X3 Hostile Universe V1 Released.

[giskard]

Hi all.

Special thanks to all those who posted guides, tips or even asked AL questions in here recently. You helped me brush the cobwebs of my X scripting skills. Much appricated guys

You know who you are:)

Version 1 Readme.

Download from = removed for now. Not happy with the scripts.

Feedback = http://www.respawn.co.uk/IVBoard/index. ... wtopic=171

Please be aware that Hostile Universe is a script pack that will grow in time and not a one off script. It will eventually add a lot to the AI side of the game and possibly other areas too. So check the Version number for updateds. I may add the version number to the AL menu later, so you can always see what version is installed.

Also please note that unlike the Freelancer version, you can turn off parts of Hostile universe from the AL menu found under gameplay in the options menu. One of X3s little perks

Hello all.

I have started making a hostile universe mod for X3. It will not be the same as X3 Hostile Universe V1.
Tested on X3 Version 1.2.01

Website: http://www.respawn.co.uk
Author = giskard


IMPORTANT:

Before going any further, backup your saved games.

Go to My Documents/Egosoft/X3/Save and backup the saves you have in there. If you have winzip installed, you need only right click with your mouse and select winzip/add to and it will make a zipped up copy of your save.

Once you start HU, your game becomes modified and any and all scripts you install after that will run automatically when you load your saved games in the future. If a script breaks, then your save game could break too. You can usually recover your save but its better to have backups just in case.

All sorted now I hope ?



Manual Installation.

To install, simply extract the zip directly in to your X3 folder. It will automatically install all files to the correct location. All Hostile Universe scripts have HU in the name, so its easy to go in to the scripts folder later and remove them if you want too.

Eg al.plugin.hu.vip.xml

The only file that does not say HU somehere in the name is the script used to launch Hostile universe. It is called al.plugin.hostile.universe.xml and deleted that will prevent the HU AL scripts from running Eg It will only stop the HU Artifical life (AL) scripts from running. But in version 1 there is only AL scripts so it should stop the entire script pack.




Running Hostile Universe.

Press P in the game and go to rename, then change your name to "Thereshallbewings" and the script editor will activate. You do not need to use it so relax. Just save your game and reload it and Hostile universe will run.




About Hostile Universe.

The X3 version of Hostile Universe will focus on AL scripts, that is scripts that bring life to the universe and in some way interact with the player. Over time the Hostile Universe Script pack will grow and add more to the game in key areas. But all this takes time so do not expect everything to happen in one release.



Compatibility:

Compatible with the Egosogft X3 Default Universe and any custom universe that uses the same universe as a baseline for modifications. Currently only Sector Cho's Defeat is used from the default universe.

This mod uses 7044 for the language file and Page IDs.




Hostile Universe Features.

VIP Convoys:

These convoys appear in various sectors, traveling towards their destination. As they get close to their final destination they jump the last few sectors in order to throw off any persuers. These convoys are often attacked by pirates, yaki and Xenon and this has forced the VIP Escort Guild to offer a standing reward for all kills made against ships that plan to attack their convoys.

VIP Pirate Convoys:

The Bosses of various Pirate Clans have business in the universe too. They are often Assassinated by underlings and other wannabes as well as Business men that have lost money due to pirate attacks. So they travel in armed convoys around the universe.




Background Story for current features.

VIP Guide.

The VIP Guild was setup by various Business men from all races who got sick of seeing their company Executives killed during pirate raids and reprisal attacks by Assassins and Xenon. These convoys often transport important people around the universe but the Guild also has contracts with the law enforcement community who sometimes ask them to transport High Risk Prisoners between prisons from time to time. The convoys are always at risk of attack so the VIP Guild have developed a large spy network that helps them stay informed of impending attacks. This allows them to offer rewards for all would be attackers killed in the act of attacking one of their convoys or killed enroute to a VIP convoy.


Assassins Guild.

It is rumoured that all contracts taken out against anybody in the Universe go through the Assassins Guild which is primarily made up of Yaki business Men. The rumour goes they pay out a Standard fees for all Hits on their books that their members or anybody else makes. Because the Mark can be killed by anybody under Guild Rules, the members consider it a point of honour not to hit another Assassins Mark. The members have their own rules on this which are pretty simple. If you kill an Assassins mark, you become that Assassins mark, even if you your self are the Mark of second Assassin. The members own rules in that case are ignore in favour of the Rule of Vengence which overrides everything else.

Pirate Bosses.

Pirate Bosses control the flow of illegal goods around the Universe. They have spies in every level of Goverment of all races and often pay off officials so they look the other way during important transactions. For this reason all goverments have standarding orders to kill them on sight but do not actually officially condone Assassination as law enforcement tool. Dispite this, they choose to look the other way should any other pilot Assassinate a Pirate Boss.

Pirate Clans.

Several Pirate Clans exist in the Universe, the most Blood Thirsty is the Red Hand Brigade. These have a reputation for shooting first, even if it means losing profit. Fear usually makes victims pay up without a fight. Other clans are more business like and tend to show their victims how dangerous the Universe is without lossing out them selves. Thus their victims at least have a chance to change their minds.

Giskard

[DemaeRamen]

Looking forward to it.

[Factor X]

Ooooohhh.......The Hostile Universe in X3.

Damn, damn, damn, damn....

What a superwonderfull news!!!

Giskard, I remember your mod (v8 if i remember) for Freelancer.
It was terrific, it added sooo much to the original "boring" storytelling mechanics.
I remember the Titanic story, and small detailed additions that added so much...so so much..

Im so glad you're part of this community. Great news, really.

[Nightwind]

I have been working on something special that contains large elements of what you are intending. Perhaps we should "compare notes" etc and see if our work can compliment eachothers rather than working against.

The idea sounds great though and I would love the chance to co-operate with someone far more experienced than me on the AL sections of this "special project", as with everything else I have been doing I haven't had time to think much about that side of things yet.

In any case I was going to be annoucing the project in a few days, all been well, though like you, most of the additions and features I was going to keep secret for now, so as to keep them a surprise.

P.S And what have I been doing instead? ...Well planning out the project, learning more about the script editor (checking to see which ideas are do-able and how difficult they would be to implement, in addition to just learning more, lol) and finally learning to model using Gmax - its a start - already learned how to create models, as well as basic texturing and animation. So as you can see, the AL side of things have had to take a back seat for now.

Whatever you decide, I wish you well in your project
~ Nightwind

[Lennek]

O wow this is great. i didnt realize who you were giskard untill you mentioned HU. i was a huge fan of that mod. my friend and i would prity much only play FL with your mod installed. it was a must have for me. it helped that i was a fan of B5 and you had several good B5 ships in your mod. even the transports were fun fly.

[giskard]

I figured chips and a few others may remember HU but I didnt know there was more HU users here. Good to see you all and im glad you enjoyed the mod. It wasnt perfect but you know what to expect from me having seen it.

The Titanic idea will be making an re-appearance, but it should be better than the freelancer version. X3 offers more features for me to play with than freelancer did so this version will be more spicey and have a kick in the tail at the end.

Nightwind:

Talking to other mod makers is half the fun mate, especially in a good community. Thats how me and a lot of the old freelancer guys got to know each other. Though im a bit rusty with X3 scripting but its not beyond my abilities. X3s scripting seems to be a question of learning what crashes out the game and what doesnt more than learning the command. A loop moving to fast or one too many scripts being called from a single fine and instant CTD it seems.

Still figuring this out so it may delay things as i hit snags.

Right now i have this rather neat AL script that I "Optimized" today, it was fully functional but not anymore. The optimizing process broke it. IT worked great at first but then I made some tweaks and suddenly it doesnt work. Seems X3 doesnt like calling ship configuration files 8 at a time, with or without wait commands.

So i have to rebuild it or go back to the old bulky system i first employed.

All i wanted to do was vary the attackers a little, not much to ask lol.

PS that starfury from HU will be the first ship i add if I choose to add any to X3 (no plans too YET). I loved that ship, it would make a great m4.

Giskard

[Nightwind]

Posted by giskard:
Right now i have this rather neat AL script that I "Optimized" today, it was fully functional but not anymore. The optimizing process broke it. IT worked great at first but then I made some tweaks and suddenly it doesnt work. Seems X3 doesnt like calling ship configuration files 8 at a time, with or without wait commands.

Lol, so is that a Doh!!! An Oops!!! ...Or a Fuooking B**stard!

P.S Liked the use of the "..." when saying Optimized, made me chuckle. Especially since I did something similar recently, though it was only a test script so bleh, doesn't matter.

[Factor X]

I remember, in Hostile Universe, how well everything was implemented into freelancer universe
it was filling the holes of the game
every equipment or ship or little story was fuuuuzed to the game. terrific

and those great ideas like the starfury, with its sideways!!! or the treasure hunt or the titanic

It thrills me to see what you can do in X3 (cause freelancer was not really a moddable game in the pure sense of the meaning! see?)

but, as you said (i'm too lazy to quote), it is more difficult than it seems.
just hope those scripts "errors" are bugs that will be corrected
but it sounds like these are program restrictions

keep the good work my friend. You got supporters.

[Artius]

WOW!!OMG!!! HU in X3....can't wait

[shasla5]

Any plans to put in hyperspace? That was an interesting feature. In my opinion, anyway.

[Lennek]

Ya my friend is going to love hering this. And i cant wait to see that star fury in game. I loved it in FL. And i agree hyperspace was to much fun.

A friend and i was playing on lan and we decided to do a good cargo run. i was in the galixy hauler i think i and he was in a malineum falcon. the trip the normal rount would take us a while to run and it would also take us thru hostile teritory. lost of pirates lol. so we decided that we might try our luck with hyper space. well along the way he hit a bit of a snag in the form of a shadow battle crab lol. and not just one but 3 lol. that was fun i miss those days hehe. o and we made it to our destination by the way what fun. cant wait to see it in X3. PM me if you need a tester i would be glad to help test when i have the time.

[Matt Armada]

Got freelancer but never played this..HEARD some stuff, and think i saw hyperspace in another mod or a video or sumtin....like the ideas, bring em in!!...HS...hmm..that would be cool

[Sandalpocalypse]

Well.. 'hyperspace' would be complicated in X3, I would think.

To do it right, I think you would have to make a sector that costs no ecells to jump to, then when someone jumps there a gate is created to your destination across the sector but you would somehow have to disable jumping to that gate...and..stuff..ugh.

[giskard]

Nightwind:

Yup, a real DUH!, no big deal though since its only create ship files that used to be in the main script. Just a mundane job, nothing really tricky.

Sign up for the respawn forums mate and we can chat about mod ideas there. Less chance of losing a thread that way or getting them moved or even cluttering up this busy forum.

Heres a link.

http://www.respawn.co.uk/IVBoard/index. ... &Itemid=65

shasla5: Matt Armada:

Actually that might work in X3 as well, but im not sure it would add to X3 like it did in freelancer. It may actually work against X3. Still sticking a xenon battle fleet in there might make it fun. Needs some throught really.

Matt Armada:

You may find you used a lot of the stuff i created since i shared them with other mod makers. The hyperspace idea was just one of the things i know others used.

Lennek:

Ships are not really on my mind right now, ive not actually decided if i want to add none X ships to X3 but if i do that starfury and thunderbolt will be amongst the first.

Sandalpocalypse: yes but as bad as you might think if adding new gates is possible. The concern i have is the effect on exploration. Unless its limited to jump between the 5 friendly races primary sectors. There are some serious game play concerns though, so until everything has been considered, this idea wont appear in X3 HU.

HU was not known for making it easier on the player, if anything it made the game harder in freelancer. But in doing so, it allowed the player to do more. Hyperspace in X3 could have the opersite effect.

Giskard

[giskard]

Nearly forgot.

Compared to Freelancer, X3 has massive potential in the similar areas to the Titanic features found in the original HU mod. Less potential on other areas.

Giskard

[giskard]

Quickup date.

Hostile Universe VIP convoys = finished.
Hostile Universe Pirate convoys = Final Testing.

Both appear as normal AI Traffic

Once the latter is done, i'll release version 1.
Both can be enabled or disabled from the gameplay/artificial life menu. So you do not like them, you can turn them off.

This ones for all those that shoot the AI traffic (Good or Bad)

Giskard

[Tiberian Commander]

Ready and standing by for download

[giskard]

When you see the scripts, be sure to post your reaction when you see the AI respond to you actions. It may not be the response you expect at the time you expect it, so you may have to wait and you may wonder who sent this and when.

Ive done for a low key messaging system so the player doesnt get bombarded with pms each time something happens. But messages are logged if you want to read them.

Giskard

[giskard]

Version 1 has now been released.

The first post in this thread has been updated.

Giskard

[giskard]

Im going to start looking at bbs messages that work along side the scripts im making.

Giskard