NEWSA+SIMBION_tweaked Support and Gameplay

[Nightwatch]

Guys, I haven't still come to the point where I can install STALKER and move back my mod files on my PC from the encrypted storage. After the last Vista back-stabbing last month, I'm getting more careful this time around). I'm of course not dealing with the PC for the whole day, and the daily business and life have been very heavy nowadays, developing problems in greater family (business-wise) I'm trying to reach out through some international phone calls; both very expensive and stressful. Anyway, I'll be up and running fully, hopefully late tonight or tomorrow.

Meanwhile... it seems audiave10 has still remain stuck there. This symptom (particularly this much persistently) has never happened before. Well, it goes to the books of constructive experience for us all, as it may help to test and further provide the ability to offer some emergency work-around procedures in these kind of situations.
------------------------------------

To the attention of NatVac

On the subject, I haven't seen NatVac's offer to create an emergency portal at that point (my email accounts are still not configured yet) and though it may be unnecessary to say it due to this reason, but ZRP reject point Level Changer jumps do not work on this mod. Tried, tested, no.
At least at this current shape without further editing from NatVac specifically compatible with this mod.

In fact, we have those Reject point Level Changer jumps that ZRP offers under its "Zone is Open" title for a very long time, (probably even before ZRP, but this is not the point.)
[ For info only Details on Mod files: They come with original ingredient mods FROM the Mod: NEW LEVEL CHANGER by SAK and Copyrighted on SAK and Author showing as: Ñÿê date shows 2007 and the last edit by: Artos (SIMBION) on 27.03.2008], and even more: -those Russo's special ones, too.

However, although there is nothing wrong with them in their operation in this mod, all have been turned off now due to 2 reasons: a) there are already too many Level Changers in this mod (10 more than vanilla) and another 15-20 would make it incredibly easier.
b) Also, so many Level Changers would make an impact on game resources, particulary on GSC memory management protocols.

This mod runs on AMK engine, which is wrapped over GSC Xray engine, so to speak. Progressive Logic comes mainly (at great extent) from ABC. There are other functions that sometimes prohibit, and sometimes make it rather very difficult to approach the mod by vanilla perspectives.

This is not the vanilla game. Despite some people seem to be quite too eager in trying to close their eyes on it. (speaking about some tweaks on already existing vanilla features! Let's keep our seriousness here)

This is AMK, ABC, SRP, Zenobian and bunch of other mods, (further modded by NEWSA.) But they are AMK, ABC, and SRP and Zenobian. It doesn't sound like vanilla to me.

Even if we forget about this recompiled tweaked version, anyone who has ever played AMK, ABC, SRP, Zenobian will testify on those mods' greatness and how they are radically different than vanilla.

So, even a well-informed vanilla approach must take into account of -particularly the AMK and ABC- functions. Or they really show who the boss is on running the mod.
----------------------

PS: NatVac I really would appreciate a lot, (and know that it was not your intention to do so, you're also under heavy stress, not only me) yes, I really would appreciate a lot, if you had clarified further when you said: "The problem with the game not starting is usually a bad main menu script file. Typically, the elseif statements are not properly matched, or there is one end statement too few or too many."
Because there is nothing wrong with the ui_main_menu.script, it works perfectly, and that particular fault was on the version that you sent to audiave10, (I think more than the reason how audioave10 incorporated it) as you later point: "I'll send you an updated ui_main_menu.script tomorrow, after some shuteye."

I would really appreciate if you had said that the ui_main_menu.script that you sent might have a problem in it and you would send a new one later.
Otherwise, leaving it like that, as it is, "roundish way" gives an impression as if the main menu was faulty and that you are now repairing it! I know how words sound and may be interpreted. I earn my living out of it.
No hard feelings.

[audioave10]

Nightwatch...I maybe should have PM back & forth with NatVac but the
"open" exchange has helped to find that "random" stashes was not to
be used or trusted so I thought it wouldn't hurt. I'll be more specific
when referring to "my" files as opposed to normal NEWSA files.

[NatVac]

audioave10, at least you are running. I'll get the updated custom script file to you later today, time permitting. You can compare it with yours if you have modified the original N-S script file prior to this change.

Edit: It sounds like I copied from my edited file, which optimizes that code. It should look something like this:

Code: Select all

if ... then
   ... stuff
elseif ... then
   ... stuff
elseif ... then
   ... stuff
end

For every "if" there is a matching "end". It's okay to have this:

Code: Select all

if ... then
   ... stuff
end
if ... then
   ... stuff
end
if ... then
   ... stuff
end

It's just not as efficient. That's not a big deal here, though; we're processing keystrokes, and those are eons apart in CPU time.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Nightwatch, it was not my intention to imply (by omission) the mod's script was bad. I regret the implication.

Yeah, I should have qualified that the problem is from the editing of the ui_main_menu.script file, not from the original. We've been discussing the edited file. I'll clarify it, forum edit rules permitting.

The problem stems from my communication, first with audioave10 via PM -- instead of sending him the file, I gave him instructions on what to change ("script patch"), but I messed up the edit somehow -- and then with my subsequent posts in this thread. I royally messed up because I was tired. My apologies to both audioave10 and you.

Edit: I see that audioave10 said "I got your file." That was for the file he downloaded from the ZRP website. He needed the zlc.script file there. The script patch to ui_main_menu.script was to add key support to execute functions in that file.

In my defense, Nightwatch: You told audioave10 that his game was probably corrupt. I think there was a mishap with the level changer there -- and it is probably not there when you first enter the room, so it is either dynamically created or it is moved there -- but I don't believe the non-working LC is necessarily a bad thing. (It's a given: The game engine is quirky.)

But I don't care that the game is not vanilla. The Lua script is just code, and I can trace through code even when programmers deliberately try to obfuscate it. The mod and I use the same engine, but I can change the mod.

And my level changers do work* in the manner I gave to audioave10. I tested this very change. It is only one LC.

Yes, like all objects spawned in the game, dynamic level changers do add to the save game -- just like every single one of the myriad spawned mutants and NPCs. But my level changers are relatively lightweight (heh, no inventory, schemes, assigned actions or "jobs") and do not utilize any of the database storage mechanisms that AMK and Russo use, which seem to be the source of some of the trouble you allude to.

(By the way, I got my first C++ stack overflow crash with the non-stop NPC and mutant spawning near the Garbage to Dark Valley level changer. There were no "spawned" ZRP LCs in the game. But this is to be expected when there is no population control; as you note there is a limit. I just reloaded a previous save and all was "copacetic".)

___________
*Re: "ZRP reject point Level Changer jumps do not work on this mod. Tried, tested, no.":

Aside from that not really applying to the issue above, the ZRP free-play level changers are tricksy, Nightwatch. There are some possibilities here:

1) The "hit boxes" (spheres, actually) on the ZRP LCs are much smaller than the default or N-S ones. How would you know whether they work or not, since most of them seem to be in the same N-S locations?

2) You didn't use the ZRP level_tasks.script change to mark the LCs for later use. Note that I would not expect you to do this. But the attempt to find the unmarked ones later would be a problem; see note 3.

3) You haven't figured out the minor trick(s). I'm serious, and I don't want to reveal the minor secret, but essentially it is a way to prevent you being prompted to change levels while you are in the middle of fighting mutants or other bad things.

P.S. My level changers are derived from bardak's work with IG2007's comments, with positions based on logical placement (some similarities are inevitable, but even in this they show differences from the common locations). I credited the "Ru Team" for the one line I used that I got off their Russian forum thread.

Your N-S mod is my first exposure to the ABC/AMK stuff. As mentioned earlier, this is not my kind of game -- I don't like bad things suddenly appearing right next to me, even when the storyline permits it (Half-Life). It's an arcade game, and as such fun for those who like that kind of action.

But I'm playing it to help solve some of the problems. That's where I get away from the non-Scottish stuff of life.

[Nightwatch]

Nightwatch...I maybe should have PM back & forth with NatVac but the
"open" exchange has helped to find that "random" stashes was not to
be used or trusted so I thought it wouldn't hurt. I'll be more specific
when referring to "my" files as opposed to normal NEWSA files.

My post was not to you buddy, it was entirely to NatVac.I wasn't replying to you.

(PS: I'm not still able to finish reading his new long post.)

[Nightwatch]

audiave10

I haven't still installed STALKER but I have started accessing my files. Fisrt of all, you have said that your mod was not altered, well, at least before you've got material from NatVac.
Now, if you've got a file and changed the "config\gameplay\dialogs_aes.xml" please revert it and put the original. Then if you've changed your "gamedata\scripts\dialogs.aes" please revert this to the original as well.
The Level Changer is created over there, after you've spoken with the C-C guy and refused collusion. (No secret. Code and the procedure very visible there.)
---
OK, it's better I'm sending you slightly edited files, just unzip and merge the gamedata folder with your gamedata folder. You'll know what to do.
I have realigned the left tab, there was a millimetre difference almost, but it might cause on some systems, very rarely though, wrong reading being taken from a file.

-Speak with the C-C from the beginning. Refuse the offer. Go to the door, if it does not initiate automatically, try opening move/keystroke. You should be going out.
Unless there's something on your system holding the spawns. Btw, you may also wish to try waiting a few moments, maybe spawns coming a bit late, too (learned points after my Quad-Core experiences)

If still not working, give me another coordinate, anywhere in the complex (open console, hit: rs_stats on then take the xyz readings on bottom left of the readings.

OK just emailed now.
PS: my email still not good, I think I've emailed with some faults on the text of the message, sorry.

[NatVac]

Okay, I've looked at the original code.

Perhaps the non-Extreme non-Horror mode version of the game, which both audioave10 and I are playing, doesn't install the same files that others have or doesn't configure them the same way.

That spiral is indeed just a [zone_teleport] effect as I indicated earlier. There is no level changer at this location. A new one is actually not created here, even when everything is working properly.

The script file dialogs_aes.script simply creates the bright white spiral teleporter effect and sets a couple of variables. One of those variables, declinedotele, is used by the prinmono() function in abc.script to move the player into the existing level changer a few meters away (which starts the level load) when he gets close enough to the door behind the teleporter effect.

(If I had known that, I could have given audioave10 the code to invoke that function, or simply move the player directly into the changer. I didn't know the original level changer was still there.)

But prinmono() is only called by procfunctions() in the same script file, which in turn is apparently not called by anything in our game -- at least I've not yet found any reference to it. So it won't work for us.

[audioave10]

I have become a pain-in-the-ass.

[busetibi]

Screen Shot Time

Chopper attack in RF
http://i43.tinypic.com/2dre2ds.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/2znu3yw.jpg

Get a room!!!
http://i43.tinypic.com/348frti.jpg

I'm telling you, I CAN FLY!
http://i40.tinypic.com/262xitv.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/9qblzr.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/x5sg1j.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/10cqjw4.jpg
told you

so I'm back in RF up by the DV switch and the choppers attack me again, hit this one
http://i40.tinypic.com/2r6dzpk.jpg
but I wasn't sure if I'd downded it cause just after I took the screenie.... Horror Time.
http://i41.tinypic.com/bdo85h.jpg
so it finished and I was walking down the road and came across this....
http://i40.tinypic.com/vzew4z.jpg
guess I must have hit it right

this has GOT to hurt...
http://i39.tinypic.com/2hoh5x4.jpg
http://i42.tinypic.com/puck9.jpg

anyone for limbo practice?
http://i40.tinypic.com/sb10tk.jpg
crazy Controllers

Horror Times.
http://i40.tinypic.com/2mwxy5x.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/24f0kr5.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/fa0sw.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/ocylz.jpg

that's all for now, more to come
edit;
I'm sorry to read that some are having problems with the mod
for myself I'm having a great time, sure I'm getting the odd crash but with the numbers the x-ray engine has to replace on a regular basis (my kill counts are off the planet) it comes as no surprise the mod has a brain fart now and again.
did you notice the Monolith kills Nightwatch ?

[Nightwatch]

busetibi

Great pictures, buddy. I laughed a lot as soon as I glimpsed at that "get a room!" picture ; and that lombo one , too. All of them great catches.
Also, it's good news that you're having a enjoyably running game.

I'm configuring the web application Frontpage and pending that the list comes from EggChen I am hoping to be able to start updating the gamers stats from tomorrow.


audioave10
No buddy, are you kidding (I know you are ) you are not the pain at all.
You, my friend, are a guy who is absolutely great to see around as many times as possible.
___________________________

NatVac

(If I had known that, I could have given audioave10 the code to invoke that function, or simply move the player directly into the changer. I didn't know the original level changer was still there.)

But prinmono() is only called by procfunctions() in the same script file, which in turn is apparently not called by anything in our game -- at least I've not yet found any reference to it. So it won't work for us.

So you've started looking around and learning this mod before trying to offer some vanilla solutions for eveything that pops up in front of you.
That's a good step.

You can't find your way around the AMK and ABC stuff always by "debugging" and and by elimination of things one by one. You should learn the stuff. It's not exatly vanilla. So this is a good step.

Maybe it'll help you also to jolt your memory to realization and stop making unwise statements like as if this mod offers some tweaks over already existing vanilla features. !!
News: things do not happen just because you said so!

This mod (even without the NEWSA tweaks) runs primarily on the radically different and Standard Bearer (major) Mods of AMK, ABC, SRP and Zenobian.
So, saying that they offer just some tweaks over already existing vanilla features do not make it happen the way you say, my friend; it can only earn you some laughs.

You should know well that GSC at great extent (almost entirely) incorporated the AMK into Clear Sky.

---------------------------------------------------
(PS: I'm very tired, not only because of dealing with a lots of serious "real life" problems (Britain's political scene is in turmoil nowadays) in addition to my own real life problems, but also because of your problem that you've caused when you put that stupid (again another unwise decision) hacking code on your post, (while trying to defend that guy whom I refused entry!). It's been over ten days now I'm in communication with many (some of them very big) websites -a lot- who want to have you prosecuted for endangering the web security by openly splashing such idiotic codes on public internet. Who do you think you are?
I'll put a warning later on an appropriate section of this site on this issue. This will not be repeated here.)

[NatVac]

NatVac

(If I had known that, I could have given audioave10 the code to invoke that function, or simply move the player directly into the changer. I didn't know the original level changer was still there.)

But prinmono() is only called by procfunctions() in the same script file, which in turn is apparently not called by anything in our game -- at least I've not yet found any reference to it. So it won't work for us.

So you've started looking around and learning this mod before trying to offer some vanilla solutions for eveything that pops up in front of you.
That's a good step.

Actually, I was going by what was implied: there was a level changer there. My bad; no one said there really wasn't one there because it seemed like there was. (You are immediately moved into the original one about 20 meters away.) I repeat that I noted the spiral teleporter effect was just that. P.S. My solution was not vanilla, and it works. We've just had some communication screw-ups, I with audioave10 and I with you, primarily because I was too tired at the time to be clear in my thinking and subsequent wording.

You can't find your way around the AMK and ABC stuff always by "debugging" and and by elimination of things one by one. You should learn the stuff. It's not exatly vanilla. So this is a good step.

I happen to disagree. I can find my way around code by debugging it, if it is purely configuration and script files. I do not claim that it is as simple as reading the code. Note my qualifiers: "apparently not called" and "I've not yet found any reference to it."

Maybe it'll help you also to jolt your memory to realization and stop making unwise statements like as if this mod offers some tweaks over already existing vanilla features. !!
News: things do not happen just because you said so!

What are you referring to? This?

But I don't care that the game is not vanilla. The Lua script is just code, and I can trace through code even when programmers deliberately try to obfuscate it. The mod and I use the same engine, but I can change the mod.

How do you get from my statement to your conclusion? And what is not true about my original statement?

This mod (even without the NEWSA tweaks) runs primarily on the radically different and Standard Bearer (major) Mods of AMK, ABC, SRP and Zenobian.
So, saying that they offer just some tweaks over already existing vanilla features do not make it happen the way you say, my friend; it can only earn you some laughs.

Where did I make that claim? And what is there that is not in the code? I've not installed the Extreme mode; maybe there is some special code there -- but even then, it is code.

You should know well that GSC at great extent (almost entirely) incorporated the AMK into Clear Sky.

Yeah, I saw that it had some of the same problems as the AMK mod, and maybe even more because they should have let the AMK team do it instead of just copying it.

In my defense, I have not been critical of this mod or any of the root mods. I'd not even downloaded this mod (along with Priboi Story, Rebalanced and OL 2.2) until recently, when FileFront was about to go down at the end of March and I decided I might want to play them when I got the time. With the exception of PS, they are not normally my cup of tea, so to speak.

And it was on the GSC forum thread for the ZRP that Russo, in an open discussion with me, came to understand there were limits when storing variables on an individual NPC. Note that this limit on the use of variables is the real problem on the ABC "dynamic level changers", not the lightweight level changers themselves, and Russo should have that corrected in the next (1.2?) version of Inferno.

(PS: I'm very tired, not only because of dealing with a lots of serious "real life" problems (Britain's political scene is in turmoil nowadays) in addition to my own real life problems, but also because of your problem that you've caused when you put that stupid (again another unwise decision) hacking code on your post, (while trying to defend that guy whom I refused entry!). It's been over ten days now I'm in communication with many (some of them very big) websites -a lot- who want to have you prosecuted for endangering the web security by openly splashing such idiotic codes on public internet. Who do you think you are?

Ah, this might be the main problem. I didn't post any usable "hacking code", although I recall I posted explicitly-safe stuff as a warning about something that was already in use. It was not, as I recall, even in the same discussion as the Rocky123 guy -- that was something completely different.*

What I remember posting was a broken-up, non-clickable link that was the destination of the hack of the ZSG forum, which was exploiting a vulnerability in the outdated version of the phpBB forum software. I provided a warning, with proof of the hack. If they want my skin for that, tell them to get in line with all the others. I've been threatened with lawsuits several times, but evidence has always supported my side, so the upset individuals have always backed down.

The problem is with them, not with you and not with me. They are just doing the automated thing, and not seeing what the real problem is. I regret that there are such non-thinking attacks upon your site, but once you can actually communicate with a human being on their end, you can straighten it out. It took me nine months to argue with the IRS in my country over a screw-up by a deadbeat company accountant, but they eventually admitted that I was right. I just had to get past the automated stuff (even by the human beings who refuse to listen) to present some very convincing proof.

__________
*You have removed these posts, apparently. That's good, but I can't defend my points this way. My search of this site for Rocky123 via Google shows no hacking code posted by me in that context (page 70 in the April 22 cache snapshot of this thread). I really wasn't defending the guy, I just observed that it might be malware.

It is interesting that you think I was defending him. When I pointed out the reasons why you defended your mod the way you did, I was perceived by many others as defending you when I was just showing that I understood you.

[fiznerpin1962]

Oh, blabbety bla bla you guys.....

[Grump642]

I like both of you. So will you both go get some SLEEP!!

[fiznerpin1962]

I like both of you. So will you both go get some SLEEP!!

Amen, brutha!

[fiznerpin1962]

I have come up with a plan, being that I could survive forever in the zone with a repair kit & dead bodies....

Game date is 23/05/12. On 1/6/2012, I will make my last trip to an arms trader, stash my repair kit (probably bunker), and roll out for final cutscene. No repair kit, no looting allowed. Done will be done. I'll take my final screenshots @ "the end". Endgame.

[audioave10]

Nightwatch...never been able to get a level-change to work...
even trying (seperately) all three files. I'm a little burnt out
now so I'll try a new NPP start in a few days. Maybe restarting
the whole level will work. Get your rest and don't worry about
it now. Stuff happens. I'm tired too.

[busetibi]

End Game v3 Extreme Mode on 1.0004 patch.

Money
http://i39.tinypic.com/13ynkvt.jpg
for some reason my inventory wouldn't show when I hit "I" so I had to "trade" with Wolf to get it to show.

Rank
http://i39.tinypic.com/23m69lj.jpg

Killed Stalkers (a)
http://i40.tinypic.com/2zizhvq.jpg
(b)
http://i41.tinypic.com/xgfmg8.jpg

Killed Mutants (a)
http://i44.tinypic.com/eqqxwm.jpg
(b)
http://i41.tinypic.com/5n3o75.jpg

more ingame screens and report later
the controller number difference (1) between my tags in the Inventory and Killed Mutes is because I killed a Controller in front of the level change between RF and AW, He went through the metal gates and I couldn't get his tags

[fiznerpin1962]

I see you have a screen from Agro, & some from AW.... even with the rig I have - can't do AW, Agro, Dark Valley. My game doesn't like going there tried Agro last night, 1fps - went in anyway - killed the pseudogiant that hangs out by the tunnel entrance (what an ordeal THAT was) then got hit with a mega-horror time.
Ever try to kill zombies & doggies @ 1 frame per second? Yes, I promptly died.... I have had issues @ DV before, but never Agro! I may try again today, but I think my end game will be Yantar, RF, Prypryat, NPP, etc. Maybe I'll go wipe out the military @ Cordon.... Hope the APCs respawn there

[fiznerpin1962]

Everybody take a moment today, a moment of silence, to thank all the men & women throughout the years that have made the ultimate sacrifice - so that we can all post on this forum from a safe location, and enjoy the many freedoms that we have!

** sorry for the hijack guys, Nightwatch, Memorial day should not be forgotten, and the post regarding it should stand alone.**


If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you are reading it in English, thank a vet!

[busetibi]

naaa mate, the screens were taken in AW, but if you knew the ordeal I had.....
it took me ages to get from the RF/AW switch to Freedom base, even "running", I think the problems I had with AW caused my Inventory not to work, but then I've always had problems with AW even back to v1.
Agro was bad, underground was okay but on top..... forget it!
same with DV, it was impossible not only really, really bad lag but it crashed every five minutes, which was a pity because I like DV and DV has heaps of mutes and Bandits to kill
Yantar wasn't bad If I waited for five minutes before moving off, the entrance to X16 complex lagged like hell, prob because of the piles of dead zombies at the entrance, other than that Yantar played fine.
Garbage played fine, Cordon lagged (which surprised me).
I went back to NPP and the place is desolate(sp?) the map/zone is empty, nothing moves, I'd forget about going back if I were you.
Pripyat and RF is where the action is (both are crawling with choppers, three in RF and two in Pripyat) BS complex is always full of Monolith and Military (20-30) but you have to kill all the Monolith then go back to the Antenna(sp?) section to see the Military spawn in