Clients, multiple RST's and Minefields

Archived from groups: alt.games.vga-planets (More info?)

Taz wrote:
> In my current game I have 2 allies and we share rst files. My problem
> is that I'm yet to find a client program that can resolve the
> minefield messages correctly when all 3 rst's are unpacked in the same
> directory...
>
> JVC and PCC do not appear to show minefields detected by my allies.

For PCC: to evaluate another race's messages, switch to their result
file temporarily from your race. That is,
- open your race normally
- press Ctrl-Alt-TheirRaceNumber from the main menu to switch to their
race
- press Ctrl-Alt-YourRaceNumber to switch back

Alternatively, switch to a 'shared' starchart file in setup, and open
all races normally, one after the other. This could even be done in a
batch file.

> VPA seems to be the only one that I've come across that will parse the
> msg files from each race's rst file and display the associated
> minefields. However vpa can get confussed - ie you see different
> minefileds depending on what race you play. Also, vpa doesnt resolve
> situations like a low id ownship detecting a minefield which is then
> sweept by a higher id enemy ship and then yet a higher id ownship on
> minesweep detects nothing but vpa still draws the field based on the
> first minefield detection.

This would also apply to PCC. And it cannot be done better. How should
we know which message is the most recent one? There are no 'timestamps'
on messages. PCC (and VPA, for that matter) always displays the latest
information it has. In this case, it is the latest mine scan message it
saw. It cannot know whether the 'last' message from player #1 comes
before or after the 'last' message from player #2. It cannot know
whether player #2 failed to scan a minefield because it was swept out,
because of an ion storm, or because he was out of range. etc.

The solution would be to make a formal alliance, and use Winplan file
format. This way you should see your ally's minefields normally.


Stefan

Archived from groups: alt.games.vga-planets (More info?)

Thanks Stefan,
Very helpful. I wasnt aware of those PCC features.
For info: In the case of VPA, I had a situation where two of my ships
were in range of an enemy minefield. There was one enemy ship in the
minefield. Of the 3 ships, my two had the lowest and highest id and
both were sweeping. The first detected the minefield and generated a
msg. My second ship did not detect it as the enemy ship had scooped it
all. VPA draws the minefield anyway. In this case I dont think it's a
matter on timestamps - just ship ID's. However I'd imagine it would be
quite tricky, as the client has to check overlapping minescan regions
when two or more ships are scanning in the same area and then (based
on ship id) update the minefield msg's accordingly.

Looking forward to trying PCC again,
Many thanks,
Taz.

Archived from groups: alt.games.vga-planets (More info?)

Taz wrote:
> Of the 3 ships, my two had the lowest and highest id and
> both were sweeping. The first detected the minefield and generated a
> msg. My second ship did not detect it as the enemy ship had scooped it
> all. VPA draws the minefield anyway. In this case I dont think it's a
> matter on timestamps - just ship ID's. However I'd imagine it would be
> quite tricky, as the client has to check overlapping minescan regions
> when two or more ships are scanning in the same area and then (based
> on ship id) update the minefield msg's accordingly.

That is one reason why it is tricky. Another one is that mine sweep
messages do not contain an Id number, so figuring out which ship they
are from is not easy. (And under PHost you just get one message per
minefield, not one per minefield and ship.)

Sure, it can be done. I think UFO4VPA even does something like that.
It's just nothing that you do in three minutes or so.


Stefan

Archived from groups: alt.games.vga-planets (More info?)

TZ>Are there any clients that can use multiple rst's reliably ?

Use PDV.