Talk:Tractor-Tow OXZ
You need to mark your OXP as conflicting with Towbar ("oolite.oxp.Norby.Towbar")
phkb 2026-06-08 09:56:47 (AEST)
Exactly how does Tractor-Tow 'conflict' with Towbar? (not that I've ever checked out Towbar, nor have any intention to). Does Towbar lock onto and tractor _neutralized_ ships? Is the *NPB Neutralizer required in order to use Towbar?
IF there is such a conflict, why is it for me to mark my OXP as conflicting, and not Norby as conflicting with mine?
* Now marked as a dependency in manifest.plist.
Reval (talk) 02:37, 9 June 2026 (BST)
The "towbar" in the Towbar OXP cannot tow your "neutralised" ships. Your Tractor-Tow cannot tow derelict ships (which is what Towbar will work with), because they are not "neutralised". Both OXPs have similar functionality, and would create a potentially confusing experience for the player, working out which towing system to use for the type of ship in front of them. The safest thing to do to prevent that confusion is to flag them as incompatible.
As for why your OXP should flag the incompatibility, it's because yours is the newest of the two, and because you, as the author, are around and able to make the change.
While we're discussing changes, the following items need to be addressed/removed:
In your "equipment.plist" you have:
// restrict to aft facing weapon_flags = "WF_MOUNT_AFT"; // NOT documented!
That option doesn't do anything. There is no "weapon_flags" in equipment.list. I don't know where this came from but it certainly didn't come from the documentation. It should be removed so as not to cause confusion for anyone looking at your source code in future.
In your "tt_equipment_conditions.js" file you have:
// Only check on purchase or installation
if (context == "purchase" || context == "install") {
There is no "install" context. Oolite will never send "install" as a context. Only "purchase" is valid here for your purposes. This again should be removed so as not to cause future confusion.
phkb 2026-06-09 14:07:00 (AEST)
Thanks. Yes, I had my doubts about those too. Will amend the relevant files tonight. I am happy to indicate a possible 'functionality' conflict with Towbar, provided that the way I do it does not prevent Tractor-Tow OXZ from being loaded in favour of Norby's. Offhand, I cannot think of a way to accomplish this that does not sacrifice mine (using manifest.plist it certainly would).
