Can't you use wildcards to name things after other things? such as the player? I didn't test that.

Anyways, as for good cargo amounts, values from the stock game is a good reference. I also second the escorting convoys idea.

Quote

Edit: its also useful to have only 1 ton of cargo if its a "Fails if scanned" mission.

Hum, why even one ton? You could make it weightless. Sure if you want the player to actually carry something, any weight is fine, but if you just want the fail if scanned, you can just make it 0. And I wonder if you even need cargo for that flag to work.

@mumbling-psycho, on Jun 8 2006, 03:56 PM, said in I'm Working on a new side string:

Can't you use wildcards to name things after other things? such as the player? I didn't test that.

Only in dëscs and some strings. Not in resource names, or the strings used for naming ships.

For cargo amounts, I rather like the idea of having mssions that are only available if you are in a superfreighter, such as the Leviathan. Perhaps use a combination of the "No Warships" and "No Cargo Ships" flags, and the "don't offer if not enough space" flag to create two or three possible branches for the station-construction section? If the player is in a large freighter, they get to haul large amounts of cargo themselves; if they're in a small freighter, they become part of a convoy; and if they're in a warship, they get escort duty.

Edwards

Nova uses contribute/require bits in order to offer missions which are only available to the player when he's using a Leviathan, Pegasus or Starliner.

Is it possible for the player to name a spob? And I have figgured out how I will do the cargo in the afore mentioned missions.

No, you cannot name a spob, but you can have a mission where the player can choose 1 of 2 possible names for the spob, and then switch identical systems. Its how the descs change on some planets in stock Nova when you finish the storyline (any of them)

Awesome-ness. Thanks all for the help sofar!

(Edit): NOOOO!!!!!!!!! I hate starting a new page!

This post has been edited by WonderBoy : 08 June 2006 - 09:06 PM

I am still on page one. In the controll panel (my controlls), you can set the posts per page limit.

Ooooh. Thanks, Li.

@lnsu, on Jun 8 2006, 06:54 PM, said in I'm Working on a new side string:

No, you cannot name a spob, but you can have a mission where the player can choose 1 of 2 possible names for the spob, and then switch identical systems. Its how the descs change on some planets in stock Nova when you finish the storyline (any of them)

Ok...that sounds good, but how do u set that up. i want to create a gov't that when dominated(every planet)
the player is given the choice to rename the race. Do i need to give some pre-made names for a list to choose from or can i set nova to allow the person to enter in his own name? Would this work for the gov't resource as well or just the spob?

Gah! I have been away from Nova for way too long! Well, I'm back! and I plan on rearanging a few things. One being I now plan on creating a new universe. Not a large one. Maybe just like 10 systems max. Creat all new missions. But I do need to know which of the files in the folder Nova Files are required for the game to run properly( I will NOT be changing the interface or any of the screens, 'least not as of yet). I wil be keeping most of the ships, and if all goes well or as planned there will be one mission string at first but then a later release will have atleast 2. That is assuming that I don't just keep this for myself(either meaning I don't feel like sharing or I never finish <_< ).

(Edit): Oops. >_> isnt the smiley...

This post has been edited by WonderBoy : 27 June 2006 - 03:58 PM

If you're going to keep all the graphics, and just replace the universe, remove Nova Data 1 through Nova Data 6. Unfortunately, both the missions and the ship data are stored in the same file (Nova Data 1), so your best bet for keeping the ships around is to copy whichever ones you want into a new file.

Also, you should probably look at AbsoluteMinimum. It's basically a very stripped-down version of Nova, with enough resources to load the game and give a decent-looking base with which to build a scenario. The only ship graphics it has are those for the Shuttle, and it has rather more resources than are strictly neccesary to run the game (by a factor of 1600, byte-wise), but it's still a good base for creating a TC.

Edwards

As always, I am full of questions. For weapon graphics, does the game detect the edge of the image or does it go by the center of it? Also, is it possible for a weapon to draw from 2 ammo sources? Such as a flame weapon that draws from a seprate Oxygen tank and a Fuel tank other then the ships(the ships use energy mind you)?

(Edit): And thanks for the link Edwards.

This post has been edited by WonderBoy : 27 June 2006 - 07:00 PM

@wonderboy, on Jun 27 2006, 04:26 PM, said in I'm Working on a new side string:

As always, I am full of questions. For weapon graphics, does the game detect the edge of the image or does it go by the center of it?

Collision goes by edge-of-weapon-mask hitting edge-of-ship/planet-mask, except that in all versions of Nova so far, there's a bug in the rlë collision code that prevents weapons from hitting properly in some circumstances (like trying to hit an Auroran Carrier when it's turned side-on to you). ProxRadii go from the center of the sprite.

@wonderboy, on Jun 27 2006, 04:26 PM, said in I'm Working on a new side string:

Also, is it possible for a weapon to draw from 2 ammo sources?

Nope. Not if you want the weapon to stop firing when it runs out of either.
(useless information)(Actually, it might be theoretically possible to do two or more types of weapon ammo. You just need to put together several of the trickier engine hacks to remove one of Ammo B whenever Ammo A goes down, and disable Weapon A if Ammo B reaches 0. In flight. Long-reload weapons only need apply, and it would likely wreak merry hell with your calendar.)(/useless information)

Edwards

Ehh. I guess it kinda makes more sence to have one outf be a oxygen and fuel mix anyway. I realy don't feel like trying to utilize hacks of any type. I would immagine that things would get quite messy, and if one or more were to be fixed, it would be all for naught.

@edwards, on Jun 28 2006, 03:52 PM, said in I'm Working on a new side string:

and it would likely wreak merry hell with your calendar.

A weapon so powerful that everyone in the entire system blacks out for a day every time you use it?

I thought he was reffering to the time trying to work it.

@wonderboy, on Jun 28 2006, 01:33 PM, said in I'm Working on a new side string:

I thought he was reffering to the time trying to work it.

No, I did mean the in-game calendar, which would likely increment a couple days per second as long as you had ammo for the weapon- if I could get it down to only incrementing the date when the weapon fired, I'd be much more enthusiastic about it. Your real-life calendar would probably only lose a few days trying to get it to work, if you were well-acquainted with the tricks required.
Still, it would be very clunky, prone to failure, and entirely not worth the effort required to set it up.

Edwards

Well, I don't think I have the required knoledge to try to attempt it, nor do I wish to try to utilize something that is both "clunky" and prone to failure aswell as possibly getting fixed.

So, instead I will ask another question. How shuld I organize my resourses? all in one massive(that being relative) or several smaller plugs? If its gona be multiple, does it mater about grouping? Is one method beter than another? Is this all opinitive?

As always, Thanks for the help
~WonderBoy~

From memory, the Addon pages only allow a maximum size of 15 MB to be uploaded in one chunk (although I may be mistaken about that number), so if your plugin is larger than that, then you'll need to split it. The actual organisation doesn't matter, save that you should organise things so that they make for the smallest and fewest number of pieces possible. Some plugin makers follow the same system as the Nova Data files if their plugin is particularly large - i.e. shďp resources in Data 1, spöb and s˙st in Data 2, et cetera.

If your plugin is smaller than 15 MB, don't bother splitting it.

OK, Thanks Belthy. Your always such a great help. But sence I am using many of the resources that are in the stock Nova scenario, I will probaly put those into one file and work with my new stuff. Not sure though, I will figgure something out.

(Edit): Wait, don't you have to zip/stuff the file before uploading them? So is it the total file size of the upload or the actual plugin? I have never submitted a file to the Add-ons Page so I honestly have no idea.

This post has been edited by WonderBoy : 28 June 2006 - 11:14 PM