VGA Planets programming

Utilities

I have written a few small self-contained VGAP utilities. Source code is included, but note that my Planets toolkit will be needed to recompile most of the packages. (See below for more information.) All these packages are freeware, but please let me know if you find them useful.

The usual provisos apply to all these programs: anything that happens to you or anyone else after, or even before, you use them is your fault, not mine. The program warranty is void in case of nuclear war, whether caused by the program or not.

Addons

Broker (81K) allows ships to be traded between races. (This needs the Planets toolkit if you want to recompile.)

PBuster (61K) allows players to destroy planets. (This needs the Planets toolkit if you want to recompile.)

Renamep (53K) allows players to rename planets they control. (Unlike the only other package that does this, it doesn't require WinPlan.) (This needs the Planets toolkit if you want to recompile.)

Hosts' utilities

HostUFO (61K) provides informational messages to DOS players, who are otherwise unable to view UFOs. It is particularly suited for use with VPA.

RSTMess (58K) adds text files to RSTs, as Planets messages; unlike other similar programs, it does not corrupt WinPlan data.

Planname (36K) writes out a planet.nm file from a text file of planet names, and Plandump (3K) lists planets' names and coordinates in different (user-defined) formats.

Both of these were inspired by Timo Kreike's packages to do much the same job. Naturally I think mine are better.

Stunrace (54K) is a milder version of killrace (for players who've dropped out), which breaks alliances, sets planetary codes to ATT/NUK and ships to kill, but doesn't destroy an empire.

Sanitise (2K) removes homeworld data from map files, preventing unauthorised knowledge of homeworld locations.

Fixmap (3K) ensures that checksums on custom maps are set correctly.

Players' utilities

shipname v0.81 (65K) gives you automatic ship renaming, using customised name lists for each separate class of ship. (This needs the Planets toolkit if you want to recompile.)

Overseer (123K) is a prototype Planets automation utility, allowing pre-defined ship movements and other actions. (This needs the Planets toolkit if you want to recompile.)

General utility

turnno (3K) produces the current turn number of the game, on standard output and as an errorlevel. It's more convenient than getturn, because it doesn't have all the extra text in the output.

Toolkit

I'm currently working on a VGAP Toolkit for DJGPP (75K). This comes in source form, and contains all the functions needed to write player or host utilities. Note that this is not complete - I haven't debugged most of it yet, but it does appear to work. If you want to try it, good luck - you're on your own...

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