Need help with my pop zones please!!

Sun Mar 25, 2007 7:58 pm by Llywelyn

Hi there. I'm new on FL modding and I have learn a lot on this board, but I did not find anything specific to population functions of FLE. I think I did things right, but when I travel my systems there is just nobody there. Nothing, even the tradelanes are empty. Let me show ya how I did that.

Ok, now everywhere on the board they say: don't make patrols, so I didn't. Now I create a Pop zone around a base, Named: Zone_CS01_pop_ambient_01. In the top window there is some options set by default and you can change them.

There's a check box that say: Cumulative? I want a busy zone so I check it. Sort: I still not understand this function so I keep it on default settings: 51. Right under there's a box that says (sorry I have a french version of FLE) Max Conflict Zone: let's say I want big battles but not too much, I put 12 in the box.

Difficulty: I guess a bit what it is, I set 20. Density: I'm not sure what it is, number of ships per encounter? I set 8. Reaparition delay: I set 15, Relief time: 15.

Ok now am I a total **** or things are going all right? lol

Population Type: This menu is strange. I can't tell the difference between: Single_base_law, base_cluster_law and extended_law.
Let's say our base is a Navy battle ship near a wormhole, I choose single_base_law_jumpgate. I know there's no jumpgate, it's a wormhole, but does it makes a difference?

Here is the big question: encounter types. I want to be sure there will be combat around the Navy dreadnaught, so, I set the encounter Chance at 80%. let's say I want some outcasts and corsairs to attack the base, and navy and bounty hunters to defend the cargos and freighter around. Oh and I am also aware that Faction Chances cannot be over 100 by encounter. There is what I set:

area_assault
Outcasts (0.500000)
Corsairs (0.500000)
area_defend
Liberty Navy (1.00000)
area_scout
Liberty Navy (1.00000)
area_bh_defend
Bounty Hunters Guild (1.00000)
area_bh_scout
Bounty Hunters Guild (1.00000)
area_trade_transport
Gateway Shipping (0.250000)
Kruger Minerals (0.250000)
Republican Shipping (0.250000)
Universal Shipping (0.250000)
area_trade_freighter
Cryer Pharmaceuticals (0.200000)
Interspace Commerce (0.200000)
Synth Foods, Inc. (0.200000)
Samura Industries (0.200000)
Ageira Technologies (0.200000)
area_trade_trader
Cryer Phermaceuticals (0.200000)
Interspace Commerce (0.200000)
Synth Foods, Inc. (0.200000)
Samura Industries (0.200000)
Ageira Technologies (0.200000)
area_trade_feighter_pirate
Outcasts (0.500000)
Corsairs (0.500000)
area_trade_freighter_smuggler
Outcasts (0.500000)
Corsairs (0.500000)
area_trade_smuggler
Outcast (0.500000)
Corsairs (0.500000)

In the tradelane pop zones I put the same settings in the boxes and I set Chances at 80%

tradelane_trade_transport
Gateway Shipping (0.250000)
Kruger Minerals (0.250000)
Republican Shipping (0.250000)
Universal Shipping (0.250000)
tradelane_trade_freighter
Cryer Pharmaceutical (0.200000)
Interspace Commerce (0.200000)
Synth Foods, Inc. (0.200000)
Samura Industries (0.200000)
Ageira Technologies (0.200000)

There should be lots of people in the zone, fighters, transports, freighters, bounty hunters ect... but when I get in there is nobody there. No one. It does not looks so complicated why is my settings don't work?? Where did I screwed up??

I would also know how do you create zone indicating ''WARNING sensors efficiency reduced'' or ''DANGER Radiation damage detected'' with the flashing symbol...

Thanks in advance for your upcomming answers!!

Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:16 pm by Llywelyn

Hi again,

I was wondering, Can a system be larger than 160000K?

I'm working on a real scale solar system project. My jupiter is 150000k radius. It's HUGE and it's kinda tight in a 160000k system lol... The trick is to put the massive planet in a corner so you can maximise space but you can put stuff only in one quadrant.... I'm still looking for Mars pics .mat files if somebody can link me something it would be appreciated. I am using solar system mod mat files but Mars is not in the pack!! Venus sucks (I replaced it with a smaller version of Saturn...) and so the jovian moons. I am totaly ingorant in texturing so if some one can give me a hand I'm working on something very impressive...

Still trying to figure out my errors about my pop zones

thanks all

Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:41 pm by Llywelyn

Hi again (continue)

How do you create minable Alien Organisms and Artifacts zones? Is it possible?

Can the bases be scaled up? Like ateroid bases and battleships...

What are the optimal FLE system light source settings? Are the defaults all right?

I put Exclusion zones around bases in asteroid fields but there's is still rocks knocking the base, Are exclusion zone enough for clearing the zone or should I put another setting with that?

What's wrong with me??

Thanks all

Sun Mar 25, 2007 8:45 pm by bakedpotato

You should copy and paste all the code you edited so we can see exactly what you did.
What you have here don't tell much... unless that is what you have, in which case it's no wonder it don't work.

Your example should look like this
Here is an edited example of the jumphhole to omega 7

[zone
nickname = zone_bw04_pop_omega7_hole
pos = -24169, 0, -13587
shape = SPHERE
size = 4000
sort = 6
toughness = 14
density = 32
repop_time = 10
max_battle_size = 32
pop_type = wormhole
relief_time = 15
faction_weight = fc_c_grp, 10
faction_weight = fc_rh_grp, 10
faction_weight = gd_bh_grp, 10
density_restriction = 16, lawfuls
encounter = area_defend, 14, 1.000000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_rh_grp, 0.500000
encounter = area_bh_assault, 14, 1.000000
faction = gd_bh_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_trade_trader, 14, 1.000000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_rh_grp, 0.500000
encounter = area_defend, 14, 0.890000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_rh_grp, 0.500000
encounter = area_bh_assault, 14, 0.890000
faction = gd_bh_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_trade_trader, 14, 0.890000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_rh_grp, 0.500000
encounter = area_defend, 14, 0.760000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_rh_grp, 0.500000
encounter = area_bh_assault, 14, 0.760000
faction = gd_bh_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_trade_trader, 14, 0.760000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_rh_grp, 0.500000

Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:27 pm by Llywelyn

hi... I know what you mean about text and stuff... What I wrote above are FLE settings, in program options and values... sorry but I have to work with FLE because hard ini editing like this gives me a headache!... FLE gives me some headaches too! but looking to your text my settings looks okay :S

Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:30 pm by Llywelyn

ok found one... looks like this:
This is the result by settings values above with FLE..

[Zone
nickname = Zone_KU01_pop_ambient_02
pos = 62484, 0, 52386
rotate = 0, 0, 0
shape = SPHERE
size = 32820
comment = Ambient Pop
sort = 51
toughness = 20
density = 8
repop_time = 12
max_battle_size = 12
pop_type = fc_ou_grp, single_base_law, jumpgate
relief_time = 12
population_additive = True
faction_weight = fc_ou_grp, 20
faction_weight = gd_bh_grp, 20
faction_weight = li_n_grp, 20
faction_weight = co_nws_grp, 1
faction_weight = rh_m_grp, 1
faction_weight = co_rs_grp, 1
faction_weight = co_ss_grp, 1
faction_weight = gd_im_grp, 1
faction_weight = co_hsp_grp, 1
faction_weight = co_ic_grp, 1
faction_weight = co_ni_grp, 1
faction_weight = co_shi_grp, 1
faction_weight = co_vr_grp, 1
faction_weight = fc_c_grp, 1
encounter = area_assault, 20, 0.900000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_bh_defend, 20, 0.900000
faction = gd_bh_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_bh_scout, 20, 0.900000
faction = gd_bh_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_defend, 20, 0.900000
faction = li_n_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_scout, 20, 0.900000
faction = li_n_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_trade_transport, 20, 0.900000
faction = co_nws_grp, 0.200000
faction = rh_m_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_rs_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_ss_grp, 0.200000
faction = gd_im_grp, 0.200000
encounter = area_trade_freighter, 20, 0.900000
faction = co_hsp_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_ic_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_ni_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_shi_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_vr_grp, 0.200000
encounter = area_trade_trader, 20, 0.900000
faction = co_hsp_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_ic_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_ni_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_shi_grp, 0.200000
faction = co_vr_grp, 0.200000
encounter = area_trade_freighter_pirate, 20, 0.900000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 0.500000
encounter = area_trade_freighter_smuggler, 20, 0.900000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
encounter = area_trade_smuggler, 20, 0.900000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_ou_grp, 0.500000

Sun Mar 25, 2007 9:39 pm by Llywelyn

It looks ok?
why Is nobody in the zone?... maybe the density settings are too low?

Mon Mar 26, 2007 1:11 am by SWAT_OP-R8R

could be that you didnt definy the encounters at the beginning of that file - dunno (not enough information)

Mon Mar 26, 2007 4:33 am by bakedpotato

I'm not sure why the NPC's are not showing up.
What I do see is that the size of the zone is huge it may be too big and as far as I know the toughness which is the pilot level can only go up to 19 and you have 20

What I would do if I were you is take a look at the original encounter files which are located in \Data\UNIVERSE\SYSTEMS
Use those and modify them to what you want.

Tip: always backup your files before editing and make small changes and then start Freelancer to make sure the game don't crash and then test what you edited to see if it's working as planned.

You can loose a lot of work if Freelancer crashes and you don't know what caused it to crash.

I would also use FLScan 1.3 http://www.lancersreactor.com/t/download/download.asp?id=2126
FLScan is a program that will scan your Freelancer files looking for errors.

Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:37 am by mknote

Hmmm... I agree that having the toughness at 20 may be a problem, but also, all of your encounters have a probability of 90%, when they should collectivly add up to 100% (note that .9000000 equals 90%, so they should all add up to 1). Here are the things I would change (in bold):

encounter = area_assault, 20 , 0.900000

Hope this helps.

MK

*edit*

Working with the system files really isn't that bad. While I do lay down everything in FLE in order to keep everything proportional, I then hand edit the .ini to weed out errors and perfect the layout. It is really worth it, in my opinion.

Edited by - mknote on 3/26/2007 6:51:09 AM

Mon Mar 26, 2007 5:53 am by Bejaymac

@ BP, it's amazing that even after this length of time people still don't do zones properly.

nickname = zone_bw04_pop_omega7_hole
pos = -24169, 0, -13587
shape = SPHERE
size = 4000
sort = 6
toughness = 14
density = 32
repop_time = 10
max_battle_size = 32
pop_type = wormhole
relief_time = 15
faction_weight = fc_c_grp, 10
faction_weight = fc_rh_grp, 10
faction_weight = gd_bh_grp, 10
density_restriction = 16, lawfuls
encounter = area_defend, 14, 0.400000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_rh_grp, 0.500000
encounter = area_bh_assault, 14, 0.250000
faction = gd_bh_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_trade_trader, 14, 0.350000
faction = fc_c_grp, 0.500000
faction = fc_rh_grp, 0.500000

Encounter = type, difficulty, percentage
In each {Zone} you can only have one of each encounter type, those duplicates you have will just confuse the hell out of Freelancer. The percentage for each {Zone} is 100% or 1.000000, what you have is a total 795% or 7.950000 which is impossible.

@ OP-R8R, when was the last time you bug hunted bud, no encounter parameters is a CTD on launch, yet he's been in the system.

@ Llywelyn, the problem is three fold, 1} your a noob and don't know what your doing, 2} your using FLE to populate zones which is always a bad idea, 3} your zone is flawed because of 1 & 2.
The most noticable problem is your difficulty level, "toughness = 20" & "encounter = type, 20,%", 19 is the highest difficulty level unless you've editted the Npcships.ini to give higher levels. The biggest problem with FLE is that it allows you to stick almost any faction into any encounter, even if they don't have 1} the ship type, 2} the ship class. Take Interspace (co_ic_grp) as an example, unless you've given them ships to use you will never see them in an encounter, but FLE still lets you add them.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

Mon Mar 26, 2007 6:39 am by bakedpotato

Encounter = type, difficulty, percentage
In each {Zone} you can only have one of each encounter type, those duplicates you have will just confuse the hell out of Freelancer. The percentage for each {Zone} is 100% or 1.000000, what you have is a total 795% or 7.950000 which is impossible.

Actually you're wrong in both cases... the duplicates don't confuse Freelancer. They add more groups of the same NPC's.
And the percentage is the chance that they will show up.
It's the faction weight total that cant be over 100.
I did this in the Close Encounters in Sirius Mod to increase the amount of ships that appear and it works just fine.
Although having more than 32 ships on screen at the same time can slow down older computers.

Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:02 am by SWAT_OP-R8R

bp is right - the faction shoulnt be more than 100% the encounter can be

Mon Mar 26, 2007 7:08 am by bakedpotato

My encounters are not over 100%
1.000000 is a 100% chance they will show up
0.890000 is a 89% chance they will show up
0.760000 is a 76% chance they will show up

So how do you figure that the chances of an encounter happening are over 100%
Each encounter has a percent chance that the NPC's will appear.
So where do you get that the percent for each group is over 100...

Mon Mar 26, 2007 11:18 am by SWAT_OP-R8R

i meant the totals (not the single values)

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