[Tutorial] Copy/Paste ships from a mod to another

[Serial Kicked]

Here's a small tutorial to teach you how to copy and paste ships from a mod to another. Beware, it's a rather complex task. You'll need to know how to use tools from DoubleShadow. For any issue concerning those software, contact the author or ask in the related thread, not here.

Software Needed

- X2 Editor v0.0.37
- X2 Archiver or X2 ModManager
- Patch10


Used Mods in this example

- DeadlyDa's SSG mod [called here "source mod"] (with the ships you want to add)
- Terradine mod [called "target mod"] (where you want to add ships)


Mod installation

As you do not want to break you nice X² installation folder, the first thing to do is to create an independant folder (ie. "c:\mymods"). Install both the target and the source mods there. The important files are the files with a .cat and a .dat extension. They are located in the mods folder.


Extracting files from .cat/.dat archives

If you use X² Archiver. Go in the Mods folder. Right click on each .cat file and select "Extract Here" in the menu that appeared. It will make two sub folders with a buch of files inside.

It seems that X² Archiver has some issues when decompressing some archives. If you have this problem, use X² ModManager from Doubleshadow to extract the files.


Hacking x2story.obj to add new ship slots to the target mod

You will have to use Patch10 here. The first thing to do is to open l\x2story.obj from the target mod. A window like this should appear :



The first thing to change is the total number of ships (in the small box). Increase the number by one to add a new ship slot. A new line will be added in the last line of the list. You'll have to choose the class (M2,M1,M5,TL,...) for your new ship here. You can also see that Patch10 has assigned an "Ident" string to your new ship (like SS_SH_X_M5. Write down this string, you will need it later.

When you are done adding ship slots, save your l\x2story.obj file in the same folder (target mod).


Copying ship spec. from a mod to another

Here you'll have to use X² Editor. Launch TXT Editor and open the file types\TShips.txt from the source mod. You will have a windows like this one :



In the left column, select the ship you want to copy. Do a right click on it and select "Copy". This done, open the same filetypes\TShips.txt from the target mod this time. Scroll down the left column, do a right click and select "Paste". A window will appear :



Choose "No" to add the new ship at the end. A new entry called "NEW_OBJECT_1" will appear. Select it. The first thing to do is to change its ID with the string you've wrote down when you were using Patch10. Be sure the class ship is the same you have chosen. You can also modify ship specs here. And you'll probably have to do so as mods have very different ship specs from a mod to another. Check also "Turrets" and "Guns" tabs to be sure your ships have guns. If one of the two mods use new weapons, you'll probably have to modify the datas in the "Front Lasers" tab.

This done, click on "More Info" tab. write down the number in front of "Description". If the number is already used by another ship, you'll have to change it. We'll need it to give a name and a description to the ship in the new mod.

Finally, save your types\TShips.txt file.


Copying ship models

Here you will have to copy files from v and cut folders (depending of the mod maybe there is also a tex folder to copy). Two ways to do it :

- Check in the ship datas the .bob and .bod files need for your ship and copy them from the source mod to the target mod.

- Brute Force method (easier for noobs or to copy a bunch of ships). Simply copy all .bod and .bob from the 'source mod' to the 'target mod' folder.

Giving a name and a desc. to you ships

Launch "Text Resource Editor" from X² Editor. Click on "Open", go to the t folder from the target mod. Open the file .xml file related to your language (44xxxx is english).



Check for a part called "Boardcomp. objects" in the left column. Click it. It the list that appear, right click and choose "Add Text...". A window opens :



Type in "ID" the number you've written down when using TXT editor. Type in "Text" your new ship's name.
Repeat the operation. But this time, increase the ID number by one. And put the description of your ship in the textfield.

Save.


Packing the new mod

The last thing you have to do before playing. Go in target mod's main folder with explorer (with a bunch of subfolders v,cut,types,..). Right click / New File / X² Archive.

Two files will be added : 01.cat and 01.dat.

Select all files (and subfolders) except those two. And move and drop them over 01.cat. X² Archiver will show you a progress box when packing the files.

This done, rename .cat and .dat files the same way they are called in the target mod. Replace old dat/cat files.

Install your new mod into X² and play.


Misc.

- Ship specs. can dramatically change from a mod to another. Keep that in mind. You'll probably HAVE to change ship spec. (speed, turning rate, shields, hull, weapons) to have fully playable ships.

- You'll need to script in your new ship except if you also edit the map with a galaxy editor.

- You have to ask ship/mod authors for a permission before posting your modified mod on the web.

Good luck !

---
To modders : Feel free to correct me if i'm wrong somewhere. I'll correct the tutorial.
---

[keitherwild6]

Great Turtorial!

Er, now i need a tutorial that is as smooth as yours about modifying the ship properties is there a good one about?

[TSM]

This is worth of being put in the script and modding sticky, nice job Serial Kicked

[Burianek]

Linked.
Thanks.

[Elwood J Blues]

This is the one you replied about in my thread isn't it? Understood well. It's in ENGLISH!

Elwood.

[Serial Kicked]

thanks guys

@Elwood J Blues : Right, this is the one.
(yup and i'm not english )

[Elwood J Blues]

I mean it's not tech talk.

Elwood.

[Mik71]

Great work Serial Kicked, im having a slight problem though buddy. im trying it with the same mods in your tutorial but when i try to extract the .cat file from Deadly's mod i get an error message "SSG-PE-V0.3.7e.dat is not a valid integer value". Note that it refers to the file as a .dat even though it's showing as an x2 archive(still shows the .cat extension in Winrar). The terradine .cat file extracted no problem and created it's subfolder.

Hopefully im not missing something simple. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as im desperate to get the Osprey Mk2 into terradine.

Thanx

[Mik71]

My apologies just read your first paragraph again. I'll contact Deadly for advice.

Sorry

[Serial Kicked]

@Mik71 : In fact it seems that X² Archiver contains a bug. I've updated the tutorial and included a link to X² ModManager from Doubleshadow.

[Galaxy613]

Great job Serial! This will help many a new X2 Modder!

[Serial Kicked]

thanks

[Harlock776]

What bug is there in X2archiver? I used it atleast a thousand times between the first time I used it with v1.0 of my mod and the last time I used it with v2.0 of my mod and never had any trouble except when trying to unpack the 1.2 patch cat&dat files from the game.

[rustybucket]

How do you manage the bod and cut image files, when you run into a conflict? Ideally i would like to rename the files to prevent problems, but I am not sure how to edit the ship models.

[Serial Kicked]

Here's a PM doubleshadow sent me :