Valkenswaard wrote:Alright here is the translation of the tutorial. Included is how to position the sectors, the links between sectors and the names of the sectors.
Translation (loosely):
You need the 3 following things to start with:
1)Doubleshadows ModManager to extract data from x3 files and recreate x3 files
2) Texteditor (windows build in)
3)calculator
To add sectors to an existing map, you need to edit the file 00749.bod. To create a whole new universe it is best to create a whole new file.
Extract the file 00749.bod with the ModManager from the file 03.dat under objects\cut\00749.pbd. When opening the file 00749.bod in the texteditor you get the impression that it is a bit messy because of that many data. Although it should be rather easy to understand. For example:
/ Mon Sep 26 20:53:40 2005
/ Node 1005 Class [Box, GEOMOBJECT_CLASS_ID]
P 308; B 101; N 0101;
{ 0x2002; -36433; 34776; 2242; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; -1; -1; } // 0
/
Everything following this sign is a commentary and not used by the engine.
P308
This is a continuing number of the data record starting with P2 and ending with P697. P0 is reserved for the camera positioning and isn't of interest for us at the moment. It is imperative that no 2 data records are allowed to possess the same number!
B 101; N 0101;
These are the actual coordinates for the sector in question. The first pair of numbers behind B and N is the x-coordinate, the second pair is the y-coordinate. The coordinates following B are always identical to those following N. Only if the X-Value following B is a single-digit, the 0 is omitted.
Examples:
B 101; N 0101 ; sector X=1, Y=1
B 1713; N 1723 ; sector X=17, Y=23
B 413; N 0413 ; sector X=4, Y=13
In the game the counting of the sectors begins with X=0 and Y=0. In the 00749.bod file it begins with X=1 Y=1. So X=0 Y=0 ingame corresponds to X=1 Y=1 in the data file.
{ 0x2002; -36433; 34776; 2242; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; -1; -1; } // 0
Those values give represent the coordinates at which the sector is depicted in the ingame universe map (for example a sector can be shown left or right of "kingdom end", even if it is actually located beneath "omicron lyrae"). 0x2002 is of no interest to us. -36433 is the X-coordinate. 34776 being the y-coordinate and 2242 is the z-coordinate. The following values are for rotation and should remain either 0 or -1.
Now being able to read the file, on to actual modding. Lets create a sector on the free position between "preacher's void" and "ponifex's realm". The coordinates on the ingame universe map are X=2 and Y=8. So we have to add a sector with the coordinates X=3 and Y=9 to the 00749.bod file.
Now copy any data record to the end of the .bod file. For example this one:
P 308; B 101; N 0101;
{ 0x2002; -36433; 34776; 2242; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; -1; -1; } // 0
You have to adjust the P value (remember no value is allowed to show up twice! The last P value is P 697. So ours has to be P 698. Also adjust the X and Y coordinates to B 309 and N 0309. It should now look as follows:
P 698; B 309; N 0309;
{ 0x2002; -36433; 34776; 2242; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; -1; -1; } // 0
Now we just have to add the right coordinates for the actual depicted position on the ingame universe map. The simplest way to do this is to borrow the coordinates of a neighbouring sector with the same actual X or Y coordinate. The neighbouring sector on the x-axis in our example here is "preacher's void" [X=1, Y=8] on the left. So we have to search in the .bod file for the following string "B 209; N0209". Now all we have to do is simply take the Y coordinate (-44072) for our string:
P 698; B 309; N 0309;
{ 0x2002; -36433; -44072; 2242; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; -1; -1; } // 0
We do the same for the X-coordinate with the values from the string of "duke's domain" [2,7]:
P 698; B 309; N 0309;
{ 0x2002; -15293; -44072; 2242; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; -1; -1; } // 0
The last thing we need is the z coordinate. This value determines how near or far the sectors shows from the observer of the map. Lower value means the sector shows nearer to the observers eye. Values between -10000 to 10000 are practicable. Otherwise you can't see the sector anymore because it's too tiny, or the sector fills the screen because it is too near. Setting z=0 means the sector is "on the plane".
P 698; B 309; N 0309;
{ 0x2002; -15293; -44072; 0; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; -1; -1; } // 0
Creating links between the sectors is almost identical to the upper described procedure. The only differences are in the pairs of coordinates which in this case compose themselves out of the coordinates of the sectors which are to be linked!
Example:
P 534; B 10111010; N 10111010;
{ 0x2002; 62277; -57322; -4159; 0.449396; 0.560238; 0.818829; -0.125112; -1; -1; } // 0
This line links the sector X=10, Y=11 with the sector X=10, Y=10. Finding out the right coordinates and rotation values for the values between {} is a bit tricky and you need to either do some calculating or experimenting around.
You can also determine where the name of the sector is to be shown. The coordinates (B; N) are the same as those of the sector preceeded by the value "1". Example:
P 273; B 10101; N 10101;
{ 0x2002; -34920; 37740; 2039; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; 0.000000; -1; -1; } // 0
This string between {} makes sure that the text "Kingdom End" doesn't begin in the middle of the sector box but a bit outside. To get accurate coordinates it is advisable to examine those of the neighbouring sectors. ALthough you don't need to create this string, because the name will be correctly shown with the sectro box wether you create one or not.
Hope this helps.
Apologies for any misspellings
EDIT:
Yogi_K wrote:
Now that I've spent a few hours with the mod I think the impression is truly amazing. However the size of the sector breaks economy. Afraid to say so. I've started as preaching paranid in Paranid Prime and it took me ages to get my first million credits. Haven't even exceeded my 2nd million after 20 ingame hours.
I second that! Every sector i've visited so far (except the terran ones) has no economy at all. Every station lacks energy cells! In vanilla there are very few solar power plants, now with the big sector sizes the traders who deliver them can't keep up because of their limited speed. The result is a lack in almost every commodity. There is nothing there to trade. So I suggest that the sector sizes need to be reduced in size (regrettably). Or the speed of the ships need to be increased. The advanced hyperdrive is a good idea to implement, but it won't bring the economy balance back because it won't be used by NPCs.
Another problem with the big size are the missions where most of them can't be done because of the time limits. So again, either the size needs to be reduced, or the ships need more speed (or the timelimit should be removed).
my 3 cents
greets
Valken
greets
Valken
Thaks very much for the translation, very much apprieciated..
As fpr the mod, i have done a modification for the t\ships which has only altered the following attributes:
1. Speed
2. Manouverability
3. Angular Acceleration
4. Hull Armor (M6 and Above & Ts-Tp)
All fighters have increased manouverabilty (10-15%) and increased speed (10%).
All capships (M1-2-7-7M) now have similar speeds (M2 being slowest-M7M being fastest) and i have used WW2 naval ships as the basis for this. Manouverability has been increased by 30-45% (M1-2-M7M).
Also tweaked hull armor, M2 have the heaviest, then carriers, Missile frigates, frigates, heavy corvettes then light corvettes.
Ts's are now abouts 15-25% faster, and manouverability Has been increased by 10-20%. Also hull armor has been changed so that smaller frieghters have lighter armor than Superfreighters.
Also I have altered the Angular Acceleration on all ships.... M5's noow have the lower settings and M2's have the highest.
Does anyone fell that an increse in the number of SSp's may be beneficial as i don't really want to shrink the sector sizes? one of the main points of this mod was to give the universe a larger feel.
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