[MOD] [AP] Terran Conflict plots for AP (TCAP) - v1.1 Work in Progress (05.05.2012)

[Black147]

Description:

This mod is a work in progress that aims to create a continuous plotline covering the Terran Conflict and AP plot. More details and the idea can be found here.
I believe the base is useable and so I decided to release it for testing. It will probably have bugs and is meant for players experienced in modding their games.

It currently contains:
- the vanilla AP Hub plot (the AP plot completed requirement has been removed)
- the vanilla HQ plot (the AP plot completed requirement has been removed)
- all corporation missions
- the Goner plot
- the Khaak plot
- the Terran plot
- the Aldrin plot and a custom plot leading to it

Requirement:

- Albion Prelude 2.0.
- Vanilla, XRM, IEX and XRM/IEX versions available.

Incompatabilities:

- Any mod that touches the jobs file. Job IDs 313,314,315 and 1295 had their spawn sector adjusted to Ore Belt (1,5).
- Any mod that touches gamestarts.
- Any mod that changes the universe map.
- Any mod that touches conversations.xml. The missing lines from TC plots have been added here.

NOTE - THIS MOD CONTAINS A NEW UNIVERSE MAP, THEREFORE A GAME RESTART IS REQUIRED!
IF YOU UNINSTALL THE MOD A GAME RESTART IS REQUIRED!

How to install:

- Copy the "fake patch" and rename to highest number. It must load after XRM or IEX.
- Make a backup of your XRM scripts if you have them.
- Copy the "t" and "scripts" folders to your AP ("addon") directory overwriting any files.


* I would like to thank dillpickle for his corporation mission fixes and SyncViews for ideas and some basic files that were used as starting point!
I would also like to thank you Eriodas for extensive bugtesting!



Downloads:
TCAP 1.1 for Vanilla
[ external image ]

TCAP 1.1 for IEX 1.2a
[ external image ]

TCAP 1.1 for XRM 1.20
[ external image ]

TCAP 1.1 for XRM 1.20 / IEX 1.2a
[ external image ]



Change log...

v1.1
05.05.2012
- Added the Aldrin expansion plot and a custom plot leading up to it (to fulfill prereqs of having access to the Hub). This custom plot is essentially the first part of the TC Hub plot.
- Added message from Split when the Xenon Zyarth Dominion invasion happens.
- Added test versions for XRM and IEX.

v1.0e
27.04.2012
- Assassination missions will not spawn Argon/Terran targets any more until the AP war breaks out. This avoids a fail mission or wreck notoriety scenario.

v1.0d
24.04.2012
- fixed several bugs in Terran plot scene 2.

v1.0c
22.04.2012
- fixed duplicate stations in some sectors.

v1.0b
22.04.2012
- added the missing conversations.xml. It contains the TC plot lines.
- added an empty war map
- added welcome message and made sure setup loads
- added cutscenes

v1.0
20.04.2012

MISSION DIRECTOR CHANGES:
- Removed the AP plot complete requirement from the Hub and HQ plots.
- Added Corporation missions with the ship rewards.
- Added Goner plot, removed the Harmony of Perpetuity sector, gate leading there and Goner Temple from the Vanilla AP map, these will be added during the Goner plot / once complete. The unfocussed jumpdrive has been removed as reward as it is already given by the AP HQ plot.
-Added Khaak plot. Added TC Khaak sectors. These do not exist in vanilla AP otherwise.
- Added Terran Plot.
- Added new cue to adjust Khaak aggression level after completion of the Khaak plot. The aggression level is reset every 3-7 hours to a random value between 30 and 50. This needs testing, I have no idea if this is too much/little etc.
- Added new cue to manage the Xenon invasion of Zyarths Dominion and map changes in that area. This cue activates after 20 hours. TODO: better activation story/mini plot?
- Adjusted gamestarts and associated starting notorieties to match the TC ones. The AP starts have been removed for now, it is planned to add them later.

SCRIPT CHANGES:
- Added setup script to load text IDs and reset terran/ATF notoriety.
- Added adjusted conversations.xml

MAP CHANGES:
- Plutarch HQ relocated back to Ore Belt. Adjusted jobs file to have Plutarch military spawn there.
- Removed all Albion sectors and gate leading there. Once Plutarch rank 10 has been reached the Albion sectors open up and the Plutarch HQ gets relocated from Ore Belt to the vanilla AP location. TODO: Add jobs to have Plutarch military spawn there.
- Restored earth torus and provided the TC setup scripts.
- The "A New Home" sectors around Bluish Snout have been removed. They will be added later though the plot.
- All Aldrin sectors except Aldrin itself have been removed. They will be added later through the plot.
- As tribute to X3 Reunion the Avarice sector has been removed from the main map and is loaded dynamically. This makes customization for any taste easy.

[DrBullwinkle]

Sounds terrific, Black147.

I am sure that you have given some thought to further modifying the MD in order to reduce dependence on modified files.

In particular, people modify the Jobs file for specific purposes. I even swap jobs files depending on how many enemies I feel like dealing with that day.

Suggestion: If you cannot remove dependence on your modified jobs (or other files), then perhaps it would help to give instructions for the modifications that your MD's require. Like give us the exact lines from jobs that you use, so that they could be merged with another jobs file.

[Black147]

Good suggestions and I have already thought about that.

give us the exact lines from jobs that you use, so that they could be merged with another jobs file.

Job IDs 313,314,315 and 1295 had their spawn sector adjusted to Ore Belt (1,5). This is the Plutarch military only, I didn´t touch anything else.

That said, I´ll make a guide on how to adjust the jobs file. Any idea what happens when a spawn sector is defined in jobs that does not exist in the universe (yet)? If nothing bad happens, then you don´t need the jobs file, the Plutarch military will just not spawn until the Albion sectors open.

The conversations.xml is easy to adapt as well and few mods use gamestarts. I will provide a version for XRM to solve that problem there.
Not sure what to do about the map, it is absolutely necessary, many things will break otherwise.

[Moonrat]

I'll be more than happy to produce an IEX compatible version of the x3_universe.xml file.
I'm assuming that all I need to do is diff the "plot" version against the vanilla one and then merge any changes...?

[Eriodas]

I couldn't start the plot as an Argon. I talked to the guy in the equipment dock to start the patrol but the option wasn't there.

[Black147]

I'll be more than happy to produce an IEX compatible version of the x3_universe.xml file.
I'm assuming that all I need to do is diff the "plot" version against the vanilla one and then merge any changes...?

I´ll be more than happy to have your version of the map as well.
In fact I was planning on including it.

Yes, it just needs a diff and merge the changes. All other files in this mod can stay as they are.

I talked to the guy in the equipment dock to start the patrol but the option wasn't there.

Argon Patriot start I assume? The mission progression is exactly like in vanilla TC. Did you receive the hint message? That takes 1-2 minutes.
Then you need to fly into Omicron Lyrae where you should be automatically contacted, only after that the actor is created. Proceed to dock and the guy and text is there. Just tested here and he is there with the blue book and option to start the mission.

What other mods or scripts do you have installed?
Anything else you did different from the above?

[dillpickle]

I talked to the guy in the equipment dock to start the patrol but the option wasn't there.

Argon Patriot start I assume? The mission progression is exactly like in vanilla TC. Did you receive the hint message? That takes 1-2 minutes.
Then you need to fly into Omicron Lyrae where you should be automatically contacted, only after that the actor is created. Proceed to dock and the guy and text is there. Just tested here and he is there with the blue book and option to start the mission.

What other mods or scripts do you have installed?
Anything else you did different from the above?

You'll get the blue book icon, but you won't get the conversation option. All the TC Plot conversations were removed from the AP t/conversations.xml.

If you want the TC Plots to work you need to copy them into the AP conversations.xml.

[Black147]

If you want the TC Plots to work you need to copy them into the AP conversations.xml.

Yes. From version 1.0 changes:

- Added adjusted conversations.xml

EDIT: Upon rechecking, it appears I have that. But the file here does not. That would explain Eriodas trouble
This has been fixed, please redownload.

Eriodas, there is a small quirk when using the Argon Patriot start: you won´t get the hint message telling you to go to Omicron Lyrae as you are already in Omicron Lyrae. Using that start and targetting anything other than the tutorial ship (which is indeed one of the conditions), I would get contacted immediately by Darel. Note that I had to go to the trading station, not equipment dock. The mission is spawned on any random dock.

[Eriodas]

Good to know, thanks i'll try again.

Edit: I reinstalled the game and i'm only using your mod, and it works. But i need some other mods to enhance the gameplay a bit, so i need to know if there is any trouble in using:
- ITS cockpit mod for AP
- Improved Races 2.0
- NPC bailing addon (and dependencies)
- Marine repairs
- Terran Marines
- Salvage claim software
- Mobile ship repairs
- AP Bonus Pack (at least the Mosquito missile defense)

Those were the ones i had installed previously and the option for the plot did not appear. I know IE/IEX doesn't work right now, but a version may be on its way (thanks Moonrat for the AP fix).

[Black147]

Edit: I reinstalled the game and i'm only using your mod, and it works. But i need some other mods to enhance the gameplay a bit, so i need to know if there is any trouble in using:
- ITS cockpit mod for AP
- Improved Races 2.0
- NPC bailing addon (and dependencies)
- Marine repairs
- Terran Marines
- Salvage claim software
- Mobile ship repairs
- AP Bonus Pack (at least the Mosquito missile defense)

As far as I can see all of them should work fine. All Lucike scripts will also work, as will MARS, SMART, Complex Cleaner.

A note regarding savegame compatability: the only possible gamebreaker here are major changes to the map, updates to anything else will be fine. In other words you should be able to continue your save through the updates. At least that was the plan.

[Eriodas]

Cool, i have installed:
- ITS cockpit mod
- NPC bailing addon
- Marine Repairs
- Terran Marines
- Salvage claim software
- Mobile Ship repairs
- AP bonus pack

And all work fine with the mod (at least no Crash to desktop yet). I still need to install the Improved Races and test it, but i'm going to wait until i finish the plot (i like to make some alliances and war between races).

Funny thing i noticed is about some factories been duplicated on Circle of Labor, Heretics end, Asteroid Belt... and idk if other sectors but Omicron Lyrae and beyond are fine... in the others i saw the SSP, Cattle Rach, Mines, etc duplicated (one on top of another w/o exploding). I really don't know if it's because of some script on the list.

[Moonrat]

I'll be more than happy to produce an IEX compatible version of the x3_universe.xml file.
I'm assuming that all I need to do is diff the "plot" version against the vanilla one and then merge any changes...?

I've converted all the TCAP sub-map files to match IEX 1.2a used in full blown AP, but there are too many differences being thrown up within the "Compare" function of NotePad++ for 'x3_universe.xml' itself. I think I'll need to drag the TCAP & vanilla 'x3_universe.xml' map files into work and pass them thru' my awk script to see what gives...

[Black147]

New bugfix up!

The duplicate stations bug on the map has been fixed. Please redownload.

Use this to update a current game. Copy it to the AP director folder, load game, wait for message, save game, exit and delete file.

there are too many differences being thrown up within the "Compare" function of NotePad++. I think I'll need to drag the TCAP & vanilla map files into work and pass them thru' my awk script to see what gives...

New IEX Thanks!
I tried to give the maps descriptive names re what they contain and for which version. These were simply cut out from the main map. Typically I also had to cut out one or more gates from adjoining sectors. These will also be in the small maps.

[Eriodas]

Thanks for the fix, but i got another issue with the plot (before i saw this post, don't know if the issue will continue if i redownload).

The mission were you get 3 Rapiers and do a patrol until Treasure chest (when you find the terraformers) is actually a patrol that gets to Black Hole Sun, but the Terran Sabre's doesn't follow you to that sector and the patrol never ends...

I think the issue is the final sector in the patrol (should be treasure chest and not Black Hole Sun). Question: if it get fixed, do i have to start over? since i'm in a Plot mission that cannot be done nor cancelled?.

[DrBullwinkle]

That sounds like a semi-known bug in the vanilla plot. I ran into it when I did the Anonymous Argon start. There were similar reports on the forum. Short of fixing the plot, the solution seems to be to reset the Terran plot in order to continue.

Plots Reset 3.1 [MD Script]

[Eriodas]

That sounds like a semi-known bug in the vanilla plot. I ran into it when I did the Anonymous Argon start. There were similar reports on the forum. Short of fixing the plot, the solution seems to be to reset the Terran plot in order to continue.

Plots Reset 3.1 [MD Script]

Hmm didn't know that, never happened to me. Thanks i'll try that.

[Eriodas]

Me again, the patrol keeps going to Black Hole sun and never spawn the terraformer fighters in the Scene 2.

I noticed that the conversation about the space flies didn't occur also, should i wait in Omicron Lyrae for it to happen?, or is it trigger by an event like Gate proximity or something?

[Black147]

Me again, the patrol keeps going to Black Hole sun and never spawn the terraformer fighters in the Scene 2.

Both fixed and new version is up. The second issue was also the reason the spacefly cue didn´t trigger. The check for the next patrolsector would always fail because the 0.34 Patrol MD file has changed in AP.

Re the plots reset linked: that is one good file to use for testing. Note that once you have enabled the script editor you will also have direct access to the ingame mission director (it´s under "gameplay" options) where you can reset or complete each and every cue in the game. Far better than the reset script. And infinitely more confusing for the average user
If you can, use that one.

Edit:

Question: if it get fixed, do i have to start over? since i'm in a Plot mission that cannot be done nor cancelled?.

Sorry, overlooked that question.
No, you do not have to start over. Just install any mission file patch and restart the mision you are running. That can be done with the linked plots reset script (reset terran plot scene 2 in your case) or the ingame mission director console.

I am starting a new game myself for testing with an XRM/IEX map and the design intention was that any future patches I make to the missions will be savegame compatible.

[Black147]

Small fix:

Assasination missions would spawn Argon/Terran targets (depending on offer race) and thus wreck your notoriety with them if completed. This won´t happen any more until the AP war breaks out. Maybe I´ll add Boron to the target list for Terrans as well later.

To install, just overwrite the fake patch. Some weirdness of missing target names may result in running missions, but this will not affect anything else and should stop once all old missions have been flushed.

[Eriodas]

I can enter the terran sectors that i shouldn't, since i don't have the nessesary ATF clearance (but it's convenient if i wan't to start as a terran trader).

Also i have to ask if IEX is compatable with this mod right now..