What? I'm new at this.

Just a few quick plug-in questions for all you experts out there. They're probably really basic, but I'm kinda' teaching myself how to do all this stuff and I've come to a few problems that I can't solve on my own, it seems.

1. I added a system onto the original EV Nova map. Its hyperlinked to two other systems. I cannot seem to get it so that any ships fly around in the system. It has its own new government and one space station with a few uninhabited spobs. I'm at a loss.

2. On the map, that same system says that it is "uninhabited." But it has an inhabited spob within it. What is up with that? And how do I fix it?

3. I tried to create a person (pers), but I cannot seem to get him to show up anywhere. I set him in the system mentioned previously and in the syst info, I put him in the pers thingie and put the probability at 100. He still doesn't show up.

I imagine that all of these problems are linked to one simple little thing I'm doing wrong. But I can't figure out what it is.
Any ideas?

Well, I've been told (but I'm not sure if this is right) that in order for a pers to show up, you need to start a new pilot. Sorry, can't help you out with anything else.

Quote

I cannot seem to get it so that any ships fly around in the system. It has its own new government and one space station with a few uninhabited spobs. I'm at a loss.

Look at the DudeTypes,%Prob, and AvgShips fields in the syst resource. There are eight Dudetypes and %prob fields for eight different types of ships.

These fields and all others are explained in the Nova Bible.

Reading the Nova Bible (over and over and over) is a prerequisite to all Nova plug development endeavors. Every resource parameter is significant and you cannot rely on the default values inserted by any of the resource editors to be the value that you are expecting/want. And Septcanmat is correct, adding a new përs resource will not show up with a pre-existing pilot. See seant's bitchanger utility for a way to evercome this fact without resorting to creating a new pilot.

Okay, thanks for the help.

I got everything figured out except for the whole "Uninhabited" thing. I don't know how to fix that. I gave the system a government and it has an inhabited spob within it. Any ideas on how to fix that?

GrandAdmiralMcStarSkipper, on Jul 14 2005, 11:28 PM, said:

I got everything figured out except for the whole "Uninhabited" thing. I don't know how to fix that. I gave the system a government and it has an inhabited spob within it. Any ideas on how to fix that?View Post

Is the spob among the first four NavDefaults in the system? A system will only be listed as "inhabited" if there is an inhabited spob in one of those slots.

Edwards

That did 'er.
Thanks a bunch.

And I have just one more question.
Say that I want to copy a large amount of ships from one plug-in to another. Do I have to do them one by one? Or is there some way to select them all, copy them, and paste them in the other one?

Just wondering. Thanks again.

Yes, you can. The method depends on the editor. I believe you can select them all at once in EVNEW, but don't quote me on it. In MissionComputer, you need to close the files if they are open, then open them both in the Resource Copier and select all the resources and click the copy button corresponding to the "direction" you want to copy in. In ResEdit, you can select them all at once.

Is it allowed if I post a question here? I hope I am. I've want to do a short storyline and have some mission questions.

1. How do I know which bxxx my mission has?

2. What must I do to let my plug change a syst after a mission?

3. What must I enter that my missions are only available in a specific order?

Thanks for your answers.

1. You choose. It can be anything. You can even set multiple bits. There is no constraint on ncb's. They are used, in strings, simply to keep track of how far along you are. It could be any random number, it could be a sensical number, hell, it could be the RID of the mission. However, if you're making anything short of a TC, check to make sure any new bits you introduce are not used by anything else you want the player to be able to do.

2. In the syst resource is a field named "Visibility". Set this to an ncb test string that will only evaluate to true after the mission is completed. For instance, if upon success the mission sets b42, in the Visibility field enter "b42".

3. The most common is to use sequential bits. Let's say you have a 3-mission string. We'll use the range b1-b3 for the purposes of this example:

Mission 1 Availability: !b1
Mission 1 Success: b1
Mission 2 Availability: b1 !b2
Mission 2 Success: b2
Mission 3 Availability: b2 !b3
Mission 3 Success: b3

The "!" indicates that the bit should not be set. It is used, in this case, to make sure that the mission is available only once.

For more information on ncb's, take a look at the Nova Bible; just after the game constants is a section on Resource Descriptions. This is worth a look in itself, but just under it is "A quick note about control bits and scripting in Nova", although it's fairly long. It should help if you have even a basic understanding of ncb's.

This post has been edited by orcaloverbri9 : 27 July 2005 - 09:31 PM

orcaloverbri9, on Jul 28 2005, 04:29 AM, said:

...
3. The most common is to use sequential bits. Let's say you have a 3-mission string. We'll use the range b1-b3 for the purposes of this example:

Mission 1 Availability: !b1
Mission 1 Success: b1
Mission 2 Availability: b1 !b2
Mission 2 Success: b2
Mission 3 Availability: b2 !b3
Mission 3 Success: b3

The "!" indicates that the bit should not be set. It is used, in this case, to make sure that the mission is available only once.
...
View Post

to 1: Where can I choose it?

to 2:Are the availability and success bits others than the mission bits? Because if I use accidentally the first bit of the Fed missions I shouldn't be any longer able to do the Fed string, should I?

Which bits are free for using?

All the Important Links You'll Ever Need
NCB Guide
Mission String Guide
SEARCH!!!

I did a new government, but the ships have no display! I can still see how many shields, armor, cargo, etc. they have, but there's nothing aroung them! Which data has the displays?

EDIT: And my pirates don't attack everybody although I did them xenophobic.

This post has been edited by Frequency 245 : 30 July 2005 - 03:48 AM

That'd be the intf resource. There's an interface field in the govt resource where you specify which intf you want.

Thanks Guy and I could solve my Pirate problem myself.

What must I do that the my new ships don't ignore that I kill one of them, I mean that they all attack me if I attack one of them?

Well I'm not too hot with govts but you could try reading thehelp topics!!!

Arturo, on Jul 14 2005, 04:15 AM, said:

See seant's bitchanger utility for a way to evercome this fact without resorting to creating a new pilot.
View Post

Heheheheh. When you don't capitalize the "C" in "bitChanger" it looks like "Bitch Anger".

Qaanol, on Jul 30 2005, 07:41 AM, said:

Heheheheh. When you don't capitalize the "C" in "bitChanger" it looks like "Bitch Anger".
View Post

Well that's what happens when a female pilot can't find her new përs, isn't it?

Guy, on Jul 30 2005, 12:49 PM, said:

Well I'm not too hot with govts but you could try reading thehelp topics!!!
View Post

1. I couldn't find it.
2. Where are the 'help topics'?

EDIT:
3. My negative fuel scoop weapon even takes fuel if I don't fire it.
4. My spöb hasn't a defence fleet.

This post has been edited by Frequency 245 : 30 July 2005 - 12:18 PM

Frequency 245, on Jul 30 2005, 09:50 AM, said:

1. I couldn't find it.
2. Where are the 'help topics'?
3. My negative fuel scoop weapon even takes fuel if I don't fire it.
4. My spöb hasn't a defence fleet.View Post

1. What can't you find?

2. The "help topics" he is referring to are also known as the "stickied topics" or "pinned topics", and they're up at the top of the list. The one you want is probably "All the important links you will ever need". You might also find Zacha Pedro's gövt guide helpful. (EDIT)Also, if you see an underlined piece of text, it is probably a link. Guy's post also linked to the guide I gave you.

3. That is what negative fuel scoops do- remove fuel all the time. To make a weapon use fuel only when you fire it, use the following instructions from the Nova Bible for the wëap resource's AmmoType field:

   -1000 & below    Weapon uses abs(AmmoType+1000)/10 units of
                                    fuel per shot.
                                    (example: -1005 = 0.5 units per shot)

4. A spöb added by a plug after a pilot is created will start with its defense fleet set to 0 ships. To reset it, capture it and release it (assuming you defined a defense fleet in the spöb resource). It will work fine if you start a new pilot.

Edwards

This post has been edited by Edwards : 30 July 2005 - 03:05 PM