Battlestations Utility

[dwr00]

I'm trying to use the battlestations utility to put the golan III into my game, but no matter what I do, it tells me that it can't find the capships.dat file. I put the battlestations files into a folder in my main rebellion folder (like the instructions said), but it still won't work. Altering the battlestations.ini file also has no effect. Has anyone used this utility and can give me some pointers on how to get it to find the right file?

 

PS (the example in the help file that comes with it is pretty much useless).

[the_mask]

useless ?

 

So, let's start with the beginning. Is battlestations in a subfolder of your Rebellion dir (like Rebellion\battlestations\ ) ?

What does your ini file say ?

 

What exactly in the helpfile is it, that you don't understand ?

[Jahled]

Emm...unusual... Mask's helpfiles are some of the most user-friendly/idiot-proof step by step guides available anywhere on the internet.

 

Before I compose one of my 'step-by-step- guides to utilizing this excellent utillity, I am wondering maybe we have an operating-system issue here perhaps? The Battlestations mod is beyond extremely-stupid-user interphase mode.

 

IE: My cat could prevent himself escapeing into hyperspace.

[dwr00]

Ok, this is really bizzarre, but I swear on the Force that it didn't work the last two days, and now, for no reason at all, it suddenly is! I didn't change a thing! You must have done a Jedi Mind Trick.

 

My apologies for calling the help file useless, but in this case, since it didn't address the issue of when you follow the directions exactly and it didn't work, I didn't find it helpful. I guess the solution then is to let it sit a few days and try again....

[the_mask]

* waves a hand at dwr00 *

Mask: "There was nothing wrong with the program, it has always worked."

 

dwr00: "There was nothing wrong with the program..."

 

 

Mind trick ? Aw come on, who would resort to that ?

[Guest Scathane]

Ok, this is really bizzarre, but I swear on the Force that it didn't work the last two days, and now, for no reason at all, it suddenly is! I didn't change a thing! You must have done a Jedi Mind Trick.

 

My apologies for calling the help file useless, but in this case, since it didn't address the issue of when you follow the directions exactly and it didn't work, I didn't find it helpful. I guess the solution then is to let it sit a few days and try again....

Sure...

[Jahled]

When I get home i'll compose a step-by-step guide!

 

It's not a crime not to understand something!

[Guest Scathane]

No it isn't a crime indeed! But, in most cases, when a computer or a piece of software doesn't do the things it ought to do, there's a perfectly sound explanation for it... However, most users tend to explain the problem in question as Listen, I did everything right, I made no mistakes, so my computer's acting silly...

 

Almost always, it's the user, not the computer, who did something wrong...

[dwr00]

Well, I do agree with that assessment, but I have also seen computers do some really strange things in my day that defy all explanation. Perhaps all my computer needed was to be restarted, and whatever issue it was having was sorted out (maybe even though I changed the ini file, it was trying to access a memory cached copy of an older version instead of the new file, etc.) With Windows, you generally can't keep it on for more than 72 hours before things go squirrely, and I do think I had it on for several days when I tried to use the prog the first time.

 

On another note, nothing seems to happen when I try to load the lower pixel count Home One cruiser, while the Eclipse and the Golan III have loaded just fine....

[Guest Scathane]

Well, I do agree with that assessment, but I have also seen computers do some really strange things in my day that defy all explanation.

I've seen humans do things on computers that defy explanation...

[dwr00]

Well, I'm not crazy because it just stopped working again! I didn't change any of the files or anything (why would I, it was working!) Something is definately not right. I guess my golan III will just move very slow. It could just be my computer, or there could be lots of other people out there that never got the guts to ask because they just assumed they were idiots and did something wrong (and then gave up). If it is just my computer, then there is no sense in losing any sleep over it. I'll just make do without it.

[Guest Scathane]

Okay, let's try to to solve it, then. Step by step: what's the problem...

[dwr00]

The problem is that on my system, some days it works, and some days it doesn't work. (BTW, I just tried it again, and it worked). On days that it doesn't work, I just get the standard error message (can't find the capships.dat file). One would think it was just my computer being screwy, but I've never come across any other executable that randomly decided when it would work and when it wouldn't. Maybe it is some subtle interplay between some eccentricity in the program and some eccentricity on my computer. It probably isn't worth looking into, as it will propbably be impossible to lock down. Is there anything you would like me to do on days it doesn't work to help you assess the problem if you want to pursue it?

[the_mask]

Hmm, since I wrote the sourcecode and compiled the battlestations prog, I'm fairly certain, that I didn't make it eccentric.

 

-Are you sure, that you didn't change anything in the Rebellion folder and with the files ?

 

-Do you have an updated virus scanner installed ?

 

-Is anything else behaving weird ?

 

-Is your system running stable ?

[dwr00]

- Yes. The only difference is that the computer was shut off between attempts.

 

-Yes. I run it once a week.

 

-No.

 

-Is Windows ever stable?