The Galactic Almanac User Manual

Script Info Keys Read by the Galactic Almanac MFD Unit

Starting with Beta 1.6 onwards, the Galactic Almanac OXZ supports Script Info Keys which can be used by other OXZs to customise the descriptions given to ships and stations by the Galactic Almanac MFD Unit and to turn off automatic naming of stations.

The MFD will automatically classify any object added by an OXZ as a ship, station, missile, mine, asteroid and so on as appropriate. Planets, Moons and Gas Giants will also be automatically classified. For natural objects (planets, moons, gas giants and asteroids) the MFD will provide information on the object’s composition For ships, stations, missiles and mines the MFD will provide information on the company or manufacturer of the ship or weapons system.

The Galactic Almanac MFD Unit contains an in-built Data Base of all ships and stations released as of the release date of the last Version of the Galactic Almanac OXZ. New ships and stations written after the Galactic Almanac OXZ are supported by the ability to add Script Info Keys specifying the Designer of the new ship or station. These Keys can also be used in Ship Data Overwrites to change the classifications of existing ships and stations.

The Default format for Ships, Stations, Missiles and Mines is the Designer and name of the Designer.

The MFD Unit provides information in the format:

Information on Targeted [OBJECT TYPE]

[OBJECT DATA NAME] : [OBJECT DETAILS]

If no Script Key is specified, then the Object Type will be Ship or Station and the Object Data Name will be Designer. If the Ship or Station is a new one, not included in the Data Base, the Designer will be listed as "No Data Available." If you would like your ship or station to be given a listed designer, you can specify the name of the designer by setting the Object Details with a Script Info Key in Ship Data by setting the script info command for object details as shown below:

"script_info" = { "almanac_mfd_object_details" = "My Custom Company"; };

The MFD will then list the Designer of your ship, station or weapon as "My Custom Company". All three words the MFD displays can be custom set in Ship Data if you wish. For example, if you wished to over-write the defaults, so that your ship appeared on the MFD as "Information on Targeted UFO. Caution: Alien Vessel", set the script info to:

"script_info" = { "almanac_mfd_object_type" = "UFO"; "almanac_mfd_object_data_name" = "Caution"; "almanac_mfd_object_details" = "Alien Vessel"; };

There is no requirement to set any script info commands when designing a new ship or station. The MFD Unit will automatically classify the object if no script info is present.