Well, this is the first of a series of posts I am gonna kick out every few days or so, or at least weekly, letting people know what is going on with my undertaking of the Gal2.4 >> Gal2.5 Project, being done in Compiled QuickBasic 4.5.
I have yet to get with Jim V on this upgrade of gal2.4 (But in the past, many times via back and forth emails, he's told me hack it up, whatever I need, it's Public Domain, with his blessing).
I also have some other somewhat major issues to work out, as regards using some tables and stuff from Merchant Prince (I was fixing bugs and putting in other code, so I haven't even gotten close to that yet).
I want to make sure it's not going to infringe on Marc Miller's rights. I guess I'll have to ask him for permission, pretty soon, before I share any of the code with anyone.
That being said, here is a short description of what I got done yesterday in the pursuit of this integration with the Trader.BAS revival project, as discussed in another thread.
So far, I have cracked open a clean copy of Gal2.4, and just to be thorough, have done some testing, and bug fixes, as follows:
Updated 20 Feb 2006:
Overall, did some cleanup, and little minor cosmetics, like adding (y/n) in printed lines for when it prompts "Continue" to next screen.
Insdel.exe 2.0
The Subsector Starport Types Generation Tables from MegaTraveller Ref's Manual p. 24 included in gal2.4 have been expanded, to allow for referees to develop Non-Canon areas with active frontiers,
or less settled Subsectors of their own Campaign Settings.
The code itself is hardwired into READ/DATA Statements inside Insdel.bas, and I did not wish
to change this tradition by making it it's own outside data file, for fear of breaking it.
Gal 2.4 had: Unexplored, Backwater, Standard, Mature, and Cluster (Jim V called it Economic Hub), taken from MT Ref's Manual, P.24.
These are tables are unchanged, except for renaming Economic Hub to "Cluster", and Unsettled
to "Unexplored" to maintain coherence with the new tables..
Tables Now Included in 2.5 [Beta] are:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">
Cluster Mature Standard Backwater Periphery Frontier Explored Outlands Unexplored
2 A 2 A 2 A 2 A 2 A 2 B 2 B 2 C 2 X
3 A 3 A 3 A 3 A 3 B 3 B 3 C 3 C 3 X
4 A 4 A 4 A 4 B 4 B 4 C 4 C 4 D 4 X
5 A 5 B 5 B 5 B 5 C 5 C 5 D 5 D 5 X
6 B 6 B 6 B 6 C 6 C 6 C 6 D 6 E 6 X
7 B 7 C 7 C 7 C 7 C 7 D 7 D 7 E 7 X
8 C 8 C 8 C 8 C 8 D 8 E 8 E 8 E 8 X
9 C 9 D 9 D 9 D 9 E 9 E 9 E 9 X 9 X
10 D 10 E 10 E 10 E 10 E 10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X
11 E 11 E 11 E 11 E 11 X 11 X 11 X 11 X 11 X
12 X 12 E 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X</pre>[/QUOTE]Starport Type Notes:
Cluster Subsectors have many worlds close together, or are an Economic Hub.
Mature Subsectors are older, and more established.
Standard Subsectors are the expected norm for the Imperium.
Backwater Subsectors are out of the mainstream of interstellar culture and communication.
Periphery Subsectors are at the Periphery of traveled space, more remote than Backwaters.
Frontier Subsectors are less well settled areas, bordering an Explored area farther out.
Explored Subsectors have active exploration and development of previously Charted Systems.
Outlands Subsectors have systems marked for development, some Scout bases, and few colonies.
Unexplored Subsectors have no Starports at all.
--------------------------------------------------
Makesec.exe 2.0
Edited Make Sector Step 4 : Subsector Civilization Levels Input
Corrections:
U = Unsettled renamed "Unexplored"
C = Economic Hub renamed "Cluster"
B = Backwater
S = Standard
M = Mature
New Starport Chart Additions:
P = Periphery
F = Frontier
E = Explored
O = Outlands
Line 1300 - Assigning Stellar probability Percentages
added in the following for reference, above the input area (on one line going across):
Rift 4 %
Sparse 16 %
Scattered 33 %
Standard 50 %
Dense 66 %
Fixed a bad bug in MAKESEC.EXE Allegiance Codes Entry, where allowing 0 Allegiance codes halted program due to lack of assigned code per Subsector.
(Users can no longer enter 0 Allegiance on the 1-15 Entry line.)
Spotted a bug in gal2.4 in MAKESEC.EXE Allegiance Codes Entry, where entering a non-numerical character caused a Redo From Start Error, for value of "num" variable.
[I'm considering input as a string, then get val$]
For now, you can just retype the text, when it reports "Redo from Start."
SECGEN.EXE
Corrected a bug in SECGEN.EXE where sectors with 100% Stellar Density were generating 10% density
due to a datafield field parsing error, from secgen.dat.
This took me a bit of tracking down, as it was not obvious what the problem was for some time.
Updated the Data statements in SECGEN.EXE to reflect 9 Starport charts from 5.
-------------------------------------------------
Future Enhancements:
Add Error Proofing in Secgen.exe, to check for codes and fields and such, when parsing Secgen.dat, especially when users do manual entry.
Perhaps allow for manual input, or something, on any failure to fall within values from the Secgen.dat file, like a manual override.
Working on a fix for Step 6, MAKESEC.EXE assigning allegiance codes per sector, such that the app will see if there is only 1 Allegiance Code assigned to a sector, and if so, auto fill the spaces, then ask user if this is correct.
I want to update the sec gen files and readers so that all civ codes are included in the secgen.dat template file, after it is generated.
looks like secgen2 is the base template for this.
-------------------------------------------------
I don't plan to release this as a series of patches, as too many files reference the various data files. It really needs to be one system.
And my 4 new Starport Charts included above **Should** not break anything. The changes made references a one-time variable in the temporary secgen.dat file, and is not used anywhere in any .sec file UPP.
I did some pretty good testing for some hours, fixed the problems that came up, and I think it was a good evening's work, for a start.
I'm still reading the various Trader rules from different editions to see what will shake out as the best attack plan.
I already have a method to add in Trade route lines, similar to the way jump route lines are displayed, on the Sector "M" Map Screen.
I'm planning long term, to see if I can do a color dot "G" and "S" Galactic Map, like what I have seen on Leroy Guatney's pages, some years ago.
Will advise, as I go. Some weeks from now, I'd appreciate it if any Gal 2.4 fans could do some testing, and give helpful comments on features they'd like to see in a possible 2.6 and later.
The above plans are not an all-inclusive list. I'm not trying to make the Stuart Ferris' H&E for Quickbasic, but there are some nice plugins I can write to do various things with all the sector data.
I have yet to get with Jim V on this upgrade of gal2.4 (But in the past, many times via back and forth emails, he's told me hack it up, whatever I need, it's Public Domain, with his blessing).
I also have some other somewhat major issues to work out, as regards using some tables and stuff from Merchant Prince (I was fixing bugs and putting in other code, so I haven't even gotten close to that yet).
I want to make sure it's not going to infringe on Marc Miller's rights. I guess I'll have to ask him for permission, pretty soon, before I share any of the code with anyone.
That being said, here is a short description of what I got done yesterday in the pursuit of this integration with the Trader.BAS revival project, as discussed in another thread.
So far, I have cracked open a clean copy of Gal2.4, and just to be thorough, have done some testing, and bug fixes, as follows:
Updated 20 Feb 2006:
Overall, did some cleanup, and little minor cosmetics, like adding (y/n) in printed lines for when it prompts "Continue" to next screen.
Insdel.exe 2.0
The Subsector Starport Types Generation Tables from MegaTraveller Ref's Manual p. 24 included in gal2.4 have been expanded, to allow for referees to develop Non-Canon areas with active frontiers,
or less settled Subsectors of their own Campaign Settings.
The code itself is hardwired into READ/DATA Statements inside Insdel.bas, and I did not wish
to change this tradition by making it it's own outside data file, for fear of breaking it.
Gal 2.4 had: Unexplored, Backwater, Standard, Mature, and Cluster (Jim V called it Economic Hub), taken from MT Ref's Manual, P.24.
These are tables are unchanged, except for renaming Economic Hub to "Cluster", and Unsettled
to "Unexplored" to maintain coherence with the new tables..
Tables Now Included in 2.5 [Beta] are:
</font><blockquote>code:</font><hr /><pre style="font-size:x-small; font-family: monospace;">
Cluster Mature Standard Backwater Periphery Frontier Explored Outlands Unexplored
2 A 2 A 2 A 2 A 2 A 2 B 2 B 2 C 2 X
3 A 3 A 3 A 3 A 3 B 3 B 3 C 3 C 3 X
4 A 4 A 4 A 4 B 4 B 4 C 4 C 4 D 4 X
5 A 5 B 5 B 5 B 5 C 5 C 5 D 5 D 5 X
6 B 6 B 6 B 6 C 6 C 6 C 6 D 6 E 6 X
7 B 7 C 7 C 7 C 7 C 7 D 7 D 7 E 7 X
8 C 8 C 8 C 8 C 8 D 8 E 8 E 8 E 8 X
9 C 9 D 9 D 9 D 9 E 9 E 9 E 9 X 9 X
10 D 10 E 10 E 10 E 10 E 10 X 10 X 10 X 10 X
11 E 11 E 11 E 11 E 11 X 11 X 11 X 11 X 11 X
12 X 12 E 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X 12 X</pre>[/QUOTE]Starport Type Notes:
Cluster Subsectors have many worlds close together, or are an Economic Hub.
Mature Subsectors are older, and more established.
Standard Subsectors are the expected norm for the Imperium.
Backwater Subsectors are out of the mainstream of interstellar culture and communication.
Periphery Subsectors are at the Periphery of traveled space, more remote than Backwaters.
Frontier Subsectors are less well settled areas, bordering an Explored area farther out.
Explored Subsectors have active exploration and development of previously Charted Systems.
Outlands Subsectors have systems marked for development, some Scout bases, and few colonies.
Unexplored Subsectors have no Starports at all.
--------------------------------------------------
Makesec.exe 2.0
Edited Make Sector Step 4 : Subsector Civilization Levels Input
Corrections:
U = Unsettled renamed "Unexplored"
C = Economic Hub renamed "Cluster"
B = Backwater
S = Standard
M = Mature
New Starport Chart Additions:
P = Periphery
F = Frontier
E = Explored
O = Outlands
Line 1300 - Assigning Stellar probability Percentages
added in the following for reference, above the input area (on one line going across):
Rift 4 %
Sparse 16 %
Scattered 33 %
Standard 50 %
Dense 66 %
Fixed a bad bug in MAKESEC.EXE Allegiance Codes Entry, where allowing 0 Allegiance codes halted program due to lack of assigned code per Subsector.
(Users can no longer enter 0 Allegiance on the 1-15 Entry line.)
Spotted a bug in gal2.4 in MAKESEC.EXE Allegiance Codes Entry, where entering a non-numerical character caused a Redo From Start Error, for value of "num" variable.
[I'm considering input as a string, then get val$]
For now, you can just retype the text, when it reports "Redo from Start."
SECGEN.EXE
Corrected a bug in SECGEN.EXE where sectors with 100% Stellar Density were generating 10% density
due to a datafield field parsing error, from secgen.dat.
This took me a bit of tracking down, as it was not obvious what the problem was for some time.
Updated the Data statements in SECGEN.EXE to reflect 9 Starport charts from 5.
-------------------------------------------------
Future Enhancements:
Add Error Proofing in Secgen.exe, to check for codes and fields and such, when parsing Secgen.dat, especially when users do manual entry.
Perhaps allow for manual input, or something, on any failure to fall within values from the Secgen.dat file, like a manual override.
Working on a fix for Step 6, MAKESEC.EXE assigning allegiance codes per sector, such that the app will see if there is only 1 Allegiance Code assigned to a sector, and if so, auto fill the spaces, then ask user if this is correct.
I want to update the sec gen files and readers so that all civ codes are included in the secgen.dat template file, after it is generated.
looks like secgen2 is the base template for this.
-------------------------------------------------
I don't plan to release this as a series of patches, as too many files reference the various data files. It really needs to be one system.
And my 4 new Starport Charts included above **Should** not break anything. The changes made references a one-time variable in the temporary secgen.dat file, and is not used anywhere in any .sec file UPP.
I did some pretty good testing for some hours, fixed the problems that came up, and I think it was a good evening's work, for a start.
I'm still reading the various Trader rules from different editions to see what will shake out as the best attack plan.
I already have a method to add in Trade route lines, similar to the way jump route lines are displayed, on the Sector "M" Map Screen.
I'm planning long term, to see if I can do a color dot "G" and "S" Galactic Map, like what I have seen on Leroy Guatney's pages, some years ago.
Will advise, as I go. Some weeks from now, I'd appreciate it if any Gal 2.4 fans could do some testing, and give helpful comments on features they'd like to see in a possible 2.6 and later.
The above plans are not an all-inclusive list. I'm not trying to make the Stuart Ferris' H&E for Quickbasic, but there are some nice plugins I can write to do various things with all the sector data.
