Supreme Cmdr

What ...extremely interesting direction are these games going in? I'm assuming you're talking about games in the same genre as the BC3K series. ...can't wait to hear this one.

SpacePhish, in that other thread, you said that you had 2 stations in the Earth region. I have some questions. Why did you need to edit the objects.scr, objclass.scr files etc, in order to just put another station in Earth region? Where did you actually put the station? What did you modify in those system files?

SpacePhish, please read the GBS docs in its entirety before you start polluting this thread with wishlist items. In fact, get out of this thread. It is a thread based on Xlogic's GUI project. All you're doing is learning how to script - and that is not the purpose of this thread. Please don't post anything about your scripting trials and tribulations in this thread again. I'm creating a new thread just for that - go there. Finally, if you read the GBS docs, you will see that you cannot] just import .asc files into the world because the .3d file format I use, is a special proprietary format that contains values for the model, including AI values - not just model data, which is all a .ASC file contains.

No, you will only get this warning from your pilots, indicating that a ship they're pursuing, is about to jump. The HSD has nothing to do with it.

Approved. Let me know when its sorted out. Then submit the new structure to Rattler to gove over and forward to me. I'll then update the fleet and fleet faq pages. Also, as of today, all Fleet Leaders are now promoted to Fleet Commander rank. This is just to avoid confusion - besides, I never liked Fleet Leader anyway, sounded too simplistic. Once multiplayer goes online, each FC will be responsible for promoting their own commanders, within each fleet, with final approval from me. [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 03-16-2000).]

It does matter. You don't have the Run While utility. Don't you know how to scan for error messages? The fact that the line is producing an error, should tell you that a program is missing. Download the file below and put it in the .BIN folder. This tool allows you to run a command on multiple files. In this case, prepare.exe is run against bc3k*.scr (all script files begining with bc3k) http://www.bc3000ad.com/downloads/rw.zip Later tonite I will upload a newer version of the GBS, which includes this utility.

SpacePhish, I just read your post again, since you did a PREPALL, you also have to copy the new BC3LIB4.RES file to your BC3K runtime folder (be sure to backup the original) because the system files you modified, create new files. Looks like you forgot to copy the file when you copied the other files to the SCRIPTS folder. That file goes in the folder where BC3K is installed (the runtime folder) and not the SCRIPTS folder.

Read the GBS.TXT file SpacePhish, it has an entire section on how to create/run scripts. You don't need to put .mis files in the bc3lib4.res file. btw, bc3lib4.idx is just a text file listising of files that go in bc3lib4.res. And you don't have put your script .mis files in the bc3lib4.res, you can put them in the SCRIPTS folder. But remember that you need put the entire set of files that make up bc3k0200*.*, in that folder. The way the technology works is that if a file of the same name exists in that folder as well as in the bc3lib4.res file (or any of the .res files), the newer file in either of the two locations, will be used. If I remember correctly, the bc3lib4.idx file includes the sample bc3k0200.scr scripts, so, you may want to comment them out of the file by putting a ; (semi-colon) in from of the bc3k0200.mis and bc3k0200.dat and then, just copy the new onces you prepared, into the SCRIPTS folder. Don't forget to copy the bc3k0200.des file (a text file describing the scenario) into the SCRIPTS folder as well, or the script will not be listed in the MISCON mission selection screen. Don't forget that bc3k0000*.* is FF, bc3k0100*.* is ACM and bc3k9900*.* is XC. Make backups before screwing around with these files. And don't forget to copy the bc3lib4.res file (which contains the updated versions of the master files such as objects.scr etc, that you have modified) to the BC3K runtime folder. Be sure to backup the original version first. Also, maybe there was an error during PREPALL.BAT that you didn't catch because the screen scrolls too fast. For that, download this utility and start it with a buffer of about 128. Open up a DOS session, start the utility, then run PREPALL. When its done, you can scroll the DOS window, read the output of the PREPALL command and see if there are any errors or warnings. http://www.bc3000ad.com/downloads/scrollit.zip

No more than 24-hrs after I asked for a fleet related FAQ, Commander Eclipse obliged and sent me a version which I later modified, cleaned up and have now posted. Someone give that commander....a glass of Empirian Ale (this is a cigar-free zone)! www.bc3000ad.com/fleets/index.shtml

quote: Another time consuming task is listing all the available objects. *bats eyes at SC* Oh, thats the easy part. Since the players will only be allowed to include ships (mostly) in scripts, just go to line #143 to #647 of OBJECTS.SCR. This lists all the ships and they are separated by comments block, indicating the ship types. So, you could also set up a form that provides a similar division. This way, it is easy to determine what ship type (cruiser or fighter) to select. The GBS won't allow you to script planetary missions, so, you can skip all the ground based objects. You should also list all the stations between line #1032 and #1255, taking care to note that there anything with a B at the end, is a planetary starbase (which can't be used) and not as space starstation. For instance, galcomhq is a valid object but earthb, isn't. To make this easy, the starstations are separated from the starbases by a comment line. Other objects you may want to include in a list entitled missiles could be the missiles between line #863 and #947, taking care to note that really only want to allow access to STS missiles. If you look at my scripts, sometimes I actually force an entity to launch a specific type of missile (look at the script for the Daisy Mae mission) in order to guarantee the destruction of an entity. Because the LAUNCH command will allow an entity to launch, pretty much anything, it overloads the class definition for the object (defined in OBJCLASS.SCR) so that you can have an object that does not have Vagrant missiles, actually launch them, by giving it the LAUNCH command. You may also want to include objects such as the cargo and probe models, in a MISC selection list. And if you're going to let them script ODS systems (and why not), you would also include all the ODS platforms in an ODS Platforms selections list. With all of the above, you've got the objects list that you need, you don't need anything else. In the case of the selection list for the RACE and CASTE, you can get the list of valid onces from the GBSTOC.TXT file. For your REGIONS selection list, get them from the STATICS.SCR file by parsing out the rfile parameter in all entries beginning with : (colon). As a rule, all space regions end with the letter z, all others are planetary regions. So, the Mercury space region, is denoted as :mercuryz in that file and not mercury which is the planetary surface itself. And when doing the [ACM] block, be sure to retrict the formatting to truncate lines at column 64. See comments starting around line #1197 of .DOCSGBS.TXT for more on this block. If you don't adhere to this, the mission discription will not be formatted correctly when displayed in the COMMLINK screen. quote: And I suspect in the end that the GUI may be as hard(for newbies) to use as the scripting language itself. And knowledge of the GBS may be necessary to use it in the first place. I will just have to see how it results and avoid that if possible. =Indeed. [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 03-16-2000).]

Yes, for that video card, you need the /v1 in the BC3K.BAT file. As for the slowdown, it could be any number of things, though I don't know what a 'timed slowdown' is. Did you activate the FPS counter to see the frame rate??

quote: S.C: Will BCM use the same GBS or will it ship with a different one? If it differs from the current GBS will it be similar? It will use the same GBS but has a few new commands, geared toward multiplayer. Also, the .3DC files are obsolete because the engine will parse the .3D files internally, at runtime. No need for that extra step anymore. quote: For example GalcomHQ is defined as... Yes, using that example, you can change the ship and weapons loadout on galcomhq, for instance. Be careful with those turret entries though, because they correspond to the number of /turret vectors in the actual .3D model. You will see that there are 9 entries (all of IOD2 type), this means that there are 9 turret vectors in the galcomhq.3d model. You can change the type of shots the turret fires. Look around line 820 of OBJECTS.SCR and you will see that each shot of IOD2, packs 150 units worth of damage. So, if wanted a powerful punch, you could either create a new type, use ODSL, or modify the value of IOD2. You can also use any type of shot for those turrets. So, some could fire IOD2, while others will fire ODSL or any other type that you define. The missile entries are more lenient because they just determine the type of missiles that are launched, in sequence, from any of the /missile vectors, on the mode. This means that you can add/remove existing missiles or just add a new MISSILE= entry in the class definition, and list the type of missile you want to add. The missile types are around line #956 of OBJECTS.SCR. Don't forget that if you modify the OBJECTS.SCR or OBJCLASS.SCR file, you have to use the PREPALL.BAT in order to build all the models and scripts - or they will be out of synch. Speaking of which, you have to edit PREPALL.BAT and wrap the BUILDLIB.EXE executable around a date update because it is not Y2K compliant and won't run if the date is beyond 12-31-99. The source is buried in one of my DAT tapes and I can't be bothered to go dig it up. So, if someone can hack the executable and look for the date string, good luck....you're gonna need it. Do this: date 12-31-99 buildlib @bc3lib4.idx date todays date quote: It'd probably be easier to just build a comprehensive guide for the GBS. hehe, I agree. I have already included every command that the GBS uses. Most are self-explanatory but others need some explanation. The guide is complete, wrt actually building, testing and distributing scripts. The GBSTOC.TXT file lists all the GBS commands. quote: Matter of fact I'm going to post a guide, because in the process of making this program I need to make a list of every function of the GBS. Dunno why you're doing this, when in fact I've already listed every command in the GBS. I just have not had the time to describe each one. However, most are self-explanatory and since most are used in my own scripts, you can pretty much take a look at my scripts for usage conventions. quote: BTW I'm now playing around with 3Dmax and ted. I'm going to build a simple model, import it to the BC format. Since I know how to modify and add objects to game now I will try to orbit this object somewhere near spectre station. Max does not export the required .ASC file in the proper format required by TED2ASC. So, you'd need to use a text editor and manually edit the file so that it is compliant. Look around line #258 of .DOCSTED.TXT for more on this. If you successfully convert a model from .ASC to .3D, load it up in TED (TED.EXE or TEDWIN.EXE) and make sure that it looks right. Then, add an entry for it in OBJECTS.SCR and OBJCLASS.SCR, do a PREPALL.BAT and go fire up the game. I would suggest that you start by putting it in order around Earth first. This way you don't have to fly somewhere to see it. Once the model is actually working, you can then go back and put in explosion vections, missiles, turrets etc. [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 03-16-2000).]

LOL!! Someone please gag SpacePhish.

quote: Like most utilities for games, these are (in my opinion) crude and unsupported intended for the developer's use only.Yep...hey, 'ang on a minute! crude? *whack* quote: Using either method of building a mission the fact that this universe is not restricted is irrelevant, wouldn't you agree?Nope. You don't have a clue what you're getting into. But, I have faith that you'll soon find out. quote: Anymore comments, ideas, support, both positive and negative are welcome. I want to know what the rest of the BC Community thinks being that this project is being prepared for them. I want to know if the BC Community in general thinks its "pointless" or unecessary. Like I said, you are welcome to try. Trial and failure is no disgrace. Go for it! Anyway, in my stance as the devil's advocate, here is a simple scenario, based on the source scripts I just released. code: # # ADVANCED CAMPAIGN MODE 1 # # TOD1 1/5 # # [acm] CAMPAIGN: TOD1 M1/5 THEATRE OF OPS: EARTH/SOL MISSION CLASS: DIPLOMATIC ESCORT SUCCESS: DIPLOMAT1 MUST DOCK AT STATION MAJORIS . Representatives of the Terran, Empirian and Vesperon governments are meeting at the Majoris starstation located in the Majoris region of the Alpha Majora starsystem. The Terran ship (DIPLOMAT1) will depart from GALCOM in two minutes. The Empirian ship (DIPLOMAT2), escorted by Commander Ugo Ra-Zin of the GCV-Blackstar, has already departed from Cronus. Early reports indicate that the Vesperson ship (DIPLOMAT3) has also departed from Eridani. Other delegates are already at the meeting awaiting the arrival of these key diplomats. . This is a high profile meeting targeted at solving the feud between the Empirians and Vesperons, therefore, you are ordered to escort the Terran diplomats to Alpha Majora and remain on station in the region until otherwise ordered. . END TRANSMISSION . :101,earthz,setup_tod1m1,begin_tod1m1,resolve_tod1m1,tod1m1tick,5,45,15 # [dynamic] terran diplomat,,f1,lrt10.3dc,DIPLOMAT1 [ai] .f1,100,100,100,100,100,100,0 start 120000 near earthz^jmp-12 2000 jmp-10 jump majorisz^wrm-23 stop events 101 !startup broadcast "Terran Diplomat1 launched" !detect bc say CMO,"Incoming transmission from Diplomat1" broadcast "Glad to see you commander!" !under_attack this broadcast "We are under attack!" say TO,"Terran diplomat1 is under attack" !damaged this 85 destroy this,60,0 halt on this broadcast "We are badly damaged. Evacuation in progress.." say CMO,"Emergency self-destruct initiated on Diplomat1" launch shuttle1.3dc,2,dock galcomhq broadcast "Evac shuttles launched and headed for GALCOM HQ" !damaged this 50 broadcast "Damaged by 50 percent" say CMO,"SOS signal detected from Terran diplomat1" emit_sos on this !destroyed this say TO,"Terran diplomat1 ship has been destroyed" !arrived majorisz IF EXIST majoris_s THEN broadcast "On docking approach to station Majoris" dock majoris_s,30 ELSE broadcast "Station Majoris not operational, returning to GALCOM HQ" IF EXIST galcomhq THEN dock galcomhq,30 ELSE flee ENDIF ENDIF !docked majoris_s say CMO,"Terran diplomat1 has docked at station Majoris" !docked galcomhq say CMO,"Terran diplomat1 has docked at GALCOM HQ" endevents OK, so, dear, tell me how exactly you plan on making a newbie about to create a script such as this entry for an entity, from a GUI frontend? Here's what you need to figure out. You can start crying anytime you feel like. Whether or not this script is a segment that is included from a master script, or an entire script. If it is an entire script, then you need to make the necessary #include files. If it is a segment, as in the case of my breaking up BC3K0100.SCR into segments, of which the example above is from ACM1TOD1.SCR, included in BC3K0100.SCR, you need to know this. Because if you nest #include files, you will generate a script error. Note that in the segment above, there are no include files. They are in the master script, BC3K0100.SCR. You would have to include blank script blocks for every variation and since you don't know if the scripter is going to use them, thats your first problem. For instance, an [ACM], [AI], [DYNAMIC] blocks are mandatory, others, such as [EVENT] are optional depending if there are events in the script or not. OK, now you have a blank script with all the relevant blocks, all blank. The scriptor now has to define an [ACM] block. So, you'd have to provide a dialogue for typing in the description, as well other dialogues for all the parameters that this block can accept. All of which are mandatory. Now, the scripter needs to know the name of the variables used in the ACM block, because they are going to be needed for event manipulation further along. In you GUI, the scriptor now decides to put a ship in the region. So, you give him a drop-down list of every valid entity, in the game, maybe broken down into categories (fighter, cruiser etc). Then he has to select an option for each of the parameters required in the [DYNAMIC] block, for this entity. So, you give him another set of dialogue boxes and drop-down menus. As for the entity ID, you could cheat and make those fixed, so that he can only pick from the list you provide (it would have to be a dynamic array) being careful to grey-out any ID that he has already used. So, if he has picked, say, A1 for the ID of this entity, when he goes back to the list, he can only pick maybe, A2 and so on. You now take all these parameters, and populate this block with the info for this entity. Now its on to the AI block. Same procedure as before, as far as the first line is concerned. By this point, your problems are only just beginning. The scriptor now wants to place this entity, (lets use the script from above), F1, in the Earth region at a certain location. That START command, is the most critical and one of the more complex ones. First, you have an optional time that this entity appears in the game. Again, a dialogue box. Thats the first parameter sorted. Now you want to figure out, where in the Earthz space region, to put it. In the script above, F1 starts near (internally translated as an arbitrary point), 2000 clicks from jump point 12, facing jump point 10. Did I mention that your GUI map needs to plot every entity in the target space region? For that, you need to parse the STATICS.SCR file or do it manually. Good luck. Now you want to give it an optional initial default order, before terminating the START block with a corresponding STOP. Because of the way the game AI is designed, you can terminate the script at this point. Why? Because all NPCs have internal orders. If F1 were a military ship and you told it to jump anywhere, it will automatically engage hostile entities along the way. You do not need to give it layer 2 commands, which need to be embedded within an EVENTS block. Which of course means that you'd have one boring script. Why bother, when you can just activate AutoGeneration and just play? So, lets assume that you've decided to continue along with the events block. This is when the real adventure starts....and I stopped explaining the futility of what you are about to embark on. If you continue and ever pull this off, I will give you an autographed copy to every game I develop until the day I die or go out of business. Whichever comes first. Good luck. Note: I hope you don't think I'm being condescending or derogatory. I just find this whole premise, amusing - and am having fun at your expense. :-)

I have just released all the script source files to BC3K v2.09. The archive includes the scripts for FF, ACM and XC. If you ever wanted to cheat, here is your chance to take a peak at what the scripts do. Check the downloads page for the link. Have fun! Note: If you ever go modifying the ACM script file - BC3K0100.SCR - know that it includes 4 sub-files that make up the entire ACM scenario. This technique of breaking up a complex script into separate files, makes it easier to manage, maintain and test. For instance, to test the entire TOD1, you would just comment out the 3 files that make up TOD 2-4. This way, they are not parsed or processed.

Xlogic, apology accepted. heh, SpcFX, why don't you let him try? By the time he puts in combo boxes for all the command variations, he'll be comatose. quote: For example to place an object you just click on where you want the object to be at, then bang there it is. Since in the real GB scripting you specify the object and it's relative postions to another in game object. LOL! SpacePhish, I just read that again. Surely you jest? The GBS has several ways of placing an object in a region. In order to place and object in a graphical representation of the scene, you need to first plot a map of every space region (there's only, about, uhm, 108 of them). Then, you need to know the position of each one. For instance, if you placed a ship in a location in, say, Earth space region, that entity needs to be entered in the specific [dynamic] and [ai] blocks for that region. Now, how on Earth is that going to work? The only person on this planet, who can do put a GUI interface around the GBS, is me. And it would be a humongous task to say the least. It would be similar to using the graphical editor in VC++ to create entities for resource files. By the time Xlogic gets to even 2% functionality, we would already be playing BC3020AD. The GBS is very advanced and was designed to be powerful and not for newbies. Any half-baked entry level programmer, even without all the docs, can figure it out. It does not need a GUI. It is based on simple logic and all you have to know are 3 things The game galaxy layout The syntax of the commands and what they do The logic flow of the environment and being certain to take into account that AI entities, that you don't script, are guaranteed to screw up the logic flow of your script if you don't know what you are doing. [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 03-15-2000).]

My email address hasn't changed.

Make sure you don't have any food or drink near you, when you read this article. When you're done, be sure to go to the main page and read other similar articles. http://www.gamerspress.com/articles/gamedevelop.htm

I second Parias' award title. How appropriate.

You can do what the heck you like, it'll never ship with the game. I'm not, nor do I plan on, wrapping the GBS around a GUI interface. If I wanted to do that, I would've done it by now. And anything that you could ever get from me, regarding the GBS is available for download. So, don't ask for anything else because I don't have time for distractions and pointless side projects. Yes, its pointless, but, don't let me stop you from doing it. btw, the GBS contains complete sample scripts. Visual Basic? You must be drinking. [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 03-15-2000).]

Tac, for someone who still has not submitted a final fleet structure set of documents, you shouldn't be the one to talk about posting up to date info. Anyway, if someone wants to do a What Are Fleets & How Do I Join? type html document, I can post it on the fleet page. But of course, several months from now, I still won't get it because most of the 'volunteers' here, are all talk and rarely ever deliver.

Its a graphics issue. Apply the patch properly. And the current version of the game is 2.09. You could also try adding /v1 in the bc3k.bat file which runs the BC3K shortcut. If you're trying to run the BC3K (3DFX) shortcut, it won't work. When in doubt, read the FAQ twice. [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 03-15-2000).]

Delete the joystick.set and setup.cfg files. The first one sets the joystick values. The second one sets the joystick type. Then, select one of the joysticks from the FAQ, that closely matches what you have. Just like what SpacePhish suggested. [This message has been edited by Supreme Cmdr (edited 03-14-2000).]

Lame. Waste of money.