Is it hard to mod? What basic knowledge do you need to have?
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Heres the Ini file Hierachies so u can see what influences what, this may all seem a bit complex but just go slow and start by modifying one little thing then the other and it will get easier…
Good luck and remember…Patience…patience…patience oh and patience.
Ras
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S’pose i better weigh in on this one… lol
I only have one piece of advice and it comes from many years of tinkering inside this little game we all love…
“Be prepared to fail”
this don’t mean you will… or should… just something you should have in your head when you start, Freelancer can throw some unforeseen things in your face… alot & until your 100% comfortable with all your data tree’s and overall structure of whats needed where you’ll loose a fair whack of your sanity unless you… prepare to fail first… then when stuff works, great joy does it bring… but when it don’t your prepared to get stuck into “why” without the oppressive weight of failure hanging over your head (and sometimes seriously clouding your mind).
You’ve come along at a good time too… way more information is available these days than a few years ago, and some awesome extensions/hacks and other goodies are around as well… truly a glorious age to mod Freelancer.
Best of luck
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It’s been awhile since I’ve modded FL (getting back into it myself, actually, :P) but I can agree with Xarian_Prime. To become better, you will first be broken. I remember many times booting FL only to have it either CTD immediately upon opening a new menu, or mid-game when I happened to actually do something. Makes you fear the CTD and cross-fingers.
But the more you fail, the more you learn. Yes, you learn with success too, but not in the same way. Learning when failing makes you more cautious and less code-happy until you gain what you consider enough confidence to dive into deeper ends, and from there, with confidence strapped to your belt you can achieve many things, :).
Rather than purely listing my opinion on knowledge you need I will just give tips (albeit generic, still handy and from which I’ve learned):
Tip #1: Save a ton of tutorials and if some seem like they will fit in with your current mod, try to implement it. The more you implement things on the coding-side the more confidence you will get poking within FL’s depths. There’s quite a few here at The-Starport and there are more within their Freelancer Archived site (http://www.the-starport.net/archive/). From engine trails to making factions, try to archive anything and everything. Who knows how much longer the information will be around.
Tip #2: Rather than dive into a serious mod that you really want to make, make a mod you can use as a testbed. Try out tons of tutorials and see if you can get them working. As each works, implement into the mod you like. This helps avoid disillusionment and keeps your eventual goal alive, rather than having your ideal mod crashing constantly because of new, untested implementations.
Tip #3: Patience is a virtue. If you aren’t patient, take breaks when your code isn’t working (make a comment/file somewhere saying where you’re at so you don’t forget). Listen to music while modding to try and take some edge off, maybe. That way you are relaxed enough to tackle it again later, rather than getting so worked up that you throw in the towel.
Tip #4: Don’t view failure as an issue. View it as a challenge, :). Brainstorm ways to try and correct any issue, try them and cross them off as you go.
My post might not have been the most informative, but it’s my limited insight into enjoying modding and hopefully it’ll guide you to also enjoy it.
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Centurion_ wrote:
Lets say that I want all the systems gone, so no more New York or New Berlin or yet again Tokyo or London. How can I do that to have a ‘clean and empty’ universe in which I can test stuff? What do I need to delete (or modify)?And can someone make me a brief list of what I need (in matter of tools) ?
Deleting all the systems shouldn’t be so hard using Freelancer Explorer! Theres a special feature for that!
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And it’s the best way to crash your mod.
DO NOT USE THAT FEATURE IN FREELANCER EXPLORER.
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since your planning what appears to be a Total Conversion one thing i would suggest you do is download a copy of a freelancer sdk either: 1.3 , 1.5, or JFLP sdk (they are all available in the downloads section of this site). These provide decompiled mostly clean and bug fixed ini files, and in the case of JFLP also includes decompiled THN scripts so that you can easily edit them in any text editor. JFLP also includes a few fixed/adjusted dll files as well.
something i always do also is create a fresh fl folder. what i mean is go to (typically): C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\
make a new Folder call it whatever you like EG: Freelancer-2. Copy everything from the Freelancer folder into this your new one. then useing one of the sdk’s you downloaded extract it to your Freelancer folder overwriting any file when asked. then your:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer
install will be clean and have all the ini files human readable ready for you to build your mod.
The Freelancer-2 folder you created acts as a backup copy of your freelancer install just in case something untoward happens and you need to restore from it for some reason.
but before you start actually modding the game, start poking around the ini files, check them out to see what is what. And use the wiki here or posts in the forums under the ‘shipyard’ section of the forum to guide you through what some of the stuff in the ini files do.
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When it comes to system editing/creation it is always a good idea to know how to create and edit them using nothing but notepad. learning how to do this will help you understand how FL works in a large way.
there are a ton of good tools you can use as well to help you do certain things. FLDev is a good program to use to lookup/edit ids information in dll files.
While i would not use FLExplorer to do any of the intricate system editing it is a good tool to use to create basic system layouts, add new entries to your mod’s dll resource file.
you may also want to get yourself a copy of the UTF editor Version 1.4 (check the downloads section) this allows you to edit the mat/cmp/3db/txm files in a easy to understand manner.
other tools you will need:
Milkshape 3d (+ CMP Exporter and Mat Exporter)
obj -> sur convertor for creating decent sur collision meshes.
HardCMP for editing/adding hardpoints to freelancer cmp/3db models.
FLModelTool is a great tool for rescaling sur files, cmp models, and correcting some issues in both that can occur from the cmp exporter for milkshape.i know i probably missed a few that others may suggest but this should get you started.
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rasauul wrote:
Beginner tutorial to Freelancer modding by SWAT_OP-R8R
What is changeable
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snipA little education, History 101 if you will
http://www.the-starport.net/archive/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=30021
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Chips wrote:
rasauul wrote:
Beginner tutorial to Freelancer modding by SWAT_OP-R8R
What is changeable
…
snipA little education, History 101 if you will
http://www.the-starport.net/archive/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=30021
lol, so OP took your tutorial and then reposted it under his name?
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Nice.
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Several reasons.
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I am a ball buster. Ask anyone. I bust balls.
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By doing what has obviously done, you have attempted to lie to the community. I’m not sure how many you actually duped, but I know a large number of us were not fooled for nary a second. You have persisted to be an ass to new and old members, you have continued to talk with an air of authority that you have not earned, and as evidenced by some of the things you say, do not deserve.
You are a 14 year old child that needs to man up, take responsibility for his actions, apologize to those you’ve insulted, both as your time as Polar Bear and as DvDMan, and move on.
I have no problem with you being here, but chill out, realize your place, and be a man.
- You spoke even remotely well of OP. That’s a no-no.
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