[SCR] [X3:TC/AP] [v1.8.9.8] [11/16/2019] MK3 Improvement Reloaded

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Danubian
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue, 20. Dec 11, 21:32

Post by Danubian »

Ahhhh...

Well first of all i seem to have somehow managed to download old version of your mod. The Thereshallbewings > C > S thingy was showing 1.3.3, now its showing 1.3.4, and i think everything works, ill check it out and get back to you if i run into any more problems.

Sry for bugging you :)

edit - ok i think i definitely got it:

even with new files, if i just drop them over fresh install, and then load a game, at first everything stops, game doesnt even register sector and universe traders anymore, ships that were ST and UTs in that save game finish their current order and then go on stand by.

However, if i do the Thereshallbewingsthingy, and reinit script cashes, both ST and UT appear again.

Is that how its supposed to work, or is it supposed to load right into save game? (1.1 patch game)?

edit2 - ok its been running for a couple of hours - i have maybe 10 total MK3 traders, i recalled them all (from all over the universe) and set them as sector traders with jump gate limit set to 5, in or around Argon Prime (high concentration of stations). I went from 80 million to just over 113mil. I dont know how that compares to normal UTs, but it seems good to me, not complaining. What is important is the following:

a.) none of them got bugged, you know, as in they park somewhere with 100% cargo and refuse to move on until i fix this manually which is super annoying ++++++++++++
b.) none of them had sustained any damage - in all fairness they are mostly in core system but still, im parked in one with SETA 10X, and at least 3 of them with me at any time, and ive had no collisions at all, which is better than what ive had before, maybe its just luck not sure if you changed anything there +
c.) damn they got smart - if i hated something about old traders it was how dumb they tended to be sometimes; if they were left in same system, like 3 of them would go for exactly the same dead, usually ecells, which naturally doesnt work, since the station being supplied can only take about 1 cargo load (anything more doesnt make profit selling for 14-15). Right now i have 6 of them in herons nebula, every one going for different target - didnt have this before ++++
d.) im loving the rename thingy, that switches from Your Whatever to MK3 Trader, however id ask you to retain actual ship name, so it would be like this: MK3 Trader Mistral. If possible, depending on what they are set for, it wouldnt hurt to have duty bit as well, so MK3 Trader UT Mistral, or MK3 Trader ST Mistral, if they are universe or sector traders.

Will leave game running whole night, so ill get back to you tomorrow with more feedback.
gnasirator
Posts: 1114
Joined: Mon, 13. Dec 04, 16:15
x3tc

Post by gnasirator »

great news!

okay so problem was to reinit script caches ....
I guess without activating the script editor you would have to save and reload the savegame to achieve that. ever tried?

about renaming:
you are right, that feature COULD get polished up a bit but I never had it up on my priority list. It was just there to quickly rename freshly bought MK3 trader ships.

For me personally, I only have the MK3s work as universe traders all the time so I only needed to know that a ship is working as a MK3 trader.
But I agree that a bit more flexibility about naming would be nice.

my suggestion here -> http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=307684
That script officially supports my improvement and you can add dynamic information like experience lvl or trade range to the ship name.

in theory the start sector for local traders could be added, too but seems, that isn't implemented yet.
Danubian
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue, 20. Dec 11, 21:32

Post by Danubian »

The thing has been running for night, i went from 113m to 300m :)

No ship got bugged (YEEEEY!!!!!1111)
No ship got damaged (yeeey)
Everything is still running the way its supposed to :)

As for script editor, well i already used it (changed name), and it now says that my game is modified. Does that change anything? Should i go back to save game and try to save+load, having in mind that the game has been running for hours now (and im rich). While im at it, can i turn off the modified version? (if im bugging you just ignore this, im thankful for the scrip as it is :D )
gnasirator
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Joined: Mon, 13. Dec 04, 16:15
x3tc

Post by gnasirator »

nice! I'm happy that it works :)
usually there are always some people finding flaws somewhere burried deep down inside the code :)

the modified status is ... well just there to tell you the game has been modified. nothing more. so just ignore it. you can only get rid of it by removing all scripts to default and then reloading an unmodified save game.

but I guess you won't do that ;)
Danubian
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue, 20. Dec 11, 21:32

Post by Danubian »

Oh no way in hell sir :)

Im keeping this script for a very long time :)
Danubian
Posts: 46
Joined: Tue, 20. Dec 11, 21:32

Post by Danubian »

Ive got another question for you:

Did you change in any way the AI transport ship routine, you know, all the energy, food, high tech etc transports flying around on their own?

3 days later into the game (altho mostly in SETA) i have over 20 escort ships just sitting in my system, as well as something like 50 transport ships near gates doing nothing. I think there is something broken with some script, just dont know if its your thing or vanilla issue.

Good this is, they seem to clean up after i leave system and stay away for a while.
gnasirator
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Joined: Mon, 13. Dec 04, 16:15
x3tc

Post by gnasirator »

actually no, I have not. this script should ONLY affect your MK3 traders.

But might it be possible that the AI traders use some kind of MK3 script on their own?
I have once seen one them having drones on board, and and ec reserve just like they were MK3s .... but could have been a phanon corp ship.

have to check their active scripts some time.
Dark Plains
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed, 20. Jan 10, 13:00
xr

Post by Dark Plains »

My ST still seem to be sitting around a lot. I m finding it very hard to train them up enough to become UT's.

Can I ask what sectors people are using for training up there ST so I can check if it's just me picking bad places to trade?

Thanks.
gnasirator
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Joined: Mon, 13. Dec 04, 16:15
x3tc

Post by gnasirator »

jeah that's a pain to get them high enough - but totally normal.

try "Scale Plate Green" or even better "Empire'S Edge". Especially the last one always works for me.

from exp lvl 6 on traders can act as local traders with trade range of 1. they should have fewer downtimes then.
Dark Plains
Posts: 7
Joined: Wed, 20. Jan 10, 13:00
xr

Post by Dark Plains »

Alas the Paranid really don't like me because of that whole ripping off every one of their weapon dealers I can find thing.

I shall try Scale Plate as all my old favorites like ore belt and ceo's doubt seem to be getting me nothing at all lvl 3 after 4 hours flight time if I m lucky
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DrBullwinkle
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Joined: Sat, 17. Dec 11, 01:44
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Post by DrBullwinkle »

Best starting sectors include:

- Solar Power Plant

- Food or Bio (preferably both)

- Trading Station or factories that use food as resources

The energy cells, bio, and food are all cheap consumables that result in many trades. Larger factories add more credits per run. Both factor into promotions.

"Best sector" varies from game to game, but the above tips always work.

Also, don't watch your traders! Watching them slows down their behavior. Just start them and go do something else.

"Standby" is normal behavior -- they are waiting for sufficiently large customer within range. With energy, bio, and food, that will happen soon enough.

Finally, if you want them to trade in fringe sectors, set "Show as enemy if enemy to me" as <<Off>>.

=======================================
EDIT: In other news, v1.3.4 seems to be automatically renaming my traders. And it gives them all the same name, which is useless for tracking. Mk3's are not supposed to change their names, are they?
gnasirator
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Joined: Mon, 13. Dec 04, 16:15
x3tc

Post by gnasirator »

new version out!

minor changes only. merged t-files and renamed some global vars.

btw can anybody pls check if this script works with xrm? I'd like to add the compatible tag, if possible.
altay
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu, 2. Feb 12, 14:39
x3tc

Post by altay »

I've been using this mod from the start with XRM-AP, i haven't come across any problems. I think it's fully compatible. Same with Galaxy Explorer, it's also compatible.
gnasirator
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x3tc

Post by gnasirator »

great, thanks!
Welingen
Posts: 243
Joined: Fri, 17. Nov 06, 15:53
x4

Post by Welingen »

Hi,

Work fine with XRM too.

Good job, and thanks for this.

Weli

Ps : X3TC only, don't buy AP until box released, never steam for X3.
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DrBullwinkle
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x3tc

Post by DrBullwinkle »

The good news is that my UT's have been behaving well since your recent fixes. (Mostly).

1) TBH, the vanilla behavior is better for me than the ware blacklister. I can live with your "optimized" behavior because it does add something useful, which is "rest-ware selling".

An important feature of Mk3's is that they are simple, with no options. So my vote is to drop the ware blacklister.

2) I assume that your Mk3's do obey the vanilla Mk3 blacklist, right? So that the Trade Mk3 Blacklist Manager will work with your optimized Mk3's?

And did you fix the bug (in vanilla) where Mk3's sometimes do not obey the blacklist? If you did, that would be a good feature to mention in your Original Post.

3) I am sorry to report that v1.3.5 is still renaming traders. (and giving them all the same name.) :(

Mk3's are not supposed to change names.

If you really want to change the name, the script should append the original name after "Mk3 Trader". Don't just *replace* the existing name... that makes a mess of the traders. (And be sure to allow the player to change the name).

Don't let the reports fool you -- they just mean that people are using your scripts! :)
gnasirator
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Post by gnasirator »

1) The ware black lister was your idea? Why drop it now? Works fine for me and you don't have to use it - just like the original blacklist manager.

2) yes they do. work perfectly fine together. No I didn't, because I have never observed any trader do this. If I could somehow reproduce that error, I'll gladly fix it.

3) Yes, I didn't change anything about it but I'll rethink that feature and come up with something more useful.


btw: thanks for the good testing ;)

edit: you're right about naming. removed that for the time being. check new version.
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DrBullwinkle
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Post by DrBullwinkle »

(Smile)... :)

1) The ware black lister may have been *inspired* by my comment that the Mk3's were selling important equipment, but I never suggested it! As implemented, it does not solve my issue. And, TBH, it is a small issue -- the rest ware selling is a better idea/implementation.

It is OK to keep the ware black lister if you like it. My suggestion to remove it is because Mk3's are supposed to be easy (meaning no configuration).

Either way, it is a minor point. I just wanted to give you my feedback. Do as you like! :)

2) Good that it obeys the blacklist. I found the Mk3 blacklist bug description from Cycrow:

once it has bought the wares, and the station to sell at no longer has the best deal, it'll search for a new station.

this search ignores the blacklist so the ship can end up selling anywhere



3) Thank you!
gnasirator
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x3tc

Post by gnasirator »

ah okay, so what you are saying is, that the mk3 ware blacklist is no solution for your problem?
that's interesting, tell me more :) why? I thought your problem was that the MK3 sold all the wares you loaded his cargo bay with? This should be sold now, isn't it?


the description is a great find! I'll try to reproduce that. can't be too hard to fix that, I hope.
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DrBullwinkle
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Post by DrBullwinkle »

I think that what I am saying is that my "problem" is not worthwhile to fix. :)

My original comment was more surprise than a real request for a feature. The ware blacklister is not really a solution because you still make decisions about what you think the ship should be equipped with. Trust me, if I thought something like that were worthwhile to fix, I would do it myself. :)

I do not think this is important either way. However, my very small suggestion would be that Mk3's are best with no configuration at all.

If the player wants to configure things, then EST, CAG, and CLS allow plenty of configuration (including buy/sell blacklists).

(However, the code may be useful on another project, so save a copy somewhere.)

Regarding the bug, I do not know whether the AP team have fixed it yet. If they have not, then fixing that bug should help to get your script signed. :)

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