[MOD TC/AP] Combat Mod 4 - v4.16 17/06/13 - AP 3.0 Compatibility

Eriodas · Post by **Eriodas** » Sat, 2. Jun 12, 03:19

Paul i cannot thank you enough, you're one of the few guys who are making this (old) game the best space combat sim ever. Of course my thanks also for the egosoft team for making a game that has this level of customization.

Dunamis · Post by **Dunamis** » Mon, 11. Jun 12, 22:50

Hey, I'm new X3TC modding. I just want to make one of these addons is functioning properly.

Weapons Dealers. I know I've got it installed, because they show up in the spawnable stations cheat list. However, none of them have appeared anywhere in Argon space. I know theyre suppossed to be in random sectors on init, so is this a reasonable possibility, or did i fudge something?

paulwheeler · Post by **paulwheeler** » Mon, 11. Jun 12, 23:12

If youre sure all the scripts were copied into the scripts folder, then it should all be ok. The only way to tell for sure is to find one or write a small script to tell you how many exist in the universe.

IIRC there should be two in Argon space, two in Split space, two in Paranid space and one in Terran space.

Dunamis · Post by **Dunamis** » Tue, 12. Jun 12, 04:36

Hmm. Well, since I got it working the first time I loaded it, and then started a new game and couldnt find them, I'm going to go ahead and guess user error. Thanks for the help

paulwheeler · Post by **paulwheeler** » Tue, 12. Jun 12, 09:45

Check that they are switched on. Look at the AL plugin settings.

Cyborg11 · Post by **Cyborg11** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 14:54

Can I use Combat Mod 4 with XRM or is CMod 4 included?

paulwheeler · Post by **paulwheeler** » Sun, 12. Aug 12, 15:06

Do not try and install the cmod4 with the xrm - it will break the xrm.

There is no need anyway. The cmod4 was used as a base for the xrm so most of it is still present in the xrm.

Essentially, the xrm supercedes the cmod4.

-XeNoN- · Post by **-XeNoN-** » Mon, 3. Dec 12, 21:20

Sorry if this was asked before, is this compatible with the XTRA SHippack By Cadius?

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Mon, 6. May 13, 12:25

Paul will this need an update for X3AP v3.0 ( now at RC2 ) ? ( or rather, would you be willing to )

I was just having a look at some of the fixes in the L3 topic and a couple of them got me wondering.

I know you include CMOD4 in XRM .. But my machines cannot cope with XRM ( as brilliant as it is, I know there has been a huge amount of work gone into that, I also understand the logistical nightmare upkeeping the modularity of SRM which has now been dropped, and I really wish I could run XRM instead ) ..

.. so I need to go back to just AP compatible performance enhancers, which Ulfius CMOD on its own always has been a major ingredient of ( well for me it was always a major ingredient for TC and X3 Reunion anyway in its CMOD3 incarnation, I am new to the AP setup ).

The only mods I wish to run with AP are the usual array of performance enhancers Minimax - Includes them all these days

Reworked ship models by Fire Giant for better performance Model Performance Update

Along with Shimrods Smart Turrets ( less heavy than Mars )

and gnasirators new MK3 Improvement Reloaded

CMOD4 would be the icing on the cake for performance which it has always been good at ( from Ulfius original goals description "three specific and very important goals in mind, namely: Gameplay, Performance and Fun." ), but I understand if this has now gone by the wayside as an individual mod.

Edit: I also realise your priority will be on making XRM compatible with 3.0 in any case first, as that has already been appended with notes as to its incompatability with the upcoming AP patch.

Edit2: I have also had a good read of your XRM and Performance. I know my system very well, including details like running windows 7 in classic mode so that it does not grab a chunk of VRAM ( not so important for X but every little helps ), putting game executables in Microsoft Security Essentials exclude list etc, my hard drive access led is only active when I know it should be because I have a very clean system without the usual third party heap of background processes going on that people allow by default - And drew the conclusion that XRM is not for me, which is why I wonder if CMOD is still being supported, or has it become inseparable from XRM.

paulwheeler · Post by **paulwheeler** » Mon, 6. May 13, 14:38

I will have to look at what is changing in 3.0. I believe it is only the tships addon that will need updating rather than the base combat mod, but i will certainly look at it.

Of course, getting the xrm compatibility done is my priority, so once that's complete, remind me about the cmod.

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Mon, 6. May 13, 14:52

Many thanks, I think I need a new bookmark folder for X3AP, so much has changed here and mixed up with TC .. Ref' reminder : Will do

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Fri, 24. May 13, 17:42

alt3rn1ty wrote: .. Ref' reminder : Will do

<Tentatively pokes his nose around the corner>

Too soon ?

-------------

One question for when you get time to review this : Does Combat mod 4 include any of that old huge list of Draffut fixes, or was that purely incorporated in SRM

I am so out of date I do not even know if any of Draffuts fixes need apply these days with AP 3.0, but I presume so because they are still in XRM ( or given a mention somewhere in the documentation I think I have read recently )

Probably out of scope / off topic for Combat Mod, if so is there a separate Draffut mod for AP .. Or did that stop once SRM incorporated it. In which case those fixes would only be available now in your work with XRM.

paulwheeler · Post by **paulwheeler** » Fri, 24. May 13, 20:39

Thanks for the reminder -

As suspected, its just the tships addon that needs to be updated - it shouldn't be too much of a drama to make this 3.0 compatible. Ill try and sort it for early in the week.

The Draffut fixes are not in the cmod4, but the cmod4 is compatible with draffut's mod - just make sure the cmod is at a higher cat/dat. I think the majority of Draffut's fixes were incorporated into vanilla AP.

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Fri, 24. May 13, 23:37

paulwheeler wrote:As suspected, its just the tships addon that needs to be updated - it shouldn't be too much of a drama to make this 3.0 compatible. Ill try and sort it for early in the week.

Good news, and thank you for considering updating this.

I am finding AP v3.0 slightly better in performance than TC ever was on this machine .. I gave XRM a retrial soon after 1.29 release, and tested various sectors and scenarios, unfortunately its just a little too much to be comfortable with ( I need a new machine but its not going to be justifiable / affordable for a few years yet, I will be on I7 when everyone else has quantum computers no doubt, but still happily playing X ).

The Draffut fixes are not in the cmod4, but the cmod4 is compatible with draffut's mod - just make sure the cmod is at a higher cat/dat. I think the majority of Draffut's fixes were incorporated into vanilla AP.

If Draffuts fixes are included in vanilla that would not surprise me, I need to do more reading throughout L3, but have noticed he has been quite active in there .. Will catch up eventually

Edit: Found it - Last edit in 2010, and at that time most of them were included in the official TC patch 2.7 .. A lot of water under the bridge since then and AP patches, I cant imagine its needed anymore.

Right now though looking forward to doing Shady Business etc with CMOD4

... And exploring more of doubleshadows X3 Editor 2 - Baby steps stage though at the moment.

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Sat, 15. Jun 13, 05:00

paulwheeler wrote:~Ill try and sort it for early in the week.~

I'm guessing XRM update fallout is taking priority, or RL which is far more important .. Alt' goes back to the sedentary Xlife of trading / building meanwhile.

paulwheeler · Post by **paulwheeler** » Mon, 17. Jun 13, 09:41

No - I just completely forgot

I'll sort it ASAP.

paulwheeler · Post by **paulwheeler** » Mon, 17. Jun 13, 10:34

UPDATE RELEASED - V4.16
-----------------------------------

This update adds AP v3.0 compatibility.

TC users do not need to install this update.

COMPONENTS THAT REQUIRE UPDATING:

The core CMOD4
The full Factory Pack
EMR/FPD Compatibility Pack

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Mon, 17. Jun 13, 17:58

Holy cow that was quick from time of discovery you forgot to time of upload = Shooting from the hip mods

<Searches for a bouncy pouncy tiggr emote and fails> Thank you

Pierre'70 · Post by **Pierre'70** » Tue, 18. Jun 13, 12:04

I'm really interested to know how people are using this with AP. I'm (extremely reluctantly) considering giving up XRM due to performance issues, so what mods go well with this on AP? Obviously SRM would be the natural companion but it's not compatible with AP. Does anyone have any suggestions for other mods/scripts that complement CMOD on AP?

alt3rn1ty · Post by **alt3rn1ty** » Tue, 18. Jun 13, 16:50

Yes I was the same, XRM will be on my next machine when I can justify affording one just for my gaming pleasure ..

Meanwhile, obviously AP3.0 is supported, and I believe just about anything in the first post ( Paul went through what needed to be changed )

Although I am not sure about anything SRM related ( note Paul has dropped support for anything SRM related because the modularity was becoming too much of a responsibility to update / stay on top of )

MARS may need an updated T file to be compatible with this update to CMOD4 ( which is not Pauls responsibility really ) .. I am not using MARS ( though I did briefly try it out again prior to installing the new CMOD4 ) .. These days ( and because of wanting to streamline performance .. ) I go with the following ..

And just an asside to note for performance, AP 3.0 is better at performance with just the vanilla game than any of its predecessors in the X series ( especially on my laptop if I run it in Window mode http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php? ... 24#4049124 )

1. CMOD4.16

2. You can use the official bonus pack with this

3. Graxters Remove Rocks ( Gets rid of the small asteroids throughout the game which are no value for mining and just visual fluff really )

4. Halo's Low Poly Roids ( But if you dont have the Plugin Manager, or prefer installing an archive instead of an SPK - Have a look in the first post there for "edit: added .zip archive" .. It contains the medium version cat / dat pair which you can install as a fake patch, which I found is ample reduction of Poly's to help improve performance on a core 2 duo machine )

5. Shimrods Smart Turrets Which if you are being careful of using the CPU cycles for performance is a very good substitute for MARS, and it will not need an updated T File ( See the posts starting with this one

6. On the subject of Traders .. Hmm, its getting a bit grey in this area. Lucikes scripts which are famously good and very detailled / complex in their capabilities at this time need updating I think for AP 3.0. Gnasirators MK3 Improvement Reloaded are very good .. But we are talking about improved performance and I believe another of Shimrods mods OK Traders is not only improving on vanilla ST and UT traders behaviour, but is also really well developed in its scripting performance. I am also using MK3 Improvement Reloaded, but I have the feeling Shimrods OK Traders will take over all my traders very soon.

I have a few more mods, but on the performance considerations the above are about it at the moment for AP 3.0

Oh actually one more thing, which may help in a small way ... But to be honest personally I use this purely for aesthetics Soleks Gate Pack - I'm using variation 6 because IMHO it looks the part, ancient / awesome / does not stand out so much that it makes gates easier to find .. and does not have bits sticking out you can fly through with collision switched off ( vanilla gates were changed by egosoft at one time to prevent crashes into the bits that stick out, but they were unwilling to chop those bits off the model because they liked the look of them, even though flying through solid objects kind of kills emersion ) .. And ( I think .. but not sure ) its maybe less poly than the vanilla game gates.
Solek has done more updated gates since, which are closer to vanilla with those sticking out bits removed here

The only thing missing for AP 3.0 which there is not an update to currently on the performance front is a mod to reduce the amount of fluff ships in the Xverse - No Civilians mod
I tried doing one based on Jaga Telesins X3 Unleashed .. But so far failing to save anything useful, I dont know what I am doing wrong but seriously messing up what apparently should be a simple job on jobs

Schabernack did a combination of a lot of the above, but various parts of it now need updating to AP 3.0.
And also mentioned by me in that topic is a heap of Ship Models which had poly reduction by Fire Giant, and hosted by Lucike, but again this is something that needs updated for AP 3.0 .. So bookmark em for future reference - Model Performance Update ( You may need to use google translate on the same url )

Thats about all I can think of on the performance front, except maybe SSwamp_Troopers X3TC Performance Upgrade ( X3 Reunion shaders, which worked in X3TC and so should be okay with AP .. But I never could discern any noticeable difference these made in TC, so have not used them in AP )