Vega Strike Space Simulation Engine
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# @file : README.md
# @brief : quick repo guide
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Vega Strike is Space Flight Simulator that allows a player to explore, trade, and fight in the vast open space. You start in an old beat up cargo ship, with endless possibilities before you and just enough cash to scrape together a life. Yet danger lurks in the space beyond.
- All of the art assets are original.
- Never before seen ships modelled by the Vegastrike team!
- Astounding soundtrack!
- Multiple Systems
- Entire Sol sector and Vega sector included!
- Fly through huge multilayered asteroid fields
- Explore nebulae where your radar fritzes out
- Jump to other systems at blue jump points with the 'j' key
- Time compression
- Sound effects that make starships roar as they pass and zap as they die
- Bolt weapons with glowing lighting effects
- Cloaking that renders a ship partially/fully invisible
- Customizable fully working HUD with targetting displays, etc
- Customizable Alien Race logos that will change on all starships by editing TerranPriA.bmp and TechPriA.bmp
- Intelligent, Programmable AI
- Encounter epic battles happening in many systems
- The universe is fully dynamic and progresses on its own and independently of the player advancement
- Varied weapons on different starships
- Explosions that literally tear a starship into pieces
- Shields That Glow upon hit (in the location hit)
- Customizable missions
- Stars that fly past as you explore the system
- RAPID collision system that allows no problems with collisions
- BSP Trees that allow one to fly close to a starship, and in the runway of (well formed) models...unlike the victory from WC3.
- the Normal Force which bounces starships off of each other
- Respawn with the ':' key (shift and semicolon)
- Switch Ships with the '[' key
- Joystick support for a full featured joystick
Either install Vega Strike from the binary installer for your platform, if available, or follow the instructions for compiling from source. (Compiling Vegastrike, below.)
- First change settings with
bin/vegasettings - Then run
bin/vegastrikeor double-click on the executable file in the bin directory.
Vegastrike command line parameters allow for different start settings and are as follows
vegastrike [-ddata_dir] [-px,y,z] [-jsector/starsystem] missionname
OPTIONS
-d/my/data/dir
specifies /my/data/dir as the path for finding the vega strike data. De-
fault is /usr/local/share/vegastrike/data
-p1024,2405,1245090101
Forces the player's starting location to be at x= 1024, y= 2405,
z=1245090101
-jgemini_sector/troy
Forces the player to start in the troy system in gemini sector.
missionname
Specifies a mission for vegastrike to run. Default is /usr/lo-
cal/share/vegastrike/data/mission/exploration/explore_universe.mission.Vegastrike takes a single command parameter indicating which mission it should load
bin/vegastrike mission/explore_universe.missionis an example of a valid mission call
the -l flag (must be flushed with the system) will force a player to begin in a star system.
bin/vegastrike -lvega_sector/vega mission/bomber.missionwill force the bomber mission to run in the vega sector
If you encounter any issues while playing, please create an issue with the Vega Strike development team by posting a new issue.
/usr/local/bin/vegastrike
The vegastrike engine.
/usr/local/bin/vsinstall
The Setup utility.
/usr/local/bin/vslauncher
The vegastrike save game and mission selection utility
/usr/local/bin/vegasettings
Internal installer program
/usr/local/share/vegastrike
The vegastrike data files
/usr/local/lib/man/man1
Directory containg the manual files
~/.vegastrike
Directory containing user specific data managed by vegastrike.
~/.vegastrike/vegastrike.config
User-specific configuration file- Install the dependencies. Something like this:
sudo apt-get -y install cmake g++ python-dev libboost-python-dev libboost-log-dev libgl1-mesa-glx freeglut3-dev \
libopenal-dev libsdl-gfx1.2-dev libvorbis-dev libjpeg-dev libpng-dev libgtk-3-devOr on Debian 10:
sudo apt-get -y install git cmake python-dev build-essential automake autoconf libpng16-16 \
libpng-dev libpng-tools libjpeg62-turbo-dev libexpat1-dev libgtk-3-dev \
libopenal-dev libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libsdl1.2-dev \
libavcodec-dev libavcodec-extra libavformat-dev libavresample-dev libavutil-dev \
libavdevice-dev libpostproc-dev freeglut3-dev libxmu-dev libxi-dev \
libboost-python1.67-dev libboost-log1.67-devOr on Ubuntu 20.04:
sudo apt-get -y install git cmake python-dev build-essential automake autoconf libpng16-16 \
libpng-dev libpng-tools libjpeg62-dev libexpat1-dev libgtk-3-dev libopenal-dev \
libogg-dev libvorbis-dev libgl1-mesa-dev libsdl1.2-dev libavcodec-dev \
libavcodec-extra libavformat-dev libavresample-dev libavutil-dev libavdevice-dev \
libpostproc-dev freeglut3-dev libxmu-dev libxi-dev libboost1.67-all-dev-
Build Vega Strike:
a. Use the
vsbuild.shscript in theshdirectory.b. OR configure and compile VS manually, using the ncurses ccmake frontend:
mkdir build & cd build ccmake ../engine # (configure/edit options to taste in ccmake, press 'c' to save the selected options # and press 'g' to update the build configuration files used by the make build tool) make -j $(nproc) # (where $(nproc) returns the number of available CPU threads/cores on the system) mkdir ../bin && cp vegastrike ../bin/ && cp setup/vegasettings ../bin/ && cd ..
c. OR configure and compile VS manually, using the command-line cmake frontend:
mkdir build & cd build cmake ../engine make -j $(nproc) # (where $(nproc) returns the number of available CPU threads/cores on the system) mkdir ../bin && cp vegastrike ../bin/ && cp setup/vegasettings ../bin/ && cd ..
TIPS:
To enable verbose output for debugging purposes (will show compilation commands), pass the
VERBOSE=1argument:make VERBOSE=1
To enable/disable compile-time options with cmake, use
cmake -D<option>=<value>. Example:cmake ../engine -DENABLE_PIE=ON -DUSE_PYTHON_3=ON -DCPU_SMP=2 -DCPUINTEL_native=ON -CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
NOTE:
On some Ubuntu versions and derivatives, a bug exists whereby enabling PIE compilation (Position Independent Executables) results in the
fileutility incorrectly recognising the compiled vegastrike binary as a shared library instead of a position independent shared executable object.The effect of the bug is that vegastrike can still be started from the command line but that it will not be recognised as an executable by GUI file managers such as Nautilus and Dolphin.
To avoid this scenario, turn off this flag by default and let packagers on other distributions turn this on if their OS is able to correctly deal with Position Independent Executables.
For more info, see:
Link to list of dependencies in wiki
If there are any problems with this installation method, please create an issue with the Vega Strike development team by posting a new issue.
If you get compilation issues with the system libboost, download it manually from
here to ./ext/boost/
and run ./sh/vsbuild.sh -DUSE_SYSTEM_BOOST=NO
Currently VegaStrike is not compiling on Windows. Any help will be appreciated to get it fix. For more information go here
Currently VegaStrike is not compiling on MacOS. Any help will be appreciated to get it fix. For more information go here
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Packaging Vega Strike:
After building Vega Strike, then packages can be built using:
make packageMost starships come equipped with a warp drive. Unfortunately they can only be used at large singularities in the space-time continuum. Your computer signals these points by placing glowing blue balls in those areas. Their relative size indicates how small a starship must be to fit through the jump point.
To engage a jump drive, position your ship inside and press 'j'.
Regulations state that starships should be stopped before jumping-- disasters have resulted from starships travelling at any great speed into a jump point.
To travel inside start system, there ships are equiped with the SPEC driver that allow faster-than-light travel. This alows efficient travel between planets and station inside the same star system. To toggle it press 'Shift-A'. To activate auto-pilot, that will handle this automatically, press 'A'.
If you sadly lose your life in combat you may respawn by pressing ':'
A new starship will be created for you by Bob.
If you wish to transfer command to another starship, simply press '[' to switch over. This is useful if you have died and do not wish to call on Bob for help.
Arrow keys- Flight Sim style turning\- Full throttleBackspace- Zero throttle=,+- Accelerate\,-- DecelerateEnter- Fire missileSpace- Fire GunsTab- AfterburnersJ- Engage interstellar warp drive (use at clear blue balls)*, Insert- Spin Right/, Delete- Spin Left~(hold down) - Engage shelton slideY- Match speedT- TargetP- Target nearest to center of screenN- Target enemy targetting youShift-T- Target enemies for your turretM- Change active missileG- Change active gunV- Switch targetting computer mode to navigation mode and then view modeW- Switch left targetting cpuShift-W- Shift weapons computer mode to damage mode:- Respawn (Use after death to recreate your starship)\[- switch ships in battle (use to control allies)F1toggle cockpit/background displayF2- Left cameraF3- Right cameraF4- Back cameraF5-Chase cameraF6- Panning camera (s,a,w,z pan)F7- Target cameraF8- Strange cameraa,d,w,z- Pan ghost cameraF9- Lower music volumeF10- Raise music volumeF11- Lower game volumeF12- Raise game volume
An example mission(this is stored in the test1.mission file)
A mission must begin with the headers:
<mission>
<variables>
<var name="defaultplayer" value="blue"/>
<var name="mission_name" value="4 versus 4" />
<var name="splashscreen" value="bad_guys_vs_good_guys.bmp" />
<var name="system" value="sol" />
<var name="description" value="4vs4.txt" />
</variables>Currently all of these options are ignored except for the "system". it loads sol.system as the star system (which is in XML and stores all present planets)
The only other system included in this beta release is the blank.mission
which has 1 planet, 1 sun and 2 starbases.
After this, comes the actors in the mission, the flightgroups of fighters.
<flightgroups>You must begin the flight group tag as above, and terminate it after all of your flight groups
<flightgroup name="blue" faction="confed" type="nova" ainame="default" waves="8" nr_ships="3">The name will be used later for targetting and offset purposes. The faction is a faction listed in factions.xml (should be self explanatory 0 is neutral 1 is happy -1 is mad) Currently confed and aera are the two active factions. AI must be default in this version as no ohter AI scripts are yet written. nr_ships indicates how many starships will be in this flight squadron.
<pos x="10000.0" y="0.0" z="3000.0"/>This indicates the flight group's position... be sure it is unique
<rot x="180.0" y="180.0" z="180.0"/>
<order order="tmptarget" target="omikron"/>
<order priority="0" order="superiority" target="enemy"/>
<order priority="1" order="bomber" target="omikron"/>
<order priority="2" order="escort" target="blue"/>the rest is in development
</flightgroup>you must end all flight group tags
continue with any other flightgroups... you can have as many as you want from as many named factions are you want...
</flightgroup>
</mission>The AI is completely scriptable, and I have not spent all that long perfecting it. There are included instructions about editing the AI scripts yourself.
Currently there is only 1 AI personality. In the future there will be a method to assign different personalities to different starships.
it's the "default" personality.
2 files are responsible for the control of the "default" personality
default.agg.xml
and
default.int.xml
default.agg.xml means the "aggressive" AI. it controls what it does to aggressively bring its vengeance upon its target.
When editing this file in notepad, you'll notice some tags and various numbers.
The first tag, AggressiveAI has a parameter time="4"
that's how often the AI checks if it should change its strategy. This time can be any integer value... it can revise its plan more often or less often. 4 has been good because most maneuvers can mostly complete in 4 seconds and it's a good time to revise plans
underneath the beginning tag exist a list of tags that describes the logic the AI uses to figure out its next strategy.
there are a number of tags you can specify for the aggressive AI: distance, threat, hull, fshield lshield rshield bshield rand
Each tag asserts if one of the tag-values above is between min and max.
The AI needs to make a CHOICE about what it does next, so it takes a look at the list of tags and determines if any of the assertions is true.
Nested statements mean that BOTH must be true. so you can say "if the distance is at most .5 and the hull is between .25 and .75 by writing:
<distance max=".5">
<hull min=".25" max=".75" script="afterburnerslide.xml">
</hull>
</distance>this means "if the distance is at most half the range of my guns and the hull is between 1/4 and 3/4 of its capacity, then perform an afterburner slide.
It goes down the list of such assertions and chooses the appropriate AI script to run.
The facing and movement tags fill in the gaps where NONE of the list of the assertions are true and the ship is not either turning or moving anywhere:
<facing script="turntowards.xml">
</facing>at the very bottom the </AggressiveAI> must show up to indicate that the AIscript has terminated.
The aggressive.int.xml is written out exactly the same as the aggressive.agg.xml
the difference is that scripts listed here INTERRUPT the current action!
An example from the game is:
<AggressiveAI close=".05">
<hull max = ".5" script="evade.xml">
<threat min=".4" script="afterburnerslide.xml">
</threat>
</hull>
<distance max=".03" script="turnaway.xml">
<!-- distance less than .1-->
</distance>
</AggressiveAI>this says:
If the hull is at most half and someone is threatening me with a 40% chance to hit... then evade and then afterburner slide
OR
if someone is at most .03 of my max range away from me TURN AWAY!
this will interrupt the current progress of any scripts
So that's how to use AI scripts.
If you want to know more about writing actual maneuvers (like turnaway.xml which as you can see is in the directory) please contact me at [email protected]
you need to have a heavy background in vector math.
In this guide, any coding is located in square brackets ([]). Number values may not be accurate.
Step 1 Locate you saved files. (Windows XP: Program files/VegaStrike/Vegastike-0.5.0/.vegastrike-0.5.0/save||||Mac: (disk)>Users>(user)>.vegastrike-0.5.0>saves>(savefile)) Step 2 Open the files using a word document editing program (preferably Notepad++) Step 3 On the first line, you should see something roughly resembling this: [Crucible/Cephid_17^200000.000000^Llama.begin 119990000070.992740 -8999928.351833 -109989999927.749450] On this line, find the numbers surrounded by carets “^”. This is your cash. Change it to what you want, preferably in the high millions. Or possibly even trillions. Go nuts. Step 4 In order for the game not to go mad about this, you need to add this ending:[.000000] Basically, if you have, say a quadrillion cash (1000000000000000) you still need to add .000000 on the end, making it stupidly long. Yes, we know, its annoying. Step 5 Now you need to check if you are using commas or “‘” in your cash. Don’t. Then save the file. .txt files work, however when you see them on the loading screen they end in .txt. Step 6 You’re now richer than a very rich man on International very rich day! Yay!
Step 1 Get your saved file from Guide 1. Step 2 Now, find the cash (numbers in carets “^”). There is a name after this. At the start of the game, it is always “Llama.begin” Step 3 Now you can change this name into any ship you like. However, it must be in the same format. Step 4 Here are some good ships: Goddard.milspec Clydesdale.stock Hyena.stock (Light, weak fighter. Good for getting used to combat with other fighters.) Mule.stock (trader) Step 5 There is a ship list either in the game files or on the internet, check that out for some good models. (remember: add .stock or .milspec on the end!!!! (milspec is only on some specialised ships)) Finally, save the file as before.
This guide was created by Munno 2010-10-08
Submit comments or suggestions by openning and issue
And if you can design some missions it would rock!
https://github.com/vegastrike/Vega-Strike-Engine-Source
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