[MOD-TC]Ship Rebalance Mod:Continued v1.10b (27/6/11): Now Discontinued...

[paulwheeler]

The new prototype MM6s are coming along nicely.

You'll be getting:

Heavy Dragon Prototype
Advanced Heavy Nemesis
Enhanced Heavy Hydra
Advanced Heavy Osprey

They will appear for sale in the advanced shipyard addon pack.

I also intend to get trails done for the Argon and Paranid for the next update.

[paulwheeler]

Regarding the Ship Systems Rebalance Pack. This will alter the TWareT file. For this reason I will be merging in the EMP mod as well to keep the SRM as compatible with other mods as possible. So if you run any mods that require the EMP, don't worry.

Also as TWareT is being changed in the 2.6 update this won't be available till after the update is released.

The pack will also change the globals.txt file which is also altered in 2.6. On that note I was thinking about also including extended storage space on equipment docks and the hub which is done through changing the globals.txt file. I assume everyone is happy with this?

[djrygar]

few days ago I was asking about 'readtexts' on Titan
well, I guess it is definitelly connected to SRM

Scripts like Improved Races and MIlitary Mase Response Revamp use ship renaming, for example "Argon Response Titan" or "Teladi Rearguard Osprey" etc

they are reading ships class name using [THIS]->get ware type code of object

this method for some reason returns 'readtext17-xxxx' string on many ships. I fired up X3 Editor2 and checked ('strings in memory' function) if those string exist at all, and it seems that Editor sees them normally (except, for example Condor is named as 'MK1 Condor')

Of course normally spawned ships have usual names, just the ones renamed using mentioned method have readtexts. Any ideas?

of course I do have EMP, if that changes something.

[paulwheeler]

I run both improved races and the military base response revamp and ive had no problems.

The srm does not touch anything that would affect names of vanilla ships. Are you running the x2 ships pack?

The emp should currently be installed to a higher cat no than the srm .

[paulwheeler]

Actually I've just had a thought of what might be causing the readtext errors.

The x2 ship entries are in the srm tships. However if you don't install the x2 pack they will not have their correct names, just readtext. The military base response revamp however, spawns any fighter of the correct race, so perhaps it is trying to spawn an x2 ship and it appears as a readtext error. This should stop as soon as you install the x2 pack.

I had hoped that since running the srm without the x2 pack means all you have are the tships entries for the x2 ships and no models, scene files etc. scripts would not be able to spawn them. Perhaps this isn't the case.

The only way around this without having multiple versions of tships, is to fully merge the x2 pack with the main mod. I can still leave the x2 shipyard spawning as a separate pack.

Are you running the x2 pack? Would people mind if the x2 pack was fully merged?

[Gavrushka]

I think the X2 pack should be fully merged - I doubt there will be any dissenting voices on that.

Can I make a suggestion on the Mistral? - It takes 8 gun mounts across 4 turrets yet has pointless laser bank and recharge - Would it make more sense to either restrict the turrets to ammo based weapons, or up the laser energy and recharge (personally I'd say ammo based weapons).

I'm very interested to see how you've gone with the New enhanced/prototype m6s - It is a big step from an m6 to and m7, and it'll be good to see how they fit in.

[OOZ662]

Merging mods isn't a problem so long as they can still be selective...and Jobs will likely make that difficult since it spawns ships that fits wide criteria. I would assume that it has been working like you'd hoped (only spawning working ships) while that script causes malfunctions.

So, I'd do some testing if I were you to make sure that Jobs doesn't automatically spawn X2 ships after the merge.

Speaking of Jobs, my Reduced Civilians for SRM mods are compatible with this mod as far as I can tell. I'll edit the post to reflect it.

[djrygar]

perhaps it is trying to spawn an x2 ship and it appears as a readtext error. This should stop as soon as you install the x2 pack.

are those MK1 variants (like MK1 Condor) new ships you introduced?
then probably it may be reason..

[paulwheeler]

I think I have no choice but to fully merge the X2 pack. I don't think vanilla jobs will spawn X2 ships. But I can't see anyway of stopping other scripts from spawning them other than having two versions of tships - not a good idea me thinks...

So I'll merge the X2 ships into the main SRM for the next release. I'll leave the X2 shipyards as an optional pack though.

I've tried to keep the new MM6 varients at the same kind of level as the HCP currently is. Some are faster than their vanilla counterparts, some have more shields etc.

[djrygar]

I don't really see why it would be hard to have 2 tships. It's matter of few minutes to delete redutant MK1 versions from SRM tships

Mk1 have serious impact on gameplay when using IR/MBR/RFF and similar

They significantly cripple race's ability to defend itself against invasion (because, lets say, Titan MK1 is just bit better M7). Currently even regular Titan will loose fight against Khaak Destroyer or Xenon K in 1v1 battle. Titan MK1 is just not in the same league. But for scripts it is just M2 class ship and will be built.

When scripts evaluate threat to build response forces, they think like this:
'i have M1 + M2 incursion, I need similar force to defend". So it builds M1 + M2, but these are Mk1 variants.

This is bad direction.

I can delete Mk1 entries myself, because I know what I am doing, but many people will not. SRM's base idea was to IMPROVE gameplay/balancing, what you are going to do is quite the opposite.

[OOZ662]

I don't really see why it would be hard to have 2 tships. It's matter of few minutes to delete redutant MK1 versions from SRM tships

Because TShips is the bane of existence for this mod. It's already rather painful keeping track of changes to the TFiles, much less twice in the one that has the most significant impact (and ability to break) the game...

[djrygar]

not really.

You have to maintain just ONE tships. (SRM + X2)
then strip SRM one from X2 ships - I just did that - it took me 2 minutes.

[paulwheeler]

I have been using the x2 pack with improved races and the military base responce revamp and trust me, the x2 ships are very rarely spawned. I've never seen ir spawn one and mbr only occasionally spawns them. I think I've only seen a mk1 capital ship once. Besides you can always up the rearguard settings of the mbr if the races are struggling.

I really don't want to keep track of two tships, not to mentioned that its not as simple as removing the entries. In order to enable the x2 pack to be added later you'd have to put placeholders in.

Anyway, I've merged the x2 mod now. I've also changed the x2 shipyard pack so that it moves the decommissioned shipyards away from the centre of the sectors. I will try and release all this tomorrow.

You can simply change the race entry in tships yourself if you want to stop them spawning. Ill post instructions on how to do this.

[Gavrushka]

I look forward to the update when it is released. - As this will merge all the ships into the SRM mod, should I delete the X2 mod on release? (As the shipyards don't appear in my game due to 2.6 yes?)

[paulwheeler]

Having checked out 2.6 I don't see any reason why the shipyards shouldn't appear. The only reason they wouldn't is if your save game was started with a modded tfactories, such as the one that used to be in Killerogs main X2 callback mod.

Having looked further into 2.6, the TwareT changes are only to include a fix that was already in the bug fix, so thats no issue. The only file that really conflicts is materials, which conflicts with the trails pack. This is really simple to sort out though. So really running the 2.6 beta should only really affect the trails pack and nothing else.

I suggest you try the shipyard pack again once I release the new version.

Yes you will have to remove the existing cat/dat for the X2 pack. The new version of the pack will only have a mission director file and thats it.

[djrygar]

I have been using the x2 pack with improved races and the military base responce revamp and trust me

I am coding Improved races and I know how they are spawned

there are at leas 50% of MK1 ships in my current savegame

for me Mk1's are crap, I dont want them in my game. If you decided to merge it, thats fine, I will just stick with older versions of SRM

[Gavrushka]

Now I am confused why I don't have Shipyards but do have ships available via Cycrows cheat package. - I don't have anything other mods that would cause issues (hopefully it will resolve in the next version then.)

[paulwheeler]

Well I don't think I have any choice but to merge the X2 ships to stop these readtext errors. As I said its not as simple as deleting the entries if you want to keep everything save game and future update compatible. You have to put placeholders in.

As this is just a hobby and I am trying to keep this as simple as possible I am not going to put out two versions. What I will do is provide clear instructions on how to alter the race of the MK1 ships in Tships so that they no longer spawn for people who are really bothered about them. If you set their race to unknown they should not spawn at all. That way if you change your mind at a later date simply change the race settings back.

(EDIT - I may reconsider this and put an edited tships in the cat/dat for you to simply swap in)

Does IR and MBR take price into account though when using tokens to spawn ships? If so then the MK1s will be balanced as they are much cheaper so you get more ships. I don't know if IR spawns differently to MBR (I only have improved Xenon activated) as MBR hardly spawns any MK1 ships. Just the odd one or two.

I have looked at the Mistrals and they were a bit lacking in the laser department. However I think if I give them ammo based weapons, considering the size of the cargo hold, they will be seriously over-powered. I have upped the laser energy and recharge a little. With the increased price of the Mistral from the last update it should still be balanced and in keeping with the Otas style.

[djrygar]

No, they don't take price/relval into account (at least IR does not)

they just decide to create [HUGE SHIP], then particular class (M1/M2) and then they choose particular type (boreas, titan etc)

token cost is based on class (m1/m2/m3...) with exception of M1, because fighters on board of carrier may or may not be counted as additional cost (that is the case of MBR)

[paulwheeler]

UPDATE RELEASED: V0.68
------------------------------

Major changes:

- Fully merged X2 ships with main SRM to avoid readtext errors with certain scripts.
- Added version of TShips with all X2 ship races set to “unknown” which can be swapped in.
- Increased laser energy and recharge rates on both the Mistral and Mistral superfreighter.
- Added four prototype/advanced heavy M6s so that each of the main races has an equivalent
of the Heavy Centaur Prototype.
- Added the four prototype/advanced heavy M6’s for sale in the advanced shipyard pack.
- Moved the locations of the Decomissioned Shipyards out of the centre of the sectors in the
X2 shipyard pack.


PLEASE NOTE: Installation instructions have changed. The main SRM now has a mission director script which must be placed in the "director" folder of your X3TC install. See the main post for further details.

EDIT - Forgot to mention: If you have previously had the X2 pack installed please delete the cat/dat files for this pack before you upgrade as they are no longer required.



For people who do not wish scripts to spawn X2 Mk1 ships when running the SRM:

I have included a version of the SRM TShips in which all the X2 ships have had their race setting set to unknown. This should stop them from being spawned.

Open the SRM cat using Double Shadow's Mod Manager. Scroll to the bottom of the list. You should see a file called "TShips.pck" and a file called "---TShips - no x2.pck". Rename TShips.pck to "TShipsX2.pck" and the other file to "TShips.pck". Reverse this procedure to put the X2 ships back in.