Nexus Skirmisher
Nexus Skirmisher => General Discussion => Topic started by: Arparso on March 09, 2009, 23:08:35
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I've been wanting to rewrite the NEXUS Skirmisher tool from scratch for the past couple years, but never came to finish anything worth showing to the public. I'm annoyed by the horrible UI and myriad of bugs, missing features and missed opportunities... even after all these years. However, I'll need to know, if a serious attempt at rewriting this tool is even worth the amount of time, sweat and blood this'll cost.
It's your call: is there still any viable interest in Nexus, the NEXUS Skirmisher or modding Nexus, that could convince me to finally go ahead with this endeavor or is this community already and finally dead? Talk to me, contact me via forum or email (http://'mailto:nexus@arparso.de'). Share your opinion!
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I use your tool long time and possible update is great news for me. I hope you can add possibility of adding fighters to ships and possibility of setting positions of ships and maybe some other features.
I like your program very much. :thumbsup:
Sorry for my bad english.
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At first I'd need to scrap a few features. I'm thinking about multiplayer support here, because that is being hardly used anyway. But yeah, fighter support and a way to change your ship positioning would be pretty high up on the priority list. Though I'm a bit puzzled with the last one... having a graphical UI to move your ships around on a representation of the battlefield would be best, but is pretty hard or at least work-intensive to implement considering the 3d aspect. Maybe just offer some different formations? I'm reluctant to let the user enter coordinates manually seeing as that would be hardly intuitive or user-friendly...
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Personally i think it would be a great idea to make a new version.
there are 2 things i would suggest.
Firstly adding EVERY ship that is in the campaign into the skirmisher.
and if this is possible make the option to use ships from diff mods together.
For example i want to put a ship from the stargate mod up against a mp_heavy battlship.
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The first function is already there ;) ... just choose "Nexus Skirmisher SP" as mod and you should have access to all singleplayer ships and equipment.
The second requested feature will never make it to the Skirmisher, I'm afraid. It would require merging mods, which isn't a trivial task at all. Although theoretically possible, hundreds of things could break, when attempting that and the Skirmisher is simply not meant to be a mod manager or merger ... it's just there to create skirmish battles against the AI for a given mod.
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I think it would be a good idea if you continued your work with the skirmisher.
Just the stargate mod alone has about 200 regular day-to-day players, not to mention the people who drop by are around 1000 when we release something.
There is a Halo mod in production, altough it didn't go public just yet, but the author has quite many ships modeled.
OldDragon is making is Nexus: The Aurora Affair mod, which is great so far, and many of the community will love it.
So there is still community out there, and there are still a lot of people who would appreciate a new, improved skirmisher to play their mods/nexus battles.
And the skirmisher is a very powerful tool for the players, makes our mods 100x playable, taking into account that a good mission takes a long time to script.
My ideas for it:
-The ship positioning ui would be a good idea, although i don't know if it's doable, maybe you could salvage parts of the mission editor.
-A bit more self-explanatory UI, as many people don't take the time to read the FAQ you post, or the one i write to the readme of our releases.
-The mission numbering is the thing that most people tend to frak up, and not just because the lack of reading the FAQ, i too make mistakes with that sometimes as i always forget what number i gave to my last mission. Maybe turning that into automatic would be a huge leap. (It detects what mission numbers are taken, and assigns a non-taken one automatically to the new mission)
I'll keep thinking about other useful (and sometimes crazy) things, and i'll add them to this post later, as these are the only ones that come to mind right now. I know that merging mods is unfortunately impossible as that needs a lot of copypasting of models and textures not to mention extensive edits of the tactictypes.ini
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Hi, glad to see someone from the mod community step by :)
Ship positioning: As already said, that probably won't be that easy to do, although I'm currently experimenting with .NET framework 3.5, Windows Presentation Foundation and any 3D capabilities it might have.
More self-explanatory UI: Yeah, I know... the current UI is pretty horrible and I'll propably create a completely new design from scratch. I hate it... it's ugly, unintuitive and... well, ugly ;)
Mission numbering: Yep, a pain in the ass. I'm not even sure anymore, if missions really had to have numbers at all ... did anyone test this? If I'll ever release a new version I'll make sure to handle mission numbering automatically...
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Firstly I would like to thank you for all your work, Arparso, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE TOOL!
I've being using the skirmisher to extend the fun for years. But I still have trouble using it. There are some ideas in my mind, hope they are helpful for your re-write.
1) There must be an easy way to save/load/modify a skirmish.
In the current tool, it is impossible to load a already existed mission. Although a ship configuration save/load is very helpful, it still need improvement. Like to add some ready-to-load configurations as template. Create a fun mission requires many passes modification and calibration, lack of save/load means much more work force on creating a mission playable.
2) There should be at least some description for everything selectable.
It have took me restless hours to find out which is what... And to remember which slot can be configured as what is terrifying for most users.
3) Why the in-game configuration is not available?
I guess there must be some reason, but it will significantly increase the fun to begin with a lot of resource points. And it makes a created mission looks more like a mission.
4) Better UI would be good but not of critical necessity.
And there are more, but mostly things I think does not matter much.
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Thanks for your suggestions :)
Save/load missions: Indeed a feature, that has been requested quite a few times already. I'll see, if I can come up with a reliable solution to do that.
Item descriptions: I actually got this already working in an experimental tool I never released to the public. However it depends on the mod authors to correctly name their ship classes and devices and supply the game (and the Skirmisher) with all this information. Not even the original game does this for every piece of equipment, so I don't know right now, if every mod cares about these details. Some classes or devices would be left without description or a proper name, I guess.
Ingame fleet configuration: As far as I know, the fleet configuration screen isn't available in single missions. It's only being used in campaign mode (and multiplayer), which isn't really available to your average mod out of the box. Even if it was - the Skirmisher just isn't meant to create campaign missions, so it wouldn't even work that way. I could try emulating this behaviour (or even the interface), though.
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Well... I guess no in-game configuration is not so terrible ;)
Another thing occurred me was the ability to modify AI, which would be good news for movie makers.
In the cinema mode, All ships AI are common, they would only fight with regular ways. But most times I would like to have a group of ghosts fight in stealth, or a ship loaded with missiles bombard its opponents. Something not useful in default mode, but of great use in cinema mode.
Oh, function to modify ship's fighters configuration is also needed.
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You can already do that, actually (changing the AI behaviour, I mean). It'll require you to know your way around in Nexus's mission scripting, but it's very much doable. Go to the following folder:
modsNEXUS Skirmisher_templates
There you'll find seven files. barebone.mission_ is the template for all missions created with the Skirmisher. The remaining six files belong to the three default mission types. They come in pairs for each type, one containing the AI script and the other containing a simple script monitoring the objectives or winning conditions of this type. If you want different AI behaviour in the cinema mode, you could modify the cinema_mode_ai.mach_ (or new_cinema_mode_ai.mach_, if you prefer that one) or you can actually create your own mission type with your own AI script.
For example: make a copy of cinema_mode_ai.mach_ and cinema_mode_obj.mach_ and rename them to custom_cinema_ai.mach_ and custom_cinema_obj.mach_. The Skirmisher will detect these new files and lets you select this new mission type "custom_cinema". You can now safely edit these scripts and create new missions using them. You WILL need some good understanding of Nexus's scripting language and how you're going to achieve your desired combat behavior, however.
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Great tool!!I am enjoying it alot.How about a "stand alone" description oof the componenets?It could be added here on the boards to look over and copy and paste to a personal computer to use when they make thier own ship configurations? thank you!!
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No comments? I still think my idea has merit.I would like a stand alone description made that explains the components,their effectiveness and uses along with some descriptions.This would greatly enhance the ability to set up a skirmish duel scenerio instead of blindly setting one up and hope for the best when the scenerio starts.How about it? :?:
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There is one problem, though: you'd need to have a description for every device for each mod you want to play skirmishes with. That would need some effort, because you'd need to keep them up-to-date as well. The next version of the Skirmisher will probably display all the information you'll ever need, including the ingame-name of the device and some information about their effectiveness (weapon damage, energy consumption, stuff like that).
I don't have any release date, though, so I'll see what I can come up with until then.
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I understand it would take some effort..I am playing the skirmisher without ever playing the game part and the duels appeal to me but it is frustrating to try every type of weapon and ship combo without information on what the components do.When you put your skirmisher together I imagine you had some sort of list to go by in order to set things up properly to work.Maybe a spreadsheet,or some sort of paperwork that tells you what each component does,the ship sizes and configurations etc...unless you did this all out of memory or your head and in that case "I salute You!" and hold you in awe!! :D
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Actually I read all the available devices directly from the mod's files. That ensures full compatibility with new mods, that I knew nothing about while developing the Skirmisher. There are no pre-configured lists of devices for each mod being included in the Skirmisher.
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Thank you for your prompt replies Arparso. I guess my idea just isn't happening.I will still enjoy things as they are tho..is a great mod and I thank you for the work you put into it already! :thumbup:
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Well to be frank no self respecting mod wouldn't refer to the Nexus Skirmisher. The tool is quite simply THE tool to use to play modded Nexus games on your own. I'm saying this to further support descriptions for each system or ship in the Skirmisher. You are right though it is the modder who is responsible for properly describing each ship/system within the associated script files. That shouldn't stop you from adding the feature in, since the Nexus Skirmisher is so widely used by the entire community. I can almost guarantee if the feature is added that many of the currently active mod teams out there will begin adding proper descriptions to be readable by the skirmisher.
As for being able to state the location of each vessel I can't see how this would be too difficult. I assume Nexus uses a grid based system to set starting locations for each object in the game to begin with. A small 3D representation of the battlefield would be easy to do. My suggestion would be not to render the grid completely, but have it rendered similar to this:
y
|_
|_
|_
|_|_|_|_| x
So basically you would have 3 lines representing the X, Y, and Z axis and each of these lines have small notches representing the grid (axis line for further reference). When a ship is selected in the 3D view 3 knobs will appear on each axis line. The user will be able to define the position of the ship along an axis by draging the small knob on the axis line with the mouse. Adding the option for more precise numerical input for each axis would be a nice feature for some of the more patient or advanced users.
The ships could be represented by small color coded cubes. The cubes can be color coded by race or team. The ship's type could be coded with simple alphanumeric designations (A1,A2,A3, etc...) that is visible (possibly skinned onto) the cubes. The user will be able to see the ship type by looking at the "SHIPTYPE" pull-down menu and looking at each vessel's alphanumeric designation (meaning that each ship or object listed will need to be assigned a designation).
I guess what I'm saying is to stick to the absolute basics for the early release(s) and then later on think about adding ship icons for the Skirmisher. The Skirmisher doesn't need to be pleasing to the eye as long as it is functional. Sometimes, though aesthetics and functionality go hand in hand.
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Good suggestions, actually, though it's still not that easy for me. Remember: I'm not a professional programmer by any means and creating a fully functional 3d view of the battlefield and enabling some sort of drag-and-drop is a pretty hefty task. I'm still learning WPF / .NET 3.5 and I already know, it has some neat 3d capabilities... but I've not yet come to the point, where I can definitely say, how this feature is going to look or work like until I've got a better understanding of how this could be achieved.
Progress right now is rather slow, because I'm pretty occupied with a few other personal projects, which need to be done before getting into full gear with a Skirmisher rewrite.
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Hai
i want to start to Say thank you for Keeping this up, My first modding experience attemp Was created by tinkering Around, reading post on the old Forum even thou it was less than actif, and With your Skirmisher, it gave me the kick in the back to go deeper to modifying, thou im not close to a great mod
As for an idea, i have one that may be interesting
- More Ai's selection, i understand its fun for the ships to just charge in and shoot eachother, but i dont know,Make em partrol a path in the look of ships, that woudl work if the starting position are set in a longer distance from each other
-Teams, i miss having a Battle were you have actuall allies controling themselves coming from somewhere else, or while you go and hit somethign else, no need to manually control 8 ships at a time, Let the Allie do his own thing while you do yours
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I dont think a 3d view would be nessecary, Mithis already did that for us with the mission editor.
What would be nice
* A way to put squads on the ships.
*Real device names instead of weap_ and supp_
Not sure if you remember me, I was on the original nexus forum since 2006 and was quite active...
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Several months later, and I'd like to make my opinion heard nevertheless.
I quite enjoy the Skirmisher so far, and I would like to see a new version. I'd only ask for a couple changes, both of which others have mentioned - I would like to be able to put squadrons onto ships, and I would like clearer naming of equipment, if at all possible. In the case of the latter, I believe a two-check system would need to be used: The first check would be the program checking to see if the device's name matched a system from the standard game (example: wep_eshell2) and displaying it as what it would appear as in game (Bubble ES). The second check would require establishing a specific system for identifying the name of a weapon from the files included in a mod. This could be as simple as asking modmakers to include a "weapon_names.xxx" file, in a format you can program the Skirmisher to read, and have that file provide the required information.
I apologize for any incoherence in this post; I typed it while attempting to maintain two online conversations and resolve some administrative issues on another forum.
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Nay, your post wasn't THAT incoherent ;)
Thanks for your comment, anyway.
As for weapon and/or device names: one of the very very few design principles while initially creating the Skirmisher was to not bother mod creators to write any extra stuff just to make their mod work with my puny little tool. Requiring a special "weapon_names.xxx"-file was pretty much a no-go, because of that. I'd like to stick to that philosophy and luckily the game already supports a similar scheme. The mod developers can create certain text files including perfectly readable names and descriptions for devices and ships, that'll be picked up by the game and displayed during gameplay while hovering with the mouse cursor over a device, for example. So, the names and descriptions are already right there for the main game and also for mods, where the developer(s) actually cared about these text files... I just never went ahead and used this stuff for the Skirmisher.
Rest assured, though - if there'll be a new version of the Skirmisher, it will support these names and descriptions (if available) for sure.
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Hello
This is my first time I make a post at this site I just registered at it. I was surfing the internet trying to find anything about Nexus skirmish, until I came across this. I downloaded it and it's awsome. So I went to check the forums and found this thread and I wanted you to know that I'd really like if you'd make a new version of Nexus Skirmisher. I just wanted you to know that there are more people that would like this to become true so, thank you for making this tool.
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My post may not have been incoherent, but it did emphasize my lack of knowledge concerning mod structure. The fact that a file almost identical to the one I was describing already exists theoretically makes it a lot easier; mod makers simply need a bit of encouragement from their communities to make use of it (my opinion, of course).
On a sidenote, combining Skirmisher with the Warfare mod from the board here has allowed me to create my first challenging mission with a little more to it than two fleets charging into one another. Nothing fancy, but it takes a lot more than a simple "shields up and charge!" technique. Many thanks to you for making this possible.
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warfare mod? I'm not too familiar with it... who's developing it?
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uhm... I thought's just crossed my mind about solving skirmisher's main issue, mission's numbering, and I've just tested it: missions may not have a number at all and still work, all you have to do is place something else, like a mere letter (and it gets better, two missions labeled as, for example, "MISSION A" will not produce any type of conflict) So, that's an idea.
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The Warfare mod is posted right here on this forum, in the Modifications section. Arparso posted it, in fact. It uses dialogue boxes to allow the player to 'build' ships mid-battle by selecting a designated mothership, then selecting the option for the ship they want to build. Selecting a ship from the list starts a countdown, and when the countdown is done, the selected ship appears in the battlezone by way of its IP drive. There's no resource system, so it really comes down to build times to control the effectiveness.
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oh... yeah, I know I've played it :P didn't really remember the name though :P
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@Overlord
Thanks. I'm not done with the Skirmisher yet, but got somewhat derailed by experimenting with all the 3d stuff. Right now I'm trying to visualize Nexus' ships and textures in a completely new game/engine/environment - whatever you may call it. The results of that work can already be seen on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN3DpF10Wj4). So whatever is gonna happen to the Skirmisher, it likely will use parts of these experiments... but I just can't say, when that's gonna happen.
@Keldane
Ha, nice to see someone putting my "ship building" experiment to good use :)
@Mularac
... you sure? Damn! I really thought I already tried omitting that cursed number back when I first created the Skirmisher and didn't get it to work and now you're telling me, it DOES work? That's good news for sure.
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Those are some gorgeous ship models, Arparso. It'd be awesome to see them in action.
If I build a series of missions using Skirmisher and the Warfare mod, would there be an audience for them here? More importantly, would you mind me doing so with your script, Arparso?
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yep it works. No conflict at all, as long as you don't include spaces in between....
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@Keldane
Those aren't my ship models - they are from the game itself (noah support ship, battleship and cruiser amongst others). I simply succeeded in displaying the game's models in my own application outside of Nexus. So you can see them in action in-game already, because they're already there ;)
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Aye, I caught that they were the existing ones, and you know what I meant. ;) The upgraded graphics would be quite cool to see doing battle (though personally, I'd rather it be on PS3 >_>).
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so will you do it? pls say you will :)
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I recently picked up Nexus and found this handy tool. First of all, thanks.
Secondly; I don't know if you're still planning an update/rewrite, but if you are: a friendlier interface would be my preferred feature. As mentioned above, the actual device names instead of weap_, etc, would be nice.
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Hello, I'm new at this forum and I'm catalan so i beg your pardon for my poor english.
I would like so much a new version of the skirmisher. personally I have two points to suggest:
-I have a problem with sp skirmisher and some ships that make the game crash. It shows a message saing "unknown device for weap_misc 3" or some stuff like that.
-Would it be possible to modify the ship configuration with the C button? Yeah, I know, this button is for configuring the ship but qhat i want to say is if it is possible, for example, to pick up the configuration of styp_st_siege_battleship and change the magma plasma guns for nova plasma guns or something similar.
On the other hand I agree with most of the suggestions done here like the posibility of configuring fighters and adding weapons descriptions (or the in-game names).
Finally, congratulations for your great work.
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Just thought up of a new mode for the skirmisher, how about a 'random' option?
As far as one off, multiplayer fun battles go, I dare say it'd create a level playing field as no player would know what they've got untill after the battle had started...
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That's a good suggestion, but the problem with multiplayer missions is, that I can't test them. Multiplayer still doesn't work in Vista or Windows 7... so because I'm running 7, I can't reliably playtest any multiplayer mission the Skirmisher spits out. And no, I'm not going to revert to XP again or configure my PC to allow dual-booting. I'd try with Virtualization software like VirtualBox or VMWare, but 3D support is poor and until now I didn't manage to get Nexus running - if anyone got any tips, I'm all open for it. ;)
To summarize other suggestions so far:
- clear names and/or descriptions for devices
- more intuitive ship customization
- fighter/marines support
- setting ship/fleet positions manually
- automatic mission numbering (or no numbering at all, if possible)
- save/load/modify skirmish settings for later use
- more diverse AIs, possibly including AI-controlled Allies
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The automatic mission numbering would not be such a good idea, remember that many mods already have their own missions, and that could produce some conflict. But that's no big deal, since you can just give them letters instead of numbers :P (empty spaces are no good, there's got to be something there)
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Hmm... If you want to reduce the chances of conflict with existing mods, perhaps use a hex numbering system and start at 1000 ( 3E8 )?
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The only somewhat failproof way to avoid conflicts would be switching from numbers to actual text identifiers while also looking at any existing mission files to avoid any conflicts at all. I would have actually used that approach 5 years ago, if I had known about the possibility of text identifiers and if I hadn't stopped the Skirmisher development back then.
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I would like to request that Skirmisher be made idiot proof for the people that don't really no jack shit about modding. I'd like to be able to create my own massive scenarios quickly because I love Nexus and there wasn't enough massive 'worlds collide' type battles in the campaign. I want to break my graphics card, but I am no modder so the ability to creat battles easily would be great.
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that wouldn't be too easy, I'm afraid that nexus' limit is of arround 25 ships per mission.
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Thanks for a great mod already and hopefully your update utilizing a few suggestions you mentioned in your summary. Just started playing this game (it's been sitting in my "to play" pile for a few years) and wanted to let you know interest in an update is still growing. Exactly the mod I realized I needed upon completion of the campaign and found with your in-depth, if convoluted, skirmisher. Thanks again.
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I registered just today to tell you that I'm very excited that you decided to come back and restart the skirmisher.
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Why did this thread suddenly die? Has the update gone into work?
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this question interessint me too :)
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Sorry, but the Skirmisher is not under active development right now. :(
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1- Aparso, i strongly encourage you should keep working on an update, i can see a bit more potential in it! i also found an error in it myself.
- In the SP settings, you cannot set the battleship's reserves or weapon generator...
2- a question about the video you posted, what is the vessel to the left of the support ship? is that one of yours? or a vessel you managed to dig out from the nexus game files?
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1 - I'd love too, but I just don't have the time. The old Skirmisher still works (well, mostly) and a new version wouldn't really improve the functionality all that much, but still require a shitload of work to get developed. That's a lot to pay for a rather small payoff (considering the small Nexus community) and I simply can't afford it right now.
Of course, with the possibility of Nexus 2 on the horizon, there's also the problem of developing tools, that'll become obsolete next year (or whenever the game comes out, IF it gets released).
2 - The model is included with the game, but I don't think it ever gets used anywhere. When you extract nexus_00.dat, you can find it in meshes\aliens\feher_hajok\feher_destroyer.msh
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1- well, you do make quite an arguement there... maybe a few years down the road perhaps?
2- Really? huh, guess theres more unfinished stuff in the game than i thought, does that ship have a name?
3- also, is this nexus_00.dat file located somewhere else? my copy has seemingly misplaced the _00.dat and _.01 dat files if that is not the case...
4- can you simply extract them in it's current state and get the files?
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you can't have misplaced those files, the quite literally have everything the game need to run!
They're located in the main nexus directory
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Yeah, nexus_00.dat should be in the base folder of your Nexus installation, right beside nexus.exe and "Nexus Skirmisher.exe", if you have installed the Skirmisher.
You can extract it using elFarto's datool (http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/downloads/elfartos-datool) (command-line utility) or by using my own DatXtract (http://arparso.de/nexus/forum/index.php/topic,129.0.html) tool, which has a simple GUI to make life easier.
I'd suggest not to extract it into the Nexus base folder, but rather a separate directory... unless you want to mess with Nexus' campaign or anything. ;)
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hah, thanks for the tip man!
you two truly are the jacks of your trade, you know about this game inside and out like if it was your own house. ;D
i tried downloading elFarto's datool, which fouled up, ill probably use your DatXtract tool. If you're Skirmisher is so reliable DESPITE all those bugs you were talking about im sure your DatXtract tool will come in quite handy.
Btw, just out of curiosity, is your avatar from 3:10 to yuma? ;)
EDIT: Ok, i downloaded the sucker successfully, now what?
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Well, start DatXtract, open your nexus_00.dat and extract the files to some folder? Then you can use Nexus' model viewer (in the "mod_tools" subfolder of Nexus) to look at the extracted models (in the extracted "meshes" folder), for example. Or you can have a look at the campaign mission scripts, the sounds or music or whatever else you want to mess with.
And yeah, that avatar is from "3:10 to Yuma" - probably my favourite "modern" Western :)
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Okie dokie.
and nice... i recognized the character almost right off the bat, that was a pretty good movie.
EDIT: Its telling me it cant find the right program to activate it, now what? :-\ ?
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What exactly does what program tell you?
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Nevermind, i had internet explorer find an appropriate program to open it, but before i do anything...
should i use a program such as stuffit expander, WinAce or BitZipper on it to use it?
I want to be sure, when i first coded it was on a very old game. If you guys have ever heard of "Treasure Planet: Battle at Procyon" that was the game i modified the coding for. I made a tiny error and i havent been able to fully uninstall it since... but i learned my lesson.
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You mean with the "DatXtract.rar" you downloaded? Yeah, that's an archive and you'll need to extract with any RAR-compatible compression tool. 7-zip (http://www.7-zip.org/) can do that, supports a whole bunch of other archive formats and is completely free.
Included in the RAR is my actual tool as .exe-file, which will be able to open and extract "nexus_00.dat". You don't need to install or uninstall it at all - just run it from anywhere you like. The only requirement is Microsoft .Net Framework 4 (Client Profile) (http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=17113).
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WOAH! holy crap!
i was right... theres a BOATLOAD (get it? BOAT load? HAH! ;D) of ships in here that you never see in the game, i wonder if these can be used in the skirmisher. i can see gun mounts on them!
DUDE! i just ran into an alternate version of the white cruiser!
Has anyone heard rumors or know of a mod that has these ship models im looking at finished? they look AWESOME (the carrier looks rather odd though. ???)
Im looking at the folder in the meshes section labeled "Feher_Hajok"
Its annoying that the game's .mission files, .mach files, and mesh names are almost entirely in Hungarian.
Overall i got a question from this:
Is there a way to translate all this mess?
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Hello all,
I actually had a thought about the positioning of ships in the skirmish. I will try to mock up some UI later today or tomorrow, but the general idea is the same as the map screen in X3: Reunion and X3: Terran Conflict (I have not played X, or X2 so I do not know about those).
Have representations of the ships on two plains, one the X-Z coordinate plain, and the other the X-Y coordinate plain. This way, even if dragging the ships around proves too difficult, the user should be able to change the literal coordinates and they should get some feedback as the coordinate plains re-draw themselves to reflect the new coordinates entered.
Again, UI mock ups to come sometime soon.
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Ok here are some mock ups for a system that I think might work alright.
A couple things that might be relevant, I know absolutely nothing about the Nexus coordinate system now, so I used some arbitrary ones that have their origin in the middle of the map. Also I think I may have miscounted a by a line or two while adding the ship representation, so sorry.
The first two attachments show how a ship would appear in both views with the same three dimensional coordinates, and the third shows how the screen might redraw itself if the X coordinate was changed from -1200 to 0 and the user were looking at the X-Z plane.