Yitzi's unofficial SMAX patch 2.5d

[Dio]

If they had specified rounded up/down I could see the argument the other way. 

It is explicitly stated in the faction rules (#Bonusnames) description section of the alphax file. Also, I am reluctant to use the Social TALENT effects because they cause the Faction Power display above the Social effects to become wonky.

[Yitzi]

I tried a few starts with 2.5d on top of just the XP patch.

Games 1, 2, and 6 crashed when it should have opened the new "goto" window.

I still need a savegame for this.  (If it's consistent; if not, then again it's not likely to be feasible unless you feel like downloading a debugger to catch the next such crash.)  My best guess is that there's something bugged in the original implementation, which led the developers to disable the feature because they didn't have the time to fix it; now that it's been re-enabled, we can probably fix it.

[gwillybj]

I've been playing with v2.5e all day yesterday and today. It's stabler than d; I'm up to the 207th turn currently, and had one of each crash somewhere between the 100th and 150th.

I eliminated 50% of the production window crashes by changing "a base can build more than one item per turn" back to zero (from one). I eliminated another 49% by changing "recalculate base statistics after each change for non-AI" back to zero (from one).

I had only one "goto window" crash during that time. I think that may be caused by my extra-large map (360x180). If so, I wonder if it can be an optional item, or are there parameters in that item's code that could be adjusted to handle huge map sizes? I remember reading at Apolyton that someone played successfully on a 512x512 map, once it was explained how to get sizes above 256x256.

Everything else is working fine: Drone Rules, Unit Cost, Pacifism, and Missiles do what they're supposed to do, even if it's not what I expected at first. I'll have to play with those settings a few times to find something I'm happy with. Are the default codes in your alphax.txt the numbers that make it work as originally written?

[Buster's Uncle]

Hey George Bluth, Sr.:

In the vanilla game, I avoid building certain units because the AI never builds them (like sea probe teams, or armored probe teams for base defense), or builds them only rarely and uses them inefficiently (supply crawlers).  Does this patch improve on that at all?

I don't get the George Bluth Sr. reference.

[Yitzi]

I eliminated 50% of the production window crashes by changing "a base can build more than one item per turn" back to zero (from one). I eliminated another 49% by changing "recalculate base statistics after each change for non-AI" back to zero (from one).

Of course, that means you can't use those features...if the crashes can't be replicated, though, I'm not really sure what else I can do until I'm ready to play some myself.  Fortunately, it doesn't sound like they're that common.

I had only one "goto window" crash during that time. I think that may be caused by my extra-large map (360x180). If so, I wonder if it can be an optional item, or are there parameters in that item's code that could be adjusted to handle huge map sizes? I remember reading at Apolyton that someone played successfully on a 512x512 map, once it was explained how to get sizes above 256x256.

It is very possible that the extra-large map is not compatible with the goto window; if so, there are probably parameters that could be adjusted to handle it, I haven't examined the code so I'm not sure what they might be.  Does it always crash when using go to base on an extra-large map?  (If so, I can probably find the problem; if not there isn't really an answer other than to just not use the feature on extra-large maps.)

Everything else is working fine: Drone Rules, Unit Cost, Pacifism, and Missiles do what they're supposed to do, even if it's not what I expected at first. I'll have to play with those settings a few times to find something I'm happy with. Are the default codes in your alphax.txt the numbers that make it work as originally written?

Yes they are.

[Guynemer]

Hey George Bluth, Sr.:

In the vanilla game, I avoid building certain units because the AI never builds them (like sea probe teams, or armored probe teams for base defense), or builds them only rarely and uses them inefficiently (supply crawlers).  Does this patch improve on that at all?

I don't get the George Bluth Sr. reference.

George is Buster's uncle; Oscar is his father.  (Maybe)

Anyway, thanks for having me, gents!

[Buster's Uncle]

Glad to have you.  Is this something from a movie?  It rings a bell -a black and white, Jimmy Stewart sorta bell, maybe- but I can't discern what note is playing.

[Guynemer]

Glad to have you.  Is this something from a movie?  It rings a bell -a black and white, Jimmy Stewart sorta bell, maybe- but I can't discern what note is playing.

The late, lamented, and then Netflix-reborn comedy series "Arrested Development", my good man.

[Buster's Uncle]

D'oh!

Okay, you pwned an owner right off.  Want a wacky avatar as a prize?

[Buster's Uncle]

Hey George Bluth, Sr.:

In the vanilla game, I avoid building certain units because the AI never builds them (like sea probe teams, or armored probe teams for base defense), or builds them only rarely and uses them inefficiently (supply crawlers).  Does this patch improve on that at all?

?

[Guynemer]

D'oh!

Okay, you pwned an owner right off.  Want a wacky avatar as a prize?

Dazzle me, good sir.

[Buster's Uncle]

I'll try to think of something clever w/o Will Ferrell in it when I get caught up.  I think I'm coming down with something, so may not be a good brain day.

Yitzi, can we have an answer to his question so we can move on and bump the latest thread?

[Ford_Prefect]

I would like to play with Yitzi's patch.  A few questions first.

Which version should I use?  (Is there a stable version?)
What are the changes it makes to the game?

Thank you.

[Yitzi]

I would like to play with Yitzi's patch.  A few questions first.

Which version should I use?  (Is there a stable version?)

The latest version is probably the stablest; there does appear to be one bug that has not been fixed, but it's apparently fairly rare, plus it's fairly random, meaning that you can just load the autosave and continue playing and it won't happen again at that point.  (That randomness is why it hasn't been fixed; normally I fix new bugs and crashes fairly quickly, but those that cannot be reliably reproduced are very difficult to fix.)  The new "go to base" feature is also apparently not stable on extra-large maps. 

What are the changes it makes to the game?

It mostly adds new modding options, but there are bugfixes in there too.  This is a mostly complete list, with a link to the new modding options.

[Buster's Uncle]

Hey George Bluth, Sr.:

In the vanilla game, I avoid building certain units because the AI never builds them (like sea probe teams, or armored probe teams for base defense), or builds them only rarely and uses them inefficiently (supply crawlers).  Does this patch improve on that at all?

?

?