XUniverseWizard - Random universe generator

[Jonson27]

Ok, I managed to figure some things out. I'm confident I can make a mod now with a new random map. Just make sure to rename the mapname00749.xml to mapname00749.bod. The descriptions file could be renamed to *.txt as well. You should also be sure to update the first two lines of hte init xml script file so that you can view it in a browser with x2script.xsl. I downloaded the Galaxy Editor from Baubysmiths 4share account. It's otherwise known as the Xehonk X2 Galaxy Editor. It comes in both english and german. You load the mapname.xml file via file->open. After that, you click on file->export to make the mod. It's simple, and the editor itself is a very usefull aide to figure out whether or not you're using the random universe generator correctly.

I had some problems...

I changed the probability of asteroids in hostile sectors to 100%... and reduced the standard deviation to "0.01". I even tried a standard deviation of "0.0". The problem is that only about 50% of the khaak sectors that're generated will have asteroids. It should be 100%! What's wrong? I want all of the khaak sectors to have asteroids because I want them to have nvidium.

I also want to be able to influence how many asteroids are in friendly sectors versus how many are in hostile sectors. Right now you can only set this for all sectors - it's all or nothing! I would like there to be asteroids in all sectors, but only some of them will have a lot of them. It does allow you to set the probability of there being asteroids in a sector, but as I pointed out in the previous paragraph, I'm not sure that setting works!

I would like to be able to set how often a district/race will break up into smaller peices and be spread out into outposts. Right now, most of the races are in their own part of the universe. Most of the time they're not spread out. This often leads to situations where, in order to get to the khaak, you have to enter a single path - this is how I set it up. This is because the khaak are only connected to unknown sectors, and unknown sectors are only connected to pirate/xenon/khaak sectors. (it made sense to me to set it up this way, but this is not enforced) So, if I could set how ofen the pirates are spread out rather than being in one big chain, this would alllow for more paths that lead to the khaak. All I want is paths that're more spread out evenly rather than just one narrow path to a dozen sectors.

EDIT: I fixed this. There're settings that resolve it. Oops.

Another thing I'd like to do is be able to change the number of ships in hostile sectors. I want to change the types of ships and their numbers. I looked at "ShipsConfiguration.xml", but I'm not sure how to do it.

I'd also like there to be more xenon options. In fact, grouping the khaak/xenon/unknown sectors into one ball of wax is not a good idea. There're options unique to the khaak and unknown sectors, but to be honest, there's not enough control over what happens in the hostile sectors. For me, they represent a kind of end-game. They should be special, and I want control over them. I realize I could probably figure out how to do this with the galaxy editor, but I thought I'd bring it up.

So far, I'm very pleased with the editor. Btw, I think Orca has done an incredible job with this program. It must have taken him a while to accomplish. It's really cool. I along with others would say that it adds lots of replay value. It's also ... for me... almost a spiritual experience to work with random generation programs. It's like touching the hand of god.

Oh, and I'm wondering which mods will work with random maps. Will the x2 bonus scripts work on random maps? Will the AL 1.4 plugins work? I have yet to actually test a map - I'll get to that tomorrow maybe.

[Lord Dakier]

So basically what will this do if made as a mod version?

[Chris Gi]

It seems Orca is not around at the moment....

To get a custom map work perfectly in X2, you need to have the following:
- the map in xml-format
- the sector names (and descriptions) - the need to be in a language file 44xxxx.xml
- a script to load the text
- and a mod file to properly display the map in the in-game map (','-key).

The files that are generated roughly correspond to these requirements:

- output-x2universe.xml (the map)
- output-x2universe44.lang (the sector names)
- (the script to load the text)
- output-x2universe-00749.bod (the in-game galaxy map)

What to do with these files?
output-x2universe.xml
Rename it to something useful: "MyX2Map.xml" and copy it to the maps-folder.
output-x2universe44.lang
Rename it to a file named 44xxxx.xml (where xxxx is a number not already used by the files in your t-folder) and copy it to the t-folder
output-x2universe-00749.bod
This file is more difficult to handle. I recommend using this 300 sector in-game map mod (sorry, I don't have any link at the moment, does somebody know one?).
Next you need a very easy script to load the text. This was already discussed elsewhere, but I don't have a link at the moment (and no time to search) .

Oh, and I'm wondering which mods will work with random maps. Will the x2 bonus scripts work on random maps? Will the AL 1.4 plugins work? I have yet to actually test a map - I'll get to that tomorrow maybe.

This question are hard to answer. All signed scripts (the x2 bonus scripts as well as the plugins delivered from EgoSoft) are able to run on custom maps - this is a precondition for scripts to get signed.
For other scripts: if a scripter conforms to the recommendations given by Egosoft, there shouldn't be a problem. A good script doesn't assume a specific sector to be on the map.
I believe many scripts are able to run on a custom map.

[Jonson27]

It seems Orca is not around at the moment....

To get a custom map work perfectly in X2, you need to have the following:
- the map in xml-format
- the sector names (and descriptions) - the need to be in a language file 44xxxx.xml
- a script to load the text
- and a mod file to properly display the map in the in-game map (','-key).

The files that are generated roughly correspond to these requirements:

- output-x2universe.xml (the map)
- output-x2universe44.lang (the sector names)
- (the script to load the text)
- output-x2universe-00749.bod (the in-game galaxy map)

What to do with these files?
output-x2universe.xml
Rename it to something useful: "MyX2Map.xml" and copy it to the maps-folder.
output-x2universe44.lang
Rename it to a file named 44xxxx.xml (where xxxx is a number not already used by the files in your t-folder) and copy it to the t-folder
output-x2universe-00749.bod
This file is more difficult to handle. I recommend using this 300 sector in-game map mod (sorry, I don't have any link at the moment, does somebody know one?).
Next you need a very easy script to load the text. This was already discussed elsewhere, but I don't have a link at the moment (and no time to search) .

The galaxy editr exports the map file(s) to a mod package (cat/dat). It outputs all the files you need. It looks like all you need to do is move the mod file to the mod folder in the x2 directory, and that might possibly be all you need to do. I extracted the dat file and it has everything. However, if you want to change things, change them before you export to a mod. For example, if you want to change the init script, do that b4 exporting.

The galaxy editor can be found in the "Toools & Utilities" folder:
Baubsmyth's Archive

It's named "GalaxyEditor.exe".

[Lord Dakier]

Ahh now I get it. I'll try it out when I fix up my graphic card.

[Jonson27]

Ahh now I get it. I'll try it out when I fix up my graphic card.

Actually, I just tried it and couldn't get it to work. Don't take my word for it. When I get it working I'll let you know. I tried making it into a mod but no go... I did make my first cat/dat though, but I don't know really know what I"m doing. I do like it though that this smaller map uses less scripts. It apparently loaded something... Be great when it finally loads correctly because it obviously didn't.

[Jonson27]

Something like that. I haven't yet found a way to automate the mod building. The way I do it is a bit messy, just putting files in the directories (e.g. the player init script) and relying on the X2GalaxyEditor for a mod containing the galaxy map. And to use the in-game map I have to build a 05.cat file of course.

I did that. But it keeps placing me in Duke's Domain (galaxy map says it's a teladi sector). It appears to be placing me on the standard x2 map, not the xuw map, but ... what should be paranid sectors (on the standard map) are apparently teladi. So something weird is happening. I'm confused!

[Chris Gi]

Sounds strange...
Can you upload your files somewhere? I can check and see if the same happens to me....
Or send the files via email, if you want to...

[Jonson27]

Sounds strange...
Can you upload your files somewhere? I can check and see if the same happens to me....
Or send the files via email, if you want to...

Ok... I'm using export in the x2 galaxy editor. I put the resulting mods folder in the x2 mods folder. Then I put the init script in the scripts folder. Then I package "cut/00749.bod" in 05.cat/05.dat.

I am getting the correct station/nebulae/etc information. HOwever, the in-game galaxy map looks wrong and the sector name is wrong. I also noticed that the init script gives the wrong number(s) for the starting sector.

So it looks like hte bod file isn't working and hte init script needs editing.

[Chris Gi]

The 00749 has to be pbd-format (or bob-format). The original file is 00749.pbd - bod does not override the original file. So you're still using the original in-game map.

Regarding the script (I haven't tested it and maybe I'm wrong): but from the looks of it, the script can't be working because it is not well formed. From what I've seen, it doesn't load the text from the language file anyway.

There was a mod that changed the in-game galaxy map to contain all 300 possible sectors (in a 2D layout). I recommend using this one. This is often part of other mods. This mod works with any map (but seems to be causing trouble on MAC systems).

[Jonson27]

The 00749 has to be pbd-format (or bob-format). The original file is 00749.pbd - bod does not override the original file. So you're still using the original in-game map.

Regarding the script (I haven't tested it and maybe I'm wrong): but from the looks of it, the script can't be working because it is not well formed. From what I've seen, it doesn't load the text from the language file anyway.

There was a mod that changed the in-game galaxy map to contain all 300 possible sectors (in a 2D layout). I recommend using this one. This is often part of other mods. This mod works with any map (but seems to be causing trouble on MAC systems).

I looked at the original x2 file by extracting the cat/dat... it's cut/00749.bod. What are you meaning to say? The files look the same when I open them, except the xuw generated file is smaller. What should I do with the 00749 file that the xuw program generates? Far as I can tell I'm doing what the readme tells me to do - i even tried 00749.bod instead of 00749.txt (as the readme states).

That mod you're referncing, how exactly would it make what i'm trying to do easier?

[Chris Gi]

For all those having trouble to get a Universe going, I've made a small package. You can get it here:

XUW Mod + Script package

It contains three files:
05.cat
05.dat
galaxy.XUW.initplayership.xml

Place the files 05.cat/05.dat either into your mods directory or the X2 directory itself.
Place the file galaxy.XUW.initplayership.xml into the scripts folder.

05.cat/05.dat contains a 2D in-game galaxy map with all 300 sectors enable. The sectors are laid out in a regular manner (AFAIR, the original author of this mod is CheckerTwo).
The script galaxy.XUW.initplayership is for starting maps generated by the XUniverseWizard. You're starting in an Argon Discoverer with 1000 credits in a sector belonging to a neutral or friendly race. The starting point may not be ideal, but it#s better than starting in a Xenon or Khaak sector....

To get your map working, you need to do the following:
Rename output-x2universe.xml to XUW.xml and put it into the maps folder.
Rename output-x2universe44.lang to 443303.xml and put it into your t folder.
You have to rename the files to the given names, otherwise it won't work.

This might not be the best solution, but it's a solution.
Remember: I have nothing to do with the development of the XUniverseWizard, and this is no official part of the release.

[Jonson27]

For all those having trouble to get a Universe going, I've made a small package. You can get it here:

XUW Mod + Script package

It contains three files:
05.cat
05.dat
galaxy.XUW.initplayership.xml

Place the files 05.cat/05.dat either into your mods directory or the X2 directory itself.
Place the file galaxy.XUW.initplayership.xml into the scripts folder.

05.cat/05.dat contains a 2D in-game galaxy map with all 300 sectors enable. The sectors are laid out in a regular manner (AFAIR, the original author of this mod is CheckerTwo).
The script galaxy.XUW.initplayership is for starting maps generated by the XUniverseWizard. You're starting in an Argon Discoverer with 1000 credits in a sector belonging to a neutral or friendly race. The starting point may not be ideal, but it#s better than starting in a Xenon or Khaak sector....

To get your map working, you need to do the following:
Rename output-x2universe.xml to XUW.xml and put it into the maps folder.
Rename output-x2universe44.lang to 443303.xml and put it into your t folder.
You have to rename the files to the given names, otherwise it won't work.

This might not be the best solution, but it's a solution.
Remember: I have nothing to do with the development of the XUniverseWizard, and this is no official part of the release.

Thanks. After looking at what you did I was able to fix the problems I was having without using the 300 sector mod. It was apparently because... somehow... the sector names were not being read. Using the new init you supplied here seemed to fix it (after making a cat/dat for the bod file). I was installing the bod file correctly, but the problem has something to do with the files generated by the x2 galaxy editor. In any case, what you've given here does make things a bit easier. Putting the id for the sector names file in the init script is simple... and having a 300 sector bod file makes it so that you don't have to replace it each time you try a new map size (as long as it's not larger than 300). I also am going to use one init file for all maps... not going to use the one generated by xuw until it works.

EDIT: I spoke too soon. I went back and travelled around. While it was getting the sector names correct, I saw that the galaxy map wasn't showing the gates correctly. Further, in some sectors the galaxy map would disappear altogether. Replacing the 05 cat/dat with the 300 sector bod file fixed it. I don't know what the difference is between the two bod files, but the 300 sector version works because the galaxy map is showing properly now. Chris, what causes this? I was using the bod file generated by xuw - that's the one that won't work.

About the init script... there's a bug. The hidden variable for y= shows the correct value, but the value itself is not shown in the script when you view it - as opposed to x= where it's shown correctly. Also, as chris gi pointed out, it doesn't load the sector name id (something like "load text: id=3303" - where 3303 refers to the sector name t file).

I did find some problems after getting everything to work...

First, the xuw editor doesn't generate sector descriptions. This leads to the case, atleast with the 300 sector bod file, where the sector descriptions for hte original map are incorrectly displayed even though the sector name and everything else is correctly shown. It looks like the in-game galaxy map code simply does a text load from page="19" and id="1030..." If that's true, then you have to reset the descriptions with new sector names, especially for map indexes that exist on the original map.

So my recommendation to Orca42 is to generate descriptions. The x2 galaxy editor doesn't do it. Futhermore, this idea could be expanded by having a sectordescriptions.xml in the xml folder. This would be like sectornames.xml, except that you could set generic descriptions for sectors with particular characteristics (mining, prospering, barren, etc) or race (Argon, Boron, etc) and so on. Something like the following (this is for a 12x10 map, 72 sectors) is needed, minimally:

Code: Select all

<page id="19" title="Sectordescription" descr="Created by XUW">
		<t id="1030101">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030102">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030103">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030104">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030105">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030106">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030107">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030201">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030202">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030203">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030204">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030205">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030206">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030209">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030211">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030307">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030309">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030310">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030406">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030407">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030408">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030409">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030410">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030505">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030506">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030507">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030508">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030511">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030512">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030601">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030603">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030604">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030605">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030606">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030607">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030608">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030609">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030611">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030612">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030701">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030702">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030703">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030704">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030705">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030706">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030707">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030709">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030712">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030801">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030802">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030803">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030804">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030805">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030806">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030807">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030811">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030812">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030901">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030902">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030904">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030905">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030906">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030907">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030911">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1030912">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1031001">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1031006">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1031007">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1031008">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1031010">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1031011">No description for this sector is available.</t>
		<t id="1031012">No description for this sector is available.</t>
</page>

The above definitions would be added to xuw44.lang and xuw49.lang for a 12x10 map. The least that could be done is to make the sector descriptions empty, but atleast set them. Otherwise, atleast with the 300 sector bod file, the descriptions for the original x2 map are shown.

Second, the al patrol plugin that comes with 1.4 doesn't detect the new sectors properly, and it shows sectors that are on the original map. In order to resolve this, I'd have to edit the al plugin for this myself. Basically, it looks like it's grabbing a sector at 0,0 and running with it. If the sector is a part of the original map, but not the new one, it'll show the name for the original. If the sector is part of the map you're using, it'll show the correct name. Basically, this problem amounts to setting "No" for a dozen al plugins.... which is yukky.

This makes me wonder whether the 300 sector mod needs to also clear the sector descriptions or names for the 300 sectors... maybe that's what's causing some of this. I'm not sure. Are the original sector names/descriptions loaded b4 the engine loads the custom map?

Other than that, I'm ok with it so far. I do have a number of gripes, but I'll keep them to myself until orca shows up. I still think xuw is a cool app and respect the volumes of work invested in it.

[Chris Gi]

I haven't used XeHonks GalaxyEditor that much. But AFAIR it doesn't produce a map that works out of the box either.

Producing a map for X2 is one thing - setting everything up to run in X2 another. I'm not quite sure an app like XUniverseWizard should produce all those files.

Chris, what causes this?

The 00749 is basically a model of the map - very much like a ship model. It needs definitions (bodies) for the sector itself, the sector names and for all the connections to other gates. All these bodies have to be named correctly to get properly displayed. But even if named correctly, the X2 in-game galaxy map seems to be only able to display connections between neighoring sectors in horizontal or vertical lines, not diagonal.
I haven't checked the bod file generated by XUW, but I can easily imagine it may have errors.... (@Orca: no offense intended, you sure know how complex the map can be).

This makes me wonder whether the 300 sector mod needs to also clear the sector descriptions or names for the 300 sectors... maybe that's what's causing some of this. I'm not sure. Are the original sector names/descriptions loaded b4 the engine loads the custom map?

Now, naming of the sectors and the description of the sectors is another thing again. This is all handled by the game engine. I don't know exactly, how the files are read. But obviously it reads the original 440001 file, and overrides the texts found with the sector names from the 443303 file. Since this file may have no name/description for a specific sector, the original name is not overriden. The sector at 0,0 remains "Kingdom End" if it's not named in the 443303 file.
This is of course also true of the sector descriptions. That's why the original sector descriptions show up. If Orca42's app would generate descriptions, that would be perfect. But is this really within the scope of such a program? Imho: no. This can be easily done with any text editor.

I don't know why the al patrol plugin doesn't detect the new sectors properly. If it's really grabbing a non-existent sector at 0,0 it's an bug. AFAIK no script that gets signed should assume a specific sector to be on the map and to belong to a specific race....

[Jonson27]

The 00749 is basically a model of the map - very much like a ship model. It needs definitions (bodies) for the sector itself, the sector names and for all the connections to other gates. All these bodies have to be named correctly to get properly displayed. But even if named correctly, the X2 in-game galaxy map seems to be only able to display connections between neighoring sectors in horizontal or vertical lines, not diagonal.
I haven't checked the bod file generated by XUW, but I can easily imagine it may have errors.... (@Orca: no offense intended, you sure know how complex the map can be).

You may be right. I don't know how much orca has tested it.

Now, naming of the sectors and the description of the sectors is another thing again. This is all handled by the game engine. I don't know exactly, how the files are read. But obviously it reads the original 440001 file, and overrides the texts found with the sector names from the 443303 file. Since this file may have no name/description for a specific sector, the original name is not overriden. The sector at 0,0 remains "Kingdom End" if it's not named in the 443303 file.
This is of course also true of the sector descriptions. That's why the original sector descriptions show up. If Orca42's app would generate descriptions, that would be perfect. But is this really within the scope of such a program? Imho: no. This can be easily done with any text editor.

It can be done with a text editor, but it's tedious. Try doing it. But this isn't the main point (that it's tedious to do it manually)... the main point is that it could take advantage of code he's already made.

I think xuw is the perfect program for doing descriptions - you do too (you said it yourself). It makes sense to do it. It would fit very nicely alongside sectornames.xml, as sectordescriptions.xml, in the xml folder. Not only that, but if you're going to generate generic descriptions based on random criteria, there's no better place to do it than in xuw. That's because this is already done for sector names (random criteria are used to select the name... like whether it's a mining sector or a prospering sector or a barren sector or it's a particular race and so on...), so you just need to duplicate it for descriptons - much easier than reinventing the wheel. That should be very easy to do, and it would save me a lot of time having to do it myself - doing something that I think should be done by xuw. It would seriously be cool. It's not much different than sector names, except that it requires a bit more thought. At the end of the day, people who build mods don't really want to use random maps. The people who're using random maps probably are ok with random things in them. They probably, like me, don't want to spend several hours writing descriptions. Just a brief, generic characterization of the sector is enough.

Now... The x2 galaxy editor should atleast generate empty descriptions for the sectors. If it had, I probably never would have commented about this. The reason I say this is because it shows them as empty in the editor, but when you save it, it doesn't save them as empty - it just puts a page for descriptions, but no ids are changed. This means hte originals are left untouched.

But now that I don't even technically need the x2 galaxy editor to work with these maps (except for viewing them, which I do a lot), I don't see why xuw cannot atleast generate empty descriptions in the *.lang files. It would be easy to do, and save time for the user. An empty description is sometimes better than one that says something.

I've used xuw enough that I'm changing the xml files to get what I want. It's a very nice program. You can change so many things with it. You can change what the stations sell and what they buy... and what hte probability is for it. You can change the probability for certain stations to appear in certain sectors. You can change how many ships are in sectors (the attack enemies in range command). The list goes on and on. Only danger is screwing up the economy - i hope he checks for this enough.

I don't know why the al patrol plugin doesn't detect the new sectors properly. If it's really grabbing a non-existent sector at 0,0 it's an bug. AFAIK no script that gets signed should assume a specific sector to be on the map and to belong to a specific race....

It is. Not just at 0,0... if the sector index is not on the custom map, it lists the original sector. Whne I get around to it, I'll take a look at the al patrol plugin scripts. Since I've never made an al plugin script b4, this would be good practice. I know a little, but not enough.

[Jonson27]

Had a bug where an undefined station was placed on the map. It said "Station()" in the x2 galaxy editor. It's easy to get rid of it, but... hints at a problem in xuw. This is what it looks like in the xml map file:

Code: Select all

<o id="0" g="0" t="6" s="" b="0" r="5" a="32768" z="-6290390" y="-1822976" x="-1600501"/>

Whatcha think? For some reason the station subtype is missing. It was in a pirate sector.

EDIT: I had to change ships.xml to get the pirate m6 to work. I found that it would show as "Ship()" in the galaxy editor. This is eerily similar to "Station()". I suspect that one of the xml files is referencing a station name that does not exist in the other files. Could be a typo. One other thing to note is that it's always owned by the Teladi (so far).

I've been goofing around with xuw for a bit... so much that I haven't even played x2. One of the things that bothers me is that I can't guarantee nvidium asteroids in khaak sectors... can't guarantee asteroids for that matter... so I'm going to have to look through the xml file to make sure that all of them have nvidium... b4 I play x2. That means making several maps and scanning through them - tedious. I'm thinking that if I can stay interested I'll beef up the xenon/khaak with an al plugin mod, but that's all just fantasy right now. I've made several changes to the xml files... so I really hope I haven't busted the economy. On the other hand, you can't expect economies to be perfect... especially here in this case where I imagine the races having entered a one-way gate into enemy territory. Almost constant conflict, and the pirates have managed to make their way into the mess as well. I'd expect there to be a lot of turmoil.

The only thing I've really done is increased nvidium use in space jewelries. Then I added nvidium to some race trading stations: teladi, pirate, paranid. I did just recently increase the number of space jewelries in pirate sectors.. and now I'm wondering if i also have to increase raster and maja snail factories. I'm wondering if maybe I should leave station probability alone and just boost the probability for a space jewelries to use nviduim - this would preserve the universal station chemistry while allowing for nvidium to play a more central role in player wealth. I could justify this by saying that there were more khaak sectors in this portion of the galaxy, and that since nvidium is in greater supply this would mean that space jewelries are starting to use it more often. This might in turn lower the cost, but acquiring it's still difficult.

I also reduced the number of small ships like m4 and m5. I replaced them with m3's for an overall reduction in free ships (less running scripts). Also added some m6 to normal sectors because this makes sense within the framework of what I'm imagining - ramped up khaak/xenon/pirate activity. I changed some sector names. Some of them were too wordy - imho. I'm using a small map with just 60 sectors to test out the idea of small maps. I also want to keep the number of running scripts low because that gives me some freedom to try out things.

I'm working with these mods: Burianeks Laser & Economy Rebalance v1.0, X2.pirate.guild.120, jumpfleets_final. What this does is modifies the economy a bit and changes the weapons (in most cases making the enemy more challening). The pirate guild greatly increases the number of pirates, and gives them a global script for managing their efforts. The race response made gives races the ability to jump their big ships to where criminal/hostile activity is taking place. I'd like a global script for khaak and xenon as well. I'd like for the amount of khaak/xenon activity to be tied to the hostile stations and linear time. Another words, the more hostile stations you remove, the better off you'll be. And the sooner you do this, the better - i imagine that the hostiles have sectors outside the known map that will be notified of the war and will join the fight regardless. I'd like there to be an endgame, and I want all of this to happen in a relatively short period of time.

Getting to the point where I wish I knew java. It looks like vc++. I'm a bit foggy on how to use SVN. I did use it for a short while, but installing all of hte development tools is a pain. Maybe...

[Jonson27]

Does anyone know whether or not the stations are rebuilt if they're destroyed? Are the shipyards rebuilt if they're destroyed? If so, is there a way to prevent x2 from rebuilding the stations? Or is there a way to delay it? Are the free ships rebuilt/respawned after they're destroyed? The free ships, fyi, are the ships that xuw generates in the sectors - they have attack enemy in range orders.

On a side note: In my xuw setup i've reduced the number of stations, sectors, asteroids, and nebulae. All in the hopes of saving processor cycles for other things. I've managed to cut global running scripts to 1035 at startup, primarily by reducing the numbers of free ships and stations. There're now on average 184 free ships in the 60 sectors at startup, amounting to 184 attack in range orders. I've also thought about changing the ships onboard carriers to m3/m4 rather than m3/m4/m5 - would help to reduce the numbers of running scripts in specific circumstances. Or I could heavily weight it towards m3. It would keep processing needs to a minimum. Every script that I can safely prevent from running is another bonus for global scripts which would control the races and what they build. That's actually my longterm goal. I'd like to have a global script for each race that locates their shipyard or wharf.. and sends out al plugin patrols to its outposts or its enemies. In fact, ideally, it would be better to not have any free ships at all - instead have them built by the global scripts according to their needs. This way I could keep track of resources/stations and have this impact how many ships the race builds for defensive/offensive purposes. I don't want a universe that equalizes everything - instead I want an end game where you can lose. Consequently, that's why I don't want the games to last too long. That's also why I don't want "free ships" that will be respawned without conditions. This is, however, not like x2, but more like a rts. But scripting and mapmaking allows us to do just about anything - it's a beautifull thing (can be fun too).

[Lord Dakier]

Shipyards are rebuilt, stations are rebuilt in different areas AFAIK.

[Chris Gi]

Does anyone know whether or not the stations are rebuilt if they're destroyed? Are the shipyards rebuilt if they're destroyed? If so, is there a way to prevent x2 from rebuilding the stations? Or is there a way to delay it? Are the free ships rebuilt/respawned after they're destroyed?

I'm not 100% positive about it, but AFAIK every station or ship that is on the map is rebuilt sooner or later. If this information is right, you need to remove the stations you don't want to respawn from the map and add it with a script.

[Orca42]

Hi everybody. Sorry for my absence - I'm really busy at the moment writing my diploma thesis. I will see whether I can fix some of the issues, but I cannot promise anything...

First of all, I discovered a very bad bug myself. Allthough I was pretty sure I already fixed that problem, I had a reproducable crash to desktop with X2 when entering a certain station. I think it is related to "long" or "diagonal" connections - the station was in a sector with one gate connecting diagonally to another sector. ANyone encountered similar problems? It probably has something to do with the numbers you put in the gates ("gid" and "gtid"). Or maybe X2 does not tolerate these sorts of diagonal connections at all - in which case the GalaxyEditor should also produce crashes as it uses the same way to set the numbers. So I have no idea of how to fix this except for deactivating diagonal connections (there is an option in the generator dialog for that). But this of course has some bad effect on the universe layout.

Yes, I know about the empty descriptions text - kind of annoying if you want to play in a way that puts you really in a new universe where you don't even know in which part of the map you are... the descriptions will still tell you, spoiling you a part of exploration fun. I just discovered I can make a quick fix for that using XSLT.
About generating descriptions texts... I though about that, including something like "This is a mining sector. It has x mines and an average number of asteroids. It has grey, green and blue nebulae. It has one planet and one yellow sun." .. but what's the point in that? Would be more fun for the player to find these things out the hard way I guess.
Another possibility would be to put descriptions that do not depend on the sector content but only on its name. That would be very creative, but also hard to do - I don't have the time to write so many creative texts. Of course it would be nice to have that since some sector names really refer to sector content ("red star", "blue lagoon" etc.). But it's a very high workload... so far, I guess thinking about the sector name and what it may mean is a nice way of dealing with it, just use your own imagination. And maybe you meet some old friends on Kulu, Lyshriol or Golter. Oh, I should definitely add a "Sector 42"

By the way, I also found out how to remove the sector names from the "computer voice", so you don't hear the original sector name when you enter one. I will still have to work out how to include that in the editor, it's also a long term shot.

Had a bug where an undefined station was placed on the map. It said "Station()" in the x2 galaxy editor. It's easy to get rid of it, but... hints at a problem in xuw.

Yes, I also found that one and already fixed it in my personal version (which is unpublished yet). I think it was an advanced satellite factory owned by Teladi - but Teladi do not have that kinds of stations.

I have also seen the thing about the AL engine of course whenever I test a map in the game. I don't know about any workarounds (other than deactivating all its options), if you find one that would be very cool. Oh, but I remember seeing TP ships flying around, so some parts of it seem to work.

I've looked at the SVG file for one map I generated, and wowy, very unique look. It was kind of exciting. Unfortunately, I think this program is going to be one of the most overlooked programs because of the difficulty in using it for the non-modder.

Yeah, main problem so far. The way to include the GalaxyEditor and copying/renaming files manually is not exactly user-friendly. I will see whether I can include the X2 Archiver to write mod files directly.

I also want to be able to influence how many asteroids are in friendly sectors versus how many are in hostile sectors. Right now you can only set this for all sectors - it's all or nothing! I would like there to be asteroids in all sectors, but only some of them will have a lot of them. It does allow you to set the probability of there being asteroids in a sector, but as I pointed out in the previous paragraph, I'm not sure that setting works!

You are right, you cannot influence that, so, point taken. Seeing the current issues this is however low priority...

About getting all Khaak sectos having asteroids: I included a correction algorithm that enforces the generator to obey the mean number of asteroids per sector for the whole universe (which is 14,0 by default). The generator assigns numbers of asteroids for each sector, but after that it makes a second sweep and corrects (i.e. increases or decreases) these numbers for each sector if all sectors sum up to a too low or too high value. You can have a look at the log files, look for "Fixed total number of Si+Ore asteroids in universe". Sectors that only have 5 asteroids (before the correction) may then get down to 0 (or even negative...) if the generator decreases the number a lot - you may see that in the log file.
Long story short, try increasing the mean number of asteroids per sector. I probably should include an option to deactivate this correction feature - but then you may have universes with a lot more or a lot less asteroids in total, that's the backdraw.

The point about all Khaak having Nividium, well, I can see why that mnakes sense (some sort of fighter's reward). But, never forget - a lot of Nividium does not get you anywhere. Unless you do it the way you told here by increasing the number of places that buy it, you may still be only 3 or 4 places that buy that stuff and you will not get rich with it, no matter the high prices. I have read stories of people who mined all the nividium in the original universe, having cargo bays ull of that stuff and not being able to sell it to anyone. So what's the point in that? However, there is no guarantee to have nividium in the universe at all. From my experience, there always is at least one asteroid. But of course it might be good to have an insurance option for that ("create at least one nividium asteroid with value 10 in the whole universe").

One thing I would modify in the economy settings is the demand for warheads and majaglit. I have a modified stationconfiguration.xml, I might include it in the archive for anyone interested.

If you know c++, you don't have problems reading Java or maybe writing it. However, the API is way different and the overall philosophy of the language as well (e.g. no memory management). If you are seriously going into the Java code, use Eclipse with the Subversive plugin for SVN access.

By the way, if you made changes to sector names, please tell me. I'm no english native speaker, so they probably sound weird.

Regarding the script (I haven't tested it and maybe I'm wrong): but from the looks of it, the script can't be working because it is not well formed. From what I've seen, it doesn't load the text from the language file anyway.

Hmm, when I do it, it works fine. The GalaxyEditor creates a separate script file for loading map names, and that seems to work well together with the script file generated by xuw.
Okay, I just saw something that may be wrong: The script file generated by xuw probably works for German versions only - it contains the German name for the SETI drive. Maybe that is the reason why X2 won't tolerate it. I'm afraid there is no quick solution for that, the xslt file generating the script is currently not able to distinguish between languages.

I've used xuw enough that I'm changing the xml files to get what I want. It's a very nice program. You can change so many things with it. You can change what the stations sell and what they buy... and what hte probability is for it. You can change the probability for certain stations to appear in certain sectors. You can change how many ships are in sectors (the attack enemies in range command). The list goes on and on. Only danger is screwing up the economy - i hope he checks for this enough.

Feel free to change all you can find. Screwing up the economy is of course on of the major risks. And although the generator will obey what you tell it to do in the xml's, there is a considerable amount of safety measures built in to keep the balance. And if you like screwed up economies - starvation, areas with no crystals at all - so why don't do it...

I haven't checked the bod file generated by XUW, but I can easily imagine it may have errors.... (@Orca: no offense intended, you sure know how complex the map can be).

None taken I think it works perfectly well, I did not encounter any problems - of course only if you manage to place it in the right mod file which is one of the more crappier things to do to get it running...

Using the 300 sectors map is a possible solution of course. However, without a proper player init script, you will always start where Argon Prime used to be. There might be a Khaak, Unknown or Xenon sector there. Or there is no sector at all at that place (which causes X2 to crash as far as I remember).

By the way, thanks for your workaround efforts to get the sector map and scripts working. I'm actually surprised that there is still interest in the project. I always thought that while there is no support for X3/TC, there is no need for it. Thus also the bad usability - why bother if only me is using it, hehe.