egosoft.com

Since my war mod is put on hold I need something to work on!

I'm still using mods in "raw" mode, since I like to mod the mods and anything else I see fit.

the_conquerer_cgi wrote:I'm still using mods in "raw" mode, since I like to mod the mods and anything else I see fit.

Same here, but others might like a group of good mods combined.

Alot of mods aren't compatible, for instance, any mod that changes the universe map automatically excludes any other mod that does the same.

By any other mod that does the same, I mean any other mod that changes the universe.

2 or 3 big mod teams is exactly what I'm talking about.

aalaardb wrote:Alot of mods aren't compatible, for instance, any mod that changes the universe map automatically excludes any other mod that does the same.

Actually, you can put your modded maps in the map folder. When you start a new game you pick which map you want.

I'd rather have variation then people working together.

Two or three big mod teams would be good.

You know what would be really nice?

(at least for the types files...)
When the game loads up, it reads these into memory to 'initialize' the game.
Wouldn't it be great if you could load fragments in?
For example, the first tlaser file loaded in is the original from the egosoft dats. Let's then say the user has two mods that edit tlaser.txt.
Normally, these conflict and would have to be merged, by hand, in a txt editor. Wouldn't it be nice if you could load just one column in instead of completely overwriting the previous values loaded in memory?

So step by step:
Game loads in original egosoft tlaser.txt which is complete and initializes everything.
Game then finds a second occurance of tlaser in user created mod (in 05.dat perhaps). This mod contains a complete tlaser.txt file, but only wants to change three or four values. Wouldn't it be great if you could populate the rows with nothing but dashes or something except for the three or four values you wanted to change? Then as the game read the file it said, 'ok dash: keep old value, number: change to new value, dash: keep old value, etc.'
At the end of the process, most of the data loaded in is from the original egosoft dat. The only values that have been changed are those the user specifically wanted to change.
Would solve the manual merge problem of 'my mod changes row four, his changes row five, if i want to use both i have to unpack, edit, and repack'
Now you could have two packed dats, each containing a tlaser file, one all dashes except for row four, the other all dashes except for row five. Both load correctly and do not overwrite each other.

I feel like I'm not explaining myself that well, stayed up too late last night. Hope you get what I'm saying.

Seems like this would be a simple change in the file parser that loads in all the original data. That's what I'd like to see.

Yeah Burianek, that would be good, it would allow multiple mods at once instead of just one. But 7 people voted yes. So who is with me? I can mod the map, script, and I've requested the tools to do BBS missions. We could use an economy fixer *cough* and ship model modders and basically anyone :)

I'll always stand ready to help anyone 'merge' any of my mods by providing info as to what numbers were changed in what files and how to make sense of it.
Just pm me.
If I use multiple mods with no file conflicts, I prefer to keep them modular and just rename them 05.dat, 06.dat, etc.
(right now I run my econ fix, the no modified tag fix, and the alternate crosshairs located on babyface's site)
If, in the future, I like and use a mod, and there are file conflicts, I will of course, have to manually merge it with my econ fix. I'll throw those merged efforts on my web site with minimal documentation as well, so that if others want to use the combination, they can feel free. These combos will be unsupported.
I'm reluctant to get involved developing any mod, I myself, will not use. (I really don't know very much anyway). So I will very much support anyone seeking to make a 'mega mod' that incorporates my econ fix, I just don't promise to develop one myself.
(and the economy stuff is about as far as I can take it w/o easing hard coded limitations, so you prob won't see an econ fix v4)


btw, your war/khaak spawner stuff looks really interesting. I've started a new game with my econ stuff though so it will take me a while before I get powerful enough to handle a little war.

aalaardb wrote:Yeah Burianek, that would be good, it would allow multiple mods at once instead of just one. But 7 people voted yes. So who is with me? I can mod the map, script, and I've requested the tools to do BBS missions. We could use an economy fixer *cough* and ship model modders and basically anyone

I'm with you. I want to see more diversified ships, for example:

Tships: my Harrier XL, 160 units of XL cargo, max speed 100mps.; Shadowtech's Super Carrier, for the right price; an extra forward and rear gun for the Hydra; extra forward gun for the dragon and a price increase; mod the Iguana into a fighter between an M3 and an M6 ( sp. Dehaviland Mosquito) that wouldn't take much; mod the Osprey into a frigate costing about 25-30 million.

Tlasers: Replace the G-PSG with a shipboard version of the orbital laser weapon,an easy mod

Tbullets: 1.5x speed to ID and PSG's
2.5x speed to IRE's,PAC's,MD's,and HEPT's
3.0x speed to OLW and PPC's

Trockets: Increase range of silkworm and hornet, increase their hull damage alot(hornet, hull 50,000, it's a nuke isn't it) decrease maneuverability.

Burianek's economy mod.

Jumbo map mod

+1 shield to TL's, +2 to M2's, +3 to M1's, +1 shield to all Pirates, increase their speed a little too.

These are just a few ideas, most of which I've used and they have made my game more enjoyable.

ok, maybe, I do like some of those ideas Storm Front. Let me know if you guys need anything.
*ducks under flurry of blows from wife*

For mortal people who can't mod, it would be nice if there was som combined packages available, or if it was possible to make a program like FL Mod Manager (Freelancer), which makes it possible to select more than one mod at a time.

DanishEagle

SF, sent you a PM

It would be nice to have a package that would just add extra depth to the game. Some examples....

1) Have little space suits sometimes buzzing around stations doing 'repairs' and stuff.

2) Give the impression that the NPC factory owners were more alive... eg. have a factory sneakly blow up a rival factories transport, and then steal the cargo!

3) Hows about some military bases near races borders? They could be a new type of station with guns and docked ships (maybe a new type of M0 that can't move and just looks like a station if thats easyier?)

4) Hows about another station type like a hotel in a races home sector? You could have a TP ferrying passangers up from a planet to it. It could also use goods, and there could be a small market for space weed, and some new goods types, like flip flops and ice cream? (ok, maybe not flip flops and ice cream but you get the idea. )

I'm gonna work on the first two, but I've no idea how to do 3 and 4.

Look what I bumped into.

Yeah Burianek, that would be good, it would allow multiple mods at once instead of just one. But 7 people voted yes. So who is with me? I can mod the map, script, and I've requested the tools to do BBS missions. We could use an economy fixer *cough* and ship model modders and basically anyone

A huge map is underway. It sure would be nice to have some new ship models. We also need Sector names and descriptions (generic descriptions that don't depend on what the sector looks like, maybe something that goes with the name)

Missed one option:

Petition Egosoft to allow more than one mod to load at a time, a la Morrowind. Then, like the Morrowind mod community, have a central clearinghouse where mods are tested for compatibility.

On the advice of a moderator, I sent Martin (egosoft) a pm with a link to this thread. He was nice enough to respond.

http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=33508

Also, if someone belongs to devnet and wants to post this issue in the suggestions database there, that might jumpstart it. I'd do it, but I'm only a pitiful level 1.

Martin wrote:What I would prefer however is that instead of creating a large number of independent mods people would work together to create a few very good mods and put them in single mod packs

The point of this poll was to get support for a single mod pack, not change the way Egosoft runs things. That's not to say I am opposed to having multi mods at the same time, just that since there was a workaround I decided to go that route and create something new rather than put together old stuff.

marklaverty wrote:It would be nice to have a package that would just add extra depth to the game. Some examples....

1) Have little space suits sometimes buzzing around stations doing 'repairs' and stuff.

2) Give the impression that the NPC factory owners were more alive... eg. have a factory sneakly blow up a rival factories transport, and then steal the cargo!

3) Hows about some military bases near races borders? They could be a new type of station with guns and docked ships (maybe a new type of M0 that can't move and just looks like a station if thats easyier?)

4) Hows about another station type like a hotel in a races home sector? You could have a TP ferrying passangers up from a planet to it. It could also use goods, and there could be a small market for space weed, and some new goods types, like flip flops and ice cream? (ok, maybe not flip flops and ice cream but you get the idea. )

I'm gonna work on the first two, but I've no idea how to do 3 and 4.

I like 3 and 4. 4 is a great idea for the online game. Having bars or hotels or just general quarters where players can chat and hit the space hookah would add alot of depth.

voted for the first option, i hope that in X3 it will be able to apply multiple mods at one time