Aldebaran 2: Smax

[smacksim]

O.k. Made some good changes to the installer, allowing it to work with DOS in all windows versions. I'd accidentally used 'Command' command...long story. Here it is: Darn. Too big for an attachment. I really need to upgrade my membership. I'll see if I can upload a version without the installer as well, for those that fear installers.

Glad to see ya back Darsnan!


Aldebaran2.0.3

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by smacksim
Here it is: Darn. Too big for an attachment.

I have a cable modem, so if its easiest, please E-Mail me the kit and kaboodle.


D

[smacksim]

It's all linked up. I now cross my fingers that the DOS compatibility is Good. Of course, everything works fine for me!

Oh, as to that special unit....you'll see that there are lots of special units in Aldeb, but no special probes. I know about that addition, but the game is so different, I don't feel it's needed. It's not a scenario after all, but a whole new world.

-S

[GeoModder]

Is a desinstaller included, Smacksim?

[smacksim]

Yep yep.

I'll go re-do the intro and try to answer as many questions there as possible.

[Darsnan]

OK, its not working. A possible symptom appears to be that the archiving tool seems to be continually repeating itself in that in the DOS window I see the same file names continuelly cycling alphabetically on the screen.

However, I have the SMAX No-CD crack installed in this directory I am trying to run Aldebaran in. Could this be the reason why its not working?
I can also do a fresh loading of SMAC(X) into a new directory and try over, but just thought I'd ask first.

D

[smacksim]

Edit: It definately shouldn't have anything to do with the NO-CD crack. I will check that myself. I take it you don't need the email then

Weird, but not unrecognized error.

What Windows are you running? XP? I wrote the DOS in ME, but did a fairly thorough examination of compatibility issues today.

So it's just listing files, not moving them? That sounds like the filelister.bat trying to create the file lists. from the 'modswaps' and 'modinstalls' directories.

By the way, you can go ahead and just dump the files from those folders into your extra Smax directory. It'll work fine, replacing the original Smax files. But I'd absolutely love to get this installer/swapper working.

-S

[GeoModder]

Ah, your swapper is included then in the .exe, and will work automatically?

Then I need to take care of where I will install Aldebaran...

[smacksim]

What files are in the two folders I mentioned? One, the modswaps, should contain the textfiles. The other, the modinstalls, should contain the .pcx files. I have a small concern that the installer didn't recurse the folders and pick them up.

Second question/statement: The installer will ask you to choose a directory. This should be the Smax directory itself, not a new folder. The installer will create the directories it needs inside Smax.

-S

[smacksim]

Correct Geo, but the whole idea is that you won't have to monitor the files at all. It will take care of that for you. However, since we are only in beta, yes, you might wanna be cautious with it.

[GeoModder]

ATM I've got a spare SMACX installed on my notebook, so no problem there. Will it affect the SMAC part of the game install? Like the Units.pcx, ter1.pcx, etc... files?

[smacksim]

I'll try to explain a bit more. I'm trying to get the simplest and clearest explanation for the installer, so bear with me while I think out loud here....

ZIP -> Aldebaran2.exe which is an installer in Pascal/C++

Aldebaran2.exe -> Aldebaran2 Folder , which should be placed in your install of Smax, not in a new folder. It will also make 2 very handy shortcuts for your desktop (see below) Note:Choose the Folder that Contains your copy of Terranx.exe, wherever that may be. The installer does the rest.

Aldeb2 Folder: Contains several .bat files, and two Folders: 'modswaps' and 'modinstalls', each of which contain the native Smax type files for the game.

The Batch Files:

Installmod,bat: Does the initial install, IE, makes new folders: Data, Uninstalled, Preserved. Makes new files: most important of which are the swaplist.txt, installlist.txt, and wholelist.txt, which keep track of all the files. These exist in the Data folder.

Launchmod.bat: Launches Terranx.exe after checking to see if the mod is installed and in place. If it isn't, it swaps the mod files in, and then launches terranx.exe

Launchorig.bat: Launches Terranx.exe after checking to see if the relevant files need to be swapped back in (just like the above), then launches terranx.exe

Uninstallmod.bat: Should be run before removing Aldebaran, if you've run any of the .bat files. It 'knows' what files need to be pulled and or swapped back into place, and does so. After this, you can either run the uninstaller from the original compressed download (IE, the pascal/C++ based thing), or you can just delete the whole folder.

Other batch files: Listmaker.bat,

Ack, storm!

-back in awhile..

O.k., the storm is passed. And Darsnan is up and running with Aldebaran. I think I'll have a Gaian tonic, after I finish describing the batch files....always better to talk DOS beforehand.

So those 4 batch files above control all the other batch files via 'call otherbatchfile'. I'll call these other files the workers and the others the Big-4. The worker-bee batch files are:

listmaker.bat: Generates a list of all the files in each of the two mod folders: modswaps, and modinstalls. Concatenates that list into 'wholelist.txt', which is used for uninstall, and of course, the initial install.

swapmotor.bat: does the heavy lifting. Takes input in terms of what file to read from (swaps.txt is the usual), and then swaps the files, one at a time via....

fileswapper.bat , which does a little DOS trick with the linestub from 'keepme.txt' in order to process lists of files.

launchit.bat: is just a connector to the shortcut 'apptarget', which is created by the pascalesque installer.

apptarget: the shortcut to terran.exe. Gets created on install so that it properly points to the application. This was the trickiest step because SMAX will not run apparently if the 'Start In' field is not exactly correct. Anyways, it is just a shortcut to the app. It's just hard to make

forceuninstall: If you fuddle things up, this will read from the preserved files, attempting to remove all the modded files in the game directory and replace with the preserved files. It tears the house down too. But it works.

desktop shortcuts The initial instller can place two shortcuts on your desktop. One goes to modlauncher.bat. The other to origlauncher.bat. Double clicking on the modlaucher one, which should say 'Aldebaran' will check to see if mod is in place. If so, launches mod. If not, swaps the files and then launches. The opposite works for the other shortcut, which should say 'VanillaSmax'. This will always launch plain old Smax, by checking for the mod and moving it out if needed. Hope that makes sense. It's the whole point!

[Darsnan]

Originally posted by smacksim
Ack, storm!

-back in awhile...

Hate when that happens!
OK, the previous problem I had listed may have been from a corruption of my SMAC(X) subdirectory when my computer had a virus a month ago. What I did to verify this is that I created a game via my other loading of SMAC(X) and then copied it into my Aldebaran subdirectory, started the game via the terranx file in the subdirectory, and I am up and running!
Now I am about 5 techs into the game, and just tried to build a sensor under my potential base site. Can't do till I discover Field Sciences!?! I tried to build a Mine on Mt Planet, and I can't do till Robotics!?!
My latest research options are as follows:

Social Controls
Field Sciences
Sapiens Galacticus
Sentient Algorythms
Aldebarab Environments
Commercial Applications
The Wheel

I look up at my SMAX tech tree poster on my wall, and for once it doesn't answer my inquisitive looks. ...

This is gonna take a little longer than I first thought.....


D

[smacksim]

YAHOOOOOOO!

Or as Mark said yesterday:

CHEEEERRRRRRIIIIISTEEEEEAAAAASSSSS!

O.k., enough screaming. I'm psyched it installed. You did use the installer, correct?

Try 'launchorig.bat' or it's shortcut, when you get a chance.

(Prays that Darsnan used the installer...must work...must work)

-S

[smacksim]

The terraforming discussion, which led to things like you mention, was really interesting. We worked out that the AI will plant forests if they can't make mines. Likewise, they won't waste former turns on sensors early. This has the nice co-benefit of making players really think about what initial techs to research.

-S