Combat Mod 3 (Official Topic)

[Jackrum]

I propose: Fluffy Dice.

Cargobay contaiins: 75t Fluffy Dice.

I've settled on renaming them 'Scrap' for now, seems kinda appropriate. You shouldn't be seeing any instances of these unless you have save-games from beta5 or earlier, where you'll still encounter them occasionally on ships spawned before the fix, they wont equip them however. If any get dropped in cargo pods you can pretend like you're salvaging scrap and sell at the nearest trading station or equipment dock.


Supporting ES forums:
Ok guys, I guess an explanation is needed here. I'm sorry I haven't given the ES forums the attention it needs with Cmod over the past months. As my post count and join date suggest, I've been Inactive here for years and sadly didn't know just how many people were asking after Cmod3 here, I also had no clue it was going to get so popular, and for one person it's kinda difficult to manage a mod after it reaches a certain level of interest. Some say that I chose not to post any Cmod3 info/support here because I'm A) trying to make people join the TXU community in order to post questions and B) too lazy to support my own work.

It's fair enough, I can see why people might think that, but is not true. TXU is simply my home base and has been for years because I made a lot of friends there, there's no secret scheme to get people to join. The forums are open and viewable for the public just like here. As for supporting this mod in multiple threads and forums, it's not a matter of being too lazy, rather the opposite - of finding enough time. The CMod3 thread over at TXU currently gets about 10,000 hits per month and about 3-10 posts per day that need individual attention. Until recently I was developing, supporting, updating and patching this by myself while also working with the Xtm team at the same time.

SSwamp_trooper stepped in to help when I lost my job over Christmas and my dad had a heart attack, which is why I couldn't be found anywhere for a couple of months. I'm very grateful to him for adding support here and bring my attention to how many people were asking after this mod.

I'm trying not to defend myself too much, all I ask for a is little patience and understanding while I try and keep all these plates spinning. At some point I'll see about adding Cmod3 to the official ES Scripts and modding download library, until then post here and I'll do my best to answer any questions.


Update News - CMod3 V1.01
Version 1.01 changes.

* Size of Ion Shard Railgun Projectile reduced by 60% to lessen dazzle effect on fighters. Recolored white.
* Disabled Alpha PPC weapon now renamed 'Scrap', sell your scrap at trading stations and equipment docks.
* Protoype Starburst Projectile ID fixed.
* Reduced shield damage of Ion shard Railgun by 20% to 1,000 per hit
* Reduced Max range of Ion Shard Railgun to 2.5km so fighter pilots can escape faster.

Some tweaks to the Ion Shard Railgun this time, attacking a Xenon P head on in anything less than a corvette was too scary even for me. The trick is to get behind them - if you live that long. ISR is still a scary weapon but shouldn't blind you nearly as much or wipe out your shields as quickly, you also now have a fair chance to put at least 2.5km distance between yourself and a relentless ISR barrage before your shields give out.

Protip: As always the best way to counter anti fighter weaponry is to overwhelm it with swarms of stuff, drones, wasps, anything that draws fire. Flying a lone fighter without support against anti-fighter/flak weapons is asking for a a world of hurt, use alternative strategies.

The Old buggy Alpha PPC is now renamed "Scrap", both officially and ingame. If you still have these in your inventory please sell them at equipment docks or trading sdtations as I'll make a working Alpha PPC conversion available soon.

UPDATING - will upload after 5pm GMT.
V1.01 now available:
http://www.eutharan.com/ulfius/CMOD_3/C ... 0v1.01.spk

Ulfius.[/url]

[Gazz]

Is there are way to positively identify "CMOD installed" for a script?

The only way to guarantee a positive ID is when CMOD actually checks for itself.

A simple setup script like

Code: Select all

05 $Ret.Val = [TRUE]

10 $Range = get range of laser Gauss
20 skip if $Range > 6000
30 $Ret.Val = null
40 $Range = get range of laser PPC
50 skip if $Range > 7000
60 $Ret.Val = null
...

90 if $Ret.Val
95 (get CMOD Version)
100 set gobal variable "CMOD.INSTALLED" to $CMOD.Version
110 else
120 set gobal variable "CMOD.INSTALLED" to null
130  end

This way a script checking the global var receives either $CMOD.Version if it's installed or null if not.
No possibly harmful calling of a nonexistant script.

Unlike a "static" global variable, this one can never stick around after the mod has been uninstalled. It's always current and accurate.

Bullet speed, damage, and range of lasers are very easy to check...

[Jackrum]

Thanks Gazz, thats pretty cool. I have absolutely no experience with scripts but I can see that'd be handy. I'll see about how to incorporate something like that in later patches./

[Gazz]

I remember there being an "XTM.ACTIVE" (or was it installed?) global var for scripts to detect XTM.
Uninstalling was not an option so a static GV was perfectly fine there.

CMOD can be uninstalled, though, since it only messes with the laser data, leaving the file structure and indices intact.
So the only user-proof way is a dynamic check on every load. =)
You don't have to check all lasers, of course - just enough to be certain.

[X2-Eliah]

Can't this check be called by the user instead of auto-running at every loading? Otherwise it may become rather cumbersome if it automatically sends you messages or fills your personal log..

[Jackrum]

There's an easy way to check it';s working, the Encyclopedia reports Range and rate of fire correctly despite gettig damage stats totally wrong. A simple check to see cmod is working is to open the encyclopedia and check if HEPT has a fire rate of 150rpm and a range of 2.4km, or like you say, to see if gauss has a 9km range.

Update:
The next versions up btw-
Link to Cmod3 V1.01 download if anyone missed it:
http://www.eutharan.com/ulfius/CMOD_3/C ... 20v1.0.spk

[brekehan]

Update:
The next versions up btw-
Link to Cmod3 V1.01 download if anyone missed it:
http://www.eutharan.com/ulfius/CMOD_3/C ... 20v1.0.spk

Shouldn't the filename be version 1.01, if it is version 1.01?

[DJSfinx]

I guess this requires another update of the weapon properties for MARS? I don't want to have ISR's shooting at thin air

EDIT: Correct download link is posted at XUniverse:

http://www.eutharan.com/ulfius/CMOD_3/C ... 0v1.01.spk

[Jackrum]

Thanks for spotting DJSfinx, I accidentally copied the wrong link.

v1.01
http://www.eutharan.com/ulfius/CMOD_3/C ... 0v1.01.spk


- Ulfius

[mr.WHO]

Could someone tell me what "Signal Boost" additional plugin add to the game?

[AntoineS]

Here it is.

Plugin - Signal Boost
This mod will increase the distance of many range limited elements. have decided against increasing ship sensor range as the range of triplex is already fairly high, increasing any further would cheapen the 'fog of war' element - although you can always drop an adv. satellite if you want to scope out your surroundings, that's called strategy.
Heres the feature list:
- Satellites get roughly 1.7x Boost to sensor range.
- Docking computer locks on at 5km, not 4
- Freight Scanner range increased to about 10km
- Comms Range increased from 25km to 40km
- Station sensors slightly better than triplex.
- Lasertowers fitted with duplex scanners.
- Transporter range increased to 10km.

This is the main CMOD site http://www.thexuniverse.com/forum/showt ... hp?t=13553

regards,
Antoine

[Jackrum]

Thankyou AntioneS.

The signal boost generally boosts the range of stuff, most importantly doubles comms, freightscan and transporter device range. Is a handy little mod and the textfile is easy to tweak by hand if you want to make your own changes.

[SS_T]

Sorry for not updating the OP in a while, haven't been online recently.

updated the main install links and mirrors:

Main: Combat Mod 3 - Full v1.01 (TC v2.0)
Mirror: Combat Mod 3 - Full v1.01 (TC v2.0) (hosted by the X3TC PUI)

[bounty_hunter66]

There are 39 weapons in the game....

It would be so nice if someone would make some race diversity regarding weapons....Each race with its own weapon (anti capital, anti fighter, fighter vs fighter) and each with diferent beam color (argon blue, boron green, split red).

Cmon....its not like the Argons (for example) created the PPC and then share it with the whole universe....even with the Xenons....and Split

Terrans allready have their own weapons that no other race has. Why not other races have their own stuff?

[semiliterate]

There are 39 weapons in the game....

It would be so nice if someone would make some race diversity regarding weapons....Each race with its own weapon (anti capital, anti fighter, fighter vs fighter) and each with diferent beam color (argon blue, boron green, split red).

Cmon....its not like the Argons (for example) created the PPC and then share it with the whole universe....even with the Xenons....and Split

Terrans allready have their own weapons that no other race has. Why not other races have their own stuff?

because Gazz didn't port his Racial Laser mod over.

[Gazz]

Thanks Gazz, thats pretty cool. I have absolutely no experience with scripts but I can see that'd be handy. I'll see about how to incorporate something like that in later patches./

As for displaying (to scripts) if CMOD is currently installed...

I found a better way for this and used it in the Missile Defense Mk2 script.

It always returns a correct value and even checks out [FALSE] if the responsible setup script is deleted along with the mod.
Usually, deleted scripts don't do things like that. =)

In electronics you'd call that a live zero signal which can differentiate between a broken wire and zero volts. (that's what the cool people use)

[Terradoct]

Gauss Cannon is now long range anti-fighter and anti-capital. It's travel speed is way to high, even at short range fighters still get hit. Attacking M2 armed with gauss cannon with fighters is now throw money.

[Locksley]

Gauss Cannon is now long range anti-fighter and anti-capital. It's travel speed is way to high, even at short range fighters still get hit. Attacking M2 armed with gauss cannon with fighters is now throw money.

Code: Select all

Name	      R.p.m.	Shield	Hull	Speed	Lifespan	Range	Shield/m	Hull/m
Gauss Cannon	20	  20 000	3500	6 000	  1,5	   9 000	400 000	 70 000

But how to adjust to make as efficient? Say 1500 in speed, then you need alot longer lifespan to get the range about the same. Maybe lessen the range to 6000-8000, R.p.m to 17 and speed to 1000-1500 (adjust lifespan to fit)?

Cheers!

[Jackrum]

CMOD3 News

No Betty
Im afraid the silent shipboard computer plugin is a bust, I tried everything I could think of in the xml files without any good results. So it's being removed from the future projects, sorry for any disappointment this causes.

Cmod3 V1.02 ***Release on Monday 04/05/09***

Changes:

* New weapon: 'Gamma PPC', (Weapon ID: SS_LASER_CIG1, Index: 39) this weapon has *Identical* stats to normal 'PPC'
* Spawned Capital ships will use Gamma PPC where possible.

Info:
There is still room for improvement with this mod, mainly there is an opportunity to fix the backwards weapon load-out for spawned computer controlled capital ships, which should really be using the powerful PPC wherever possible.

Currently the system for adding weapons to spawning ships uses the Index numbers of weapons in Tlasers to decide which is the most powerful gun, the higher the Index number the better the weapon. This used to work back in X3 reunion when weapons were indexed properly by their size lightest to heaviest, but with X3 TC this index is now all over the place, Gauss Cannons and Incendiary Bomb Launchers are indexed higher than PPC, for example, which is why most ships use IBL all the time. To fix this v1.02 will add a duplicate PPC at the end of the tlasers list, thus making it the highest priority and the weapon of choice wherever possible for spawned A.I. ships. IBl and Gauss will only be equipped in rare cases or where it is not possible to equip PPC.

The bad news is that from v1.02 onwards you you probably won't be able to uninstall CMOD3 and keep working save-games saved in this version, this is because duplicate PPC will not be removed by uninstalling and, without any tlaser data will cause a crash. To workaround this I'll create a dummy CMOD3 file that includes a reference to the PPC, so you can revert your saves to a normal game.

For those who want to catch up on the technical side of things, important info on weapon priorities can be found in this post here: http://www.thexuniverse.com/forum/showp ... tcount=459

Improved Ships 3.2 ***Release on Monday 04/05/09***
In Vanilla X3 some ships had uneven turrets, this was carried over in the improved ships mod. I'll fix this in the next version. thjanks to Dopp for the list. Following ships are Fixed.

* Argon Colossus
* Yaki Hoshi
* Yaki Shuri
* Paranid Agamemnon
* Pirate Galleon

Afaik, the hauler variants mentioned are not used by the game, I'll fix them also for sake of completeness, however.

[Ap0kalyps]

Just a few thoughts..


I've found that FAA has basically turned to crap as far as fighter defence goes. In my experience, it hardly ever hits anymore. I've had L's cruising behind me with 12 FAA guns madly firing their way, and being entirely unable to kill it. I have to turn around and bring IBL turrets to bear, and they have much better luck.

ISR seems to do the job a lot better (albeit slower than original FAA, but that is expected due to the whole pace of the game changing) and I haven't aqquired any CFA to try yet, but this leaves me wondering what the intended use for the FAA now is...

I still have to have a go with the standard fighter weapons in turrets to see how they manage fighter defence also (similarly to PRG did quite well in vanilla if flak wasn't available).

Also, to make the GC more balanced towards anti-cap and less anti-fighter, can't you simply increase the damage considerably and reduce the firing rate to maintain the same dps?

Finally, I've had a bit of an issue with capped ships having freight space taken up, with no cargo on them. eg capped a tyr with ~2k/7k cargo space taken, after I've taken all the equipment off it. Seems to happen to some extent with pretty much everything I cap. I added this mod plus some complex construction related modes at the same time, it might be them causing it, but I want to ask if anyone else has had a simmilar issue with this mod.

Edit: hit submit instead of preview...