Ambrosia Garden Archive
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    • Just a few questions...

       EV Developer's Corner
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      If these have been asked before, sorry.
      I'm currently working on a plug-in that adds in a weapon that can be used to destroy planets, and there are a few things I need some guidance on:

      1. Where are the spöb pictures located? (For clarification, I mean the planet picture you see from space, not the picture you see when you land) I'm kinda getting sick of going through all 255 pictures to see which one I like. I need to choose a couple of pictures to use for DeadType, so when someone blows up a bunch of planets, they don't see the same picture over and over and over. I have a few, but it is getting quite tedious doing monkey-work.

      2. When I blow up a planet in the system, the map indicates that there aren't any ports (white circle), but will still say it is Independent. How do I fix this?

      3. After a planet has been destroyed, its environment becomes hostile, and I cannot land. How can I make it so I can still land, but it is now jsut a barren planet that has nothing to offer?
        Follow up: Once this has been done, how can I implement some pictures I made into the game, and have them show up at planets that have been destroyed?

      4. I'm a newbie to plug-in creation, and have very little experience with the ncbs, is there maybe a list or key or something I could get from somewhere telling me what bit does what?

      Thanks.

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      - Captain Stud Beefpile
      - UE Naval 238th Squadron
      - Crew of One Challenger
      - Member of the Zacha Renegade Elimination Corporation

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      Quote

      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      1) Where are the spöb pictures located? (For clarification, I mean the planet picture you see from space, not the picture you see when you land) I'm kinda getting sick of going through all 255 pictures to see which one I like. I need to choose a couple of pictures to use for DeadType, so when someone blows up a bunch of planets, they don't see the same picture over and over and over. I have a few, but it is getting quite tedious doing monkey-work.

      rlëDs in Nova Graphics 2.

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      2) When I blow up a planet in the system, the map indicates that there aren't any ports (white circle), but will still say it is Independent. How do I fix this?

      You have to change the government of the system the planet was in. I'm sure it's possible to do with NCBs, but I think the player may have to exit the system before it changes - and you probably have to create a new system.

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      3) After a planet has been destroyed, its environment becomes hostile, and I cannot land. How can I make it so I can still land, but it is now jsut a barren planet that has nothing to offer?

      Making sure the "can land" flag is checked would be a good start.

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      Follow up: Once this has been done, how can I implement some pictures I made into the game, and have them show up at planets that have been destroyed?

      Copy your pictures into resedit, give them a proper ID, then enter the Resource ID of the picture you want to use in the "Cust. PICT" field.

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      4) I'm a newbie to plug-in creation, and have very little experience with the ncbs, is there maybe a list or key or something I could get from somewhere telling me what bit does what?

      The (url="http://"http://www.ambrosiasw.com/cgi-bin/vftp/show.pl?product=evn&category;=guides&display;=date&file;=EVN_Bible_HTML.sit.hqx")Nova Bible(/url) has a very technical and explicit explanation of NCBs. In addition, there's a bits glossary in the "Nova Tools" menu when you are editing a resource with Nova Tools.

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      **

      1. Where are the spöb pictures located? (For clarification, I mean the planet picture you see from space, not the picture you see when you land) I'm kinda getting sick of going through all 255 pictures to see which one I like. I need to choose a couple of pictures to use for DeadType, so when someone blows up a bunch of planets, they don't see the same picture over and over and over. I have a few, but it is getting quite tedious doing monkey-work.**

      Nova Graphics 2. The sprites are actually rle sprites, rather than PICT, so they're not as obvious (to a beginner). The spin number is the graphic ID.

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      2) When I blow up a planet in the system, the map indicates that there aren't any ports (white circle), but will still say it is Independent. How do I fix this?
      **

      Beats the heck out of me. I didn't notice that when I was messing with your plug.

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      **
      3) After a planet has been destroyed, its environment becomes hostile, and I cannot land. How can I make it so I can still land, but it is now jsut a barren planet that has nothing to offer?
      Follow up: Once this has been done, how can I implement some pictures I made into the game, and have them show up at planets that have been destroyed?**

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      Dang, madfax posted before me.

      Matrix

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      "Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool."

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      "Making sure the "can land" flag is checked would be a good start."

      It is checked, and when I blow up the planet, I still can't land...

      A bit "b6200" is set in the "OnDestroy" field, anybody know what that one does?

      "The Nova Bible has a very technical and explicit explanation of NCBs. In addition, there's a bits glossary in the "Nova Tools" menu when you are editing a resource with Nova Tools."

      I checked out the Bible, and although useful, I still didn't find what I needed. I meant like an index of all the numbers, because I can't seem to understand where the numbers are coming from. For example, I'm trying to figure out what the bit "b6200" is doing in the OnDestroy field. If I could understand where the numbers came from, I'd probably be set.

      "You use the "OnDestroy" bit, which I forgot to change by the way. When the planet's destroyed, it sets a bit that hides the original system, and brings up a new one with the barren planet (has to be a new spob too). The other parts to your question will fall into place once you pull off the switch trick."

      Okay, what bit do I set? I can take it from there.

      Thanks.

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      - Captain Stud Beefpile
      - UE Naval 238th Squadron
      - Crew of One Challenger
      - Member of the Zacha Renegade Elimination Corporation

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      It is checked, and when I blow up the planet, I still can't land...

      Is the "cannot land" flag unchecked too? If not, that's probably it.

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      Okay, what bit do I set? I can take it from there.

      From my exremely limited understanding of the way NCBs work, this should work for system switching:

      set the "OnDestroy" field to Bxxxx, and than put !Bxxxx in the s˙st that the planet is originally in, and in the s˙st that is supposed to be there after the planet is dead.

      Also, note that Bxxxx can be any number, so long as it's the same for all 3. (i.e. B2483, !B2483, etc.)

      P.S. Using UBB code helps us (or me, anyway) understand quotes a bit better, you might wanna try using it. 😉

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      Okay MadFax7, b6200 was already in OnDestroy, and in the s˙st, I found "!(b147 | b305)", so I made a new system, and put "(b147 | b305)", with everything identical between the two s˙sts. I know you said that the bit should be the same for all three, but I wasn't sure what to change to what. Also, the "Cannot Land" flag, is not checked. :

      Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it.

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      - Captain Stud Beefpile
      - UE Naval 238th Squadron
      - Crew of One Challenger
      - Member of the Zacha Renegade Elimination Corporation

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      Quote

      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      Okay MadFax7, b6200 was already in OnDestroy, and in the s˙st, I found "!(b147 | b305)", so I made a new system, and put "(b147 | b305)", with everything identical between the two s˙sts. I know you said that the bit should be the same for all three, but I wasn't sure what to change to what. Also, the "Cannot Land" flag, is not checked. :

      You were supposed to remove any existing bits.

      Try this: 1 create a new system, (do not copy/paste) put it a little off to the side of Sol, link it to sol, set it's visibility field to "B5550", now, duplicate that system, and put a "!" infront of "B5550", now make a planet, and put it in both systems, set it's "OnDestroy" flag to "B5550" and than make what ever other changes to the systems/planet you want. (i.e. asteroids, outfit/shipyard, dudes, etc.)

      I dunno about the landing thing. Maybe it's not possible to land on a destroyed stellar? (unless you check the "can land only if destroyed first" flag?)

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      Originally posted by MadFax7:
      I dunno about the landing thing. Maybe it's not possible to land on a destroyed stellar? (unless you check the "can land only if destroyed first" flag?)

      I believe that's the case. It makes sense, if you think about it; destroying a planet doesn't change the dësc resources, and it wouldn't make sense if you landed and saw a description of the planet's bustling economy when it was in fact destroyed.

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      David Arthur
      (url="http://"http://davidarthur.evula.net/")davidarthur.evula.net(/url): MissionComputer and the Talon plug-in
      (url="http://"http://www.ev-nova.net/")EV-Nova.net(/url): Forums / Classifieds / Upcoming Plug-ins / More
      (url="http://"http://www.evula.com/")EVula's Lair(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.evula.com/survival_guide/")EV Nova Survival Guide(/url)

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      Okay, I tried checking the Can only land if stellar is destroyed, but it didn't seem to want to stay checked. So I turned off NovaTools, and did it manually. My results were quit odd: The planet started as an uninhabited planet with a hostile environment, and when I blew it up, it became a planet that I could land on, but it denied my landing request, so I tried hailing the planet, and it wouldn't take a bribe. So, I turned off the Can land flag, leaving just the Can only land if stellar is destroyed first flag on, and I received the same thing. So, I put it back to what it was before (Can land), and am back to where I started.

      Also, MadFax7, I did what you said, and I deleted my old system and planet, made two new s˙sts, and a spöb, and put B5550 in the correct fields, and all the other stuff you asked me to do, and I still get the same thing. If I blow up the planet, the map still shows the system as Independent, as opposed to Uninhabited, which is what SHOULD happen. 😕

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      - Captain Stud Beefpile
      - UE Naval 238th Squadron
      - Crew of One Challenger
      - Member of the Zacha Renegade Elimination Corporation

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      Okay, I tried checking the Can only land if stellar is destroyed, but it didn't seem to want to stay checked. So I turned off NovaTools, and did it manually. My results were quit odd: The planet started as an uninhabited planet with a hostile environment, and when I blew it up, it became a planet that I could land on, but it denied my landing request, so I tried hailing the planet, and it wouldn't take a bribe. So, I turned off the Can land flag, leaving just the Can only land if stellar is destroyed first flag on, and I received the same thing. So, I put it back to what it was before (Can land), and am back to where I started.

      Beats me.

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      Also, MadFax7, I did what you said, and I deleted my old system and planet, made two new s˙sts, and a spöb, and put B5550 in the correct fields, and all the other stuff you asked me to do, and I still get the same thing. If I blow up the planet, the map still shows the system as Independent, as opposed to Uninhabited, which is what SHOULD happen.😕

      Did you try leaving the system? If you did, and it doesn't work - my example was probably just flawed...

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      Originally posted by MadFax7:
      my example was probably just flawed...

      I just tried my own advice, and yes, it's flawed. I got one system to dissapear once, but I couldn't get the other one to ONLY be visible when the planet was destroyed. God I suck at NCBs... 😛 😉

      It would also appear that you can't land on stellars that have been destroyed.

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      Well, that really sucks. Thanks for your help Matrix, MadFax. I was hoping to turn this plug into something really cool (I had even started making some pictures to use for when you land, they were good too!), but oh well.

      My original plan was to use this when I dominate the galaxy, and have an empire that has a few patches of empty space here and there, for effect of course. But I guess I'll have to settle for the entire galaxy instead. 😉

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      - Captain Stud Beefpile
      - UE Naval 238th Squadron
      - Crew of One Challenger
      - Member of the Zacha Renegade Elimination Corporation

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      Originally posted by Stud Beefpile:
      **Well, that really sucks. Thanks for your help Matrix, MadFax. I was hoping to turn this plug into something really cool (I had even started making some pictures to use for when you land, they were good too!), but oh well.

      My original plan was to use this when I dominate the galaxy, and have an empire that has a few patches of empty space here and there, for effect of course. But I guess I'll have to settle for the entire galaxy instead. 😉

      **

      huh? You could send it back I can could have a go at it... I dunno.

      Matrix

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      "Nothing is fool-proof to a sufficiently talented fool."

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