Homeworld Cataclysm - Support Unit Bug

[SKARD]

My game is patched to 1.01.

In mission 14 after my MCV docks with the Ragnarok an additional 6 support units are taken up, 3 if using a single Mimic. I retired or scuttles my entire fleet but I can't recover those support units. It happens again in level 16 when a Worker docks with the Clee-San. Another 4 SU are used up by nothing.

I think when the cut scene starts the ship is converted to an allied unit instead of a player controlled unit. Afterward it's converted back and it adds to the support count again. Except the SU were never deducted in the first conversion. So there's no longer a ship that they correspond to.

I tried scuttling the ship just before the cut scene starts to deduct the SU that way. The cut scene froze at that spot with no ship to follow. I had to force the game to close.

[ORCACommander]

is the support count normal in the next mission?

[SKARD]

No, the bugged support is persistent through the rest of the game. By mission 17 there are 7-10 SU that I can't recover because the ships it corresponded to docked during those 2 cut scenes and weren't deducted.

I also noticed that the ships are no longer assigned to a group after the cut scene and that the Mimic needed upgrading. It's like there are 2 separate ships used and both are in my support count but only the second one is accessible.

[ORCACommander]

might wanna try editing the ships out of the persist file

found it for you put this in the root directory of your cataclysm folderwarp.zip

[SKARD]

What is this supposed to do? I replayed mission 14 and the support count is still bugged.

[ORCACommander]

this file controls what mission you start off on with what resources ships and technology provided you start off on that level. to edit this go into notepad. and it is only going to eliminate the bug if you start after mission 14. also homeworld 1 and cataclysm have the unique ability to save mod information into their save files provided its not art assets. so you would literally have to start a new game after mission 14 in order for anything to take effect.

[SKARD]

Oh, I'm starting to see what you mean.

So I edit the file in notepad. Set LevelToWarpTo to 15. Change the resources and the numbers next to the ships for that level to match what I had previously. Then I start a new game.

I'm still missing something though. When starting mission 15 there are 4 new technologies to research. I don't see that this time.
I had 2 Original Destroyers and 4 Ion Cannon Frigates that were given to me in mission 13. How do I add these to the ship list?
None of the ships have the star ranks. Is there a way to edit that in?
Can I start with the ships docked?

Also this looks like it's turning into a lot of effort to recover 3-6 SU. Plus I have to do it again after completing mission 16 to counter the bug in that cut scene.

[ORCACommander]

lol ya bit of effort. if you scroll further down in the file you will see entries for every ship and technology belonging to kith somtaw.
to get those units you will need to use kstandarddestroyer for the revelations class destroyer and kioncannonfrigate for the firelance class frigates
veterancy is lost. no way around this sorry.
in homeworld 2 you could but i am afraid here you may not.

[SKARD]

It's a shame there isn't a way to edit the save. Or actually fix the game to deduct the support count when the ship is removed from player control.

[ORCACommander]

probably a script problem in the map files for the mission. its possible to edit but i do not know how to use mission man or any of the other map editors available.

[SKARD]

I might mess around with it. What file actually contains the data for these cut scenes?

[ORCACommander]

I will have to upload a bunch of tools for you to use since it is unlikely the links for them are still working which will not happen until tomorrow at the earliest i am afraid. iirc all the map data is located within cataclysm and update.big

[ORCACommander]

http://www.gamefront.com/files/?file.../BigViewer.exe
this will disect the big files allowing you to rip out their contents.

.shp files can be edited in wordpad

check out the research station for full tutorials but i will conclude with that the modified files are placed directly inside the main game directory and the fiel structure needs to be preserved. so anything under the internal folder r1 needs to be in an r1 folder in the main game dir

[SKARD]

I'm looking in cataclysm.big - singleplayer\mission 14\resourcesphere_1.missphere where I found a line:
Ships DockMimic,-57249.3,34165.0,0.0,0.0,RACE_SECT,sMimic,0,SPHERE_FORMATION|?|?,0,?,0

Also in singleplayer\mission 16\resourcesphere_1.missphere:
Ships DockMimic,56951.2,12595.3,0.0,0.0,RACE_BEAST,bCruiseMissile,0,CLAW_FORMATION|?|?,0,?,0

At a quick glance I don't see DockMimic in any other missions so I'm guessing this is the event I'm looking for followed by the coordinates where it's triggered. Am I on the right track? Can you explain the rest of it?

[ORCACommander]

you should look at update.big first to work on any updated resources there first.

other thaan that i can not help you. i know nothing about mapping the homeworld genre and absolutely nothing about its scripts

[SKARD]

I checked update.big to see if there were newer versions of the files first.

I grabbed smimic.shp and sworker.shp from race_sect. Then I changed the supportUnits in each to 0. During the 2 cutscenes the Support Count remained unchanged. The files also effected building or retiring those units and linking or unlinking MCVs. So I only used the files when I was ready to trigger the cutscenes and removed them after.

I was hoping to find a command that would allow me to specify the edited files under a different name so the game would switch to them on it's own at the right time.

[ORCACommander]

unfortunately the homeworld engine is very limited. all the ship file names have been hardcoded in