Star Trek Ship Generator Beta 6.2

[Trinity Zeldis]

You can also find some new tech on this forum and I believe, though I may be wrong, at Memory Icon.

New Tech

[Zortiander]

Has anyone any interest in my developing the STSC any further? I might have some time now and I'm looking for some programming work that I can do. After digging up old projects, the STSC came to my mind. However, I still have to ask:

- is anyone using this program?
- would anyone consider using this program, and if yes when / how / if I cahnge what?
- would there be any people willing to test future versions solidly?

That's all for now. I guess the least finished work on V1 is the custom items set. While you can create them without a problem, right now I haven't implemented it yet into the STSC. Also a crucial thingy are pictures and graphics. I'd love to see any of them for some of the tabs, maybe even backgrounds etc. However, I can't do these alone.

[Phoenix]

Well the only suggestion I could give is to mention the program needs a "new ship" setting or a "clear all entries" button. To be honest I don't use the program half as much as I'd like to. I just haven't had that much time to develop new ships.

[Zortiander]

Hm, I had all that integrated, but then the version of some modules I used and my programming language changed and I can't recompile my old code. This means above all, that my save / load system is no longer functional and I have to write a completely new one.

Since also only one person seems to be interested int he program, I will at this point discontinue the development of the program until some further date (which may never come, but who knows).

If anyone wants the latest sources to continue developement himself, he can write me an e-mail and I'll send them over.

Good flight to all of you
Zortiander

[Phoenix]

Well that sucks, no offense but I seem to be the last Spacedock fan...and I don't know how to write code...

[Zortiander]

No offense taken. However, you may have seen that I have developed that project during some time in 2004 and besides Sundowner nowbody has ever written any kind of feedback or the like.

Most people work for money; if you are working for free, you are working at least for the feedback of others. It is not about being told how good one is; it is about having people partake in your work and having people worry about your work. When you are left alone to program what you want and nobody helps you or tries to motivate you, projects tend to die. You might notice that in nearly every post of mine I have asked for feedback, even for ranting. Yet, none came.

This was my main reason to stop the program, as I said before. Aggravating was of course the fact, that I would have had a lot of code to go through and re-write it completely. Talk about needing motivation there. Implementing the custom items system (which I started doing partly) is also a great step; again, talk about needing motivation.

I am sorry if you are left the only one still actively worrying about Spacedock. I am sure that Steve Long is just as sad as you. He did some really great works, and now it seems as if no one is worrying about them anymore, which is sad. I would like to express my thanks for Steve Long at this point again, for all he has done and all the books! Thank you Steve!

However, Phoenix, I'll still monitor this thread, if not the whole forum, so if you want to ask something about Beta 6.2 feel free to ask me.

Have a safe flight and take care
Zortiander

[Captain Otto]

I would like to use the Programm, but i never had the time to fully delve in to the depths of it. Sure, anyone who is not working for monetary profit appreciates at least having positive feedback but any Project i started with your program was cut short without ever been saved or printed.
It is sure to be a handy tool, cutting development time by at least 80 percent. And if i can spare the time i will have another look at your beta version.

Spacedock is one of the most complex and easily comprehensible Starshipdesign Systems i ever encountered (especially if you tried to design a Starship with travelers Fire Fusion and Steel before ) and it would be a shame to see it go like this
So if time permits it i will release some of my own Designs.
Probably someone can use them in his game as well.

[Zortiander]

Hm, interesting.

OK, I have thus strated to spend some time on Beta 7. I will try and at least fix the errors of Beta 6.2. This includes my writing a new save / load system. Please have an understanding for the fact that old saves will no longer be valid, and that I will not have the time to write a converter (which is theoretically possible).

ETA: Next year. Stay tuned, good things may yet happen.

[Zortiander]

An update: I am waiting for the requireed development software, as I no longer have access to the software I once had.

The source remains in Borland, I just have to buy it personally and shipping takes time...

[Sundowner]

Well, just as an FYI, I've been absent from the boards for a bit, but am back and still interesting in the ol' generator Zortiander

Spacedock isn't dead as far as i'm concerned, if i run Trek i use LUG, so Spacedock is a must

I don't know coding i'm afraid, but if i can help out Zortiander let me know how.

Sundowner

[Zortiander]

I am still waiting to get my programming environment. I have re-written the save system entirely, though, already, ere I lost my old PE, so I just to have to cope with the loading system now, which shouldn't be too much of a problem. Now, as far as I can tell, I still have some stuff to do. Please note that I've changed the initital post to reflect that.

[Zortiander]

Ou, as a gooddie, the full change.txt for Beta 7 as of now:

Beta 7
============
ADDITIONS
- "Duplicane Entry" option for shields & missile weapons
- Details for nearly all menue items
- Text printing is finished (might have worked in beta 6.2 too already)
- Added some icons for new visuals (preliminary)
- Added verification of planetfall & atmospherica capability for ship analysis
- Added hints for all items
- Added some icons to cheer up the visuals a bit
- Added "Clear List" entry for all lists
- SU distrbution Overview (general tab)
- Offensive / Defensive capabilities overview (under general tab)
- Checks for minimum ship size now
- Integrated Parser (UPM Module) into the STSC (for custom items)
- Added option to clear all ship data (an empty sheet you get)

FIXES
- fixed being able to delete header line in: aux vessels, all sensors, SIF, Transport
- some internal codes which could produce weird errors in dev mode
- spread not showing for missile weapons
- weird names, if names were in number format (especially warp engines)
- wrong formatting of warp speeds (falsely rounded)
- fixed Beam Weapon table showing poorly

CHANGES
- Impulse Thrusters can now only be equiped on ships with a size <= 5
- All item data is now rounded to 2 numbers instead of 1 only
- Due to Delphi 2005 changes I had to re-write the entire save / load system
- Removed web interfacing due to it not being needed any more
- Removed Jedi codes since they do not work well with Delphi 2005
- UPM structure and codes have changed minorly
- appendix of save file is now "stsc" and no longer "ini"
- program version, save system version, save date and save time is now also saved in ship file
- options are saved in a special directoy
- some item placements in various tables, to improve looks

KNOWN ISSUES
- if reposition the main form, the small windows do not follow immediately
- old save system is no longer valid in the new version. Sorry
- please put the "powerops.ops" file in the "ops" subdirectory for it to be read
- power calculation for MVAM ships does not take into account that only 1 module needs to be
online in combined mode, but always takes all modules as active.
- power calculation does not check for redundancy of multiple modules but sets all modules as online.

PLANNED FEATURES
- Do the help support for menu items, too.
- Full HTML printing and a nicer print template.
- Finishing the help file.
- Race dependant SU allocation (i.e. bridge for Klingons) & availability.

IF YOU WANT TO HELP
- I need graphics / icons etc. which look nicer than what I have now
- I need an HTML template to print into (contact me for details)
- Would be nice if anyone helped writing the help file
- I need people testing this program, telling me where bugs etc. are

[Phoenix]

So where can we find Beta 7?
Also, is there a way to print in Beta 6.2, I'm unable to?

Bug report: Whenever I save a ship, some systems get thrown to wack, SIF comes to mind as being the biggest one. It keeps getting deleated.

[Zortiander]

OK, I'll make a not of those bugs. Beta 7 is in development and not finished. As I said some posts earlier, I am lacking my programming environment atm.

I'll take a look at printing tonight.

[Sundowner]

Okay, just downloaded Beta, the Parser & CIC, will mail them to myself at home and have a play later.

Thanks for keeping with this Zortiander

Sundowner