[TOOL] Changeling - X3:TC Editor and Change Manager [v2.8.1 - Sa-07-May-2011]

[kptkirk]

Thx again. i should be good for a while

There is 1 thing that i thihk would be nice and should be consider for the future. atm in Improved Race the ships spawn by that mod have the default script load out which is like type of guns and thats it. So maby making it compatible with IR so there will be a large number of ships that each of them are equiped by EES.

It is more the case of the other way round, IR would need to call the appropriate EES loadout script rather than using the hard-coded loadout algorithms.

One of the features I have "kind of" planned for changeling is the auto modification of scripts to make them use EES.

sounds nice. =)


and i am back so quickly.....
under pirate there is no Plasma beam cannon aviliable while some pirate ships do have the abilityto fit them. How do i go about adding new weapens to the list?

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

under pirate there is no Plasma beam cannon aviliable while some pirate ships do have the abilityto fit them. How do i go about adding new weapens to the list?

The simplest way is to right click on the Weapons node under Pirates on the right hand tree and select "Select". A dual list dialog will then appear which will allow you to add/remove weapons via drag and drop.

At some point there will be a user guide but that will have to wait till I am closer to releasing v3.0 of Changeling.

[kptkirk]

under pirate there is no Plasma beam cannon aviliable while some pirate ships do have the abilityto fit them. How do i go about adding new weapens to the list?

The simplest way is to right click on the Weapons node under Pirates on the right hand tree and select "Select". A dual list dialog will then appear which will allow you to add/remove weapons via drag and drop.

At some point there will be a user guide but that will have to wait till I am closer to releasing v3.0 of Changeling.

cheers again. i need to claim that i am a noob for not trying right click after 4 years of eve online......

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Status Update
Formal v2.7 release.

Main changes are:-

• Removed sample EES and MARS configuration files
• Added 4 sample session files (Vanilla, CMOD+Xtra, AWRM+Xtra, AWRM+CMOD+Xtra)
• Completed read/write/session support for TCockpits, TShips, TLasers, TBullets, TMissiles, TDocks, TFactories, and all TWares.
• Added language display options for Czech and Polish (Game Data only)
• Implemented auto-detection of user language and selection of matching game data language (default to English)
• Implemented fix for "non-English user" issues with reading/writing datafiles/session files.
• General bug fixes and look and feel tweaks.

[Osiris454]

@Roger:

Nothing special. Quirks really. You have already discussed the problems in the IR thread. All I'm wondering is if IR is getting hosed because it can't equip ships like it wants to, so instead IR does nothing.

Is their a delay or something when races decide to invade sectors?
I'm asking this because sometimes when I start a new game shortly after I get messages that IR is launching assault fleets, and sometimes I get nothing at all. I've looked around when that happens and nobody seems to be launching anything.

I asked this question in the IR thread but I got no responses.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

...

Hmmm... not knowing exactly how IR is coded it is hard to say. In theoretical terms, the start up time should not matter unless there are scripts that they will be triggered in a certain time interval. For things like Improved Races it would be probably better if they default to off and then the initialise when you switch them on from the AI Life menu.

EES has no choice in the matter, due to it's pervasive nature it has to be active through out the life of the game to gain it's full benefit.

[Litcube]

Roger, you might find this useful.

As it stands, mission generated ships don't use EES. They still use the old default wares command.

This MD OBS.xml replacement runs Lib.Gen.EquipShip on all generic mission generated ships. This will fix the problem with mods that make new pirate ships of alternate variants and races that don't supply default weapons correctly:

[ external image ]

Random value notes:

Code: Select all

<set_value name="OBS.laser" min="1000" max="10000"></set_value>
<set_value name="OBS.shield" min="60" max="100"></set_value>
<set_value name="OBS.tuning" min="60" max="100"></set_value>
<set_value name="OBS.missile" min="60" max="100"></set_value>

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

...

Thanks for that, it was on my list of things to look at (just had not got round to it yet).

At somepoint, I plan to include in Changeling support for replacing MD/MCSI/Jobs stock equipment loadout commands with calls to EES instead (exception being where specific or minimum loadouts are asked for).

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Status Update
Formal release of EES v2.2.

Main changes are:-

• Update to instructions to ensure only required files are installed.
• Incorporation of Litcube's replacement for OBS.xml (allows mission generated ships that use the Opponent Balancing System to be equipped by EES)

[Varek Raith]

Status Update
Formal release of EES v2.2.

Main changes are:-

• Update to instructions to ensure only required files are installed.
• Incorporation of Litcube's replacement for OBS.xml (allows mission generated ships that use the Opponent Balancing System to be equipped by EES)

Sweet. I was messing about the OBS file and did something similar. Was just working out the kinks. First time I really messed with MD stuff. Neat learning experience.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Sweet. I was messing about the OBS file and did something similar. Was just working out the kinks. First time I really messed with MD stuff. Neat learning experience.

One of the next things on my list of things to do for Changeling is to add support for automatic modification of MCSI/MD scripts to use EES instead (where appropriate). Implementation of the replacement code should be relatively easy, but I think the problem will be with interpretting the MCSI/MD XML (MCSI more than the MD I think - not looked into it seriously yet).

[Litcube]

Question for those who use EES, had anyone noticed funny happenings with AI ships unable to decipher what to do with weapon switching? If you don't know what job ship weapon switching is, ignore this question:

Strange things I've seen:

Saw a few M7s and M2s who uninstalled their weapons for no apparent reason, and failed to re-install them, thus leaving the turret empty. Even when fire upon and engaged, one particular M7 didn't fire back, despite the fact that it had appropriate weapons in its cargo.

This is my bad. My original write of EES (fun fact: originally called Custom Weapon Priorities, as per the setup file name ) I didn't think of adding extra weapons for the advanced weapon switching of jobs. Not sure if you altered this or not, Roger.

3 possible solutions:


1) Turn of job weapons switching. Easy to do in jobs. My favourite option (KISS).

2) Rewrite the swap tasks script.

3) Add extra lasers to ships with EES. This is my least favourite option.


I hope this is the right place to post this.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

1) Turn of job weapons switching. Easy to do in jobs. My favourite option (KISS).

Ok, would do as a quick fix but what is the benefit of weapons switching?

2) Rewrite the swap tasks script.

Which script is this?

3) Add extra lasers to ships with EES. This is my least favourite option.

Depending on answer to 1 this might be the best option.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Status Update
Formal v2.8 release of Changeling.

Main changes are:-

• Enumeration of MD and MCSI scripts
• Support for loading into a rudimentary embedded XML editor (no save function for now).

[Litcube]

Ok, would do as a quick fix but what is the benefit of weapons switching?

!turret.swaptask.adv has code to get job ships to try and switch their weapons around to match the best laser for the target, sort of like what MARS does. Only job ships specified with the "change weapons" flag in jobs.txt have this running on them on task 33.

It's not working with EES equipped ships. It messes it up all to hell. Thing is, it never really worked all that well anyway.

[apricotslice]

Thing is, it never really worked all that well anyway.

Then its better off removed until it does work properly. imo

[Litcube]

Thing is, it never really worked all that well anyway.

Then its better off removed until it does work properly. imo

Getting it to work properly would likely be very expensive. MARS is somewhat expensive, from what I gather, which is probably why Gazz didn't replace all the swaptasks with it.

I'd still like to hear other people's reports before we try anything. I don't want to turn the barn upside down on account me spotting a mouse.

[HotSake]

A simple experiment would be to back up !turret.swaptask.adv and replace it with an empty wait loop. If that solves the issue, it's an even simpler fix than editing Jobs.

[Sam L.R. Griffiths]

Ok, would do as a quick fix but what is the benefit of weapons switching?

!turret.swaptask.adv has code to get job ships to try and switch their weapons around to match the best laser for the target, sort of like what MARS does. Only job ships specified with the "change weapons" flag in jobs.txt have this running on them on task 33.

It's not working with EES equipped ships. It messes it up all to hell. Thing is, it never really worked all that well anyway.

I have investigated the issue and the simplest/safest option initially is to probably to include mutated forms of !turret.swaptask.adv and !turret.attacktarget.adv with the instances of the select and switch lasers for target command commented out for the time being since the !turret.attacktarget.adv script also has an effect on missile usage by ships with missile turrets.

EDIT: In the long term, these calls could be replaced with a low cost version of MARS weapon selection algorithm.

[Litcube]

simplest/safest option initially is to probably to include mutated forms of !turret.swaptask.adv and !turret.attacktarget.adv with the instances of the select and switch lasers for target command commented out for the time being since the !turret.attacktarget.adv script also has an effect on missile usage by ships with missile turrets.

I agree.

Also, scratch option 1. I've made a mistake. Removing the "change weapons" flag from jobs does *not* stop swaptask from being run on task 33.