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My mission is about 75% ready.. And now I'm asking couple of silly questions just to be sure that I understand everything right..
1) Is Staker the CO of the Damocles?
2) Is Damocles heading the Capella node to send a subspace message?
3) How much artistic freedom I have? And I mean about the ending of the mission, 'cos it's the campaign last one...
4) What's the deadline?
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Originally posted by Primus
My mission is about 75% ready.. And now I'm asking couple of silly questions just to be sure that I understand everything right..
1) Is Staker the CO of the Damocles?
2) Is Damocles heading the Capella node to send a subspace message?
3) How much artistic freedom I have? And I mean about the ending of the mission, 'cos it's the campaign last one...
4) What's the deadline?
1) Yes.
2) Yes. No one in the GTVA has any idea what the message could possibly be about.
3) Have a chat with Black Wolf about his intentions for the mission. Beyond that it's completely up to you.
4) All I ask is that you work steadily on the mission. No particular deadline and no particular time I expect anything. It's just that you'll learn more and find things easier if you don't distract yourself and go off to do other things and then come back 2 months later :D
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Originally posted by karajorma
1) Yes.
2) Yes. No one in the GTVA has any idea what the message could possibly be about.
3) Have a chat with Black Wolf about his intentions for the mission. Beyond that it's completely up to you.
4) All I ask is that you work steadily on the mission. No particular deadline and no particular time I expect anything. It's just that you'll learn more and find things easier if you don't distract yourself and go off to do other things and then come back 2 months later :D
Check out the mission outlines for the mission that follows you're own. I found that helped me out.
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Unfortunately he's doing the last mission so that won't help him much :D
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Exactly :)
I send PM to Black Wolf about his intensions for that mission. When he gives me some kind of a answer I'll get back to work.
Like I said, the mission is about 75% ready. It needs Com/De/Brief some chatter and the end result.
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Excellent :)
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Originally posted by karajorma
Unfortunately he's doing the last mission so that won't help him much :D
:nervous:
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I always envisioned this as being a hectic, time limited thing with the typical outcome seeing the NTR send at least part of its message off into space, leaving things open for a sequel. But to be entirely honest my ideas here were rather vague - everything from Shivans jumping through the node and the campaign cutting off without debriefing to the Damoclese self destructing and killing everyone on board once the message was sent. Consider yourself at artistic liberty - that way I have an even better reason to play the final campaign. :)
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If you're feeling really brave Primus try using the rand SEXP and have multiple endings. This would be somewhat hard to pull off for a beginner but would teach you a lot more. (of course you'll find that people like myself would be more than happy to help you with explainations):D
The way I'd probably do it is have a variable called missionEnding. I'd assign it a random amount using the rand SEXP. After that I'd simply check the value of the variable in any event that dealt with the ending.
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Thanks Black Wolf
I'm not that brave :lol: But I'm here to learn, so I'll give it a shot. :) And I will ask for help if.. When I need it :D
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I'm making it out as being harder than it is. It's actually not that difficult to be honest. The trick is keeping an eye on what events happen in each particular outcome. Since you're only going to need about 2-3 events for each particular ending it shouldn't get too confusing.
The problem comes when you try to set up a mission where this sort of thing can happen right at the start ;)
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STATUS UPDATE
I didn't like the mission that I created, so I scrapped it and started from scratch..
Now the new version is about 95% done. Only thing it needs is a debriefing, solving few little problems and maybe a command briefing. I'll do that soon and then upload the mission to my site for download. Expect this to happen in few days when I get internet connection. Right now I don't have one, as I said goodbye to my ****ty 56k and soon I'll say welcome to broadband :D
Oh yeah! I played with the variables and rand SEXPs to create few diffirent endings. I hope you'll like my decisions...
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Sounds good. I look forwards to seeing it in action :)
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I have to say this here :D
I just got broadband!! I'm so happy that I could cry.. 4+ years with 56k and now, finally, I can really surf without cuss words :lol:
My FA mission needs debriefings, other than that, it's done. But I really can't concentrate now that I have this broadband :D
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I'll release it very very soon...
I only have to figure out one waypoint problem.. And then the first version is done...
What the **** is wrong with the ****ing Damocles, can't do simple ****ing waypoint without a ****ing dance!?!?!? :hopping:
But don't worry.. I'll solve it, I ain't going crazy :nervous:
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1st version of FRED Academy campaign 1, mission 7
[EDIT] Check the 2nd version... ;)
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I gave up.. The mission has a bug, which you will see when the time comes and then you can tell me how to solve it.
The mission has a few diffirent endings for the few possible mission results.. I hope that one of the endings isn't too extreme (it's also the buggy one) :nervous: Although it wasn't entirely my idea alone :p Ofcourse it can be changed, but hopefully, it isn't vague, as somebody said... ;)
Oh yeah.. If you check the events in FRED2, you'll see an awful mess :lol:
Also, I really started to miss 3.5.5. Once you had open, you don't want vanilla anymore :D
NOTES:
-I don't like what I did with the mission
-I still don't like it
-After playtesting the mission dozens of times, I now hate it
-I still can't believe that I have broadband
-Download the mission and play it
-It doesn't have CB
-I suck when it comes to writing debriefs
-I'm tired and hungry after spending straight 10 hours surfing and fredding
-etc.
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Downloading. I'll test thing very soon :) Although when a mission designer hates a mission it's generally not a good sign (I love all my babies. Even the ugly retarded ones :D )
If you use 3.5.5 why didn't you sign up for one of the SCP campaigns though?
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Originally posted by karajorma
Downloading. I'll test thing very soon :) Although when a mission designer hates a mission it's generally not a good sign (I love all my babies. Even the ugly retarded ones :D )
If you use 3.5.5 why didn't you sign up for one of the SCP campaigns though?
I always hate my creations (see first sig) and I wanted to help finishing the first campaign. And it's not that big deal, I just started to respect even more the FSO :) Vanilla FRED2 is just fine for me too...
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So, mr. Karajorma, have you had the time to play my mission? Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to rush you :)
And other HLPers too, you can download it, play it and complain about it :D
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Actually I'm just doing one last circuit of HLP and then I'm off to play it :)
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Okay. I tried it but it keeps crapping out on me in FRED and in FS2_Open complaining that there is no Communications02 subsystem (even though I have the FAC1.vp present. I suspect that this may be an FS2_Open related bug since you're not experiencing it. I'll look into this a bit more deeply in a bit. Try the mission in 3.5.5. and see if it comes up with a bunch of errors if you have some time though.
In the meanwhile here are a few things I did spot.
1) No Music. Yep you forgot to pick some from the Mission Specs Editor. Same applies to briefing music.
2) Epsilon wing consists of 4 perseus fighters. Right now there's nothing to stop the player from swapping his myrmidon for a Perseus. You might not have a problem with him doing that but if you do you should lock gamma wing from the Ships>>Initial Status dialog box.
3) There is no debrief if the player jumps out before being told to return to base.
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Originally posted by karajorma
Okay. I tried it but it keeps crapping out on me in FRED and in FS2_Open complaining that there is no Communications02 subsystem (even though I have the FAC1.vp present. I suspect that this may be an FS2_Open related bug since you're not experiencing it. I'll look into this a bit more deeply in a bit. Try the mission in 3.5.5. and see if it comes up with a bunch of errors if you have some time though.
In the meanwhile here are a few things I did spot.
1) No Music. Yep you forgot to pick some from the Mission Specs Editor. Same applies to briefing music.
2) Epsilon wing consists of 4 perseus fighters. Right now there's nothing to stop the player from swapping his myrmidon for a Perseus. You might not have a problem with him doing that but if you do you should lock gamma wing from the Ships>>Initial Status dialog box.
3) There is no debrief if the player jumps out before being told to return to base.
1) HOTU version
2) I noticed that too
3) I knew I forgot something
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Okay. I'm going to see if I can figure out the bug and then I'll get back to you with some more useful advice :)
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Okay great.. I haven't had the time to check the bug.. I've been... Playing FS2 online :D.
And about the music.. As i said, I have the HOTU version, so I don't have the music files. But I guess I can randomly pick the music for the mission and briefs...
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I loaded the mission in 3.5.5. and no problems..
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Use brief4 or cinema for the briefings as those are the really dramatic, everything is on the line tunes.
And get yourself over to MatthewPapa's site and grab the music as you're really missing out.
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I'm downloading the ISOs with BT...
And about the bug.. I extracted the FAC VP as FS2 didn't find the files in it... Does it matter?
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It shouldn't but I'm about to try it myself to see if it makes a difference :)
EDIT : Doh! I had a rogue ships.tbl lurking in my missions folder. No idea what it was doing there but its deletion ended the problem :)
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ahh, my old mission that i was assigned to.... Good luck with it.
Anyway my idea for it was that you warp in about 0.5 or 1 click behind and below and off the to side of the NTFg Damocles. and you see NTF and a wing of GTVA fighters already in a skirmish. You join in and attempt to destroy either engines or comms subsystems. After the subsystems are destoryed a wing of SOC bombers warp in from above and to either side, launching their bombs, and they warp out. Heavily damaging the NTFg Damocles. As more fighters warp in you engage them. Then just as the NTFg really close to warping out, the Vasudan corvette warps in, and destroys it with it's beams.
what do ya think?
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Good idea, actually :)
My idea was that you are waiting the Damo and when it arrives you must quickly disarm it and take out it's comms before it reaches the node to send the message. And that the GTVA want's it intact and Staker alive...
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Yeah i was thinking that the GTVA want the damocles alive. And you're waiting for it, the problem is that the nodes should be really far apart, so there is really not much of a sense of time is limited.
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Oh and this is an edit of my post where i described about the mission. (i cant properly edit coz for some reason im having problems with my browser). Man, i really, really liked this mission. Really wish i wasnt forced to adandon it.....oh well....
"Anyway my idea for it was that you warp in about 0.5 or 1 click behind and below and off the to side of the NTFg Damocles (the damocles should be 3/4 to the node, about 5 mins from jumping out). and you see NTF escorts and a wing of GTVA fighters already in a skirmish. You join in and destroy the NTF fighters, then you attempt to destroy either engines or comms subsystems. After the subsystems are destoryed a wing of SOC bombers warp in from above and to either side of the Damocles, launching their bombs, and they warp out. Their bombs heavily damaging the NTFg Damocles (hull is below 50%). After the bombers warp out, more NTF fighters warp in and you engage them. Then just as the NTFg Damocles is really close to warping out, the Vasudan corvette warps in, and destroys it with it's beams.
I was also thinking that if you fail to destroy the engines/comms subsytems the SOC bombers never arrive (to do the much needed damage). So when the Vasudan corvette warps in and fires it's beams, the corvette's beams are not able to destroy Damocles. So the Damocles reaches the node and warps out, and you are informed that you've failed and that the SOC bomber wing are going in after the Damocles. You see the SOC wing warp in near the node, then warp out via the node. You are then ordered to return to base"
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Results:
- The Communication subsystem bug exists for me. To make sure it will work, I recommend you do the following SEXPng tree for the Damo Comm Down event:
or
-and
--blah, blah, blah = the current event
-is-subsystem-destroyed-delay
Damocles
communications
0
It will fix the problem.
- Making the Damocles invulnerable is not a good idea, ship-guardian it instead: It will make turrets vulnerable
- You did not count with the possibility that the player disables the engines. I got the message saying about the Damocles starting to move, but since it had no engines by then, it could not engage engines,
- Do not give 8 Myrmidons for the player; there are only FOUR ships which are not Myrmidons.
- Make the default armanent more ideal: Having Kaysers available and the Prom R set as default is illogical.
That's probably all after the first test run.
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Hey, thanks :) Finally some feedback :p
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Uhm.. So.. Mr. Karajorma... How is it going? The playtesting, I mean. Don't say my mission is so awful that you can't even play it :nervous: ...Well, I'll be waiting... :)
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Sorry been busy lately. Well actually that isn't the problem. The problem is that checking HLP, SG and GW take me about 3 hours, leaving me with no time at all to actually do anything in the evenings.
You're at the top of the list though :)
I should have time over the weekend but lets see if I can get some freetime tonight :)
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No panic :) I just wanted to know that if you had forgotten me and my mission :p :D
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Nah. I've made up a list of who needs FA testing. A few weeks ago it said everybody so I'm definately making progress :D
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Okay. Just played the mission (now that it's working for me) and nothing went wrong with it so far :)
The problem is that I was damn clever for my own good suggesting the multiple ending thing. From what I've seen of it the FREDding you've done works pretty well but unless I can choose which ending I'm getting it's pretty hard to figure out what's going to happen.
As a result I'm going to have to go much deeper into the guts of this mission to figure out how it works. What I need to do is find the event where you randomise the DamoDestiny variable (I presume this variable changes depending on which ending has been randomly selected). What I'll then do is add an event to occur immediately afterwards resetting this to a particular ending. This will allow me to test that ending to my hearts content and then change the number in FRED so I can test the next ending (rather than having the ending picked at random as it is now).
I'm telling you this cause I find the addition of Events like this very useful when testing missions like this one and I figure you might want to do the same when you're testing it.
Anyway as a result I haven't tested the mission very hard yet. I am however going through the code and puzzled about one thing. Why do you make alpha 2-4 invulnerable for short periods?
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First about the invulnerable Alphas.. I didn't want them to get shot down so quickly because it's their job to help the player to disarm the Damocles. And time is limited...
There's one variable for Damocles' success (msg send) and one for failure (comms destroyed before msg send). So in both results, there's two random endings for them.
[EDIT] I hope reading the events isn't too hard.. It's a mess.. I usually make them more clear.. ..Usually..
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It's not that your mission is a mess actually. I can see that you've taken a fair bit of effort to tidy things up actually :) The problem is that your mission is actually much more complicated than most FA missions cause of the multiple endings. That alone makes it harder to follow what it going on.
What you've posted above actually helps a lot. I was assuming that the Damodestiny variable actually was set up to choose between all four endings and that was what was throwing me :D
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Actually, yes :lol:
Anyway.. If Damocles succeeds, it may do a waypoint which messes up the ending :mad: What's causing it? I can't figure that out...
[EDIT] I don't mean that the game crashes, but that the Damo doesn't do the waypoint correctly. And I changed the waypoint few times, but it didn't help....
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I'll take a look at it :)
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Still trying the mission (with a few of my edits to make it easier to test :D )
1) I'm finding it pretty hard to disable the Damocles in time. We might have to edit the tables. How often could you disable the comms when you playtested?
2) I like how you've made certain outcomes more likely than others.
3) The briefing needs some edits to reflect how the GTVA have managed to get to the node before the Damocles made it. Remember that in the previous mission the Damocles jumped into node about 3-4 minutes before the Deimos following it could. It would have taken even longer for a destroyer to scoop you up and carry you to the Capella node before it could get there.
Maybe something about a battle with the Actium and the Damocles retreating to heal its wounds for an hour or so.
I'm having a little problem cause I can't find an FS2_Open build that supports Goobers new Variables in messages code and that would help a lot :)
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Originally posted by karajorma
Still trying the mission (with a few of my edits to make it easier to test :D )
1) I'm finding it pretty hard to disable the Damocles in time. We might have to edit the tables. How often could you disable the comms when you playtested?
Maybe once. I think the Damo was further away from the node (arrival position). And I think the comm systems are too strong. They need alot of bounding. Although the Sobe takes care one them.
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I think about 1/2 or 2/3 their current hitpoints should be a good idea. I'll try sabotaging them down to that sort of level for now and then edit the table once I'm happy with it :)
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Oh a minor thing that jumped out at me. The Vasudan Corvette the GVCv Sobedu that you have guarding the node is one letter away from the one I have in my mission. I'll leave it up to you which one you you would rather have, Sopedu, Sobedu....can you choose. I did find that the friendly fighter wing had some difficulty in taking down the comms. I'm going to try my best to break the mission.
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Originally posted by Fergus
Oh a minor thing that jumped out at me. The Vasudan Corvette the GVCv Sobedu that you have guarding the node is one letter away from the one I have in my mission. I'll leave it up to you which one you you would rather have, Sopedu, Sobedu....can you choose. I did find that the friendly fighter wing had some difficulty in taking down the comms. I'm going to try my best to break the mission.
My mistake. I checked it from the FA thread and it is Sopedu, I just read it wrong the last time.. So I'll change it Sopedu. :)
I did find that the friendly fighter wing had some difficulty in taking down the comms. I'm going to try my best to break the mission.
I noticed that too.. Do we blame me or the AI?....
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Originally posted by Primus
I noticed that too.. Do we blame me or the AI?....
Neither. I just took a look at the model and the path for Comms3 is actually pointing in the wrong direction. I'll fix that tomorrow but if you notice that comms3 is the one giving the AI problems that's the reason.
Basically the fighters are approaching the Iceni from above and trying to shoot the subsystem by shooting through it.
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How is the playtesting going? And have you fixed the model? :)
I'm updating my mission, based on the advices by TopAce and you... But I won't release it until you have given the final report. Well, ofcourse, I need the new model. :p :D
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The model isn't needed for you to do anything actually. A change in the path would only have an effect in game not in FRED2_Open.
Anyway here's (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/karajorma/freespace/Downloads/PathedFAIceni.rar) the repaired version.
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Originally posted by karajorma
The model isn't needed for you to do anything actually. A change in the path would only have an effect in game not in FRED2_Open.
Yes, I know. But I for playtesting it's good to have the fixed version. :)
This is what I have updated so far:
-GTCv Sobedu name changed to GTCv Sopedu
-Edited team loadout
-Added music
-Changed ship-invulnerable SEXP to ship-guardian SEXP
-Locked Gamma wing
-Added AWOL debrief
-Edited briefing
BTW, what about the comm systems' hitpoints?
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That would be a table change but for the moment I suggest simply setting the subsystems to be damaged at the start of the mission so that we can find the best level to set them at.
You would usually do this in the ships editor but I'd recommend making a new evern called DELETE ME BEFORE RELEASE and using the sabotage-subsystem SEXP. That way you're less likely to forget to change it back :D
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I tested the mission, and I got the following bug : even its Comms system destroyed, the Damocles still sent the message.
Here are the events and messages :
(http://fs2.kissifrot.com/FA/FACM1M7-events1.jpg)
(http://fs2.kissifrot.com/FA/FACM1M7-events2.jpg)
(http://fs2.kissifrot.com/FA/FACM1M7-messages.jpg)
So nothing happened after, and I decided to leave, and I got the following debrief message :
"Good work disabling the Damocles.
Dismissed"
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I'll let Primus look into that one (bug finding is a good thing for a FREDder to get used to :) ) If you need any help though I'll give you a hand :)
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Originally posted by Skippy
"Good work disabling the Damocles.
Dismissed"
:lol: It should read disarming.
I don't think the comm hitpoints need to be edited. I just played the mission and disarmed and destroyed the comms in time.
@ Karajorma
I could release the second version of my mission tonight. Or what do you think?
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Release it whenever you like. You can post a test version whenever you have any improvements done :) I can't test every build but at least that way I know I'm not reporting bugs that you've already fixed :)
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2nd version of FRED Academy campaign 1, mission 7
Download again, play, play, play... And then, complain and/or praise...
[EDIT] Removed
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Fixing/Updating the mission. Scrap the 2nd version, don't play it..
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What is it?
The Damocles is protected and beam-protected with SEXP when it arrives. The wings have orders to disarm it and destroy it's comms. But when these goals are completed, the fighters keep bounding the Damocles. And I think that even the Sopedu fires turrets at it...
Why, for the love (some) god?!
[EDIT] I think the fighters keep shooting the comms, even after they are destroyed... :confused:
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Post it up and I'll take a look see.
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I'll give it a try before I do that. I was thinking of clearing the wings' orders after they have destroyed the comms & turrets...
[EDIT] The waypoint bug exists no more :D
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I hope it isn't a bad thing... But I.. *cough*startedfromscratchagain*cough* And I've done most of it now and release tomorrow. I didn't make big changes when it comes to story and the endings. But I can say one thing.. I like it now :)
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Okay :) You know that starting from scratch all the time isn't a good habit to get into but speaking as someone who completely hates one of his own missions for MG and will probably do the same thing I can't complain too much :)
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One of the main reasons I decided to start from scratch, was the events. I had troubles reading them and didn't remember what is one for.. But now they are more clear.. I'd say much more. And I know that starting from scratch isn't always a good thing, but this one was an exception to the rule. And now I really like the mission.
[EDIT] I've added endings for disabled and destroyed (by player) Damocles.
[EDIT2] The mission is done, except for the playtesting. I'll play it couple of times and then drop it here tonight :)
[EDIT3] Damn, the mission basicly has 7 endings, not all are diffirent, though. And 8, if player's death is counted :p
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FA Campaign 1, Mission 7
-REMOVED-
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:bump:
Anybody had the time to check out my third version of the mission? :) Karajorma? Again, I'm not trying to rush you, I know you're busy :)
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I knew there was something I was forgetting :D
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You forgot me? I'm hurt :(
;)
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Okay. Tried it again. I'm still finding it hard to disable the Damocles' comm systems in time. In fact I ignored the fighters and only attacked her and still only managed to knock out a couple of them.
I'm going to try reducing the strength of the systems in FRED next time I play it.
About the Damocles blowing up when disabled. I know that's one way around a problem but it provides the player with an easy way to win the mission. How hard would it be to have the Damocles refuse to surrender (but keep fighting) until it's escort are killed (maybe even provide an extra couple of wings for the player to fight during this time?
After the Damocles managed to transmit it's message I was ordered to take out its engines. The problem is that when I tried I found that my shots weren't doing any damage to it. Have you made the Damocles invulnerable somewhere?
Apart from that I noticed very little in the way of bugs. There were a few in the briefing though.
1) In 1024x786 you can just barely see the edge of the capella Jump node icon. You might as well remove it.
2) Although the mission brief cuts from brief 1 to brief 2 if you press the back button it doesn't cut back.
3) In Brief 4 the grid isn't properly aligned. Just go to scene 3, press the cut view button. Paste View back in 4 and then save view.
I couldn't test the victory chains though cause I never managed to take out the comms :)
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Originally posted by karajorma
About the Damocles blowing up when disabled. I know that's one way around a problem but it provides the player with an easy way to win the mission. How hard would it be to have the Damocles refuse to surrender (but keep fighting) until it's escort are killed (maybe even provide an extra couple of wings for the player to fight during this time?
Why I didn't think of that?? :D
Originally posted by karajorma
After the Damocles managed to transmit it's message I was ordered to take out its engines. The problem is that when I tried I found that my shots weren't doing any damage to it. Have you made the Damocles invulnerable somewhere?
Yes. Damo gets invulnerability after the message is sent. But now I'm thinking the same resolution than above?
I'll fix the brief bugs too
:)
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I used all SEXP trees :shaking: Luckily, I don't need more of them... I hope :nervous:
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Wow. I don't think I've ever done that myself (although I've come close).
I'll take a look at what you've done to see if anything can be optimised :)
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I have to make a minor change and do some playtesting before I upload the 4th version. This might not happen soon as I just got out the hospital (with agony :() and playing isn't the first thing in my mind. Well.. Actually.. It is, but I.. Can't...
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Ouch. Nothing too serious I hope.
Anyway I'll test it whenever you're ready :)
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Originally posted by karajorma
Ouch. Nothing too serious I hope.
Let's just say that as a man, you do not want to know :shaking: :(
But I'll upload it soon.. I also hacked tables and dropped the comm strenghts of Damo to 12.0, but still I didn't managed to destroy them in time. Just before the Damo send the message, two comms were destroyed and the last one was about 30%.
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Yeah. I dropped it to about 7.5 last time I tried the mission :)
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Fourth version of C1M7
DOWNLOAD (http://www.geocities.com/primus_nova/FA_C1M7_v4_Primus.zip)
I forgot something.. I'm not surprised, though :lol:
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I will give it a test tommorrow
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Okay, after first test I faced a few problems.
1) It didn't take long for all of the wing men to be wiped out, almost died with having 6 enemy fighters on me while trying to take out comms.
2) Firing off all my Stillettos at the second Comm subsystem had no effect, I was aligned but they didn't seem to do any damage. I was however able to start to damage it after the Sopedu opens up on the other subsystem.
3) After I was told to jump out, I did, but I got the AWOL message, saying "wait till you are told to do so"
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1) I'll try to do something about that...
2) I've noticed that too and don't understand it. Karajorma?
3) That's because I changed the endings and so on.......
Thanks for testing :)
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I will test it and see what might cause the problem with the stiletto.
[AFTER TEST]
The stilettoes worked all right, I had no problem with them.
Some things need changing:
- I get the Prom R by default by the Prom S is also available. Set the Prom S as default, anyone who discovers this will change to the Prom S.
- The Communication subsystem was destroyed but I still failed the mission because the Iceni sent the message
- Messages still overlap here and there
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I am one lucky mother****er...
Error: Argument count is illegal.
In sexpression: ( is-disarmed-delay )
(Error appears to be: is-disarmed-delay)
File:C:\projects\freespace2\code\Mission\MissionParse.cpp
Line: 3552
Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess the problem is is-disarmed-delay. I made some changes to the mission, and this is my reward :hopping:
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Can we get the SEXP tree itself?
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I checked the disarmed events in FRED2 but I can't find the problem.. I have no idea...
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The version I have has no problem with that event. If you give me the mission, I will be happy to look into it for you.
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The Buggy Mission :mad:
-Fix0red-
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Works for me. I'm using FS2_Open though. I'll give it a try on my second PC in a bit as I haven't installed FS2_Open on that one yet.
EDIT : FS2 retail fell over exactly like you described. I'll take a look at them mission and see if I can figure out the flaw. FRED2_Open didn't find anything wrong with the mission though.
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No problem for me, too.
I am thinking into the FS_Retail problem.
I tried the Retail FRED and that does not see this problem.
Do you use the old [V] Iceni? I will tell you later why I ask it, I suspect it could be the source of the problem.
SUGGESTION:
Change the faulty SEXP into 'true'.
Save the mission and see if there will be (an) other error(s). If it finds an error, then the mission code is somehow 'screwed up'. (<- Is there a more civil word instead of this?)
If the error goes away, recreate the SEXP without typing in anything manually if possible.
It is not a problem your SEXP tree will be exactly the same, if the code got screwed up, it will fix it.
If this does not work, then at least you tried.
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You're out of SEXP Nodes.
That's why the mission works in FS2_Open but not in FS2.
Rather interestingly you're only just over the limit so the error is not being detected by FRED and only kicks in when the game attempts to load the SEXPs used in the mission objectives. When I deleted those 3 empty events you had used as spacers in the events list the error changed to one of the SEXPs you had only used in the mission objectives.
I'm going to take a good look through the mission and see if you have been wasting SEXPs anywhere. :)
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I already scrapped few events.. Including the empty ones (except those three) ..Hopefully you'll find some wasted SEXPs :)
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Myself and Topace took a good look.
We found a few at first but the big waste is in the AI section. Setting up Alpha and Beta wings with orders to disable the Damocles (~50-60% priority) and also disable the comms systems (~30%) would claw you back a huge number of SEXP nodes.
Don't worry about the fact that the Damocles isn't present at the start of the mission. The ships will patiently wait until it arrives as long as you don't give them anything else to do :)
It's also worth noting that the DIR - disarm damo a and DIR - destroy comms a are completely unnecessary. You can remove them and the chaining they use and the b events will work correctly because FS2 won't show the directives until the Damocles is present (Don't be too upset about not knowing that neither myself nor TopAce were 100% sure it would work until we tested it :D )
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Okay.. I'll scrap'em too.. :)
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Why the hell did the system send this message twice? :eek:
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Originally posted by karajorma
....
It's also worth noting that the DIR - disarm damo a and DIR - destroy comms a are completely unnecessary. You can remove them and the chaining they use and the b events will work correctly because FS2 won't show the directives until the Damocles is present (Don't be too upset about not knowing that neither myself nor TopAce were 100% sure it would work until we tested it :D )
I would have a pang of conscience if you experience something inconvenient.
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I understood that the first time :lol: ;)
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Originally posted by TopAce
I would have a pang of conscience if you experience something inconvenient.
I'd be surprised if he did. I checked that the event wasn't used elsewhere before deleting it :)
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Little update:
I've scrapped some events and added a few which is like +-0 :lol:
There still the same problem.. The damn fighters keep bounding Damo even when the objectives are accomplished.. The Damo must be Protected in order to prevent this, right? I gotta check that it actually is..
Also I'm editing the messages, so they won't pop up when they shouldn't...
And something else too.. Expect results.. When it's done :D
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Yep. The enemy fighters will continue to smack the Damocles around even after taking out the subsystems specified unless you protect it.
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I started to think ( which is new thing for me :lol: )
What if, insted of Shivan destroyer jumping in, the Iceni arrives through the node? Bad idea? Too extreme?
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It is destroyed during the main campaign
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:snipe: I deserve that for not playing the FS2 :o
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Originally posted by Primus
I started to think ( which is new thing for me :lol: )
What if, insted of Shivan destroyer jumping in, the Iceni arrives through the node? Bad idea? Too extreme?
[/B]
I prefer the way it is now even without what TopAce said. The way it is we still have no idea what Stalker's message was about. We have no idea if it was to Bosch or to the Shivans. It's a nice cliffhanger ending :)
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Okay.. I'm playtesting my mission, trying to find the remaining bugz.. And I've made myself busy... Soon I will suffer burn out :shaking:
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Originally posted by karajorma
I prefer the way it is now even without what TopAce said. ...
So am I wrong again? :lol:
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Nope. For once you're correct :D
Try to make a habit out of it :p
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Still playtesting.. There was some interesting things in my mission.. In some is-event-true SEXPs the event that has to come true was somehow changed to current event's name.. Why am I getting the feeling that something worse is about to happen..
Well, I'll upload it tonight or tomorrow..
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Version 5, for the luv of (some) god!....
http://www.geocities.com/primus_nova/FA_C1M7_v5_Pri.zip
Bugz? You tell me...
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Uhm.. Anyone downloaded this? :)
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Sorry. Been working on the FAQ all last week. Added to my List of Things To Do :D
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Karajorma's List of Things To Do
1) FAQ
.
.
.
129) FA C1M7 ??
:lol: ;)
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Evil, you are.
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Originally posted by Primus
Karajorma's List of Things To Do
1) FAQ
.
.
.
129) FA C1M7 ??
:lol: ;)
Actually Trillian crashed on me last week and took out the previous list.
Right now your mission is the only thing on my new Mozilla Sunbird list :D
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Originally posted by karajorma
Actually Trillian crashed on me last week and took out the previous list.
Right now your mission is the only thing on my new Mozilla Sunbird list :D
Must be my lucky day :drevil:
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Actually it moved down to number two. Number one priority is figuring out why FS2 CTD's with this message whenever I try to play it.
Error: icons.tbl(1):
Error: Required token = [#Start], found [Icon Table file required for Ins] .
File:.\parse\parselo.cpp
Line: 478
Call stack:
------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------
I've known for a while something was wrong with the FAC1 icon.tbl but it worked and I'm lazy so I never fixed it. And since most people are using retail to test it they probably won't have the problem (FS2_open is more sensitive to this sort of thing than retail).
Anyway I know that the problem isn't your mission Primus so I'll sort things out and get the mission tested as soon as I can.
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Yeah, I never had that problem... And no rush, take your time :)
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Fixed it. Missing semi colon right at the start of the icon.tbl. I have no idea why the problem would only surface now when I've been using this build to play FA missions previously but what the hell :)
I like the idea of the sobek needing more help but you may need more cries of help from the sobek. I completely missed it the first time and only noticed when I failed the mission.
Also, the Iceni's subsystems are still far too strong. I shot comm3 with a full load of 11 stillettos and still didn't get it below 90%!
I've had enough of this problem anyway. I'm reducing the value of the comm systems to 7.5% instead of 15% effective immediately. The changes will be in the FAC1.vp I'll release in a little bit once I've fixed the tables of that annoying missing icon.
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Okay.. I'll make the Sope a crybaby :lol:
But I noticed that sometimes, one of the comms (the one in the back, comm3?) isn't affected by stilettos.. The other two are.. I don't understand it.. I activated cheats and bounded the comm in front and the one in below with stilettos and they were out pretty quick, but the one in back.. Nothing!
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Perhaps you should try to have that one taken out by the Sopedu, you would need to reorientate alot of stuff in mission, but that could solve the problem of not killing it. But the problem of wasting a whole load of stilleto 2's may still remain.
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I'm going to take a look at the problem. The sub system I'm having problems with is indeed the one Primus mentioned.
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Solved it. The Communications02 subsystem was in exactly the same place as Engine01. All the damage was going there instead.
Fixed (http://homepage.ntlworld.com/karajorma/freespace/Downloads/PathedFAIceni.rar)
(also contains the fixed icons.tbl for SCP users).
Anyway. Onto the mission itself. Is it possible to actually disable the comms in time? I stuck around the sobek. Killed the first two waves of bombers and some fighters and still lost the Sobek when I left it to go after the Damocles.
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Originally posted by karajorma
Solved it. The Communications02 subsystem was in exactly the same place as Engine01. All the damage was going there instead.
It was right there and I couldn't figure it out...
Originally posted by karajorma
Anyway. Onto the mission itself. Is it possible to actually disable the comms in time? I stuck around the sobek. Killed the first two waves of bombers and some fighters and still lost the Sobek when I left it to go after the Damocles. [/B]
You mean destroy the comms? ;) (or can you use word disable here?...) Yes. It is. When the comms' strength were dropped to 7.5, there was enough time for that.
And you lost the Sobek? That has happened to me only few times...
Well, I'll play with the new model and let's see what happens...
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I could probably save the Sobek but only by leaving the Damocles to my wingmen.
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Better late than never, huh? :D
So, FA campaign 1, mission 7, version 6 No more clicking here
-Doesn't have more cry for help from Sopedu. Reason: SEXP limit.
-Damocles comms' strength set to 7.5.
-Comms can be taken down in time.
-Sope didn't get destroyed once ;)
Now it's time for some TBP FREDding :p
Oh, BTW, Karajorma. Did you see my Narn wing names for the TBP mission?
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Saw them. They sounded reasonable enough :)
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Okay, some minor things with this mission. First, the Vasudan dialogue is odd.
"Power down your weapons and engines and surrender."
Just say power down and surrender. I know its been done to death but weapons and engines and surrender just doesn't sound right.
"Surrender now or we will engage you."
Just say, surrender now or face the consequences. Again, it has been said before, but "or we will engage you" doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
Change send to sent in this sentence "They send the subspace message! Orders, Command?"
"The Damocles is soon at the node"
The Damocles is closing in on the node sounds better, but that's your call.
"We are here to collect radiation values from the asteroids for the Naxos Research Company. What are you doing in here?"
Change in to out.
Now we come to the next part, mission difficulty. I have played this mission a good five times and not once have I been able to destroy the comms on the Damocles. The enemy fighter wings keep me occupied most of the mission, and I lose my wingmen too rapidly for them to help. I had to order them to engage the enemy to keep them alive, and that caused the Sopedu to die on one occassion. Maybe I'm missing something, but on medium I have been unable to complete this mission at all.
This may sound dumb, but losing one enemy wing wouldn't hurt the difficulty all that badly. The NTR should have a fighting chance, not an outright advantage. It takes too long to kill the enemy fighters on medium and then destroy the comm systems on the Damocles. Or, with my wingmen destroyed, the turrets on the ship pummel me senseless. An alternative might be to simply move the Damocles back further in order to allow more time. In any case, the difficulty on medium makes the mission impossible for me.
Also, shouldn't the disable objective have a directive? I know its not as important given what happens if you do it, but it seems important enough to warrant one.
Beyond those comments, there isn't much wrong with this mission except for the constant "NTR retards" quip, which gets old after a while.
Good work.
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I'll bet the mission is probably too hard. I've been complaining about that one to Primus for a while. :)
That said are you using the updated Iceni pof file I posted further up the thread? Cause the one in the Vp is almost impossible to disable due to a bug in where the comms subsystem is located.
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Okay. About the difficulty. With the updated Iceni and comm strengths set to 7.5, the mission is very easy to accomplish on Very Easy level. On medium, I was able to take down the comms only once. I guess I should make it easier on Medium difficulty...
Thanks for the grammar and spelling feedback, I've been for that. :)
Also, shouldn't the disable objective have a directive? I know its not as important given what happens if you do it, but it seems important enough to warrant one.
I think it is important, but it should pop up everytime the Damo is trying to escape. I'll check it and see where I forgot it :)
On the side note. The intro dialogue is really starting to piss me off, after seeing it dozens of times :lol:
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Balance for medium. It's meant to be very easy on Very easy :D
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Originally posted by karajorma
It's meant to be very easy on Very easy :D
Really?? ;)
But I'll make it easier on medium :)
And the link will be removed in 27 seconds.
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Originally posted by freespacegundam
"We are here to collect radiation values from the asteroids for the Naxos Research Company. What are you doing in here?"
Change in to out.
Hmm.. Out? .."What are you doing out here" ?
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Yep. Since the ship isn't inside a container of some sort in sounds kind of wrong. :)
In case you're wondering I only tend to bother with spelling just before the mission is finished :) That's why I've not been correcting spelling all along. If you guys want to do it though that's good :)
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Ok. I've changed the messages and now I'm fixing the balance for medium.
I really shouldn't be doing it now as the time is 3.20 AM here and I gotta get up early. :lol:
*continues fredding*
Changes done. But I'll playtest it later. Maybe seventh could be the one. *crosses fingers* :D
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The Seventh
Tweaking it some more
***UPDATES***
-Serious work on the balance (finally)
--Some of the Damocles' turrets are destroyed at the beginning (mainly missile turrets)
--Decreased enemy AI Class
--Increased friendly AI Class
--Less hostile wings at the same time
--Gamma wing is now Delta, and a reinforcement wing
-Spelling and grammars
Now, I'm a bit afraid that the mission is too easy on medium. But you tell me :)
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Some minor tweaking on the balance.. Now it's version 7.1 :D
DOWNLOAD (http://www.geocities.com/primus_nova/FA_C1M7_v71_Primus.zip)
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testing now
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Tested until the dear SCP said: 'You ain't gonna survive without rebooting'. Here are the results:
- The BRIEF7 music is inappropriate
- Grammar is not something I should check, or have a right on commenting, but I noticed that your briefing says something 'Delta wing is available, call it in'. I believe the 'Delta wing is available. Call THEM in' is a better version.
- It would be nice if you could do something to prevent the player from shooting at the science vessel and Phi wing without any punishment.
- The Sopedu reported critical hull when her hull was at 51%. This is not critical damage.
Making another test run. As I suspect, the only detterent for testing anything is the SCP.
I knew. Crash again. A new note, anyway:
- I destroyed the Communication system and I received the 'Destroy the comms' message. This flaw presents in any versions.
If the SCP release a stable build(which is highly unlikely to happen), I will return to test this mission once or twice again.
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This mission is for Retail, not SCP. But would SCP hamper testing, if not then I'll be able to keep testing instead of having to keep installing/uninstalling.
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It's good if the mission is tested on SCP and retail systems. After all the campaign will be played by people on both.
This installing/uninstalling SCP nonsense will be largely a thing of the past once the next version of the Launcher comes out so you only have to wait a little while.
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I would gladly test this mission on Retail, but I am no longer able to run it, thankfully to the awfully lot of SCP data I have. Retail will try to read those data and crash. Every of my attempts are doomed until I reinstall the whole FS into a different folder.
Ay any rate, I have calmed down since yesterday, sorry if I was harsh to the SCP, I usually do that if FSO crashes on me without any message.
If you see me do that in the future, just ignore me, I will have calmed down enough by the next day.
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Okay, I'll make a note of that didn't think that it would be able to be used for retail and SCP.
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The only real barrier to running SCP and Retail at the same time at the moment is the fact that the command line entries for both are stored in the same registry entry which means that you need to turn all the FS2_Open features off by hand before using retail or it complains about unrecognised command line options.
The new launcher will use ini files instead of the registry for this sort of thing so you shouldn't have any trouble getting the two to work together.
The other main problem (Retail crashing cause of the FS2_Open tables) is actually pretty easily solved now by using multimod. Launcher 6 will also make it easier to use this though :D
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- The BRIEF7 music is inappropriate
-No change yet.
- Grammar is not something I should check, or have a right on commenting, but I noticed that your briefing says something 'Delta wing is available, call it in'. I believe the 'Delta wing is available. Call THEM in' is a better version.
-Changed.
- It would be nice if you could do something to prevent the player from shooting at the science vessel and Phi wing without any punishment.
-Last thing I'll do, if there's enough SEXPs for it.
- The Sopedu reported critical hull when her hull was at 51%. This is not critical damage.
-Changed to heavy damage.
- I destroyed the Communication system and I received the 'Destroy the comms' message. This flaw presents in any versions.
-Can't find this one.
I have these events:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/PrimusNova/msg-comms1.gif)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v111/PrimusNova/msg-comms2.gif)
To prevent the messages being sent if the comms are down. So the problem should be in them. But I can't see it.
[/list]
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I can't see anything wrong with those. Maybe it's a different comms message.