Dr del the ' in the zip name stops it being posted as a link

a good bump to boot

American Scientists spent millions developing the perfect writing utensil; It writes in Zero-gravity, upside down, under water, in space... The Russians used a Pencil.

Edited by - free spirit on 21-06-2003 11:43:03

Thanx

-ICE-

Nice update to the original Post Giskard, and thanks for posting that info regarding the shields and powerplants. Thats WAY useful info!

The Edit:
Oh, the last light fighter entry in the Molecular shields set has no damage rating, is that because there is not a level 10 LF Molecular shield, or was it simply an oversight?

Thanks again!

Shannon Bentley
AKA LordDrow
AKA Marcus Santistivan in Narfell (Neverwinter Nights Server)
AKA Viperious (Freelancer Servers)
MTS Dev Lead
Freelancer Super-Universe Dev Lead

Edited by - LordDrow on 21-06-2003 20:23:30

hey guys,

just saw your name in the milkshape forums giskard - was in begging for help on sur files

was also thinking of asking on some other modeling sites - if they have software that can see the structure ill do my best to get a hold of it

i also got a mail from HCL - seems his comp shot itself up the sh**tter before he made any real progress on sur files. im sure i speak for all here in wishing him swift hardware replacement - save thick buggers like me having to try and think .

at the moment we dont have any real progress to report - working on this with PhantomFox and freespirit when we get a chance. we think the software they used to create the sur files was updated a couple of times as the file structure does change slightly on files created after certain dates - how this will help (if at all ) we have no clue. im wondering if sur files are encrypted (just an idea that wakes me up in a cold sweat now and again).
im also trying to look into the possibility they are related to vmesh files (as in possibly smesh) since it makes a certain amount of sence they might have made the ships and the shields in the same prog , but the gits wont send me the key for the demo of the prog that says it reads both types for some reason. ill try and aquire some alternative software if i can - any suggestions would be appreciated.

we also tried hash (steady people!) animation:master which mentions sur files in its tuts - once!!! . all it said was they were invalid coreography files. which seems strange cos theyve kept me bloody dancing

however thats enough waffle - now on to the real reason for this post ;

BUMP BUMP BUMPITY BUMP


dr del


*twitching gently and with a slight tendancy to scream and whimper occasionally*

Edited by - dr del on 23-06-2003 05:10:26

Edited by - dr del on 23-06-2003 05:12:53

LordDrow: thanks bud, corrected the entry, btw the double mention of the same value is not a mistake. Its actually listed as such. I'll post more stuff as i make my notes. Ive needed a list like that for ship creation for ages. Handy to see them all lined up that way I think.

Dr Del:
Yes i drop by that forum for tutorials on texturing and other stuff, very good forum. The sur files a bitch, been looking into them my self and getting know where.

I posted a theory i have about huge models and clipping on my forums. Im going to test it sometime and see if im right or not. Heres the link if your interested.

http://www.respawn.co.uk/invboard/index ... 8f64862dec

Giskard

hey guys,

i think they may be onto something in this thread;

milkshape forum with a cute ass pic

just goes too show if you want to look at a model format then modeling forums are the way to go
bizzarely when i showed this to freespirit and PhantomFox they went "well yeah" - turns out they were concentrating on the header and triagle info.
felt a right git for not seeing the points - and i still cant guess im just not cut out for hex editing.

giskard,
nice thread dude - i think you could be right . let us know if you get any interesting test results. if this works i was wondering if copying some of the basic animations (like cargo bay doors opening ) into it could be made to work as well.


anyhoo on with the bumpage;

TITTY BUMP TITTY BUMP TITTY BUMP BUMP BUMP


dr del


drank a bottle of teqila on seeing that pic and is now staring at the keyboard through a world of pain

Gisgard wrote:

"When people get stuck and all else fails you will find a lot of people are more than willing to answering your question via email. Well I am anyway. So if you stuck you know theres a system that will get you unstuct and if you want to know something nobody had done then you will know it when you dont get a good answer."

Well here we go-----

To all,

I have a desire to see my own ship in the game so I designed one from scratch in Milkshape. There is plenty of “Heavy and Very Heavy” fighters in the game but not a lot of light fighters with medium weapons/shields, i.e. Banshee. So using this as my “performance base” I designed a light fighter with 6 x guns, 2 x missiles/guns, 1 x turret, 2 x engines, 2 x thrusters, mine, cm, etc., with L/6/7 weapons/shields. (I am currently at L/40 in rebalance mod in a Banshee and have taken it everywhere). Details follow.

Newby ship design:

What I have done to date:

1.I have created a new ship model in milkshape.
2. Scaled it as best I can using the tutorials - (it overflows the screen when I “reset view” and the X, Y, Z co-ordinate bars, appear about the right size. I used the Dralthi and Borg spheres as samples for sizing. (Thanx to the tutorials again!!!)
3. Turned it upside down.
4. Added the following Hardpoints and groups as follows:

Body, nose, center, tail, <(individual groups)

Hp/Fixed/HpThruster01
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon01
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon03
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon05
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon07
Hp/Fixed/HpShield01
Hp/Fixed/HpTractor_Source
Hp/Fixed/HpScanner01

Cockpit, Exhaust1, <(individual groups)

Hp/Fixed/HpThruster02
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon02
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon04
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon06
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon08
Hp/Fixed/HpCM01
Hp/Fixed/HpMine01
Hp/Fixed/HpConTrail01
Hp/Fixed/HpConTrail02
Hp/Fixed/HpRunningLight01
Hp/Fixed/HpRunningLight02
Hp/Fixed/HpEngine01
Hp/Fixed/HpEngine02
Hp/Fixed/HpRunningLight03
Hp/Fixed/HpDockLight01
Hp/Fixed/HpDockLight02
Hp/Fixed/HpDockLight03
Hp/Fixed/HpMount
Hp/Revolute/HpTurret01

Exhaust2, Edges <(individual groups)
Hp/Fixed/HpHeadlight

Tailfin, podfront <(individual groups)



5. Exported it as a .cmp file
6. Used the UTF editor to create a new .mat file.
I assume that’s all fairly standard stuff, most of which I got from the tutorials, and believe me that is NOT an easy task. It takes hours of searching, what with all the GUMPF about “ best ship… and whatnots that crowd the tutorials.. I need say no more…

Now to “Specific Questions”

A. I have to allocate an ID Number (my understanding is they must be unique and 2 numbers) plus, a Nickname (say: Scarab)
How do I do this?

B. Orientation of hardpoints;
Do they have to be “face” up?
Does it matter which way the axis of the triangle points? (I assume from Dralthi that the “flat” side faces forward)(Toward the pointy end).
I notice that there is no specific hardpoint for a scanner (I created one anyway; Hp/Fixed/HpScanner01), or is the hardpoint Hp/Fixed/HpMount used as a (Edit oops! not shield should be) Scanner mount?
As an aside - is this the way to get an extra shield onto a ship??? (For those that are trying)(Add an extra value Hp/Fixed/HpShield02 and hardpoint as well????)

C. Placement of hard points;
I have orientated hardpoints with the surfaces they will sit on so they are “Flat” to the surface. Is this important? or should they be Parallel to the “ground”

D. Is the order in which the previous hardpoints/groups are listed important?

E. Model orientation:

Should the model point towards the X, Y, Z, axis lines or away? (I would not like it to be going backwards now would I?)

F. The .mat file:

Using the UTF editor, (and Kilamatrix’s tutorial) I followed the steps outlined as best I could (after all English is not his native tongue) and all goes well enough till I get to the point:

“Now go to " texture library " and add also here a new point. You give now the file names, which you entered under " Dt_name " to that (rename, edit). Mark the new point and click again up " ADD new node ". you designate the new point now in " MIP0 " (that is one zero to ende)um, and click right on " import ". In the new window you select now the texture file (* tga) out and clicks to ok
Repeat so for a long time, until you imported all textures.
Now you need to only store the file”

Imported the textures O.K., as per above, but if you right click on “Import” – nothing happens. If you left click a window opens and as per instructions I placed in each “texture library” the appropriate *.tga file (I used Kubis.tga as a sample and on trim for a group so I could check it against the original), (hope he doesn’t mind). All seemed alright the numbers etc on his are the same as mine. After doing all this I noticed something - in 2 of the entries under MIP0 (not MIPO) in the ASCII box there are some vertical bars like fat “I”’s does this mean that they are still compressed? And won’t show in the game?

Last questions:

I know I have to edit the shiparch.ini, the goods.ini and I think the loadouts.ini, but I would like the ship, to be available in Bretonia since the SP missions take you there, or at least somewhere friendly. So how do I make it available there? I assume from my reading that I will have to edit a base but I am not sure how to do this?

G. Do I use the Banshee .sur file? Or would you suggest another? (light fighter please)

My appreciation goes to Parabolix for his offer to help with the info cards.

I hope I get a “positive” response to these questions, and if anybody needs to know more or additional details I can by emailed at: [email protected]

My thanx in advance - when the ship is ready - it will be available.

Harrier.

P.S. when all is done and I have the ship in the game, I will ,if it's thought useful, turn this into a step-by-step instruction sheet for others. Maybe it will help others.

Retreat[![! ---- I'm too badly messed up now[![!

Edited by - Harrier on 24-06-2003 16:08:21

Dr Del:

Very good thread that, i think CC is onto something there.

Harrier:

Ok some standard noob questions mostly. Easy to answer except for one or two.

Hardpoints.
The only Hardpoints you must include are

First the Hp/Fixed/ ones
HpThruster01
HpShield01
HpMount (ways at the point where the ship would touch the ground when landed)
HpEngine01 (for one engine)
HpTractor_Source

Optional for Hp/Fixed
HpContrail01
HpMine01
HpCM01 (Counter measures)

For Revolute they are
HpWeapon01

Optional for Revolute
HpTorpedo01

As you found out there are more but they are optional or not fully explained yet. You can ignore them for now until you get the hang if ship building.

As general rule, anything with a 01 after the name can have a 02 all the way to 07, ive heard about issues with weapon hardpoints greater than 07.

Placement:
I always align them with the surface of the mod but to be honest ive not see it make any difference. I think the center of thr triangle is the most important spot anyway.

Orientation of hardpoints:
This is done in the UTF editor and gets complex fast.
Look at the placement, orientation and max and min values as integers in UTF and do a search for the key words listed in there in this forum. Very complex. Dont fully understand it my self.

Hardpoint order:
Not important.

Mat files.
In the material library node you will fine these.
DT_Name, this holds the textures full name. Eg mytexture.tga or mytexture.DDS
Type simply has DcDt held in it.

Both are entered as strings in the UTF editor.

Next you have the actual textures.

In Texture Library you have
Texturename.tga or Texturename.DDS where the name is the real name of your texture + its extension.

For TGAs the entry below the texture name is MIP0 (thats MIPZero) and for DDS files its MIPS.

TGA files have to be turned upsite down and then imported into the MIP0 entry using UTF. DDS files dont have to be turned upside down and automatically calculate other detail levels for low end cards. Also all textures should be square. EG 2x2 4x4 8x8 all the way up to a max of 512x512 pixels. If they are not, newer cards will still use them but old cards wont display them.

BTW the import feature doesnt tell you it was successful, it just imports the file you choose to import. Click on another box then click back on the MIP entry to update the file size entry if your worried.

Adding ships to bases.
This info is covered but its not really noob friendly i found so i'll give you the quick and easy appraoch.

Open data/equipement/markshipships and find any base with BR at the start of its name. BR01 being Newlondon system, the rest of the numbers being a base in that system.

To enable your ship at a base add this to any of the BR bases
marketgood = yourship_package, 1, -1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1

To remove it add this
marketgood = yourship_package, 13, -1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1

As most bases are only allowed to sell 3 ships you will have to find and disable one of the existing ships to make your appear. So find all the ship entries that have 1, -1, 1, 1, 0, 1, 1 and move them to the top of the list (easier to find and edit later), then change one to 13, -1, 0, 0, 1, 1, 1

Please not the first number is the level required to buy the ship, so it may be different and doesnt really need changing at all. You can ignore it if you wish, just put a 1 in your entry and be happy for now

BTW, most of this info is in this forum in messages others have posted. However, you have read the tutorials and tried to help your self first. Which is exactly what we want to encourage because thats a skill all mod makers need or they might as well give up now.

I hope the other noobs see how far you got on your own and learn from your example.

Giskard

Giskard,

Thanx for your response.

I picked up on the hardpoints i.e. fixed and revolute o.k. But how do I give it 6 guns and 2 missiles? In Rebalance mod - if I look at the modified Dagger and Banshee in the shiparch.ini there are differences in the weapon names. For instance: the Banshee is conventional and will take 6 x gun/missiles and turret plus you can load a missile in the cruise disruptor slot, with the Dagger it has an entry that is different: - Hpxx01, Hpxx02 is this the way to get those extra guns/missiles?

If I understand you correctly the procedure would be to rename either or both Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon07/08 to Hp/Revolute/HpTorpedo01/02 and then configure them as missiles in loadouts.ini (I don’t have a very high opinion of torpedo’s as they are slow and not much good for dogfighting, whereas Catapults for instance are more flexible and 2 x Catapults have the same damage ratio as 1x Sunslayer). Though for flexibility it is probably a better way to go to have torpedo’s' for capital ships.
I have contrails plus I’ve added docklights, running lights as 01,02,03 etc. (1 x headlight) am I correct in this, or do you simply “link” or regroup them under a single entry and then trust the game to provide the necessary info?

One point, from a game point of view how does “it” know the “ship” has a scanner? Loadouts.ini again? The reason I ask this is; if they are unnecessary I will simply delete them thereby making the .cmp file smaller. Current size is 22 KB; .mat file size is 620 KB.

I have placed hardpoints for 2 x Thrusters and 2 x Engines (I wanna go at trade lane speeds), and I see references to Engine 01,02, Thrusters 01,02 in the .ini’s are they linked or separate in the model, or do I delete the extra hardpoints? I’ll go look in the tutorials and see if I can answer my own questions, I’ve read the tutorial on hardpoints V2 – Vector mathematics are not my strong point, but I’ll try the model first and adjust as required!!

My textures are all *. tga format, square and saved as 256x256 and because of the type and the way they are used I don’t think it will matter. I have used commonplace items e.g. reflections on water, an electron microscope picture of magnetic plates at a magnification of 10,000 times, grass etc.. though it worries me that they may still be compressed. The texture coordinate editor is very useful once you get used to the way it works. Those little bars in the ASCII box may be important – I guess only time will tell. I picked up on MIP(zero) and will look at it again as you suggest though it does not appear to be wrong.

I’ll also look in the tutorials for some hints on ID numbers and Nicknames though frankly that confuses me. Any suggestions on .Sur files, I know from my reading that they haven’t been cracked as yet? – Banshee??? I presume it has to be renamed?

Lots, of work to do yet but thanks to yours and others help I get closer every day.

Now to add it to a base in Bretonia and go for a fly………………….

Regards,

Harrier.


Retreat[![! ---- I'm too badly messed up now[![!

I've been having some problems with infocards, so I'm going to add a reply giskard was kind enough to send me direct. A large thank you to both him and Parabolix for the help they've given me.

I will post a reply once I've finished what I am working on and have it better organised in my mind.

Giskard wrote:

Hello Harrier.

LRs site is timing out the post doesnt appear to have been posted at all. Glad i make a copy to memory of the post its very long and would be painful to retype again. Please paste this to any reply in the thread so other noobs can follow whats happening when they search for information at a later date.

Well Basically all hardpoints follow the same rules as far as numbering goes.
EG

Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon01
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon02
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon03
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon04
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon05
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon06
Hp/Revolute/HpWeapon07

Each hardpoint must exist on your model.
The same rules apply to other Fixed hardpoints though HPMount is an exception as there should only be one of those usually.

Scanners: No the games has to be told it has a scanner in the goods.ini. You assign basic equipement to a ship in that file. Mostly engines, scanners and trackor beams as well as lights and stuff.

X2 Thrusters: No they are seperate on the model but linked in the ini file. So the hardpoints must exist for them on the model and you have link Thruster01 and Thruster02 to HPThruster in the shiparch.ini.

Time to confuse you )

If you assign the thrusters to HPengine01 or HPEngine02 in the shiparch.ini they will still work. In fact theres a few hardpoints that can have multiple items added to them in this way. However some items are models, such as thrusters and if a thruster and countermeasure shared the same hardpoint then the visual appearence would be messy because both have visable models outside the ship.

Sur files: If your making a light fighter, just choose a light fighters sur file and copy and rename it to match your cmp file. If your making a heavy fighter, choose a heavy fighters sur file. That will give you sur files of roughly the correct size.

ID numbers and infocards.

Welcome to giskards Confuse a Noob day, today contestants include Harrier

I'll email you FLEd-ids.exe because you will need it.
Shame its not been uploaded to LR, its a great tool.

Also get on google and search for reshack.

Download my Hostile Universe mod. Choose one of the smaller respawn dlls and rename it to suit your mod. Then load up reshack, click on the little + sign next to the 23 and delete all entries under it except entry 1. (The Respawnships.dll is the best one for you to use i think, i'll assume thats the one you choose so my data is more accurate in this thread).

Then save the file.

You will need 1 to work out where your id numbers start from. So leaving 1 in place will help you here.

Add your new dll to the freelancer/exe folder and edit the freelancer.ini. Look for the list of Dlls in that file and add yours to the end of that list.

Here is the actual entry for Hostile Universe, all the respawnxxxx.dlls are my dlls.

[Resources
DLL = InfoCards.dll ; Contains all infocard text resources
DLL = MiscText.dll ; Contains other bulk text resource: rumor, offer, and mission text
DLL = NameResources.dll ; Contains names of things, primarily.
DLL = EquipResources.dll ;Contains names of equipment (in string table) and infocards for equipment (in HTML resources)
DLL = OfferBribeResources.dll ; Contains random mission offers and bribes
DLL = MiscTextInfo2.dll ;Contains MP UI elements as well as other misc. text
DLL = respawnuniverse.dll ; Custom Dll
DLL = respawnbases.dll ; Custom Dll
DLL = respawnships.dll ; Custom Dll

You just need yours adding where respawnuniverse.dll is. The ones under that can be removed.

Now click on FLEd-ids.exe (do not use reshack for editing infocards after youve made the dll, it messes them up). Tell it where to find freelancer and your ready.

I'll send you some infocard templates too made by zen i believe. Edit the templates to suit your own ship and save them off. Now under the +23 you left 1 entry remember. All text in that entry has a dot between each letter making it hard to read so my ship would look like m.y..s.h.i.p.

Pick out a word thats totally unique to that dll. EG starfury or something i added to my that wont exist anywhere else in the game. In respawnships the first box is for the Galaxy Transport so search for that id_info.

Enter the name in the search box in FLEd-ids.exe and click ids_info

Then cut and paste the numbers you see into the resource extractor/editor box as an id_info number and click get. The large white area under it will be filled with the info card you saw in reshack. You can compare then to see if they are the same, remember ingore the dots. The number will be in the 50000 range id guess.

Take your first info card and paste it in over the top of this first entry. Then click save id_info. Now add 1 to the number and do the same for the others you edited earlier. The second number should produce a blank page because there was only 1 entry in your dll. If not then your editing the wrong dll or did not delete all the other entries.

Now we need a name, back to reshack, understring table you will see a +1. click on it then click on the 1033 box. The first entry is Galaxy Transport for the respawnships.dll so we need to do another search in FLEd-ids.exe for that name using the Id name box this time. The number of the entry will appear below the search box like it did for id infos. You need this number.

Cylon Raider is the second one so if you add +1 to the number listed you should see Cylon Raider listed in the resource extractor box when entered as an id name. Simply edit the name Galaxy transport so it becomes the name of your new ship and click save id name.

Now, the numbers you entered are needed for the shiparch.ini. So write them down. Keep id_name numbers seperate from id_info numbers. Shiparch.ini needs 4 and you will have to figure out the correct order they should be displayed in so the info card in the game displays correctly.

One of my entries looks like this.

[Ship
ids_name = 589832
ids_info = 589857
ids_info1 = 589854
ids_info2 = 589855
ids_info3 = 589856

So you see the last card is my first Id_info number.

Add the numbers to the top of your ships shiparch.ini like i did above and your all set.

You can check your numbers are correct any time in FLED_IDs simply by searching for the ship name or entering the number in the correct box. Its a great tool for looking up such information and will display all references to the name you searched for. Imagine my list by now with all the rumours and news added to my dlls

All you have to do is select the dll to search and your on easy street.

Take some time to learn how to use FLED_ID, since it was released my lifes been much easier than it was before it appeared.

Giskard

Included is the complete text from Giskard, Thanx again for your help.

Harrier


Retreat[![! ---- I'm too badly messed up now[![!

No problem.

Id have posted it my self here but the site was coughing up errors when i tried.

Glad it helped you

Giskard

Forgive me, Giskard, for I have Noobed.

I'm trying to put together a Junkers mod, but.....I asked for help.

I should have looked in Tuts, but I never did(until Yesterday). I looked and will work on my Mod when i return from Holiday in florida. Don't expoect it to be out, I might just gloat over it for awhile, over my lovely creation. And will probably be lazy, but with my limited understanding of modding, I think I can do this simple thing. But the thing I really want to figure out, is how to get the Pilot IN the CSV. Oh well, better just get the New Barragers, and the CSV sold at every Junkers Base.

Please, forgive my Noobish sins.

EDIT:
That reminds me, I need to figure out Perishable commodities. Need to make "Medicinal" Cardimine.

Edited by - CptSavage on 01-07-2003 16:57:46

Psst... from select_equip.ini:

[Commodity
nickname = commodity_food
ids_name = 261622
ids_info = 65896
units_per_container = 30
pod_appearance = cargopod_red
loot_appearance = lootcrate_red
decay_per_second = 0
volume = 1
hit_pts = 250

[Commodity
nickname = commodity_luxury_food
ids_name = 261623
ids_info = 65906
units_per_container = 17
pod_appearance = cargopod_red
loot_appearance = lootcrate_red
decay_per_second = 1
volume = 1
hit_pts = 100

That should get you going in the right direction

Back again, after about a weeks worth of ISP troubles, I am once again loose on the net.

Giskard: More excellent additions to this thread. Thanks again for sharing all this info. Very, VERY useful.
Also, I tried to sign up at the FLSDK forums site, but have yet to receive a response from the system. Do you have anything to do with folks trying to sign up with your group? **grins**

Thanks!



Shannon Bentley
AKA LordDrow
AKA Marcus Santistivan in Narfell (Neverwinter Nights Server)
AKA Viperious (Freelancer Servers)
MTS Dev Lead
Freelancer Super-Universe Dev Lead