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Frequently Asked Questions
The Portable Host
Version 3.2.3.3
|
INDEX
Introduction
This file provides answers to many common questions about PHOST. Some of
those questions relate to the game of VGA Planets in general. Questions
from both players and hosts are addressed.
Back to the index
Common Questions
How do I get the latest version of PHOST?
The latest version of PHOST is available at the following official
distribution site:
How do I set up a new game?
For DOS systems, setting up a new game is very similar to doing so
using the original HOST. See the "Hosting
with PHOST" page for more details. For non-DOS systems, there are two
ways to master a new game:
-
Use the PMASTER program that comes with the PUTILS
distribution to master the game on the non-DOS platform that you are using,
or
-
Master the game under DOS then transfer the new files to the non-DOS system.
The first method is the easiest and doesn't require transferring files
from the DOS system to the non-DOS system. The second method allows you
to take advantage of special utilities that exist for DOS only, such as
PLANMAP or VPUTIL, which allow you to customize the initial universe to
a larger degree than what PMASTER allows.
You will also need to set up a configuration for the game. This requires
creating a PCONFIG.SRC file. Your best
bet is to copy one of the PCONFIG.SRC files that comes with the
PHOST distribution and make modifications as desired.
How do I convert a HOST game to PHOST?
Switching hosts in mid-game is not recommended. If you are familiar
enough with the hosting process, familiar with HOST, and familiar with
PHOST, then you know the answer to this question. If not, don't switch.
What's the difference between HOST and PHOST?
What's new in PHOST?
The "PHOST Features" page describes the
new features that PHOST offers over the original HOST program.
The "Changes in PHOST 3" page describes what
has changed between the PHOST 2.x series and PHOST 3.x.
The "Version Changes" page describes the revision
history of PHOST 3 since its initial release.
What files do I need to convert when hosting on a non-DOS
system?
None! PHOST 3 now uses the same file formats on all platforms. You
can simply transfer the files directly from one system to another (unlike
PHOST 2 which required you to use the PCONVERT program). Don't forget to
transfer your files in binary format if you are using FTP for file transfer.
How do I create an alliance?
See the "Alliances" page for full details.
Briefly, you must send a command message (a
message to yourself) with the words:
allies add 5
to offer an alliance to player 5, for example. Use any player number
from 1 to 11. The other player must do the same for the alliance to take
effect. You must then configure which alliance
levels you wish to be in effect. To do so, send a message to yourself
with the words:
allies config 5 +s +p
to enable the Ship Level and Planet
Level of alliance to player 5, for example.
When do alliances take effect?
See the "Alliances" page for full details.
If only one player offers an alliance, then the other player derives no
benefit from this offer until he too offers an alliance to the first player.
The alliance does not take effect until both players have offered alliances
to each other.
Will PHOST work with the Planets 3.5 interface (WinPlan)
?
Yes. PHOST 3 is compatible with WinPlan. The only caveat is that you
must not view PHOST-generated battles with the WinPlan built-in VCR. You
must view them externally from DOS or with a DOS client interface such
as VPA or DOS Planets. For more details on viewing PHOST-generated battles,
please see the Viewing Battles
section of the "Playing with PHOST" page.
Will PHOST be available for the FOO platform?
Only if we can find access to a FOO machine. Since we will not distribute
source code, we can only release object code for machines which we have
access to. Sorry, but there's nothing we can do.
How do I use an ALTLIST with PHOST?
You simply place all non-standard data files in the game directory.
PHOST searches for all global data files in the game directory first, and
if not found, then in the main (root) directory. For example, if there
is a HULLSPEC.DAT file in the game directory, PHOST will use it.
If not, PHOST will look for a HULLSPEC.DAT file in the main directory.
For more details, please see the Alternative
Ship Lists and Maps section of the "Hosting with
PHOST" page.
Can I switch between using PHOST and HOST?
Yes....but no. The basic data files are compatible (planetary data,
ship data, etc.) but recent HOST features such as ion storms, locking alliance
codes, etc. make use of files that PHOST does not use. For this reason,
it is recommended that you do not switch between using HOST and PHOST on
the same game.
Can I use VPHOST with PHOST?
Yes. VPHOST should work correctly with PHOST, as far as file-level
compatibility is concerned. Note, however, that VPHOST processes TRN
files on its own and removes them before PHOST has a chance to see them.
Therefore, you need to use PHOST's -V flag to tell PHOST to look
for ORG files instead of TRN files (VPHOST makes a backup
of the TRN files to the same files but with the extension ORG).
For more details, please see the Hosting
with VPHOST section of the "Hosting with PHOST"
page.
Can I use PHOST with add-on programs?
What are all of the special friendly codes? Which ones
are registered-only codes?
Here is a current list of special friendly codes for both planets and
ships. A brief description is provided for reference. The Registered
Only? column indicates whether this code is only usable by registered
players. Note that this list contains only the friendly codes recognized
by PHOST. There are many many friendly codes in use by add-on programs
and such.
Note that the
universal minefield friendly code mfX is not considered
to be special and will match ship friendly
codes.
FC |
Planet or Ship |
Registered Only? |
Description |
mkt |
Ship |
Yes |
Build torpedoes in space with minerals + megacredits |
mdh |
Ship |
Yes |
Drop only half of your torpedoes when Mine Laying |
mdq |
Ship |
Yes |
Drop only one quarter of your torpedoes when Mine Laying |
msc |
Ship |
Yes |
Scoop up your mines and make torpedoes when Mine Sweeping |
alt |
Ship |
Yes |
Alchemy ships only manufacture Tritanium |
ald |
Ship |
Yes |
Alchemy ships only manufacture Duranium |
alm |
Ship |
Yes |
Alchemy ships only manufacture Molybdenum |
NAL |
Ship |
No |
Alchemy ships do not perform their alchemy function |
HYP |
Ship |
No |
Hyperwarp-capable ships perform a hyperjump |
NTP |
Ship |
No |
In combat, the ship will not launch fighters or torpedoes |
ATT |
Planet |
No |
Planets with this code will attack ships in orbit |
NUK |
Planet |
No |
Same as ATT but fuelless ships are attacked too |
mdN |
Ship |
Yes |
Drop only 10*N mines (100 when N=0) when Mine Laying |
miN |
Ship |
Yes |
Lay mines belonging to race N when Mine Laying (N=1..9,a,b) |
WRS * |
Ship |
No |
Scan for wormholes |
WRT * |
Ship |
No |
Travel through a wormhole |
lfm |
Ship |
No |
Load minerals necessary for fighter building |
dmp |
Planet |
Yes |
Starbase will recycle all components in storage |
bdm |
Ship |
Yes |
Ship will beam down all credits to a planet if in orbit |
gsN |
Ship |
Yes |
Give a ship to player N (N=1..9,a,b) |
nat * |
Ship |
Yes |
Alchemy ships build Duranium and Molybdenum, no Tritanium |
nad * |
Ship |
Yes |
Alchemy ships build Tritanium and Molybdenum, no Duranium |
nam * |
Ship |
Yes |
Alchemy ships build Tritanium and Duranium, no Molybdenum |
cln |
Ship |
Yes |
The ship with this code will be cloned |
btt |
Ship |
No |
Transfer torpedoes to enemy ships with the same torp type |
btf |
Ship |
No |
Transfer fighters to enemy ships with bays |
btm |
Ship |
No |
Transfer money to enemy ships |
bum |
Planet |
No |
Beam up money to enemy ships in orbit |
pop |
Ship |
No |
Ships with glory device will explode unconditionally |
trg |
Ship |
No |
Glory device will explode if enemy cloaked ship is detected |
con + |
Planet |
No |
Send the PCONFIG.SRC file in the UTIL.DAT file next
turn |
nbr |
Ship |
No |
Priv/Crystal ships can tow without capturing fuelless ships |
PBn |
Planet |
No |
Set priority order of base in build queue |
The * beside a friendly code indicates
that it is specific to PHOST. |
The + beside a friendly code indicates
that it functions differently from HOST. |
WinPlan crashes when I try to view my battles! How do
I use PVCR with WinPlan?
I get errors when trying to build the Linux PHOST distribution.
The Linux operating system is in a transition from a.out binary
file formats to ELF formats. PHOST is currently compiled using ELF formats
so if your system is still using a.out formats you will need to
upgrade your system to the newer ELF format.
How do I host a game with custom race assignments (SRACE
game)?
There are two configuration options that allow you to host a switched-race
game: PlayerRace and MapTruehullByPlayerRace.
PlayerRace defines a mapping
between player number and race number. Normally, this is a mapping that
you've never had to worry about. Player #1 was the Federation (Race #1),
Player #2 was the Lizards (Race #2), etc. The PlayerRace
config option makes this mapping explicit and allows you to change it.
For example,
PlayerRace = 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11
is exactly the mapping of a "normal" game, i.e., Player #1 is the Federation,
Player #2 is the Lizards, etc.
But with this mapping:
PlayerRace = 5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5,5
all 11 players are now playing the Privateers! A final example:
PlayerRace = 3,3,3,3,3,12,8,8,8,8,8
In this example, players 1 through 5 are playing Birdman races, players
7 through 11 are playing Empire races, and player 6 is given no racial
abilities (the race number of '12' indicates 'no race').
For more information, please see the Non-Standard
Race Assignments section of the "Hosting with
PHOST" page.
The second option to consider is
MapTruehullByPlayerRace.
NOTE: This option should
only be enabled if all players in a game are using VPA.
This config option determines the list of ships that each player can build.
Normally, you would want the list of available ships to match the race
that a player is playing. This is achieved by setting MapTruehullByPlayerRace
to Yes.
Setting MapTruehullByPlayerRace
to No disassociates the race that a player is playing from the list of
ships that he can build. The host must modify the TRUEHULL.DAT
file to give each player a custom list of ships that he can build.
NOTE: If any players are playing without racial abilities (i.e.,
PlayerRace is set to 12 for that player) then MapTruehullByPlayerRace
MUST be set to No.
For those with a good understanding of ship lists and the purpose of
the TRUEHULL.DAT file, MapTruehullByPlayerRace is understood
simply by the following:
-
With MapTruehullByPlayerRace set to Yes, TRUEHULL.DAT
is indexed by race number as set by PlayerRace.
-
With MapTruehullByPlayerRace set to No, TRUEHULL.DAT
is indexed by player number with no regard for the setting of PlayerRace.
What is the PHP Abyss? Why did my ships not move and
my mines and factories not produce anything? How can I avoid this?
The PHP Abyss is the PHOST version of the Tim Continuum. It is a method
of preventing two (or more) players from using the same registered copy
of the client program in the same game.
The effects of the PHP Abyss are different from the Tim Continuum (TC).
While the TC causes ships to be flung to the remote reaches of the galaxy,
the PHP Abyss thinks this is a bad idea since it a) causes flung ships
to act like scouts, letting them see parts of the universe they would not
normally see, and b) limits the options of hosts. If the TC strikes an
honest player (as is the case in 99% of all TC incidents) then the host
may wish to re-run the turn. But due to the scouting effect, the affected
player has gathered information that cannot be given back.
Instead, the PHP Abyss "freezes" the player's actions for that turn.
His ships will not move. His factories will not produce supplies, his mines
will not extract minerals, his colonists and natives will not pay tax.
It's as if the player picked up a "Lose A Turn" card.
The most common cause for a strike by the PHP Abyss is one person playing
multiple races in the same game, but doing so incorrectly. In team games,
especially, when one player submits a turn for another player, great care
must be taken or the PHP Abyss will strike.
To successfully submit turns for multiple races in the same game, follow
these rules:
-
Unpack all RST files from the same game into a single subdirectory.
-
When you run MAKETURN, multiple TRN files will be generated. Submit
all of these TRN files as a group.
DO NOT do the following:
play the turn for player1 |
WRONG! |
run MAKETURN and submit the TRN for player 1 |
play the turn for player 2 |
run MAKETURN again and submit the TRN for player 2 |
DO follow these steps:
play the turn for player1 |
Right! |
play the turn for player2 |
run MAKETURN |
submit the TRN files for player 1 and player 2 |
If you need to go back and change some orders after you submitted both
(or all) TRN files, submit all of the TRN files
again after running MAKETURN.
In summary, always do everything as a group. Unpack all the RST
files as a group in the same directory. Run MAKETURN and submit all of
the TRN files as a group. Always.
Back to the index
Bugs - Real and Otherwise
Why did my fighters/torps disappear?
This is a bug in the DOS Planets 3.0 client program. If you transfer
fighters/torps from one ship to itself, then your fighters/torps will disappear.
This may also happen when transferring fighters to a torp ship or vice
versa. PHOST will attempt to correct for this bug by returning fighters/torps
to the original ship.
Why did my ship run out of fuel? DOS Planets said the
ship would arrive at this planet with exactly 0 fuel but the ship ran out
of fuel before it arrived.
The fuel consumption formulas used by the original HOST and the existing
client programs are not exactly known. PHOST must approximate the fuel
consumption (see the "Detailed Operation" page).
Therefore, it is possible (though unlikely) that your client program may
tell you that you only need a certain amount of fuel to get to your destination
but in reality PHOST may require more. HOST sometimes also requires more
fuel than the client programs predict.
It is very very unlikely that PHOST is to blame for your ship running
out of fuel (but if it is, please send a bug report to the PHOST bug reporting
address). Some other things to consider are:
-
Did your ship try to cloak? Remember that fuel is removed from a ship prior
to movement if the ship is cloaked.
The UseAccurateFuelModel
configuration option uses a different formula for calculating fuel consumption.
In the majority of cases, this formula will lead to lower fuel usage
than what the client programs predict. There are some cases however (e.g.,
low mass ships or short distances) in which the actual fuel consumption
is higher than what the client programs predict, and your ship may
run out of fuel. If the UseAccurateFuelModel
configuration option is enabled, you must invest the time and energy to
learn and use the fuel consumption formulas in the "Detailed
Operation" page.
PHOST reported that a minefield was 999 LY away but
this isn't true
PHOST only reports summary messages for minefield scans. That means
that no matter how many ships scan a certain minefield, you will only receive
one message about that minefield. Since this message is a summary, it does
not make sense to report distances to ships since more than one ship may
have scanned this field. Thus, the distance is reported as 999 (since some
utilities expect to see a number in this position in the message). The
minefield's co-ordinates and radius are always reported correctly so this
distance information is not really necessary.
PHOST reported that a wormhole was 999 LY away but this
isn't true
As for minefields, PHOST only reports summary messages for wormholes.
The same reasoning applies here as for minefield reports above.
Why do VPUTIL and WinPlan crash when I try to watch
my battles?
You should not view your battles using VPUTIL or WinPlan. VPUTIL does
not call the VCR program but instead calls VPVCR which bypasses PVCR's
auto-detection mechanism. Thus, the old VCR program is passed PHOST-generated
battle information, which is not a good thing. Similarly, WinPlan does
not allow PVCR to handle the VCR file and is not able to properly display
the PHOST-generated battle.
You can use the DOS Planets or VPA client programs to view your battles.
Note, too, that you can view your battles without starting a client program
at all. Typing the following:
vcr -s -p 5 gamedir
for example, will view all battles for player 5 in the directory gamedir.
Also see Common Question #16 above.
Why can't I see these enemy ships on my viewer? DOS
Planets says they are out of scan range but they clearly are not.
The DOS Planets 3.0 program has an internal limit of 50 enemy ships.
If more than 50 enemy ships are scanned in a given turn, then the excess
ships have only their position, owner, and mass reported and the client
program reports that they are out of scan range (showing only the position,
owner, and mass).
PHOST has an option, AllowMoreThan50Targets,
which controls whether or not the number of ships listed in the RST
file is limited to 50. When this option is on, all enemy ships within scan
range have full information reported, but DOS Planets will crash if you
attempt to use this RST file directly. You must use an external
utility, such as VPUTIL and/or VPUNPACK, which can correctly handle more
than 50 scanned enemy ships. The original UNPACK utility will not
work if AllowMoreThan50Targets is enabled.
What happened?! All my starbases disappeared, ships
are in the wrong place, everything is wrong!
If you've enabled AllowMoreThan50Targets
and are not using a program that can handle these extra targets,
you may experience very strange behavior in DOS Planets. Note that the
UNPACK program that comes with DOS Planets cannot handle
more than 50 targets and must not be used if the AllowMoreThan50Targets
option is on. You must use a utility like VPUTIL 3.0 and higher or VPUNPACK
3.0 and higher to unpack your RST file.
Why does PVCR show this ship as sustaining 10% damage
but when I look at it in Planets, it only has 8% damage?
Did the ship have supplies? If so, remember that ships repair themselves
with supplies both before and after combat.
Why does my ship show up as having no damage when in
fact it has 1% damage?
This is a bug in the DOS Planets 3.0 program. When a ship has 1% damage,
DOS Planets shows it as having no damage.
Why am I getting all these warnings saying my host data
is bad?
Two reasons: you're either using a computer player or you're using
PHOST to take over a HOST game in-progress. Computer players are notorious
for cheating but PHOST won't let them cheat. And since current computer
players modify host data files directly, their actions will sometimes show
up as inconsistencies in the host data and will be flagged (and corrected)
by PHOST. If you are running PHOST on a game that has been using HOST,
then you may also find some inconsistencies in the host data files simply
because HOST does not always "tidy up" after itself.
Why can't I tow/transfer to/intercept/etc. this ship?
PHOST gives me a yellow alert and says that it's impossible.
To prevent cheating, PHOST makes sure that you can actually "see" the
ship you are trying to tow/transfer to/intercept/etc. For interceptions,
for example, PHOST remembers whether or not the ship you are trying to
intercept was visible to you on the previous turn. If it wasn't (it was
cloaked, perhaps) then you are not allowed to intercept it. The previous
turn's ship visibility information is stored in the file AUXDATA.HST.
If this file is somehow corrupt, you may experience yellow alerts.
Why did my ship fail to cloak?
Your ship may have failed to cloak due to not having sufficient fuel,
having too much damage, or because of cloak failure. If the CloakFuelBurn
config option is greater than 0, then your ship needs a certain amount
of fuel at the start of a turn for cloaking to succeed (see the "Detailed
Operation" page). This fuel is consumed immediately before the movement
phase. If you finish a turn with 0 KT of fuel, then you uncloak. Similarly,
if you suffer damage during a turn, possibly due to mine hits, then you
uncloak if your damage exceeds the DamageLevelForCloakFail
config option.
Note that a bug in the DOS Planets 3.0 program (see Common
Bug #9 above) shows ships with 1% damage as actually having no damage.
Thus, your ship may be prevented from cloaking because it has 1% damage
but this damage is not seen in DOS Planets.
Finally, all cloaking missions (including Super Spy) suffer a random
chance of failure on each turn (configured by the CloakFailureRate
config option).
Why did my ship, which was undamaged, enter battle with
discharged beams and tubes?
A bug in the DOS Planets 3.0 program (see Common Bug
#9 above) shows ships with 1% damage as actually having no damage.
It is possible that your ship appears undamaged when in fact it has 1%
damage, hence the initially discharged beams and tubes in battle.
I'm using the Starbase+ add-on and I get an error message
when the starbase program runs.
The Starbase+ program requires the presence of a HCONFIG.HST
file in the game directory. Since PHOST uses a PCONFIG.SRC
file and does not use or create an HCONFIG.HST file, Starbase+
won't run properly. Use the HCONFIG program that comes with HOST 3.2 to
create a dummy HCONFIG.HST file in the game directory. The configuration
should match the PCONFIG.SRC configuration in all minefield-related
items (such as sweep rate, sweep range, etc.)
Why did my ship not fight the enemy ship?
There are several reasons why a battle that you think should have happened
did not happen:
-
The enemy ship was out of fuel
-
The enemy ship matched your friendly code. If you have a habit of setting
your friendly code to the same thing, or if you set them in patterns, after
capturing some of your ships your enemy may have guessed your friendly
code correctly. Also, with the friendly code ordering of HOST 3.2, only
completely-numeric friendly codes determine battle order. Thus, it is natural
to set your ships' friendly code to numbers like 001, 002,
etc. to determine their order. If you enemy does the same thing, you will
have matching friendly codes. It is best to use more random numbers such
as 153 and 257 to determine battle order. Even then,
there's a 1 in 1000 chance of matching. It may not sound like a significant
probability but...it can happen. Note, too, that PHOST allows you to use
negative friendly codes, for example -35. See the "Order
of Battle" page for more details.
-
Neither one of the two ships had beam weapons. In HOST, if both ships have
no beam weapons, then they will not fight, even if they have torpedoes
or fighters. This is not true in PHOST; two ships will fight even if they
have no beam weapons.
-
Did you remember to set a Kill mission or the correct primary enemy?
-
Remember that planets don't attack ships unless this is enabled in the
configuration. Also, the Rebels and Klingons may be made immune to planet
attacks by special configuration options. And if the Imperial Assault mission
is enabled, the Super Star Destroyer is also immune to planet attacks.
There's a ship listed by Informer and I can lock on
to it in the starchart but it's not visible/I can't intercept it/it doesn't
belong to any race/etc.
This is a common occurrence when using the Jumpgate add-on and DOS
Planets. Sometimes, ships known as "Alien Marauders" will come out of jumpgates
along with other ships that travel normally through them. The Jumpgate
add-on maintains these ships with an owner race of 12, but the DOS Planets
program was only designed to work with races of 1 through 11. Thus, these
alien marauders are not displayed properly. As a result, the Jumpgate add-on
cannot be used (easily) with the DOS Planets client.
Why did I get a red alert when I submitted my TRN? It's
only the first turn of the game and I'm not cheating!
Is your game using an alternative ship list or a custom planetary map?
If so, make sure you've followed your host's instructions regarding the
setup of the custom data files. Otherwise, if you are using one ship list
and your host is using another, then when you build a ship it will cost
a different amount from what PHOST thinks it should cost, and the difference
in minerals and money is what triggers the red alert. Similarly, if you
are using the wrong universe, a red alert will occur when you beam things
on or off the planet, since PHOST will wonder how it is that things can
move from one place (the planet) to a different place (your ship).
I'm trying to cancel a build order from my starbase
but the build order keeps showing up next turn.
Both MAKETURN and WinPlan exhibit this problem once the 500-ship limit
has been reached (when used with HOST 3.2). Under DOS, the solution is
to use VPUTIL or VPMKTRN to compile your TRN files. There is currently
no known solution under WinPlan using HOST 3.2.
When PHOST is used, however, WinPlan users will be able to cancel their
build orders. MAKETURN, however, will still not work. VPUTIL or VPMKTRN
should be used for DOS Planets players.
I'm playing in a game with Jumpgate/Asteroids and I
can't see any UFO's.
In DOS Planets, I can't scan my own ships. I know they
are there but they do not show up in the display window.
DOS Planets has an internal limit to the number of objects it can display
in the display window. Objects exceeding that limit are simply not shown.
Use an external viewing program such as Informer, EchoView, Crystal Ball,
etc. to view these ships.
Back to the index
This document is maintained by The
Portable Host Project (phost@gmx.net).
Last updated 12 May, 2001