OCL_Improved

Information, How-to's, and discussion about mod'ing Master of Orion II.
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Overlord2
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Overlord2 » Wed Jan 28, 2015 6:45 am

1: most likely, just need the right offset, but not available atm. I will post if I get it.
2: which bug are you referring specifically?

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Rocco
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Rocco » Wed Jan 28, 2015 4:40 pm

Thanks for swift reply.
I actually meant leaders with the Telepath skill
They can have for example +6% listed, but only 3% is shown in total defensive spy bonus.
I think i it was solved in VDC.

** deleted off topic **

have created this wishlist, with some ideas .. not too long .. would appreciate if you could take a look. just ideas. some should be possible, others will stay ideas (or MOO4).
http://moo2mod.com/WISHLIST.TXT
Last edited by Rocco on Thu Jan 29, 2015 11:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Overlord2
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Overlord2 » Thu Jan 29, 2015 2:27 pm

I believe the last post should be moved to the new thread since it is a little offtopic for the OCL_Improved thread.

In asnwer to your question:
First about the bug - yes, it has been fixed in VDC;

About wish list -
Generally there are two possible ways of modding: changing certain constants/parameters in the game and slight reprogrammming or fixing the asm code, i.e. placing new code instead of old, where space for the code matters a lot. Some things cannot be done simply because there is no space for the new code.
New features means major reprogramming and adding completely new code. This kind of modding is practically impossible.
So I will omit the new features from your wish list and stop on other issues:

Rule Changes:
* If you have an alliance(s) with all surviving races, you win the game.
Each alliance gives 50 points, same as an annihilated race.
- might be possible; needs investigation; low priority for me cause I mostly focus on things, which enhance MP.

* Automated Repair Unit should be an achievement like Advanced Damage Control.
new names could be;
- might be possible; needs investigation; it is present on my to do list;

* Warlord ability gives 1 Command Point per planet.
2 points is really too much for the blitzers (I like to blitz);
- is surely possible but needs considerable effort; not on my list since I think its OK;

* 6 Tractor Beams for a Doom Star seems a bit low
according to shipspace in 1.31 it should be
1,2,5,10,20,48 instead of
1,2,3, 4, 5, 6
but 48 is maybe a bit high for Doom Star
1,2,4, 8,16,32 could work?
- The last thing has been implemented in VDC. Basically if you want to use this feature you can use VDC as a base and mod it the way you like. I wouldn't mind at all.

* Scout Lab could have more RP for larger ships but don't know the offsets.
- same, already done in VDC (reprogrammed). The formula for RPs is 1+4n^2 where n is class of the ship.

AI:
Generally it's very difficult to do anything with AI and will require much more effort than common things.

* a.i. sends attacking ship in such a way that they arrive
simultaneously at location.
- practically impossible to change;

* a.i. does not shoot on ships that have no ammo left, as long as there are other ships.
- very difficult or impossible to change;

* a.i. builds ships with beam modifications;
- might be possible;

* a.i. researches in a more balanced way. Now, it can dig really deep in one tree.
- might be possible;

User Interface:
* create own 'auto build' lists.
the blue button now builds a lot that i do not like.
- might be possible, needs investigation; it's present in my to do list;

* option to create 'favorite' ship builds and save them for future games.
- difficult or very difficult; needs investigation;

* micromanagement: new tech can be inserted at top build queue at selected planets
simultaneously;
- difficult or very difficult; needs investigation;

* influence what items show in "only important" items turn summary
(add: spies are killed; someone has declared war on you);
- most likely is possible, but needs an effort;

* To see, just like spy bonus, your current diplomatic bonus
just a nice to have;
- difficult; needs investigation;

Bug Fixes:
* Some spy leaders do not give the correct spying bonus in the race screen
ex.: a leader has 9% bonus, but only 6% is shown in total spy bonus
this seems to be happening only with some telepath leaders.
- already fixed;

* When playing Tolerant, and colonizing a planet, the planet pop-up screen reports no maintenance fee
for Toxic and Radiated planets. These costs ARE incurred however. Any way to display the cost for Tolerant?
- most likely possible; low priority since it's very minor bug;

* Ships should not move faster when outfitted with (empty) Battle Pods;
- it's not actually bug, but the game feature and it can be modded in drives section of OCL_Improved editor.

* Star Base design should favor Neutron Blaster over Ion Pulse Canon
(how does this weapon priority actually work, is it a fixed list?);
- Star Base automatically selects the beam with highest damage available; just adjust the values of beam damage and you will get what you were looking for;

* Star Bases should follow rules of tech exclusions:
example: should not have both ecm and multi wave ecm jammer;
- already present: slot 5, 6 and 7 in the OCL_Improved editor are excluding ones; if you get the higher level tech the previous is removed;

* a.i. can no longer use Hv Ion Pulse Canons (again: follow rules of tech exclusions);
- most likely possible; needs an effort; low priority for me since I am mostly concerned with MP;

* When you finished a game and start a new one;
- when switching difficulty (ex: impossible to hard), antarans can behave strangely.
they won't to show up till way after T200 and the first show is always a battleship.
- can be adjusted via OCL_Improved, monster section, antaran fleet build rates;

Modding
* Table for weapons sounds (example change sound of phasor rifle to disruptor)
Each sound is stored individually in SOUND.LBX, so there should be a numerical ref. with each weapon?
- most likely all sounds are present in the file you mentioned; the file can be accessed by means of MoO2 Workshop LBX extractor.

* When capturing Orion, Death Ray always is the default tech.
How to change, could be simple offset.
- sure possible, needs an effort to find this offset; maybe I get it in near future, no promise;

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Rocco
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Rocco » Fri Feb 06, 2015 3:35 am

In VDC Energy Absorber was increased to 33% (25%) and Structural Analyzer bonus decreased to 1.6 (2.0). These (and also others like Feudal ship cost, Multi-Phased Shields, Shield Capacitators) can not be changed via the current OCL.
1. can you share the offsets for Feudal ship cost?
(or maybe you have some file with all offsets?, i could not find it on code.google.com)
2. any plans to integrate known offsets for specials in the OCL?

hope i am not over-asking ... thanks again anyway!

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Overlord2
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Overlord2 » Sat Feb 07, 2015 11:41 am

These things were reprogrammed, i.e. there is no specific offset. I can look for the code replacement to revert it, but it will take a while. This is the negative side of using VDC as a base: it includes not only bug fixes but also rule changes, which may not fit one's needs.

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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Rocco » Sat Feb 07, 2015 3:02 pm

Very valid point you make and it is a choice of the modder use a certain platform.

There will always be a wishlist. I would be happy if you can share the feudal code with me.
As for the rest my assumptions will be :
- i'd rather stay on an actual, maintained platform, which is VDC
- will go with all the rule changes that are in the exe. There is always more than 1 way to balance things to fit my needs.
- if you don't mind me making a suggestion from time to time for VDC 58:)

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Overlord2
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Overlord2 » Sun Feb 08, 2015 9:48 am

I would be happy if you can share the feudal code with me.
Will pm you later.
- if you don't mind me making a suggestion from time to time for VDC 58:)
Sure, but two things - first write about it in its native thread, and second keep in mind it is multiplayer mod and any changes which occur are dictated by multiplayer balance.

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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Rocco » Sat Feb 21, 2015 6:02 pm

When using OCL_improved to overwrite Missile Cost from VDC exe, the 10x shot number stays unchanged at value 12. It needs to be manually corrected by finding the offset.

(I wanted to change to 10,15,20,25,30)

OCL_I gave this result: (0C=12)
B8 0A 00 00 00 EB 1A B8 0F 00 00 00 EB 13 B8 0C 00 00 00 EB 0C B8 19 00 00 00 EB 05 B8 1E 00 00

But it should have been: (14=20)
B8 0A 00 00 00 EB 1A B8 0F 00 00 00 EB 13 B8 14 00 00 00 EB 0C B8 19 00 00 00 EB 05 B8 1E 00 00

OCL_I does change all Missile space values; just not the cost value for 10x shot.

** update: strange thing is that once I have overwritten the value, nxt time I use OCL it does work. Also seem to be experiencing the same behaviour with the Antaran ship cost for larger ships that have been updated in VDC, also does not get overwritten until i manually edit. I really do not understand how this can happen.

Nirran
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Nirran » Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:10 am

hello,thnx for the bug report.
ive done some testing and am unable to reproduce the bug,try these steps:

refresh orion files to before bug state,make a backup of the concerned files

open ocl gui and select the exe and txt files you will be using

select OCL exe type - VDC

select extract and load moo2 files

edit in the editor the concerned sections

on the botton of section select page is a save file button,save file

select write to moo2 files

select extract and load moo2 files

that should do it

please reply your results

Nirran
Fastest way for evil to triump is for good people to do nothing

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Rocco
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Rocco » Wed Feb 25, 2015 10:10 am

Hi Nirran, thanks much for taking the time to look at this and trying to replicate-
I just finished a few hours testing and my problem persists:
[working on a win8.1 64 bit machine]
normally i work from the command prompt but in this case followed your exact steps from GUI.
1. Have now seen that my problem is not VDC related. i get the same issue when working orion2 (dos), m2v140 (140), and vdc (vdc).

http://www.moo2mod.com/Screen1.jpg
http://www.moo2mod.com/Screen2.jpg

note that when updating the missile cost and then extracting back into the txt file, the problem cannot be seen in the txt file as there is only 1 value for both cost & space. in the game these are actually seperate values, so i assume ocl writes the value to different places? and when it extracts, it only takes the space-value?

2. Coz i started thinking maybe something is wrong with my PC, i took an old system, booted fresh WinXP, Orion from cd, + patches + OCL freshly downloaded from website.
I could replicate this issue on the XP machine changing the basic DOS version.

3. Encounter same issue with "Antaran Ship Cost". This is actually visible in OCL.
If i change the 5 values in OCL gui or manually in txt, then write, then extract back the values are still at original /default. Happened on both pc's.

*** edit: the offset for antaran ship cost in 140 starts @ 1FFDC8
Last edited by Rocco on Sun Mar 01, 2015 11:42 am, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Rocco » Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:07 pm

just fyi - screenshot - left is input to write; right is extracted values after the write action.
http://www.moo2mod.com/Screen3.jpg

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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Rocco » Sat Feb 28, 2015 1:57 pm

Regarding the Guardian in OCL; the 8th special slot (which has a value 9) is actually not pointing to the correct offset.

The actual special is located at DD640 (dos) and DD680 (140). It is set at 03, which is the automated repair unit.

Just as some extra info - of which i fail to see the logic :) - the current offset with value 9 (which is thus not an ecm jammer) has some influence over the Guardians combat speed:
10 results in 8 combat speed for a titan
9 gives 10 combat speed (what it is now)
8 gives 14 combat speed
7 or lower make it immobile

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Overlord2
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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Overlord2 » Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:06 am

Regarding the Guardian in OCL; the 8th special slot (which has a value 9) is actually not pointing to the correct offset.
The actual special is located at DD640 (dos) and DD680 (140).
Indeed, this offset was taken from LB's post, which points to wrong offset:
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=341

Code: Select all

DD6AF BYTE bit number of 8th ship special


Just as some extra info - of which i fail to see the logic :) - the current offset with value 9 (which is thus not an ecm jammer) has some influence over the Guardians combat speed:
10 results in 8 combat speed for a titan
9 gives 10 combat speed (what it is now)
8 gives 14 combat speed
7 or lower make it immobile
Interesting what function or code this offset could be related with.

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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Rocco » Fri Mar 06, 2015 10:42 am

So with my limited understanding of codes but with the help of info in here:
https://code.google.com/p/moomapgen/wiki/Monsters

It seems that the number after hex 'B8' designates the type of monster.
So the Guardian is 'B8 09'.
When i made it 08, apparantly i gave it some Antaran quality, incl. the faster drive.

'B8 xx' is present in all monsters codes, including the system monsters.
Amoeba is B8 0A; Crystal B8 0B; Dragon B8 0C; Eel B8 0D; Hydra B8 0E.

In ocl, you can change the event-monsters' drive, but not the system monsters combat speed.
By changing 5C 14 B8 0A 00 00 00 into 5C 14 B8 08 00 00 00, i gave the system amoeba a combat speed of 16, which means he can reach you within the first turn. Haven't tested for side effects, just observed the combat speed delta.

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Re: OCL_Improved

Postby Overlord2 » Sat Mar 07, 2015 8:34 am

So with my limited understanding of codes but with the help of info in here:
https://code.google.com/p/moomapgen/wiki/Monsters

It seems that the number after hex 'B8' designates the type of monster.
So the Guardian is 'B8 09'.
When i made it 08, apparantly i gave it some Antaran quality, incl. the faster drive.
OK
In ocl, you can change the event-monsters' drive, but not the system monsters combat speed.
Afair there was no problem changing system monsters speed via OCL_Improved. Why do you say you couldn't?
edit: figured the reason why you could have arrived to this conclusion: the thing is the monsters stats (as well as antarans) are written into the save, when you change stats by the editor you need to create a new save with new .exe to see the effect.


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