Alternative Mission Launch

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Alternative Mission Launch

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ArrowLoop
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Post by ArrowLoop » Tue Oct 20, 2020 12:30 pm

Hi there,
Is there a way to launch the game directly into a mission without displaying the concourse or even the mission briefing? I have two different ideas I'm conceptualizing that could be used as a workaround for the low-resolution Concourse/Family Quarters/etc, but the only way I think it could work is if there is a way to force the game engine to launch directly into the mission's hanger.

I'm happy to go into more detail if anyone knows if this is possible.

Thanks in advance

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Vince T
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Post by Vince T » Tue Oct 20, 2020 1:09 pm

Don‘t think there‘s currently a way to launch directly into the engine, although the idea sounds intriguing. Maybe Jeremy or other coders can add some more insight to this.

Moving thread to the Editing forum.
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ArrowLoop
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Post by ArrowLoop » Thu Jan 14, 2021 4:17 pm

I've let this idea stew in my head for a bit and what I would like to do is to build an external application that tracks mission progression and supports wide screen monitors. It would allow for mission creators to build their own mission packs bundled with its own custom concourse, briefing cutscenes, etc. It would have functionality to read mission and pilot files in order to generate its own briefings and track player progression and essentially be its own modern independent game concourse.

I beleive I can build most of this myself but the entire idea hinges on the ability to inject and launch directly into the hanger of the mission, bypassing the built-in concourse, briefing, UI etc. @JeremyaFr would this be possible at all? I'm thinking this new hook would need to do it in one of two ways unless you think of something better:
  • a custom command line input into the original EXE telling it the path of the mission file to launch directly into
  • Tell the engine to look at a predetermined INI file at launch that contains the path of the mission file to launch directly into
One major pitfall for this to actually work would be for this hook to also tell the game engine to quit once the mission ends; otherwise the player would be dropped directly into the game's built-in debriefing. I also don't know how the engines tracks mission success or failure. Is it written to the pilot file or does the engine assume if the mission counter didn't progress 'up' by one then the mission was failed?

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ual002
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Post by ual002 » Thu Jan 14, 2021 4:33 pm

Well, I can confirm that several MAJOR improvements to the concourse hook have been made that allowed us to make some drastic improvements to the concourse and pilot experience for TFTC. We have much more control over things now and the potential to control more exists.

The beta for TFTC will be available soon, and allow you to explore these changes and how we have implemented them.

For the time being the concourse still exists in 640 x480, but I see no immediate reason why this resolution can not be further increased some day. Not to mention, with these initial changes to the way the hook grabs and modified certain data points, I imagine that some day, simple and straightforward configuration files could potentially exist to allow a user to insert loose images into folder with specific names to replace certain decoration items, medals and kalidore items at specific missions and/or point trigger types.

So while your idea is sound, all I'm saying is, don't give up on the vanilla concourse just yet.
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