To mount more than one Shield, your ship must have more than one HardPoint for mounting Shields on. You can add new Shield Hardpoints using HardCMP, which you can download from this website.

Then you'd add more lines to your ship's INI entry...

hp_type = hp_shield01, HpShield02, HpShield03
hp_type = hp_shield02, HpShield02, HpShield03

... and so forth. Go take a look at the Prometheus mod that's currently about 2 pages down in the News to see how this was done.

Guns cannot ignore Shields.

What they can do is knock them down with one hit, if they're of a certain Type of shield. So, from a game-design perspective, it's quite possible to have weapons that ignore the shields of one "side" or another- you can boost the shield damage to a very large number, if that type of weapon strikes that type of shield. This would, of course, lead to all sorts of game-balance issues, but that's besides the point.

FYI, in my mod, Warriors of the Sky, I've basically set up all of the "aircraft" with no Shields whatsoever. Damage goes directly to the Hull and Componants. Shields are used as "armor ratings" for heavily-armored things like warships (the ocean-going kind), and only a few weapons do any Shield damage whatsoever- aircraft, for example, carry "bombs", which are a specialized kind of missile, and these deliver a warhead that does Shield damage, thus knocking down the warship's "armor". Once the "armor" is gone, the warship is then vulnerable to all sorts of weapons, and I'm game-balancing it so that this basically means that the warship dies. So I'm kind've taking an opposite approach here- different "armor-piercing" weapons will have different balances against certain types of Armor Rating, which gives me a lot of different tools to use when game-balancing "armored-vs-armored" combat, besides just raising the hitpoint levels of larger warships' shields to some ridiculous degree... I can allow them to mount different shields that are effective against certain types of damage, but ineffective against others, and allow players to make the decisions about what kind of damage they're most likely to face.

This is what DA intended their shield_mod files to be used for. Where they went wrong (imho) was that they didn't game-balance it very well, and in the end... if you do the numbers... it makes more sense, in 90% of your possible combat situations... to simply take the shield with the highest number of hitpoints. Instead of going that route, I'll allow each class of "armored" object to mount one or more Shields, keep the hitpoint values of every "type" exactly the same, but give it a strength... and a weakness. Powerful game-balance tools are available, if you look at the issues as a totality- you need to consider the hitpoint levels, the recharge rates, the time-after-failure... AND the damage vs. weapons levels very carefully. By keeping the first three things the SAME for every "armored" object, and then simply altering the number of shields an object can mount and the damage mod... you can do better game-balance than DA did

Edited by - Argh on 11/25/2004 2:48:50 PM

Thanx Argh, I'll try that out as soon as I can, but I seem to be stubbed by another problem.
I have just started to learn how to use ms3d and for my first model Im trying to create a "deathstar", very simplistic version though, just a few extrusions here and there and a big extrusion at the bottom half of the sphere for a docking point.

So heres the problem: The first time round I did everything I wanted for the model, groups, textures, HPs, welding the vertices and running the model cleaner. (tell me if I wasnt meant to do one of these). When I ran the cmp exporter it worked, but the HPs didnt show up in the .cmp nor the poly.tga, whatever nodes. Along the line after messing around with probably all the tools
it eventually worked and everything showed up in the cmp. So now I could finally open it with HardCMP and see the darn thing, oops, it seems the shield HP is about the same size as the model, I did scale it downa bit but not that much I think. I started readoing the model from scratch, since it did work before(though I cant remember how I got that right?) I know I did everything else ON the model correctly, HPs, textures, etc. But I cant get the HPs nodes or the poly nodes to show up in the cmp? What have or havent I done?
The sphere is originally really big, maybe the size of Manhattan maybe bigger maybe smaller, I cant really tell, but it would ultimately be a BIG BIG base.
Can I have a BIG BIG base?
What ms3d tools do I need to run before I export the .cmp (after Ive applied the textures and created the HPs).

Any help greatly appreciated.

Ok... lemme take that one at a time:

1. Don't do the Hardpoints in MS3D. That's one of the sections of the old manual that is obsolete. Do the Hardpoints in HardCMP. You'll get much finer control, and it's much harder to make mistakes (especially if you study existing CMPs).

2. For your first time out... start with a SINGLE SPHERE, with a single Material. Make sure that the Sphere has a UNIQUE NAME, such as "Argh_Sphere_Of_Doom", and that the Material has a UNIQUE NAME, such as "Argh_Sphere_Of_Doom_TEX". Don't try to run until you've learned how to walk (that's probably the no. 1 reason a lot of would-be modders crash and burn, and run away screaming).

So, basically... leave that model you've built "to one side" as it were, and build something much, much simpler. And use it to go through the steps:

1. Build the model. It's a sphere, so... uh... it's built now

2. Import the Material, and Assign it to the Model, by using "select all" and then hitting the Assign button in MS3D.

3. Go to File-->Export-->CMP Exporter and export the CMP file. If MS3D crashes, then you've either not given both the Material or the model unique names, or you haven't assigned Materials to the entire model. So double-check everything- the CMP Exporter will not crash with a simple sphere unless you've made a mistake

4. Go to File-->Export-->MAT Exporter and export the MAT file. Make sure to give it the same name as the CMP file, except for the file extension .MAT.

5. Open up the CMP file with HardCMP. If you've done everything right, then you will see a textured sphere. Not brilliant work, obviously, but it's a CMP, and it works.

6. Now add all of the appropriate Hardpoints. This is where things get a bit tricky. First off, it's good if you know what the Hardpoints *do*- otherwise, you're just copying things you don't understand. And I can't help you much there- if you're not willing to take the time to study the entries in shiparch.ini and loadouts.ini to get a feel for what's doing what... then you're in trouble. But, let's assume that you want to learn by doing... here are the Hardpoints that a ship NEEDS to function in FL:

HpBayDoor01
HpBayDoor02
HpEngine01
HpTractorsource (note the lack of "01"... in HardCMP, you need to turn the "use numbering scheme" option OFF for these)
HpMount
HpCockpit
HpCockpitEx

And that's it... those are the only Hardpoints a ship NEEDS. Now, "wants" is another matter- I didn't put in Weapons, Shields, Contrails, Lights, FX... etc., etc., etc. These things can wait until you understand what you really want to do.

And now... you need to make the relevant INI entries to put your ship into the game. I am currently working on an ultra-streamlined way to do this via XML and FLMM, but I haven't gotten anything like a Tutorial done yet, as it's all being done for my mod. But it can be done the "old-skool" way, and honestly I suggest that everybody do it that way at least once (that way you'll appreciate what I'm doing with the XML tut. when it's done, hehe).

Is there a way to make Non-player ships buyable? Like Nomad ships or any others?

Yes. Definately. For Sure

And... please don't take this the wrong way, but you can find out how to do this by reading the Tutorials

Doh, the HpCockpit and HpCockpitEx, what do they exactly do? I have set up my Prometheus model without those 2, and all is working fine so far. Am I correct if assuming that HpCockpit defines the camera position in cockpit view? But what would HpCockpitEx then do, because you modify external view with the camera offset values in shiparch.ini, that's how I did it...

Ok... first off...

So far as I know... if you don't specify HpCockpit or HpCockpitEx... then what's going to happen is two things:

1. The Cockpit view will be from the center XYZ of the ship. Which, at least imho... is not ideal. So I always carefully position the HpCockpit.

2. The HpCockpitEx is not truely necessary, I think, because you can also define that location in the shiparch.ini file. But I prefer to put it in there... DA has one on every FL ship, and I've come to the belief that if something like that is in there... it's almost certainly being used, either in cutscenes or elsewhere. So... I'd go ahead and add one.

Well, I always thought the engine simply places the camera to the front tip of the model. If you look at the Dagger's CMP, the HpCockpit is where the cockpit is. However, ingame you experience the camera to be right at the nose's tip, try fly that thing directly in front of a station, so that the nose just hits it (turret view helps for fine adjustment) and then go to cockpit view.

I have a big Question.

How do you get instant docking like in the rebalance mods?????
I have read for hours, and my eyes are sore, some help would be great.

You'll hate me for this one


how the **** do you make a ship if you have no idea of doing 3d moddelling???

is there any really good (and short) tutorial for those kind of things?????????????

@FlyBy
You need to look in Data/Solar/solararch.ini. Find the archetype of the station you want to change (e.g. largestation1 is the model for Newark etc.), and scroll down to the "docking_sphere = " lines.

The best way to do this would be to look through the Rebalance version of the file and see what they have changed - especially since I don't have any files with me at the moment - but I'm pretty sure you need to change "docking_sphere = moor" to "docking_sphere = jump". This will prevent you needing to enter the station to dock. Also, change the number after this to increase the distance you can dock from.

@shadow
Try the 3D Modelling forum here for some advice, and I can also recommend Freelancer Ship Modellers, run by Osprey and very useful if you're learning to model.

Well, um, eh, I have a question, (I am lazy as hell, so i dont feel like looking through 39 pages, ok?) Can the size of the starfield be changed? because it looks as if the sun, fields and planets go through it when flying away whith warpspeed mod. if that is not the case, then how to increase viewing range of stars and planets?

I cannot look through 35 pages! wat is this the only thread on the site? Anyway i searched atleast half of the pages but nothing comes close to my doubt: I made my gun, it works with substituting the weapon_equip.ini files but i cannot name the gun in the game. I tried it in the script.xml way (using FLMM) but the game exits after the Freelancer loading screen.I think u have to edit some dll but i dont know how.My script is as follows, some part is not there as i pulled out the main file, pleas tell me wat i should do?:-

<script>
<header name="Intermolecular disruptor cannon mod">
<scriptversion>
1.2
</scriptversion>
<author>
Azfaloth
</author>
<modurl>
mailto:[email protected]?Subject=FL
</modurl>
<description>
Intermolecular disruptor cannon mod

This mod was made for FLMM v1.2.1 beta 10 should work on almost all mod managers

Adds a weapon : Moon Dagger Disruptor cannon


All of this weapon is available on the capital planet of each house including Malta and Crete
</description>
</header>

<data file="data\equipment\weapon_equip.ini" method="append">
<source>
[Munition
nickname = molecular_mess_ammo
hp_type = hp_gun
requires_ammo = false
hit_pts = 1000000000
hull_damage = 16299
energy_damage = 0
weapon_type = W_Laser01
one_shot_sound = fire_laser1
munition_hit_effect = Fireeffect01
const_effect = Fireeffect01
lifetime = 1
force_gun_ori = false
mass = 1
volume = 0.000100

[Gun
nickname = molecular_mess
ids_name = 190790 <-----------I think something should be added here for a name
ids_info = 190790
DA_archetype = Equipment\models\weapons\X.cmp<---- this is my custom Cmp
material_library = Equipment\models\hardware.mat
HP_child = HPConnect
hit_pts = 1000000000
explosion_resistance = 1.000000
debris_type = debris_normal
parent_impulse = 20
child_impulse = 80
volume = 0.000000
mass = 1
hp_gun_type = hp_gun_special_1
damage_per_fire = 0
power_usage = 0
refire_delay = 0.000001
muzzle_velocity = 750
use_animation = Sc_fire
toughness = 1.300000
flash_particle_name = li_laser_01_flash
flash_radius = 1
light_anim = l_gun01_flash
projectile_archetype = molecular_mess_ammo
separation_explosion = sever_debris
auto_turret = false
turn_rate = 90
lootable = false
LODranges = 0, 20, 40, 80, 100
</source>
</data>

<data file="data\equipment\weapon_good.ini" method="append">
<source>
[Good
nickname = molecular_mess
equipment = disruptor
category = equipment
price = 100
item_icon = equipment\models\commodities\nn_icons\EQUIPICON_gun.3db
combinable = false
ids_name = 190790
ids_info = 190790
shop_archetype = equipment\models\weapons\li_heavy_ion_blaster.cmp
material_library = Equipment\models\hardware.mat
</source>
</data>

<data file="data\equipment\market_misc.ini" method="sectionappend">
<section>
[BaseGood
base = Br01_01_base
</section>
<source>
MarketGood = molecular_mess, 0, -1, 10, 10, 0, 1
</source>
</data>

<data file="data\equipment\market_misc.ini" method="sectionappend">
<section>
[BaseGood
base = Ku01_01_base
</section>
<source>
MarketGood = molecular_mess, 0, -1, 10, 10, 0, 1
</source>
</data>

<data file="data\equipment\market_misc.ini" method="sectionappend">
<section>
[BaseGood
base = Li01_01_base
</section>
<source>
MarketGood = molecular_mess, 0, -1, 10, 10, 0, 1
</source>
</data>

<data file="data\equipment\market_misc.ini" method="sectionappend">
<section>
[BaseGood
base = Rh01_01_base
</section>
<source>
MarketGood = molecular_mess, 0, -1, 10, 10, 0, 1
</source>
</data>

<data file="data\equipment\market_misc.ini" method="sectionappend">
<section>
[BaseGood
base = Hi01_01_base
</section>
<source>
MarketGood = molecular_mess, 0, -1, 10, 10, 0, 1
</source>
</data>

<data file="data\equipment\market_misc.ini" method="sectionappend">
<section>
[BaseGood
base = Hi02_01_base
</section>
<source>
MarketGood = molecular_mess, 0, -1, 10, 10, 0, 1
</source>
</data>
</script>

also i saw this post somewhere but i made a system but once i dock into it i reah and when i fly for approximately 20 seconds it exits with some error onto my desktop the errror report with options like send dont send etc. i want to make a mod to help u fly through asteroids, Something like replacing asteroid .sur's with jumphole .sur's. there r 2 jumphle .sur's which one do i use, any help would be much appreciated for all or any of my 3 mods


"Can someone please inform me that im uninformed?"

I hope I finaly have find the right place on this forum for my question

I think I posted 2 times at the wrong place so they were gone next time I checked. I want to appologies to the admins and mods of this forum for any inconvenience.

Allright... I have the following idea/question and I don't know if this has been done yet. I have browsed by now for hours and hours in looking for anything on it, the the load of information on this forum is "overloading" my brain

I have started on a new mod (the first one I was making I stopped making when I discovered someone else have had the same Idea and made it allready) ...

So here comes the "idea" that I have I want to put in my "first ever" mod that I then hopefully can share with you guys for comments in order to learn my way around. What the concept of this complete mod will be I will not share yet, but there is one important feature that I have to figure out.

I want to have the type of ship connected with the reputation statistics while playing. No longer the missions (and their results) must trigger your reputations with the factions, but the ship you fly in should trigger "hostile or friendly behavior" by other ships.

How can this be done?
--------------------------
Well, I guess the first part is the most easy one. I have to change for every faction in the empathy.ini file the following:

event = object_destruction, 0
event = random_mission_success, 0
event = random_mission_failure, 0
event = random_mission_abortion, 0

By changing everything to O you won't become more or less popular with any faction. This way success of your mission results in money and nothing more.

Then the type of ship you fly in has to be linked to the replist. I think buying a ship should create the same "trigger" as what a bride does. Becouse when you take a bribe (pay cash) your rep changes.

If you want to "get ridd" of your ship and want to fly for a differend faction, you just visit an nutural station (for example the Zoners) and switch on a station your ship for another. The moment you buy that other ship the replist changes and the faction you just flew for, will not see you as an enemy.

Depending on how "friendly" some other factions are, you can still dock to bases if these factions friendly or nutural to them and buy weapons and ships there, so you have the oppertunity to tacticaly choose your ship and therefor your "friends". Is then also easy again to jump to another faction. You just buy another ship and start working for them.

Could it be possible to do this rep change also when you buy a ship?

I supose this must be possible, to add such a "trigger" to the "buying-of-a-ship-process". The moment you buy a ship, the faction(s) that fly the same ship will see you as friendly, while all who don't considder you an Enemy.

Ofcourse this also meens that some modifications have to be made in the empathy.ini file (to create a well balanced system) aswell as the faction_prop.ini file. This to make sure that only "positive related" factions fly the same ships.

For example the Outcasts and Blooddragons fly both Borderworld ships. They have to be friendly or nutural to each other for this idea to work. The all enemies of both factions (and others related to them) will assult you, and you can only fly missions for your "new friends". In general I then have to devide all factions over the present selection of ships, who will be "related".

From every civilian fightership I will have to make 5 versions. One for "independent" factions such as the Zoners and for Liberty, Kusari, Rheinland and Bretoria als one. This becouse about all trade and mining companies use civilian fighters. For that it's possible to use the skins from Kasdia's Civilian fighters mod (it's the perfect solution for the civilian class ships) to have for these trading/mining cooporations every system (br, li, ku & rh) their own color.

Why do I want this?:
------------------------
Well, first of all I think it makes a interresting and differend gameplay. You are the moment you buy a ship suddenly "part" of a faction. For example if I by the Liberty Defender, then all ships I encounter will see me or relate me automaticly to eighter the Liberty Navy, the LSF or the Liberty Police, since they are the only ones flying that ship. All Enemies of these factions or factions they have "no understanding with" then will automaticly see me as hostile and attack.

My second reason is that it forces a player if they want to see the hole system to change ships more frequently, so you won't get too much "used" to one specific ship.

Another reason for this thoughts is that it is very strange that the ship you use does not invluence your rep. IRL you would be considdered hostile if you would fly a Mig about USA territory or a F16 about Russia, right? Every army / enemy has their own hardware. So to work for one with the hardware of their enemy seems a bit "unlogical" to mee. That allways have bothered me a bit.

My final reason is the with an xml script that I allready have made you can choose where you want to start off. So, you can choose the main factions: Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, Rheinland, Outcasts, Corsairs, Order, Bounty Hunters and you will start from their main base. Ofcourse you can also choose to follow the story line from the beginning, starting as you normaly whould.

I had one more reason, but I lost it, if I remeber it again I can add it to a next post on this subject.

What did I allready do myself:
-----------------------------------
- I modified shiparch.ini (to balance the ships and put skins and new ships in place and for some factions add some new ships).
- I modified the faction_prop.ini (to link make sure no enemies fly the same ships and to apply the 5x all civilian ships for the trade/mining companies).
- I modified the mission result lines in the empathy.ini file

Well, that was the easy part...

Now I have to know how to trigger a repchange when purchasing a ship. I have no clue at all about that. I have not worked yet with bribes and so... So I realy could use some help or be pointed out in the right direction.

I am still quite new in modding, and I can modify ini files, add some new worlds and ships and that kind of stuff ... I'm not so much experienced in working on ids info yet, but I will get that in my fingers soon I hope. I am no good so far in edditing dll files or so.

Can someone help me out? What do I have to do to change the buy process of a ship to work "like a bribe"? Where do I have to start? Any thoughts are highly apreciated!

Thanks (atleast for reading my long post hehehe) ...

GRTNX... DaFDu