[Original Game] Microbes!

[_wb_]

Just tried Microbes 2, level 3 on "Very Hard" (build while paused allowed). On the third try I completed the level with 27/30 lives left.

Warning: game hints ahead (hidden behind the spoiler), don't read if you want to find out yourself!

Spoiler

I blocked two of the three destinations and focused on defenses for the remaining one (the bottom one), while of course keeping an eye out for berserkers and the nasty go-through viruses. I also tend to use lots of dendritic cells as soon as a basic defense is established because they provide boosting, healing, multi-attack, learning dmg bonus, and... (pro-tip!) anything can go straight through them (which is a mixed blessing), so you can actually build them in positions that would block the only remaining microbe path (you have to assign a keyboard shortcut to them to build them directly though, because its ancestors cannot be built in such spots).

A list of level difficulties would be great! Is there someone fluent in Perl or other scripting languages? It should be possible to automatically extract such a list from the information in appdata/microbes/levels/*/scores*

 

[b_o_b]

I actually try not to read any hints and tips or strategies regarding solving levels for any game I enjoy (unfortunately I don't have the ability to unread ). Part of the fun and longer appeal of a game is finding out the best strategy and use of additional (hidden) features. Knowing it is possible to beat a level on a certain difficulty is enough info. 

 

[_wb_]

Oops, sorry to reveal too much - I added spoiler tags to make it easier for others to not read those hints...

 

[b_o_b]

No problem _wb_, only read the first few words of the explanation. 

Working with the spoiler option is a good idea, thanks. I am sure other people do want to read those hints. I like to be ignorant as long as possible

 

[sswam]

hey _wb_ open the spoiler!!

Spoiler

"you have to assign a keyboard shortcut to them to build them directly though, because its ancestors cannot be built in such spots"

wtf, how do you do this - and isn't that cheating?? I thought we have to go through the steps, build via ancestors

 

[_wb_]

Spoiler tags because advanced power player stuff is discussed, which you may want to discover yourself...

Spoiler

"you have to assign a keyboard shortcut to them to build them directly though, because its ancestors cannot be built in such spots"

wtf, how do you do this - and isn't that cheating?? I thought we have to go through the steps, build via ancestors

You build a unit (say, Dendritic Cell) once, and when it's selected you press a key that has not been assigned to any shortcuts yet, e.g. "D". From then on, if you press "D" on an empty spot and have enough energy, it'll directly build a dendritic cell, without having to go through the upgrades. To unassign the shortcut you just press "D" again when a dendritic cell is selected.

There's a small penalty though: it can be a bit more expensive in terms of energy to build units this way, because the total energy cost gets rounded up a bit versus what you would pay when you build it in steps. The difference is usually small though.

It's not cheating, it's an advanced power player feature

(OK, I admit, I just forgot to implement a check to see if building via ancestors would actually be possible, so in a sense you could argue that this is a bug and "exploiting" it is cheating, but I gave it some thought and actually like it this way, a.o. because it means that the keyboard shortcuts are not just yet another input method, but actually make a difference - which means this game really uses all Pandora inputs: dpad, action buttons, two nubs, shoulder buttons, full keyboard, and touch if you want that.)

Also, if you have assigned shortcuts, you can use them in the level editor in case you would like to make levels where you already have some units on the map from the start.

 

[bzar]

Just got to the first level with cancer. I thought I had it all under control until a sudden swarm of berserkers took out my quick response cancer-killers and they had time to multiply. After that I had NO chance of stopping it whatsoever. Awesome ! Easily one of my favorite games on pandora at the moment.

 

[graupelschauer]

I had a crash on one of the first levels. I guess it is the same crash that someone else mentioned a few pages ago. pnd_out attached, hope it helps.

Spoiler

=======================================================================================

PND : /media/PANDI/pandora/menu/microbes1.0c.pnd
PND_FSTYPE : Squashfs
APPDATADIR : /media/PANDI/pandora/appdata/microbes
APPDD_FSTYPE : vfat
PND_CPUSPEED :
EXENAME : run
ARGUMENTS :
=======================================================================================
[ START ]--- Mount the PND ----------
Mounting : mount -t squashfs -o ro "/dev/loop0" "/mnt/utmp/microbes"
Mounting the Union FS : mount -t aufs -o exec,noplink,dirs="/media/PANDI/pandora/appdata/microbes=rw+nolwh":"/mnt/pnd/microbes=rr" none "/mnt/utmp/microbes"
[sUCCESS]--- Mount the PND ----------
[ START ]--- Starting the application (run ) ----------
Copying levels to appdata
Initializing SDL...
omapsdl: opened tslib touchscreen
omapsdl: in_evdev: found "keypad" with 84 events (type 00100013)
omapsdl: in_evdev: found "gpio-keys" with 16 events (type 00000023)
omapsdl: skip /dev/input/event5 as ts
omapsdl: found 3 evdev device(s).
omapsdl: detected 800x480 'lcd' (0) screen attached to fb 1 and overlay 1
OK.
Setting video mode: 800x480x32...fbdev: /dev/fb1: 800x480@32
fbdev initialized.
xenv: X vendor: The X.Org Foundation, rel: 10704000, display: :0.0, protocol ver: 11.0
xenv: display is 800x480
OK
Found joystick nub0
found left nub!
Found joystick nub1
found right nub!
10 level packs
Save file version 1.030000
Name: ""
Level pack Self-made levels: max lvl=100
Level pack Tutorial: max lvl=3
Level pack Microbes: max lvl=0
Level pack Microbes 2: max lvl=0
Level pack Microbes 3: max lvl=0
Level pack Gadgetoid: max lvl=0
Level pack Askarus: max lvl=0
Level pack Sean: max lvl=0
Level pack b_o_b: max lvl=0
Level pack Pandora: max lvl=0
Done loading settings.
Loading menu bg
Loading menu bg OK
Init menu
Loading done
Initialization complete
frames:1000 in 38403 ms (26.04/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 0 enemies
dropped 2/1000 frames (0.20%)
frames:1000 in 37820 ms (26.44/30 FPS), menubg: 6 enemies / game: 0 enemies
frames:1000 in 32518 ms (30.75/30 FPS), menubg: 6 enemies / game: 0 enemies
frames:1000 in 33767 ms (29.61/30 FPS), menubg: 5 enemies / game: 0 enemies
dropped 29/1000 frames (2.90%)
frames:1000 in 34973 ms (28.59/30 FPS), menubg: 1 enemies / game: 0 enemies
frames:1000 in 33010 ms (30.29/30 FPS), menubg: 1 enemies / game: 0 enemies
frames:1000 in 33920 ms (29.48/30 FPS), menubg: 2 enemies / game: 0 enemies
frames:1000 in 32952 ms (30.35/30 FPS), menubg: 2 enemies / game: 0 enemies
dropped 1/1000 frames (0.10%)
frames:1000 in 33921 ms (29.48/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32777 ms (30.51/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32786 ms (30.50/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32817 ms (30.47/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32786 ms (30.50/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32780 ms (30.51/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32767 ms (30.52/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32818 ms (30.47/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32789 ms (30.50/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32762 ms (30.52/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32847 ms (30.44/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32831 ms (30.46/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32779 ms (30.51/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32756 ms (30.53/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32785 ms (30.50/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32786 ms (30.50/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32759 ms (30.53/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32806 ms (30.48/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32815 ms (30.47/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32792 ms (30.50/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32821 ms (30.47/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32828 ms (30.46/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32811 ms (30.48/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32844 ms (30.45/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32815 ms (30.47/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32814 ms (30.47/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32787 ms (30.50/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32822 ms (30.47/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32794 ms (30.49/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32864 ms (30.43/30 FPS), menubg: 4 enemies / game: 1 enemies
frames:1000 in 32807 ms (30.48/30 ./run: line 50: 2050 Segmentation fault ./microbes

real 43m5.858s
user 14m33.688s
sys 0m36.555s
[sUCCESS]--- Starting the application (run ) ----------
[ START ]--- Restoring the frame buffer status ----------
[sUCCESS]--- Restoring the frame buffer status ----------
[ START ]--- uMount the PND ----------
[ START ]--- Waiting the Union to be available ----------
[sUCCESS]--- Waiting the Union to be available ----------
auplinklink.c:223: AUFS_CTL_PLINK_MAINT: Inappropriate ioctl for device
rmdir: failed to remove `/mnt/utmp/microbes': Device or resource busy
[ START ]--- Waiting the PND mount dir to be free ----------
[sUCCESS]--- Waiting the PND mount dir to be free ----------
cleanup done
[sUCCESS]--- uMount the PND ----------
=======================================================================================
Return code is : 1

 

[_wb_]

I had a crash on one of the first levels. I guess it is the same crash that someone else mentioned a few pages ago. pnd_out attached, hope it helps.

Not much in the pnd_out except that it segfaulted for some reason. Also, it looks like you paused the game for quite a while, because only 14 mins of cpu time were used while the session lasted 43 real mins, and in-game it would be close to using 100% cpu (depending on your clock speed and graphics detail setting).

If you can somehow reproduce the crash, that would be great. Or maybe you remember what you did just before the crash? (did it crash in-game, in the menu or help screen, while building something, did you just die or win? what controls do you use to play? do you use build-while-paused? do you use build confirmation (positioned building)? etc. etc.)

These Heisenbugs are hard to debug - if I can't make it crash myself, I can't figure out what is causing the crash - so all help is welcome. Thanks for the report, and if you or anyone else has some clues to help me find the cause, I'll gladly squish the last bugs

 

[Linux-SWAT]

The lastest release crashes under Slackware :/.

 

[_wb_]

The lastest release crashes under Slackware :/.

Strange, nothing has really changed for the last few releases afaik. Does it crash at startup, or when? Does it segfault or does it give some fatal error? Could you recompile with -ggdb (just go to src/, modify the Makefile and do "make") and give me a backtrace with gdb?

 

[Linux-SWAT]

Segfault at startup after the beef.

Ok i'll see.

 

[b_o_b]

Would it be possible to play Microbes on my Linux desktop? 

 

[_wb_]

That should be just a recompile, provided you are happy with a 800x480 window and a strange button layout. The only thing that would need some code changes is something to replace the two nubs, but that shouldn't be a lot of work.

 

[b_o_b]

Great! If it is not too much work to adjust the code for desktop use I would appreciate that No unusual dependencies? Just configure, make, make install? 

 

[_wb_]

I'm not using autoconf (yet), so it's rather adjust makefile, make. I didn't bother to define a "make install" since that wouldn't be useful for making a PND. There are no unusual dependencies, just SDL. I am using a slightly modified version of SDL_gfx though (basically I reduced the precision of some shapes that are supposed to be pies (parts of discs) but now look more like polygons, in order to get the right look for some of the microbes - they would look slightly different with a default SDL_gfx).

 

[_wb_]

OK, I just tried to get Microbes working on my laptop, I didn't really have any problem. Just unpack this .tar.gz anywhere (this is basically just a .tar.gz version of the PND, with a few minor modifications) and start the game with "./run". I compiled it for a 64 bit x86 laptop running Ubuntu, so that binary will probably not work if you're on a different platform - in that case, just go to "src" and type "make", and you should be fine.

You'll need to have SDL installed (apt-get install libsdl*), and if you want the speech, you'll need eSpeak (apt-get install espeak). Let me know if you have any problems getting it to work.

I didn't change the controls, so they are probably not very convenient: the shoulder buttons are right shift and right ctrl, ABXY is home/end/pgdn/pgup, etc. Unless you happen to have two joysticks called "nub0" and "nub1", you won't be able to use the nub functions - left nub is not needed, but right nub is certainly needed in advanced gameplay, so if you want, I can add some keys to emulate the right nub. All the controls are hardcoded (since the game is tailored specifically for the Pandora), so changing them does involve changing some code, but it's just a find-and-replace so that's quite easy to do.

 

[b_o_b]

Great! Looks very nice on a larger screen (a lot better than I expected and even full screen). Indeed the controls are less convenient and I would prefer to play the game with a mouse on my desktop, but it already works pretty good with current settings. Thanks.  

 

[_wb_]

If you want to play it with the mouse, you can, but without any visible cursor it's a bit tricky . To fix that, you just have to comment out this line in main.cpp:


SDL_ShowCursor(SDL_DISABLE);
and recompile (type "make"). That will give you a cursor so you can see where you're clicking

You can't do everything with the mouse/touchscreen only, but you can navigate most menus and build/upgrade units. In menus you can change the selected level or level pack by clicking to the left or right of that menu item.

 

[b_o_b]

Thanks _wb_! Works very nicely  

Strange. The color of the game seems to have shifted towards red if you compare it to the pandora. Not a big deal though, it works fine and looks great. Just something I noticed.