[Realspace MODS] "STARS" - "XRSGE" - "REM" - various

[MarStrMind]

In XRSGE, did you play-test the Kingdom End quest line mission "Blazing the Trail" where you have to place nav beacons to pin down a safe path? Is it possible to complete?

[Realspace]

It worked in xrsge 7, I played it, no reason not to work in 8 either. I did not change that sector due to the nature of the mission in it. It is also the only highway to exist in xrsge 8. Maybe you have to plot some more beacons to proceed. Did you play it?

[MarStrMind]

I am stuck on that mission at this time, but it is possible I am doing it wrong. It seems the nav beacon placement is different to how you solve it in vanilla.

[MarStrMind]

For some reason, my ships won't use their Travel Drives once they leave something that obscures it, for example an asteroid field or gas clouds. They are moving but it takes them forever to reach a destination - which is a bit... discouraging.

[GaelicVigil]

Apologies if this has been answered before, but I couldn't find anyone else with this problem.

I just downloaded and installed XRSGE on a fresh install of X4. I included the required Stars mod and a few others related to the mod itself. I can't get a New Game to start for anything. The loading screen always freezes at 99%. I've ensured that my install is clean and I've even cleared out my documents files.

Any idea what is wrong? I have the DLCs Split Vendetta, Cradle of Humanity, and Tides of Avarice. Am I supposed to also have Kingdom End and Timelines? Maybe I'm misunderstanding this statement on the mod page to mean I don't need everything:

"Compatible with ALL DLC (Hyperion excluded, for now)"

[Realspace]

Yes, ALL major dlc are required (Hyperion excluded) or the mod will be missing assets and sectors and a lot of stuff..impossible to even start it without the major dlc, that's why it stucks at loading.
It is in the nexus requirements too.

[GaelicVigil]

Yes, ALL major dlc are required (Hyperion excluded) or the mod will be missing assets and sectors and a lot of stuff..impossible to even start it without the major dlc, that's why it stucks at loading.
It is in the nexus requirements too.

Okay, thank you. The language wasn't clear to me.

[ziplock815]

Realspace, I'd like to ask pleeease, could you bring back some removed terran sectors such as Neptune and Mercury and maybe Oort Cloud (could be a part of very distant shw in Neptune sector) and remove Jupiter from Asteroid Field sector? Just for immersion. Also it seems there's not much of a connection between terran sectors and the Commonwealth so autopilot suggests to make a very large circle (through Heretic's End and Boron sectors) just to travel from Frontier Edge to Terran territories.

[MarStrMind]

So. I continued to play for a bit, but my owned ships won't use the Travel Drive once they clear a gas cloud or asteroid field. It only works if I clear all commands, then issue the same command again. Then they will use Travel Drive - but only until the next obstacle is encountered. And yes, I do have the mod installed that removes the travel restrictions - but this mod had no effect even on the ship that I fly myself, so... I consider that mod not to be functional.

All things considered it is work that has great potential, but the fleet not using Travel Drive is something that can't be. I was waiting forever for one trade to be completed, which is where I noticed they are just flying normally - sometimes with boost. Of course, at these vast distances, one trade can potentially take some hours to complete, if at all (when not using TD).

I have since then removed XRSGE and switched to Reemergence. It is not as large, but together with DA's Eco script, it is rock solid, and my fleet uses Travel Drive as intended - even with VRO installed (Reemergence requires VRO).

[Realspace]

So you came here to say you prefer to play another mod instead of this? Very useful...

Just in case for others who want a more buttery experience, the mini-mod to remove travel disrupt has been updated, it works.
Btw I am releasing the jump suite that makes all ships jump to portals so the travel in XRSGE is totally revolutionized.

The jump suite is a huge rework of all movement scripts and player md, it brings a complete new order interface for the player that can be activated when close to the portal but also to command subordinates (the one I've shown in the pics above).

Also the ai npc ships will use the jumpdrive if installed and use the portals as arriving point. This is a perfectly balanced experience in that it does not make ships jump everywhere or limiting to the gates or the beacons or anomalies (I made also that possible with advanced jumpdrive but decide to remove after testing, still too cheaty to my taste). The aim is making the jumping not a cheat for the player nor a cumbersome experience, yes the player has some advantages in being able to use the portal to make also small jumps to a free position (with subordinates).

I've added a small chance that the jumping fails and you end jumping to an anomaly instead of a portal (which is a structure that encompass an anomaly indeed), the chance is minuscule for npc ai while is a bit more for any ship where the player is on board.

The most of code is ready, npc ships will already use it for single/default trading, move to dock (which is involved in most trade ship's actions), move in general, move to fight...I am adding and testing the jump commands with various additional default actions as patrol and balancing the thing (for instance avoiding jump ranges different for subordinates in case of jump to fight/patrol) and I have to add it to the various mining commands.

I've also worked on a routine, i.e. the ship will make multiple jumps if the target is very far, using all the portals it meets along the path. After each jump there is a cooldown phase that is shown by various effects and messages in the cabin, if player is on board, or external effects if not.

Btw after this I will also take a look at the vanilla commands. The travel disrupt is not contemplate4d in the code so they need a lot of patches too. Even if jump drive will change all of this, still I want to make ships use the hyperdrive properly. Nothing is easy in X4 if you alter so much the gameplay and space settings as I did, but doable with time

[MarStrMind]

So you came here to say you prefer to play another mod instead of this? Very useful...

I did mention that, yes. But also I explained that there are (were?) critical issues that did not work - I think that is useful. I will wait for this mod to mature. As I did say: it has massive and great potential, and shows that the engine can be pushed to new limits.

[Realspace]

Here we are: XRSGE The Expanse version 8.2.0

https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/1140

It introduces the full jump to portal experience.

All the ai npc ships use the jumpdrive if installed and use the portals as arriving point. To avoid conflicts, lags and general slowdowns that happen when you add the jumping function inside the general move scripts, I edited the main commands. So ship will jump when one of these orders is given (by player or by ai) or with some internal orders:

- dock to ..
- fly to position or fly to object (station, ship)
- follow..
- various patrol commands, both as default or as direct order (defend)
- various attack orders, attack single ship or in range
- both default routine for trading and mining (these requiring the expert level to jump to several sectors anyway)
- many other internal orders such as the defend leader ship or seek for enemies

I've done two kinds of coding for each file: one for player's subordinates, one for ai npc ships.
While ai orders are melted within the single order, for the player I made the jump part be a separated order that is added before the specific command, so if you e.g. command a ship to dock to a station, two orders will be executed, the first one is a fly to (with jump).

I've added a small chance that the jumping fails and you end jumping to an anomaly instead of a portal (which is a structure that surrounds an anomaly indeed), the chance is minuscule for npc ai while is a bit more for any ship where the player is on board.

I've also worked on a routines, i.e. the ship will make multiple jumps if the target is very far, using all the portals it meets along the path. After each jump there is a cooldown phase that is shown by various effects and messages in the cabin, if player is on board, or external effects if not.

Some orders have simplified routines, for instance the trade/mine routine have a single jump only (no repeat) because these commonly have a range of max 9, so no need to overdo. Of course if you want a ship to go beyond that you can command it to fly, it will perform multiple jumps up to destination (if a portal is closer than destination).

All ships having a jump drive can jump TO a portal, but player and subordinates can also perform FREE jumps FROM a portal.
A little bonus for the player that should not be too cheaty but allows to speed up things. When close to a portal (within 8km) you can activate the special commands (already in previous XRSGE).

New is instead the jumping suite of commands that you can use for your subordinates, by calling them:



This allows to speed thing up because subordinates will use the portal as STARTING point to reach you:
- will jump and follow (but not join squad)
- will jump and join
- will perform an EMERGENCY jump! (very useful..)
- will jump to you before continuing with the current order
- last order is disabled for now

The idea behind the emergency jump is of course that with the jump drive the ship needs a portal to focus a long jump but can make an unfocused very short one to escape. It will indeed jump to a few kms and will do only if the player commands it. This emergency jump will totally drain ship's shields...so be careful.

I wrote the suite before working on the many ai scripts, so some of these are a bit redundant (if you command any ship to follow, it will jump to a portal first if shorter, anyway). But these special commands allow the ships to perform FREE jumps, i.e. to points in space where the player is, so combining the two (first jump to a portal then command to jump to you, you can reunite your followers in short time (with 2 commands). Hopefully not too cheaty..

I've also injected in many commands, and in the general moving command either, the function TRAVEL to END that should make the ships more reactive in using the travel drive up to destination. This latter is to be tested, but in conjunction with jumping that is used so often the travels will be shorter for sure.

Please test the mod for long and explore the whole map before and then report if the jump to portal is not enough. As told, I made many experiments doing also a jump to any anomaly or jump to any gate (no accel) or jump to beacon (vanilla or special custom made) but I think that it is too cheaty and not immersive like portals are. I'd rather prefer to add some more portal around if they are too few.

I am open to new ideas to improve the experience, I thought about: needing a portal as STARTING position either, to perform a jump ,or making the shields be partially drained after each normal jump (not only emergency)..

[ziplock815]

Eager to test the new abilities
One suggestion - if it's not that difficult, you coul make an optional mini mod that allows to jump to any gate. That could speed up things a bit, because until you don't find all of the portals you can't use them. And since the distances are too big it's a real pain in the....
Btw I see you removed abandoned Astrid from Windfall did you? Please don't tell me I must complete the pirate plot again

[Realspace]

Eager to test the new abilities
One suggestion - if it's not that difficult, you coul make an optional mini mod that allows to jump to any gate. That could speed up things a bit, because until you don't find all of the portals you can't use them. And since the distances are too big it's a real pain in the....
Btw I see you removed abandoned Astrid from Windfall did you? Please don't tell me I must complete the pirate plot again

You should not report the glitches you exploit I hate cheats
Actually, I don't remember...maybe yes I moved it more then removing, surely put much further away towards the planet.
Jumping to gates is doable yes, but really bad idea...really bad
..doable but not as mini mod, the number of files I had to edit is very large...I almost gave up I'd have to add the function internally to each of these files.

btw...your made me think that maybe I forgot to update the jumping for player too, i.e. allowing the player to jump TO a portal as the AI does...
seems that for now your pilot knows something you don't, i.e. jumping TO a portal

[Realspace]

I've added the function for the player (at seat, with autopilot) to jump TO a portal as the ai does, not only FROM a portal.
Max sectors: 7
If jumping FROM a portal TO another portal, jump range is much bigger.
So now you the player can reach any part of the galaxy by performing: 1) a free jump to a portal within reach (7 sectors) and 2) performing a free jump FROM that portal to either another portal (much more far away) or to a free zone of space.
version 7.2.1 repacked, I also forgot the lose folders inside so the file was double heavy
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/1140

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In case you missed it, I added a new Reshade setting in STARS mod. I like it more than the other, very desaturated for ships and stations, more vibrant for planets.
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/507

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If you use REM with XRSGE please download the updated version 6.7.6, I changed the slots for jump drive in XL ships.
https://www.nexusmods.com/x4foundations/mods/848

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Edit
I've released another patch for XRSGE 8.2.3
With this patch:
- video notifications are optional, you can thick the box in the command's interface. Default is silent. If you have a large fleet, notifications can be a spam .
- added ship's name to the hud notifications
- removed the bug of player jumping to ANY station (already in patch 8.2.2)

PLEASE DELETE EXT_03 IF YOU HAVE IT IN YOUR MOD

[ziplock815]

How do I remove notifications of npc ships preparing to jump? They just keep spamming again and again...I installed the patch, but have no idea where to disable notifications. You're saying it's in command interface - where is it? Is it on the map?

[Realspace]

How do I remove notifications of npc ships preparing to jump? They just keep spamming again and again...I installed the patch, but have no idea where to disable notifications. You're saying it's in command interface - where is it? Is it on the map?

That should not happen. Notifications are disabled by default. You have to tick the " - notification" inside the order to make them speak. Yes in the map inside the order itself, just open it. But default is silent, unless you are on board of that ship, so only that one's captain speaks as default. Did you DELETE ext_03 files from previous patch??

edit: if you mean the hud (text) notifications, not the spoken video, I am uploading now a patch to make those too optional (and silent by default).
Patch 8.2.4

[ziplock815]

Nope, don't have ext_03 files bc I've completely reinstalled the mod with the patch.
Yes, HUD notifications about ALL npc ships jumping (not my subordinates - I haven't built a fleet yet). Oh, see you uploaded the new patch, thanks. Will try it now.
Edit: notifications're still spamming
They are transforming the logbook into a trash can as well as my pc (when there're a lot of them at a time they cause small lags)

[Realspace]

There is no notification in the logbook 100% sure. Notifications only happen as video comm or hud text, no record in the log. And these are optional, you have to tick the command's sublist. Wtf happens in your pc?
What actions are your ships doing when notify?
Do you mean that ship notifications come from other ships not yours? Oc that also has not to happen, notif. are for player's ships only and only if thicked.

There must be some other mod messing things up in the fly to command. Did you remove any jumping mod?

[ziplock815]

Don't have any idea either, maybe Xenons invaded my PC
Here are some shots:

https://ibb.co/G49MjyCt

https://ibb.co/W4y25H6r

Edit: no, no jumpdrive mods installed