[Amon_Re]

Hey all

I'm currently trying to wreck, err, edit my ships.tbl so that i can add descriptions for ships et all, but i'm facing a strange thingy.

Currently there are 2 ships in the file (GTF Herc & GTF Loki, both are normally visible in the tech database in the original ships.tbl file), and only the second one shows up.

I've been going over this file but can't see why it would only show one of them

Any idea's?

[vyper]

Two possible reasons:
1 - the missing ship doesn't have the "in-tech-database" flag
2 - the code that handles the ships.tbl is being picky again and displaying by order of appearance rather than by flag.

[Amon_Re]

Originally posted by vyper
Two possible reasons:
1 - the missing ship doesn't have the "in-tech-database" flag
2 - the code that handles the ships.tbl is being picky again and displaying by order of appearance rather than by flag.

the flags are definatly there, so it's something else, dunno what tho, i did the following today, i took the original ships.tbl, removed all ships except HERC & LOKI (they are both visible in the tech dbase prior editing).

When i removed the Shivan ships, the other ships were still there.
When i removed the Vasudan ships, the LOKI & HERC and all the others were still there
When i killed the other ships excluding HERC & LOKI only the LOKI remained in the tech dbase.

I won't bother myself tomuch with these issue's for now, but i'd like to solve it before i release my campaign (wich could be several weeks to several years from now )

Cheers,

[vyper]

Then its the code.

FS2 lists ships in the tech database according to thier position in the tbl. Its hardcoded that say, ship 1 should be shown initially, but ship 2 in the list should not. (this happens regardless of what is in ship 1 or ship 2)

[Goober5000]

It is not hardcoded.  It's just carrying over all the stuff from the main campaign, and messing everything up.  Either create a new pilot, or use the "uses custom tech database" tag in FRED2_open.

[Amon_Re]

I'll try that Goober thx

[vyper]

Originally posted by Goober5000
It is not hardcoded.  It's just carrying over all the stuff from the main campaign, and messing everything up.  Either create a new pilot, or use the "uses custom tech database" tag in FRED2_open.

Well paint me purple and call me Gerald!

[Petrarch of the VBB]

If you insist.

[Hellbender]

Not quite - have to use a new pilot or have the campaign reset the tech base.  

What I was able to get working was no more than 129 total ships displayed at any time, not home now to check, but 140 total is the max that can be put into the tbl itself.  

I use a non-displayed dummy fighter for the first entry - helps cure some display weirdness.

Check the availiable ships list in Fred and look for any entry that is not named correctly.  If you find anything like this put another dummy entry in its place.

Enties with a # symbol in the name do not display properly, but they will be there and do count for the 140 total limit.

Any more than 140 ships, the very last entry will crash the game. Note that it will show up as simply a blank entry, but clicking on it will have the bad effect.

The SCP versions aparently allow tables with up to 400 ships total, but the 129 tech room displayable limit is still in place.  The blank entry bug is gone though.

I've tested with both the retail version and the various SCP releases.


EDIT:  I'm at work, so took a while to get the post completed.

[Star Dragon]

You mean they got the table to take 400 ships and still be stable (for in game, not caring about tech room)?

   Damn all this time I've been using 3.1 cause I got 190 ships in the table and didn't want to upgrade to a better version if I had to sacrifice additional sips and slim down to 130...

   Now if I can only learn how to make the new version work with mods. I tried earlier bt didn''t work (new pilot and everything). for example what is a command line? Nevermind... There should be a thread for learning how to use the newest SCP release for people who don' know about modding so anyone could do it without automatically knowing terms like command line ect...(sounds like a coder thing)...

[Amon_Re]

Erm, you are joking right? You do know what the command line is & were just being sarcastic, right? RIGHT?

Well, i'll tell you what it is

Before windows, most PC's used a system called MS Dos, it was a Command Line Interface to the PC, meaning that, instead of a graphical interface, you had a blank screen with a cursor on it.

For starting programs you had to type in the name of the program, for copying files you had to type in a command, for changing & viewing folders you had to type in commands...

Even now, with Windows XP, it's still there, and if you examine the icons for programs you'll see the command line for that program.

Cheers,

[Hellbender]

Dunno exactly about the 400 limit, was a number quoted by one of the coders.  Way to lazy...and sane to test it.

[Solatar]

If you want everything in the ships.tbl to appear correct in the tech room, delete your pilot (back it up), then Shift-Esc your way outta the game. Upon re-entry, create a new pilot. The tech room should be looking good.


But then again...this is sorta pointless...

[Petrarch of the VBB]

Very pointless, i'd say.