Tech Crash Postscript

[Boco]

Okay, I think I finally found the culprit to a series of Tech-related crashes that I've been experiencing with El Aurens 2. I don't think it had anything to do with (1) lack of Gothmog-twice-removed-no-no-tech system for Civ-specific techs (EA2 uses a once-removed model) , (2) no clear path to FT (there always was one), or (3) researching regular techs after discovering FT. Instead, I had a typo with Cst. It had 'Cst, nil' as preqs. Should have been 'Csc, nil', a careless one-letter error that I overlooked for weeks.


Apparently, whenever the AI was searching for a new Advance goal, it crashed. If it was on 'FT autopilot', the AI researched and discovered without crashes. Made it frustrating to have a good alpha test crash irrevocably on turn 11, though.

Thanks for your suggestions. They got me to think.

[N35t0r]

Someone should write a quick script to spell-check the rules.txt for similar spelling mistakes (it could also analyse the tech tree for loops...)

[curtsibling]

I would love to see a program (or spreadsheet, Boco!) that creates a 'cut and pastable' @CIVILIZE output.

A tech tree maker (or rules maker) program is something we really, really need!

[Boco]

The interface for a Tech-tree editor seems tough to me. That is, it's hard for me to improve on simply editing a spreadsheet table of @CIVILIZE. This recent experience is making me think that proofreading is a more important tool. If I can jump that hurdle, exporting a proofread spreadsheet table to a file or clipboard is relatively straightforward. Inserting it into an existing rules.txt is more challenging, particularly if you must account for comments, etc. in this section.

So it's a fair amount of effort. Who would actually use an Excel-based Tech Tree Editor?

[curtsibling]

I would for one, and I reckon so would all those who are making scenarios manually.

With the new face of SL forums that is forming, this could be a
great time to equip our pages with such an excellent tool for download.

If it is straightforward to use, a tech tree reader would cause a revolution!

[Panda]

I would as well, actually, and I already make scratch-built tech trees in Excel as the section is so readily convertable to .csv format.

[Cyrion]

Originally posted by Boco
Who would actually use an Excel-based Tech Tree Editor?

I definitely would: that's probably the tool I would like the most to have (in addition to those already available)!

[Boco]

Well I could cobble together a glorified XLS table that does the following:

• Accept only legal three-letter codes for preqs,
• Never fail to put in all commas,
• List tech-specific info found in the guides,
• Write CIVILIZE.txt and CIVILIZE2.txt (for ToT) files,
• Make lists of all valid routes to FT, using the scenario's tech names.

That's kinda bare-bones. Only the last bullet presents a challenge to me, but it could cause huge delays be fun to solve. Does that address your needs? Any suggestions?

[Mercator]

And don't forget to detect tech loops either!

[Boco]

Geesh! Even after I post flattering photos, you're merciless!

[Mercator]

Originally posted by Boco
Geesh! Even after I post flattering photos, you're merciless!

You mean the images that look like this?

[Boco]

Sigh! Let me guess. The site loads spyware on your PC, too!

[...Boco goes off to berate Techumseh for posting dead image links]

[Mercator]

No, no spyware (well, not that I know anyway, I use Firefox).
It just prevents you from linking to images on their site. You can only see the images if you're actually on their site. There are more sites that do that. Angelfire, for instance.