Supreme Cmdr

quote: Originally posted by TheBunny: when i try to land a shuttle on those yellow boxed in areas on a carrier they seem to try to do something.are they supposed to bring me to a dock or something? uhm, no, they're just art

quote: Originally posted by TheBunny: When you fall from up high into water are you supposed to go to the bottom and die in 3 minutes? uhm, yeah?

Three posts deleted The next person to post in this thread about documented issues in the VCF, WILL be booted. Fair warning

I should be getting my copy any day now!

quote: Originally posted by Kalshion: What happens if they somehow bypass what you've done? *In other words hacking* Although im sure you'll be very very P'd. They'd get caught. They'd get prosecuted because hacking into a restricted site is a federal offense. [ 11-14-2002, 08:20 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

quote: Originally posted by Remo Williams: Did have alot of fun though in the process. Found a cool place to kick back when MP starts. Here a shot! Yeah, do that. Please. You won't feel a thing.

quote: Originally posted by Kiran: At the risk of stepping onto a mine, have you ever seen a real tracer round when fired? They look like minature shooting stars. Highly visible. Yeah, I know what they are. I'm not doing them in BCM because it never was a feature and I'd have to make a lot of changes to do them. Maybe in BCG. You will be able to see the ones (particles) I attached to the shots if you are in fp mode and someone fires at you and it whizzes by. [ 11-14-2002, 08:03 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

quote: Originally posted by Kalshion: Im trying to complete a IA mission, but everytime I Dimension Jump to FarStar 13,20 I find myself in a cliping state, I can go through buildings... You're going to have to provide a lot more information than that. You expect us to guess which IA scenario that is? Which DJP you are using etc etc?

Check the downloads page to see if the 3DGamers mirror has been updated. Note that RC25 contains the probe speed increase. As such, you no longer need that file in my previous post.

OK, I'll fix it later.

quote: Originally posted by Wolferz: Wolferz is supposed to me moved from ICU tomorrow, 11/12/02, and start therapy. If all goes well he may be back here himself very soon. Once again thank you all for the support you have shown. Thats great news!!! Keep us posted!

quote: Originally posted by Cmdr Nova: 40.72 is WHQL Certified. Its the same driver. WHQL certification doesn't mean squat, in terms of driver functionality.

quote: Originally posted by Epsilon 5: It's really gone point and click. Man this is a desperate situation .. have developpers given up on skill based combat? Jumpgate is the ONLY joystick driven space mmog out there! Darkspace, Eve, EnB, SWG (the space part) ALL point and click! I don't see whats deperate about it actually. The reason MMOGs are PnC is because the primary character control is tied to the AE's skill. This is something you cannot simulate while using a direct control device such as a joystick. MMOG games are all skill based and in the case of space sims such as EnB, you cannot tie an AE's flight skills to a joystick control system because that will require real time updates and not go through a skill based system (e.g. how do you prevent someone from rolling left, depending on his piloting skills?). Most ruled based MMOGs are based on just that, rules. These rules are tied to skills. e.g. your combat skills determined whether or not that axe actually hits the enemy, causes damage etc etc. If that were tied to a real-time control scheme, it would not work. The creation of space based games to MMOG, presents a similar problem. Hence the EnB control scheme. Which is why it plays like EQ in space. Its just a different genre but with the same premise. Games like Darkspace and Eve are not space sims. They are glorified RTS games in the vein of, e.g. IG, Hegemonia, Homeworld etc etc - again, rules based. As soon as you folks stop thinking of these games in the same traditional sense of space sims as we once knew them, you'll avert the inherent confusion. Freelancer is not a space sim. Period. In fact, this excerpt from the Gamespot preview you posted, sums that one up nicely. quote: When Freelancer was first announced, it was lauded as a mouse-driven space simulator, but the game's direction has changed in those four years. Even though space combat still plays a major role in its gameplay, Freelancer is heavily laced with traditional role-playing game elements of exploration, experience, character interaction, and character development. It is a rules based game - albeit an RTS hybrid - which requires a rules based control scheme due to its design requirement of the player's performance being tied to skills - which are in turn tied to a rules based interface (dubbed NeuroNet). If they gave joystick control, there would be no method of tying the NN to the skills already tied to the control scheme. e.g. while you might think that using a joystick to actually control the pointer for target selection, is easy, trust me, its not. Hence the use of the mouse. Why allow a joystick control scheme when : the mouse automatically indicates ease of use mouse interface design is a lot easier, faster, more accurate and acceptable than a joystick one a joystick is clunky and is definitely not suited for RTS games. So why implement it for an RTS hybrid - or even a game that is tied to skills based subset? nobody ever accused a game with a joystick of having mass market appeal, in this day an age. If Freelancer allowed joystick control, it would simply be duplicating the mouse control scheme. Does that make it a space sim that you freely control based on your own personal skills? No. Why? Well because your personal skills have no relevance in that aspect of the game - because your skill determined by the performance of your ship - which is determined by its upgrades - hence the NeuroNet. Since they can't do away with the NeuroNet (it is an integral part of the design), there is no reason to put in joystick support in any shape or form. The dogfighting skill (the whole purpose of a joystick control scheme) tied to the ship, is not your own per se - but rather is tied to the upgrade you have installed on your ship (as I understand it). Having joystick and keyboard flight control is no different from having mouse flight control. But people are confusing flight control in the traditional sense, with PnC. You have clearly demonstrated this confusion by assuming that PnC is the same as flight control. Its not. For example, BCM has PnC and independent flight control. Does that make it a PnC game? uhm, yeah, it does. When you give your CC an order, then engage the A/P, you leave it up to the skills of your crew, Mother (the ship's AI computer), the ship's characteristics etc etc. But when you disable the A/P and take flight control, in order to do the same thing, you are assuming the responsibility of what the ship, under A/P control, would be doing as far as real time flight control (i.e. dogfighting or similar). You are still limited to the ship's characteristics (flight dynamics, weapon systems etc). If I disabled the use of the joystick, i.e. take away your ability to have manual flight control of the CC, the game will still be perfectly playable, but you now have to rely on the aforementioned attributes which are controlled by the global AI kernel. The same thing that your support crafts, marines etc etc are subjected to - and which you have no control over. For example, if one of your fighter pilots decides to fixate on a target, not knowing that he was still open to attack by a target behind him, you can't do anything to prevent that fighter from getting destroyed without your intervention (i.e. giving it an RTB order). And even then, you still have no guarantee that it will RTB safely. Giving it that RTB command simply causes it to break from its current AI processing, execute a different set of instructions (ignoring its own chosen ROE profile) in an attempt to RTB. You did this because you were worried about it being destroyed. You had no way of telling the fighter pilot to watch his six or something like Roamer! break right heading 225 @ angels 10. If the pilot makes this determination on his own, thats due to his AI level. Something you have no control over. Considering the above, how is BCM different from PnC in Freelancer? Apart from the fact that Freelancer does not give you direct flight control; due to its rules based design. Freelancer is not a space sim. MS never billed it as a space sim. Everyone else seems to ignore this simple fact. Heck, they even billed Starlancer as an action game, not a space sim (as we have come to regard space based direct control games) - but you still had joystick control. Why? Well, because the skills required in Starlancer are your own, not something simulated by the game engine as part of its design. Jumpgate is a space sim. As far as I'm aware, there are no rules based skills tied to its flight control scheme. As such, there is no reason to remove joystick support. Even if they did, just like BCM, the design of the game would still permit direct player flight control using keyboard or mouse. How many people actually enjoy playing sims with the keyboard, let alone a mouse? Not very many - if any. quote: Damn, Derek if you make BCO point and click (unless for capship control, as the way it looks it could be expected, but then again, I don't know), I'll be mad, and mad alot! Well, you clearly don't know the difference between PnC and direct flight control. If you did, you wouldn't assume that BCO (or BCG for that matter) would change in this regard. Fact is, the controls of units in BCO are closely tied to your crew's skills, ship attributes etc. e.g. if you have a carrier with no FO on board - the ship ain't going anywhere. You will have basic A/P commands which Mother can execute e.g. fly the ship back to the nearest base, maintain a flight pattern etc until the FO is back on the bridge, cloned etc etc This is much the same way that if your AE is currently not on the bridge in BCM, you won't have manual flight control. In previous BC games, the commander AE is flight trained. And thats why you can still fly the ship in the absence of the FO. In previous BC games (even BCM), most of the skill attributes required by your crew for the day to day running of your ship, are suppressed. Only a few are actually enabled (see the appendix data). And the current crop of BC games, I deliberately did not couple the flight dynamics of the craft to the availability and skills of the FO. Why? Because they are different kind of games from BCO. In BCO, because it is skills based and because of its career driven design (see the FAQ), you don't start off being a commander. If you choose that career path, then you're going to start off as a pilot and work your way up (after all, thats what pay-for-play MMOGs are all about). And when you eventually get to be a commander of your very own tin can and given your own NPC crew (though you can also have other players as crew members), you will still have manual flight control, but only IF you have an FO and he is on-station (bridge). You are still going to be able to assume the role of the FO in this instance - and if your AE or FO leave the bridge, you lose this ability. And make no mistake, the only reason why you can even do this, is because traditionally, BC commanders started off being pilots (in my game design time line) and this will be played out in BCO, since it never was designed to be played out in previous games (in those games, I just cut to the chase and made you a commander based on that career). There are no requirements in any BC game to couple the flight dynamics of a ship to the player's skill. Thats just ludicrous, especially for a space sim that wasn't designed that way. In BCO, apart from Beta testers (most of whom will become GMs and have free accounts as long as they are active) and GMs, I don't expect to see any commanders (except NPCs) in space, for the first month or so. Thats how long its going to take to go from piloting rubber dog shit between Earth and LV-130 and being the commander of a ship. And even then, I don't expect to see very many cruiser commanders on the servers, let alone carrier commanders, for quite some time. In BCO, by the time you even get to where you would in BCM/BCG (at start new game), you would have enough time invested and you'll care more about your crew and the game itself, than you do now in BCM/BCG. [ 11-11-2002, 03:01 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

A few minutes ago I received an email informing me that one of our own and a long standing member of the community, Wolferz, had a severe stroke and was taken to the ICU. I am not at liberty to divulge any further information about this, but feel free to send your words of encouragement (here and on email), letting him know that he'd better hurry up and get the hell out of that bed!! Since his email is not in his public profile, I am not at liberty to divulge it. As such, I have created an email profile on the server, which will forward all emails to him, until he returns. Give it about 15 mins from the time stamp of this post, for the forwarding to start working. You can send him email at [email protected] We at 3000AD Inc wish him a speedy recovery. [ 11-11-2002, 10:04 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

quote: Originally posted by Firehawk: Trust me! I have a lower GPA to prove it! LOL!!!

Yep, thats quite possible. But I've made sure that doesn't happen at all. Not that it will, since the value is clamped. quote: Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: Until I figure out what the heck is going on, if you must know, use Tactical/Crew. This is definitely a driver problem because not only is the info actually displayed (contrary to your post that the info is not displayed), it is also correct. You might want to check your monitor's gamma/brightness/contrast using a program like DisplayMate I'm going to have to revise the Perscan coloring scheme to get around this, so that it matches the same coloring scheme as Tactical/Crew. [ 11-11-2002, 08:33 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

Use defend. Escort means that they will engage any threat that has you targeted for attack. Since stations/bases have very long radar ranges, thats why the escort bolted. The DEFEND order is tighter than the ESCORT order and they won't necessarily (depending on AI) go out of their way to engage unless you are actually being attacked.

quote: Originally posted by Urza: Nothing, it just seemed odd that only a few items were at 65000 (Titanium/V, for example, something that is usually at a few hundred at most), while the rest were under 10000. Yes, I knew that it reaches a point where the number doesn't go up anymore (I was selling something, and the station count didn't go up). Ah, ok. I thought you noticed numbers jumping from one extreme to the next e.g. 10000, then 65000 all of a sudden. quote: If this is correct, I apologize for wasting your time.[/QB]uhm, not a problem! I'm not against reporting strange problems (you should know this). What I don't like is people not first reading the VCF, checking and making sure of what the hell they're talking about, before posting. If I allowed that, this board will be as cluttered with rubbish as every game related board on the Net. In fact, I looked at the code (just to be sure) and even though it was likely that the station's inventory would get to those numbers, over time, it probably can; because right now its an unsigned short because prior to a previous BCM update, the station inventory was fixed once initialized at the start of a new game. Since the update in which the station can be replenished by NPC traders (as well as players), depending on how often they dock to trade (add/remove items), it may go very high - outside the limits of this type. So, if you're seeing 65000, its probably either capped or wrapped around. So now I've changed it to an unsigned long. Let me see an inventory item go that high.

quote: Originally posted by Urza: The station inventory of some items is very large after a few hours of game time (around 65000). Since this is about the maximum value of an unsigned int(I think), I would guess that these values are being subtracted below zero, causing them to wrap around to these obsene values. To replicate, just start a new game, and let a few hours of time pass, and check the station inventory. If you're not going to give a proper description of the problem, complete with reason why you think its wrong, let me know, so that I can delete your post. And whats obscene about 65000 of an item? It never did occur to you that the number could be capped at a max amount? Of course not. But as I said, your post makes no sense to me. Unless I'm missing something. [ 11-10-2002, 04:21 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

quote: Originally posted by Urza: I hope this doesn't fall into the above category (I searched the VCF for "perscan"), but the location and FF of some personnel aren't being displayed in perscan if their FF is above 85 (approx.), and their LF is above 90(approx.). Rubbish See Nova's post. Then read my response. quote: Originally posted by Cmdr Nova: Sorta got same thign. In 16bit, if a person's FF or LF is in the lowest range (0-30?) then the text is like, black, which appears invisible on the black background. The information is there, its just displayed in a darker color maybe? What I did notice was that I started a new game, then quit and ran the following in Playmod playmod wound marine 0 95 playmod wound marine 1 85 playmod wound marine 2 75 playmod wound marine 3 55 And the LF/FF showed up for the marines as Blue in Perscan and bright-red in Tactical/Crew. This looks like a driver issue because I just checked the code and the color coding is identical. And it worked fine on another machine (i.e. Perscan and Tactical/Crew both showed Red color for injured personnel). Until I figure out what the heck is going on, if you must know, use Tactical/Crew. [ 11-10-2002, 04:22 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

quote: Originally posted by Cmdr_ Laracuente: with BCstudio, but AFAIK there are only exporters for 3d studio max 2 and 3. And i use max 5 . I hope the SC makes the plugin work for max 5 so i can put my ships into it. I have no plans to create plugins for any other versions of Max, apart from MAX 2/3. BCG has plugins for MAX 2/3/4, but not 5 (I have not upgraded yet - and don't plan to).

I'll try JG again when EP2 comes out. I agree, the current incarnation is boring - in some aspects. EDIT: In the meantime, if you ladies want to discuss Jumpgate, please go to the General Discussions forum and search for the thread in which it was being discussed. Three posts deleted [ 11-10-2002, 06:11 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

I've removed the bulk of two posts and deleted an entire post (LBM). The next time I see any thread clogging posts about an item documented in the VCF (either in the todo, revision or things-you-should-know section), I will delete the post and suppress the posting rights of the offender. First warning LAST warning You HAVE been warned! Do NOT clog my boards with rubbish. I'm NOT kidding!! If you gits are too lazy to actually read comprehensive documentation, uninstall the damn game and get the hell OFF my board! The whole purpose of me taking time to write up docs, specs, hints and the like, is so that people actually READ them. And yes, it DOES piss me off when I come here looking for important posts, only to find a mixture of nonsensical rubbish and speculation. I swear I'm going to start banning repeat offenders without warning. [ 11-10-2002, 09:20 AM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

I have increased the max speed of the probe from 15000 m/s to 75000 m/s. If you can't wait for this in the next update, download this BCM1008RC24_DATA.ZIP (152K) update file for RC24 and unzip in your BCM install folder - overwriting the existing DATAscenarios.zip file. This value will only take effect in a new game. It won't take effect with existing saved or in progress (resume) games.

quote: Originally posted by Stormshadow: After going "in game" to look at this some more, The TIR shows over 650,000 km between the "to earth" jump point and the " to Sirius" wormhole, in the Jupiter zone....I don't understand that, if the zones are 250k km, but that journey would take the probe over 12 hours game time ...( it also happens to be where I launched the probe in question and the order that I gave it) . The regions are about 2 million km edge-to-edge. Some are 2.5 million km. I missed a decimal point in my previous post (corrected). To measure the region extents all you have to do is go to tacops, don't change the view, then set two waypoints on the lower-left and top-left corners of the grid. The number between the two gives you the rough distance. Those two jump anomalies you mentioned are about 950km apart. I understand the numbers. But the fact is that at the 150K m/s speed, nothing will be able to catch up with or match speed with a probe. In fact, I think there are a few probes in some ACM missions which are targets for destruction or something. I'll probably end up increasing the speed a little (but nowhere as close as 150K m/s) or just give them jump engines. EDIT: Read this [ 11-09-2002, 02:14 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]