I'm going to (hopefully) start work today on a new section of the EIS web site dedicated specifically towards technical support for TWGS as well as the earlier v3 Door releases. I've been meaning to do this for well over two months now, but simply haven't had the time to put any serious work into it.

I'd like to hear from established sysops regarding any common problems you've had with TWGS or the door version, or any common problems you've heard of other sysops having so I can put together an online problem resolution FAQ.

Since the support site is specifically meant for sysops and gameops such as yourself, as EIS customers what would you all like to see in a dedicated support section of the site?

All comments are appreciated, and I thank you in advance!

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave

quote:
I'm going to (hopefully) start work today on a new section of the EIS web site dedicated specifically towards technical support for TWGS as well as the earlier v3 Door releases. I've been meaning to do this for well over two months now, but simply haven't had the time to put any serious work into it.

I'd like to hear from established sysops regarding any common problems you've had with TWGS or the door version, or any common problems you've heard of other sysops having so I can put together an online problem resolution FAQ.

Since the support site is specifically meant for sysops and gameops such as yourself, as EIS customers what would you all like to see in a dedicated support section of the site?

All comments are appreciated, and I thank you in advance!

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave


hehe.. I think the online problem FAQ would be great.. most of the problems I've had have been with the Gold Aliens.. so maybe some in depth information on the Gold Alien back end or server would be good.
Also a release schedule (well as close as you can guesstimate).. with a listing of planned bug fixes and features..

Pink

ohh and I just wanted to ask another thing that doesn't really have anything to do with this topic. Since Tradewars comes from a fairly open source background would EIS ever consider once its moved onto a more profitable game or design of course. releasing source code for the game (not twgs mind you) to the community so that we could make more customized games?

pink

quote:
hehe.. I think the online problem FAQ would be great.. most of the problems I've had have been with the Gold Aliens.. so maybe some in depth information on the Gold Alien back end or server would be good.


A detailed examination of the gold aliens and NONPSERV will take a while to work up, but I've got plans to do so after getting the bare bones Support section up and running. Anything else you'd like to see the support site have available?

quote:
Also a release schedule (well as close as you can guesstimate).. with a listing of planned bug fixes and features..


You wish is my command. I posted a tentative release schedule for TWGS/TW here in the Sysop/Gameop forum with a basic overview of what is currently planned to be added/fixed in each of the next 5 revisions. This schedule isn't set in stone yet, but we're going to do our best to stay as close to the preliminary schedule as possible, gamebugs and game stability permitting.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave

quote:
ohh and I just wanted to ask another thing that doesn't really have anything to do with this topic. Since Tradewars comes from a fairly open source background would EIS ever consider once its moved onto a more profitable game or design of course. releasing source code for the game (not twgs mind you) to the community so that we could make more customized games?


I'd guess that if Trade Wars source code was released, it would be quite a ways down the road. At this point there are preliminary plans for beginning work on Trade Wars 2002 v4, and it's highly unlikely that any source code would be released while either v3 or v4 is in development or being supported.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave

quote:
A detailed examination of the gold aliens and NONPSERV will take a while to work up, but I've got plans to do so after getting the bare bones Support section up and running. Anything else you'd like to see the support site have available?

You wish is my command. I posted a tentative release schedule for TWGS/TW here in the Sysop/Gameop forum with a basic overview of what is currently planned to be added/fixed in each of the next 5 revisions. This schedule isn't set in stone yet, but we're going to do our best to stay as close to the preliminary schedule as possible, gamebugs and game stability permitting.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave


Thanks Rave. Lets see anything else well maybe once the support page is done it could have a listing of Game files and what each game file is used for (user info, game settings etc.).. Data structures etc so that 3rd Party Add on modules could be easier to develop.

I've also been very intrested in the Alien AI module and would love to get a copy of the prerelease so that I could begin working on and testing the AI "Scripts". What does it take to get into beta testing and what not? If I'll just have to wait for the release thats fine also but what would it take to get info on how to begin building the Alien AI's?

pink

quote:
quote:
ohh and I just wanted to ask another thing that doesn't really have anything to do with this topic. Since Tradewars comes from a fairly open source background would EIS ever consider once its moved onto a more profitable game or design of course. releasing source code for the game (not twgs mind you) to the community so that we could make more customized games?


I'd guess that if Trade Wars source code was released, it would be quite a ways down the road. At this point there are preliminary plans for beginning work on Trade Wars 2002 v4, and it's highly unlikely that any source code would be released while either v3 or v4 is in development or being supported.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave


Very understandable and I wouldn't want the source released anytime soon (well I would but I understand where EIS would be comming from on this issue) I just think it would be a nice thing to give back to the community in the very far future. Like I said once EIS has moved on to bigger and better software projects. and v3 is just sitting on a shelf collecting dust. -;)

pink

quote:
Thanks Rave. Lets see anything else well maybe once the support page is done it could have a listing of Game files and what each game file is used for (user info, game settings etc.).. Data structures etc so that 3rd Party Add on modules could be easier to develop.


I'm not to sure about this. Trade Wars 2002 isn't really designed to utilize third-party applications. It is possibly to modify data externally... The Mad Hatter is one of the experts at doing this, but without being able to access the game engine itself, making changes to data without using TW's internal file handling is risking serious data corruption.

quote:
I've also been very intrested in the Alien AI module and would love to get a copy of the prerelease so that I could begin working on and testing the AI "Scripts". What does it take to get into beta testing and what not? If I'll just have to wait for the release thats fine also but what would it take to get info on how to begin building the Alien AI's?


The Alien AI code will be in place (for the most part) in .56 but the SDK won't be released until .57 (hopefully). Basically, the new AI system will be unusable in .56. The new AI system is a far leap from the original AI code, and as such needs to undergo some very serious and rigorous testing in-house before it's released. The last thing we want is for a serious corruption problem to be discovered only after the general public starts playing with the AI SDK.

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave
EIS Product Support

quote:
Very understandable and I wouldn't want the source released anytime soon (well I would but I understand where EIS would be comming from on this issue) I just think it would be a nice thing to give back to the community in the very far future. Like I said once EIS has moved on to bigger and better software projects. and v3 is just sitting on a shelf collecting dust. -;)


Epic Interactive Strategy plans to develop and support Trade Wars and possibly some spinoff games based on and possibly expanding the Trade Wars universe, well into the future, so it would most likely and definitely be in the "very far future."

Lisa M. Wilson
aka Rave
EIS Product Support