[SCRIPT] Remote Docked Freight Transfer V3.07 now available - 2007/04/13

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B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi neumanf15,

Good point about the Cargo Bay extensions.. the list of upgrades is sorted alphabetically, so that you can find things easily when using the U option. The transfer is then done using the same list - so Cargo Bay may not be first.

Maybe the easiest way is to use "U", select the Cargo Bay, then the To ship to transfer as many Cargo Bay upgrades as possible. Then use "SCRAP SID" to transfer everything else that will go to the same To ship.

I tried to make it as easy as possible to use - and sorting the lists first makes things easier to find, but - as in this example - it may not be the best order of transfer... but SID (Same ID for those of you just reading the posts) makes things fairly easy.

I will think about this, as it does make sense (why didn't I think of it) and see how I can implement it. No guarantees on timing, not after my last problem with ISP..

Have fun - and keep trying to break it, or come up with more suggestions,

Boron - Ol Fh'art
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B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi neumanf15,

Forget what I said above, I have now changed it to transfer Cargo bay extensions first - it was such a good idea, that I had to fix it.....

Enjoy,

Boron - Ol Fh'art
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Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
neumanf15
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Post by neumanf15 »

Wow! That's a quick response! Thanks!
neumanf15
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Post by neumanf15 »

B-O'F,
I stumbled on an exploit of your script...
I couldn't remember how many AHEPTs my transport was carrying when it arrived to arm up my shiny new LX... So I just told it "10 l". The menu came up and i selected th *8* AHEPTs. It promptly transferred *10* AHEPTs to my LX, removing the *8* from from trans...
Curious, I told it "20 l". I selected the *4* BPBEs on the trans. It promptly put *12* BPBEs on the LX... I didn't take the time to figure out why it didn't do 20 (got attacked)... Maybe the cargo bay was full, I don't remember.

Neuman
B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi neumanf15,

That should not happen - I had checks in for this, unless I have broken them. I will have a look at what I have done, and fix it.

Sorry for the problem, and thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Boron - Ol Fh'art
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Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi neumanf15,

I was right, I did have the checks in - but circumvented them when I changed somthing... oops.

This has now been corrected, I also took the opportunity to stop fighter drones from running the script.

Sorry for the error,

Boron - Ol Fh'art
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Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
neumanf15
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Post by neumanf15 »

No apology necessary. I just like to help perfect scripts, especially scripts that I like this much. You should submit this one for signing!
B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi neumanf15,

A perfect script - not sure that it possible with something this big, it is 41 scripts totalling 1.25Meg and the t file at 21k. But I do try my best. It really needs more people to test it out and provide feedback (positive or negative - all help) and/or suggestions for improvement.

Personally, I would prefer that Egosoft put in a 'proper' remote freight exchange, it would be a lot easier. It would also be a lot better if they had a version of 'incoming question' that did not write everything to the logbook.

As there have only been two of you giving any sort of feedback, there does not seem to be much point in trying to get it signed.... unless anyone can prove otherwise.

But I am glad that you like it,

Boron - Ol Fh'art
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Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
Maian
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Post by Maian »

This script has been extremely useful for me, especially to transport from M5s which can't be done with the bonus pack (AFAIK). Thanks a bunch for taking the time to write this script :)

However, it feels rather cumbersome. It isn't intuitive and is inconsistent with the rest of the UI. Having to type in a number and then getting a message requesting the ware is weird. That messaging part is particularly irritating too. First, it fills up my message log with more spam. Second, after issuing the command, I have to escape out of the command menu, then the property menu, and navigate to my message log (which is a hassle to do when docked). Afterwards, if I want to issue another command, I have to reopen the property menu and then the command menu. Very inconvenient.

I also don't think ship tunings should be transferable. It doesn't make sense, and it's very exploitable, albeit it would take time to exploit. How is it possible to transfer some engine tuning to another?

In conclusion, I suggest a more straightforward way of transferring wares and upgrades. I got the feeling that you couldn't use the normal freight exchange UI; otherwise, that would have been the obvious choice. In the absence of that, couldn't you just use a "wares on ship" menu, after which an ware is selected, the user can input the quantity to transfer? I know that menu can be created - I've seen it in another script (I think it's the fleet support ship software). As for upgrades, hopefully the same thing can be done.

Also, not sure if this was caused by this script, but one of my Harriers somehow ended up with a Triplex Scanner, which I think it shouldn't be possible to have. Furthermore, I can transfer this Triplex Scanner to other ships, and the scanner is copied to the new ship rather than moved. The message log also says the transfer of the scanner isn't successful, even though it evidently did in a way.
B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi Maian,

I will look into your problem and give an answer - and answer your other points possibly tomorrow, as have visitors at the moment - and no chance to check things.

Boron - Ol Fh'art
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Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
Brand-X
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Post by Brand-X »

Hey, B-O'F,

Looked over that script you recimmended and it looks perfect for what I want to do. A little modification here and there. :) Saves me a lot of hassle re-inventing the wheel, so to speak.

I just wanted to compliment you on your documentation within the script. Very nice, very refreshing. Not often seen, documentationitis being as pervasive as it is.

I suffer from it myself. :P

Thanks again

:)
B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi Brand-X

Glad to be able to help...


@ Maian,

Sorry for the delay in answering, but we had visitors, and I could not get on my machine to check the reported problem with the scanner.

First the triplex scanner - I tried with all the Harrier variants, and with the Pirate versions - none would take the triplex scanner. The Pirate Harrier Raider has it built-in so could not take it, none of them would allow transfer - all said that it was not transferred, and it was not transferred.

This was tested with version 3.02 of the script with bof.xfer.transfer.xml dated 15/01/07 - is this the version that you have ?

As to the rest of your comments:-

Yes it is rather cumbersome, but there is no better method available yet.
Yes it does use up logbook, as I stated in the Readme:-

Code: Select all

" Well it is very useful.. but, as it is based on incoming messages, there are two drawbacks:-
 1 - all messages apear in your logbook, so it can use up quite a lot of logbook.
 2 - you get that annoying "incoming message""
Version 2 of this script used the 'Ware of Ship' but that only lists the tradeable ware - none of the installed ship extension. In fact none of the standard commands allow access to the list of installed ship extensions. As a check, I tested on a Mercury, and it just listed the shields, lasers, and missiles - no mention of the 22 installed extensions.

This was a limitation with version 2 of this script which only allowed freight exchange. Also the Ware of ship caused confusion as it shows the Goods, the volume, and the trading class - see some of the earlier posts in this thread.

I wrote version 3 to allow extension exchange as well as freight exchange as it was quite often requested in other threads - and I wanted to use it.

As to Engine Tining transfer being an exploit - possibly, but as you can pick them up floating around in space in a crate, is it such an exploit??

If you would like just the straightforward freight exchange, I can make an updated version 2 available, if required.

I hope that this helps answer some of the points you raised, if you have any further questions I will try to answer them.

Boron - Ol Fh'art
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Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
Maian
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Post by Maian »

Triplex Scanner: I don't know how the scanner ended up on my Harrier, but the main problem is that whenever I attempt to transfer the scanner from the Harrier to any other ship, the following happens:
1) The log says the transfer failed.
2) The Harrier keeps the scanner.
3) The other ship now has a copy of the scanner!

UI: Okay, I understand the limitations now. But, couldn't you just add a separate upgrade transfer command, instead of introducing a new arcane UI? I mean, keep the old command that uses "ware of ship", and add a new one for upgrade transfers that works using the message log. You could also add another command that does the equivalent of the scrap command.

Engine tunings et al: I've never picked up a engine tuning in a box before... I'd suspect that would be a bug, since it would be inconsistent with the normal freight exchange UI that doesn't allow the transfer of engine tunings.
Nanook
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Post by Nanook »

Maian wrote:....

Engine tunings et al: I've never picked up a engine tuning in a box before... I'd suspect that would be a bug, since it would be inconsistent with the normal freight exchange UI that doesn't allow the transfer of engine tunings.
You must not be aware of the Pandora messages in the BBS, courtesy of the latest patch. There are a number of engine and rudder tunings to be found, if you look hard enough. These add to whatever ship you pick them up with, thus increasing their values beyond the normal maximums.

@B-O'F: Does that happen when transfering extensions using your scrap command? I can see where that may be a bit of an exploit, but then again, we don't have to do it, do we? :wink: BTW, nice script. Like you, I just wish Ego would add a proper remote transfer function for docked ships. The current official one using the transporter device is a bit clunky, since the ships have to be in space. For the life of me, I just can't figure why it hasn't been done. We've been whining about this since X-T. :roll: :)
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B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi all,

An updated version (v3.03) is now available which corrects an error with built-in equipment - thanks to Maian for finding it.

I also added a method of checking the version - highlight the command and press i for information. This gives basic information on the script - but now the top lines give the version number.


Hi Maian,

Thank you for finding and pointing out this bug, and for your patience while i tried to find it. I have now found and fixed (I hope) the error. It was a problem handling the built-in equipment.

You had a Pirate Harrier Raider which has the triplex scanner built-in - my script was not handling it correctly, but it does now (on my testing). I hope that you can verify this for yourself with the new version.

On the other points you raised:-

Yes I could have made another command or two - but if you check the Community scripts sticky, you will find that we are being asked not to use too many command slots, as they are very limited.

The other reason that I did not use another command slot was that this script package was written during the ten weeks that my ISP was p'ing me about. I had no internet access at all and so could not check which command slots were available for me to use. Therefore I had to just use the one and expand the original script.


An exploit?? Why. You have to be docked, as is required for installing any upgrades. It also checks if the ship has a limit for the upgrade, and will not go beyond the limit - so you can't overtune for example.
As far as I am concerned, if it worked in space or ignored any limits, that could be considered an exploit/cheat.

Thank you again for finding the bug, and your patience while I fixed it.


Hi Nanook,

Yep. it happened with SCRAP as well. One error repeated a few times..

I am glad that you like the script, I think that it is a lot better than the one I originally wrote many years ago for X2.. and still Ego have not added a proper method of remote ware transfer - maybe by X10??? I will not hold my breath....

Enjoy,
Boron - Ol Fh'art
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Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
Maian
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Post by Maian »

Glad I could help fix a bug :)

I can see where you are coming from regarding the UI. I still wish it were a bit easier to use. You can't create a custom menu?

Regarding the ship upgrades, it makes more sense to make remote freight transfer consistent with normal freight transfer. Normal freight transfer doesn't allow transfer of ship upgrades. Therefore, remote freight transfer shouldn't allow them either.

Well at the very least, can you make a version that doesn't allow the transferring of ship upgrades? Then I could use SCRAP without feeling guilty.
B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi Maian,

There is currently no way to create a custom menu, apart from the method I am using.

As to your request - standard Freight Exchange with a ship docked at a TL for instance, allows the exchange of all ship extensions (apart from those built-in) except - Cargo bay extensions, Engine Tunings, and Rudder optimisation.

If you are requesting the same script as it is now, but not allowing the transfer of those three upgrades/extensions, then yes it can be done.

I would have to release it with a different name, but I can do that for you - and anyone else that feels the same.

Can you confirm that is what you are requesting - then I can start work on it... shouldn't take too long, but it will not be tonight.

Boron - Ol Fh'art
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Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
Maian
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Post by Maian »

Yes that's exactly what I'm requesting. Cargo bay extensions, engine tunings, and rudder optimizations shouldn't be transferable. Thanks for your patience :)
B-O'F
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Post by B-O'F »

Hi Maian,

I have decided not to release a different version - instead I have added an option for you - and anyone else that thinks the upgrade transfers are not in the spirit of the game.

If you enter "LIMITED" as the command, then you will get a message that it is now in limited mode, and transfer of Cargo bay extensions, Engine Tuning, and Rudder Optimisation is no longer allowed.

It will stay in this mode until you change it (in a few weeks??) by entering "NORMAL".

For those that are happy with the transfers as is, then you need do nothing, as Normal is the default.

Enjoy,

Boron - Ol Fh'art
Public Service announcement

Growing old is not a disease - it is a delayed symptom of birth trauma.
Maian
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Post by Maian »

Thanks, that works just as well. I'll give it a spin :)

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