VGAP4 Assistant

VGAP4 Assistant v1.43

by Rick Glover aka Magik

The VGAP4 Assistant utility is a simple console application that, when run, will perform a series of tasks against exported CSV files from VGA Planets 4. Below is a list of those tasks:

Create more legible CSV files in a separate folder that will be kept for historical data.
Combine other player data into the CSV files when available. This is good for allies to share data outside of the game.
Offer suggestions for building structures, refueling ships, etc.
Create a host script file from the data. This can be useful to create a local test game for games that are hosted elsewhere to “see what happens when…”. This host script can be used in VGA Planets 4 Master (new game universe creation utility) or Diplomat to simulate games. You can also open them for editing/viewing in ScriptZor.
Create a “Big Bang” scenario from the collected data. This puts all ships into the same X, Y coordinates for a big showdown. You will need to collect CSV files from all players to make this accurate. Also collect any wing information from all players if you want to put those in. Run this utility once for each set of CSV files. You can use ScriptZor or edit the script directly with a text editor to create the wings that you have collected from players. I recommend using Diplomat to process the script. Open Diplomat then pull down View | View / Edit Script File. Remove the existing script and copy/paste the BigBang script into the window. Press Save Changes then OK and then the X to close the window. Don’t change anything. Press Run Master and Host. After it is done processing, press Run VCR.

This task also creates wings from existing fighters at bases. High Guard are put onto the wing(s) if there are any at any bases. There is a limit to the size of wings (10000) in the Master.EXE, so if there are more than this many available then multiple wings will be created. Remove these wings from the script if they are not wanted. Look for “Leftovers” in the script.

Compare previous turn(s) data and offer comments.
Import all planets from game map file to correct CSV’s exported information and provide all coordinates of planets and their star type.
Put together a list of scanned hull types to create a hull table that you can use to compare your ships to your enemy’s.

Installation

To install this program, copy the VGAP4Assistant.EXE and QV4Data.EXE files into your VGA Planets 4 installation folder. They can be downloaded from Klingon Kommand. Direct link: here.

Execution

To start the utility, double click on VGAP4Assistant.EXE from the installation folder. An MS-DOS console will open and close. The process is then complete. You should have first prepared the CSV files (see below). Here is what was done:

The CSV data is read into RAM.
A new folder named VGAP4Assistant is created in your installation folder if it didn’t already exist.
A subfolder under the VGAP4Assistant folder is created with a name that is made up of your game’s name and game ID if it didn’t already exist. For example, the path VGAP4Assistant\Greener Recruits_ID48430097 may be created if you have a game with the name of “Greener Recruits” with a randomly generated ID of 48430097.
An optional playerX.cfg configuration file (see below) is read.
The game map file is read if included in the playerX.cfg file and merged with CSV file data. A text file of the map is output into the VGAP4Assistant output folder.
Gather hull information on ships that are in the CSV files. Use that information to set the amount of crew for all ships (since this is missing from the CSV files). A hull table is written to the VGAP4Assistant output folder.
The VGAP4Assistant game folder is scanned for other player data generated by VGAP4Assistant and combined into existing data in RAM, using more accurate data where applicable.
Parse through the data and offer suggestions for bases, ships and planets.
Write out VGAP4Assistant data to its folder.
Compare previous turn(s) data.
Provide turn data analysis using historical data. (Not implemented yet.)
Create a host script file, placing it in the VGA Planets 4 installation folder’s scripts directory. For example, the file scripts\Greener Recruits_ID48430097_Turn16.vps may be created.
Create a host script file for a Big Bang, placing it in the VGA Planets 4 installation folder’s scripts directory. For example, the file scripts\BigBang_ Greener Recruits _Turn16.vps may be created.

How To Get The CSV Files

To export CSV files, simply open the VGA Planets 4 client (PLANETS.EXE), select your slot, player, and press Play Saved File as normal. Once you have the game in view, press the OPT button on the toolbar then press the Make CSV File button. The CSV files and a descriptive text file are immediately written to your installation folder. The files are: CSVInfo.txt, Planet.csv, Ship.csv, Base1.csv, Base2.csv, Base3.csv, Base4.csv, and Base.csv. The Base.csv file is broken up into 4 parts (due to the large amount of data) for you so that it they can open in a spreadsheet program. The VGAP4Assistant utility will not use the extra 4 Base files, but will use all of the others. If you are sharing files with friends then make sure to include the CSVInfo.txt file along with the Planet, Base, and Ship CSV files.

(Optional) Player Configuration File

You have the option of creating a configuration file to provide VGAP4Assistant with data that is not available in the CSV files. That data is:

The number of players in the game and which races they are.
Which players are your allies?
What is your tax setting at?
What map is this game played on?
Which bases would you designate as shipyards?
Which bases would you designate as front-line resupply points?
Which bases would you designate as training bases?
What are the current contraband prices?

To provide this data, create a text file named playerX.cfg where X is your player number in the game. Put this file in the directory created by VGAP4Assistant for your game. For example, I would create a text file named player1.cfg and put it in VGAP4Assistant\Greener Recruits_ID48430097 for my Greener Recruits game on Drewhead’s since I am player 1 in that game. The contents of that file need to be formatted as shown below. This example shows a 15 player game with various examples.

It is recommended that at a minimum, the [players] area be provided. The rest of the data is for the “offer suggestions” portion of the code.

# This file is manually generated by the VGAP4Assistant user. Use the

# instructions for each heading to provide information to the utility.

# Instructions: For players, list the race pack number for each player in

# order so that the first race pack number is player 1, the next player 2, etc.

# Description: This will provide the utility with information about racial

# special abilities of enemies and allow a host script to be generated

# properly.

[players]

109

802

104

102

803

109

111

808

110

810

110

108

808

107

# Instructions: For allies, list the player numbers of those you are allied

# with.

# Description: This will skip attack and defense suggestions against these

# players' ships and bases.

[allies]

# Instructions: For tax rate, place the tax code according to the chart below.

# Chart:

# Ultra Conservative 1

# Conservative 2

# Liberal 3

# Complex 4

# Enslavement 5

# Description: This will provide the utility with information how much income

# you are generated at your bases.

[tax rate]

# Instructions: For shipyards, list the base ID numbers.

# Description: This will generate suggestions to have nearby bases send metals

# to shipyards.

[shipyards]

501

507

514

646

699

# Instructions: For front line bases, list the base ID numbers.

# Description: This will generate suggestions to have nearby bases with

# repair, fuel, and ordnance to send it to the front line bases.

[front line bases]

1512

1637

# Instructions: For training bases, list the base ID numbers.

# Description: This will generate suggestions to have colonists, crew, troops,

# high guard and food/contraband sent to provide a proper training facility.

[training bases]

1665

# Instructions: Enter the file name of the map that this game is played on.

# Description: This will provide information to correct the names of planets

# gathered from the CSV files and to put all planets in that are missing from

# scanned information in the game.

[map]

echo

# Instructions: Enter the contraband prices for the current turn of the game.

# Description: This will provide information to track the return of investment

# on contraband purchases. VGAP4Assistant will assume that any new contraband

# in a base that wasn’t on the planet is purchased contraband.

[contraband]

#Illegal Books

2.95

#VR-6x Holochips

9.84

#Stim-Bright Pills

4.94

#Grecken Blood Wine

12.13

#Emotion Chips

8.47

#Handguns

3.49

#Illegal Music CDs

3.06

#Kerria Crystal Artifacts

13.52

#Lerchin Spices

2.29

#Alpha Wave Floggers

5.33

#Vaggen War Hounds

2.23

#Repterrian Psi-Geese

6.87

Change Log

9/16/2005 v1.43 Changed planet serial numbers to -1 for those that are imported from the game map. Fixed the read_game_map routine so that it reads all planets properly. Changed the directory creation from being an external system() call to an internal _mkdir() call. This cleaned up some of the messages in the output. Implemented code to fix the default base names of “Base Sigma ????” to be “Base Sigma 1212” to match the planet that they are on.

9/12/2005 v1.42 Fixed some issues with the comparison data. Released suggestions to the public.

8/2/2005 v1.41 Fixed some issues with the creation of the Big Bang script.

7/29/2005 v1.4 Added feature to compare previous turn’s data for ships, bases, and planets.

5/30/2005 v1.31 Added support to get race data from v4face2.dll.

5/24/2005 v1.3 Special thanks to Paul Honigmann for making a wrapper to the v4face2.dll file: qv4data.exe. This allowed me to write code to gather hull information and set the ship crew to maximum (ship crew is not included in the CSVs from Planets4.exe). A hull table is written to the VGAP4Assistant output folder, which contains the currently scanned hulls in the game you are processing.

5/24/2005 v1.21 A game map file is now written as a text file to the VGAP4Assistant output folder.

5/21/2005 v1.2 Added in the option to allow the user to tell VGAP4Assistant through the playerX.cfg file which map you are using. This allowed the correction of planet names and adding in missing planets.

5/5/2005 v1.12 “Soil = x” wasn’t documented for host scripts, but was discovered to work by testing. That is now implemented.

4/29/2005 v1.11 Stand-off range, attack plan, weapon switches, attack vector, and attack enemy settings were not being put into the host scripts properly. Fixed.

4/29/2005 v1.1 Added creation of “Big Bang” script to put all ships and fighters from bases into the same location in space.

4/28/2005 v1.0 Public release. Initial version.

Known Issues

Ship’s crew is not available from the CSV files, so all ship’s crew is set to their maximum in the host script.
HD Stress setting of planets is being set correctly in the host script, but isn’t presented in the game with this assigned value.
There is a value in the Planet.CSV file called “starheat”, but it doesn’t look like you can set that in the host script.
There is no way to turn off structures in the host script file.
Ship and Base IDs are put into the host script correctly, but MASTER.EXE assigns its own.
The “Make CSV File” option from the VGA Planets 4 client currently exports any numbers or special characters as question marks (?), so that Mao 3 will be Mao ? in the CSV files.
Shared contact information will not be shared in the host script until you change that race’s setting and run the host again.
There is no way to set alliances in the host script file.
Technology levels in the host script are settings for all players. Settings per player cannot be set. Also, it doesn’t look like you can set the tech levels to the maximum values. You can set them to 10/0/5/5/5/5/7/7/5/5 while the maximums are 13/5/14/10/10/10/20/10/10/10.
If you don’t set the races in the game for any 3^rd party races in the playerX.cfg file then you will get script errors running MASTER.EXE against them.

Todo

Create more elaborate turn comparison CSV files.
Parse the devices in the ship data and list out this information in the hull table.
Parse the base structures data.
Add support for collecting contraband prices and track your purchase/sales.
Convert the tool to a GUI to allow a graphical way to create your playerX.cfg file, and enter tracking information such as which weapons you’ve seen on enemy ships.