Modding questions

[Gerald]

I am busy creating some new campaigns but as expected i ended up withsome loose ends and tasks i would like to see realized :

1) Is there any way to use new images as items ?
I want to use some pics from SE IV GOLD but they seem to have changed the system (all used pics are put in 1 strange colored pic and numbers are used to refer to them instead of filenames)...

2) Is there a way to position items (under the form of crates like when a ship has been destroyed) on some predesignated coords...If so please mail me how to do this step by step...

3) They have claimed that the STARFURY world is alive besides the missions you play...I have been positioning myself in close range besides a warppoint (actually about 300 distance from it) and then waited ...and waited...and waited untill other ships appear...even at 2X, 4X and 8X speed...NOTHING appeared... (???)
[i wanted to use this possiblity for direct intercept by enemy ships - ambush]

4)What's the max number of ships possible in a sector ?

5)Can race friendly ships come to help out if you are for instance in a battle against 4 or more ennemy ships ?

6)I wanted to influence the cargo which is released after destruction (amount of goods which are salvable). I changed the chance factor in the file MainEnemeyRandomCompsCarried...I had the impression that the amount went up but i also noticed that the ennemy always had stronger weapons aboard to use against me...(before i could salvage less cargo but not every pirate ship had as example an engine speed slowing weapon which was the case after i made the changes.

I would appreciate comments, help or remarks very much since i want to create serious and interesting new campaigns which i would like to share with others who are interested.

Thank you in advance

[Phoenix-D]

1. Yes. Its pretty simple really, you just have to add the new image into components.bmp as a 40x40 bmp. It works exactly the same as adding a new mini image to SE4's components.bmp, except now you need to use that ugly color as a background- it tells Starfury what you want transparent. The numbers are index. First number gets 1 (or 0..can't remember offhand), and it just counts up from there.

2. Sort of. I'm not sure you can place components like this, but any ship can be placed in a map via the maps_(mapname)_map file. Works the same way as placing planets.

3. Ships are pre-generated when you warp in, unfortunately. More can be made via events for missions, though.

4. Sky's the limit. Or rather your CPU is. I've had over 100 ships in a system at a time, and SF ran fine. If you put too many in, it does tend to slow down.

5. Only if they happen to stumble into the fight.

6. Not sure what's going on here. What's dropped depends on two things- the components on the ship, and the randomcomps it carries. Don't think your change should have made them more powerful..