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INItial shenannigans...

The general place to discuss MOD''ing Freelancer!

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 10:28 am

INItial shenannigans...

Heh, as you may have guessed, I've had some great fun with the BINI INI decompressing utility, and before that some plain old hex editing, with the demo. Here's some highlights :

1) Introducing some unlawfuls into Manhattan space provided some light relief and much needed exercise for the ever-vigilant but bored Police Patrol units in the region. No doubt they were quite surprised when their daily routine was rudely interrupted by half a dozen Outcast Daggers, double that in Liberty Rogue Bloodhounds and a literal swarm of Xenos fighters right out of Colorado in a combined assault strike on Liberty's heart. Two particular events stick in my mind from this time.

The first was during a frantic dogfight as I weaved through Tranton's bulk to avoid about three missiles. I heard some sudden comm-chatter from a Rhino that, if I remember correctly, went like "Um, guys? Police? Help?! I really could use a hand here, if you don't mind!!"

The second came as I was down to thirty percent hull and no more bots or shield batteries. I attempted to flee, abandoning my allies in an attempt to save my own skin. Twisting frantically, I had a near-miss with Manhattan's upper atmosphere and continued on in a level curve around the planet. Half a minute later came a stream of erratic gibbering and wailing as one by one all my pursuers roasted in the atmosphere.

2) Having had my fill of excessive unlawfulness in the nearby locale, I left that alone and tried my hand at some more interesting modifications. Attempts to introduce Cruisers and Dreadnoughts as random encounters failed miserably (DT crash, reboot required) so I had a close look at the one example available of a titanic death-dealer - the Battleship Missouri. Unfortunately, the Missouri is A) a base and stationery.

Or so I thought.

A bit of hackery later and a duplicate of the Missouri appeared in orbit over Manhattan - with one minor detail changed. It was mobile. MOBILE! It cruised the local 'airspace', looking for trouble - and, of course, with my previous 'mod' still in effect, the 'Meandering Missouri' didn't take long to find something to erase from the universe.

Now, that was fun! Again, two particular events come to mind.

The first was when the Meandering Missouri, in an attempt to come within range of a dogfight between local police forces an a Xenos assault team, rammed, in turn, two Storage containers and that rather big station nearby. Doing this caused a chain reaction as a number of Transports were unloading water at the time. One smeared itself against the station, another was the unfortunate victim of a hit'n'run by the Meandering Missouri and the third went into Cruise mode in order to escape - straight into the planet's surface! Only one survived. I think it made it to a trade lane, I am unsure as I was slightly distracted at the time.

The second was less spectacular but nonetheless amusing. A Rogue Mule, with escorts, came barrelling into the system unaware of the conflict taking place in the area. Coming out of cruise, it saw the situation and decided to flee. Ordering the escorts to watch its back, it turned forty five degrees and dropped back into cruise - taking it closer to the Meandering Missouri which prompty hosed the unfortunate Mule with hot neutron death. As the pilot screamed his last denial and the ship spun out of control, it slammed straight into the Meandering Missouri's upper decks, leaving a trail of burning debris across the hull.

Great fun!

For those 'in the know', the region's population/combat density was trippled for all factions. So you can imagine how hellish it was!

I can't wait to do a repeat but with capital ships in addition to fighter wings.

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 10:56 am

WHOA! Awesome story and modding. ;D LOL, loved it when they cruised into the planet.

- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 10:59 am

I'll have to try that atmosphere move sometime, sounds fun.

Great post BTW.

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 11:02 am

Heh, thanks!

Forgot to mention, when I was first fiddling with the Missouri, I got the coordinates slightly... off, a couple of times.

The first time, it was embedded deep in the planetary crust with its butt sticking out. The second, it was blocking the tradelane... err, to West point I believe. Lots of casualties.

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 1:07 pm

LOL! :')

"Yes, it's the right planet, all right, " he said again. "Right planet, wrong universe. " Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 1:55 pm

ROFLMAO - that was very fun! I can imagine the buzz!

Best Regards
Christian "Bargib" Koerner
Editor in Chief, The Lancers Reactor

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 3:56 pm

ROFL great story! Send me the files you edited I want to try that out...

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 7:20 pm

Yeah, that does sound fun, particularly in the way it was told. Would you mind posting how you modified the files in the editing forum?

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world:
those who understand binary, and those who don't.

lbj

Post Wed Mar 05, 2003 7:31 pm

Sounds great - would you be able to turn into a complete mod so we can all try it out?

Post Thu Mar 06, 2003 8:09 am

You know it's funny.. i remember discussion months ago where ppl said that FL was, in no way shape or form, mod friendly, and that everything is hard coded into the exe. and now ppl are modding ships to take better shields and weapons.
making preiviously npc only ships flyable.
and if a theory i have on triggers and jump holes (triggers to unlock jump gates/holes can be found in the mission ini's. i'm doing my best with the demo and i hope to make it possible when i get my hands on the retail) combined with the ablity to mod level restrictions out of purchases. it may be possible to skip (almost) the entire story and just go out and do your thing. so for all those out there who don't want to play cuz of the dependance on the storyline to advance, have no fear! the modders are on the job! we will try to make the freelancer universe FREE!!!!

...Just a random thought from a random mind

Post Thu Mar 06, 2003 10:36 am

Heh, no sweat. Unfortunately I connect at work and don't have my gaming drive (I bring another hard drive full of other data though) with me. I'll package it up tonight with a readme so people can have fun in manhattan.

I'll post the editing details tomorrow as well, I'll collate the notes and tidy it up rather than spewing out whatever comes to mind.

Post Thu Mar 06, 2003 11:12 am

Great story !!

And thanks in advance for the files.



" The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his "

Post Fri Mar 07, 2003 10:06 pm

Holy... you must post those files, please!

Can't wait to try this out. Finally, a use for torpedos!

Post Fri Mar 07, 2003 10:20 pm

So is the Missouri still invincible throughout all this?

Post Sat Mar 08, 2003 7:36 pm

I hope he's going to post it....

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