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**TUTORIAL** - Removing asteroids from tradelanes and bases

Here you find the different tutorials on editing and MODing Freelancer

Post Sat May 28, 2005 5:02 am

**TUTORIAL** - Removing asteroids from tradelanes and bases

I'm sticking this tutorial up as i'm fed up with playing mods that have asteroids in trade lanes and around bases where there shouldn't be any. This tutorial assumes a basic knowledge of FLE (Freelancer Explorer) and the fact you know the difference between an ini. file and a pizza!

Ok, this is going to be a little long winded but here goes. I'm assuming your using the latest version of FLE? If so, then let's begin...

ASTEROID FIELDS

First of all, create a LANE ACCESS ZONE which will be where your tradelane will want to go. Only create one of these per tradelane if you're going through an asteroid field! Once you have this, quit FLE and change the size of the box in your chosen system.ini file to 850!

[ZONE
nickname = whatever
pos = 17352, 0, 13273
rotate = 0, 125, 0 <------ This will be done for you when u create it
shape = BOX
size = 34123, 34123, 850 <------- Make sure this last number is 850
property_flags = 131072
sort = 99

The reason this is set to 850 is this is the width of the exclusion zone which will eliminate any asteroids in your tradelane, seems to be a standard setting in FL.

Open up FLE again and create a tradelane into this Lane Access Zone you've just created. Try and centre the tradelane so it sits dead centre for neatness sake plus looks professional lol!

Once this is done, now comes the clever bit. Make a note of the nickname you gave your Lane Access Zone. Open up the Data/Solar/Asteroids folder and locate the name of the asteroid field your tradelane is going through eg: AA01_myasteroidfield.ini.

Inside this .ini file is the data for your asteroid field and you need to add this line

[Exclusion Zones
exclusion = Zone_yourlaneaccesszonename

and SAVE!!!!

Load up your mod and you should now find no asteroids in your trade lane!!

BASE EXCLUSION ZONES

This follows similar lines to the lane access zones but is slightly different. Thing to remember with exlusion zones is you only need them if you're putting a base in a zone or a nebula where you don't want the relevant asteroid field or nebula affecting your base!

Ok, first of all, create your base eg AA01_01 in FLE. After defining it properly in Universe .ini etc

Next in FLE add an exclusion zone round the base, size is irrelevant as this will be changed like we did with the box size in the lane access zone. So your entry should look something like this in your system.ini file,

[ZONE
nickname = Zone_your_base_exclusion
pos = 13121, 0 , 82222
shape = SPHERE
size = 1000 <---------- Change this to 1000 or 2000 at most!
property_flags = 131072

The size here is up to you but i find a setting of 1000 does the trick for one base in an asteroid field with no trade lanes on approach to the base! If you're adding a trade lane then increase size of the base excusion zone. This basically removes asteroids 500m either side of the base in all directions, imagine the size as the diameter of the sphere with the base in the 0 position!

Now as before, open up the DATA/SOLAR/ASTEROIDS folder in your mod and locate your chosen asteroid field.ini

As we did earlier, add this line to your file,

[Exclusion Zones
exclusion = Zone_Your_basename_exclusion

and SAVE!!

You should now have no asteroids within a 500m radius of your base!

Edited by - Gibbon on 6/4/2005 5:31:12 AM

Post Fri Jun 03, 2005 8:16 pm

You can skip the second step to your tutorial by adding the exclusions directly through FLE.

1. Use the Select Zone button (to enter zone editing mode) and use the Next Zone or Prev Zone buttons to select the field zone you are wanting to add an exclusion to.

2. Click on the Link Exclusion button to bring up the Exclusion zones dialog.

3. Use the dropdown box to select your new exclusion or lane access zone and hit the Add button.

*Note: if you do not want asteroids visibly showing up inside your exclusion (good idea around bases) then check the Exclude Billboards option when you add your exclusions.

If you don't care about having exact sizes for these things then you can use FLE for everything.

Check out the latest beta's of the Freelancer S.D.K. 1.5 and Freelancer Explorer v2.x

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