[REQUEST] Hacking/Small Talk slowdown modification

[Legionnaire]

Sorry to bother you talented Modders, but I'm having an issue that I'm hoping one you can help me with. Since Last November I have had slowed reflexes, most of the time this isnt really an issue, however in the case of a certain plot mission, (hacking Xenon Stations) its causing me untold annoyance, I never managed to get past here last year and each time i come back to the same point hoping i will be able to get past it, however its not happening. What I am hoping for, would be something that would either slow down the speed the bar moves left->right->left making it easier to click on the right area, or something that will automatically click for me, so i can succeed at this mission and progress further. Critical successes are not of importance to me.

I know some people might view this as a cheat , and possibly it is, unfortunately i seem to be left with no other choice.

Hope Someone can help.

Legionnaire

[wwdragon]

I have another option, in case there isn't one made.
Watch it moving and experiment with predicting how long it'll take to get there.

Instead of responding to it, you can figure out how long ahead to click that way.

[Legionnaire]

You think i havent tried?

I had put approximately 400 hours into game last year. Late November I had a heart attack, things were more difficult to get the timing on after that, I've tried on and off over the last year, and unfortunately I always seem to mess it up now. You have to be successful too many times in a row, with a limited number of misses, and unfortunately my co-ordination no longer seems up to the task. Which is why i swallowed my pride and made this request.

Legionnaire

[compac]

When I try to board a ship it now just explodes....

[zhaarteth]

+1

I've had to opt out of that part of the game entirely. Timing- and/or reflex-based challenges are not fun when you don't have a healthy nervous system.

If someone could point me to which XML file contains timing/pacing data pertaining to that minigame interface I might take a stab at this.

[OT]
But, IMO, that whole minigame is poorly thought out to begin with. Take a look at practically any other hacking minigame in other space-related SciFi games and you'll see what I mean. I can understand the smalltalk minigame having that interface, but still.
[/OT]

[w.evans]

@Legionnaire I tried to do a quick hack for this, and found this promising section in [\libraries\parameters.xml] (here is the altered version)

Code: Select all

<diff>
 <replace sel="/libraries[@name='parameters']/minigame">
  <minigame>
    <difficulties>
      <difficulty>
        <curve value="1" />
      </difficulty>
      <difficulty>
        <curve value="3" />
      </difficulty>
      <difficulty>
        <curve value="2" />
      </difficulty>
      <difficulty>
        <curve value="4" />
      </difficulty>
      <difficulty>
        <curve value="5" />
      </difficulty>
    </difficulties>
    <curves>
      <curve peak="0.5">
        <position x="-0.06" level="1" />
        <position x="0.013" level="2" />
        <position x="0.026" level="3" />
        <position x="0.038" level="4" />
        <position x="0.46" level="5" />
        <position x="0.952" level="4" />
        <position x="0.955" level="3" />
        <position x="0.962" level="2" />
        <position x="0.972" level="1" />
        <position x="0.987" level="0" />
      </curve>
      <curve peak="0.5">
        <position x="0.043" level="1" />
        <position x="0.045" level="2" />
        <position x="0.047" level="3" />
        <position x="0.048" level="4" />
        <position x="0.49" level="5" />
        <position x="0.952" level="4" />
        <position x="0.962" level="3" />
        <position x="0.972" level="2" />
        <position x="0.982" level="1" />
        <position x="0.992" level="0" />
      </curve>
      <curve peak="0.5">
        <position x="-0.006" level="1" />
        <position x="0.017" level="2" />
        <position x="0.033" level="3" />
        <position x="0.042" level="4" />
        <position x="0.49" level="5" />
        <position x="0.952" level="4" />
        <position x="0.953" level="3" />
        <position x="0.955" level="2" />
        <position x="0.958" level="1" />
        <position x="0.962" level="0" />
      </curve>
      <curve peak="0.5">
        <position x="0.036" level="1" />
        <position x="0.044" level="2" />
        <position x="0.047" level="3" />
        <position x="0.048" level="4" />
        <position x="0.496" level="5" />
        <position x="0.953" level="4" />
        <position x="0.959" level="3" />
        <position x="0.969" level="2" />
        <position x="0.985" level="1" />
        <position x="1.04" level="0" />
      </curve>
      <curve peak="0.5">
        <position x="0.007" level="1" />
        <position x="0.018" level="2" />
        <position x="0.028" level="3" />
        <position x="0.038" level="4" />
        <position x="0.476" level="5" />
        <position x="0.950" level="4" />
        <position x="0.951" level="3" />
        <position x="0.952" level="2" />
        <position x="0.954" level="1" />
        <position x="0.956" level="0" />
      </curve>
    </curves>
  </minigame>
 </replace>
</diff>

Couldn't get it to work though.

In this version, tried to make the area around level 5 (am assuming that that corresponds with getting 5 points from the smalltalk and hacking minigame) much wider. Also tried changing all of the levels to "5", and changing all of the curve values to "1" [difficulties/difficulty/] so one could at least get used to the same curve running over and over again.

When that didn't work, tried altering Smalltalk.xml in [/md] to allow more passes (the bar moves from left to right, then right to left, making 2 passes which is specified in that file), and to make the passes slower.

Code: Select all

            <set_value name="static.$difficulty" exact="1" />
            <set_value name="static.$passes" exact="2" />
            <set_value name="static.$speed" exact="8" />

changed to

Code: Select all

            <set_value name="static.$difficulty" exact="1" />
            <set_value name="static.$passes" exact="20" />
            <set_value name="static.$speed" exact="2" />

but these modifications changed absolutely NOTHING in-game. It is important to note that I have zero experience working with xml outside of tweaking mods for X-Rebirth that have already been built, so it could very well be something in the format or syntax that I typed in wrong.

Maybe someone with more experience can take a look at the puzzle, and am hoping that the code snippets above might at least help point in a useful direction.



@compac space_cowboy01 made this bug report here:

http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=374702

He confirms, later in that thread, that the problem was marines he had already had from an earlier version (probable pre-v3.0 RC1). Was fixed by selling all of the marines he had in the skunk, and acquiring new ones.

[Legionnaire]

@w.evans thanks for trying all that xml is beyond me , but maybe it will be the basis of someone spotting something, or working out how to modify this.

Legionnaire

[lubatomy]

just testing and i noticed that small talk was much slower when i changed passes to 4 and speed to 4. note there are 2 places with that info in the small talk file so not sure which one caused it to be slower as i changed both. I have not tried hacking yet. Note this was with a fresh game that i tried the changes. I did not try them with an saved game. note a speed of 4 should be about half as fast as the original value and it appears to take 2x as long to move across with that.

Again no idea if hacking was affected by the change or not.

[w.evans]

Oh man, I feel like an idiot! Got the pathing wrong, of all things!

Ok, it's working, and can be downloaded here:

http://www.nexusmods.com/xrebirth/mods/426/?

tested with both small talk, and the hacking minigame. Completely save game compatible.

Opted to go with the original method of widening the 5 point sweet spot. So, start the minigame as normal (via Small talk or Hacking), and clicking pretty much anytime after the game begins (and before the game ends, of course) should net you 5 points.

There is minimal impact, so should be compatible with anything out there except anything that alters the exact mechanic that it modifies. [parameters/minigame/curves in parameters.xml]

Please bear in mind that no attempt was made whatsoever to balance the minigame, or to make it fun. This is a cheat with which one can win the smalltalk minigame all the time. If you find the smalltalk/hacking minigame at all fun, do not use this mod.

That said, I don't find the minigame the least bit fun, so I will probably use this mod, but only in instances when I have to play the hacking minigame (such as in certain points in the campaign.)

PS. The method outlined by lubatomy should also work, and, in retrospect, might be a better idea since it alters the Smalltalk.xml file specifically, without affecting the more general parameters.xml file at all. That said, I have not read up on md scripting, so decided to go this route.

@Legionnaire Hope this helps.

edit: uploaded the file to nexus mods, and changed the link to go there.
edit 2: Nexus doesn't have a downward facing arrow. Deleted the line, might be confusing.

[Legionnaire]

@w.evans thanks, i had one failure clicking before the bar had made it to the purple area, too eager i guess, but once that was out of the way i managed to get through the rest of the two hacking sessions on first attempt thankyou.

Now just need to figure out why i still cant dock at the station lol.

Legionnaire

[w.evans]

No problem. Was fun trying to figure it out.

[HailedGorion]

I´ll try this cheat also... it will be really useful.

I am trying to do a chain missions to some pirates... and I have to hack an station in the teladi area, which lags me a lot. It is impossible to hit right the hacking 7-10 times in a row cuz if u miss one, u get failure and must start over.

I think these mini games / small talks are so r*******. I like X rebirth inspite of that.

The devs can´t come with better ideas to try to prolong the game replay? This is definetly not a good one.

BTW, thx for the files =)

[w.evans]

I doubt that the minigame was made to prolong the game, so much as to introduce a certain amount of skill into something which can give you bonuses, but is in no way necessary (the whole Smalltalk mechanic). So you play it if you like it, and you get stuff. Plus, it's referred to, at one point in the code, as the "Confidence Bar" which, yeah, kind of works in that the curve could be said to represent how confident you might be at any given moment and, I have to say, I tend to do better at this minigame when I feel confident and don't hesitate.

The mistake, I think, is in associating it with the hacking minigame which IS necessary to completion of the plot. The way the minigame works and looks doesn't seem to be at all evocative of something which I would associate with hacking (although all of my associations could be wrong, of course!). Plus the fact that it's made necessary means that if you don't like it, or suck at it, you'll be frustratingly stuck.

That said, some people might find it fun.

[NZ-Wanderer]

Thank you very much for helping the Original poster, cause you have also helped me as well, I am going to download your mod as well if that's ok.
I have never been able to complete a hacking mission in station or out of station because of a medical condition (and age )

[Ormac]

Thankyou so very much for this w.evans.

I haven't minded the smalltalk with the NPCs even with the faster scan speed but repeating it in the drone minigames olympics NO Thankou

This means the 5 and a half days ground work in Albion that I invested waiting for plot to be patched will not be wasted now that I've returned after 12 hours. (I want to at least discover and explore OL before I freeplay)

With regards to an external hacking. I can from a lore perspective come to grips with it as a method to overide the biometric safegards interperating the wave as the security voice print or the biometric checksum value. But this does not mean it is enjoyable to do

I agree that the need to do this Minigame successfully for game progression is wrong, when failure is not encouraged as an opion.

Beholder is basically find point go to next point stay ahead of security.

Trojan is find point start hack cross fingers move to next point and also stay ahead of security

Thanks again

-- Ormac

[w.evans]

You're welcome!

[strude]

With regards to an external hacking. I can from a lore perspective come to grips with it as a method to overide the biometric safegards interperating the wave as the security voice print or the biometric checksum value.

I've always thought of it as sending a hacking or disabling signal into the target system, and the minigame represents pinpointing the correct frequency to successfully infect the hacking target.