Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again)

Discussion about reviews and strategies for user created scenarios made for RT3 version 1.05 and earlier.
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OilCan
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Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Attached is a revised beta version of ‘Opar Peninsula’. This is a 1.05V game, started by Brunom in 2012. He posted the first Beta version (see Unfinished Maps). I revised the game based on the beta testers' comments to the first Beta – and I changed/added a few more items.

Player has the choice of achieving Company Book Value, Personal Net Worth, Haulage or all three. Limited track. 3 optional AI. 36 years. I'd really like to know which part of the earth he used for this map; I can't figure it out.

(I recolored the map and it came out blocky - which is frustrating. Windows 10 effect? Not sure. Tried gmp2bmp to pull off the map’s surface color to touch up with a digital editor but ended up with gray colored bmp tile each time.)

Any helpful comments, ideas or suggestions to improve the game would be greatly appreciated.

Note: BETA Version removed April 15, 2016
Last edited by OilCan on Fri Apr 15, 2016 12:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Gumboots
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

The blocky colour business is a 64 bit effect. RT3 doesn't know how to handle 64 bit in the editor, which is a real nuisance.

Welcome to the wonderful world of how-do-I-make-this-map-look-good-when-working-on-a-64-bit-box. Which is one of the things that has stopped me making maps. AFAICT you basically have to apply a satellite shot in one hit, with no touching up afterwards.
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OilCan
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

So, if I used an old laptop with XP windows, I could then recolor in 32 bit? Or is it now forever set as 64 bit? **!!!**
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Dunno. Never tried it. My 32 bit box died ages ago.
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Wolverine@MSU
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

I made a tutorial once (I think it might be on the download site) about how to correct the 64-bit graphics problem. Don't know if it's relevant to this problem.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Wolverine@MSU wrote:I made a tutorial once (I think it might be on the download site) about how to correct the 64-bit graphics problem. Don't know if it's relevant to this problem.
The only tutorial I see on the site by you is your Microdem tut.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Am I not understanding this event correctly?

The theft of track event gives the option to pay $1M to stop further theft. I selected that option and I got hit with a $100,050,000 debit.
Theft.jpg
Shouldn't that effect be Company Cash $-1,050K instead of Company Cash $-100,050K?
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Hey, what's a few zeroes?

Anyway, this tutorial is the one Wolverine is talking about: viewtopic.php?p=27944#p27944
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Hawk wrote:Am I not understanding this event correctly?

The theft of track event gives the option to pay $1M to stop further theft. I selected that option and I got hit with a $100,050,000 debit.
Yeah, but you didn't have to worry about track thieves anymore, did you? ^**lylgh
Ok...I'll fix that.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Wolverine@MSU wrote:I made a tutorial once (I think it might be on the download site) about how to correct the 64-bit graphics problem. Don't know if it's relevant to this problem.
I followed Gumboots link and found your tutorial on page 7 of the thread.
In your 2011 tutorial you recommended the "free HxD editor available at: http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/". Is this still a good choice?

I know nothing about hex editors but will blindly follow your instructions. Any new tidbits of wisdom to add to the instructions before I start stripping out code numbers left and right?
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OilCan
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Wolverine, let me see if I have all the steps right. And, thanks for the tutorial. :salute:

(1) I find a 32-bit version .gmp of my RT3 map which I have never saved with the RT3 editor in a 64-bit windows operating system
(2) I use gmp2bmp to pull off a .bmp image from the 32-bit .gmp
(3) In GIMP, I can repaint, touch-up and/or edit the bmp until I'm happy with the way it looks
(4) Also in GIMP, I convert the bmp to a targa image file
(5) With the Hex editor, I open up the 64-bit .gmp (the blocky color pattern version)
(6) Then I find and delete the "first 18 bytes following the “FF D9""
(7) Next I open the targa image with the hex editor and copy all the targa info
(8) I paste the targa info into the 64-bit .gmp, into the spot where I deleted the information
(9) I save the 64-bit .gmp under a new name and it is ready for RT3
(10) I cannot open & save the newly named 64-bit .gmp with the RT3 editor or else I'm back to square one with a blocky color pattern.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

My !#2bits#! is that you'd probably like this one more: http://www.hexedit.com/index.html

When I was checking out free editors it seemed to be more user-friendly than HxD, and Blackhawk found it was easier to use.

With hex files, you need all the user-friendly you can get. Hex files were designed by sadists to fry your eyes.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

OilCan wrote: Yeah, but you didn't have to worry about track thieves anymore, did you? ^**lylgh
I don't know. When I ended up $99,000,000 in the red I quit the game.

I fixed it on my end and started again, but I'm having a bit of difficulty with this map. I just can't seem to make enough money to get anywhere.
I started in Elenov by buying a textile mill there, then upgraded it and started building rail out of there. It was good for a couple of years then freight payout went to the dogs.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

I believe I found another minor issue. The offer to connect Port Opp to Keveki should be Keveli.
The event is right. It's spelled wrong on the status page.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Well, I got Bronze on this one. I guess I need to try a little harder. :-(
Bronze.jpg
As you can see I selected all 3 medal conditions. I also chose 3 AI's.

I started by building a lumber mill in Limav and waited a couple years to get enough money from that to start building track. I later built a paper mill there as well as building a lumber mill and paper mill in Tikrit.
Later I took the offer to build 5 cattle ranches, bought them and built a meat packing plant in Padin.

I eventually bought out all three AI's but I really didn't build as much track as I needed to.

All the 'got'cha's' like the fever and such sure did hurt the economics (they do seem to pop up a little too often - IMHO :mrgreen: ), but at the end of the day I wasn't aggressive enough to win even Silver, much less Gold.

I may just have to try this one again, but first - some sleep. *!*!*!
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OilCan
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Hawk wrote:Well, I got Bronze on this one. I guess I need to try a little harder.
Your results are extremely helpful to me. I noticed that you chose the hardest options (all three goals and all 3 AI) plus you took over all the AI and on your first try you made it to bronze. That's very informative.

Setting the goals for this map was a difficult target because the game becomes easier if the player chooses a single goal with no AI. In the end, I set the GOLD requirements based on a single goal - so the requirements are fairly high for someone attempting all 3 goals.

Some of the got'cha's are set to trigger randomly and some are fixed to trigger about every 3 years.

Thanks for the feedback! !!clap!!
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

I forgot to mention; I played on medium difficulty level.

I normally don't much care for PNW and/or AI players, but figured I'd try this map with the hardest options, at least hardest for me. :mrgreen:

I was thinking it might be nice to be able to select one, two or all three goal options instead of one or all, but that might be a bit difficult to code. **!!!**
I would have probably chosen just CBV and haulage, but I thought I didn't do to bad on the PNW, for me anyway. ^**lylgh .

Also, once I got over 51% stock in the AI's, I would take over them and issue stock, then buy more stock (while paused of course). Not sure if that was a good idea or not.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

Hawk wrote:I was thinking it might be nice to be able to select one, two or all three goal options instead of one or all, but that might be a bit difficult to code
Yes, it would take a lengthy number of events to enable this. RT3 only allows 4 choices to be displayed per event of which only one choice can be selected. It would take something like a decision tree sequence of events to allow the player to select any one, any two or all three choices.
Sorry, not this time. :-D
Hawk wrote:Also, once I got over 51% stock in the AI's, I would take over them and issue stock, then buy more stock (while paused of course). Not sure if that was a good idea or not.
You have several options, depending on how healthy the AI is and the stage of the game.
Once I have 51%, I immediately take over and buy back all remaining stock to make myself an even larger shareholder. If needed, I take out AI bonds to do this.
As a purely personal preference, I like to manipulate an AI company to reach a market cap of $10M to $15M at which point I then merge with it at double the cost ($20-$30M).
Along the way, I try to keep the AI's dividends as high as feasibly practical. If I can stabilize the AI company between $10-15M, then I let it run for years with high dividends before taking it over.
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

OilCan wrote:
Hawk wrote:I was thinking it might be nice to be able to select one, two or all three goal options instead of one or all, but that might be a bit difficult to code
Yes, it would take a lengthy number of events to enable this. RT3 only allows 4 choices to be displayed per event of which only one choice can be selected. It would take something like a decision tree sequence of events to allow the player to select any one, any two or all three choices.
Sorry, not this time. :-D
I figured as much.
OilCan wrote: Once I have 51%, I immediately take over and buy back all remaining stock to make myself an even larger shareholder. If needed, I take out AI bonds to do this.
I tried that but it kept telling me there was no publicly available stock to buy back. **!!!**
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Re: Opar Peninsula - BETA (Again) Unread post

There may be others out there, but this is the one I use and it looks like it's still available. I don't do much hex-editing so I don't need anything real fancy.
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