I know quite a bit about modding but not enough to do THAT. If you really wanted to add the asteriod in the solararch ini to the shiparch.ini and create a script (.thn). I wouldnt know how you could implement it into an ini file tho.

Spectre-Man wrote:"Q1 Is it possible to set asteroids on straight line "patrol" routes to simulate a dangerous and random asteroid flying through the system. Or a giant eliptical orbit like a comet"

Wow, that;s a very cool idea. If its possible (I fear it's not, but this is just a felling because my potential knowledge is limited to the ini-files) then it would also be possible to have moons orbit planets, have plante sorbit stars and create a whole dynamical solar system. (Btw, It would be hard to fit trade lanes into a dynamic solar system, becasue the relative positions of the planets and moons would be continiuousky changing.)

But theoretically, it would have to be possible because the npc ships seem to follow routes too.




"We are a way of the Cosmos to know itself"

-- Carl Sagan

Perhaps some ship designer can design asteroids (or planets) as unpurchaseable ships so that asteroids, planets whatever the design, the "ship" could be sent along a path.

Come to think of it, it would be awesome to have a pirate ship that looked like an asteroid. The poor man's cloak.

Spectre-Man


Edited by - Spectre-Man on 31-05-2003 10:38:16

The creation of an asteroid patroling is not that difficult:
create a new ship in shiparch ini which uses one of the existing asteroid meshes.
add a new faction for the asteroid so you do not collide with other ship levels in faction_prop.ini. Give this faction the asteroid ship as only possible npc ship. important define a loadout (because of the pilot). create a new encounter group with only one ship and a patrol job as AI script. create a patrol path in the system and attach this encounter group to it....should work. Problem is that the asteroid will spawn randomly on the path,follow the patrol path and will vanish after finishing one complete run. But maybe as player you're not able to see the spawning and vanishing asteroid (like with the patrols in the game)

The solution (to the question of orbiting asteroids, planets, or whatever) might be in the "spin" function. Adding

spin = 0, 0.1, 0

to a planet, makes it spinning around its vertical axis. Well, if you could arrange the axis of an object to be, say, 9000K away from the actual object, then it would have a circular orbit of 18000K across. (Of course, an oval axis would be better, but right now a circular orbit would be great).

Unfortunately, I have no idea where we could change the axis of an object; I guess it's not in an ini-file, and I don't even know how to read the other file types.But if someone knows how to do this, we would have a relatively easy way to have orbiting solars.


"We are a way of the Cosmos to know itself"

-- Carl Sagan


Edited by - hans olo on 31-05-2003 13:03:10

Hans Olo, I don't quite understand moving the axis outside the body of a planetoid. I wonder if it is possible? It sounds to me that it would not be likely as the devs would probably center all coding on a normal belief the center axis is through the middle of the planet. I don't think a computer can understand having a spin if the spin didn't happen within the object's physical barriers.

I could be wrong or it might be something they never cemented thinking no one would ever try it your way. In what file would I try the Spin thing you suggest? I haven't come across that yet.

Spectre-Man

Edited by - Spectre-Man on 31-05-2003 18:58:53

Spectre-Man wrote: "I don't quite understand moving the axis outside the body of a planetoid. I wonder if it is possible?"

I don't know! If it is possible, it has to be done in one of the .txm-files, .mat-files or maybe the .sph files. I have only seen the insides of such files for the 1st time, since the past hours, and I didn't see anything that gave me a clue whether it can be done or not.

I am not at all experienced in editting or modding, but I know some 3d games have vidual data and collision data. In GTA, some of the hgher levels of the buildings were not solid (I found that out when I tried a mod enabling me to ride up against walls). So, if FL works in the same way, you can create objects that are soiid and visible, or unsolid and visible, or solid and univisible, or unsolid and invisble.

So I guess *if* we could create a huge object which is unsolid and invisible, except for a little moon attached to its edges, we could spin this large object and it would appear that a moon would be follwoing an orbit, the center of which would be the center of our large, unsolid and invisble obect.

But maybe you are right, and does the "spin" command just calculate the center of the actual collission data. Yet, then we could make a tiny physical particle, just on what wold have to be the other side of the huge unsolid object.

Whatever it maybe: as long as nobody create such an object, my whole idea is just an idea.

The "spin" thing is just something you can add to a planet, to have it spin around its X-Z-Y-center:

<pre><font size=1 face=Courier>
[Object
nickname = Cr02_Brahe
ids_name = 458782
pos = -13000, 0, -47000
spin = 0, 0.33333, 0
archetype = planet_gasorgcld_5000
ids_info = 458782
visit = 0
atmosphere_range = 5500
burn_color = 255, 191, 127
</font></pre>

makes it spin around its Z-axis. You can also make the X and Y another value, but most planets spin around an axis 90 degrees on the plane theu orbit (Uranus is an exception; its axis is almost parallel to the plane). Btw 0.33333 is a very high value; it makes the planet rather freaky. Whcih isn't necessarily a bad thing


"We are a way of the Cosmos to know itself"

-- Carl Sagan



Edited by - hans olo on 31-05-2003 21:00:00

It can be argued that Venus rotates on an axis almost 270 degrees from its ecliptic, as it rotates anti-parallel to most other bodies. Just another Fun Fact!

Thanks Ut.

Hans Olo I do read all posts thoroughly. I didn't mean to imply that I was expecting you to tell me exactly how the game is configured. It was somewhat rhetorical or open for others to add their editing savvy. I'm sorry if it seemed I was pressing the issue with you, I didn't mean to frustrate you.

Thanks for showing me the spin, I guess I just overlooked that part as I have been busy concentrating on other parts of modding the game.

Spectre-Man

Edited by - Spectre-Man on 01-06-2003 00:53:38

Spectre-Man wrote: "I'm sorry if it seemed I was pressing the issue with you, I didn't mean to frustrate you."

Wow, I didn't get that impression at all. I don't think I can be pressed to any issue if it wouldn't interest me in the first place. I wasn't frustrated at all. English is not my native language, so maybe my way of expressing myself isn't always that adequate. Plus we have virtually legal pot here in the netherlands

Ut: lol, yo're right.


"We are a way of the Cosmos to know itself"

-- Carl Sagan

It was the "I don't know!" with an "!" That made me think you were frustrated.

Spectre-Man

Spectre-Man wrote: "It was the "I don't know!" with an "!" That made me think you were frustrated."

LOL! I'll keep that in mind



"We are a way of the Cosmos to know itself"

-- Carl Sagan