[SCRIPT/AL PLUGIN][TC] Functional Blueprint Scanner

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Cavemonkey
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu, 24. Nov 11, 08:08

[SCRIPT/AL PLUGIN][TC] Functional Blueprint Scanner

Post by Cavemonkey » Thu, 7. Jul 16, 09:10

Intro
*THIS IS JUST FLUFF. SKIP TO 'DESCRIPTION' IF YOU JUST WANT THE REAL STUFF.*
Ahhhh, she's a beauty, isn't she? Y'know, that Tyr that you've so desperately longed for your entire life, as of five minutes ago? "Why," you ponder, "must life deprive me of its greatest pleasures? Somebody, somewhere in this massive loony bin, makes and sells this hunk-o-junk!" You scour the sectors, searching high and low for a shipyard, a showroom, even an abandoned Tyr- something to make your dream come true, all to no avail. Then, you remember that Cobra that's been collecting dust for months on end. You consider boarding the Tyr, but doing that would put you on the Terrans' naughty list. Perhaps you've got an HQ and the goodies to make one; that's great, but you still need the blueprints, which, incidentally, nobody in the entire universe sells. But wait, you could just use your blueprint scanner! Nope. It. Does. Nothing. You lose hope and begin to weep, but then... Something shiny catches your eye... Behold, the advanced blueprint scanner! Yes, that's right, you can now obtain the schematics for nearly any ship in the game, which means that you could build an army of Titans, or throw a wild Kha'ak party, or go the more sophisticated route and surround yourself with a fleet of sentient robotic frigates. The universe is now practically yours for the taking. Just make sure to clean up after yourself when you're done annihilating other races.

Description
As the intro suggests, this script adds a functional blueprint scanner to X3TC, allowing the player to obtain ship blueprints on demand. The advanced blueprint scanner comes in two varieties- the base product, and the D-variant, explained below.

Advanced Blueprint Scanner (base)
This is the standard version of the advanced blueprint scanner, which lets the player scan and acquire blueprints from an unlimited number of ships. It is sold at all Argon military bases, as well as the BenzCorp Development Headquarters (detailed below), running at about 25 million credits a pop.

Advanced Blueprint Scanner [D]
This is a 'disposable' version of the standard advanced blueprint scanner. It provides the same functionality as the base variant, but costs 90 times less and has much more limited usability, allowing for three scans to be made before the scanner deteriorates. It is sold only at the BenzCorp Development Headquarters.

BenzCorp Development Headquarters
There's a new business in town, and it's anything but conventional. Little is known about the BenzCorp Development Headquarters and its operators, but those who have traded there have reported being able to purchase a multitude of technological odds and ends, some rare, some illegal, and some found nowhere else in the universe. If you're lucky enough to come across this station in your travels, waste no time in buying what you need from it, as it relocates itself every three hours. Any ships left docked at this station when it moves will be destroyed, so don't use it as a parking space for your favorite ride. BenzCorp resides only in Argon sectors, so if you want to find it again, don't waste your time checking other sectors.

Scanner Usage Requirements
To use the advanced blueprint scanner, the following criteria must be met:
-Player must have scanner installed (obviously)
-Player must own at least one headquarters, so the scanner has somewhere to store the blueprints
-Target must be a flyable ship
-Player must remain within 1.35 km of target ship

Download Links
V 1.0.1
SPK Download
Zip Download

Enabling/Disabling the Script
Enabling and disabling this script is as easy as toggling an on/off switch- simply go to [settings menu]→[gameplay]→[artificial life] and click on [Enable station product management for ABPS]. Enabling this script in the AL settings will add a hotkey entry in the configurations menu with which to activate the blueprint scanner, enable spawning and respawning for the BenzCorp Headquarters, and add the scanner as a product to all Argon military bases. Disabling the script will remove the hotkey entry (and remove the saved hotkey), remove the BenzCorp Headquarters from the universe, and remove the scanner from all Argon military bases. Disabling it will NOT remove the scanner from your cargo bay, as that would be a waste of your hard-earned credits; however, if you plan to uninstall this script completely, I highly recommend you remove it from any of your ships. I have no idea what will happen if you don't, but I am not responsible for whatever effect it may have on your game.
NOTE: this script is enabled by default, so there is no need to enable after installation.

Installation
SPK Version
Open Cycrow's Plugin Manager, click on [Install Package], find the SPK file, and double click it within the file browser.

Zip Version
Open the zip file, copy all three folders inside, navigate to your X3TC directory, and paste.

Compatibility
[Vanilla X3TC- V 3.2]: Definitely works, should for earlier versions as well
[LIFE Mod]: Definitely works
[Improved Kha'ak Mod]: Definitely works
[XRM]: Appears to work; I've tested it a little bit and haven't yet found any missing docks or wares, but there could be things I missed
[Other Mods]: Haven't tested anything else, but if anyone wants to test it out with other mods, let me know how it goes so I can update this list

Thanks to:
-LV, for the AL plugin script templates
-Cycrow, for his wonderful Plugin Manager program

Feedback
If there's anything that you like, dislike, or would like to see added or changed, please post here or PM me. If you're a master scripter and think that my code is a steaming pile of excrement, please do let me know what I could do better, as I am somewhat a novice, and some of my code may not be the most efficient or the most organized.
You want something from me? Are you empty of the mind?

xenoncore
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat, 16. Feb 19, 13:27
x4

Re: [SCRIPT/AL PLUGIN][TC] Functional Blueprint Scanner

Post by xenoncore » Sat, 16. Feb 19, 13:45

Hey,

This is a cool ware to have, thanks for making it available! :)

I tested with TC XRM and there seem to be a few issues:

-can't dock larger ships (XL, XXL carriers) at the station as it doesn't show up in sector map as a dock option for those ships (at least all the ones I tried) - means no chance of purchasing those size wares :( ;
-station doesn't 'move', once spawned it remains permanently in that sector, sometimes results in multiple stations in the same sector;
-always get the scanner installed message when loading game and adds new entry in hotkey for assigning key (I've got loads of lines building up!);
-if a scan is pending on a ship and it's destroyed, scanning will begin (actually not a problem for me really as quite happy to scan Xenon ships from a distance!)

I'd be very grateful if at least the first bug could be fixed for XRM as this is the major showstopper, but I have no idea when it comes to scripting...

In hope..

Major Dealer
Jon

Cavemonkey
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu, 24. Nov 11, 08:08

Re: [SCRIPT/AL PLUGIN][TC] Functional Blueprint Scanner

Post by Cavemonkey » Sat, 8. Jun 19, 18:31

Hi xenoncore,

Thanks for your feedback on this, and sorry for the late response. I did come across these issues and fixed some of them (the permanent station spawns and the hotkey registry bug), but never got around to updating the posted scripts. I’ll fix the rest of them and update my post, whenever I get the chance.

Regarding the docking issue:
Could you dock regular M1/M2/M7/TL ships, but not super-capitals, or were you having trouble with all capital ships? Also, were you using autopilot to try and dock these ships? If you were using super-capitals and trying to dock through autopilot, the issue is that you can’t dock those ships any other way than manually, if I remember correctly. If you flat out can’t dock some or any capital class ships, it’s a limitation of the station model used, which I can change to something that can accommodate these ships (sadly, not the Xenon station). I’ll look into it and see what I can find out myself.

Cheers,
CMKY
You want something from me? Are you empty of the mind?

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