[MOD] Human Resources - [DISCONTINUED]

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Sat, 27. Sep 14, 19:44

Hello again,

Not sure if relevant to or already fixed by, but mentioning the following just in case:
http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=371462

Regards,
Sparks

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sat, 27. Sep 14, 22:45

You make some good points in that thread. Changing the menu return behavior to remove "steps 4-6" from the list you described should be pretty simple if I understand things right, so I'll see if I can make that work.

Changing default behavior of AI command scripts (to stop the auto-follow thing when in squad) is outside the intended scope of this mod, though, so I won't be looking at doing anything like that here.

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Sat, 27. Sep 14, 23:41

Vim, that sounds nice to me and thank you very much for your kind words. Good luck

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sun, 28. Sep 14, 13:20

Unfortunately, I was overly optimistic about the menu return issue.

I thought I'd seen a script expression to return to the previous dialog section (without using a menu button) somewhere, but it seems that I was mistaken because I haven't been able to find anything like that at all.

This might be something that eventually gets handled in vanilla, though, because the button for the "Stop current task" command is already configured to expect a return event from the next section. The problem is that no return event is provided (thus ending the conversation), and I can't find any way of adding one (without using a menu button).

Anyway, it's something I'll definitely keep an eye on. It would be really useful.

In the meantime, other experiments remain unfinished so all I've got for this weekend is a bugfix update:

- Fixed "show details' menu and return behavior for stations and xl capitals contacted through the map or property menu via comms.
- Fixed hireable Marine Officers not offering to show their skills.
- Added a compatibility patch mod to the OP that will allow Human resources to work properly with UniTrader's Player Logos without having to do any manual file editing.

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Sun, 28. Sep 14, 13:24

Thanks for putting thought and effort into it. Don't feel bad, we all love patches

Post by **UniTrader** » Sun, 28. Sep 14, 13:57

Vim Razz wrote:Unfortunately, I was overly optimistic about the menu return issue.

I thought I'd seen a script expression to return to the previous dialog section (without using a menu button) somewhere, but it seems that I was mistaken because I haven't been able to find anything like that at all.

well, i found it

in the common.xsd:

Code: Select all

  <xs:simpleType name="uipositionlookup">……
          <xs:enumeration value="right" />
          <xs:enumeration value="bottom_right" />
          <xs:enumeration value="close">
            <xs:annotation>
              <xs:documentation>
                Hidden player choice that is selected when the player presses the "close conversation" button
              </xs:documentation>
            </xs:annotation>
……

Its probably not used anymore because such a behavior can be annoying if you want to exit all conversations quickly and instead always just return to the previous one and its pretty unintuitive since this choice is not obvious ^^ so use it with care

on a related note: i just tried experimenting with a better compatibility solution between our mods.. diffing diff-files didnt work, adding the content of your compatibility mod into the main mod was also no succes, even after adding my mod as dependency
seems the best solution would be that i remove the position-attribute in mine, although that would sacrifice consistency imo.. but well, you cannt have everything.

PS and the Grammar in your Mod is a bit weird im German.. since its all translated but you dont use any t-file i assume you just re-used the existing Texts and put them together as needed - this works for many Languages, but in German it often sounds weird, here some examples:
Angestellter Managment -> Angestelltenmanagment
Schiff Details: -> Schiffsdetails:
Entere Albion Skunk -> Betrete Albion Skunk (this one is especially weird since Entere has the context of Boarding, not moving Personal

)

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sun, 28. Sep 14, 14:29

Good to know, thank you! It will be interesting to see how that behaves. I was getting ready to try and create a dummy LUA menu that does nothing but kick back a return event, but if things go well, then that might not be necessary.

I tried diffing the diff files myself, as well as trying to force load order to see if I could get anything to work reliably, but no luck. The compatibility mod seems to be loading last for me with both mods as dependencies, but I still have no real idea how load order works in this game, so it's kind of an experiment....

Removing position attributes is finicky and depends a lot on load order too, it seems. If the position-less option doesn't add in at the very end of the cue, it takes the first open slot and blocks anything that might get assigned to that slot later.... -.- I'm not sure what the best way to go about it is.

Also, thank you for the German feedback! I'm assembling some custom T files, but for now the grammar is very bad in most languages. Hpfully I'll get that done soon so it will be slightly less bad... You're right, the labels are just assembled from current files at the moment.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Mon, 29. Sep 14, 00:42

So, after playing around a bit... the "close" position value doesn't do exactly what I was looking for (immediate section return to main default convo). It still requires a keypress, it's just the the button is hidden, like this: http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/f ... =320059240

It's very good to know about, just not what I need here.

BUT!!! I did manage to bodge together a different approach. This little mod just starts a new convesation as soon as the old one is finished if it ended via the "Stop current task" selection. It's not quite as clean as an actual conversation return event, but I should be able to tweak it into something acceptable:

\\md\Orders.xml

Code: Select all

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<diff xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<add sel="//cue[@name='SectionHandler']" pos="after">
	<cue name="HumanResourcesConvoRebounder" instantiate="true" namespace="this">
		<conditions>
			<event_conversation_finished outcome="gOrders_stop" />
		</conditions>
		<actions>
			<start_conversation priority="100" actor="event.object" conversation="default"/>
		</actions>
	</cue>
</add>
</diff>

So there is hope! I'll be seeing what I can do to make this play out a little less awkwardly in-game, and try and get it in with some other stuff by next weekend.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Sun, 19. Oct 14, 11:30

I thought I'd do a little update here, because I made significant progress today and I'm celebrating!

I've been slogging through Lua stuff for the last few weeks, and I finally got my drone transfer menu working properly and moving the correct numbers of drones back and forth between ships and stations!

I've still got a bit of work to do on it, like accounting for "in use" drones and formatting the slider menu display (which is still pretty inadequate and could take a few days, since managing the dynamically updating table cells is giving me some headaches), then I'll be finishing up my menu to pack or unpack drones from container/universal-class cargo ships and releasing it all in version 1.2.

Also coming in 1.2 are propper T files and the menu return function on "Stop current task" discussed in the last few posts in this thread. I did end up going with a jury-rigged lua based section return function rather than the recirculating conversation cue idea from my last post. It turned out to be a much cleaner and more flexible way to go than the other option. If we ever do get a real MD section return script expression then that would be awesome, but in the meantime the lua return bumper has been working nicely.

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Sun, 19. Oct 14, 12:17

You star! Looking forward to this and a few other mod updates

wwdragon · Post by **wwdragon** » Sun, 19. Oct 14, 16:44

This mod is a good idea.
I look forward to being able to use it.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Fri, 24. Oct 14, 19:23

Thanks!

10/24/14 Update, Version 1.2 -- Drone transfer and storage menus have now been added. Remote Transfers can be done as long as the two objects trading are in the same zone and currently happen instantly.

In the future, I plan on using delivery drones or seeing if I can have the drones fly over directly (at least while in the player's zone) and limiting range to the radar distance of the ship or station handling the transfers, but that's still an "in development" sort of thing.

These menus affect URV drones only, and do not affect the Skunk's ROV drones or capacity.

To use the new menus, engineers stationed on ships or stations that can use drones now have a "Manage Drones" submenu with three new options:

1) Trade with my ship/station -- Same as 'Transfer Drones' but automatically targets the Skunk unless you're docked at one ship/station and calling another, in which case it will trade with the ship/station you're standing on.

2) Transfer Drones -- Transfers drones to or from a ship/station selected with the zone map. The usual zone-selection quirks apply, so if transferring to a subordinate to a station then you'll need to expand the station's subordinate list from the normal zone map before transferring.

This is the only new drone option available to engineers working in the back of the Skunk (who has it linked directly instead of the submenu).

Calling the Skunk's engineer via remote coms will transfer drones to or from the ship/station you are currently docked at.

3) Drone Storage -- Packs or unpacks drones from cargo or storage, and is only available if the engineer's ship or station can store container-class wares.

Pics of my new babies:

Transfer menu + slider -- "in use" values will pop up if either body is using some of their drones. Those drones will be unavailable to transfer.
Storage menu + slider

I've tried matching the vanilla aesthetic as closely as possible, but I've still got a lot to learn about how various parameters affect function and formatting. One of the big challenges visually is that different table types scale differently within the presentation depending on whether or not you're using the side-monitor in the Skunk. Anyway, I'll be refining the presentation over time. For now, base functionality is the main priority.

Other stuff:

- Engineers can now be assigned to stations to help manage drones there. I'm not assigning them the engineer.ai script at this time, though, because I haven't looked into whether that's a good idea or not. So... all they really do on stations right now is offer to push your drones around.

- Engineers and Marine Officers on board the Skunk can now be told to Stop Working through the Manage Employee menu.

- Engineers aboard stations or XL capitals now have a "call" option when selecting those objects though the map or property menu.

- Everything is relabeled and the mod now has it's own language files. Whatever localization there was previously is now shot, though. The t-files are available here, and if anyone would like to suggest improvements then I'd be happy to include those labels in the mod.

- Suggestions for better English labels are welcome too. Some of the current ones are just "well, this will do for now" type decisions.

- Some command options now return to previous conversation section after executing rather than ending the conversation, as per Sparky's idea.

- I'll be adding Nexus and Workshop support over the weekend.

- there's probably some other stuff I'm forgetting to mention, but naturally I can't think of it at the moment

Post by **Sparky Sparkycorp** » Fri, 24. Oct 14, 20:38

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Fri, 24. Oct 14, 20:53

thanks!

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Tue, 4. Nov 14, 19:56

11/04/14 Update, version 1.2.1 -- This is mostly an "under the hood" revision, implementing a new compatibility system for mods that HR is known to have trouble with. It also adds conversation returns to the "Join my squad" and "Leave my squad" commands for faster menu navigation.

This documentation section is being moved to the main description post.

Human Resources runs a small set of scripts at gamestart or gameload that register active mods with known conflicts and reconfigure it's menu structure as needed, activating or deactivating buttons that link to supported mod's functions.

HR does not contain functional components of these mods and cannot ensure that every mod eventually listed here will be functionally compatible with each other -- it only contains buttons that link to them in order to guarantee that they will be accessible without being hampered by UI conflicts.

Specific alterations (v1.3.3 documentation updates in progress..):

UT Player Logos & Faction Logos v0.90 by UniTrader
- UTLogos's menu options will appear in the bottom left conversation slot when speaking to the engineers of appropriate player owned capital ships, or in the "Ship Options" menu when talking to the Skunk's engineer.
Universal Comm Menu v2.01 by Berserk Knight
-Universal Comm Menus will be accessible in the "New Orders" menu in place of ship details if no Free Trading mods are installed, or in the "Free Trading/Mining" menu itself if any relevant mods are installed to activate that menu.
Safe Squad Join v1.01 by Cammus
- Human Resources will suppress it's conversation return on "join my squad" in favor of Safe Squad Join's command menu feature.
Manger Call v0.6 by euclid
- A "Log Reports" submenu will appear in the manager's conversation options that contains buttons linking to Manager Call's functions.
AutoTrader v0.9 by euclid
- "AutoTrade" or "Resume Autotrade" options will be accessible in the "Free Trading/Mining" submenu found in "new orders" for non-squad ships.
- Calling the captain of an AutoTrading ship will provide an alternate menu in order to prevent UI interference and to make it clear that the ship is currently running a script.
- AutoTrader's "Alt Trigger" is be disabled to limit interference with other active mods.
Yet Another Trader v1.0 by Yorrick Vander
- "YAT Free Trading" or "YAT Free Mining" options will be accessible in the "Free Trading/Mining" submenu found in "new orders" for non-squad ships.
- While this feature makes for an effective "quick start", modifying or reconfiguring YAT trade options will still require using Yorrick's Primary YAT menu interface.
- Calling the pilot or captain of a YAT ship will provide an alternate menu in order to prevent UI interference and to make it clear that the ship is currently running a script. The "Stop Free Trading" or "Stop Free Mining" buttons will still be available to reset ships that may get frozen in the event that YAT is improperly uninstalled.
Space Station Destruction and Recycling v0.05 by jth
- The "Destroy or Recycle Station" submenu will be offered by the station's Defense Officer rather than the Manager.
- The "Backdoor Trigger" option menu is disabled.

Sandalpocalypse · Post by **Sandalpocalypse** » Tue, 4. Nov 14, 21:25

Sweet.

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Mon, 10. Nov 14, 11:13

Thanks, sand!

11/10/14 Update, version 1.2.2 -- Quick fix for the drones missing from the transfer/storage menus in the 3.00 beta.

I'd been using the shiptrader drone list as a template, but 3.00 changes the way that mining and cargolift drones are handled by shipyards -- HR now uses it's own drone template list.

Also, the compatibility button for jth's Station Recycle and Destruction mod will not be selectable unless in the same zone as the station and if the station is not currently building an extension -- Edit: these restrictions will be relaxed in the next version of HR, as jth's button interface in v0.03 is robust enough to avoid the issues that hampered their initial release.

Tanjitsu · Post by **Tanjitsu** » Fri, 14. Nov 14, 14:20

The drone transfer is epic !
Could this be expanded to allow the transfer of goods between ships ?

Kaldo · Post by **Kaldo** » Fri, 14. Nov 14, 16:55

Tanjitsu wrote:The drone transfer is epic !
Could this be expanded to allow the transfer of goods between ships ?

Check the new beta3 changelog

Vim Razz · Post by **Vim Razz** » Fri, 14. Nov 14, 19:08

Tanjitsu wrote:The drone transfer is epic !
Could this be expanded to allow the transfer of goods between ships ?

Thanks!

While technically it could be expanded that way, that's not something I intend to do here. I would have to do it by teleporting wares, and quite frankly: I'm still holding out for ship-to-ship docking and ware transfer via cargolift drones for that sort of thing.

If someone else wants to do it, though, then I'd be happy to make sure that this mod is compatible with theirs.

Kaldo wrote:Check the new beta3 changelog

EDIT: WOW, I finally got a chance to try this, and they took it a lot farther than I'd thought they meant! That's really cool.