Satellite UI / Crash Bug

[Nexii]

When I go to view satellites after researching Orbital Spaceflight, it crashes the game. This seems to have been caused by changing the tech requirements to build satellites. However when I put the techs back to their defaults the game still seems to crash. Anyone else had this issue?

[scient]

After changing it back, does a new saved game still have the same issue? If the game crash is repeatable with a save, upload it and I can have a look at what's cause the game to crash. If it's a game you were actively playing, I might be able to fix it.

[Nexii]

Not just saved games but new ones such as the attached. It may have something to do with a tech other than these 4. My tech tree isn't reordered in any way.

Sky Hydroponics Lab,          12, 0, Orbital, Disable,  +1 Nutrient ALL BASES
Nessus Mining Station,        12, 0, HAL9000, Disable,  +1 Minerals ALL BASES
Orbital Power Transmitter,    12, 0, Space,   Disable,  +1 Energy ALL BASES
Orbital Defense Pod,          12, 0, HAL9000, Disable,  Missile Defense

The attached is just a sample test, with Orbital granted to Gaians.

[scient]

Looks like there is still an issue with your game directory. Loaded it up with latest iteration of my OpenSMACX binary and vanilla untouched game install without any crashes.

[Nexii]

Ok I've been able to duplicate the issue on a new install. Have to do another re-install and patching to isolate where the game directories go bad.

Seems to only occur on Yitzi's patch and when the techs for satellites are edited. Once that is done then the game directories become corrupted forever. Reverting alphax.txt does not fix the crashing.

I'll have to consider which direction to go, a lot of his features were nice but crashes aren't.

[bvanevery]

I thought I would note that if you don't have Sky Hydroponics Lab as your 1st satellite available, it makes the orbital satellite UI unviewable.  The stock binary will say that you haven't discovered space flight yet, although I forget the exact message.  I don't know if this anomalous condition can trigger further bugs in unofficial patches.  If you have violated this requirement, you might consider the possibility.

I'll have to consider which direction to go, a lot of his features were nice but crashes aren't.

This is why unofficial patches are unofficial.  And why patches whose authors have disappeared, don't hold up as well as those which still have their authors responding to newly found problems.  It's a pity when someone does a lot of binary hacking, but then doesn't leave enough notes for someone else to follow their work in the future.  At least if there's any feature you think is really really valuable, you know that it can be done, and could be done again.  If you want to dissect how the binary changed.

This is why I only support the official game binary.  When unofficial binaries introduce bugs, I don't want to be blamed for them, or go chasing after them.  Others may not think it much of a consideration, but for me personally, my professional reputation is on the line.  I don't want to look like I write buggy stuff, even if I didn't, and I don't want bugs I didn't make.  In a few years I expect to be selling games, possibly like this one, and I want my rep "solid".

Maybe someday in the future, OpenSMACX will make such concerns obsolete.  It's a lot easier to maintain and deploy source code.

[Nexii]

Yea the bug was a bit more complicated but your comments did help. I had put Sky Hydroponics lab at the same tech (Solids) as the other 3 satellites. So it was "first", and I didn't have any UI problems on scient's patch having all 4 at the same tech. So it might not have been about satellite order so much as their placement relative to the rest of the tech tree. Or there might be something hard coded about Orbital Spaceflight specifically that scient fixed or something esoteric in Yitzi's changes.

[bvanevery]

What if Sky Hydroponics Labs has to be strictly before some of the other satellites?  When a player reported the bug, I readjusted my order.  C6 Orbital Spaceflight gives Sky Hydroponics Labs.  I used to give Geosynchronous Survey Pods at the same time until pretty recently, and I never noticed any problems with that.  C7 Advanced Spaceflight gives Orbital Defense Pods.  B8 Nanometallurgy gives Nessus Mining Station.  B9 Global Energy theory gives Orbital Power Transmitter.

[Nexii]

It might not be that Sky Hydroponics has to be before the others, but rather just not after certain others. I have no issues with all 4 satellites at Super Tensile Rods in scient's patch.

Sky Hydroponics Lab,          12, 0, Solids,  Disable,  +1 Nutrient ALL bases
Nessus Mining Station,        12, 0, Solids,  Disable,  +1 Minerals ALL bases
Orbital Power Transmitter,    12, 0, Solids,  Disable,  +1 Energy ALL bases
Orbital Defense Pod,          12, 0, Solids,  Disable,  Missile defense

Also while the Satellite Summary screen says "Orbital Spaceflight" it becomes visible when I discover Super Tensile Rods.

[scient]

I don't recall ever patching any code related to satellites in my unofficial patch. I had a quick Ctrl-F in my patch notes for some key words and couldn't find anything relevant.

This issue with Sky Hydroponics Labs intrigued me. It is somewhat hardcoded but not completely.

Whatever facility you have at slot 65 (vanilla: Sky Hydro Lab) in alpha/x.txt has the tech preq run against has_tech() for all factions. If one faction has the tech, it enables the Satellite Summary view. Otherwise you get that message about not having "Orbital Flight".

You can change the Orbital Flight on line 828 of labels.txt. You would want to set it to whatever the name of your preq tech for new slot 65. Now, to see satellites factions must research that tech to get the view. There are other hardcoded references so replacement would have to fill the concept of gaining access to something like Orbital Flight.

[scient]

One more note. Based on how has_tech() works, you could set slot 65's tech to 'None' to always force satellite view (and likely other mechanics). Or set it to 'Disabled' to permanently disable the view with a custom message in labels.txt.

[Nexii]

Yea I forgot to add there was no issue in the unpatched (GOG download) either. So that's not really a surprise.

I'll convert my modding over to scient's patch. It reminds me of similar issues I had renaming/deleting factions. The information was getting stored somewhere outside of alphax.txt permanently. And it wasn't easy to figure out where, no obvious updated files searching by last modified date. Might have been the executable itself.

[bvanevery]

One more note. Based on how has_tech() works, you could set slot 65's tech to 'None' to always force satellite view (and likely other mechanics). Or set it to 'Disabled' to permanently disable the view with a custom message in labels.txt.

Setting slot 65's tech prereq to None would make a Sky Hydroponics Lab, whatever it is called, available from the start of the game.  Surely not desired by most modders.

[Nexii]

Yes but you'd still need to get Aerospace Complex to be able to build/launch it

[bvanevery]

You're not really going to move an Aerospace Complex away from Doctrine: Air Power are you?  Let's say you are, and you're going to rename it too.  Well the icon artwork is still going to look like an Aerospace Complex, unless you're willing to redo that as well.  Maybe binary modders are willing to hack the artwork, but I as a *.txt only modder am not going to.  And it's still going to behave as an Aerospace Complex, regardless of what you call it from now on.  Perhaps you could call it a Launchpad.  It just happens to make air units have higher combat prowess and air defense too.  This is just getting goofy.

Makes me contemplate a new tech, "Ballistic Flight" or "Rocketry".  Implies missiles and warheads, not spaceships or skylabs. Makes me also think of another Doctrine: of some kind.  The most important doctrine is Mutual Assured Destruction, but that's a mouthful, and not correctly implemented by this game anyways.  I do currently require Orbital Spaceflight for Diplomatic Victory in my mod, i.e. you must be capable of Planet Busters.

Orbital stuff would have to become something more like "Orbital Construction".  Still have the basic problem that a Sky Hydroponics Lab precedes an Orbital Defense Pod, or must be simultaneous to it.

"Doctrine: Destruction" ?  As in Weapons of Mass Destruction and Mutual Assured Destruction.