The Relay from Deep Space

The Relay from Deep Space

A mod for the game The Message from Deep Space that allows players to communicate over the Deep Space Communication Relay in-game.

Before you install, it is highly, highly, recommended you complete the game first! The Relay will not show up until you have, to prevent your playthrough of TMfDS being spoiled.

Basic Usage

After installing the mod, you will see a new RELAY button on the main tabs view. This is how you access the Relay.

The RELAY MANAGER, RELAY INPUT, and RELAY screens are how you interact with the Relay. Enter a callsign, in base 8, and then click SET to begin chatting.

After you enter a callsign, the RELAY screen will populate with messages. You can input your own Meteor0ese message into the RELAY INPUT screen, then click SEND to send it. When you're finished chatting, you can click LOGOUT to leave the Relay.

There is another button on the RELAY screen, RECOMPILE. Whenever you define a new signal, you'll need to RECOMPILE the output to update older uses of it.

Features

You need to set a callsign to access most of the RELAY MANAGER features. After entering a callsign, you can open the the RELAY MANAGER screen by clicking the MANAGER button, and you can return to the RELAY INPUT screen by clicking INPUT.

Hotkeys

TRfDS attaches hotkeys to many of the buttons it adds. When hovering over a button, you can see if there's a hotkey attached to it on the left hand side, underneath the currently playing track.

• RECOMPILE: CTRL+T
• LOGOUT: CTRL+L
• MANAGER/INPUT: CTRL+R
• SEND: CTRL+E or CTRL+ENTER

Sending signals that aren't defined

Sometimes, you will want to send a signal you haven't defined in your dictionary yet. You can do this by entering |-. For example, if you define -2 as "STOP" in your dictionary, sending |-2 will appear (for you) as "STOP". Similarly, if you haven't defined -246 and you enter |-246, it will appear (for you) as @-246_UNDEF.

This is useful for when you are learning a new word and aren't sure what to call it yet, but you want to ask a clarifying question without creating a temporary definition.

Adding new signals to the dictionary

Under the ADD NEW SIGNALS text, there are 2 text entry fields and a MAKE button. The ID text entry expects a negative integer, corresponding to the ID of the new signal you want to create. The NAME text entry expects a plaintext name, no more than 18 characters, that the new signal will be called. After entering these, press MAKE to update your dictionary with the new signal. You can then press RECOMPILE to update the Relay messages with your new definition.

This signal persists with your dictionary like every signal from the game does. You can edit it, add formatting, add notes, etc, just as you can with any other signal. If you want to permanently remove a custom signal, hold control and click the delete button in the dictionary menu.

Message actions

You can use this section to copy the text of a message, copy the signals of a message, and view visuals in a message. Before clicking any of the buttons, you need to select a message by entering the ID of it. The ID is the gray number to the right of the callsign in the RELAY window.

To copy a message's text, simply click COPY. To copy a message's signals, hold CTRL and click COPY.

To view a message's visual data, click VIEW. Messages with visual data are shortened by default, as you aren't supposed to read and understand the contents of them, your computer is!

Image created by astro (callsign 1574)

There is another type of data that messages can contain. Huge thanks to electraminer (callsign 3544) for allowing me to reference their implementation of this feature when I was writing mine. The protocol was created for the Relay specifically, and isn't something you'd receive from Meteor 0. If you wish to find out about it on the Relay (which I highly recommend you do), please skip this section.

Spoilers lie here, beware!

You have been warned!!

Music is able to be transmitted o