WCP/SO Mission Builder: Self-Destruction?

[Lt.Overload]

Is it possible to make Capships in your Mission Builder to self destruct? Blow themselves up like. For example, make a Relay Station Bridge blow up upon entering the Nav Point. I've seen it before on a mission made for the Secret Ops Simulator, called Tratior. Where the Station blows up upon entry at NAV 2.

 

[Wedge009]

Capships which are dead upon arrival to the nav point seem to produce an explosion whether it makes sense to have one or not. I recall a mission in Prophecy where you fly by a relay station which you (should have) destroyed in an earlier mission. I'm quite sure there is an explosion of some sort when you approach the nav point in the later mission.

 

[Jason_Ryock]

Is it possible to make Capships in your Mission Builder to self destruct? Blow themselves up like. For example, make a Relay Station Bridge blow up upon entering the Nav Point. I've seen it before on a mission made for the Secret Ops Simulator, called Tratior. Where the Station blows up upon entry at NAV 2.

Are you talking about destroying the capital ship, or destroying one component of the capital ship?

All you need to do is set a DestroyObject command, or an AI DestroySelf command that comes true when the player enters the navpoint.

You didn't say which mission editor you are using - are you coding (ala WCPascal) or are you building with the "Mission Editor" that's drag and drop?

 

[Dundradal]

Capships which are dead upon arrival to the nav point seem to produce an explosion whether it makes sense to have one or not. I recall a mission in Prophecy where you fly by a relay station which you (should have) destroyed in an earlier mission. I'm quite sure there is an explosion of some sort when you approach the nav point in the later mission.

Yeah the Relay station continues to explode. I just played this mission earlier today

All dead capships in the Vision engine continue to explode once killed. As for making a capship self destruct...no idea.

 

[Lt.Overload]

Are you talking about destroying the capital ship, or destroying one component of the capital ship?

All you need to do is set a DestroyObject command, or an AI DestroySelf command that comes true when the player enters the navpoint.

You didn't say which mission editor you are using - are you coding (ala WCPascal) or are you building with the "Mission Editor" that's drag and drop?

1. Both.
2. I don't have that option.
3. The MISB with Mission Complier.

 

[Jason_Ryock]

You're never going to get anywhere with MISB, you're going to learn scripting if you want things that complicated. MISB is only good for placing ships and then shooting them down in game.

 

[Lt.Overload]

Ok but is it possible with MISB?

 

[Jason_Ryock]

Ok but is it possible with MISB?

All you can do with MISB is place ships, and then blow them up in game. That's all.

What you're talking about is a scripted event. IE: You need a mission scriptor to script it.

 

[Lt.Overload]

Where can I get a "mission scripter"?

 

[Jason_Ryock]

You need WCPascal, which you can get from Thomas Bruckners site. You need to download the following files and unzip, in the order listed here:

1) http://tbruckner.esmartweb.com/misb4/wcppas_r22b.zip
2) http://tbruckner.esmartweb.com/vcl50.zip
3) http://tbruckner.esmartweb.com/misb4/wcppas_r24c.zip

This will give you all the files necessary to start using WCPascal version 24c. Despite the fact that you might see - or hear - that there are newer version out there DO NOT USE THEM. Version 24c was the last stable mission compiler produced.

If you're looking for help getting started with mission scripting, try the following links:
http://unknownenemy.solsector.net/tutorials.html <- Tutorial for learning WCPascal
http://killerwave.solsector.net/Wcppas_Sample.htm <- Sample Mission code

Before you start posting a dozen threads describing every error you're getting when you try and compile, SEARCH THE FORUMS. There are very few mistakes that haven't been discussed here in detail.

Lastly, if you're interesting, you can also download the Source Code from UE:Unknown Enemy, the first WCSO mod to be released. It is a good reference point if you want to see how they accomplished things.

You can get that here:
http://unknownenemy.solsector.net/downloads/ue_source_code.zip

But you'll need more experience with WCPascal editing first.

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

Sorry that this is an old thread that I'm bumping here. I've been interested in figuring out how programming works for the games and came accross this thread. I was reading the tutorial on http://killerwave.solsector.net/Wcppas_Sample.htm. When you scroll down to Wingman_2 the coordinates are x:400, y:600, and z:1200 and Wingman_3's coordinates are x:400, y:600, and z:1200. I'm not a programming guy, but wouldn't these two wingmen be existing in the same place at once?

Are these links the best place to learn about coding Wing Commander or is this old news? Are there better tutorials and newer programs to Mod with? Also, the Unknown Enemy tutorial link didn't work.

 

[Jason_Ryock]

Sorry that this is an old thread that I'm bumping here. I've been interested in figuring out how programming works for the games and came accross this thread. I was reading the tutorial on http://killerwave.solsector.net/Wcppas_Sample.htm. When you scroll down to Wingman_2 the coordinates are x:400, y:600, and z:1200 and Wingman_3's coordinates are x:400, y:600, and z:1200. I'm not a programming guy, but wouldn't these two wingmen be existing in the same place at once?

There are a few other threads related to the sample mission code - I've never been able to get it to compile successfully "as is", it's always required a bit of debugging to work properly for me, at least.

Are these links the best place to learn about coding Wing Commander or is this old news?

If you're looking at modding WCSO or WCP these are the best places to look. See my above post for a list of tools and resources you might need.

Are there better tutorials and newer programs to Mod with?

There are not. I've done some experimenting with the MED mission editor that was provided on a disk from Captain Johnny, but I've actually found it much harder to work with then the WCP mission editing ways.

MED also requires you to write mission scripts anyway, which means either way you'll be dealing with Mission Scripting, which is what most people try to avoid by using things like what-you-see-is-what-you-get editors. MED has a WYSIWYG component, but I've actually found MED missions to be bugger and harder to work with. And there is no documentation or support for using MED to edit any of the games.

It's also worth noting that the two process are mutually exclusive - you can't use MED missions with WCP missions or series files, or vice versa. Which is to be expected, I supposed.

Also, the Unknown Enemy tutorial link didn't work.

It appears the entire UE site is down - quite a shame really, those two pages of tutorial are the best. You should also look for the UE source code, which was released some time ago. The data it provides about the various UE files and their purposes is extremely useful.

If you're merely interested in the programming data, the UE source is the way to go. If you're more interested in modding things, you should also look at DLL Editing and the Hi-Res DLL source files. When I first looked at those I was not a programmer beyond simple PHP lessons and had no idea how they functioned. I'm much better at manipulating them now that I've progressed more in my PHP training (I've found that many common theories and philsophies in programming transfer simply from one language to another, which again you would expect, though I seem to have a much easier time of it then the other students at my school).

 

[PopsiclePete]

It appears the entire UE site is down - quite a shame really, those two pages of tutorial are the best. You should also look for the UE source code, which was released some time ago. The data it provides about the various UE files and their purposes is extremely useful.

The CIC is working on it's server right now, please check back later and the site will be accessible again.

 

[Jason_Ryock]

The CIC is working on it's server right now, please check back later and the site will be accessible again.

That's good news!

Given the history of this community and it's steller reputation for preserving things that shouldn't even exist anymore I wasn't too worried, but it's nice to have it confirmed that the data isn't lost and will be restored to the community as early as possible.

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

If you're merely interested in the programming data, the UE source is the way to go. If you're more interested in modding things, you should also look at DLL Editing and the Hi-Res DLL source files. When I first looked at those I was not a programmer beyond simple PHP lessons and had no idea how they functioned. I'm much better at manipulating them now that I've progressed more in my PHP training (I've found that many common theories and philsophies in programming transfer simply from one language to another, which again you would expect, though I seem to have a much easier time of it then the other students at my school).

I'm preparing to take a few computer courses. I'm a REALTOR right now, but since I'm getting married and want to have a family, I don't think it's the best career for raising children.. the late nights, phone calls at any time, and commission only income. My friends and family who have computer related jobs seem to have nice stable jobs with good income and benefits.

I'm a novice with computers right now, but I thought digging into some of these modding tools and playing around might be a good supplement to my education. Maybe in a year or two I could help out with a release.

 

[PopsiclePete]

The UE site is back up.

 

[Jason_Ryock]

I'm preparing to take a few computer courses. I'm a REALTOR right now, but since I'm getting married and want to have a family, I don't think it's the best career for raising children.. the late nights, phone calls at any time, and commission only income. My friends and family who have computer related jobs seem to have nice stable jobs with good income and benefits.

I would say this is probably more about you as an individual then the profession in general. My dad, on the one hand, has a realty license and he does very well with it. He owns and operates all kinds of property, some to sell some to rent. He's also very good about making time for his 'children' (A term I use loosely as I am grown and married and so are two of my sisters - but he does have a new baby with his new wife at home that finds plenty of time for). My dad is also a much more disciplined person then most and understands that his career gives him what he puts into it. Owning his own business also allows him to set his own hours and decide when he does the work he has to.

On the other hand I have an aunt in much the same position whose much less disciplined and pays much less attention to detail, and her daughter is about ready (at 15!) to move out of the office because of the neglect going on there. So again I would say it's really about the person and the discipline they bring to the job.

I'm a novice with computers right now, but I thought digging into some of these modding tools and playing around might be a good supplement to my education. Maybe in a year or two I could help out with a release.

As my dad has pointed out: there will always be a need for people to tell a computer how to do something. Programming is probably the safest profession you could get into - because the demand is never going to go away.

That being said - people also need a place to live, and regardless of the housing market that's not going to change.

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

I would say this is probably more about you as an individual then the profession in general. My dad, on the one hand, has a realty license and he does very well with it. He owns and operates all kinds of property, some to sell some to rent. He's also very good about making time for his 'children' (A term I use loosely as I am grown and married and so are two of my sisters - but he does have a new baby with his new wife at home that finds plenty of time for).
That being said - people also need a place to live, and regardless of the housing market that's not going to change.

I didn't know your Dad was a REALTOR and didn't mean to imply that he couldn't have done a great job raising you and it sounds like he did. My Dad was in the Air Force and was and is an airline pilot. That has a worse reputation for being tough on families than even Real Estate. He would often have to leave on flights, sometimes over holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I still feel like he did a good job raising our family.

There's an agent I know who's very successful and was a family friend (before he and his wife were divorced), but he was always on the phone at parties and often couldn't make events because he had listing appointments. I like the aspect of buying investment properties and having rentals which I plan to continue doing, but I'd just rather have a job that allows for more regularity and family time.

 

[Jason_Ryock]

I didn't know your Dad was a REALTOR and didn't mean to imply that he couldn't have done a great job raising you and it sounds like he did.

We'll have to agree to disagree, then. =P I think he had a good grasp of "work time" vs. "play with the kids time", is all.

There's an agent I know who's very successful and was a family friend (before he and his wife were divorced), but he was always on the phone at parties and often couldn't make events because he had listing appointments.

See, again I would have to say that this depends on the person. Some people just don't know how to prioritize their lives.

When I started working at the last job I had, my boss asked me a few months in what the most important thing in my life was. Because he was my boss I told him it was my job, I thought that's what he would want to here and he immediately told me if I ever said that again he'd fire me. He told me the number one thing in my life needed to be my family (I was a newlywed at the time) and he didn't want to see me so swallowed by my job that my marriage and my family suffered for it.

I'm not sure he felt the same way when I left him in the lurch and quit a few months ago to be a stay-at-home-dad full time, but hey, it's his own fault, right?

I like the aspect of buying investment properties and having rentals which I plan to continue doing, but I'd just rather have a job that allows for more regularity and family time.

Regularity is good. So are investment properties. But you don't need me to tell you either one of these things, it seems like you've got quite a grasp on it.

 

[Mjr. Whoopass]

Do I need to worry about gunking up my computer by messing around with this type of programming? I have very limited knowledge of programming just from an intro to Java class, and I've never programmed in Pascal's version (is this C++?). I heard some programming languages create 'garbage' in your memory, so I was wondering if I need to be cognisant of that or anything else pertaining to potentially messing up my computer while I play around with these tutorials.