Upcoming FOTVE Updates

Changes in mission text and stuff.

Some of you may have remembered when I announced that my external HD died on me. Unfortunately, it lead to some emotional problems (I don't have to explain how it was for me, you can pretty much get the idea). As a result, I felt that this setback has caused me to release FOTVE a bit prematurely due to frustration, even though it was thoruoughly beta tested.

Now, I have decided to go back and debug the plug-in once again for any errors. Changes will be made in some of the mission texts as well as a few of the scenarios themselves. I will also try to get in touch with Spoonman and Kauthor to see if they are up to beta testing the new changes I will be making in FOTVE. So expect to look something forward to in the future in EVO's addons page.

Also, if you have questions about FOTVE, or find any bugs, post your questions and your bug reports here.

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 16 November 2004 - 11:20 PM

Coraxus, on Nov 6 2004, 06:24 AM, said:

I felt that this setback has caused me to release FOTVE a bit prematurely due to frustration, even though it was thoruoughly beta tested.
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I played it, enjoyed it, and finished it without major problems.

Since wondergirl mentioned playing it without any problems, and this thread is about updates to FOTVe, I figured it would be approriate to tell about my problem. I have a fatal problem with FOTVE. It is so fatal that it prevents me from continuing. The missions All Roads Lead to Dyram has Return and TravelStel as 285. But the version of Denlon in FOTVE has govt 150 (Emalgha). That means I cant finish the mission, of course, because I am naturally landing at the Voinian one. Worse, FOTVE has just 1 version of Denlon, the Emalgha one. That means I cant just abort the mission, change the ID of the planet, and get the mission again. Because ofcourse I do want to see Denlon changing to Emalgha hands. Coraxus, you need to do a fix plug for me!

When you uploaded FOTVE, was Denlon already in the hands of the Emalgha? If that is the case, then it may have been that you did not completed one of the required stock missions.

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...That means I cant finish the mission, of course, because I am naturally landing at the Voinian one....

If you mean that you land on Denlon that is under the control of the Voinians, it means that you landed on Denlon (286). In which case the operation to help the Emalgha capture the Fridion system has not been completed and is supposed to come way before the "All Roads Lead to Dyram" mission.

When I wrote FOTVE, I recycled many of the resources and toggled some mission bits and visbits. Usually, if the player uploads the plug-in, it is assumed that missionbit 13, has been set. The FOTVE mission to capture the system would have cleared the bit, thus allowing Denlon (285) to re-appear once again, except of couse, that I changed that particular spob so it would be under the Emalgha's control.

Finally, the "All Road Leads to Dyram" mission has an alternate ending, if you failed the mission and report to Denlon (285), then it means the Dieri homeworld was devastated. However, when I was almost finish with FOTVE, I found out later that Override had a bug: If you failed a mission with an alternate ending, the failure desc would never appear upon landing, so you wouldn't know if you failed the mission or not. Of course, many players can simply just abort the mission and go back to where the mission was discovered. I do realize that at this point of the game, Dyram is still under control of the Voinians, and unless you conquere the planet as an overlord, you would be unable to land on that planet and get the mission to complete the game. Currently I am working to fix this problem.

Captain Admiral General Cade, I said without MAJOR problems. I never said it didn't have ANY problems. After recently opening FOTVE up in ResEdit, I actually discovered missions I was never offerred. I still was able to complete the plug.

Coraxus, on Nov 16 2004, 06:42 AM, said:

When you uploaded FOTVE, was Denlon already in the hands of the Emalgha? If that is the case, then it may have been that you did not completed one of the required stock missions.

If you mean that you land on Denlon that is under the control of the Voinians, it means that you landed on Denlon (286). In which case the operation to help the Emalgha capture the Fridion system has not been completed and is supposed to come way before the "All Roads Lead to Dyram" mission.

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When you say uploaded, I assume you mean downloaded. No, Denlon was under Voinian control. I managed to pull one pilot from PFTN- perhaps the only one- that completed the UE Central Objective and all the sidestrings. It was flying a UE Cruiser and had a Needle Jammer. Huron was Independent, Pariah was unihabitated, Isled was devastated (so the Dreadnought had been destroyed). Emalgha held Romit and Hinvar had their systems.

About the mission to let Emalgha capture Fridion is even more funny: I did the mission OTIA-0082-MF, the one after Find the Chemical Weapon.

The DropCargo says (relevant part): "You find Biggs who tells you that McGale is on her way to Ghammol Station to meet with commanders"

CompText says (relevant again): "You meet Admiral McPherson at the mess hall who will lead the fleet to Svass, or you can head to Ghammol Station to pay a visit to McGale and join the Emalgha armada to attack Voina in a preemptive strike before they can attack Dyram"

I went to Ghammol Station and checked the bar. No mission. I opened the pilot to reset mission avaiblity possiblity countless times. Still no mission where you meet McGale. Only repeating mission to destroy a Voinian Battlegroup, and to destroy a Supply, - Weapons or -Munitions Convoy or to Defend Ghammol Station. Over and a over again. Enough times to make me lose hope. 😞 I went to the bar in Outpost Beta and got the mission to attack Svass at the first press and followed that thread. So you understand I cant have done the mission because another funny bug prevented me from doing it. :mad:

Alot of the texts in the desc resources have been edited dramatically, and more are being edited, as well as several missions. As for the problem with Ghammol Station, it sounds like as if (assuming you completed the takeover of Fridion) that the visbit for Romit did not change with Fridion. Could it be a bug that only allows you to visit Ghammol Station (212) instead of #204? Because the 212 is the one that has the usual "Destroy Voinian warships, convoys, and defend the Romit system" missions.

If that's the case, then something's definetly wrong, Both the Romit System and the Fridion system are tied in with visbit 13, whatever mission affects this bit, both system would be altered simultaneously.

Coraxus, on Nov 17 2004, 07:01 AM, said:

Alot of the texts in the desc resources have been edited dramatically, and more are being edited, as well as several missions. As for the problem with Ghammol Station, it sounds like as if (assuming you completed the takeover of Fridion)
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I am curious: what are the these edited descs? And what are the mission ones- ones to make the story more clear (ie. where to go)? . As for takeover of Fridion: what I was trying to say with the previous post was that I never got a chance to take over Fridion. I never got a mission to take over Denlon from Emalgha. I only got the repeating missions from Ghammol Station despite countless tries. It seems it was important, because I couldnt finish the all roads lead to dyram mission. Which I did because it was a branch I chose when I couldnt get the Emalgha mission.

I have not yet released a newer version, which would be 1.0.1. As of right now, only FOTVE 1.0.0, is available, but once I'm nearing to completing the revised plug-in, I'm having the first version taken down from the addons page.

But if you are a lil' curious of the changes I'm making, I'll just say some of the examples:

The Blackmail Operation takes place at a far different location, because it makes more sense to have it there than where I originally placed it. This means that some of the missions in this particular operation had to be changed somewhat to make it fit better in the scenario.

Many of the wordings in the desc resources throughout FOTVE had to be changed (and are still are in the process), because it sounds umm too "n00bish" :unsure: . This resulted in showing more of the personalities from various characters, particularly that of McGale.

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 17 November 2004 - 02:01 PM

Maybe the Honorable Rebel General could beta test 1.0.1 for you, instead of continuing on with the earlier version? 🙂

wondergirl, on Nov 17 2004, 10:49 PM, said:

Maybe the Honorable Rebel General could beta test 1.0.1 for you, instead of continuing on with the earlier version? 🙂
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Yes! That would be sweet! Perhaps I could get the no-Emalgha-mission bug fixed then? I already have experience from beta testing- I betatested F-25 2.1 for Bomb.

General Cade Smart, on Nov 18 2004, 11:07 AM, said:

Yes! That would be sweet! Perhaps I could get the no-Emalgha-mission bug fixed then? I already have experience from beta testing- I betatested F-25 2.1 for Bomb.
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Great, I'll add you on my list. Currently, I'm getting all the texts in the new version fixed. Once I get that done, I will send you the 1.0.1beta and you can help test out any bugs, especially the ones you are having troubles with. Wondergirl mentioned that sometimes, plug-ins may go buggy if you download a pilot from the PFTN, if it was used in a previous plug-in. But if you want to be on the safe side, you can start a fresh new pilot file and complete the required missions first. Right now, I am trying to organize my life's schedule as I have suddenly been bombarded with new stuff that I feel I have to prioritize. If you want to you can IM me through AIM or YIM.

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 18 November 2004 - 11:37 AM

Coraxus, I also beta tested F-25 with General, and Coraxus, from what I know, General doesn't have AIM but the other-let see.

Yeah, I've been wondering if you were willing to beta test for me again. And darn, you're right, he doesn't have any IM's.

Coraxus, on Nov 18 2004, 07:35 PM, said:

Great, I'll add you on my list. Once I get that done, I will send you the 1.0.1beta and you can help test out any bugs, especially the ones you are having troubles with. Wondergirl mentioned that sometimes, plug-ins may go buggy if you download a pilot from the PFTN, if it was used in a previous plug-in. But if you want to be on the safe side, you can start a fresh new pilot file and complete the required missions first.
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Thanks! Getting to beta test is always a priviledge, and now I get the first look at your update. For your latest post: Yes, I am still willing to test it. Even if for nothing else than Emalgha mission bug. I got AIM in late September. I just forgot to update my profile :laugh:. Now it is. My AIM handle is: CadeSmart (surprise :p). What is yours, Coraxus? Except the ones mentioned, I havent had too major problems. Just a few odd ones- the Galactic League on Pax called me a Fugitive and UE attacked even if I completed the UE string. Molos, Bakka hated me for no reason. So did Poffda (Even if both Kelmaon, Emalghion and Romit absolutely love me!). Dyram is on the map shown as uninhabitated, even if it is perfectly is. A new pilot file, so that I have to redo the UE string and all sidestrings? You cant be serious! Its such pain.... I remember the Emalgha/Hinwar missions. I didnt dare to fight Voinians fair, so I used Forklifts on warships. Now I am more brave though: Neutron Turrets or 40 SADs can disable a Frigate. The Dreadnought was especially impossible. I nevr fighured out how to beat it even if others say it was easy. Perhaps ill do enough of the Igazra string to get SAEs. Then I blast enough Renegades to get the UE Cruiser mission, get a UE Cruiser and fill it with SAEs. Then I unleash the SAEs on it, and after that I fire my Neutron Turrets on it.

Yeah, I had that problem too, the Hinwar hated me as much as their former oppressors, well maybe except for Qrrosi Station. I have also begun to spot out the possible explanations for these kinds of problem. For example, you mentioned Pax was hating you. Before the plug-in, Pax remained a neutral govt. I noticed that generic neutral governments will hate you whenever you become a neusance in another system owned by a different government. So if you were playing against the Voinians, automatically Pax would start hating you even though it would let you land on their station. I have always wondered if that was a bug.

Antilles Station, formerly Outpost Theta would hate you when you started to run FOTVE, but I noticed this happen to with ROTUE plug-in as well.

AIM and YIM = Prefectural

This post has been edited by Coraxus : 19 November 2004 - 11:17 PM