Aldebaran 2: Smax

[Lord Nword]

Latest revealed booboo; some one just needs to do a quick search and replace of Alpha Centauri in the interlude texts... Or at least, I think it should be done.

[smacksim]

I havn't yet touched the interludes because they could be a good place to tell our story....

[GeoModder]

Anyone has a list on what techs trigger the interludes? And were there events next to first mindworm attack of a base of yours and fungal pop which triggered those?

Sth I always found weird, in Smac the interludes for the Borehole Cluster and Manifold Nexus work properly, but not in SmacX. At least not with my copy of SmacX.

[Lord Nword]

Originally posted by GeoModder
Anyone has a list on what techs trigger the interludes? And were there events next to first mindworm attack of a base of yours and fungal pop which triggered those?

Sth I always found weird, in Smac the interludes for the Borehole Cluster and Manifold Nexus work properly, but not in SmacX. At least not with my copy of SmacX.

I agree with you about the Manifold Nexus not working, mostly... I've never experienced the Borehole one....

I've gotten the MN interlude when playing the aliens though.

Also, out of curiosity, have any of u ever seen the fungalpayld_sm.pcx used in the game? It's one of my faves, lol.

[smacksim]

Never seen that pcx used. We should make use of it somehow....

I think we figured out all the triggers for the interludes in Aldebaran 1, but I have no idea where that info is hiding...

Interesting that the aliens trigger the nexus/borehole, but not the regular factions in Smax. I still remember the first time I ran into that in Smac....it was surprising.

[#endgame]

Discover centauri empathy is mindworms.

[GeoModder]

Lord Nword: I saw it popping up, I think... with detonation of a Fungal Payload IIRC.

[GeoModder]

Smacksim: time to cheer up!

[Natalinasmpf]

I have a very very huge complaint.

Apparently I cannot install this mod with my version of SMAX for Linux (by Loki)....

I want to play this mod so badly, but then you guys had to ruin it by packing it with an .exe.... ... why can't you provide the native set of files with alphax.txt and PCX files, etc...which I can make use of.

Well actually, I would like the full set of the files, then perhaps some instructions on what goes where in a .txt. file perhaps. Or someone UNIX knowledgable could write a bash script (but not necessary, I can implement that myself).

Anyway, I'm still curious, even though how the mod will be implemented on an installers' systems...will there be a convenient way to switch from normal SMAX to the mod? And for Linux, can this be accomplished with a simple bash script? On Linux it might be a tad easier, even...since you don't have to continually change the hard files, just the much more convenient symbolic links.

And I'm also interested, the interludes based on events can be configured from alphax.txt? And also, I'm curious on the whole implentation of the SuperAI to fit with the normal Aldeberan factions...its been rather vague to me.

[GeoModder]

No, the interludes are stored in another .txt file. The name escapes me ATM... perhaps 'blurbs.txt'.

[smacksim]

Natalina, I've usually been releasing a 'files-only' version alongside the installer version. You are only the second person to say they are playing Aldebaran under linux, but it matters not. The files are the same (.pcx, and .txt), so you should be able to run the mod just fine. There are even instructions with the 'files-only' download, should it not be obvious. I can write shell scripts, but havn't gotten around to writing one for Aldebaran. However, it would be a trivial script to do the file-swapping and/or install. If you get something written up, post it here.

I will certainly re-post a 'files-only' version with the current update. These are quite large, even tarballed or zipped so be prepared. Meanwhile, here is the current version: Aldebaran 2.1.0 - files only (no installer) . Just under 5 megs.

Enjoy.

-Smack

Edit: Some text-files may need EOL snipped off. There are earlier posts in this thread about converting the files for linux. -S

[smacksim]

Originally posted by GeoModder
Smacksim: time to cheer up!

Excellent. Now to get a fire under my own feet. Good stuff Geo...

[Natalinasmpf]

But the trigger of the interludes? They are recorded in which file?

Is it possible for the triggers to be changed?

EDIT: Hmm, thanks, I couldn't find the files only version anywhere. Is there an official website up to date for this?

What I was most concerned with is the ModMan equivalent....ModMan 1.05 is already looking so painstakingly hard to reproduce (and thus port/convert to a bash script) so I'm not sure how to completely go about it).

[smacksim]

Modman is only complicated because of DOS. All you need to do with a real scripting language is move a bunch of files around. Alternately, you can simply make a second install of Smax and load the files into that install, if you don't feel like scripting

[#endgame]

Most of the batches are called within their own command interpreter instance since DOS environment space by default is so small . A real scripting language could just use functions. Also if you do get a *nix script working, make sure it is restricted to 8.3 filenames for ModMan compatability. Even better would it being able to use ModMan .SM files...

Good luck!