JaggedFel i need your heeelllllllp? lol

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JaggedFel i need your heeelllllllp? lol

batuta
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Post by batuta » Fri Mar 19, 2021 12:06 pm

Hello, my intention is to make a program that generates random missions depending on the result of a previous mission to do something similar to a dynamic campaign.
After the difficulty of doing it in the tie. which is the one of the missions I see that it is easier to do it in the skirmish format.
BUT I think the only way is to edit in binary form for example a template made previously and change for example the ships, waves, objectives etc ...
Is there a way to do this? My question is, is it possible to edit a .skm or .tie file in binary form and change these values?

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JaggedFel
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Post by JaggedFel » Mon Mar 22, 2021 12:04 pm

Absolutely. Changing the objectives might be a little trickier depending on what choices you want to be available, but to go in and change single values like ship/wave counts or the AI level of a Flightgroup, is very much doable and won't change the structure or filesize of the mission file.

Now, to do so you'd either have to
1) Use a standard template that your program will expect (always same number of Flightgroups, Messages, etc) so the location of the values you need to adjust never change
2) Do a small bit of querying to determine the number of FGs, Messages, etc so your template can be a bit more flexible
3) Read in the entire mission file and write the whole thing back out again (which sort of gets away from your question)

As long as you know the number of FlightGroups in the template, you can use the format spec to get the offsets to whatever values you need and adjust them directly.
Ye Olde Galactic Empire Mission Editor v1.15.6
Current software WIPs: TIE Layout and Cutscene Editor, TIE/XvT Cockpit Editor
Libraries / Format specs: *.tie, *.plt, *.tfr, *.lfd , *.act, *.dat image files, *.fnt

batuta
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Post by batuta » Tue Mar 23, 2021 12:00 am

Thank you very much, you are so kind.

Bman
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Post by Bman » Wed Mar 24, 2021 4:42 am

Isn't there a relationship between the pilot.plt file and the missions.lst file? That tells engine which mission file to load next sequentially. If those "win/lose" conditions etc. return a value, wouldn't it be easier to capture that and load possibly a predetermined mission.tie file based on that? Maybe using a script or batch file to edit the mission.lst file or replace it ? Thinking that maybe easier than having to worry about the unique contents of any mission.tie file so it doesn't have any constraints.
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batuta
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Post by batuta » Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:05 pm

Yes, I had also thought about this possibility and I see it perfectly doable, but after much thinking about this and all its possibilities I think the main problem is the sense of progression and rewards to make it fun and challenging.
I think you need an external interface to monitor your progress in the game, such as conquered systems, controlled sectors, manage your fleet and move your ships to other sectors, as if it were a strategy game.
This is what I see as the most difficult, the part of generating missions depending on the result is the one that I see the easiest.
For example, a map with sectors or planets to conquer, the map can be as big as one wants, making the game practically endless, or with some conditions for victory.
With each objective achieved you get credits and you can buy more ships to place them in a system in a strategic way.
Maybe there is a game with these characteristics and we can adapt it to x-wing.

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JaggedFel
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Post by JaggedFel » Sun Mar 28, 2021 12:50 pm

batuta wrote:
Wed Mar 24, 2021 2:05 pm
I think you need an external interface to monitor your progress in the game
That's the same conclusion I came to when I thought about this years ago. My idea was to fly a mission, return to the interface where it would analyze the pilot file (ships destroyed, goal completion, points, etc), then modify the next mission/LST/PLT as needed before launching into the next mission. The intent was to build dynamic campaigns so everything would be related, but would play out more like a Choose-your-own-adventure story.
Ye Olde Galactic Empire Mission Editor v1.15.6
Current software WIPs: TIE Layout and Cutscene Editor, TIE/XvT Cockpit Editor
Libraries / Format specs: *.tie, *.plt, *.tfr, *.lfd , *.act, *.dat image files, *.fnt

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