Encounters & possible HOW-TO

Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:27 am by Marodeur

I have been working on understanding the concept of creating possible "raids" and adding them into the game with a few quick file switches. Haven't succeeded yet unfortunately but I think one of the steps going through this understanding how all this works. I am putting down here a couple things I noticed, and would like to request from you modders to fill me in on what I have missed and forgot to take into consideration.

I am taking the New York (LI01) System here as example by the way.

These fragments are in the DATA\UNIVERSE\SYSTEMS\LI01\LI01.ini :

[EncounterParameters
nickname = patrolp_pirate_patrol
filename = missions\encounters\patrolp_pirate_patrol.ini

and

[zone
nickname = Zone_Li01_path_outcasts2_1
pos = 27736, 0, 51763
rotate = -90, -6, 0
shape = CYLINDER
size = 750, 46394
sort = 99
toughness = 4 ; enemy rank ?
density = 3 ; density of ? how many planes may spawn ?
repop_time = 90 ; This is NOT seconds. neither minutes..
max_battle_size = 4 ; density != max_battle_size *puzzled*
pop_type = field_patrol ; ?
relief_time = 30 ; ?
path_label = outcasts2, 1 ; ?
usage = patrol ; behavior ?
mission_eligible = True ; ?
faction_weight = fc_ou_grp, 10 ; Outcast Faction
density_restriction = 1, patroller ; I assume max allowed spawn amount of given type
density_restriction = 1, police_patroller ; ^^
density_restriction = 1, pirate_patroller ; ^^
density_restriction = 4, lawfuls ; ^^
density_restriction = 4, unlawfuls ; ^^
encounter = patrolp_pirate_patrol, 4, 0.400000 ; calls the encounter, and adds parameters but what for the parameters ?
faction = fc_ou_grp, 1.000000 ; the faction of the outcast patrol

There are more [zone like this but I will just take this one.

This info is under DATA\MISSIONS\ENCOUNTERS\patrolp_pirate_patrol.ini

[EncounterFormation
ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_fighters ; #1#
pilot_job = patrol_leader_job ;Behavior ? Where is the +.ini ?
make_class = class_pirate_patroller ; ?
ship_by_class = 1, 2, sc_fighters, -1 ; #1#
pilot_job = patrol_job ;Behavior ? Where is the +.ini ?
formation_by_class = fighters ; #1#
behavior = patrol_path ; here is one behavior..*sigh*
arrival = cruise ; the way they enter the spawn point
allow_simultaneous_creation = yes ; effect: come out of nowhere
zone_creation_distance = 0 ; 0=spawn inside cylinder?
times_to_create = infinite ; continuous respawn

[Creation
permutation = 0, 3 ; ?

This is all I could find till now...And now moving on to my question:

The segment labeled with #1# ...I would like to change the types of fighters that spawn and add for example bigger ships as well to change the propertys from a pirate patrol to an pirate assault/raid.

ship_by_class = 1, 1, sc_fighters

This is most puzzling for me...The 1 stands for (I assume) amount of planes to spawn and both being 1 only ONE can spawn in any given patrol respawn (if it was "1, 2" then ONE or TWO could have spawned I think.

The big puzzle is "sc_fighters"...Where is this defined ? Where can I add/remove fighers/battleships/freighters to this package ?

Help ! =)

Edited by - Marodeur on 09-03-2003 11:28:54

Edited by - Marodeur on 09-03-2003 11:40:09

Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:38 am by Marodeur

Ah this is the error I get btw...

1: E:\FL\Scratch\Source\Common\CSolar.cpp(713) : *** ERROR: 0x80327349: Unable to find [Loadout 0xae0ba60f.

Sun Mar 09, 2003 9:28 pm by ThresholdRPG

This would be so sweeeeeeeeeet.

The game would be so exciting if planets would periodically get RAIDED by huge armies of bad guys.

It would actually make it fun to hang around Planet Manhattan as a "patroller" just waiting for a possible assault by 20 Corsair Fighters, 5 Corsair Gunboats, and 3 Corsair Battleships. (spawn some Liberty navy and LSF to make it into an actual fight).

I loved the HUGE epic battles at the end of SP. I would love to find a way to participate in such things in MP.

This would also make the game feel alive as you would be going about your normal activities when BLAMO a huge assault happened.

Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:01 pm by akito927

love to see a huge big battle like that! battleships etc.. would be nice to have at least 100+ with human players battling it out! lol.

Sun Mar 09, 2003 11:37 pm by DataDroid

Hang on, could this also be implemented in order to create more mission types? As it stands, every one is just a variation on the "go here; shoot everything" theme. I'd love to see escort, base defense, recon, etc. missions added into the game. I am currently working on it myself, but playing SP kinda takes time away from modding, so I may disappear off the face of the world for a while.

Mon Mar 10, 2003 1:06 am by Marodeur

You can most probably create new mission types as well..Though I found a couple tidbits in other files about mission "types" will look them up tomorrow and post here if I don't get something in between.

Now about the raids. I am planning to create several "LI01.ini" files. One is the original, one is altered with a raid function on the Manhattan system, one is altered with an all out war between the outcasts and the liberty police, and some others.

The problem is (and still didnt get fixed) :

I can't get the ships to spawn although I copy&pasted all the info without altering. "universe.ini" comes into mind where you have to add the base as well for it to *spawn* *appear* but couldn't find any file with similar properties for encounters.

And Second I still couldn't find where I can alter the "ge_fighters" package..

help ! =P

Mon Mar 10, 2003 5:58 am by ThresholdRPG

I have been DROOLING about this concept all day long.

The thought of having a random chance of MASSIVE assaults on planets would be so sweet.

It would be so much fun to just hang around a planet flying about, screwing around, just waiting for a massive attack.

Mon Mar 10, 2003 6:19 am by strangelove

If you peek in shipclasses.ini in the Missions folder, it lists what appear to be all the predefined ship packages. The 'sc_fighters' I assume is the package nickname with 'sc_' appended to it (for 'ship class' most probably). In the shipclasses.ini there is a definition for 'fighters'...as well as some other packages that get me hopeful. There's a 'GUNSHIPS' package (try using sc_GUNSHIPS in an encounter .ini and see if you can get gunships to spawn). Unfortunately there's a ton of .ini files in the Encounters folder, and who knows if all of them are even used. There's also CAPITALS for capital ships, and some even more general ones like LARGE_SHIPS and the all encompasing ANY.

If I get some time in the next couple days I'll take a stab at this as well...No idea if you can add ship classes to this list, but just being able to use the current ones listed would be a huge improvement (for me) to the random missions. I'm sick of JUST getting to kill fighters...I wanna take on some Cap Ships

OT: In the file lootprops.ini are what appears to be the possible dropable loot types, so if you add some equipment to FL and want it to be lootable, or want to make shields droppable loot, this appears to be where you do just that.

Edit: I just looked at 'patrolp_gunboat.ini' in the encounters folder, and it does indeed use 'sc_gunboats' for the 'ship_by_class' line....so the next question is how to get the patrolp_gunboat.ini file to be used for random encounters, or better, random missions.

later...sb

'I know a song, would you like to hear it?...Dai-sy...dai-sy...'

Edited by - strangelove on 10-03-2003 06:32:37

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