Modding questions...
 

Ok, I've been toying with the ship files and store files and whatnot, and basically just having fun hacking away at the game, and I think I'm finally ready to try to mod the game in earnest.

I have a few questions on methods first though.

First, can I create new slot types? If I just set up a slot on a ship with an arbitrary type string will the game only allow components with a matching placement locations string to be placed there? If so that's great, because I want to have reactor and point defense slots (With the point defense slots having specific firing arcs... This should solve the problem of having all your PD guns fire at one missile and having nothing left for the other missiles/fighters swarming you).

Also, is it possible to do as in the SEIV quasi newtonian propulsion system and cause heavier ships to require more movement points to reach a given speed than a lighter ship? I intend to only have one or two engine slots on any given ship, and simply have a large range of engine types that get vastly more powerful as their tonnage goes up.

Can you set a campaign to be unselectable? By which I mean you could only play it by going through the campaign before it and being sent on to the next one. It's not that I care about people jumping ahead, it's that I was thinking I'd like to do it as a chain of small intimate missions, in the style of something like Freespace, rather than long complex missions, and I was thinking I could render each mission as a separate campaign, in order to increase the immediacy of the mission, but doing that would result in a ton of campaigns cluttering up the selection screen if they can all be played from there...

Oh and Last, can someone tell me how to import 3D models and textures into this game? I'm not a modeller, but I suppose I'll need to know how at some point... Ideally I want entirely new ship models for my mod, so I guess I'll have to find someone willing to do the modelling for me, but I'd still like to know how to import models, as I can probably find some stock models to play with as a start.

Re: Modding questions...
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">yes, this is possible since the new patch (v.1.15)

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">not sure if that'll work. Perhaps the 360° arcs are hardcoded into the PD. But good idea, certainly worth a test.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">points to SJ (the resident QNP expert). I suppose what you could do is make different slots for the different ships classes and then add corresponding engines. So you end up with Destroyer,Cruiser, and Battleship engines.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">hmm, nope. I don't think so

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">No short answer for this one. Basicly what you must do is convert the models to .x file format and then change the SpaceObjects.txt file (plus a bunch of other tweaks to various files...).
This has been discussed in other topics. A search should turn up something useful.

Hope this helps,
Rollo

Re: Modding questions...
 

Thanks for the answer... My net went down for a few hours so I just started hacking to see what would happen, and discovered that the slot types work. I created a PDC slot type and changed the location type of the PDCs to use that, not sure whether or not the firing arcs worked, will have to lower their RoF and test it.

I have another question now though... Do firing arcs greater than 90 degrees work? I had built a new ship design with a few oddball weapon arcs to see what would happen and it behaved oddly to say the least.

Re: Modding questions...
 

Well, I made one 360 degree hardpoint (0 - 359), and a couple that were somewhere around 135 degrees. I didn't add a new model, I just created a new component slot layout and assigned it to an existing model (For the time being) in order to get something into the game right away (As I said before, I have no modelling skills to speak of).

Basically I took the Amonkrie cruiser and turned it into a dreadnought... I changed the naming conventions for weapons, so that rather than having a bunch of lasers that fit into light slots and a bunch of torpedoes that fit into heavy slots, I have heavy and light weapons based on tonnage, and "cannon" slots for the really big guns. It provides a bit more flexibility in ship design while at the same time allowing the layout designer to use firing arcs to tweak a ship towards a certain role.

I put the ship in the ship dealer's inventory by default, and used the credits cheat to buy it and take it for a spin. Hitting "Show weapon arcs" in the ship dealer's interface caused the game to hang up, but I could buy it and equip it and take it out for a spin. I'm not sure what the problem is with it, to be honest http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

Re: Modding questions...
 

I see. I have also tried a full 360° arc, but the game choked on that.

Try an arc from 22.5 to 337.5 or 202.5 to 157.5. The game handles arcs in 22.5° increments without problems and that only leaves a small blind spot in the front or rear.
Also you need to change the entry for the appropriate firing point in the SpaceObjects_Xfiles.txt file. Just changing the slot is not enough. In fact, IIRC, the setting in SpaceObjects_XFiles.txt is the one that counts. The entry in the slot file is kinda redundant.

Re: Modding questions...
 

Yeah, I was just realizing that myself about the X files...

Re: Modding questions...
 

After messing with the Spaceobjects x files file, I managed to get my ship working, although I had to create hardpoints by hand. I discovered that there seems to be a hard limit of 10 hardpoints as well.

I'm going to bed now, but I'll be playing with point defense beams and missiles tomorrow.

By the way, point defense guns are really fun to watch if you change their reload time to 250 and lower their damage... I just need to find a way to lower their accuracy now. I basically want to see the PDCs fill the sky with lead in the course of trying to shoot something down.

Re: Modding questions...
 

You can make an unselectable campaign. What you need to do is place the campaign inside a subfolder..eg:

Camp1/Camp2

When refercing the second one, instead of just Camp2 you put /Camp2 (or maybe Camp1/Camp2)

Not 100% sure this works, I can't remember the results of my test. but it DOES work for map files and such.

Re: Modding questions...
 

yes, arcs > 90° are no problem. I have done so many times. Even the default game uses some 180° arcs.

What exactly are you trying to do? What files did you edit? (you have to edit both SpaceObjects and slots) And what are the oddities that you see?

Re: Modding questions...
 

PS: the SHOWFIRINGPOINTS cheat is a helpful one when modding arcs

Re: Modding questions...
 

I'll try that when I get around to the actual campaign construction, thanks Phoenix.

Good news on the PDC front, point defense beams and missiles work (Although you really want to increase the PD missiles ranges to the 300 range due to slow missile speed) and restricting point defense guns to specific arcs works also!

Which actually makes me curious whether or not I could make normal weapons 360 degree guns by simply not tying them to a firing point at all... I'll have to try.

One question about missiles/torpedoes... I saw in another thread that torpedo speed can be tweaked... Is it possible to have different speeds for different classes of torpedoes? I'd like to have fast anti-fighter missiles and slower anti-ship torpedoes if possible. If not then not. I can always make do by giving the anti-fighter missiles really long ranges, just more elegant the other way.

Re: Modding questions...
 

Nevermind... Found it. Torpedo speed is part of the effect type you reference, so if I create a few different effect types with different speeds, it should work. I think http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Also, if you don't link a weapon to a firing point defined in the X files file, it has 360 degree coverage http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

[ February 20, 2004, 14:00: Message edited by: PaladinX ]

Re: Modding questions...
 

Be careful with the torpedo speeds. If you set the, too high the torps will start exploding randomly.

Re: Modding questions...
 

Actually, that could be fun... Only the fighter to fighter missiles will be really fast, so it would add some cool visuals lol.