Modding questions...

PaladinX · #1 February 19th, 2004, 01:53 PM

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.

Rollo · #2 February 20th, 2004, 02:32 AM

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?

Rollo · #3 February 20th, 2004, 02:32 AM

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

PaladinX · #4 February 19th, 2004, 04:01 PM

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

Rollo · #5 February 19th, 2004, 04:39 PM

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.

PaladinX · #6 February 19th, 2004, 05:01 PM

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

PaladinX · #7 February 19th, 2004, 07:55 PM

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.