No Way Jose - Turn Tracking Thread - Page 11

H0bbes · July 17, 2004, 02:41

Hmmmmmmmmm, 3 alien monsters coated in anti-matter plate found so far.

Turned to Smacksim.

smacksim · July 17, 2004, 03:55

2171 ---> Rubin

There seems to be some weird bug in the gamesave r/e Hobbes faction. I was able to play on and emailed Hobbes with specifics. Hopefully all is well. -S

Rubin · July 17, 2004, 04:19

2171 to Yoda.

Weird bug?!?

jtsisyoda · July 20, 2004, 02:00

2171 went to H0bbes on Saturday I think.

We know in this game the clone factions have some weird effects as far as error messages and such. Would that explain it?

smacksim · July 20, 2004, 03:44

I'll give a brief synopsis:

I try to talk to my old pal Matsumura every turn, though he hates me.

. This turn, I was suddenly able to talk with him and he was rather neutral. This is a sure sign that something happened. Perhaps it was a change in his other relationships. Anyways, I pressed forward with negotiation and he said (to paraphrase): 'Hey, why don't you help me attack the ACADEMY faction led by Hobbes, you know that they -nil- and -nil-. No matter what ACADEMY -nil- ....'

The All-caps and the -nil- statements occur if a faction is loaded without any stats or text. It appeared to me that Hobbes faction was broken during my turn. I only had other save games and zips in the folder, no factions. So what was going on? Hobbes has no idea. Yet he did rename his faction to Academy. I think this triggered the negotiations I was able to have because Matsumura had to re-calculate his war with Hobbes since it was now a new faction. Anyways, I also got 4 identical error messages along the lines of: 'Can't load faction ACADEMY' at the beginning of my turn.

I conclude that I believe the scenario picked up a blank faction somewhere. I was able to play my turn as normal, and it probably won't affect anyone. We'll know come Hobbes turn. If he has no faction bonuses, it's a blank-faction problem. If he has no problems, it must be on my end.

Smack Out

smacksim · July 20, 2004, 03:45

Quote:

Originally posted by jtsisyoda
2171 went to H0bbes on Saturday I think.

We know in this game the clone factions have some weird effects as far as error messages and such. Would that explain it?

Yeah, that could explain it methinks. I just thought I should report it because it felt like unfair advantage being able to negotiate with Matsumura

H0bbes · July 20, 2004, 06:38

I haven't renamed my faction. It is the same as it always has been.

Rubin · July 29, 2004, 14:56

smacksim, based on your 'bug-report' it seems the game cannot locate the ACADEMY faction files (there are 4 core ACADEMY files in the main folder). However I may be completely wrong if you are able to create a new game using the ACADEMY faction. Just my thoughts on the matter...

So, what is the status of this game?

smacksim · July 29, 2004, 15:00

Quote:

Originally posted by Rubin
smacksim, based on your 'bug-report' it seems the game cannot locate the ACADEMY faction files (there are 4 core ACADEMY files in the main folder).

That would do it. I don't have any clone-faction files. Didn't think I needed them. I guess I do if I am to properly interact with the Academy. If they are just a Uni clone, I can set that up for myself. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally posted by jtsisyoda
2171 went to H0bbes on Saturday I think.

We know in this game the clone factions have some weird effects as far as error messages and such. Would that explain it?

Not sure if Hobbes saw that.

It's an interesting game. Would be sad to lose it.

jtsisyoda · July 29, 2004, 23:08

2171 resent to H0bbes.

smacksim · July 30, 2004, 03:01

2172 --> Rubin

Rubin · July 30, 2004, 07:02

2172 to Yoda.

smacksim, it is imperative that you have the core faction files for the custom factions installed, especially the [faction].txt file. In this particular game the Syndicate may behave VERY differently if YOU do not have the correct data files installed. The reason is that the Syndicate AI moves after you hit END TURN (just before I am to play). The consequences during gameplay can be very, VERY significant!!!

The other custom factions are affected as well. Hopefully, no 'significant' changes to the game has resulted.

I'll elaborate further if required.

jtsisyoda · July 30, 2004, 11:56

2172 to H0bbes.

smacksim · July 30, 2004, 16:02

Now ya tell me

I did get instructions from JohnDMuller, and my impression was 'There were some files, there's a story, the files shouldn't matter'

I could be very wrong, it's been awhile since I had that email.

Anyways, I looked through the threads, the turn tracking, and the original idea thread from last June. There's talk of the files being sent out. No files are attached anywhere for me to have solved this problem quietly. Argh.

Someone, send me the files, or better yet, attach them to one of the threads! Had I known what these files were, I would have insisted upon taking up the game. I'm sorry you lost Minute Mirage, but mebbe I could keep it going, that is, if X

-Smack

Rubin · July 31, 2004, 17:09

Quote:

The attached faction files should be loaded into your 'Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri' directory and the file called 'FactionList.txt' is a replacement for the portion of your 'Alpha Centauri.ini' file which sets the factions for SMAX. These files primarily affect the graphics - so that you can see the person and bases of Matsu's Syndicate and Archaic's Academy. I don't believe they are absolutely critical (as it seems that the important info is already captured during scenario generation), but if nothing else (and I don't know for sure if there is nothing else), some (seemingly non-critial) error messages may be generated and the profile information will not be available. Changing the faction list in 'Alpha Centauri.ini' without having all the referenced faction files loaded is quite likely a fatal error, however, so don't go that particular half way. If you are using a Mac, or if you have the Unix version, things may work a little differently - some of the files have Mac incarnations, which may just be a different directory location or may be different files; if you are in that situation, let me know.

Good luck,
John

This was the custom faction information I received from johndmuller. I may be wrong on the impacts on gameplay as I have not fully tested the issue.

I've temporarily uploaded the files here: (Edit: File removed.)