mine. My laptop can't handle much here at school anyways. And nothing beats being able to mod as much as you can in FL, eh? What are you up to these days, anyhow? How is Rebal coming? Or is that even still goin..?

@1001, thanks, man, but I've got the NPCships, loadouts, etc. entries down. It's not a matter of having the NPCs in the encounters correct - it's aligning the mission offers with the NPCs with the system's zones/encounters, I think. But I do appreciate your help

OP, we can talk sometime. I am very busy at the moment, but like I say, we can talk sometime when there is time. I can mail you, if that's any good - I can email more than I can chat these days. Just let me know.

________
- Ro9ue
___________________________

Post Mon Mar 26, 2007 3:51 pm

Ro9ue, if you look at my Florida mod, you'll find a workaround on the '...Liberty Space' thing that Alcander cooked up. It involves some hassle, but it does work (though only for Liberty, and only for a single system). I'm looking around the DLL and (more likely to be its location) the EXE, but so far my ideas are kaput. I need Alcander's help on this, and he's busy at the moment.

MK

Post Tue Mar 27, 2007 1:35 am

do we both still have something to say to each other since all that crap happened

Post Tue Mar 27, 2007 7:47 am

1001, I've encountered this some time ago.
Guess you wanted random level ship to spwan.
Go to shipclasses.ini, change this

[ShipClass
nickname = diff1
member = d1

to this
[ShipClass

nickname = diff1
member = d1
member = d2
member = d3
member = d4
member = d5
member = d6
member = d7
member = d8
member = d9
member = d10
member = d11
member = d12
member = d13
member = d14
member = d15
member = d16
member = d17
member = d18
member = d19

and so on, you got me.
It helps. You see outcasts sometimes flying sabres in liberty.

Post Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:47 pm

Ah, I see. I read wrong the first time I read over that post a while back. My bad. I thought you were asking me to talk about something.
Honestly, dude, I was not even involved with much of anything when all that went down - I come back for christmas break, and every blew up while I was gone. Since I was (as always) very busy, I didn't have time in the months after to get in contact with you. So, while I don't expect it to do much, I do apologize about any and all misunderstandings that took place. None of them were my intent, and I think there was just a lot that happened that was taken much differently by either side that wasn't really intended to be taken that way. That being said, we can still talk sometime if you would like to, but I won't make you if you don't want to. Good luck, mate, and again, thanks to all who answered my questions.

________
- Ro9ue
___________________________

Post Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:39 am

i was told that you are informed and that you are behind the decisions aswell... if that was not true then well... its not my problem anymore
i simply wasted alot time and i see no reason why i should go on with that
next time ill think twice before i decide to make an agreement with somebody else

Edited by - SWAT_OP-R8R on 4/13/2007 5:40:24 AM

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