making pers appear without putting them in the syst resource?

I've been wondering (the bible doesn't seem to have an answer) how nova handles pers appearance in the game if they are not listed in the "pers types and probability" area of the syst resource. I know that I've seen a pers who is set to appear in any system and I don't believe that they have a value in any syst's pers section. The bible says "when ships are created, there is a 5% chance that a specific AI-person will also be created." I'm assuming "when ships are created" refers to when ai ships are randomly generated in a system.

I set pers x to appear in syst x and went to that system to see if they would appear. I repeatedly landed and took off something like 40 times and witnessed a couple of appearances of dudes' whose probability was set to 2% but no pers x. It would be much easier to modify a pers' appearance field than to input values in all the systems I'd like them to appear in.

Does anyone know if pers can be made to appear in specific systems or government systems without inputing values in the syst resource. I would assume so, but my in game testing makes me wonder.

PS does anyone know of a guide that details some of the things that the bible is a little sparse on in their descriptions or does not include? Ex rlë8 rlëD STR etc.

gracias

Did you start a new pilot file after adding your new përs resources? The game will only show a përs if it existed when the pilot file was created. This is an unintuitive side-effect of the way the engine stops them from re-appearing after you destroy them.

This applies both to appearance based on being listed in the sÿst resource, and appearance based on the parameters present in the përs resource itself. You definitely don't need to modify the system resources if you don't need the additional control they provide; in the first two games, you didn't even have this option.

As for the others you mention:

rlëD resources are sprite graphics, which supply both the image and mask for ships, planets, weapons, and the like. rlë8 is obsolete, as it's just a lower-quality version of rlëD. They aren't really documented as such because the only way to edit them is with a specially-designed tool, which should have its own documentation.

STR and STR# are standard Macintosh resource types (rather than ones defined by the game) that hold a single string and a list of strings respectively. They aren't used as extensively in EV Nova as in the previous games, as most strings have thankfully been moved directly into the relevant resource, but they're still important for defining things like in-game prompts and communication text.

I was using an existing pilot. However the pers in question already existed from the stock scenario (various "refuel starbridge" pers and 255 clear star) - i just moded their appearance info. If they already existed, do i still need a new pilot for them to appear?

Thanks for the other info.

If they already existed, you don't need a new pilot file unless the already-existing përs had been destroyed or otherwise deactivated.

Keep in mind, though, that the probability of a përs appearing, even when its criteria are met, is quite low, and gets lower that more specific those criteria become: there is, as you quoted, a 5% chance that the engine will load a përs, and if it does, it will be choosing between all the applicable ones, so you shouldn't be surprised if you don't see yours very often. The system's fields are the only way to get a përs to appear reliably.

To clarify: the përs resource LinkSyst field only applies to standard, random përs generation. The përs can only be randomly spawned where specified here.

The Person field of the sÿst resource specifies the probability of a specific përs appearing in that sÿst. This ignores the përs resource LinkSyst field, so you can make a përs always appear in a system where it can never spawn randomly. I just tested this. I strongly suspect, but did not test, that if you set a sÿst to have a specific përs appear 0% of the time, it could still appear there if spawned randomly, provided the sÿst is in the LinkSyst for the përs.

This post has been edited by Qaanol : 18 January 2010 - 12:50 AM

QUOTE (Qaanol @ Jan 18 2010, 12:50 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I strongly suspect, but did not test, that if you set a sÿst to have a specific përs appear 0% of the time, it could still appear there if spawned randomly, provided the sÿst is in the LinkSyst for the përs.

As far as I know, the two methods of përs generation are entirely unconnected, and neither can prevent the other from operating.

Since we're talking about pers resources, how does the pers quote system work? I can never get a pers to say the correct thing. Instead, they say nothing when hailing you and and nothing when you hail them. I'm stumped.

Thanks for all the info on the pers appearance.

QUOTE (darthkev @ Jan 18 2010, 01:47 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Since we're talking about pers resources, how does the pers quote system work? I can never get a pers to say the correct thing. Instead, they say nothing when hailing you and and nothing when you hail them. I'm stumped.

darthkev: Have you tried inputting values in the commquote and hailquote areas of the pers resource?

" CommQuote Index number of an entry in STR# resource 7100, to be displayed in the
communications dialog.

HailQuote Index number of an entry in STR# resource 7101, to be displayed at the
bottom of the game screen (i.e. over the radio). "

-from the nova bible.

I haven't done much with this area, but I've seen the comm and hail texts in the STR# resource. I'm guessing it should work if you create some corresponding STR resources and mess around with it.

Ah, that's how. For some reason I kept thinking the ID I needed to put in was the ID of the STR# resource, not a specific line in one resource. I read the bible but couldn't find anything to solve my problem.

Thanks Skylark!

QUOTE (darthkev @ Jan 19 2010, 07:05 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ah, that's how. For some reason I kept thinking the ID I needed to put in was the ID of the STR# resource, not a specific line in one resource. I read the bible but couldn't find anything to solve my problem.

It's one of the less intuitive things about the format. There were a lot more things like this in the old games, but most of them got changed to something more obvious for EV Nova ; I suppose this one just slipped through.

The string resources were really huge hassle in EV C. Anything you wanted to add would need a couple, some were based on index number (or whatever it's called, resource number -128) some on resource number and so on, changing the resource number for a ship would require shuffling all those strings.
Thinking about it just make me love MissionComputer even more.

I know how you feel, peko. I cannot thank David Arthur enough for making Mission Computer.

In fact, thanks again, David!

QUOTE (peko @ Jan 20 2010, 04:09 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The string resources were really huge hassle in EV C. Anything you wanted to add would need a couple, some were based on index number (or whatever it's called, resource number -128) some on resource number and so on, changing the resource number for a ship would require shuffling all those strings.

They're a nuisance for MissionComputer, too. It's much harder to track save-states when an item consists of five different resources that should be treated as one. And I must say my memories of jumping back and forth between ResEdit and Calculator to turn IDs into index numbers are not fond ones.

QUOTE (darthkev @ Jan 20 2010, 05:12 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In fact, thanks again, David!

You're welcome!