Litcube's Universe

[Litcube]

Dudes, we're having server problems, but Jack08 is trying to fix, and Dizzy is getting a google drive fix, and I'm getting a 1.7.1 up, which only fixes the search for the new nosteam.

[taztaz502]

Is there any where i can read about the best place for stations etc, and where would be a good defensive place to build my headquarters when i get to that stage?

Haven't even built my first station in this mod yet, in x3ap i just built most of my bases in the hidden sector.

[dizzy]

LU adds a bunch of empty sectors belonging to every race so there's plenty of options. There are also a bunch of Unknown sectors belonging to nobody. Part of the fun is scouting the universe and reaching your own conclusions about which sector would be best. The obvious thing is to not host your HQ close in the path of the OCV or close to Phanon HQ.

[pkneebo]

Recently found a bailed Xenon I which took a few hours to repair but its finally ready and I've no idea what to put on it.
I want to wreck face with it, possibly use it to cap other caps for extra money.


Edit: merged with LU topic, as per S&M posting rules. X2-Illuminatus

[OneOfMany]

Dudes, we're having server problems, but Jack08 is trying to fix, and Dizzy is getting a google drive fix, and I'm getting a 1.7.1 up, which only fixes the search for the new nosteam.

I remember being so down when X - Afterbirth released and how I sought solace with LU.

Welcome to the aftermath of No Mans Sky.

When people are fed shit they fall back on reliable and proven. Keep up the great work Lit and team...

[Litcube]

I would put weapons on it.


edit: and shields. I would put shields on it too.

[eugene171]

So i know that the remap says it's not compatible specifically with 1.7, but does anyone know if it is?

I'll report back either way, just wanted to find out ahead of time if anyone knows for sure

[Zaitsev]

Recently found a bailed Xenon I which took a few hours to repair but its finally ready and I've no idea what to put on it.
I want to wreck face with it, possibly use it to cap other caps for extra money.

To be honest the I is kind of a mediocre M2, with its only strong suit being a decently sized weapons capacitor. It also depends on what you want to do with it, but to "wreck face" a fairly heavy loadout would be preferable. Since your side turrets would probably do most of the heavy lifting I'd probably go for Photon Pulse Cannons or Point Singularity Projectors there, something light and fast for top and bottom, such as flaks or Ion Shard Railguns, and since the I can actually mount Starburst Shockwave Cannons in the rear I'd fill up the rear turret with SSCs. For the front turret I'd probably mount something medium, such as Photon Artillery Arrays, both to be able to hit something other than a capital ship, and to limit energy consumption a bit.

Bear in mind that this is a fairly energy hungry setup, so you'll have to be prepared to jump out if things get too hot and/or you run out of weapons juice.

An alternative is to mount PPCs or PSPs in the front, something lighter like Gauss Cannons in the side turrets, and keep the rest of the setup as it is. It will give your side turrets less punch, so it's more dependent on your piloting skills and might or might not suit your fighting style. Also, remember to keep loads of chaff on board, as capitals are vulnerable to missile boats and fighters wielding heavy missiles like the Remote Guided Warhead. Ten of those will zero your shields, and Xenon Ls and LXs are notorious for throwing them around like rice at a wedding.

As for the last bit you can't really capture other capitals with any kind of reliability without marines, boarding pods and a ship capable of firing said pods. You can make another capital bail, but the chances of that happening are infinitely smaller than using marines to board the ship in question instead.

[dizzy]

There was a LU remap version that I played for a while but I don't know if it's compatible with the latest version. If it's not compatible then you'll have trouble finding a dock to sell you Docking Transport Extension (or whatever it was called), the equipment that allows you to transport dock fighters on carriers and light carriers.

[Tiberseptim]

So it does seem like Steam is downloading the bonus pack items in the initial install. After one failed installation (yes, copied to another directory entirely before pointing the installer to it). I attempted to install like this ones with the instructions that suggested renaming nosteam exe as "x3ap_n.exe" and dropping it in the base game directory as well as doing as the clean install explanation now suggests - overwriting the steam-installed executeable.

In both cases the game seemed perfectly fine - but entirely vanilla. I did notice that there were a lot of files already in the scripts directories in both the base and addon folders. On the second installation I watched as the files were loaded into the "C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\downloading" It looks like it's loading the .pck files for the bonuspack on the base install.

I've deleted all traces of the last installation from my system (including the save and profile directories created in my document) and reinstalled with all updates still set to only download on launching from steam. Once again it included the bonuspack as part of the initial downloads.

Any suggestions on what I can try to remove from the c:/x3ap/addon/scripts and /T directories and if they should be cleared before pointing the litcube installer at it? I'll try to wipe out the ones I know are associated with the bonus pack, but if they're already baked into the archives that's not really going to help is it?

Given that the game ran fine (though appearing 100% vanilla) after both failed attempts to install it though I'm wondering if the installer is actually doing anything at all. Not as in there's anything wrong with the installer, but given I got an uncommon "Windows SmartScreen Can't Be Reached Right Now" error after chrome was writing the completed download. I'm going to try taking ownership of the installers and the copied x3 directories to see if that helps.

[dizzy]

LU is incompatible with the Bonus Pack so as long as that's installed you don't really have a vanilla/clean install to install LU on. I do not use Steam but I think the Bonus Pack is handled as a DLC by Steam, so go into the DLC settings of X3 Albion Prelude and disable the Bonus Pack DLC from there?

[Tiberseptim]

Scratch that - it's not you or Steam exactly. It seems to be changes in how Windows 8 and 10 treating certificates and non-trusted/unverified installers in some cases. In at least one attempt to download the main installer I did get an error message from Windows 10 that smartscreen couldn't verify it. The message referenced being unable to reach the server only and not a revoked certificate. It did not reoccur when I re-downloaded so I didn't think much of it.

Here's what I ran into=

Repeating my first attempt on now new once again fresh install, copied first to c:\x3ap\ - gave the same results. Windows prompted me with a security warning about unverified programs on the internet, and I clicked to allow it to install anyway. It was a remarkably undamaged vanilla-like experience when I launched it... because nearly all changes had been reverted to immediately before I ran the installer.

Checking the file properties for the downloaded installers, Smartscreen failed to verify the certificates for the 1.71 and 1.7 installers (it failed with the one I just downloaded too) - but only presented the error connecting message the first time.

I manually installed the certificates to both user and local machine and installed on the same backup I had created from steam earlier - but dropping all the Litcube installers into the c:\games\x3ap\ directory with the nosteam version of the 3.1 exe. Also selected the entire directory and marked it, and contents, as not read only (toggled read only on then off, applied to all). This time the installers all ran as they were supposed - including clearing out the PCK files that steam had downloaded for the bonus pack. Doesn't look like they were baked into the cat/dat file - or at least I hope not.

Anyways that's what did it for me - stripping the write protection from files pulled out or copied form the steam installation directory; manually installing the certificates, and running the installer from the destination directory one more step removed from the base drive directory. Usually just agreeing to elevate permissions deals with all that, but I guess not after the last windows update.

Not sure why the .pck files are there from the start though. It looks like they still have to be activated with the plugin manager if you do not select them in the steam store (I never have, they still show as available for free for me). The installer- with the certificate installed - cleans them out just fine. I'll double check though if that would help. I have the vanilla steam installation still in the steamapps directory, I can just launch it and see if the scripts show in the script editor. When they're in .pck format they're not actually being loaded until they're baked into the cat/dat files I thought right?

Edit: I don't see any of the bonuspack scripts loaded in the script editor and no .pck files left after installing the litcube mod. I did double check that adding them in the steam store did make them finally show up in my library -and then I can just remove them. I've always installed scripts and libraries manually preferring the latest versions so I either used the bonuspack installer from egosoft in the past or dragged and dropped myself. Though it seems all my troubles were the permissions issue reverting the install entirely. Heck the pck would have just been left there because windows reverted the folder anyways.

[Crellion]

I think my game is in some way broken.

OK first I am an arsse for making a separate thread for this question below. Appologies please reply here preferably:

It started fine with the usual loot drops (the odd missile and even a gun or two) but then after approximately 8 hours ALL loot drops in system stopped. No matter if I kill or nps kill there is no loot dropped in any fight I participate in no matter how many ships destroyed. There is still loot being dropped OS in npc fights.

Now as LU is loot oriented this is a big dent in my game. I understand no one can remotely check my install and run diagnostics (lol) I am just hoping this may be a recurring problem with others having identified the cause. Ty Ty

Rings a bell to anyone? Thank you folks.

Note: There is a slight blemish in my clean install (done the day before I d/l LU) - ejfindwares. Nothing else at all.


Second question can someone clarify how to use chaff and map new hotkeys etc? Seems I cant remember for the life of me where we did this from.

Finally a question about mobile mining: Is the speed influenced by the amount of laser (OS or IS) or 1 or 6 las0rs its the same?

[Zaitsev]

Second question can someone clarify how to use chaff and map new hotkeys etc? Seems I cant remember for the life of me where we did this from.

ESC -> Controls -> Interface (I think). Scroll down, and you should see all the functions you can assign hotkeys to at the bottom.

Finally a question about mobile mining: Is the speed influenced by the amount of laser (OS or IS) or 1 or 6 las0rs its the same?

More mobile drilling systems = faster mining, i.e. 6 lasers are 6 times faster than 1. Due to this I tend to prefer M3 miners, as they can mount up to 8 mining lasers.

[Crellion]

Thnx. Do you home base them at a TL or something? Do they automatically empty there with transporter etc?

[Zaitsev]

Thnx. Do you home base them at a TL or something? Do they automatically empty there with transporter etc?

Yeah, I homebase them at a TL, which then acts like a mobile mining outpost. I've never seen the need for a transporter since they land, drop their cargo and return to work fairly quickly, but then again I've never run a mining operation that was big enough to justify the need for a transporter.

[mcaule]

Thnx. Do you home base them at a TL or something? Do they automatically empty there with transporter etc?

Yeah, I homebase them at a TL, which then acts like a mobile mining outpost. I've never seen the need for a transporter since they land, drop their cargo and return to work fairly quickly, but then again I've never run a mining operation that was big enough to justify the need for a transporter.

A suggestion:
Order a TL to follow one of your M3 miners, that way they drop cargo super fast. I have a ~30 M3 miners going in one group, a TL follows them and they drop cargo super fast. A TS couriers cargo from TL to my HQ to sell minerals etc.

[Litcube]

That is not a good idea. The TL is large and tends to get stuck in asteroid fields.

Keep it away from the field ~8km.

[mcaule]

That is not a good idea. The TL is large and tends to get stuck in asteroid fields.

Keep it away from the field ~8km.

If you're OOS it's ok.

[OneOfMany]

OMG, have you ever accidentally jumped into your current mining sector and watched the shit storm as all 90 of your M5 miners have there collisions switched back on. I lost over 30 last time that happened and all within 15 seconds.

There should be a pseudo warning about going into areas full of miners.

This should not be confused with going into an area full of minors, the latter would see you doing some serious prison time.