Posts by CK256

  • Better ship agility and increase all speeds

    If you subtract the angular drag from the steering torque you have the net turning force available to turn the ship in a new direction, the relationship between net steering torque, rotation inertia and angular acceleration is


    net steering torque = angular acceleration x rotation inertia


    Data is from the shiparch file


    steering_torque = 58000, 58000, 58000
    angular_drag = 41000, 41000, 41000
    rotation_inertia = 8000, 8000, 8000


    So if you want a freighter to turn like an LF the steering torque to angular drag ratio needs to increase from the 1.4 here to 3 or higher, mass and linear drag also impact on this relationship but the parameters above are the major factors.


    CK 256

  • Rumors and bribes

    I've been trying to add rumors and bribes to a mod, I can get the bribes to work but the name of the new faction doesn't appear in the bribe text what am I missing?


    Not quite sure how to create new rumours abot new bases jump holes etc and I've been unable to find a tutorial on the subject can anyone help?


    Thanks in advance CK256

  • Does anyone know of any.....

    I prefer to edit the various ini files manually, the best tutorial I've found for system bulding is in this collection of tutorials look for "System Building from scratch by giskard"


    <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://uk.faqs.ign.com/articles/494/494108p1.html">http://uk.faqs.ign.com/articles/494/494108p1.html</a><!-- m -->


    I reckon one of the best things about creating a system/base whatever manually is that you understand the relationships between all the various files and data references, with FLE all that stuff is hidden.



    A good free text editor like Notepad++ makes ini editing a lot easier than using the basic windows notepad check it out, you'll also need FL Companion if you want to set up a realistic economy.


    CK256

  • Storyline orientations

    I'm assuming you mean the coordinates used in the system ini to position and orientate the various objects?


    pos = 22000, 0, -10000 is X, Z, Y


    Looking at the in game nav map +ve X is from the centre of the map to the right and -ve X is to the left, stangely +ve Y is down the map from the centre and -ve Y is up, +ve Z is out of the map and -ve Z is into the map.


    Angular orientation follows the X, Z, Y format and is based on 0 degrees being north, angle is measured anticlockwise so west would be +ve 90 degrees and so on, I recommend sticking with +ve angle measurements consistently to minimise confusion.


    CK256

  • Freeport 7

    Got this from Wiki I'll check and see if there are any other possible locations for it


    CK256


    Freeport 7 was a Zoner base situated in the Sigma 17 system. Like all Freeports, it was considered neutral ground for all factions in Sirius, and open to all: the Zoners kept a no-fights rule on board to prevent any trouble. The station was destroyed by Nomads before the start of the game, and was never rebuilt. Many legal and not-so-legal deals went on aboard the station, which was actually the reason it was destroyed: one of the station's visitors at the time of the disaster carried an important Dom'Kavash artifact..



    Freeport 7 Wreckage
    This artifact later found its way into the hands of a petty thief named Syd, who passed it onto freelancer Edison Trent. All survivors of the disaster disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Only one escaped, and fled Liberty on murder charges only to be pulled into the growing Nomad conflict. He later defeated the Nomads with the help of the Order, and received a full pardon and a Lone Star for Bravery from President Jacobi.

  • starsphere.cmp files

    I downloaded this guide a while back not sure where from though, bit beyond me lol


    CK256



    Starting THN


    “What is THN?” You ask. THN is the basic code used to create Menu Screens, Cutscenes and base Scripts. Lets Start with Menu Screens. Decrypted it can be opened with any Text Editor such as Word, or notepad. The Program Availlable to Decrypt files is FLED-Thorn, which can be found in the Downloads section of this site. There is often confusion as to what menu screens are. They are Simply the background to the main FL menu. You can have up to three which will cycle randomly. These are defined by INI files found in the UNIVERSE folder. It is here that background music is also defined, although it is possible to define sounds within the THN.


    We will start by looking at the file for the picture on the left. Menu Screen THN Files are always found in <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="C://Program">C://Program</a><!-- m --> Files\Freelancer\DATA\SCRIPTS\INTRO by default, and are defined by the INI files in C:\Program Files\Freelancer\Data\UNIVERSE\SYSTEMS\INTRO\BASES\ROOMS. The INI File for this screen would go as follows:



    [Room_Info]
    scene = ambient, Scripts\Intro\Intro_FarMoon.thn


    [Room_Sound]
    music = music_tau_danger


    The First Line defines Location of the THN file and requires the .thn suffix, whilst the second line defines audio, and therefore does not requires a suffix for the file name. File paths are not included, as Freelancer simply searches the Audio Files for sounds. Make sure you do not use sounds with possible duplicates, as this will lead to a crash.


    The Basic THN File.


    A Menu Screen THN will always start with duration = #. # is the amount of time (in seconds) the scene will last. A duration of 3-400 is recommended for Non-Animated menu Screens. Animated ones can be anything from 500-2000. Next we will define Entities. Entities are Objects and Effects that can be placed in the file such as planets. However, Scenes and Cameras are defined by entities as well. The Start of a THN Will often look like this:


    entities={
    {
    entity_name="Scene_Untitled",
    type=SCENE,
    template_name="",
    lt_grp=0,
    srt_grp=0,
    usr_flg=0,
    spatialprops={
    pos={
    0,
    0,
    0
    },
    orient={
    {
    1,
    0,
    0
    },
    {
    0,
    1,
    0
    },
    {
    0,
    0,
    1
    }
    }
    },
    up=Y_AXIS,
    front=Z_AXIS,
    ambient={
    128,
    128,
    128
    }
    },


    Entity Name: the nickname of the Object or FX. This is referred to in Animation or FX scripts later, so make sure it’s clear what the object is.
    Type: this effectively defines what properties the object will have. Some Objects will only be placed under certain types. Commonly used Types are SCENE, LIGHT, CAMERA, COMPOUND, PSYS and MONITOR.
    Template_name: this is the template, effect, or model used. Cameras, Scenes and monitors tend not to have these. For example planet_gasgrncld_5000 would spawn a large, orange Gas Giant Provided Type was set to COMPOUND and category was set to solar. (We’ll cover category and userprops later)
    Lt_grp, srt_grp and usr_flag: I’m not totally sure what these do but I assume they have something to do with lighting. Include them, otherwise entities won’t spawn, but set all three values to 0.
    Spatialprops: Spatialprops covers Position and Orientation. These are very basic, following XYZ values. An Entry of 0,0,0 in Pos will mean the object is placed at the centre of the scene. Note, if a camera is not included it will automatically be placed at 0,0,0.
    Up, Front and Ambient: this allows you to change where objects are quickly by reconfiguring where X,Y and Z axis are. It’s a good idea to leave them because they can cause confusion later on. Ambient is a lighting value used only in SCENE Entries.
    Userprops: these are settings defined by category and Type. They include Psysprops, Lightprops and cameraprops.


    Psysprops
    },
    psysprops={
    sparam=0
    }


    Best left at 0. This simply needs to be included at the end of an FX entry


    Lightprops


    },
    lightprops={
    on=Y,
    color={
    255,
    255,
    255
    },
    diffuse={
    0.909804,
    0.909804,
    1
    },
    specular={
    0,
    0,
    0
    },
    ambient={
    0,
    0,
    0
    },
    direction={
    0,
    0,
    1
    },
    range=2000,
    cutoff=98.999985,
    type=L_DIRECT,
    theta=90,
    atten={
    1,
    0,
    4e-006
    }


    A Typical lightprops entry looks like the one above many are self-explanatory. Make sure to leave theta at 90 unless you know what you’re doing.


    Cameraprops
    },
    cameraprops={
    fovh=30,
    hvaspect=1.333333,
    nearplane=1,
    farplane=1000000
    }
    This is the default entry for any camera. Reducing Farplane can allow for a ‘fog’ Effect when moving the camera. Changing nearplane can have a similar effect.


    { }, ={ and so on
    The most unpleasant aspect of creating THN files in loading them up and finding a black screen rather than the beautiful starscape you envisaged. The most common cause of this is forgetting to close an entry. Entries are opened with a { bracket and are closed with a }, Bracket. Make sure you close entries properly.


    {
    entity_name="Scene_Untitled",
    type=SCENE,
    template_name="",
    lt_grp=0,
    srt_grp=0,
    usr_flg=0,
    spatialprops={
    pos={
    0,
    0,
    0
    },


    The Brackets in Red are required at the end of an entry. Note that the actual entry for the entity, and any userprops it may have such as rotation are separate. Therefore.
    orient={
    {
    1,
    0,
    0
    },
    {
    0,
    1,
    0
    },
    {
    0,
    0,
    1
    }
    }
    },


    The Brackets in Red are required for orient, whilst the ones in blue are empty. I tend to include these out of habit, and have never had any issues with them.


    ={ is used to declare props or a new section. These brackets do not need to be closed For Example:


    entities={
    {
    entity_name="Scene_Untitled",
    type=SCENE,
    template_name="",
    lt_grp=0,
    srt_grp=0,
    usr_flg=0,
    spatialprops={
    pos={
    0,
    0,
    0
    },


    The text in red is Always required at the start of a scene after duration, otherwise entities will not spawn.


    Category List


    Prop: Starspheres, Water
    Solar: Planets, Most Stations
    Psys: Effects, such as Sun FX, weapon FX and so on
    Spaceship: any Ship model from Freelancer
    Room: if you felt so inclined to make an indoor scene it would be possible to do so using hardpoints from the Right Folder.


    Events


    The events section of the file defines when, where and for how long Effects, Animation and Audio goes on for. It is headed by events={. This is where nicknames become important A Typical Events entry looks like this:


    {
    0,
    START_PSYS,
    {
    "Intro_Farmoon_sun_6"
    },
    {
    duration=360
    }
    },


    The Name in brackets is the nickname of a sun I added in Entities earlier. Duration, is how long the sun FX will last, and the 0 at the top is the delay, allowing for creatively timed weapons/Beams/Etc. If you’ve placed a Camera and monitor, an entry like this is required:


    {
    0,
    SET_CAMERA,
    {
    "Monitor_2",
    "Camera_1"
    }
    },


    Changing the Duration here will caused the Camera to jump from 0,0,0 to wherever the monitor is placed after a set amount of time.
    Finally, attaching entities is important. It allows you to put engines on ships, or a glow effect on the end of a weapon. This will be covered in Advanced THN.


    List of Sun FX That Can Be Used in THN.


    Regular sun entries cannot be included in THN. Instead, FX must be used. Below is a small list of Sun FX that can be used in any THN File.


    Intro_planetchunk_sun: Blue with a large Corona
    Intro_volcanoplanet_sun: Orange with Sparkly Debris Orbiting it
    Intro_waterplanet_sun: Green With a Large Corona.
    Intro_waterplanet_sun#1: Blue with a large Corona
    rtc_ku02_sun: Small, Blue, Very Bright
    rtc_ku03_sun: Small, Blue, less Bright
    rtc_pl03_sun: Dim, Yellow Sun.
    The THN File Used to Reference here is Attached. I Will Post an Advanced THN Tutorial Later. If you can suggest any improvements, please Email me at <!-- e --><a href="mailto:Ruppetthemuppet@hotmail.co.uk">Ruppetthemuppet@hotmail.co.uk</a><!-- e -->

  • Three questions to system size

    As far as I know (received data I haven't tried it :D ) the limit of 256 refers to items with Object starting the data entry and not zones, asteroids etc.
    As New York bases are single object construction types the object count is just over 40 but if you use custom bases it's easy to have over 20 objects in a single base so if there is a 256 object limit.............


    CK256

  • Three questions to system size

    I've had systems up to 600k (about 0.45 nav map scale) square and I wouldn't go much bigger as even using tradelanes it will take several minutes to cross it.
    You also get a shaking effect above 500k that I find a bit annoying and Solars Sun. Planets etc disappear visually beyond 250k from your location.
    The other issue is filling the system as you have about 6 times the area that's in a vanilla game system it's easy to run out of objects (256 max), so it's easy to have a system with a few pockets of interesting stuff and lots of nothing everywhere else :D


    CK256

  • looking for Decent SP mods

    The mod I work on can be run as server and client on a single PC (for play testing primarily), now I can't be certain that all mods will work this way but it might be worth checking out.


    Just make short cuts from the activated mods EXE folder for flserver and freelancer and give it a try.


    CK256

  • Huge Planets

    I can't help with the planet issues but the system size is a matter of editing the nav map scale in the universe ini, most vanilla systems are between 1 and 2 but if you change it to 0.4 the system is about 600k square.


    [system]
    nickname = my01
    file = systemsmy01my01.ini
    POs = 13, 10
    visit = 128
    strid_name = 196657
    ids_info = 66115
    NavMapScale = 2



    Some things to rember is that objects over 250k distant will dissappear visually and the ship gets a bit shaky at the system edges and unless you up the cruise speed significantly it'll takes ages to cross it without tradelanes.


    CK256

  • Editing Money

    You need to edit the mpnewcharacter fl file in the EXE folder the top of it looks like this


    [Player]
    name = %%NAME%%
    rank = 2


    money = 1900000000 (normally 2000 but 2000000000 is the maximum)
    ;voice = %%VOICE%%
    ;All must be Trent!
    voice = trent_voice


    This works on server/client set-up but I've never tried it on SP.


    CK256

  • Ships

    Yeah same idea this time look in the Data/Equipment/market_misc ini file


    you'll see stuff like this


    [BaseGood]
    base = Br01_01_base
    MarketGood = br_gun01_mark01, 6, 0, 10, 10, 0, 1
    MarketGood = br_gun01_mark02, 10, 0, 10, 10, 0, 1


    and this


    MarketGood = torpedo01_mark02_ammo, 30, 0, 50, 50, 0, 1
    MarketGood = mine01_mark01, 0, 0, 10, 10, 0, 1
    MarketGood = mine01_mark01_ammo, 0, 0, 50, 50, 0, 1


    All the stuff that mounts on a ship is here check this thread for more info


    <!-- l --><a class="postlink-local" href="http://www.lancersreactor.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=899">viewtopic.php?f=13&t=899</a><!-- l -->


    CK256

  • Ships

    Look in the Data/Equipment/market_ships ini file for what ships are sold at what base, the data is like this


    [BaseGood]
    base = Br01_01_base
    marketgood = bf_package, 1, -1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1
    marketgood = bhf_package, 4, -1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1
    marketgood = bhe_package, 13, -1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1



    "These are all ships the game knows about and not all the ships it sells. The


    first number is rank required to buy a ship, the second is reputation


    required


    to buy a ship. Whether ship is for sale or not is simple. There are only 2


    settings."


    The weapon side is a bit more involved as it is determined by how many weapon hard points the original ship model has and how many the mod designer wants on a specific ship.


    The stuff below is from the shiparch ini and lists the number and type of weapon, shields, thrusters mines etc that this ship can mount but only if the original model had the required hard point.



    HP_tractor_source = HpTractor_Source
    shield_link = l_fighter_shield01, HpMount, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_gun_special_1, HpWeapon01, HpWeapon02, HpWeapon03, HpWeapon04
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_10, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_9, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_8, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_7, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_6, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_5, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_4, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_3, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_2, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_fighter_shield_special_1, HpShield01
    hp_type = hp_thruster, HpThruster01
    hp_type = hp_countermeasure_dropper, HpCM01
    hp_type = hp_mine_dropper, HpMine01
    hp_type = hp_torpedo_special_1, HpTorpedo01
    hp_type = hp_torpedo_special_2, HpTorpedo01


    I'd suggest that you leave ship packages and shiparch editing for a bit as they can seriously mess up the game if you make a mistake.


    Try this link for an excellent tutorial


    <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/file/913966/25096">http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin ... 3966/25096</a><!-- m -->


    CK256