new race question

[mrtwosheds]

As some of you may know for a few years I have been creating bz2wmd in v1.2 and have more recently been making a new race.
I am now, of course, suffering from all the problems associated with implementing a new race in 1.2. that is why 1.3 has been created right?
So A simple question, can a new race be implemented into 1.3 without the need for custom mpi dll's to control the cpu side?

[Avatar]

Yes.

More importantly, did you see the new Dalek "God" featured in last night's Doctor Who episode?

Also, I was really liking the Doctor and they've already gone and changed him...

Also also it was something of a cop-out to me that it wasn't actually the Doctor who defeated the Daleks...

harumph...

-Av-

[GSH]

You'll need new AIPs if you use the stock DLL, but writing those should be easy to get running initially. All the stock13_XYZ.aip files can be used as the basis of things-- for a new race 'R', you'll need to make stock13_RYZ.aip, stock13_XRZ.aip, and stock13_RRZ.aip.

For example, you'll need to start off with 5 AIPs: stock13_Rf0.aip, stock13_Ri0.aip, stock13_fR0.aip, stock13_iR0.aip and stock13_RR0.aip for the Z=0 variants. Then make Z=1, Z=3, Z=a, Z=s, Z=l variants. That's 30 AIP files total.

-- GSH

[Commando]

mrtwosheds , weren't you needing someone to make you a custom DLL that would switch to new aip files?  If so, this is now possible in the aips themselves.  You can force an aip change now in the AIPs without the need for custom dlls in MPI and IA.  From the changelog.

[Plan1]
planType = "SwitchAIP"
NextAIP = "stock13_ff3.aip"

   All the usual conditions, priorities, etc can also be attached to
the plan. If it reaches that plan item, it switches the AIP right
away.  Any other plans at the same priority won't be executed, as the
old AIP is kicked out of memory. [NM]

[mrtwosheds]

So the answer is yes? aip files i can do.

Yes.

More importantly, did you see the new Dalek "God" featured in last night's Doctor Who episode?

Also, I was really liking the Doctor and they've already gone and changed him...

Also also it was something of a cop-out to me that it wasn't actually the Doctor who defeated the Daleks...

harumph...

last years episodes? yes, great arnt they.
I thought it was a great way for the doctor to die again.....and having the BAd Wolf theme running through the whole series was cool. I love watching the Dalek Legions emerge from thier ships to attack the satellite.

Swithing aip files  yes
and they can process commands based on the number of pools aquired now?

[Commando]

The following will cut down on the number of aips needed for your new race.

[Start]
DLLCanSwitch = false // true = default. If false, DLL orders to switch are ignored.

   This should make the same system work in IA and MPI rather
easily. Note: SwitchAIPs generated from within the AIP itself are
honored, even if DLLCanSwitch is false. Also, game.cheat requests to
change AIPs are also fine, unless the no aip debugging has been
set. MPI DLL [NM]

This pretty much tells bz2 to ignore any requests to switch aip files by dll.  You can still change the aips through the switchaip plan type mentioned above.  This removes the need for all aips except for stock13_ie0.aip or stock13_ei0.aip.

[GSH]

If 'e' is your race, also need stock13_ee0.aip.

-- GSH

[Lizard]

Yes.

More importantly, did you see the new Dalek "God" featured in last night's Doctor Who episode?

Also, I was really liking the Doctor and they've already gone and changed him...

Also also it was something of a cop-out to me that it wasn't actually the Doctor who defeated the Daleks...

harumph...

-Av-

I thought it was total arse, even the old series was never this sloppily written, after seeing this abortion of an episode I decided to abstain from watching further, the who bad wolf story arc was such a badly written piece of garbage it made no sense whatsoever, the show doesn't even seem to stay consistent to it's own internal logic.

If people find this rubbish entertaining they've had their brains removed it's so dumbed down it's a bloody insult to the intelligence, give me new BSG any day over this old tripe that's how you resurrect an old show properly.

[mrtwosheds]

the show doesn't even seem to stay consistent to it's own internal logic.

The show has allways suffered from severe logic loss, its a side affect of time travel....sifi shows that play with time travel will allways have  continuity problems for those who wish to see logic in it.
It has allways been a daft and camp BBC production, what you are really seeing is the affects on a cheap/daft show of MONEY....
The addition of half decent special affects has allowed them to show things that would of previously been worked around with a bit of quick fire speach, polystyrene props and music.
True to its history it remains a UK centric show, the Aliens, quite sensibly, allways avoid invading the usual target the USA and concentrate thier efforts on the true center of the universe Great Britain, this alone makes it entirly unique.
Dont expect it to suddenly become a multi million dollar hollywood production, it isnt, its made by BBC Wales Boyo!

even the old series was never this sloppily written,

Oh yes they were! your memorys are developing that golden taint.

This week show is a blatant DOOM lift, appearing, for no apparent reason, on a planet in orbit aroung a black hole! the Doctor and Rose appear to be confronting something, as yet unseen, identifing itself as "satan", They (the BBC) have blatantly nicked the DOOM door sound affects for the base  , The creature is rising from its pit where it has been trapped for eternity, and I watch part 2 today, clearly it will not be "satan" and the doctor will defeat him with honest intent, humor and an odd polystyrene prop.....

[Avatar]

You have to understand Lizard, that I still have the Tom Baker episodes on moldy videotape...

That I taped myself...

Off of PBS...

"Back in the Day"...



The Doctor and I go back 30 years, and while I have to wait for them to cross the big pond I've done so eagerly any time a progressive station here in the States has shown them.  Like mrtwosheds states, it's a unique show with it's own brand of everything, and for me it's become an old friend in any incarnation.  Except the Americanized version a few years back, they sortof lost it there.  I think it has to be produced via BBC to retain the flavor...  Or something...   

Anyway Christopher Eccleston REALLY reminded me of Baker, who was my favorite, having a sort of inner insanity and glib tongue that took me back to the good old days...  I really liked him and hate to see him go so soon.

And I forgot that some here may have access to the 'new' season, and that what Sci-Fi showed here in the States was last year...  Forgive my USentricity, I'm old...

And finally, while a lot of people find them quaint and somewhat laughable nowadays, the Daleks were truly terrifying in their time.  Imagine, in the middle of a Strat Match, all of your biometal tanks become aware, independant, homicidal, and quite insane...  That little lizard brain in the virtually unstoppable metal shell is the 'Replicator' of it's day...   

-Av-

[Lizard]

well without wanting to get into a pissing competition with either of you guys, I started watching Dr Who with Jon Pertwee, the first story I can remember is the sea devils which scared the life out of me at the age of 3.


I've got the first 100 issues of the official magazine upstairs in the loft, I've probably got more moldy old vhs tapes than you avatar and no video player to play them on anymore, my favourite stories were from the early tom baker days, genesis and seeds of doom being my all time favourites.


I know what I like and the new series is nothing like Dr Who, and I don't mean in terms of production values, I mean in terms of spirit. It's a 3rd rate imitation at best written by someone with little or no understanding of the subject matter.


You say the od series is rubbish in places but I challenge you to name one story that was worse than the lamentable fathers day , it's the worst piece of TV sci-fi I've ever seen, to call it sci-fi is an insult to the genre, similar thing goes for boomtown - utter tripe.

[Avatar]

Lol...  ok, you've got the creds buddy...   

What I mean is you're watching for content, I'm watching for feelings and nostalgia.  I think Chris came closer to my ideal Doctor than many of the other Doctors, as the show wandered quite a bit over the years in it's vision of a renegade Time Lord... 

I confess I rarely pay a lot of attention to the plots, especially after so many years of Baker's abrupt changes.  Like mr2 said above, paying too much attention to Doctor Who continuity can cause permanent brain damage... 

One of the interviews with Eccleston has him telling us that he tried to play it as a child would.  Maybe that's what I'm looking for in the Doctor, that innocent goodness wrapped in ancient knowldege that the Doctor has always represented...

-Av-

[mrtwosheds]

I have no tapes, I stopped watching regularly some er 24 years ago (post baker)
I guess I watched these new ones in an attempt to capture my lost youth I like them, I dont want them to be serious.
Yes a little more attention to working plots would be welcome.
for example (stop reading if you really dont want me to spoil the "plot" for you")
The satan pit episode I just watched, both the Doctor and Rose defeat the beast, The Doctor by breaking some vases with a polystyrene rock (I got it right!) and Rose by fireing a Boltgun through the "windscreen" of a spaceship.
Now I can cope with a planet being held in orbit around a black hole by a couple of glowing vases. But a spaceship "windscreen" that cannot resist a Boltgun (yes metal bolt) is ridiculous. To get a spacship anywhere near a black hole would require it to be very fast indeed, Atoms would cause greater impacts at such velocitys that a Boltgun! And what sort of dimwit makes spaceship "windscreens" from glass that will shatter.......still, silly fun for the Kids and a real nice Beast.

to call it sci-fi is an insult to the genre

! Oh there is much worse than this! The scifi genre has allways been the true home of utterly untalented writers, shallow storys, incomprehesible and unviable plots

[Lizard]

lol


this thread got derailed a bit, ah well aslong as nobody minds ....



The thing I loved about the orginal 20 odd years of doctor who was it's spirit and sense of adventure, I never really gave a toss about continuity, pondering that would have sent anyone mental, the stories were quite often very nifty and even more frequently more ambitious than the budget would allow, the acting often varied between ropey and downright bloody awful and some of the incidental music and dialogue used to grate on the nerves like nothing else on earth, but beneath the veneer of crud there was a certain kind of magic .


One of the things that really made Dr Who stand out was it's episodic nature and cliffhanger endings, they may often have been a bit predictable but they were an important part of the show, I don't think it works at all in it's current format, infact that was the beginning of the original show's decline, when they started messing with the format and timeslot.


the thing that probably annoys me the most about the new series is the fact that the story element seems almost like an afterthought, it's a complete reversal of what the old series about, they knew back then that they didn't have the effects to do anything particularly convincing so the show was often carried by the strength of the story alone, and yes I do know that I could quite easily pick out a whole bunch of utterly hoot stories but I mean what do you honestly expect from a show that started at the very dawn of TV and ran for over 25 years ? The new series seems to rely almost entirely on it's special effects, padded out with many scenes of character building waffle and virtually no story to speak of, it's as dull as dishwater and completely devoid of ideas if you ask me.

[mrtwosheds]

Back on subject.
It looks like I am now going to "have to" convert BZ WMD to 1.3pb2, there are too many things I cant do in 1.2 for the new race.
Preventing them from speaking with the stock bz voices being one of them that is important to me.
I also hope this sorts out the "performance issues" that have bothered me throughout the 1.2 development.
Any tips on required model/odf alterations would be appreciated.