I'm not sure either. You would think the author would have taken 2 mins to make a read me file.

read carefully b4 you say anything.

Just a suggestion/Spoiler

iv looked till my eyes hurt ,have you anytthing constructive to say or was that it?

This is not a tutorial on bini because I didnt make the progam but this is how I use it. Intall BINI QDU. It will make backup copies of the original files in the bini folder, smart program dont you think. Next start the program and select open, navigate to the file you want bini to open in the freelancer directory wait till it opens the file and magically all that stuff you couldnt read before becomes a text file. (Bless you Mario) Now select save as and it will save the file in text format with the .ini extension and a backup of the same file with .txt extension. Next with wordpad youll notice I say word not notepad open the file, and go to work. Hint----backup files each time before you start to edit. When you are done with you're handy work, save the file and your ready to go. And yes it stays as a plain old text file then magic happens and it works again when you crank up the game.
Read this to get a more detailed info on
--- FreeLancer INI format - Compressed and Uncompressed formats ---
http://www.lancersreactor.com/t/editing/features/

Edited by - BakedPotato on 13-05-2003 22:35:43

First of all...

DO NOT use Note Pad to do your editing of .ini files. Note Pad does not save the file in the right format. Use Word Pad...

Okey, now for the rest of it...

If you are using the GUI Bini.exe you will have problems soon. My experiance was that it worked fine, and then all of a sudden it started giving run time errors.

Use the command line Bini.exe. It's much easier to use once you get used to it.

I made a work directory to hold Bini.exe and the files I was going to edit (.ini.txt), and a sub directory to hold the original .ini files copied from the Freelancer directorys.

Drag the copied .ini file onto the Bini.exe icon and wait for the .ini.txt file to appear. Move the original file to your sub directory.

Open and edit the .ini.txt file with Word Pad.

Save your file when finished.

Rename the .ini.txt file to .ini. The file icon will change to the COG when you answer yes to the "Are you sure" question.

Move your edited .ini file back to the original Freelancer directory and overwrite the file there (you have a back-up in your work sub-directory.

Also, The .ini is now un-compressed so to edit it again just open it up with Word Pad and go at it.



The Fangman

thanks for help,ok when i drag the market ships ini file to bini or select open file with bini,it says it doesnt appear to be a freelancer compressed ini.with binq i can open the file but it doesnt seem to create anything,whereas it did before,thanks for taking the time to explain this to me

if i manage to get my monkey head around it ,can i alter the ship that i have now or is it just for new games,thanks

ok ive got a market_ships_ini.text file which i altererd to get titan at start,
then i renamed the original (with cog) to . text,but i cant turn my text file to a cog ,but at least now theres no ships at manhatten,so im kinda making progress

Fangmans wrote '''First of all... DO NOT use Note Pad to do your editing of .ini files. Note Pad does not save the file in the right format. Use Word Pad...''

I've read that before. Nevertehless, I have been using Notepad from the beginning and I never had any problems with the format.

1. "it does not appear to be a Freelancer compressed file". The file is not compressed so Bini won't work on it.

2. Yes. You can change anything contained in the .ini...ships, commodities, weapons... Read some of the modding tutorials, they tell you where, what, and why.

3. You don't want to change the original file's name. READ THIS;

Drag the compressed original .ini file onto the Bini Icon.
This will result in another file (copy of the original ini, uncompressed) with
the extention .ini.txt.

Open the .ini.txt file with wordpad and do your editing. Save the changes.

Move the original .ini to a diferent directory.

Rename the file you edited (.ini.txt) to read .ini. You will be prompted for a yes or no answer to whether or not you are sure this is what you want to do. Click yes, and the file icon will change to the cog along with the name change.

PLEASE read and understand each step of what you are trying to do. If you don't you will screw the Freelancer files up so bad it will cause a BIG crash.

Good Luck!!!!



The Fangman

Hey hans olo;

Are you really sure?

There is alway one who knows better than EVERYBODY else, and will be damned if he is going to change, just because EVERYBODY else knows the correct way of doing things.

You do what you think is correct...that is your right.

Oh, when something screws up, be sure to come on this forum for help!!



The Fangman

Edited by - fangmans on 01-05-2003 17:33:57

hi,only me,ok so ive now got my ini.text that i have altered,you say save it,so i should select save as type(text,rft,unicode,or ms dos format)or do i just press save,if i press save i try to rename and dont get asked for any confirmation and ttherefore dont end up with a cog file,thanks for help pal,

Gee, I've been using Notepad also and have not had any problems. Now you have me scared. And I'd also like to know what format to choose when saving the INI files using WordPad? Also, I've had no trouble with the GUI version of the INI uncompressor, but I'll watch for the description of the errors you described. O just downloaded the command line version and I'm going to learn to use that though. Thanks for the info.

Thank You Glock 36 Asset Recovery R US

Ok ummm... I Have a rather annoying problem.

When I use bini, the created text file does not end as ini.txt as its supposed to.
It simply ends with .ini ...
Therefore, when I try to rename it to .ini. after saving, Nothing at all happens... Its still a text file and not a configuration file.

What the heck is goin on?