Weird Mindworm!!

Hydro · December 16, 2001, 02:19

I've played SMAC/X for 2 1/2 years and I've NEVER seen a mindworm like this! Here is a screenshot (many thanks to Black Sunrise for informing on the intricacies of saving screen shots!).

Hydro

TresXF · December 16, 2001, 04:59

hmm, this black thing is one of the countless grafix which are not used in smac. it could be a mindworm base (if it isn't moving).

Cybergod · December 16, 2001, 08:20

As Tres posted - it is just a left over from the early beta version of the game (someone forgot to clean up, tut, tut, tut

). If you open up Units.pcx or even Unitsx.pcx you will still see left overs from the beta version, even in AX! ALso some other pcx files have no known use whatsoever... (except to give mod-makers some ideas

)

Pandir · December 16, 2001, 08:24

Thats a new one for me.

Black Sunrise · December 16, 2001, 08:52

According to the pic, it's a scout patrol!
(1-1-1)

Indra

Hydro · December 16, 2001, 10:15

Sure enough, this little jewel is in Units.pcx. This file seems to contain mainly native units from SMAX. It does have a ‘1-1-1’, so I guess it is a left over Usurper/Caretaker unit. Very strange! Thanks for the info!

Hydro

big_canuk · December 16, 2001, 13:40

I got it once too. I think it was when I opened a smac scenario using smax or visa-versa. Eventually the game became unstable, and I couldn't continue. I got a terranx crash that I couldn't avoid.

knowhow2 · December 16, 2001, 14:43

in my current MP SMACX game "Democracy in peril" all my trawlers (seacrawlers) have that image.

Kassiopeia · December 16, 2001, 17:44

I remember some mod with intelligent advanced mindworms who had bases. Maybe them.
How is it possible for that thing to just show up? Can it take place in a "normal" game situation? Why does it show up randomly?

Quote:

in my current MP SMACX game "Democracy in peril" all my trawlers (seacrawlers) have that image.

Is it a bug? Are you using some mod?

knowhow2 · December 16, 2001, 18:41

Googlie is the creator and moderator of the game. Ask him.

Flubber · December 16, 2001, 21:55

I have actually seen that particular visual crop up in a couple of games as the picture for different units in the design workshop ( I think once it purported to be the visual for a transport foil). I found that if I deleted that unit from the design workshop and then redesigned the same unit from some lesser unit on the same (proper) chassis, the graphic straightened itself out.

I had never had it appear in the game itself although I am assuming if I had built the thing without changing it in the DW I could have had one of these things

wgabrie · December 16, 2001, 22:56

Do you think that unit was an early colony pod?

If you look at the alien colony pods in SMAX they look very simmilar to that unit.

I have also seen that unit appear in my games. Twice have I seen it, and both times it was a '3-1-1' unit belonging to Sister Miriam. Must change equitment depending on the owner, but there isn't any weapon with a value of '3'.

RedFred · December 17, 2001, 04:08

Like big_canuk, I have only seen these while accidently playing a SMAC scenario on SMACX.

For reasons I don't understand, some people have named these units "boils".

Mr. President · December 17, 2001, 06:05

This thing's new to me, but the Believers once came at me with a Fungicidal Laser Foil.

Earwicker · December 17, 2001, 14:36

Quote:

Originally posted by RedFred
Like big_canuk, I have only seen these while accidently playing a SMAC scenario on SMACX.

Yes, it's a wrong-version thing. IIRC, they never attack. I captured some in a Gaisns-vs-Morgan scenario and they made lousy pets . . .

Googlie · December 21, 2001, 00:25

Guilty as charged

In an endeavor to smarten up the AI I amended the alpha.txt to add a trawler as a prebuilt unit, pending prerequs of Ind Auto and doc Flex. Well, this is the graphic that comew=s up in the workshop, and appears on the map when you build one.

As Flubber says, if you obsolete it, then rebuild it the trawler appears as it should (or if you add armor, or trance)

Many scenarios I created will have that as it did seem to work - The Drones actually built a few of the things in one game

G.

Vultur · December 22, 2001, 08:58

It's simple: Hydro has modified the mindworm in alpha.txt in an "illegal" manner (I don't know how, but he has done it

)
In fact if the game cannot "read" a unit, it will replace the wrong one with this strange unit: a sort of icon that show a Scout Patrol
(1-1-1).
I've discovered it trying to put on a Hovertank-Planet Buster (99-x-3), that work, the ability "Bombard" -I was just trying to built the Ultimate Destructive War Device, or something similar

-

Merry XMas!!!

Missourian · December 22, 2001, 10:19

I have captured that strange looking lifeform before. When ever i used it in combat my game would freeze up so now when i get them i disband them in one of my cities.

Googlie · December 22, 2001, 15:24

It's actually the default graphic that the program inserts if anyone has tinkered with the #UNITS23 (in alphax.txt) or #UNITS14 in alpha.txt

If for any reason the # and the list don't match, that graphic appears (if e.g. you add a unit but don't edit the # to 24 or 15 respectively, then you get the graphic. If you edit within the list, then the lists's last unit will assume that graphic.

The mindworm is in the middle of the list in both .txt files which suggests some serious tinkering at some time (not necessarily on Hydro or his partner's part - he need just have imported a game turn or scenario from someone who had done some serious tinkering like xenofungus or shining, usually in a scenario. My games just produce that graphic for trawlers (and I have not edited the text when installing in my new rig)

G.

LoD · December 27, 2001, 21:20

wgabrie: You're right, it is an early colony pod. I remember that once back at alpha.owo we tried to guess what each of the icons in units.pcx were representing. As far as I remember, I got them all right except for that one (eventually one of the designers jumped into the discussion)

...

Hydro · December 27, 2001, 22:50

Thanks for the responses. I ended up capturing the durn thing. I used it to pop a pod, and another weird MW popped out. I attacked it, and it attacked as a 1-1-1 scout against a 1-1-1 scout (at a penalty since the MW 'scout' was in fungus). I reloaded and attacked a nearby real MW to see what would happen and the game crashed, giving me a nasty TERRAX error.

My guess is that I loaded a SMAC file as a SMAX file, and that the confused program loaded this image instead of a fungal tower (or something). Serves me right for leaving my laptop and SMAX unattended for so long. In the past the game has given me a warning that I was loading the wrong game, or crashed immediately.

Hydro