German Mod Tutorials? 2024 Mod Tutorial?

JustNdrew

Okay… Hope you guys dont Hate me for this question… But i Think every single Person who wants to play and keep FL Alive is Important! xD

I want to make my Dreams in my Childhood come true and mod Freelancer myself. Since i start playing FL in 2005 i have a Dream… Have my Own System with my own Faction called " Liberty Rebllen" which means , gues who knows, “Liberty_Rebels”.

Since years i have read a lot and try it to mod and learn from posts but my english, I think you can read it, is very bad. And the Tutorials in English i can find are not up do date ( Links dosent work, Tutorials, Programms delete)

Question: Are there Freelancer Modding tutorials that are up do date and work at 2024? Maybe in German? English works too but to Learn it better i preffer my language xD

Hope you can help me with Tutorials, Links, Programms for Modding FL in 2024.

I Try my best to learn how to mod FL but i cant get it^^

Thx a lot!

SWAT_OP-R8R

Die letzten deutschen FL-Modding-Communitys wurden ca. 2005/2006 geschlossen, daher ist es etwas schwierig, aktuelle Tutorials auf Deutsch zu finden.
Die alten Tutorials sind alle noch gültig, wenn auch ein bissl komplizierter als aktuell notwendig. Alle (fast alle) Tools sollten nach wie vor noch in den größeren Modding-Communitys vorhanden sein.
Bei Verständnisproblemen würde ich einfach empfehlen zu fragen. Hier gibt es genug Leute die solche Dinge erklären können.

Darky

Solltest du noch keine Erfahrung mit FL-Modding haben würde ich dir empfehlen das Freelancer SDK 1.3b runterzuladen, damit du auch mit den encrypted INIs arbeiten kannst und da kannst du auch größtenteils Schritt-für-Schritt nachzuvollziehen, wie man Sachen einfügt.

Neue Systeme, Reputationen, platzieren von Stationen usw werden per INI-Modding hinzugefügt. Eigentlich gerade das was du suchst.
Am besten Notepad++ runterladen und installieren.

Ist denke ich eines der besten Tools bislang, geht aber natürlich auch mit standard Notepad von Microsoft.

Dann gibt es noch sehr nützliche Tools, wie z.B. Librelancer für unter anderem die Ship Icon-Erstellung.

Ein weiteres nützliches Tool ist der UTF-Editor.

Deutsche Tutorials findet man leider sehr selten wie auch SWAT_OP_R8R geschrieben hat. Da wirst du eher mit englischen Tuts fündig. Müsste ich aber auch erst danach schauen, wo und ob da was einsteigerfreundliches dabei ist.

JustNdrew

@Darky damit ich das richtig verstehe generelles modding was neue fraktionssysteme Basen und so weiter angeht das wird alles über das Bearbeiten von ini-Dateien sprich schriftdateien gemacht die ich mit Notepad bearbeite oder wie ist das? Klingt ja erstmal gar nicht so kompliziert ich habe mir schon sagen lassen dass Freelancer Explorer z.b eher semi ist und dass man davon die Finger lassen sollte damit habe ich es nämlich schon probiert aber ständig hatte mir irgendwelche Fehler geworfen von wegen Fehler mit der leeren DLL und wenn ich ein Mod bearbeiten wollte ist das Programm abgestürzt und so weiter und so fort.

Das bedeutet die Programme die ich brauche um das alles zu machen hast du mir gerade aufgezählt ja?
️

IrateRedKite

Hi there, welcome to the Starport!

Guides are pretty time-consuming to write, and there’s few enough in English so as other posters here have mentioned, there’s even fewer in German language. However, there’s a ton of resources about INI editing on the TSP KnowledgeBase that might be helpful, and the Discord/these forums are a great place to ask questions on how to do things as people are usually more than willing to help.

On tools, I would recommend staying away from the 1.3b SDK as it has a few known issues. The current ‘base’ for fresh mods with the INIs exposed tends to be Freelancer HD Edition or the full JFLP patch, which incorporates the old SDK and corrects some of the errors.

As a modern alternative to Freelancer explorer, might I recommend FL Mod Studio ? It has a full 3d editor and works much more reliably. LancerEdit also has a system editor, but my understanding is that it’s currently a work in progress and may be missing critical features.

JustNdrew

@IrateRedKite okay thats very bad I have downlaoded the Mod Studio but… I´m to stupid to unterstand… I have the Hope that there was a Tutorial for one of the Programs or a Video where somebody explains how to mod. The other Tutorials i have read but… i Dont unterstand what they want xD

I found this ( I dont a permission to post a Link here i Need to copy the Tutorial Text)

well, i’ll start this forum off…

Creating Factions

Tools needed:

FL Save Editor
Notepad
BiniQDU

Ok, here we go…

Step 1: ids-names

IDS_NAME and IDS_INFO(1,2,3) are set out like this:

ids_name = (IDS NUMBER FROM DLL)
ids_info = (IDS NUMBER FROM DLL)

Step 2: Setting initial faction reps
open Freelancer\DATA\initalworld.ini and put rep = 0, (and your faction name e.g. fc_n_grp). After every return for each faction modifying like you see done with other factions to choose how their empathy towards each other is set at.

I dont unterstand Part 1. Which DLL he means? Need i to create one or what?
Step 2 i Unterstand. i need to open the ini file. Add a New Faction like ne others ( i Can Copy and paste from the Site or direct from other Factions and then Edit Name and so on… Right?

JustNdrew

Where and whats the Name of the DLL Where Factions are Saved? I know i need to change and edit Initalworld ini , empathy ini ect. but where is the DLL where the Factions safe? I need to Create a IDS Number for my own faction right? Does it matter which number or can i Chose a number on my own?

How can i Edit these DLL´s ? With FLED IDS? I try it but i dont know how it works xD

maximilianps

Why don’t you open the tutorial in Edge and ask to CoPilot to help you

SWAT_OP-R8R

Normalerweise würde ich jetzt empfehlen FLdev1.1 zu verwenden, aber finde gerade keinen Download link.
Dort kannst du relativ einfach IDs finden und editieren.
Aber wie gesagt, ich habe leider keinen link gefunden. Das ist wohl beim Umbau der Webseite verschüttet gegangen und ich hab keine Ahnung ob ich einen re-upload auf meiner Seite machen darf.

JustNdrew

@maximilianps said in German Mod Tutorials? 2024 Mod Tutorial?:

CoPilot

The Tutorial i post is from year 2007. Non Active Modders anymore.

Or what do you mean? Who is CoPilot?

maximilianps

@JustNdrew
Sorry I mean to reply to "@IrateRedKite okay thats very bad I have downlaoded the Mod Studio but… I´m to stupid to unterstand… "

And Copilot is AI.

IrateRedKite

@maximilianps Copilot (and other LLMs) regularly output made-up or wrong information and for a niche topic like Freelancer, that already has a fair bit of poorly checked information out there anyway I’d probably end up having to rewrite whatever it generated. I’m quite happy working on the wiki as and when I find the time at the moment.

I’m generally opposed to using LLMs for anything at all, but that’s a topic for elsewhere and I don’t want to derail this thread!

JustNdrew

Actually i Try to teach myself. But my Brain fucked up und Smoking xD Problem is you have none Tutorial which works on his own. You have 20 Tutorials with 20 Programms… I have downloaded so many programms…

FLeD ID´s
BiniQDU
FLUC (Freelancer Uni Compressor)
Freelancers Explorer
Freelancer Mod Manager ( I have read something about an Option to set "Dynamic ID´s so you dont need to edit DLL Files) but i found nothing in the FLMM Options. Time Waste Again
Freelancer Mod Studio
UTF Editor
Freelancer Companion
Freelancer SDK 1.3b

So many Programms… To Much for my Brain i dont know which of these Programms i need and which are to old and useless

IrateRedKite

@JustNdrew A modern toolkit (Generally what I’d use at the moment, YMMV), is as follows:

LancerEdit - For modifying models, working with UTFs, textures, etc
FL Mod Studio - Mostly for system editing
FLInfoCardIE - For adding/modifying infocards and text
Skotty’s ALE Editor - For creating and editing particle effects

For decompressed INIs to work on, 1.3b SDK works, but I prefer Freelancer HD Edition when I’m starting a new project now.

Most older tools do still work and are fine if you can figure them out! ones I’d avoid because they cause problems are Freelancer Explorer and the Milkshape model importer, but mostly everything else is fine to use if it works.

JustNdrew

@IrateRedKite Thats what i dont understand… So… When you have the Freelancer HD Editionen you dont need Freelancer SDK ? Where is the diffrent and which Programms you dosent need anymore when you have the HD Edition and why? For Dumb People like me… Whats the diffrent in the HD Edition that you dont need all Programms?

And Next question

All what i need to create my own Faction, Systems, Bases usw are the 4 Programms

LancerEdit - For modifying models, working with UTFs, textures, etc
FL Mod Studio - Mostly for system editing
FLInfoCardIE - For adding/modifying infocards and text
Skotty’s ALE Editor - For creating and editing particle effects ?

Not more?

IrateRedKite

@JustNdrew HD Edition decodes the INI files so they can be modified, a lot like the 1.3 SDK. For the purposes of modding, they do the same thing, but HD Edition is newer and has some errors fixed.

In terms of tools, that’s all I use + a text editor to edit the INIs by hand. I use VS Code, but Notepad++ is quite popular. As the files are just exposed to modify, there’s no real need for special tools for things like factions and bases

JustNdrew

@IrateRedKite Wait… You don’t have a program with which you can edit the DLL files? I thought to create factions you have to enter the ID names and ID info into the DLL file ( I think it was the nameresources.dll. Although I don’t know how to do that either because I want a new faction and would have to generate a new ID name and information for that and I don’t know how to do that. Don’t you have to edit any DLL files for new factions?

SWAT_OP-R8R

Wenn du etwas neues erstellen willst (eine neue Mod) dann solltest du vermutlich das SDK verwenden (dafür ist es da). Wenn du die HD Edition verwendest (also eine bestehende Mod) dann solltest du erst einmal um Erlaubnis fragen ob du diese Mod überhaupt für deine Zwecke verwenden darfst. Ganz speziell wenn du deine eigene Mod veröffentlichen willst, wäre es ratsam die Erlaubnis zu haben, wenn du Werke von anderen Moddern verwendest (immerhin haben diese Zeit und Arbeit in diese Mods gesteckt).