[BBS Plugin] X3 BBS Project 2

[moot]

X3 BBS Project 2 for X3 Reunion

Version Number 1.12
Date Released 3/14/2008
Last Updated 5/07/2008
Script Created in X3 Reunion v 2.5
==============================================

Description:

Finding the BBS news messages repetitive? The wise-cracking, xenophobic journalists get on your nerves? Wish the news on commodities were actually useful? If BBS stories are a part of your X3 gaming experience, this script is for you.

Features:

• Over 350 all-new news stories, based on actual media reports around the world, to lend real-world authenticity to the X3 universe. They add gritty, real-world colour to each race - see each race in and out of their stereotypes.
• Terrestrial, in-sector and guild-wide news add variety to news as you travel from location to location. See different news angles on the same event as you travel between the Foundation and Profit Guilds!
• Real business news built on the X3 economic engine. Know exactly what best deals are offered in which sector.

Download the zip file format package here:

• ZIP format
• SPK dormat

Installation:

• For the zip file, unzip and copy al.plugin.bbs.project2.init.xml and al.plugin.bbs.project2.xml into X:\...\X3 Reunion\scripts\, and 448556.xml into X:\...\X3 Reunion\t\
• For the SPK File, use Cycrow's Plugin Manager (see sticky thread in forum)

Command Slots Used: none

Text File Used: 8556 - 8565

Change log:
v1.12

• Improved performance of script
• Stabilised frequency of commodities-related news vis-a-vis static news
• Fixed issue with Yaki stations in XTM mod

v1.10

• Conversion of script into AL plugin
• Bugfix for commodities news: Now they should appear on the BBS.
• Bugfix for non-docked save games: Messages are now generated only when docked, avoiding news "originating" from Xenon and Khaak sectors
• More entries added, miscellaneous bugfixes and article edits

v1.00

• Initial release

Your feedback:

• This script is different from most, in that it is as much a piece of programming as it is a work of fiction set in the X3 universe. A lot of research was done in terms of locations, names, and story continuity, but I'm pretty sure there are lapses out there. (I still come across them in this stage of debugging.) If you come across anything, PM me or post in this thread, I'll fix them for the next release.
• Send me your news stories! I know this has been done before, but there's always room for more. Do keep the game continuity in mind, however--check the old X2 BBS story submission guidelines for details. Of course, I'll be exercising my editorial rights too.
• I need feedback on how well the script works with the No-trash BBS mod. Theoretically there should be no issues, and having no-trash installed should increase the frequency of news articles from X3 BBS Project 2.
• Bug reports, censorship/freedom of speech issues, and other feedback are welcome of course. I'll try my best to fix them.

[enenra]

Hiho,

Wow! 350 news... that's a lot!
As I was part of the german X3 BBS-Team, I can guess that it had to be tons of work to implement all them.

About using the german X3 BBS-Project for reference/using the same text ids:

it's quite simple. The game crashes because these text files are blank. If you want the german news in your english game, simply change in the file the language id from "49" (German) to "44" (English). Then it'll load correctly.
The same is possible with the german game.

I'll probably look through these news sometimes and post some feedback - especially about the news being actually "possible" in the X universe.

[moot]

Wow! 350 news... that's a lot!

Good to hear from the original folks that inspired this! Well I did take my time with the t file... (six months to be exact). Seriously though, it's not as hard as it seems since it was a matter of changing names and locations of real news, as opposed to writing from scratch, which I assume is what you guys did.

BTW, 350 excludes the articles I reworked from the old XFP mod and the few English articles from the German script. The actual number exceeds 400 I think.

About using the german X3 BBS-Project for reference/using the same text ids:

What I meant was that I was considering using exactly the same text ids as the German X3 BBS. This would make my script incompatible with your original, but in a sense this would not affect anyone since the German BBS articles only works on German PCs and mine on English systems. Would appreciate your advice as well as Cycrow's on this.

Actually, I'd be open to you guys using this script for your already extensive articles. If you open the script you'd realise both the German and this script are identical, save for the addition of Foundation/Profit Guild category news and the economic news generator. Migration would be the simple matter of adding/duplicating blocks of XML and changing the language id.

[moot]

I've just encountered a undiscovered error: the script shows the incorrect name for what should be the sector is currently in: it gives the sector where the player is where he loaded the game from instead. This is because the BBS script runs only once, when the game loads, and not after.

Is there any means where I can force the script to load every time I land on a station?

[Terre]

Found a few spelling errors in file 448556.xml , I didn't get right the way through, but I'll have another look, time permitting.

line 69 centered to centred
line 69 proprosal to proposal
line 84 overridding to overriding
line 84 debri to debris
line 84 center to centre
line 84 traveling to travelling
line 89 aftereffects to after-effects
line 94 newsservice to news service (multiple)
line 104 renonwned to renowned
line 104 undescribable to indescribable
line 104 Availble to Available
line 109 center to centre
line 109 overridding overriding
line 124 terrestial to terrestrial
line 149 terrestial to terrestrial
line 149 newswire to news wire
line 149 absorbtion to absorption
line 154 taskforce to task force
line 215 terrestial to terrestrial
line 220 evalution to evaluation
line 235 unprecendented to unprecedented
line 284 artifacts to artefacts
line 284 descendents to descendants
line 304 totaled to totalled
line 329 unpopoulated to unpopulated
line 344 teritory to territory
line 344 gunbattle to gun battle
line 364 evalution to evaluation
line 380 policymakers to policy-makers
line 459 policymakers to policy-makers (multiple)
line 464 firefighters to fire-fighters
line 805 artifacts to artefacts
line 806 artifacts to artefacts (multiple)
line 1524 terrestial to terrestrial
line 1025 debri to debris
line 1025 overridding to overriding
line 1035 newsservice to news service (multiple)
line 1045 renonwned to renowned
line 1045 undescribable to indescribable
line 1776 evalution to evaluation
line 1781 totaled to totalled
line 1421 taskforce to task force
line 1801 teritory to territory
line 1801 gunbattle to gun battle
line 1989 center to centre

[moot]

Glad to have copy-proofers anytime. I've corrected these typos, but for some terms (e.g. aftereffects) I'll be sticking with the style guide presentation. Will replace the download file when I get home.

Any help with my trying to get the script to load once at every station? Not sure if activating the Script Editor will help, but it appears to have no effect when it is...

[Terre]

A few more spelling errors in file 448556.xml, hope I've got them all.

• Line 109 traveling to travelling
  Line 220 ration-alisation to rationalisation
  Line 364 ration-alisation to rationalisation
  Line 538 sychronised to synchronised
  Line 549 underage to under-age (multiple)
  Line 564 traveling to travelling
  Line 590 ongonig to ongoing
  Line 595 writen to written
  Line 699 nonproliferation to non-proliferation
  Line 744 grassroots to grass-roots
  Line 800 rerouting to re-routing
  Line 821 wastebarges to waste barges
  Line 881 crewmembers to crew members
  Line 856 judgment to judgement (multiple)
  Line 985 ongonig to ongoing
  Line 1025 traveling to travelling
  Line 1045 opporunity to opportunity
  Line 1050 switchover to switch over
  Line 1055 nonexecutive to non-executive (multiple)
  Line 1075 Homeowners to Home owners
  Line 1121 unsavory to unsavoury
  Line 1164 Patriach to Patriarch (multiple)
  Line 1164 Patriachs to Patriarchs
  Line 1194 maneuverability to manoeuvrability
  Line 1204 fiancee to fiancée (multiple)
  Line 1209 kilometer to kilometre
  Line 1209 maneuvered to manoeuvred
  Line 1219 predawn to pre dawn
  Line 1244 advisors to advisers
  Line 1249 projets to projects
  Line 1301 underway to under way
  Line 1306 underway to under way
  Line 1315 shortlisted to short-listed
  Line 1316 shortlisted to short-listed (multiple)
  Line 1346 wastewater to waste-water
  Line 1426 offical to official
  Line 1466 expresssed to expressed
  Line 1466 fulfiled to fulfilled
  Line 1471 center-right to centre-right
  Line 1477 center-right to centre-right
  Line 1483 hardline to hard-line
  Line 1483 Wheras to Whereas
  Line 1488 councilor to councillor (multiple)
  Line 1488 councilors to councillors
  Line 1488 Wastewater to Waste-water
  Line 1493 hardline to hard-line
  Line 1493 Wheras to Whereas
  Line 1498 maneuver to manoeuvre (multiple)
  Line 1498 defense to defence
  Line 1498 preemptive to pre-emptive
  Line 1519 pullout to pull-out
  Line 1524 pretensioner to pre tensioner
  Line 1545 monopolisation to monopolization
  Line 1582 trillionCr to trillion Cr
  Line 1587 honored to honoured
  Line 1597 underway to under way
  Line 1661 existence.There to existence. There
  Line 1661 firepower to fire-power
  Line 1666 innkeeping to inn keeping
  Line 1666 greated to greeted
  Line 1676 defense to defence
  Line 1681 advisors to advisers
  Line 1686 firepower to fire-power
  Line 1686 Patriach to Patriarch
  Line 1731 combustables to combustibles
  Line 1735 Turrret to Turret
  Line 1736 simultaniously to simultaneously
  Line 1740 Turrret to Turret
  Line 1741 simultaniously to simultaneously
  Line 1746 frontline to front-line
  Line 1751 writen to written
  Line 1776 ration-alisation to rationalisation
  Line 1785 maneuver to manoeuvre
  Line 1784 maneuverability to manoeuvrability
  Line 1859 foodgrain to food grain
  Line 1964 afterward, shortage to afterwards a shortage
  Line 1964 Skyrocketing to Sky-rocketing
  Line 1994 skyrocket to sky-rocket
  Line 2004 rain/thundershowers to showers/thunderstorms
  Line 2024 specialty to speciality
  Line 2054 firefighter to fire-fighter
  Line 2058 Skyrockets to Sky-rockets
  Line 2059 skyrocket to sky-rocket
  Line 2070 specialty to speciality
  Line 2095 Skyrocketed to Sky-rocketed
  Line 2095 protestors to protesters
  Line 2095 neighboring to neighbouring
  Line 2150 sectorwide to sector wide
  Line 2165 sectorwide to sector wide
  Line 2222 offtake to stockpiling
  Line 2223 offtake to stockpiling
  Line 2339 ColorMatrix to ColourMatrix (multiple)
  Line 2349 microfinance to micro finance
  Line 2354 presspersons to press persons
  Line 2364 targetted to targeted
  Line 2374 specialty to speciality
  Line 2429 judgment to judgement

[moot]

Ok, fixed and uploaded.

I noticed that some of your corrections are American spellings and others British. What software are you using to check my t file, if any?

[7ate9tin11s]

This sounds quite nice, giving it a spin to add a little more background to my universe. Be nice to see something besides the 'Once and future truth'

[Terre]

Ok, fixed and uploaded.

I noticed that some of your corrections are American spellings and others British. What software are you using to check my t file, if any?

I'm trying to use UK English spellings where possible. If I'm getting any wrong, could you let me know so I don't repeat the mistake.

I'm using a dictionary, hard copy, Open Office, with UK-English dictionary, and to read the xml files, I use Notpadd++.

[moot]

Well I wouldn't call them mistakes, British/American spellings are a matter of preference really. Unless we were writing for our employer. Examples of those terms that I kept my spelling are monopolization and microfinance.

Thanks much for your help.

[Terre]

Well I wouldn't call them mistakes, British/American spellings are a matter of preference really. Unless we were writing for our employer. Examples of those terms that I kept my spelling are monopolization and microfinance.

Thanks much for your help.

Agree with monopolisation , as it's based on the Latin 'monopolist'. But I've not had any luck finding 'microfinance', in anything other than 'Webster's New Millennium', which is a American dictionary.

The one I thought you would flinch at was, 'pre-tensioner', as it is not so much a word, but a description of 'a device for taking up the slack' on a seat belt or similar.

[Cash'Lu]

Hello there, sorry for taking long to reply (hope this doesn't count as a necro ) but once again I've been held captive by exams.

I installed the script pack, everything went fine, and I'm getting the additional BBS (which I really love cause I always wanted "real" market info).

Though, a problem which occured to me is that sometimes the text is displayed as $ware$ sort of a variable that is being printed out as a string (instead of the actual value of the variable itself).

Apart from that till now I had no other problems.

And congrats for a really great script pack

[moot]

No problem, always glad to see someone enjoy the script. I've fixed the $ware$ issue (was a legacy variable from an early prototype), please download and replace the t file.

You say you can see the economic news? I've been having trouble getting them to show up on my computer--due to limitations on the BBS engine, changes I make to the script don't show up until god-knows how many game days, so I haven't been able to accurately tell the frequency of the new articles. Can you let me know the following, to help with my debug?

1) Compared to Egosoft articles and mission offerings, how many new news articles do you see on the BBS, on average? As many? Half as many?

2) How many business news articles show on the BBS, on average? One? Two? Can you cite an example headline or two? (I ask because some of the static news items also mention products and prices, and can be easily be mistaken as a business news item--the one with the $ware$ problem, for example, is actually a static news item.)

3) Which product tends to be mentioned the most on the BBS? In my debugs it used to be Delexian Wheat, Soja Bean and Space Fuel.

[Cash'Lu]

1)Under 30mins gameplay I just got 2 - one at the Getsu Fune Boron Trading station and another I think it was Omicron Lyrae. So its pretty low compared to Egosoft articles.

2)The one from Getsu Fune was about Salmon hehe. Omicron Lyrae I think if I remember it was about ECells.

3)See numbers 1 and 2.

I know its not much, but I had installed the script, spent about 30mins game time, and then had to go continue studying

[moot]

1)Under 30mins gameplay I just got 2 - one at the Getsu Fune Boron Trading station and another I think it was Omicron Lyrae. So its pretty low compared to Egosoft articles.

That is roughly correct for 30 min game time. The frequency can vary quite a bit.

2)The one from Getsu Fune was about Salmon hehe. Omicron Lyrae I think if I remember it was about ECells.

That would suggest the business news part of the script is working. While the script doesn't actually have news on ecells (it only has news on other primary and secondary products), I do have some business articles (about Nostrop Oil and Teladianium) that mention e-cells.

And the "salmon" is a typo actually, it's supposed to be chelt. And it just so happens it's one of the two "$ware$" articles in the t file, lucky you.

Do update on this thread once you've had more time with the script. In the meanwhile I've have to find a way to restart the script on my computer so that I can reliably debug the thing.

[AjaxDude]

Does this mod work with the 1.4 cheats script?

[moot]

It should work fine. The script has no dependencies, uses no command slots, and is entirely passive in terms of interacting with player assets and the game economy.

[Cash'Lu]

Ok, yesterday tried playing for about an hour (got the updated t file as suggested).

I visited over 15 stations, but unfortunately I didn't see any BBS related to this, erm BBS script.

Is there a way to maybe increase the frequency please? (Haven't played around with the BBS engine sorry, so I don't know if its possible. Only did very mild and noobish scripts plus 2 3D models).

[moot]

I'm still trying to increase the frequency, will include it in the next version update once I succeed. In the meantime, I'd really appreciate if anyone out there using the No-Trash BBS mod will test this the performance of the script for me--yeah I know it's contradictory for people who wish to reduce trash BBS to try this script of all things, but hey one can wish.