[MOD] [TC/AP] X3 Rebalance Mod (XRM) - Total conversion - v1.30d (02.12.13)

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paulwheeler
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 09:58

e46justice wrote:Great work paul. Enjoying the game alot! Missles acting like missles is both extremly satisfying and extremely terrifying sometimes at the same moment. Lol

Small bug, marcellum relay"sp" terran sector, east gate says "w" on it.

Also boron threasher only has light wepons in its main hardpoints, i immagine thats was done for balance? Is it possible to balance it eith generator as opposed to wepon selection?

Anyway great pirate designs. Would love a fast split dragon varient. Would be scary to see 3 pirate dragons rolling at 275ms in a wolf pack. Droping in wiping frieghters, grab the goods and haul ass back to pirate space.

Anyway game is much more challanging. Thanks!
The McCallum Relay gate ID was fixed in a very early version of the XRM so you must be running a save from before then.

You'll need to start a new game as the galaxy has been significantly altered since then.

The Boron Thresher has its capital weapons on turrets for one very good reason - it evens the playing field between the player and the AI.

As the AI can't just sit still and fire, main guns in an M7 are next to useless for them. Having the heavy guns on the turrets, means the AI can fire just as much as the player.

paulwheeler
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 09:59

alphalvr wrote:
PS looking at the starts you can choose some say `TPC` after them, what does that mean?
It stands for "Terran Plot Complete". Basically the main TC plot has been set as complete.

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Sorkvild
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Post by Sorkvild » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 10:56

paulwheeler wrote:
cptANGRIST wrote:
Sorkvild wrote:
paulwheeler wrote: I would like to reiterate that SS_FAC_T_DRONE is a fighter drone fab - not a freight drone fab. There are no freight drone fabs in either the XRM or vanilla.
Drone Facts produce freight drones only. I have them in my universe too right next to Drone Production Facilities producing fighter & freight drones.

Drone Facts are sold by the Argons, Split and Teladi. Interesting thing is despite race origin all Drone Facts require Massom Powder in their primary resources! Same applies to Drone Production Facilities :/

i only have freight drones build at Teladi drone factories ?
there are different entries in our Tfactories files i think
(have you installed any mod that changes tfactories ? my factories file is from XRM part two.)

down is my screenshot of factories, that can produce drones
[ external image ]
You're quite right - I stand corrected.

Telaid (and Boron) Drone Fabs produce freight drones. The Argon one sells fighter drones.
Please remove the massom powder and add proper food wares to those fabs. Thanks.
Elite Dangerous| I survived the Dragon Incident ... then I took an arrow to the knee
We want the Boron back!

paulwheeler
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 11:42

I'll have a look at it - that's how they are set in vanilla for some reason.

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Sorkvild
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Post by Sorkvild » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 12:24

Really? Somehow they manage function with massom powder, eventually someone delivers full load of it and it lasts for several cycles.
Elite Dangerous| I survived the Dragon Incident ... then I took an arrow to the knee
We want the Boron back!

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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 12:35

Sorkvild wrote:Really? Somehow they manage function with massom powder, eventually someone delivers full load of it and it lasts for several cycles.
As far as NPCs are concerned its no problem trading between races. Basically a freighter buys a ware (from its list of preset wares set by warelists) and scans for whatever stations need it, regardless of race. So as long as there is a supply of massom powder, all these stations will receive deliveries.

paulwheeler
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 12:39

BTW - lasertowers are getting an upgrade again in 1.10.

I noticed that, even after I beefed up their weapon, they couldn't hit the side of a barn as far as fighters are concerned and that was because their turning rates were set to capital ship levels.

So they will be able to turn much faster in 1.10 - even fast enough to track slower m3s as they flay past.

So beware the next time you go after a pirate base...

I've also given the LT its own beam model now (it was using the PBC one before) and I've redone all the other beam weapon graphics too.

navetta
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Post by navetta » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 12:41

i have been trying out the taipan and i find the phased array laser cannons to be really weak compared to other flak weapons. SSC for example completely smokes enemy fighters... maybe increase the damage a bit?

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Post by Sorkvild » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 12:54

Lasertowers could get a slight reskin too ;)
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 12:57

navetta wrote:i have been trying out the taipan and i find the phased array laser cannons to be really weak compared to other flak weapons. SSC for example completely smokes enemy fighters... maybe increase the damage a bit?
I will look at it again, but the PALC already does a lot more damage per second than any other flak weapon.

This issue is in how beams do their damage. They damage for the entire duration of the beam and only as long as ships stay in the beam. So beams are far more effective against larger ships than small ships as small, fast ships just dont stay in the beam long enough to incur the entire damage.

If I gave the PALC more damage it would be too good against larger ships. I have already shortened the beam duration so that it is more effective against small ships. I can maybe make it even shorter, but then it starts to become a brief flash and not very spectacular.

I'll see if I can find a happy medium...

paulwheeler
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 12:59

Sorkvild wrote:Lasertowers could get a slight reskin too ;)
They need a remodel.... Cadius?

navetta
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Post by navetta » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 13:06

paulwheeler wrote:
navetta wrote:i have been trying out the taipan and i find the phased array laser cannons to be really weak compared to other flak weapons. SSC for example completely smokes enemy fighters... maybe increase the damage a bit?
I will look at it again, but the PALC already does a lot more damage per second than any other flak weapon.

This issue is in how beams do their damage. They damage for the entire duration of the beam and only as long as ships stay in the beam. So beams are far more effective against larger ships than small ships as small, fast ships just dont stay in the beam long enough to incur the entire damage.

If I gave the PALC more damage it would be too good against larger ships. I have already shortened the beam duration so that it is more effective against small ships. I can maybe make it even shorter, but then it starts to become a brief flash and not very spectacular.

I'll see if I can find a happy medium...
i see, thanks for trying.

daveplx
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Post by daveplx » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 15:25

Hey, just wanted to drop in and tell you I got it working now, thanks for the help! :)
I shouldn't have installed everything at once to begin with and I should've read the installation instructions on Litcube's Bounce more carefully.

Its now working and really fun, sooo much more action going on in pirate sectors its hard to set foot there (not complaining, I like it!).
Thanks a lot for this mod! :)

Best regards

- Dave

PS: Where can I find the full-size picture of the OTAS Operative start? I want to draw her but I cant find it :(
Source/Artist would be appreciated! :)

Firewrath
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Post by Firewrath » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 15:44

paulwheeler wrote: The XRM is what it is - if you want to change something then you'll have to learn to mod like the rest of us did.

Having said all that - getting rid of the trails is quite straight forward - but time consuming.

- Extract TShips from XRM Part 2 (or if you use a hull pack, extract it from the hull pack)

- Open it in the X3Editor2

- For each ship go to the "model" tab and change the particle emitter entry to "0".

- save and drop the TShips file into your "types" folder in your TC install.

The only issue with this method is you have to do it again every time I change TShips.

Otherwise you can edit the XRM particles3.txt and copy and paste the vanilla black smoke trail from a vanilla particles3 over all the ship engine trail entries in the XRM particles3 - just don't forget to set the correct ID each time.
First, a note, X3Editor2 seems to open the 'XRM1.07b_PART_2.cat'* just fine, so you Probably dont really need to extract TShips.pck to edit it,
Though i cant extract anyways it because Modmanager keeps telling me its missing the 'x3mmext.dll' file when its installed Right there with it, -_-
(*the version i downloaded to test XRM)

but a question, is Everything in TShips a ship?
like if i changed Every 'particle emitter' to 0, would it affect anything else like the lasers or some other game effect?

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Jack08
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Post by Jack08 » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 16:07

paulwheeler wrote: Having said all that - getting rid of the trails is quite straight forward - but time consuming.

- Extract TShips from XRM Part 2 (or if you use a hull pack, extract it from the hull pack)

- Open it in the X3Editor2

- For each ship go to the "model" tab and change the particle emitter entry to "0".

- save and drop the TShips file into your "types" folder in your TC install.

ParseTFile.py:

Code: Select all


TFILE = "TShips.txt"
TFILEOUT = "TShips.txt.out"

######### PROCESSING CODE ( Do Not Modify ) #############

import time

F = open(TFILE, "r")
Lines = []


data = F.readline()
while data != "":
    Lines.append(data)
    data = F.readline()

ProcessedLines = []
for Line in Lines:
    if "//" not in Line:
        ProcessedLines.append(Line)


SizeData = 0
Data = []
for Line in ProcessedLines:
    Split = Line.split(";")
    Split.pop()
    if(len(Split) == 2):
        SizeData = Split
    else:
        Data.append(Split)

######### Modify Code ( Modify Here ) #############
for Entry in Data:
    Entry[49] = "0" # WipeTrails


######### PROCESSING CODE ( Do Not Modify ) #############
F.close()
F = open(TFILEOUT, "w")
SizeData = (SizeData[0]+';'+SizeData[1]+';\n')
F.write("//Generated by ParseTFile.py by Jack08\n")
F.write(SizeData)

for Bullet in Data:
    String = ""
    for element in Bullet:
        String += (element+";")
    String += "\n"
    F.write(String)

F.close()
raw_input("Output file ""+TFILEOUT+"" Written\nProcess Completed\nPress Enter to Exit")
######### PROCESSING CODE ( End ) #############
Hard? no, Time consuming?... Definitely Not.

Particals = Framerate Hell (Espesually if a ship goes beyond 300 m/s)
Last edited by Jack08 on Thu, 6. Oct 11, 16:12, edited 2 times in total.
[ external image ]
"One sure mark of a fool is to dismiss anything that falls outside his experience as being impossible."
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paulwheeler
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 16:12

Firewrath wrote:
paulwheeler wrote: The XRM is what it is - if you want to change something then you'll have to learn to mod like the rest of us did.

Having said all that - getting rid of the trails is quite straight forward - but time consuming.

- Extract TShips from XRM Part 2 (or if you use a hull pack, extract it from the hull pack)

- Open it in the X3Editor2

- For each ship go to the "model" tab and change the particle emitter entry to "0".

- save and drop the TShips file into your "types" folder in your TC install.

The only issue with this method is you have to do it again every time I change TShips.

Otherwise you can edit the XRM particles3.txt and copy and paste the vanilla black smoke trail from a vanilla particles3 over all the ship engine trail entries in the XRM particles3 - just don't forget to set the correct ID each time.
First, a note, X3Editor2 seems to open the 'XRM1.07b_PART_2.cat'* just fine, so you Probably dont really need to extract TShips.pck to edit it,
Though i cant extract anyways it because Modmanager keeps telling me its missing the 'x3mmext.dll' file when its installed Right there with it, -_-
(*the version i downloaded to test XRM)

but a question, is Everything in TShips a ship?
like if i changed Every 'particle emitter' to 0, would it affect anything else like the lasers or some other game effect?
Try right clicking on the Mod Manager and choose "run as administrator"...

Yes its only ships in TShips. Setting the particle emitters to 0 will only affect ships and nothing else.

paulwheeler
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 16:14

Jack08 wrote:
Particals = Framerate Hell (Espesually if a ship goes beyond 300 m/s)
Not if the trails are setup correctly. With low enough densities they are fine past 1000 m/s.

I notice no frame hit from trails at all and my system is hardly cutting edge.

XRM trails have been totally reworked and thoroughly tested on all ships and missiles.


BTW - something most people forget... the vanilla game has particle trails on all fighters - the trails are just black.
Last edited by paulwheeler on Thu, 6. Oct 11, 16:17, edited 2 times in total.

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TrixX
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Post by TrixX » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 16:15

Another option would be to use Litcube's excellent TShip Editor (LETE) which is Excel based allowing for mass data changes in very short amounts of time.

Litcube's LETE 0.64b thread
"If you’re not prepared to be wrong, you’ll never come up with anything original."
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TrixX
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Post by TrixX » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 16:47

paulwheeler wrote:
Jack08 wrote:
Particals = Framerate Hell (Espesually if a ship goes beyond 300 m/s)
Not if the trails are setup correctly. With low enough densities they are fine past 1000 m/s.

I notice no frame hit from trails at all and my system is hardly cutting edge.

XRM trails have been totally reworked and thoroughly tested on all ships and missiles.


BTW - something most people forget... the vanilla game has particle trails on all fighters - the trails are just black.
I haven't a bad rig but rendering of Particles is very taxing on the FPS of the game. Normally about a 5-10FPS hit on a mid level card.

The settings for the particles in XRM are much better than vanilla, but they still suffer SETA stall (not your fault obviously) and as such can be an immersion breaker for some.

If you get a supertuned ship ingame the particles will fail above 400-450m/s though. speeds of 400+ with the trails failing (with a supertuned ship) the FPS drops to 28 from 98-100 stationary and 88-92 with trails on your Pirate Kestrel at Max speed with max standard tunings, as tested in the Avarice Sector.

Just mentioning as Supertunes can be had ingame without cheating I believe ;)
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paulwheeler
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Post by paulwheeler » Thu, 6. Oct 11, 17:08

TrixX wrote: Just mentioning as Supertunes can be had ingame without cheating I believe ;)
Not that I recall... unless there is a plot device that gives them to you. There are no "supertuned" ships in XRM jobs anyway.

I will check if the pirate kestrel trail is failing at max speed. If it is I will fix it - its a fairly simple fix. I can fix trails so they can go past 1000m/s, they just don't look quite as good (I've done this with missiles for example as many XRM missiles travel over 1000m/s).

Every bit of graphics causes a frame rate hit. The fact is that trails are in vanilla - just a different colour. The heavy frame hit comes when the trails corrupt at high speeds - which I have taken steps to stop in XRM.

Saying that rendering particles causes a 5-10 fps hit is a nonsensical statement as it totally depends on how many objects are producing the trails in the first place and how dense and long the trails are. If you have one ship in a sector the frame hit will be negligible. With a full on, IR fuelled, several hundred ship epic battle going on, then I'm sure there is a slight hit. With XRM we have taken steps to ensure that ship numbers do not get out of hand.

The frame rate improvements in XRM over vanilla in other areas mean that overall the majority of users should see a frame rate gain in XRM when compared to vanilla, despite XRM having more sectors and ships overall (taking complicated scripts like Improved Races out of the equation so its a plain XRM vs a plain vanilla).



EDIT - I am currently flying a pirate Kestrel at 674 m/s, its max speed, and the trail is absolutely fine.

As I said, I tested every single fast ship and missile in the game for trail corruptions - they are all 100% OK.
Last edited by paulwheeler on Thu, 6. Oct 11, 17:24, edited 3 times in total.

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