Freelancer Moddability Factor

Tue Dec 23, 2003 10:55 pm by ambershee

Hey all, and a special howdy to those that may remember me from the SL Editing Forums.
I've been away for quite some time, but recently I've returned. Why? Because of the fact that the fourth game in a series of total conversions (The 'David Hunter' Series) is supposed to be a flight sim.
I've been working with numerous different engines over the past year that I've been away and increased my mod team experience dramatically, I'm happy to say.
Still, the object of this message, before I go too far off-topic is to get straight just how moddable Freelancer is at the present moment, and if there's any news of upcoming 1st or 3rd party bits an pieces that would aid any editor.
I've been reading around and have gathered that there are several Total Conversion project already going on - is it worthwhile? I know it's possible to create new star systems and what-not, as well as the usual ship add-ins and replacements but what at this present time is the likelyhood and flaws of doing the following;

*Replacing all FL craft with new craft and adding a great many new ones, from all classes (From figthers to cruisers to space stations).
*Modifying weapons - changing slightly the way that all of the weaponry actually works in the game, and is it possible to add new weapons systems or change graphics?
*Replacing the entire FL star systems map completely with a multi-locational conversion that represents a single star system with greater detail. Any ideas on how to do that?
*I've heard that this is completely out of the question but; changing character animations, models and skins, as well as changing mission briefs and such forth.
*General UI alterations to change strings and make them more relevent.
*Mission editing! Is it possible to create complex mission scenarios like those presented to us in SL? (but that mission editor never did surface

) Would it be possible to make things a bit different by removing a great deal of a players freedom, basically making a 'tree' campaign that works on a win / loss scenario system or similar such like?

Basically it's a standard total conversion. I've read up a lot (including RubberEagle's sticky thread up top

) but I would like to hear a great many opinions on the matter as to just how possible things may be, and if they're not currently, how can they be changed theoretically?

Thanks for the time, you'll be hearing a lot from me in the coming months if I feel FL has something to offer me

The Ambershee

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Tue Dec 23, 2003 11:04 pm by cardam|ne

On a scale on 1 to 10, Freelancer is moddable at 10. try Freelancer SDK, a package of decompressed INI files, and stop by the Tutorial Forum if need be. I'm also working on a kinda TC MOD, but nothing special.

Tools available:
> Milkshape 3D - for creating ships
> Freelancer Explorer - for creating systems

But nothing beats the good old INI editting. It's wasy to learn, and quick to pick up on, so you shoulodn't have any problems!

All the best!

Dale

-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-

War isn't about what's right, it's about what's left

http://www.cardamine.net/ - should be up and running after Christmas!

Logical Jump Holes MOD - It's um . . . LOGICAL!

Wed Dec 24, 2003 2:03 am by Louva-Deus

As someone with years of experience doing development work for many games I have to give a different response. Freelancer is probably one of the least moddable games I have messed with and that says a lot considering the extent of my experience(16 years or so). While you can make new systems, ships, stations, weapons, and even missions(if you can figure out how) you are extremely limited in doing anything else. There is no dynamic capacity within the game and some like myself have been attempting to bypass it via external software. Also there are no real simple editors for anything, if anything they are borderline but do make things go faster(when they work right).

This does not mean there is no hope to using Freelancer for total conversions it just makes it harder to implement them and in some cases certain features will not be possible. The tools are getting better though to make things a bit easier but its still a lot of work, at least its easier then working with a proper coding language. As for specific editors my dev crew currently oversees the production of 3 utilities and the game sdk. We are currently working on improving Freelancer Explorer(system editor) to be a decent editor without errors, also the sdk is constantly being perfected, and lastly we are developing the only 3dsmax modeling plugin for Freelancer. Other editors you will find useful are Tinyfish's Freelancer Ini Editor(ini editor), FLED-IDS(dll editor), FLED-THORN(thn editor), UTF Editor(cmp editor), Reshack(resource editor), frhed(hex editor), cmp exporter & importer(model plugin for milkshape3d).

I hope that gives you an idea. Any other questions just let us know.

Primary Developer of the =EOA= Players Consortium

Wed Dec 24, 2003 9:40 pm by ambershee

Thanks for the input guys, it seems like FreeLancer may ahve the potential to do what I require. Considering that there is so much that is ini based as well, that makes it obscenely easy to edit, even without a source code. No complex editing required on that level will make things go very smoothly for someone who is very used to playing with complex C based languages.
Actually, I tend to avoid irritating little tools where ever possible and do things by hand - is an ini editor program really necessary? It's what notepad is for

. For now I can consume my time by scoping out other projects and see where they're going, and how it can be done. It would be nice to see how a few other dev teams are coping. I obviosuly need to nab that SDK and get myself a working full copy of FL now

. It certainly looks the part with nice up to date graphics and has some element that can be edited, albeit limited it's still better than most flight sims on that score.

I'll ask more questions as I come to them, although more detailed info on the previous would be nice

!

Ambershee

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Thu Dec 25, 2003 4:05 am by Louva-Deus

Freelancer is the best implementation I've personally seen for a space sim with a superior control system. Its the first space sim that didn't make me feel ill just playing it so that must say something about it. The engine itself though is a problem, sure it has some decent graphics but nothing special and its missing many many things like real physics(gravity for one). Then theres the dealing with ini files instead of a proper coding language and all the proprietary file formats, it just makes it a pain to work with. Despite that though I enjoy messing with it, something of a challenge I suppose.

Primary Developer of the =EOA= Players Consortium

Thu Dec 25, 2003 3:15 pm by ambershee

That's nice to know, but from what I've seen real missions do not apparently really exist. Does anyone believe that it could be possible to construct a fairly structured campaign / mission tree from this where the player is offered a lot less freedom of movement?

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Fri Dec 26, 2003 2:36 am by Louva-Deus

Making campaigns is possible but I don't know of anyone who has really had any success in doing it, then again I don't really keep track in what other people are doing.

Primary Developer of the =EOA= Players Consortium

Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:20 am by ambershee

Hmm, sounds like it can be heavily butchered to create something with a different feel even if you can't screw around with the engine or any other part of the source yet.
More questioning now that I've ordered FL.
a) Are there any other decent FL communities / fan sites I should be aware of?
b) Is it possible to remove the existing characters from the game and replace them with new ones? If not, to what level can they be edited?
c) Is the modder capable of messing around with the way weapons work themselves, i.e creating new weapons systems and such forth.
d) Would it be possible to significantly alter the 'upgrade purchase' system and 'ship purchase' system? If so, in what ways can it be done, which details regarding it can be fiddled?

Thanks,
The Ambershee

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Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:43 am by kickassclown

I am new to this game but from whaqt I've accomplished in the past few days that i've owned this game for this game is VERY easy to change. I admit that some thing right now look limiting but I bet that much of the barrier will be broken or bent or subverted. Add new characters and removing them I believe is relitive to some modding I've done simple same for ships, weapon, systems, I think that the overall feel of the game could be changed dramaticly.

one thing which I was thinking of trying for was the coopperation of the developers and such as they could shed some light on thing which for now are unknown.

Sorry about my rant'in hope it's been a little useful at the least.

Smile for today you live, tomarrow the clowns will eat you.

Fri Jan 02, 2004 9:48 am by ambershee

It seems this may be fairly easy to get to grips with

I'll be compiling some design documents and start collecting a team together soon, I'm still trying to convince the ModDB staff to give me a FreeLancer section. After all, it is moddable to a good extent.

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