[Modded Game] The new Canteran Shipyard (forced completion) L/XL Ship Dealers Issue

[Simoom]

I started a new campaign save for 4.0/HoL, and have been monitoring the number of NPC CV's in my save file like a hawk (because in my previous save, only one NPC station was ever constructed, the HoA Staples Farmery in Vapour Stream. The rest of the CV's I assume got blown up before they built anything).

To make sure nothing bad happened to the NPC CV's, the moment I finished the campaign, I opened up the save game file in Notepad++ and hacked them with the following line (which makes them invincible):

Code: Select all

<hull min="6000000"/>

I can confirm that the following stations have been built:

• Vapour Stream: HoA Staples Farmery
• Extinct Torch: RoC BTO Ship Line
• Forty-Two: RoC Wheat Plantation
• Fiendish Moloch: RoC Water Distillery

There are four NPC build locations that haven't been utilized. They are in:

• Radiation Belt
• Scorched Aura
• Torrid Veil
• Twilight Sentinel (possibly used for PMC Overwatrch)

[Simoom]

Hey guys, I just did a quick experiment. I went into my save file and turned ownership of the Canteran CV and Shipyard (the one that was being built) over to me. I assigned a new architect to the CV and was able to fully finish construction of the shipyard.

While all of that's going on, I noticed that the shipyard was manufacturing small and medium ships automatically (as a production line, just like everything else)
[ external image ]

After the station was fully built, I turned ownership back to the Canterans. Well? So far it is continuing to build new ships and I can in fact confirm that I just saw a Betaver leave dock, and it was automatically assigned a task ("Explore").

So yeah, it would seem this shipyard does actually create a sink... problem is, of course, Egosoft need to fix these NPC stations not being fully built.

Also, the fully-built station has a L-sized and XL-sized cradle, as well as 4 L/XL ship dealers... however, these dealers seem to be bugged out. I am unable to comm them or get them to show up under the "Traders" menu in any way (the two small ship dealers work fine).

[Simoom]

I went into my save file and turned ownership of the Canteran CV and Shipyard (the one that was being built) over to me.
...
Also, the fully-built station has a L-sized and XL-sized cradle, as well as 4 L/XL ship dealers... however, these dealers seem to be bugged out. I am unable to comm them or get them to show up under the "Traders" menu in any way (the two small ship dealers work fine).

Perhaps it would be OK if only changing ownership of the CV because the L and XL ship dealers worked fine pre-4.0 when the CV was captured and the NPC shipyard extended. Although this could be a side effect of the 4.0 changes.

I didn't know it was possible to extend the station without changing its ownership.

I went through the save game file line by line and changed ownership of all the ship dealers back to Canteran (and deleted the "account" line which makes it use player account), pretty sure I didn't miss anything. I've done this sort of edits to other NPC's before and it's never created problems, but... who knows.

[Simoom]

Alright, so... Heart of Albion and the Canterans build some stations in DeVries after the campaign finishes. The problem is these stations are never completed (they build 2-3 stages at most).

I forced their full completion by editing my save file and turning the ownership of the CV's and stations over to me (I didn't realize at the time that the CV ownership was all I needed). After the stations were fully built, I turned the ownership back to the NPC's.

One of these stations is a BTO Ship Line in Extinct Torch. It started with two small ship dealers, and by the end of its construction it has gained 4 L/XL ship dealers as well.

The problem is I am unable to comm or even get these L/XL ship dealers to show up. Attempting to contact them directly from the side menu results in a glitched UI where I am staring at the sector map (with no way to exit that screen). Contacting another NPC to call up the comm interface and THEN trying to expand the L/XL ship dealer category doesn't bug out the UI, but the category simply doesn't expand.

Now, since this is a modified game save, I am not expecting official support or anything like that. But I would very much appreciate it if someone can take a quick look and spot if I did anything wrong.

The save file is attached here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1qb1k ... sp=sharing

The station is located at line 708682, look for "struct_bt_dv_shipyard_macro". The names of the bugged out dealers are:

• Terrel Claassen
• Shinji Sato
• Jarren Cruise
• Dal Springer

The small ship dealers are working fine, which is... weird to say the least. :/

[Simoom]

This was patched out in 4.0. The station's ambivalence was a bit illogical. Plus the process wasn't entirely flawless because although the shipyard would gain NPC ship dealers and allow the construction of L and XL ships, the shipyard continued to only trade drones used by M ships (mining drones).

Okay, two things:

1) Looks like the L/XL ship dealer glitch was because I switched the ownership of the station before its completion. I reverted to an earlier save and switched ownership of only the CV (not the station), and was able to complete the station with fully-functional ship dealers.

2) Regarding the trade issue (station not trading more drone types), is there a workaround? Like if I switch station and manager ownership to me and manually command the manager to trade in certain wares?

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

I'm not aware of a workaround for the drone trade issue being described in the past but in practice, probably not many of the regular forum uses had extended the shipyard and fewer of us that did would be code/save proficient enough to have tried (at least I am not anyway). So it's quite possible that it could be achieved.

[Simoom]

I'm not aware of a workaround for the drone trade issue being described in the past but in practice, probably not many of the regular forum uses had extended the shipyard and fewer of us that did would be code/save proficient enough to have tried (at least I am not anyway). So it's quite possible that it could be achieved.

I am an obsessive save game file tweaker... I'll look into this and report back.

[eMYNOCK]

Well...

You could make a MD or ai or what-ever Script that runs when a game is loaded...

It must check if a Station with the DV Shipyard Macro is Present in Extinct Torch (Zone macro) and belongs to RoC.

Than it must check if a L or a XL Cradle is Build (Station Part Macro).

And finally it simply must add the URVs into the Trade list...


Hope that is enough hint for a passionated Scripter / Modder.

[Simoom]

Just did a side-by-side comparison of the full save game file texts for the two Canteran shipyards. Here are the notable differences:

1) Wares Traded:

Shipyard (Old)

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<trade wares="drp_assault drp_cargolifter drp_construction drp_interceptor_mk1 drp_interceptor_mk2 drp_intrepid_mk1 drp_intrepid_mk2 drp_overrun_mk1 drp_overrun_mk2 drp_scoopcollector_mk1 drp_scoopcollector_mk2 drp_surfaceminer_mk1 drp_surfaceminer_mk2 dumbfiremissile fuelcells swarmmissile">

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<settings>
<setting name="buy" wares="drp_assault drp_cargolifter drp_construction drp_interceptor_mk1 drp_interceptor_mk2 drp_intrepid_mk1 drp_intrepid_mk2 drp_overrun_mk1 drp_overrun_mk2 drp_scoopcollector_mk1 drp_scoopcollector_mk2 drp_surfaceminer_mk1 drp_surfaceminer_mk2 dumbfiremissile fuelcells swarmmissile"/>
</settings>

Shipyard (New)

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<trade wares="drp_scoopcollector_mk1 drp_scoopcollector_mk2 drp_surfaceminer_mk1 drp_surfaceminer_mk2">

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<settings>
<setting name="buy" wares="drp_scoopcollector_mk1 drp_scoopcollector_mk2 drp_surfaceminer_mk1 drp_surfaceminer_mk2"/>
</settings>

Should be a simple copy and paste job to get the new shipyard to trade in these additional wares... it doesn't seem like it falls under the Manager's configuration.

2) Ship Construction:

Shipyard (Old)

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<reservations>
<reservation type="sell" reserver="[0xee43]" ware="drp_construction" amount="9" time="99946"/>
<reservation type="sell" reserver="[0x16ec7]" ware="holtzmanfieldgenerator" amount="595" time="111234"/>
<reservation type="sell" reserver="[0x17005]" ware="holtzmanfieldgenerator" amount="595" time="111244"/>
<reservation type="sell" reserver="[0xec1c]" ware="fusionreactor" amount="22" time="112493"/>
</reservations>

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<component class="npc" macro="character_ar_male_manager_macro" connection="commandroomslot" name="William Vasquez" owner="canteran" page="10106" id="[0xee43]">
<listeners>
<listener listener="[0xee15]" event="killed"/>
</listeners>
<skills>
<skill type="boarding" value="5"/>
<skill type="combat" value="5"/>
<skill type="engineering" value="5"/>
<skill type="leadership" value="5"/>
<skill type="management" value="5"/>
<skill type="morale" value="5"/>
<skill type="navigation" value="5"/>
<skill type="science" value="5"/>
</skills>
<entity type="manager" control="1" customconversation="1"/>
<blackboard>
<value name="$BuildShips" type="group" value="2009"/>
</blackboard>
<npcseed bodyparts="3021179102" bonescales="3041595206" morphtargetweights="1004252757"/>

Shipyard (New)

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<reservations>
<reservation type="sell" reserver="[0x8217b6]" ware="holtzmanfieldgenerator" amount="595" time="110996"/>
<reservation type="sell" reserver="[0x821cf9]" ware="holtzmanfieldgenerator" amount="595" time="111094"/>
<reservation type="sell" reserver="[0x83164f]" ware="holtzmanfieldgenerator" amount="595" time="111128"/>
</reservations>

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<component class="npc" macro="character_ar_male_manager_macro" connection="commandroomslot" name="William Vasquez" owner="canteran" page="10106" id="[0xee43]">
<listeners>
<listener listener="[0xee15]" event="killed"/>
</listeners>
<skills>
<skill type="boarding" value="5"/>
<skill type="combat" value="5"/>
<skill type="engineering" value="5"/>
<skill type="leadership" value="5"/>
<skill type="management" value="5"/>
<skill type="morale" value="5"/>
<skill type="navigation" value="5"/>
<skill type="science" value="5"/>
</skills>
<entity type="manager" control="1" customconversation="1"/>
<npcseed bodyparts="3021179102" bonescales="3041595206" morphtargetweights="1004252757"/>

The new shipyard's manager lacks the Blackboard entry (for current actions) "$BuildShips", which I believe dictates the periodic building of capital ships at shipyards (all managers at other pre-built NPC shipyards have this Blackboard entry as well).

I have added this to the new shipyard's manager, will observe and see if he starts building capital ships.

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Post quoted below moved from Tech Support in line with it not being the location for mod/save edit discussion (see "Note" here).

Post merged with the earlier discussion of the topic in the Universe Forum above. During the merger, the post quoted below didn't appear in the above thread so it is quoted for reference in case it doesn't make an appearance in the future - Sparky

Alright, so... Heart of Albion and the Canterans build some stations in DeVries after the campaign finishes. The problem is these stations are never completed (they build 2-3 stages at most).

I forced their full completion by editing my save file and turning the ownership of the CV's and stations over to me (I didn't realize at the time that the CV ownership was all I needed). After the stations were fully built, I turned the ownership back to the NPC's.

One of these stations is a BTO Ship Line in Extinct Torch. It started with two small ship dealers, and by the end of its construction it has gained 4 L/XL ship dealers as well.

The problem is I am unable to comm or even get these L/XL ship dealers to show up. Attempting to contact them directly from the side menu results in a glitched UI where I am staring at the sector map (with no way to exit that screen). Contacting another NPC to call up the comm interface and THEN trying to expand the L/XL ship dealer category doesn't bug out the UI, but the category simply doesn't expand.

Now, since this is a modified game save, I am not expecting official support or anything like that. But I would very much appreciate it if someone can take a quick look and spot if I did anything wrong.

The save file is attached here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B1qb1k ... sp=sharing

The station is located at line 708682, look for "struct_bt_dv_shipyard_macro". The names of the bugged out dealers are:
Terrel Claassen
Shinji Sato
Jarren Cruise
Dal Springer
The small ship dealers are working fine, which is... weird to say the least. :/

[Sparky Sparkycorp]

Hi Simoon,

We can't use the Tech Support forum to interact with Devs about to make save edits/mods better. It's possible they may wish to join in but we should use this forum as a starting point. It's also were there's a higher chance of catching the eye of a modder that may be able to help.

Do you try forcing completion without changing ownership of the station? It's conceivable that whatever code added ship dealers when the player extended the NPC shipyard in v3.60 could need an NPC shipyard in v4.0 too.