Alpha Centauri 2

Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri & Alien Crossfire => The Theory of Everything => Topic started by: BFG on January 29, 2013, 05:19:11 AM

Title: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: BFG on January 29, 2013, 05:19:11 AM

I decided to set up a scenario tonight where the faction I was playing had every tech from the beginning.  Interestingly, because of some tweaks I've made to alphax.txt, it had the side effect of causing over 3000 ecodamage per turn.  It didn't take long for the Mindworms and Xenofungus to register their displeasure.

But then, after 30k+ damage had been done...THIS thing appeared, assigned to the Planet faction.  It had stats of 3-1-1 and 10 HP, and was listed as a "Pre-Boil".  But no name was given for it - not Mind Worms, not Fungal Tower, nothing.  Manually upgrading it (via Scenario Editor) to a Demon Boil didn't change the pic.  Shortly after I engaged it, SMAX crashed...so I had to grab a screenshot from Units.PCX instead of the game itself.

What the heck IS this thing?

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: JarlWolf on January 29, 2013, 08:26:24 AM

It almost looks like some bugged Progenitor colony pod.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: Flygon on January 29, 2013, 03:28:38 PM

Close, it's a Colony Pod sprite from before the game was using 3D models. I am 97% certain.

I lack evidence to back my claims, but I am darn sure of it. That, and I've looked into it in the past.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: BFG on January 29, 2013, 03:36:13 PM

Quote from: Flygon on January 29, 2013, 03:28:38 PM

Close, it's a Colony Pod sprite from before the game was using 3D models. I am 97% certain.
I lack evidence to back my claims, but I am darn sure of it. That, and I've looked into it in the past.

If that's the case, then how in the world did it end up in my game?  Maybe I've made some bad edits to alphax.txt?
(Keep in mind the game wasn't just using the wrong sprite...otherwise, it would have identified the unit as a "mindworm", etc.)

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: Flygon on January 29, 2013, 03:43:58 PM

I don't know. Something overflowed?

Also, I ended up trying to dig for evidence...

(http://bill.bzaar.net/avoc/Reviews/Mar99/Alpha/alpha6.jpg)

It's not much, but it is SOMETHING. I wish we had more materials of SMAC's early development. This folder has some more screenies (http://bill.bzaar.net/avoc/Reviews/Mar99/Alpha/), as well as this one (http://www.sztab.com/g-sid-meiers-alpha-centauri/galeria.html). I know there's more, though. Including completely 2D mapped ones (or: Really REALLY showing your Civilization II engine roots here).

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: gwillybj on January 30, 2013, 02:05:50 AM

Those pictures are used for the #UNITS.

The top row is 0, the Progenitor Colony Pod.
1, the Fungal Tower.
2, the Alien Artifact.
3, the Mind Worms.
4, the Sealurk.
5, the Spore Launcher.
6, the Battle Ogres.
7, the Conventional Missile.
8, the Planet Buster.

You choose one of these for the number between the Prerequisite and the Abilities String, thus:
Sealurk, Foil, Psi, Psi, 6, 6, 0, CentPsi, 4, 00000000000000000001000000

So if it's in your game, one of the #UNITS is using the Unit 0 picture and has a 0 in that spot.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: BFG on January 30, 2013, 02:12:00 AM

Quote from: gwillybj on January 30, 2013, 02:05:50 AM

So if it's in your game, one of the #UNITS is using the Unit 0 picture and has a 0 in that spot.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I double checked, and no units are assigned 0.  I haven't altered any of the stock units' numbers, and all of the units I added have a -1 assignment except for one, which has a 7 assignment.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: Droom on January 30, 2013, 02:59:59 AM

excuse a noob,  but Darsnan uses this in his scenario that I'm currently on

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: gwillybj on January 30, 2013, 12:32:48 PM

Quote from: BFG on January 30, 2013, 02:12:00 AM

Quote from: gwillybj on January 30, 2013, 02:05:50 AM

So if it's in your game, one of the #UNITS is using the Unit 0 picture and has a 0 in that spot.

Thanks for the suggestion, but I double checked, and no units are assigned 0.  I haven't altered any of the stock units' numbers, and all of the units I added have a -1 assignment except for one, which has a 7 assignment.

curiouser and curiouser... You said the Planet faction: Did you have a Planet faction in the game? Or is it a ghost?

Quote from: Droom on January 30, 2013, 02:59:59 AM

... Darsnan uses this in his scenario that I'm currently on

would you mind looking at the #UNITS section of the alpha.txt and see if any of them have 0 in that spot?

Quote from: BFG on January 29, 2013, 05:19:11 AM

... over 3000 ecodamage per turn.

That's a lot of ecodamage.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: BFG on January 30, 2013, 04:35:32 PM

Quote from: gwillybj on January 30, 2013, 12:32:48 PM

Quote from: BFG on January 29, 2013, 05:19:11 AM

... over 3000 ecodamage per turn.

That's a lot of ecodamage.

Yeah, I have to believe that's a bug in Yitzi's new 1.2 SMAX patch.  I mean, I only had one base with a population of 3.  I only had 4-6 minerals coming into that base.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: ete on January 30, 2013, 05:19:37 PM

You need Yitzi's alphax.txt otherwise the eco damage formula goes nuts.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: BFG on January 30, 2013, 07:11:28 PM

Quote from: ete on January 30, 2013, 05:19:37 PM

You need Yitzi's alphax.txt otherwise the eco damage formula goes nuts.

I'm using it...

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: gwillybj on January 31, 2013, 12:41:35 PM

A thought: If you added predefined units, did you change the number directly following the #UNITS header? It needs to match the total number of predefined units. (In unedited alpha.txt this is 14. In unedited alphax.txt this is 23.) If it doesn't match, when you play strange things will happen with mismatched sprites.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: BFG on January 31, 2013, 02:52:12 PM

Good thinking!  But yep, I checked that too.  I even checked for extra carriage returns (versus the original file) and missing/extra commas.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: Kirov on February 01, 2013, 10:17:18 PM

I've seen that unit a lot in Darsnan scenarios, maybe his scenario-specific alphax.txt would shed some light.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: BFG on February 01, 2013, 11:37:09 PM

I'm starting to think this has to do with a larger issue in my game.  I believe the units are supposed to be Locusts of Chiron, given the way they behave (and the sound they make when I blow them up :D).
In the same game, I've noticed probe teams that look like Battle Ogres, and Isles of the Deep that look like those green snake things whose name escapes me right now.  In another thread, Yitzi and others confirmed this as a graphics bug present when the Scenario Editor is used in SMAX.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on February 01, 2013, 11:54:03 PM

I've spontaneously had the city-thing show up a few times in normal games.  You've definitely got a broken game.

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: BFG on February 02, 2013, 03:42:39 AM

Quote from: BUncle on February 01, 2013, 11:54:03 PM

I've spontaneously had the city-thing show up a few times in normal games.  You've definitely got a broken game.

Oddly, everything seems fine when I don't use the scenario editor.
Any pattern to when those units appear in your game?  Is it usually after significant ecodamage?  And what kind of stats/names do they have?

Title: Re: What the heck IS this thing?
Post by: Buster's Uncle on February 02, 2013, 05:51:40 AM

I couldn't say - it's happened maybe twice, three times, all years ago.