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Post Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:00 pm

Hey guys,
Update here.

We've been working on ships for about 2 weeks now, and I've gone back and cleaned up all the ones I made during school. I have finally figured out some things that are quite useful, like saving ship's skins (mat files) as .dds instead of .tga. This drastically cuts the size of mat files -- for example, I had a .mat for some Blood Dargon ships that was 3.00 MB with .tga files. I reduced it to 513 KB by using .dds. So the DL rate will be alittle faster when the mod is ready to be released.

Also, made some new equipment (.3db) models:
- New thruster (maybe more to come)
- New shield generators (as of now, maybe more)
- New CM dropper, modeled but need to figure out how to make it a .cmp that has multiple parts ...
- New ordinace models:
--- ship-to-ship missile (like other missiles, just .. er, a new model ... To be new )
--- gun shells (for ammo-based gatling guns and the like)
--- long-range cruise missile (ideal for large wings of fighters or for gunboats)
--- anti-capship torpedo (bigger than regular torp model, a fat torp. Ideal for cruiser- and destroyer-class ships)
--- capship nuke (fired by - and only by - capships. Meant for capship-to-capship battles. One of these is as long as a Defender. Ship interception of one of these in a fighter is not advised)

Ah, and I love TLR; I trust everyone like I do my family. But just to preserve originality of the mod, some things will not be posted here yet. Taking into account the slim possibility of the idea being implemented before this mod is done should the idea be posted, they'll remain undisclosed for now.
New custom fighters and ships are complete for these factions:
~ Xenos
~ Blood Dragons
~ Red Hessians
~ Corsairs
~ Outcasts
~ Zoners (actually, still wokring on their freighter, but fighters are ready)
~ GMG (same as Zoners, need freighter)
~ Rheinland mercenray faction. Going to be a lot more merc factions, too, not just Rheinland. They'll have faction-specific stuff, and also be the only ones to offer high-paying missions (up in the 400k range).
> Each house will have a "CIA" branch, comparable to LIberty's LSF, which will have its own advanced Light and Heavy fighters. Advanced = higher equipment abilities, batter handling and speed, etc. The VHFs of the Houses, basically.
~ LSF (Liberty) and RIA (Bretonia) are not complete. Still WIP ...
~ KSS (Kusari) complete
~ RSB (Rheinland) complete

awts0c, our head shipmaster, has ships for these factions more-or-less complete, last time I checked:
~ Gaians, LF so far
~ Mollys, LF so far
~ Golden Chrysanthemums, LF and HF

We are still working on ships, with some more still on the drawing board. After a while, we will begin actually 'modding' the game. But hey, gotta have a little extra umph to add to the existing universe, right? Everyone needs a set of engines to cause a little mayhem, so we're ensuring that
A lot of other factions are slated for ships, equipment, and weapons still. Some probable changes are shield modifiers (recharge, capacity, like many mods now), armor enhancers, mass reducers, possibly cargo pods (increase hold size. Still concept, not tested or coded), new shield types, altered weapon class system - I don't personally like the current (rather arbitrary, IMO) classification, so there are some probable changes to be made.

Ah, and The Order. This is probably one of my favorite factions, just because they pwn N0m4ds1 Or rather, they can be made to (actually pretty weak in regular FL, disappointingly so). I am hoping to make The Order a major faction, one that has ships, weapons, equipment, bases, missions (vs Nomads Watch it, you dirty parasites), and a system or two under its vigilant guns - er, watch

Well, this update is not complete, excatly, but basically, we've been churning out ships and equipment so that we have a nice, wide array from which to build the mod. I am going to try to figure out how to post pics, and once I do, I might be able to release some eye candy ...

Well, for the moment, that's all folks. Will report in when next report is ready

- Ro9ue

Edited by - Ro9ue on 6/12/2005 7:17:38 PM

Post Sun Jun 12, 2005 6:06 pm

Sounds good. Will be looking foward to the new ships you guys have made. Keep up the work!

Post Tue Jun 14, 2005 8:35 am

Thanks I'm also eager to try out soem ships that we've worked on but I haven't tried yet. Personally, I can't wait to kick the Blood Dragons up to the high-notch warriors that they are supposed to be They were the shogun's personal body guards before Samura overthrew him and caused the Dragons to fight their bloody way through the palace and out to the depths of Kusari space ... So they're supposed to be 1337

Anyways, I finally got the new CM dropper to work - mounts, faces backwards, has separate components, and fires correctly (that was the problem with the .3db I made first - looked fine but CTD when I tried to fire). The only prob there now is the texturing - I can only see half the model's polygons, as there is apparently a mix-up in the textures.

So that's another piece of equip to add to the list I started a site for the mod, though I am still trying to figure out how to link the pic gallery to the main page ... I also have limited space there, so I won't be able to post a ton of new pics, though I can probably post a zip with a lot of them in it (that way people can DL and look at the goodies themselves, and the zip will let ya get a lot more than the amount I'd be able to cram in the site's limited bin.

Anyways, I'm going to go fix that CM, so until then, later.

- Ro9ue
_________________________________
"Do or do not. There is no try."
- Jedi Master Yoda

Post Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:55 pm

what was that main page addy again?

If I'm not here accepting the things I cannot change, I'm off somewhere ranting and raving about not being God.

Post Wed Jun 15, 2005 1:55 pm

Wow bro (Ro9ue),

Looks like you guys have been busy, I'd love to see an up to date version sometime

Sorry I haven't been much help lately, been pretty crazy/busy with Military stuff. Good news is that I'm in better shape, though I still have a ways to go before I can pass the Physical requirements test (the run gets me every time so far on the mock tests, ah well, I'm working on it).

Oh, and what's the addy to that site that you mentioned?

Talk to you later bro,
ArchKaine

Some say ignorance is bliss, I say they're just too blissful to know better.

Post Wed Jun 15, 2005 9:11 pm

Heya stranger! It's good to hear from you again

Well, to be honest, guys, the site is still pretty pathetic - heh, just a url and a main page that I cannot connect the pic gallery to yet ... Dang website.
But this is the main page, to which I hope to append the gallery and forum to soon, if I can make sense of the convoluted host structure: SirEx Mod Home
You can at least read the background story that I'm working on right now ...

Well, that stupid CM dropper is not working for me - ha, and just tried for about 20 mins to change the simple layout of the site - and neither is the 'site. Ahh, ya know, I've had one too manynon-functional things for one day, so I think I'm gonna take a chill pill for the night here. Hopefully things will cooperate later. So, hasta luego.

- Ro9ue

Post Fri Jun 24, 2005 8:37 am

@ Archkaine,Ro9ue and anybody else,I need some help with the info cards for the two LSF bases in Omicron Alpha (Hi01),I can't come up with a story as to why theres one LSF base in this system never mind two, any idea's post them here and see if we can kick start my creative juices again.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

Post Fri Jun 24, 2005 9:49 am

Caradime intercept station?
Spy Stations?
To make peace?
Fight?

I too, are confused as to why there would be an LSF base in Outcast base, especially in the Hornet's Nest...

Post Fri Jun 24, 2005 11:45 am

Mercz I just found another in Gamma,think I'll change 'em to the Order,they at least have a reason for being there.

**shuffles of with a new headache**

Post Fri Jun 24, 2005 2:37 pm

Heya Bej,

Changing the LSF base owners to the Order sounds good to me. Just make sure that the bases have appropriate gear/ships, etc for sale, instead of Liberty stuff. The NightShade 2 (ns02, in the files, if I remember correctly), ShadowWrath (wrath in the files), and Sobek (can't remember what its shiparch.ini entry is) would make sense to me to place among the stations, since those were designed to be Order ships.

Good luck
ArchKaine

Some say ignorance is bliss, I say they're just too blissful to know better.

Post Sat Jun 25, 2005 8:32 am

Yea, changing them to the order sounds better. Possibly relocate them closer to the Unknown jumpholes, then you could say they're there to monitor nomad activity.

Post Sat Jun 25, 2005 12:34 pm

Heh, well, about those two bases - I never liked them, really ever. I found them and was thinking what the heck? what's the Liberty Police doing out here? So I checnged them to LSF just to sell different ships, thought about removing them altogether, dedcided people might actually want them,. so left them. But I always thought they were ridculous -- the elite Corsairs and Outcasts simply would not allow such a presence in their home systems. If it was some 1337 outpost that withstood initial sorties to root 'em out, then the Dons and the .. Corsair Godfathers would send massive waves of Sabres and Titans to decimate them. There is no resisting a system-full of the most elite pilots in the game. So anyways, it was things like this that made me more and more inclined to strting from scratch, keeping crazy random things like that from popping up. But The Order is at least as uber as the Outcasts and Corsairs, so they make a bit more sense. Though it would make the most sense to put thme on the OTHER side of the jumpholes, just outside of the 'Cast/Corsair home systems. In my opinion

Ah, well, the 'site is still rather abismal. So don't judge the mod based on that

As for a minor update, the Outcasts now pilot the Rapier LF, the Cutlass HF, the Claymore VHF, and the Bactrian Freighter. They use Tachyon and Particle weaponry, like usual, except that these guns have new effects (ships, based on orig Border World ships, have bluish silver armor with gold vents. Guns have blue and yellow effects, and engines are Bret blue with golden cruise. Look cool ). And the Tachyon weapons are long ranged, fire 2x/sec, do a lot of shield damge, and use a fair amount of energy. Particle guns are shorter ranged, fire 3x/sec, do a lot of hull damage, and use only a moderate/medium amount of energy. They are quite deadly when paired ANd the Outcasts know how to use them. Heh, the BH Hammerheads last about 15-20 seconds ... Of course, the BHs themselves are quite crappy at the moment and are going to be receiving an overhaul of their own eventually. All factions will.
(( EDIT : this is 15-20 sec for a group of them, b/t 3-5 of them. Individually BHs last about 3 or 4 seconds. The other day when I was testing loadouts, a pair of Cutlasses and I (in a Rapier ) took a flight of 6 Hammerheads in about 40 sec or so. We pwned all who stand before us ))

I have some brand new cockpits made, I think a total of ... 6 or 7 right now. I want to make them for all ships we make, so it's just an added touch of professionalism

I have a new working gun model (a big blast cannon ... BOOM ), though I am still working on the one minor bug (disappears when I land, leaving an open mount .. Don;t know what that's about yet). Might be the LOD...

And awts0c is almost done with some brand new ships for Bretonia, Rheinland, and Bretonian crimanls (Mollys and Gaians). Muhaha, can't wait for those babies Next on the list is probably Liberty.

Anyways, been enough yakkin' from this here 'lancer, so for now, take care, all. Be back in a few weeks (going out of town Monday until July 6). Oh, oh, what in the workd am I gonna do - no modding for that long?! Bah, gonna be hard.

Anyhow, I'll be back later.

________
- Ro9ue
___________________________

Edited by - Ro9ue on 6/25/2005 1:47:18 PM

Post Mon Jun 27, 2005 12:40 pm

Heh Heh,

Thanks for the file bro, I'm gonna take it home and beat the bejeezus outta the BH's Also gonna test a few theories that I have regarding some other things, I'll keep ya all informed

Have fun, and beat down some baddies for me

ArchKaine

Some say ignorance is bliss, I say they're just too blissful to know better.

Post Tue Jun 28, 2005 4:57 am

Hey people,

Been testing Sirex a bit, and so far it's not bad at all. The AI is smarter than in vanilla FL, and the ships seem to fly slightly better at high speed through things like asteroid fields, etc. But you will still imitate a ping-pong ball, once ina while if you let the ship fly itself. But I guess that's unavoidable. At least if you want to be able to cruise around at greater than 300k.

Some things that I'd like to see implemented are adding the Extended Key Set to the Mod, so that you have vertical strafe, and limited roll capability. I've been spoiled on my test version that I've been running, since I managed to get EKS working within it.

The new Claymore, and the other new outcast ships are really nice, they fit in perfectly with the rest of the Outcast ships, which are still in use by the Hackers, Bundshuh (not sure if I spelled that right), and Hessians (the Hessians will have their own custom made ships in a later version, trust me - the ships rock, I especially like the Moloch).

Anyway, more later as I dig deeper

ArchKaine

Some say ignorance is bliss, I say they're just too blissful to know better.

Post Thu Jun 30, 2005 11:57 am

Hey there,
Glad you got the file Yes, the Outcasts are now fully decked out with some new stuff, and all the other factions are still being worked on, slowly but surely.
The new Series 0 ships (the Outcast modified Border World ships) are pretty mean as far as loadouts go, and all are very fast for their classes (double thrusters and engines 5 m/s faster than other criminal ships, which means about 10-30 faster than most other (House and such) ships. You can't run ... I 've tried it, and it doesn't work, heh)

The Hessians are going to be equipped similarly, pretty fast and mounting some mean weaponry, though sacrificing armor for all the meanness. They'll have laser cannons and new blast cannons, long-ranged shells that tear up armor in a hurry

Hmm, well right now I'm in Calififornia at a forum on technology, so I can't work on the mod at the moment - going freakin nuts! Gah, I really really want to work on some new weapon models, new cockpits, and I also just received some new Rheinland ships from awts0c that need to be inserted ... Oooo, I hope the 6th comes quickly!

Anyways, I'm still not fully satisfied with the handling of ships - I have way too many NPCs crashing into blasted planets after returning from patrols and stuff. That's annoying. And yes, autopilot is more of a risk than a help now - well, mainly in asteroid fields - it's okay everywhere else. So, still some tweaks to be tried there.
As for the new keys and stuff, that's on my list, though I fear that I might have to replace the resources.dll, which contians all the changes that I've made to alter the weapon class system. This is mainly a simplified version of the older version, with Light, Medium, Heavy, and Very Heavy classes for guns, and Missiles/Cruise Msls/Cruise Disruptors and Torpedoes/Nukes as the guided ordinacne classes. Oh, Arch, what do you think of that? How is that? I persoally kinda prefer it, once all the weapons are converted to the system. But I was wondering what you think of it.
Anyways, if I remember correctly, I have to replace the resources.dll in order to add the keys and moves ... So I'll get to that before I get too far in the mod.

Well, I have to run here in minute. But for the future, I am planning on finishing Liberty's weapons and ships, though we still don't have any new ships for any of Liberty (just the Liberator, Juni's ship of choice, now an advanced Heavy Fighter - pretty nice, IMO ). But also awts0c also was finishing Bretonian ships, so looking forward to that. Got their weaps in the list next. Then Kusari (still need to make an Adv. LF for the Police, though), and Rheinland after that. So We're looking at fixing up the Houses first, then we'll mve on to other factions. Once the factons and equipment and stuff is set, we'll move on to actual modding, making new systems, new factions, new bases (maybe new station models ... note the maybe in there).

Well, keep me posted on what you unearth, Arch, and lemme know what you like/dislike, and what you'd recommend. I'll be eager to get back on hte horse when I get home - arg, can't think about that right now! Okay, well, I have to go to some boring seminar - get this: "Innovative Technology Seminar: The Power of the Customer Focus" ... what the f-? Who thought of that?
Anyways, I'll check my mail later tonight, so unti then, later.

________
- Ro9ue
___________________________

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