EVON Inconsistencies and Questions

Afterburner

EVOverride for Nova Inconsistencies

We are creating a small plug-in for EV Override for Nova and are therefore concerned about the inconsistencies we have found.

In the plug the UE makes use of the captured Voinian technology and the Voinians manage to gain some new weapons/technology.

The Voinians were desperate after their latest defeat and were prepared to do anything to preserve their empire.

We are using ResEdit with Nova Tools, Mission Computer 302 written by David Arthur and many of the applications written by Ralph and Rodger Sutherland.

Mission Briefings:

There are 21 Missions in Comp Text which use 8xxx instead of 9xxx.

The briefings which show when the mission completes which use 8xxx are in the following missions:-

ID 136 Ferry Passengers to <DST> Comp Text 8002
ID 137 Ferry Passengers to <DST> Comp Text 8002
ID 138 Ferry Passengers to <DST> Comp Text 8002
ID 139 Stellar Corp: Recruitment Comp Text 8003
ID 189 Rescue UE Agent Comp Text 8016
ID 201 Capture Gualon Station Comp Text 8021
ID 257 Passengers for <DST> Comp Text 8027
ID 264 Transport Cargo from <DST> Comp Text 8029
ID 265 Salvage Cargo Comp Text 8030
ID 287 Collect Munb Leaves Comp Text 8037
ID 303 Intercept Cargo Comp Text 8042
ID 311 Evacuate <DST> Comp Text 8046
ID 312 Evacuate <DST> Comp Text 8046
ID 323 Collect Passengers from <DST> Comp Text 8048
ID 348 Retrieve Sensor Readings Comp Text 8050
ID 360 Intercept Cargo Comp Text 8054
ID 361 Visit <DST> Comp Text 8055
ID 362 Collect Message from <DST> Comp Text 8056
ID 376 Transport Cargo to <DST> Comp Text 8058
ID 384 UE: Transport Colonists to <DST> Comp Text 8060
ID 385 UE: Transport Colonists to <DST> Comp Text 8060

In Mission Computer it states that these should be 9xxx (nine thousand plus).

The 8000 series are for Cargo Unloaded.
We used ConText and Mission Computer to identify these 21 entries.

If we change these to 9134 and above, can we leave the 8000 numbers above blank or will we have to adjust the 8xxx numbers so that they are contiguous.

Ship Availability - NCBs / Control Bits:

There is no NCB set for the Azdgari Warship or the Azdgari Arada in the availability field. The Azdara has b148 set in availability.

Does this mean that the player is not allowed to purchase the Azdgari Warship or the Azdgari Arada after completing the required missions?

In Mission 308 the Comp Text 8044 states Yet again demonstrating miraculous powers, Eniret is waiting at <DST> to meet you. "Congratulations on completing your first tour of duty, <PN>." He hands you a one million credit survival bonus. "You may now consider yourself a fully paid-up member of the Azdgari. All our technology will be available to you, at a suitable price, and you can expect a warm welcome on any Azdgari world and -" his sharp teeth gleam in a grin "- probably everywhere else in the Crescent too."

Completion of Mission 308 sets NCB b10.

As NCB b10 is not recorded in the ships Availability, the player must capture one of these ships. Is this why the Inherent Govt field is set to -1?

Ship - Recharge:

ID 129 Freighter Shield Recharge 250 ( This should be 25 ).

ID 166 Zachit Fighter Shield Recharge 167 ( This should be 67 which is the standard for the Crescent Fighter ).

ID 157 Azdgari Arada Shield Recharge 50 ( This should be much higher as this is the same as the standard Arada and all other Azdgari ships have much higher than standard recharge rates as they are fitted with Shield Generators ).

ID 152 Zidara Shield Recharge 32 ( This should be at least 60. )

This is well below the Lazira which has a recharge of 68.

A rate of 32 is well below the Crescent standard and is comparative to the Scoutship which has a recharge rate of 31.

Crescent Warship 42
Igazra 42
Arada 50
Igadzra Arada 60
Zachit Arada 60
Azdgari Warship 63
Crescent Fighter 67

Ships - Turret Blind Spots:

ID 152 Zidara Rear Blind Spot

ID 160 Emalgha Freighter Rear Blind Spot and Side Blind Spot

ID 161 Emalgha Warship Rear Blind Spot and Side Blind Spot

Why do these ships have these blind spots and not others?

Ships - Player Takes Advantage of Fuel Regeneration Property:

ID 144 UE Cruiser This flag has been set, yet Fuel Regen is 0

ID 174 Cargo Transporter Fuel Regeneration of 100 and not given to player.
Should the player have access as the ship has a solar panel fitted?

ID 129 Freighter (UE) Fuel Regeneration of 100 given to player.
Shouldnt this be at least 200 or at least significantly higher as it has 2 solar panels?

Plug Making Questions:

Is it possible to have 2 or more Galaxy Maps?
We want the player to move across to the second galaxy map in order to simulate traveling back in time?
Is there a limit to the number of system variations?

We plan to have ID 205 Romit ( Ekiup Station ) change hands several more times, with different dude fleets each time.

Is this NCB formula correct?

(b108 & b6 & b115 & b116 & b13 & b140 & b159) !b130

The player has to have finished the following:

Transport Defector to <DST> (Paaren Station)
Investigate Abduction (Anna Balashova);
Destroy Voinian Dreadnought;
Attack Avann;
Test New Gunship and
Explore Ji Nebula

and not have finished Make Contact With The Hinwar

This mission - Make Contact With The Hinwar - will be given a new NCB test number in the plug such as b298 !b130 instead of b13 !b130

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slouch

For your ship availability, shield recharge, and various ship questions, the answer is: this is correct behavior. The port holds true to the original Override scenario. Unless you're simply disagreeing with the stock Override scenario? I dunno.

For plug making question #1: I don't think so. But, you can use the visibility field to hide all the "present" systems and reveal all of the "past" systems. Then just unset the bit to get back.

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David Arthur

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Originally posted by Afterburner:
There are 21 Missions in Comp Text which use 8xxx instead of 9xxx.
...
In Mission Computer it states that these should be 9xxx (nine thousand plus).

The offering text (4xxx) is the only dësc that absolutely has to fall in any given series, but it's best to have all of them follow a pattern in order to be able to better keep track of them. MissionComputer therefore tries to persuade you to follow a formula adapted from those used in the Escape Velocity games when you create new missions, but as long as the numbers are unique, you're all right.

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**There is no NCB set for the Azdgari Warship or the Azdgari Arada in the availability field. The Azdara has b148 set in availability.

Does this mean that the player is not allowed to purchase the Azdgari Warship or the Azdgari Arada after completing the required missions?**

Correct. The Azdgari Warship and Arada are merely variants of the Crescent Warship and the Basic Arada; if you want one of your own, you're expected to buy a basic model and upgrade it - you should have access to all the technology needed to do so (except the green paint, but in Nova you could add even that if you wanted). See the EV Override manual for more information.

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Different ships work differently - that's about all there is to it.

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Why do these ships have these blind spots and not others?

Again, they're designed differently. The Emalgha ones, for example, are the lowest-tech ships in the game.

Incidentally, none of these are related to the conversion to EV Nova - they're all just as they stood in EV Override.

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David Arthur | (url="http://"http://davidarthur.evula.net/")davidarthur.evula.net(/url) | (url="http://"http://www.ev-nova.net/")EV-Nova.net(/url)
The people united can never be ignited!

Dr. Trowel

DA's MissionComputer can open both Override and Nova files -- if you haven't done so already, you should consider downloading EVO and comparing its files to the Nova EVO port. Many of issues people have had with the Nova port are simply caused by the port authors' efforts to recreate the original game, with as many of its limitations as possible intact. The port does have omissions and bugs, though.

It'll be great to have an expansion plug for the port! This sort of thing has been slow in coming, but the possibilities are enormous because the Override universe itself uses a lot fewer resources than the EVN universe. In my opinion, your work will be most useful to the most people if you split what you are thinking of doing into 2-4 plugs, like this (you may not have things that fit all four categories):

Bug fixes that make the port work more like the original game (some have already been caught -- see my site; there are also a bunch of threads on this board and the EVO board).
Enhancements that might have been in "EVO 1.0.3" if Ambrosia had made it -- things that stay in the spirit of the original while fixing errors or adding Nova features that weren't in the EVO game because of engine limitations (an example would be dealing with that "All our technology will be available to you" line, probably by removing the line rather than by changing game balance by making the tech actually available).
Improvements that are a matter of your own preferences (things like revising shield rates, or actually making the Az tech available).
Additions -- tech, races, missions, ships... all the good fun stuff that adds up to a new or expanded storyline!

This lets players decide how closely they want to hew to the original gameplay style, or to yours. It also hopefully maximizes the chance that your main plug (#4) won't have problems if and when Soviet mikee & Co. do an official update to the port. You might (or might not) find it easiest to do all your work in a single plug, then split it up for distribution.

My thoughts, anyway.

Edit: On your "2 galaxy maps" idea: UncleTwitchy created a similar effect for the opening "Kobiyashi Maru" mission in SFA; I'm pretty sure he just placed a cluster of systems so far off to one side of the main map that it never appeared in the map window at the same time, and then used ncbs to move the player to the cluster and back. Try that; if you get it to work, copy a bunch (all?) of the EVO systems into a plug, then use ConText and a spreadsheet program to assign new ID #s to the systems and to add the same large offset to the X or Y value of all of them at the same time. You'll also need to update all the links between systems, and other things.... ConText will save you tons of time if you plan things out so that the resource number changes are systematic.

(This message has been edited by Dr. Trowel (edited 05-15-2004).)

Mazer Rackham

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Correct. The Azdgari Warship and Arada are merely variants of the Crescent Warship and the Basic Arada; if you want one of your own, you're expected to buy a basic model and upgrade it - you should have access to all the technology needed to do so (except the green paint, but in Nova you could add even that if you wanted). See the EV Override manual for more information.

In the spirit of this, however, you could make a new outfit that would be like the Chrome Valkryie upgrade in Nova, effectively changing your ship to an Azdgari Warship/Azdgari Arada from the base model.

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To quote a pillar of American society: D'OH!

Guy

I believe there's a plug on the EVO addons page called something like "enhancements and fixes" that (among other things) changes some of the blind-spot and fuel-regen issues you mentioned. I don't remember exactly what but check it out and see if it's what you're wanting.

For question number 2, in Nova it's quite easy to make a system change appearance multiple times.

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"The Macintosh may only have 10% of the market, but it is clearly the top 10%." Douglas Adams

Afterburner

Is it possible to have a bomb activated every 30 days with a 1 in 4 chance of exploding, when the player captures a special ship,? (The outfit/bomb can't be sold.)

How is the time limit set for the thorium reactor - bomb (oütf ID = 374) in Nova?
In General (II) there is a display weight of 93 and a random factor of 0.
What does the weight factor refer to, as it is isn't the mass of the outfit?

How do we set up a lottery draw in the plug so that the player has a 1 in 10 chance of winning when they arrive at the planet where the draw is held?
There will be a random factor of 25 for the availability of the ticket in the bar on one planet only.

Thanks to slouch, David Arthur, Dr. Trowel, Mazer Rackham and Guy for your answers and suggestions
regards
John and James.

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dzeron

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Originally posted by Afterburner:
**How do we set up a lottery draw in the plug so that the player has a 1 in 10 chance of winning when they arrive at the planet where the draw is held?
There will be a random factor of 25 for the availability of the ticket in the bar on one planet only.

**

EV Bible talks about using bits for mission availability (<-bah, can't write that word XD), if you want 1 of 10 change to win, you make it so that there's 10 different missions for Nova to choose from, only 1 is winning change which is 'mission' that gives you money instantly (also if you make so that the mission stays hidden, player can only win once), the other 9 mission bits the Nova checks, gives no win ^^

My two credits

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edit.: I Reread your question, so here's a tweak to the hint I gave:

Make 10 different missions to be offered from ticket buy bar, samething goes here as the the upper, but 'prize' can be gotten from the planet, so you have to travel there for prize or loss ^^

(This message has been edited by dzeron (edited 05-17-2004).)

Guy

Quote

Originally posted by Afterburner:
**Is it possible to have a bomb activated every 30 days with a 1 in 4 chance of exploding, when the player captures a special ship,? (The outfit/bomb can't be sold.)

How is the time limit set for the thorium reactor - bomb (oütf ID = 374) in Nova?
In General (II) there is a display weight of 93 and a random factor of 0.
What does the weight factor refer to, as it is isn't the mass of the outfit?

How do we set up a lottery draw in the plug so that the player has a 1 in 10 chance of winning when they arrive at the planet where the draw is held?
There will be a random factor of 25 for the availability of the ticket in the bar on one planet only.

Thanks to slouch, David Arthur, Dr. Trowel, Mazer Rackham and Guy for your answers and suggestions
regards
John and James.
**

The cheap thorium reactor starts a cron when you buy it. After 30 days the cron switches the cheap reactor with the bomb reactor (actually, I think there's a 50/50 chance it'll switch it with something else).
You could make your outfit enable a cron when you buy it with a 25% chance of activation. When (if) it activates it'll give you the bomb. Then have it repeat every 30 days.

Have you read the EVN Bible? It explains there that Display Weight is the level of importance of the outfit. More important outfits are displayed before less important outfits in the outfit dialog. This allows you to rearrange the display order of outfits without having to rearrange the actual resources.

If the planet where you buy the ticket is different to the planet where the draw is held (ie. you have to travel somewhere else to see if you win) then you could just make another mission with a 90% random factor that you may get when you land on the draw planet. This mission would cause the first mission to fail so you don't recieve the money. Otherwise, if you go into the bar a third mission causes the first mission to succeed and you get the money.

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"The Macintosh may only have 10% of the market, but it is clearly the top 10%." Douglas Adams

(This message has been edited by Guy (edited 05-17-2004).)