Messages

16

Help / Re: Not spawning the expected units inside the UFO?

« on: June 01, 2023, 09:04:29 am »

so i set up a little spawntest and ran it against OxCe, and a Hallucinoid spawned at the correct node

Code: [Select]

alienRaces:
  - id: STR_AQUATOID_UNDERWATER
    members:
      - STR_AQUATOID_COMMANDER
      - STR_AQUATOID_NAVIGATOR
      - STR_AQUATOID_MEDIC
      - STR_AQUATOID_TECHNICIAN
      - STR_AQUATOID_SQUAD_LEADER
      - STR_AQUATOID_SOLDIER
      - STR_HALLUCINOID_TERRORIST
      - STR_HALLUCINOID_TERRORIST


Code: [Select]

alienDeployments:
  - type: STR_SPAWNTEST
    width: 20
    length: 20
    height: 4
    terrains:
      - SPAWNTEST
    data:
      - alienRank: 7
        lowQty: 1
        highQty: 1
        dQty: 0
        pctOutsideUfo: 100
        itemSets:
          -
            []
          -
            []
          -
            []


Code: [Select]

terrains:
  - name: SPAWNTEST
    music:
      - GMTACWET
    mapDataSets:
      - BLANKS
      - SAND
      - ROCKS
      - WEEDS
      - DEBRIS
      - UFOBITS
    depth: [1, 2]
    ambience: 67
    script: THREEBIG
    mapBlocks:
      - name: SEABED00
        width: 10
        length: 10
        groups: 1
      - name: SEABED01
        width: 10
        length: 10
        groups: 1
      - name: SEABED02
        width: 10
        length: 10

I modified SEABED02.RMP (see screenshot) with 4 civ/scout nodes in the corners and a Terrorist2 node in the middle (all spawnweights=1)

17

Help / Re: Not spawning the expected units inside the UFO?

« on: May 30, 2023, 09:40:19 am »

Is there a difference in the way TFTD handles its terror unit ranks in the .RMP file vs the original X-COM: UFO Defense?

no i don't believe so. Am pretty sure the format of the RMP file is the same for both UFO and TFTD.

OxC/e hardcode matches up the data in alienDeployments.rul with appropriate noderanks in the RMP files (per the order of the ranks listed in alienRaces.rul).


I mucked and poked and tested and thought a bunch on this "force alienrank at node" issue today. But unfortunately I don't have OxC or OxCe setup in an IDE so my investigations were hampered ...

I did see and note some things that could be done a bit better (imo) -- for example, the game crashed arbitrarily (about 50%) when trying to do a quickbattle with only 1 terrorist spawning ('could not place any alien units on the map'), and that only the highest spawnpriority seems to be chosen (i could be wrong, depends on things I didn't look at completely) but lesser priority-values of the same rank are ignored (ie. rather than weighted). etc

perhaps somebody with the code already setup, and a curiosity about this stuff (again, merely my perception here) can or is interested in a more detailed look ...

18

Help / Re: Not spawning the expected units inside the UFO?

« on: May 27, 2023, 08:40:41 am »

(i don't do TftD really, but) maybe the non-terrorist spawns are happening before the terrorist spawns and are taking those nodes.

as a test, try removing all spawns from the deployment except the terrorists, and see what happens

set their lowQty and highQty to 2 (for each terrorist-type) and dQty to 0

19

Tools / Re: MAPVIEW upgrade

« on: May 23, 2023, 01:38:07 am »

2023 May 22

MapView.exe 4.4.6.0
McdView.exe 4.1.2.1
PckView.exe 4.3.0.1
XCom.dll 4.2.0.0
DSShared.dll 4.2.1.1
YamlDotNet.dll 0.0.1.0 (c) Antoine Aubry and contributors

ConfigConverter.exe 2.2.2.1
RulesetConverter.exe 1.3.0.1

RouteView

    hardcap Link destinations to MaxDestId=250. The value is stored as a byte in
    the Routefile but the top 5 values are reserved for the compass points and the
    NotUsed value. Note that Routenode IDs are not limited to Byte.MaxValue but
    they can't be linked to if their ID is greater than 250.

    support more than 256 routenodes in a Routefile.

    TftD NodeRanks: change "Leader/Commander" string to "Navigator/Commander".

    SpawnInfo dialog: rework layout mechanics to account for the longer
    "Navigator/Commander" string.

    add (textbox) Goto #id on the menubar.

    rewrite the embedded MonotoneSpriteset (TopView's quadrant and TileView's
    eraser sprites).

MapResize

    restrict cols/rows/levels to Max 255 (these values are stored in a Mapfile as
    bytes).

    bugfix: when removing levels from the bottom of a Map that has routenodes that
    go out of bounds at the currently displayed level an exception was thrown by
    RouteView's Paint routine. fixed ...


https://github.com/kevL/OpenXCOM.Tools/releases/tag/230522

20

Help / Re: EntryPoint vs ExitPoint?

« on: May 16, 2023, 04:00:05 pm »

I still need to use MapView2 and place "Node Rank" "1 : XCOM" spawn nodes on each entry EntryPoint tile to actually make X-Com's units be able to spawn at the start of the battle.

no i don't think so. XCOM spawnnodes are used in aLien base assault missions (ie. when there's not an XCOM landing craft)

[edit] I'm guessing there's a flag in some ruleset or other that you'd set, that tells OxC/e to use either spawnnodes or EntryTiles .....

[edit2] just took a look at the OxC code, it's not a ruleset flag but based on other configuration of the mission:

Code: [Select]

BattleUnit *BattlescapeGenerator::addXCOMUnit(BattleUnit *unit)
{
if (_baseInventory)
{
    // skirmish mode
}
else if (_craft == 0 || !_craftDeployed)
{
    // no craft, use XCOM spawnnodes
}
else if (_craft && !_craft->getRules()->getDeployment().empty())
{
    // has craft, has deployment rules, use MCD EntryPoints
}
else
{
    // fallback, also uses MCD EntryPoints
}
}


21

Help / Re: Is there a limit to the number of AI Route Nodes per map?

« on: May 16, 2023, 03:46:53 pm »

Is there a limit to the number of AI Route Nodes per map?

good question. Mv2 at present, i believe, limits the count to 256 ... but here are some notes for the next release:

- hardcap Link destinations to MaxDestId=250. The value is stored as a byte in
  the Routefile but the top 5 values are reserved for the compass points and the
  NotUsed value. Note that Routenode IDs are not limited to Byte.MaxValue but
  they can't be linked to if their ID is greater than 250.
- support more than 256 routenodes in a Routefile.

That is, the count of routenodes is basically unlimited (the maxsize of an RMP file on disk). But the link destination is stored in a byte ... so that needs to be limited.

but not sure how OxC/e handles this

22

The X-Com Files / Re: The X-Com Files - 2.9: The Empire Strikes Back

« on: May 11, 2023, 12:26:01 am »

I confirm; this information is coded in MCD files (terrain properties). There is no other way to check, you need to examine the files with MCDEdit (or some other program, if it exists).

McdView in Mapview2 package -- it's a standalone app or it can be opened from TileView (for quick inspection of MCD data, and it should work for quick edits also). backup yer data, I haven't tested it much ...

re. destruction of XCOM base facilities: unless an aLien is engaged in combat it paths to the closest routenode that has a nonzero BaseAttack value. From there it looks for content-tileparts that have the isBaseObject (#60 Xcom_Base) flag set true. If the aLien is equipped with a proper weapon (i saw non-HE in the OxC code) it attempts to shoot the object; if enough objects in a mapblock get destroyed, that XCOM Facility gets destroyed at the end of the base defense mission. And if such destruction isolates any other Facilities from the AccessLift and/or Hanger(s) they get destroyed also.


presumably if a Facility has no base-objects it can't be destroyed (haven't checked that though)

23

XPiratez / Re: What is the border between plagiarism and inspiration?

« on: May 07, 2023, 10:40:00 pm »

In university i thought about this a lot. In academic papers, if you're expressing someone else's original ideas or research, always reference it. But over time many ideas gradually enter the common parlance and then I'd reference where i learned them only until I was confident that i had "made them mine".

In much earlier days of the Internet I posted several of my poems to Usenet. One was plagiarized 3 times. One was satire, one was heavily inspired by, and one merely had some words changed. After getting over being stung to the quick for about a week, I came to Dioxine's conclusion: it's culture, get over it.


regardless,
Definitely give credit where credit is due. That's a part of culture as well,

24

Brutal AI / Re: [SOURCEMOD] Brutal-OXCE 5.0.4

« on: May 05, 2023, 01:38:44 am »

https://www.vg247.com/xcom-creator-gollop-voices-concern-over-paper-thin-illusion-of-weak-ai

Gollop also explained that while his AI in XCOM was emulating intelligence - due to a lack of power back then - there was still more believability due to the unpredictable nature of the game's alien enemies. Leaving some things to chance - rather than setting everything in stone - is the key, he said.

But as you said, it's not really what this is about and it already exists in the base-AI.

yep. And, as you say, the code is opensource. I don't imagine it would be *that* difficult to create a few random-branching patterns .....

25

Brutal AI / Re: [SOURCEMOD] Brutal-OXCE 5.0.4

« on: May 04, 2023, 09:09:55 pm »

heya, I'm not seriously suggesting this but just for the sake of understanding ...

when i was younger, playing XCOM, the ai would do stupid things (obviously). I'd have a soldier out in the open and an aLien would come around the corner and I'd go "oh crap. ded"

then the stupid thing would turn around and go away ... and id just freak out ... not because of the 'stupid ai decision' but because it made things seem like the aLiens had a more important agenda and I had no clue what it was. (confusion)

Chryssalids in aLien base missions were notorious; they'd clomp towards me, then stagger back, then maybe closer ... it was nervewracking (suspense)

26

Help / Re: When creating new maps are corner pieces only cosmetic?

« on: April 28, 2023, 10:59:51 am »

pretty sure that the OxC engines successfully block view between diagonally touching LoFTs (unlike the original XCOM).

But I believe it's good policy to 'cap off' corners for other reasons that i forget ...

27

Help / Re: Trying to add new alien craft.

« on: April 24, 2023, 02:14:02 pm »

I've redone the routing for the Whirligig map, could you check if the files are loading now with the correct routes on your end?

yep looks fine here. (same as the pics u posted)

[Spoiler]

28

Help / Re: Trying to add new alien craft.

« on: April 23, 2023, 09:28:31 am »

Here is a note that may save someone who is searching this thread later a bit of trouble: If your map loads fine in MapView 2 but looks distorted when loaded in OpenXcom.

Spoiler:

Check your ufo: entry for that craft's map and make sure the mapDataSets: contains BLANKS before the rest of your tile sets.

Spoiler:

Code: [Select]

ufos:

    type: STR_EXAMPLE_UFO
    battlescapeTerrainData:
      mapDataSets:
      - BLANKS # <========= Make sure to add this
      - UEXT2
      - UEXT3
      - UINT1
      - UINT2
      - UINT3


good pt. For the technically minded: BLANKS.MCD contains 2 tileparts and they are automatically inserted into every missionsite's terrainset. Hence Mv2 regards them as redundant and silently accounts for them. (Those 2 tileparts are the reason that the maximum tilepartID on a Map is limited to #253 instead of Byte.MaxValue=255. That could have been treated redundantly also, btw /sigh)

The Whirligig map is one I made.

I looked more closely at the Whirligig -- nice Map! But the RMP nodes have nothing to do with what I see in the tileset ... so i don't know where you (or Mapview) got that routefile from ...

A thought that crossed my mind is that since you're on Linux the filesystem is case sensitive; iirc, Mv2 sometimes respects case sensitivity and sometimes not ... iirc I couldn't quite make my mind up as to whether or not that should be respected, since Windows filesystem typically doesn't care about the case sensitivity of paths and/or filenames ... so whether you're on Linux or Windows (or whatever) it's GoodPolicy[tm] to follow the case sensitivity conventions that the original games used -- basically use UPPER case for the relevant subdirectories and filenames/extensions.

So maybe, just maybe, you had two RMP files with the same name but in different cases that created a conflict for Mapview ...

(avoid spaces also -- in fact just use alphanumeric and underscore characters)

I mean, lots of things will work with more than that, but the original map-related resources appear to be firmly based in ASCII Uppercase characters.


have been looking through the load-routines (in Mv2) and don't see anything that's blatantly restrictive ... it pretty much assumes that user "knows what's going on" ...

I'm guessing this is not the case but would the map and route files having a dash then number before the file extension cause this problem?

I've been saving map versions like this as I work on them:

Spoiler:

Code: [Select]

Whirligig-1.MAP
Whirligig-1.RMP
Whirligig-2.MAP
Whirligig-2.RMP
Whirligig-3.MAP
Whirligig-3.RMP
Whirligig-4.MAP
Whirligig-4.RMP
Whirligig-5.MAP
Whirligig-5.RMP
Whirligig-6.MAP
Whirligig-6.RMP


Maybe. ( see my opinion above )

So far I have not encountered the route problem again. I've been working around it by keeping a backup of the .MAP / .RMP files in a separate folder just in case I need to revert the .RMP if it corrupts.

good to hear. I figure that once you get a hang of things and follow basic conventions, Mapview will work fine for ya

If you have a .CHM helpfile reader on Linux i suggest taking an extended browse through MapView.chm .....

[Spoiler]

29

Help / Re: Trying to add new alien craft.

« on: April 22, 2023, 10:50:33 pm »

The exact steps I've been doing:

Code: [Select]

. Start MapView 2
. Expand the tftdShips tree so that Craft & USO are visible.
. Select "USO" by Left click.
. Right Click "USO" and select "Add Tileset"
. In the MAP field either type the name of a new map, or click "..." and select an existing map file.
. Click create.
. Select (UEXT2, UEXT3, UINT1, UINT2, UINT3) and move each to the "allocated" window by pressing the "Left" button.
. Click Accept.

I also may have selected the "Save Maptree" option in the "File" menu in the past either right after creating the map or after working on it a bit.

I just tried it again and this time it created a 10x10 file with no routes.

Now that I know it should be 10x10 by default I'll keep an eye out for that, if the new map starts with anything else I'll assume it is corrupted and try to make another one.

it kinda sounds like maybe you typed in the name of an existing Map ... really not sure tho.

I think the routes on the empty example map came from this craft's map 'Whirligig'. Interestingly the Whirligig's map also seems to have now started using yet other crafts routes and is throwing this error when I click on it:

Spoiler:

i have no idea where that map came from /shrug

30

Help / Re: Trying to add new alien craft.

« on: April 22, 2023, 09:21:11 pm »

whenever I try to make a new map there are already routes, it seems to be inheriting them from a different crafts map. Also sometimes adding a new map seems to corrupt a different map file causing the other map to use another craft's routes instead of its own.

An idea what could be causing this?

not really. It's possibly a filename MAP/RMP conflict wrt files in different directories on your hardrive -- but that's unlikely since Mapview2 finds the MAP and RMP files given a label (filename without extension) and a basepath (parent of the MAPS and ROUTES directories).

This is the first I've seen or heard of it, and to debug it I'd need a minimum case with *exact* steps to repro ...

Here is an example, I just created this map with the "Add Tileset" command and it started with an empty map but it has the routes from a different craft already present.

Perhaps I'm creating the file initially incorrectly, the method I'm using is to click USO and select "Add Tileset" then add the (UEXT2, UEXT3, UINT1, UINT2, UINT3) terrain tile sets using the menu. Should I be doing something else?

sounds good enough, but I know you're doing more than that because a new Map is 10x10 tiles and the example has 30x30 ... :\

The routes have a distinctive pattern; so, what Map do they come from?

I have another question about the tile limit. Is 253 just for the alien craft being made in MapView itself or does the sea floor and whatever X-Com craft the player sends to the location also count towards the limit when the file is loaded ingame?

pretty sure that the 253 ID limit is only for the mapblock that you're working on. Ie, the game engines likely use a 32-bit integer that relaxes the limit ...