Insurrection 1.1.7

[Icepick]

Ok I just played around a bit, so here are a couple of suggestions. I don't mean to be brutal, but it might come across as that.

Why does the first level have to be black? It makes it impossible to see anything and just makes the entire level horribly frustrating.

The intro text on the first level is also horribly confusing. The entire thing makes it sound like you are on the side of the red Darwinians, and then you proceed to control the greens and destroy the reds. Most of the text I've seen through the levels if tried seem to follow this same trend.

I recommend giving the laser research to the player so that the Darwinians lasers have a longer range than practically zero. It just makes all the Darwinian battles incredibly anoying. I didnt actually finish the first level because of this.

The intro text on Discovery is uhhh, bad. All of the 'predators' in Darwinia are a direct result of the virus. Darwinia wasn't hacked, and Dr Sepulveda wouldn't leave them laying around forcing the darwinians to fend for themself. This is totally out of character for him.
A lot of the text also seems to portray Dr Sepulveda as some kind of Tyranical monster. The entire thing is horribly out of the character that has been established for the Dr.

I just read a piece of text that says Dr Sepulveda is using the virus against you. The entire concept of that is completely mindboggling.

A few places seem to leave the building highlight on after a cut scene. The first level does this, and station, that I've seen.

I did skip some of the (incredlbly long) chunks of text, but at some point you seem to switch sides from the Greenbrae guy back to Dr Sepulveda. I didnt see where, and it was pretty confusing.

[xander]

I played the mod all the way to sanctuary. I finished it and it told me to go back to backup. The mission hadn't been changed yet.

Damn. I thought I got that one. Let me see...

Oops... I left a line out of sanctuary_objA_com.txt. The first line of that file should read

Code: Select all

SetMission  backdoor  mission_backdoor_b.txt

Sorry about that.

If you have not yet gotten to that point, please adjust the script before continuing. If you have gotten that far, can you decrypt game.txt manually and set the mission, or send me your game.txt and I will decode it and fix it for you?

xander

[thefrogger]

It's looking pretty interesting so far, although I think I'm going to start over so that I can avoid using up vast quantities of research on the Engineer program. Once it's selected, (tempting to do since it helps in the first level), it can't be deselected again and thus uses up a ton of research points that could be better spent on more useful programs later on. Discovery (where I am now) in particular will be much more fun.

[The GoldFish]

Line 187

In the section marked 'Anihilation'

I had assumed that 'Event BuilingOnline:anihilation', what with having Anihilation in it, would have been sufficient information.

I dunno, if you're using a fixed width font it's fairly apparent just scrolling down.

My only issue with the first level is how noisy the terrain is, which usually caused my green Darwinians to explode themselves with their grenades...

[hitm4n]

hitm4n; AAA doesn't save game.txt progress, hence using it won't make it crash even if it has typos, just those events won't work, most of which would probably fire on startup. Since you shouldn't be testing his mod works with AAA anyway, I don't see any reason to supply a version - it isn't even my job to do that anyway

I had no idea that the 2nd fix file had anything to do with AAA profiles. I followed the instructions in the pdf to play, which means that the mod and a new profile called [NewProfile] was in use. Xander said use both files, so thats what i did.

So, from what you've said, creating an AAA profile with a particular mod loaded will generate a game_unlockall.txt file ? And if we are to play this mod properly, we should delete that file if it exists ??

Can a new mod be packaged with the fixes and only the files that should be in please.

[The GoldFish]

When you start a new profile, a copy of game.txt is taken from the mod directory and put in your profile, changing as the game progresses - when the radar was captured, it tried to save game.txt to your profile but found lines that it didn't understand and exploded.

When you start an AAA profile, a different file is used as a base, game_unlockall.txt, and this is not changed as you play, nor is any copy taken, hence, it never saves a progress file to crash.

If this file is not included, and you use the AAA profile with your mod loaded, it loads the one from the original game, which obviously you don't really want to happen (since this file is the one that tells the game about all the locations etc)

Since the objective was to issue a quick fix that would let people test his mod worked progress wise, I saw no point in fixing game_unlockall, since I assumed it would be fixed amongst other things when Xander got around to it.

[hitm4n]

i see. so the file should be included in a mod and shouldn't affect anything when using a proper profile. coolio. I never use AAA profiles, i like to play mods as intended.

[xander]

I had no idea that the 2nd fix file had anything to do with AAA profiles. I followed the instructions in the pdf to play, which means that the mod and a new profile called [NewProfile] was in use. Xander said use both files, so thats what i did.

So, from what you've said, creating an AAA profile with a particular mod loaded will generate a game_unlockall.txt file ? And if we are to play this mod properly, we should delete that file if it exists ??

Can a new mod be packaged with the fixes and only the files that should be in please.

TGF does a good job of explaining game_unlockall.txt above. As to uploading a new version, I am at work right now, and cannot upload a new version until I get home (they upgraded all of the computers while we were on break last month, and I can no longer get my laptop onto the network). As such, deal with the problems as the pop up, and I will upload 0.9.1 when I get home.

As to TGF's comment about noisy ground in Rebellion, it was designed to frustrate the user. Just remember, you don't have to kill all of the reddies, and reddies are afraid of engineers. On the other hand, it might be a problem with the AI in Darwinia 1.3 and DGs not behaving properly. I can't do anything about that, as I am on a Mac. If it is too much of a problem, I can change it, but I would prefer not to.

Oh... I also fixed the issue in line 187 of game.txt, so you can download the new version if you wish. Even after you gave me a line number, it took me a while to find the typo -- I am dyslexic, and it all looks the same to me :\

xander

[hitm4n]

Quick question about the files.
Theres duplicates of all files (almost) with diff filenames.
.DS_Store and copies all starting with a " . "
Are they mac files ? Can i delete them if on XP ?

[The GoldFish]

Yeah you can delete all that crazy shit! Not sure why that's there, it seems like a bunch of permission files, I'm not sure where they're comming from.

[hitm4n]

Well, i've applied all fixes, both text files and the script file. Edited my preferences to create a new profile again called "Insurrect" and restarted mod. Everything was fine up until it crashed, as soon as i reprogrammed the first radar dish tower.

Upon reloading again, all areas are accesible ??

[The GoldFish]

Strange stuff always happens when game.txt dies :(

edit - Insurrection link removed

[hitm4n]

Thankyou. I'll install that and start over again.

Whats odd about my crash, i deleted all profiles a 2nd time and restarted again, and no crashes... ?? I assure you the crash came from a new profile ! Anyway, will replace version and restart. I see you took the junk out too. Nice one.

Oh, and to Xander. The mod does look nice, i've had a scoot round many of the levels and theres some nice designs there and plenty of story.

But should they ALL be accessible ? Well, maybe the new version fixes that problem.

[xander]

Thankyou. I'll install that and start over again.

Whats odd about my crash, i deleted all profiles a 2nd time and restarted again, and no crashes... ?? I assure you the crash came from a new profile ! Anyway, will replace version and restart. I see you took the junk out too. Nice one.

Oh, and to Xander. The mod does look nice, i've had a scoot round many of the levels and theres some nice designs there and plenty of story.

But should they ALL be accessible ? Well, maybe the new version fixes that problem.

They should not all be accessible. When working on the mod, I used what is now game_unlockall.txt as game.txt, so that I could access any level or research when I needed to (incidentally, that is why the Sanctuary script was fubared). To make game.txt, I set most of the missions to NULL, reset the research, but forgot to set the unavailable flag. The new version of game.txt should take care of that.

As to .DS_Store, that is a Mac file. It is hidden in the Mac fs, so I did not notice it. When I have a chance to upload again, I will remove them.

xander

[xander]

Sorry, just noticed Icepick's comment. Feel free to blast away -- that is the only way that I will learn. However, realise that most of your post was more in the realm of literary criticism, an had little to do with technical aspects of the game. So, after a brief discussion of the two techical points raised, I will respond to that literary criticism.

Issue 1: Rebellion is too dark:
On my monitor, it looks fine. The terrain is colored by height alone, with low areas dark grey and high areas a lighter grey. The light is low and dim, coming mostly from the north. This was done intentionally. Certainly, it is a bit dark, but notice where it is on the world map... it is way out there, in the shadows. It is meant to be dark. And, on my monitor, it looks fine -- if I were being snide, I might recommend turning up the brightness on your monitor.

Having said that, I recognize that it might be a little too dark. Is anyone else having this problem? Is it so dark that you cannot play it? Or is it just a bit annoying, but still playable? If I get several comments about it being to dark, I will lighten it up a bit (probably not a lot, but some -- I can lighten the terrain in low areas, and perhaps include a very dim overhead light).

Issue 2:

I recommend giving the laser research to the player so that the Darwinians lasers have a longer range than practically zero. It just makes all the Darwinian battles incredibly anoying. I didnt actually finish the first level because of this.

That was done intentionally. Remember, you do not have to kill the red DGs, just get 50 to the end of the level. You start out with 100, so only have of them have to survive. You can bypass the first group of red DGs quite easily by going around the mountain, and you can intimidate the rest of the reddies and go around them. There is a possibility that the red DGs don't run from engineers in the new patch, but no one has spelled that out in detail to me. At any rate, even if you charge the safe area at the end, 50 should make it. Stop trying to kill every last reddie.

As to playing red v green, I would have the player DGs be blue, if I could, and the AI DGs green. However, it is not possible to do that in the game. Player DGs must be green. If it helps, try thinking of it this way (this is what I tell myself) -- Darwinia is run on a computer. Everything you see on the screen is created by those computers. The color of the Darwinians is entirely artificial. The user interface that Darwinia is using colors them red for enemy and green for friendly, much like the IFF system in Escape Velocity. If you think it is confusing now, chose to side with Sepulveda in Anihilation, and you are suddenly fighting for the other side, but with the same color of Darwinian.

And now the literary aspects:

The intro text on Discovery is uhhh, bad. All of the 'predators' in Darwinia are a direct result of the virus. Darwinia wasn't hacked, and Dr Sepulveda wouldn't leave them laying around forcing the darwinians to fend for themself. This is totally out of character for him.
A lot of the text also seems to portray Dr Sepulveda as some kind of Tyranical monster. The entire thing is horribly out of the character that has been established for the Dr.

Yes, but who is saying those lines? Is Dr. Greenbrae impartial? Might he lie? Would Dr. Sepulveda admit to loosing a virus upon his own creation, or might he create a story to cover his own mistakes? Don't be so damn literal.

I just read a piece of text that says Dr Sepulveda is using the virus against you. The entire concept of that is completely mindboggling.

Why? If I had a system like Darwinia, and it got hit by a virus, I sure as hell would pick apart that virus to see 1) what makes it tick and 2) how it might be used to keep such a thing from happening again. I mean, Darwinia is a fairly unique system. If a virus can nearly take it down, it must be one hell of a virus. I like TGFs explanation -- it is Revelation from Uplink. So, such a virus might prove to be a valuable tool for defending Darwinia, if it can be tamed.

On another note, the Darwinia engine is rather limited. I can use DGs and virii as enemies. Not much else, no? So, I have to justify the presence of the virii, yes? This seemed a logical way of doing so.

A few places seem to leave the building highlight on after a cut scene. The first level does this, and station, that I've seen.

In Rebellion and Database, it is intentional. I debated that one for a while, but decided that I like it as is. The reasoning: 1) it shows that the terminal is online, 2) Dr. Greenbrae is still using the terminal to download data -- the highlight represents that connection. When I made the decision, I thought it might be a bit confusing, but that people would either figure it out or ignore it. I am still open to the possibility of changing it, but I would prefer not to.

The one in Station is a mistake. Which building is still being highlighted?

I did skip some of the (incredlbly long) chunks of text, but at some point you seem to switch sides from the Greenbrae guy back to Dr Sepulveda. I didnt see where, and it was pretty confusing.

Actually, there are two ways to go -- in Anihilation, you can choose to finish you task for Greenbrae, or you can join Sepulveda. I placed several scripts throught the game that throw doubt upon Greenbrae's story, and I have tried to paint Greenbrae as increasingly maniacal throughout the first half of the game. My hope is that players will choose to side with Dr. Sepulveda of their own free will (for which they are rewarded with an extra five or so levels). If, on the other hand, they ignore his pleas, they finish the game right after Anihilation.

It seems that most of your problems have to do with the story that I am trying to relate, and not with anything technically related to the mod. In the backstory section of the .pdf, I tried to set up that story in such a way that it would be believable, even to someone who has played the game before. Most of your information is comming from Greenbrae, and he has a vested interest in painting Sepulveda as a villian. Other tidbits come from Sepulveda, but he has a vested in covering up his own complicity in the events of the game.

So, to sum up, think about where your information is coming from, and the interests of the people that are giving you that information.

Another note, while I am on the topic: I have not finished writing all of the text, and am still working on bits of backstory. I am also working on trimming down the amount of text that there is. The problem is that I am, as you say, painting Sepulveda as a villian, and I have to justify that somehow. Text is really the only way that I can do that in the context of the game.

xander