[MOD] Station Engineers

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Thu, 12. Mar 15, 21:16

Hehe.

swatti · Post by **swatti** » Sun, 15. Mar 15, 18:11

Neat mod, i'd recommend upping this to steam, just to make it more known.

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Sun, 15. Mar 15, 18:32

Thanks swatti. I'm inclined not to though, mostly because mods on Steam are updated without user intervention, so I can't expect anyone who's using it to know about what changed if it gets updated. Not that I can expect everyone to read the description at the Nexus, but at least everyone has to go through it to get at the files, so I hope there's a better chance that they will!

Requiemfang · Post by **Requiemfang** » Tue, 31. Mar 15, 05:53

curious if there would be a conflict between this and this mod/fix http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=378809 or are there plans in place w.evens to include it if it isn't compatible?

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Tue, 31. Mar 15, 07:58

Hey Requiemfang,

This doesn't conflict with bm01's Engineer Fix. They don't modify the same files: this modifies md\NPC_Engineer.xml while Engineer Fix modifies aiscripts\engineer.ai.xml

Requiemfang · Post by **Requiemfang** » Fri, 10. Apr 15, 02:19

hmmm... noticing something is it normal for the station engineer to constantly report the amount it's repairing? I got it doing it atm and it's spamming every half dozen seconds or so. First time I've seen this of course.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =422427224

It's showing this, but the station itself isn't even damaged.

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Fri, 10. Apr 15, 02:32

You must be using the alexalsp variant. Forgot to remove the logbook and notification spam from that. Sorry about that. Should be fixed now.

_____
10.Apr.2015 - v0.02_alexalsp is up!

updated the alexalsp variant to use the same alterations as v0.03
removed notification and logbook spam

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Fri, 10. Apr 15, 02:37

Requiemfang wrote:It's showing this, but the station itself isn't even damaged.

I do know that there was a vanilla bug with engineers trying to repair without needing to. It was reported fixed, but what you saw might be a legacy of that bug.

In any case, this doesn't change how repairs are done, nor when they're initiated. The main variant just allows you to assign engineers to stations. The alexalsp variant additionally increases the amount by which engineer skill makes repairs go faster.

edit: could also be a mod conflict. I know that angel618's Engineer 100 completely rewrites engineer.ai.xml, for example, so that will conflict with anything else that modifies engineer.ai.xml. This is also redundant with Vim Razz's Human Resources, but Vim said that this mod is just bypassed. (Haven't checked yet, but Vim's good.)

Requiemfang · Post by **Requiemfang** » Fri, 10. Apr 15, 03:05

I do have HR, so basically since HR bypasses this mod it's better for me to remove this mod and just let HR handle it?

If you want I can open the game up in debug and post the log for you if that's what you want?

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Fri, 10. Apr 15, 05:23

HR will completely overwrite the changes made by the "main" version of the mod, so it doesn't really do anything (or hurt anything) if they're installed together.

It doesn't have any affect on the aiscript changes in the _alexalsp, though, so if you're using that version then you still get that benefit.

Regarding the constantly repairing engineer.... You wouldn't be using J3PIT3R's production management mod by any chance, would you?

It switches off production by tricking the game into thinking the module is too badly damaged to remain operational, which has the side effect of making engineers freak out trying to fix that "damage"...

Requiemfang · Post by **Requiemfang** » Fri, 10. Apr 15, 05:39

Vim Razz wrote:HR will completely overwrite the changes made by the "main" version of the mod, so it doesn't really do anything (or hurt anything) if they're installed together.

It doesn't have any affect on the aiscript changes in the _alexalsp, though, so if you're using that version then you still get that benefit.

Regarding the constantly repairing engineer.... You wouldn't be using J3PIT3R's production management mod by any chance, would you?

It switches off production by tricking the game into thinking the module is too badly damaged to remain operational, which has the side effect of making engineers freak out trying to fix that "damage"...

No, not to my knowledge, unless he included it with his Betty mod, which would be a mistake since it would cause issues like you said. If anything it would be better to separate parts of the mod and let people choose which ones they wanna use. If it is in the betty mod he should rectify that.

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Fri, 10. Apr 15, 11:04

Requiemfang wrote:I do have HR, so basically since HR bypasses this mod it's better for me to remove this mod and just let HR handle it?

Yup. If you're only after the functionality of the main mod (placing engineers in stations to handle repairs), and you want HR, then I would recommend that you uninstall this mod in favor of Vim's.

Requiemfang wrote:If you want I can open the game up in debug and post the log for you if that's what you want?

Thanks, but there would seem to be no point since this doesn't affect when repairs are initiated, nor how repairs are done. So your station's repairs are being initiated somewhere else.

Updated the code in the OP if you want to take a look.

edit: could also be the 99% thing (not sure if it qualifies as a bug). You know how ships that have 99% hull couldn't be repaired in shipyards? I think it's because the damage is big enough to round down to 99 in the display, but small enough that it doesn't register as damage, so the resources needed for repair (nor any of the math associated for repair) aren't calculable.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sun, 12. Apr 15, 02:51

Requiemfang wrote:No, not to my knowledge, unless he included it with his Betty mod.

You would know if you were running it, because you would have had to "switch off" the production manually before any visible issues arose.

In this case, the quirk evans described seems most likely?

Requiemfang · Post by **Requiemfang** » Sun, 12. Apr 15, 03:16

w.evans wrote:
Requiemfang wrote:I do have HR, so basically since HR bypasses this mod it's better for me to remove this mod and just let HR handle it?
Yup. If you're only after the functionality of the main mod (placing engineers in stations to handle repairs), and you want HR, then I would recommend that you uninstall this mod in favor of Vim's.

Requiemfang wrote:If you want I can open the game up in debug and post the log for you if that's what you want?
Thanks, but there would seem to be no point since this doesn't affect when repairs are initiated, nor how repairs are done. So your station's repairs are being initiated somewhere else.

Updated the code in the OP if you want to take a look.

edit: could also be the 99% thing (not sure if it qualifies as a bug). You know how ships that have 99% hull couldn't be repaired in shipyards? I think it's because the damage is big enough to round down to 99 in the display, but small enough that it doesn't register as damage, so the resources needed for repair (nor any of the math associated for repair) aren't calculable.

Since getting the new version I've not experienced the spam. Also @VR I haven't seen that "switch off" option before.

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Sun, 28. Jun 15, 09:01

28.Jun.2015 - Compatibility update - should now be compatible with Linux and Mac versions.

Windows users need not re-download.

However, I am unable to verify compatibility since I don't have access to a box running Linux or whatever they're calling the Mac OS at the moment, so feedback on this would be greatly appreciated.

CulunTse · Post by **CulunTse** » Sun, 5. Jul 15, 13:56

Mini-update: as I remarked in my linux compatibility guide it works after I rename the file "NPC_Engineer.xml" to "npc_engineer.xml".

I've updated the guide

Thanks again for your enthusiasm for this topic!

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Sun, 5. Jul 15, 14:00

He he. Crap. Ok, md file names have to be in small caps as well. I'll change this accordingly. Thanks for confirming.

And it's fun, sort of. Kind of like trying to hit a target without ever having seen it and not being sure if the target was hit, and why. Figuring out why is fun.

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Sun, 5. Jul 15, 14:14

5.Jul.2015 - v0.05 is up.

Compatibility update. Now compatible with Linux and Mac versions. (v0.04 didn't work. This one should.)

Thanks to CulunTse for verifying and testing the linux update.

JESS 246 · Post by **JESS 246** » Tue, 7. Jul 15, 12:58

Hi w.evans

I've given this a try but have yet to find a way to assign an engineer to a station you can ask them to work on ships but when asking them to work on a station i see no line in chat to do this like you stand on a cap ship dock and see the line work here but on a station dock no such line like assigning managers/defence etc.

Maybe if in the menu list where there the section on crew for stations how about adding a proper station engineers that not only work independently on a station but works with the architects.

And to add to this like you buy from a recruitment trader marines you buy builders for engineers and these would then do all internal work/repairs while construct drones work outside.

w.evans · Post by **w.evans** » Tue, 7. Jul 15, 13:23

Hey Jess,

Are you on windows? I'm worried that my work in making it compatible with linux (confirmed to be working) may have broken compatibility with the windows version of the game. I can't test it right now, but will look into it when I can.

And thanks for the ideas! I don't have plans to expand this mod at the moment, but I'll keep them in mind if/when I do.

EDIT: Couldn't resist, so checked in-game, and it does indeed not work. No idea why at the moment, since the paths all still land in versions 3.53 and 3.60, and, in a cursory look, I don't see any changes in the base files that would invalidate the changes. I really can't afford to look deeper into this at the moment, however, because I really should get back to work. Thanks for the heads-up!

For now, I'm updating the OP, and informing NZ-Wanderer that this is broken.

In the meantime, I could point you to Vim_Razz' Human Resources which also adds this functionality.