[SCRIPT] Salvage Claim Software : V1.21 : 20-01-2010

[Phosphene]

So salvage claim software just got literally erased from my game. It's installed in the plugin manager (v1.30), I can see it when I go to the script editor, it has a hotkey in the controls settings, but it is distinctly absent from my inventory and from any equipment docks in the universe, Teladi or otherwise.

Wtf??? Basically it's installed but doesn't show up anywhere. Please, please help me. This is probably the most important script I run besides NPC bailing.


BTW I had advanced thruster control and maybe some other crap installed that also simply dissapeared (furthermore, I could never get it to show up as the correct ware it always had the whole Z_EMP_BLAH thing going, with the sole exception of salvage claim).

Furthermore, I emptied my entire freight bay and there are 13 units of phantom cargo space being occupied.

What the hell happened?


Okay somehow I fixed it, maybe by just sheer will.
But this still leaves all my other problems unsolved. Here are problem wares in my inventory, with installed scripts for reference:

[ external image ]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us


Why? And what about just the completely blank line at the top? What is this?

Im pretty sure I ****** up the installation of all the script and script management stuff and I am going to reinstall soon, but still what the hell

[cptANGRIST]

sorry .. wrong post (

[InFlamesForEver]

Is there any reason as to why this script seems to override the capital ship energy cell generator?
What happens is that this script replaces the energy cell generator ware in equipment docks instead of adding a new one.
I have checked the script in the script editor and the ware's are changed there also.
This is the only mod to do this the energy cell generator works fine without this installed, is there any way to amend this?

Thanks, flames.

EDIT: No worries, I managed to fix it myself, I had to manually re-enter the ware that was supposed to be in the Equipment docks but it works so all is good.

[Sorkvild]

Hi, Cycrow. OOS Claim Ship command is not working. I'm getting message - command rejected despite my SCS ship is being few meter away from claimed one. Why is that ?

[TSM]

Any plans to AP version this is I am not fan of space walking

[Cycrow]

in theory the script should work.

its the plugin manager custom wares that needs to be updated, which im working on.

Beta 11, might work, but i've not yet tested it for custom wares

[TSM]

in theory the script should work.

its the plugin manager custom wares that needs to be updated, which im working on.

Beta 11, might work, but i've not yet tested it for custom wares

No rush I know your a busy chap.

[zymurg]

I have installed the 'Abandoned Ship Spawner" by corbinbird in my X3AP Steam version and it is working in spawning abandoned ships.
Will this salvage script work with the Abandoned Ship Spawner and will it allow me to claim Capital Ships, which I cannot do now.?
Thanks.


EDIT: Hours later. I found the answer to my own question. Yes it does.

I didn't like starting X3AP and going out to fight the universe in a little Nova, so I restarted the game from the beginning and I sailed to the 'Position' in Argon Sector M148 and listened to my instructions in my brand new fully loaded and armed Xenon 'K' that I claimed and fully armed with Gauss Cannon, etc. I meant to thank the nice sargeant for his Nova though.
Now I'm more prepared.

[The_Mess]

@zymurg

Is that on a relatively clean install? Because I don't have SCS in game despite being installed, so I've been using the cheat script to claim big ships.

[zymurg]

@The_Mess, can't say its that clean, I have 3 or 4 other scripts installed, and haven't had a problem so far.
Did you buy the software at the Teledi Station. It took me quite a while to raise the $4 million credits to do it. (I am up to my neck in mortgage with the Universal Banking mod)

[Peanutcat]

Will this work with AP?


-----EDIT-----

Nevarmind read through the comments and found the answer... Sorry for my laziness..

[Yushatak]

It would be cool if this could be set up to add "System Override Software Mk2" instead and have it be illegal and from pirate bases but retain the same distance and autopilot upgrades over the Mk1.

[Thraxwhirl]

So salvage claim software just got literally erased from my game. It's installed in the plugin manager (v1.30), I can see it when I go to the script editor, it has a hotkey in the controls settings, but it is distinctly absent from my inventory and from any equipment docks in the universe, Teladi or otherwise.

Wtf??? Basically it's installed but doesn't show up anywhere. Please, please help me. This is probably the most important script I run besides NPC bailing.

I too am experiencing a similar problem. In fact LOTS of us seem to be having this problem.

For me it went like this.

Bought AP. Installed SCS through Plugin Manager. Played game. Used Software. All fine.

Started NEW game. SCS gone. Not in Teladi Docks. Not in list of Wares. They're listed alphabetically, but there's only Salvage Insurance.

So, in the best traditions of the IT Crowd, I figured it might be worth "turning it off an on again", so I Disabled it, then RE-enabled it. Didn't help.

Uninstall then Re-install? Didn't fix it.

Re-DOWNLOAD and Install? Nope. No change.

Hotkey still shows up in the list of hoteys, but it does nothing at all without the missing software ofc. And so it's clearly remembered from when I was using it before. Yet I've no idea why it should have vanished when I started a new game.

t-file is still in the addon. PRESUMABLY so are the scripts?

So, I'm led to think the following thoughts:

a) this issue with SCS vanishing or failing to turn up in the first place is quite a common problem affecting lots of users.

b) I agree with Phosphene that it's one of THE VERY most important scripts written for the game, and ideally it or a version of it should've been integrated into the Bonus Pack(or even the vanilla game BY NOW), for flawless installation.

c) It's been 7 months since Cycrow looked in here and offered any help/support for this scriptset, so I'm guessing that, for perhaps very legit reasons, he isn't going to be doing it any longer?

...so I figure that it falls to US(well, me) to try and effect some sort of workaround, and share any progress with everyone else.

Easiest way to fix this would be to change the scripts so that the hotkey AND the ship commands no longer depend upon installation of SCS.

The refs for where these scripts ask for the Salvage Claim Software to be present are as follows.

...In 'setup.cycrow.scs.xml':

$ware = [THIS] -> call script 'plugin.manager.getware' : Ware Name='SS_WARE_CY_SCS'

...and in 'plugin.scs.claim.xml':

$ware = [THIS] -> call script 'plugin.manager.getware' : Ware Name='SS_WARE_CY_SCS'

NOTE however that IN-GAME, those Wares are listed as 'SS_WARE_CY_SCS' and NOT as 'Salvage Claim Software' like they should be. Suggesting to me that the t-file isn't being referenced.

But changing those refs to something more readily available MIGHT re-enable the commands maybe?

For testing purposes, I'd set 'em to be just available on any ship right from the start, without any upgrades.... but longer term, maybe if I assigned them to System Override Software?

It's perhaps also worth pointing out here that the setup script entitled 'setup.cycrow.scs.xml' also makes ref. to 'plugin.hotkeymanager.add', but because that file is a .pck and NOT a .xml, I can't look at it in the script editor to see if it's at all related to any of the issues.

To help with this, could someone here(pref. Cycrow but anyone would do) PLEASE give me a link to where I can obtain a .xml version of 'plugin.hotkeymanager.add'? It really would help me out a great deal. To be honest, I wish ALL the scripts were .xml files really.

Anyhow, that's where I am at the moment. The Ware WAS there. Started new game. Gone now. Gonna try and re-attach commands to a Ware that IS in the game.

I'll let you know how I get on.

[DrBullwinkle]

Easiest way to fix this would be to change the scripts so that the hotkey AND the ship commands no longer depend upon installation of [the SCS ware]

Unless Cycrow has other thoughts, you are on the right track, Thraxwhirl.

There are several good scripts on this forum that do not work reliably due to custom wares. As far as I have been able to figure out, there is no reliable way to add custom wares to a running game.

• (My theory is that the large number of incorrect pointers to old versions of EMP leads many players to have incorrect EMP setups. Lack of documentation, including the PM's implementation of EMP, exacerbates the problem (and some players do not use the PM). Also, EMP changed at some point in time; scripts that use the older EMP wares may not work with current EMP setups. Finally, there is at least one bug in EMP itself -- the Advanced Thruster Control requires a nearly-impossible one million notoriety with the Boron.)

Whatever the reason; the solution is as you suggest: replace the broken custom ware with a standard ware.

In this case, the suggestion to use System Override Software is a good one. However, there are two different SOS wares. You could test for both SOS wares or, more simply, test for Software Signature Scrambler (SSS) instead.

Software Signature Scrambler (SSS) makes SOS software undetectable to police. In the vanilla game, SSS can be purchased at Duke's Headquarters. You could use the setup script to add SSS to some equipment docks (rather than the SCS ware). Then change the tests in the code to SSS.

In addition to the two tests in the code that you have found, there is also a line in the setup script that must be changed to the new ware: "set script command upgrade...". So that makes three lines of code that must be changed.

You do not need the .xml for any script -- you should NOT be using a text editor or xml editor for scripting! Use either the in-game Script Editor or Exscriptor. A proper script editor for X3 is a requirement rather than an option.

You are doing the right thing, Thraxwhirl. Good luck!

[Thraxwhirl]

Sadly, DrBullwinkle(great name btw, loved the cartoon in my youth), I've tried making the changes and it has had no effect at all.

Sadli I'm a little out of my depth here on this one anyway, as I truthfully have only a little bit of experience with scripting, and ALL of that was back in the Reunion days before XTC was released(think XTC came out in 2008?).

Like your good self I agree that it's a shambles with regard to EMP and custom ware installation. Great shame, especially since it worked fine with Reunion.

You'd have thought that by now, knowing how hazardous it is to get custom wares into the game, Egosoft themselves would've written a tool that does it for us, flawlessly.

They CAN'T be unaware of this community's nature, and how vibrantly it thrives on the games' modification, especially considering:

a) the rep they bask in as a progressive, forward-thinking software developer who actively promotes and supporters its modding clientelle

b) look at how much of Terran Conflict was actually created by modders and was part of the X-Tended mod 0.7 for Reunion.

To my mind, this company has an obligation - a duty of care you might say - to assist their most dedicated modders and ensure that their work is well facilitated. And ensuring that custom content inclusion is as smooth as possible SHOULD've been a consideration when the sequel to Reunion was made, ESPECIALLY considering it already worked(Reunion's EMP was fine), and maintaining compatibility with a working tool shouldn't have been left out.

Makes me wonder why Cycrow didn't write THIS scriptset based around System Override Software instead, if this issue with custom wares was known.

Sadly it isn't working for ME, but as I say, my scripting skills were never that strong, and anything to do with t-files, ship commands and hotkeys always proved difficult and confusing for me.

But, Doc, if you think you can clone/adapt the scripts in this set, and get the ship commands and hotkey to function off of a vanilla ware, then by all means give it a go.

I'd certainly welcome a copy if you were willing to share.

[Cycrow]

Like your good self I agree that it's a shambles with regard to EMP and custom ware installation. Great shame, especially since it worked fine with Reunion.

The main problem with EMP is the multiple different versions that are available and a change to one of them that basically broke it.
The change was needed however. But what needs to happen is for all scripts to adapt to the change and make sure everyone is using the same version of EMP.

The plugin Manager does do this automatically but it will not overright an existing version (its designed to work with your install not complatly override it)
So people who have EMP installed are preventing the plugin manager for creating the correct files.

As far as Custom Wares go, this is a difficult one. The main problem is that i've been unable to trace the problem that people are having, as its never actually failed for me, making debugging it difficault. Having the latest version of the plugin manager can help as well

It'll help to identify what the actual problem with custom wares is.
Is the ware in game (perhaps with the wrong name)
are you makign sure the plugin manager is closed before running the game.
if you cant find it in game at all, check that the files are being created, and use the X3 Editor to view the contents and see if the ware is listed (should be close ot the bottom)

You'd have thought that by now, knowing how hazardous it is to get custom wares into the game, Egosoft themselves would've written a tool that does it for us, flawlessly.

not really possible due to how the wares work internally. The whole system would have to be remade, which is far too much work

They CAN'T be unaware of this community's nature, and how vibrantly it thrives on the games' modification, especially considering:

a) the rep they bask in as a progressive, forward-thinking software developer who actively promotes and supporters its modding clientelle

b) look at how much of Terran Conflict was actually created by modders and was part of the X-Tended mod 0.7 for Reunion.

To my mind, this company has an obligation - a duty of care you might say - to assist their most dedicated modders and ensure that their work is well facilitated. And ensuring that custom content inclusion is as smooth as possible SHOULD've been a consideration when the sequel to Reunion was made, ESPECIALLY considering it already worked(Reunion's EMP was fine), and maintaining compatibility with a working tool shouldn't have been left out.

they do help out the modders, just look at all the extra modding abilities that were added to TC and AP. Its just that some things are not as easy to change as others. And some things are so far embedded in the core code that changing it is not possible without re-writting the entrie engine.
With any new game/patch, there is only a finite amount of development time available, especially for a small company. And that time must mostly be spent on the vanilla game, as thats what the majority of customers will be playing

Makes me wonder why Cycrow didn't write THIS scriptset based around System Override Software instead, if this issue with custom wares was known.

because i didn't want to replace or overright existing wares, and like i said, custom wares do work fine for me

for the pck files, there are several ways to convert them, althou most of the time you done need to. The Creator of the plugin manager can convert pck files. It also includes a command line tool that can do it in bulk.

The X3 Editor and mod manager can also convert the files

Also the pck files are listed in the games script editor, and any changes made to them are saved back as xml files

[DrBullwinkle]

if you think you can clone/adapt the scripts in this set, and get the ship commands and hotkey to function off of a vanilla ware, then by all means give it a go.

I could, but it would be a "spoiler".

X3 is partially an exploration game. One of the reasons that X3 is so addictive is because that exploration extends into real life. You cannot play the game well just by reading the manual and doing it on your own. The forum and the scripts/mods extend the richness of the game.

In other words, if I just post the script, then it will be like a "spoiler" for you. You have already begun the journey, so you should finish it.

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So I will put my "Mr. Know-It-All" hat on, and help you. (For those who do not know, "Mr. Know-It-All" was one of Bullwinkle's characters, who taught lessons about various topics, such as "How to Tame a Lion". Most of his lessons wound up causing some fairly major injury or other havok. In other words, it's a joke. )

There are only about four lines of code to change. You can do it!

When you edit a .pck and save it, the saved file gets a .xml extension. However. .pck's take precedence over .xml. Which means that the game will read the .pck and ignore the .xml.

So, after you have created your .xml file, simply delete the .pck.

(Make a backup of your scripts folder so that you can revert if you make a mistake).

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BTW, I don't think that a game company owes anything to modders. I think that we are lucky that EgoSoft supports the modding community as much as it does... which is a lot! The Script Editor alone is absolutely brilliant -- it is one of the best modding tools, for any game, ever developed.

Also, the MARS ware is built into the vanilla TWareT, so that MARS always works. Gazz either impressed (or paid off) the right people, and the result is that *his* custom ware works.

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Also I am not entirely certain that the issues with wares are well understood. People like LV and Cycrow, who participated in developing EMP, understand it and they may not understand how much trouble players have in getting it to work.

For sure, Cycrow has tried, hard, to make EMP more robust by building it into the Plugin Manager. It helps.

Documentation would help more. Cleaning up old and broken wares will help even more than that.

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It is conceivable that the problems with custom wares could be ironed out so that they might actually become reliable someday.


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EDIT: Ninja'ed by Cycrow, and he is saying much the same thing.

@Cycrow: I can try to help with the wares. I have had enough problems with them, and fixed enough of them, that I am beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

I think that it should be possible to make EMP reliable, with a bit of communication.

For starters, how is EMP implemented in the Plugin Manager? Is there a t file and an extension to TWareT? I tried to find them once with no joy, although I have not checked recently.

1) I mean... can I change it? Or is it cooked in?

2) Is there a version of EMP on the forum that you consider "current"?

3) Your explanation, that the PM allows the user to have their own version, is already helpful. Thanks.

4) It seems to me that the starting point, for fixing EMP, is to find (or create) a version of EMP that everyone can agree on as "current". Then fix any problems with it. Then make sure that people use the current version instead of the several stale versions linked by many script pages.

Since EMP is already messed up, this would also be a good time to consider extending it, if it needs that.

[Cycrow]

for EMP, the version that should be used is EMP-X, but the current download for it seems to be down right now.
its on the after-domination site.

But if you use the plugin manager, you shouldn't need to install a seperate one.

The emp files are hardcoded into the plugin manager source. But you can override this by creating a file called, Data/tcemp
and adding all the additional emp entries in.

when the plugin manager is closed, it'll create its TWares files. It does this by reading the current TWare files in the game, adding EMP onto TWareT and then adding all the custom wares after it.

If the TWareT file overlaps emp entries, then the plugin manager only writes those that come after it. ie if you have 2 extra entries that are in the EMP position, then the first 2 EMP entries are discarded.
It does attempt to recognise when an old version of EMP is installed and adjust the file. But it only has limited ability to do this.
Running the plugin manager with --forceemp switch will make it always overright the current wares file. So all emp entries will be added over an exist file, keeping all the ids in the same place.

This script doesn't use EMP however, so it shouldn't effect this. Custom wares are defined in the spk files and then generated by the plugin manager. It creates a text file that contains the name/description of each of these wares, as well ids and positions of each installed ware.

the script, plugin.manager.getware, uses this generated text file to convert the wares ID to its position to get the actual ware object. Which is what allows custom wares to be in any position in the file and not rely on static ids.

the most likly problems would be that the ware is not in the game (either the file is generated properly, or its being overwritten by a mod)
Or the text file isn't being loaded. Without the text file, the script cant get the ware object so the scripts can add them into the game and it forces them to be purged from ships/stations

[DrBullwinkle]

That's an awesome explanation, Cycrow. Thank you!

I have a copy of EMP-X 2.7. Is that the correct version? Do you think anyone would mind if I put it up on the Google Code site and link it in the EMP-X thread?

Not everyone uses the PM for all scripts, so it is important that an alternative be available.

the most likly problems would be that the ware is not in the game (either the file is generated properly, or its being overwritten by a mod)

I lost you on part of this. You are talking about SCS, right? Which file is not generated properly and/or overwritten by a mod? Do you mean the PM-generated text file that comes from the .spk? Is that a temporary file that is deleted after the PM generates TWareT.pck?

Or the text file isn't being loaded. Without the text file, the script cant get the ware object so the scripts can add them into the game and it forces them to be purged from ships/stations

Do you mean the text file for SCS?

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Here is where I am going with this: The Plugin Manager, when it works, is magnificent. It automates so many complex things. However, it does not always work, and some installations do not even use it.

So I am trying to figure out the proper way to do all possible custom ware installations (manually), so that the process can be documented, communicated, and improved.

[Cycrow]

That's an awesome explanation, Cycrow. Thank you!

I have a copy of EMP-X 2.7. Is that the correct version? Do you think anyone would mind if I put it up on the Google Code site and link it in the EMP-X thread?

i cant remember the actual version, but that does sound about right.

if you do have somewhere to host it, i can add the link to the EMP post

the most likly problems would be that the ware is not in the game (either the file is generated properly, or its being overwritten by a mod)

I lost you on part of this. You are talking about SCS, right? Which file is not generated properly and/or overwritten by a mod? Do you mean the PM-generated text file that comes from the .spk? Is that a temporary file that is deleted after the PM generates TWareT.pck?

there are 2 files that are needed, the TWareT file, that should be in the types directory. Some mods install thier own TWareT file not inside a mod file (althou they really shouldn't) and this can sometime effect the plugin managers generated files.

the file is deleted when the plugin manager is loaded, then recreated when its closed.
that file should exist, and holds EMP and the custom wares

the other is the text file, 0901-L044.pck, which should also exist. This stores the text for the plugin manager, custom wares/ships and emp. It also stores all the links for the wares and ships to be used in scripts.

Do you mean the text file for SCS?

the plugin managers text file, 0901. All custom ware texts are created in that file, not thier own text files because they are dynamic

So I am trying to figure out the proper way to do all possible custom ware installations (manually), so that the process can be documented, communicated, and improved.

the only way to do this manually really would be to create a mod that adds a standard ware defination, then edit the scripts to change all references to the ware to use the one you added.
just because about removing them again, as the game doesn't like things being removed from the types files and will curropt the save games

the main problem is that custom wares are dynamically created by the plugin manager because thier ids can change, unlike the standard wares that must use the same ids.


i have found (and fixed) a potential problem with the plugin manager. Some ships seems to have invalid characters in thier descriptions, and this is causing the game to not load the text files. The next version of the plugin manager will adjust these correctly. So if the problem your having is down to text files not loading, that could solve it