Edit NPC cap?

It’s defined in the zones in the system files. Typical example from data/universe/systems/br01/br01.ini

[zone]
nickname = Zone_Br01_Southampton_debris_field
ids_name = 261231
pos = -58931, 0, -50080
rotate = 0, -30, 0
shape = ELLIPSOID
size = 25000, 10000, 35000
property_flags = 130
ids_info = 65993
visit = 36
spacedust = debrisdust
spacedust_maxparticles = 50
comment = South Hampton Field
sort = 20
toughness = 6
density = 5 <–----------------------------------------------DENSITY
repop_time = 20
max_battle_size = 4
pop_type = lootable_field
relief_time = 35
faction_weight = fc_j_grp, 10
faction_weight = gd_bh_grp, 2
encounter = area_bh_assault, 6, 0.070000
faction = gd_bh_grp, 1.000000
encounter = area_scavenger, 6, 0.830000
faction = fc_j_grp, 1.000000
Music = zone_field_debris

Just raise the density, but be aware that going too high will result in performance issues, my machine can deal with 50 or so ships in combat but that might well just cripple some peoples machines. Experiment.

On a side note, take a look in EXE/freelancer.ini and you will see entries for:

DLL = Content.dll, SpacePop, LOWEST ;populator
DLL = Content.dll, AISandbox, BELOW_NORMAL

You can raise these if you simply want to spawn ships like nuts. Available settings for each are LOWEST, BELOW_NORMAL, NORMAL and ABOVE_NORMAL
You’ll find you can raise them to above normal and pretty much ensure that every encounter will spawn flat out, every trade lane interruption will occurr and each encounter will spawn the max amount of ships. Trouble is you may well find that where you normally only face say 2 or 3 bad guys at a jump gate or trade lane interrupt you might be facing 8 of them solo. Both set to NORMAL works well for me, plenty of combat going on between the NPC’s then.

You could also look at the ambient population zones in the system ini files and set population additive to true, that spices things up a little aswell if you want bad guys everywhere

Just a thought, but have you increased the range of the npc scanners? As standard I think it’s about 5k, so if you set the spawn distance beyond that, obviously they’re not going to detect you!

Try these settings:

NPC initial spawn min distance 100
NPC initial spawn max distane 1755
NPC max spawn distance 7500
NPC max persist distance 17500
NPC ignore density cap (SP 1.5) 11250
NPC ignore density cap (MP 3.0) 22500

Works well in Itano Circus.

increase your scanner range, too, so you see NPCs spawning far away.
oh, and there is an edit button, you don’t need to post three times in a row

here might be interesting for you

Also editing NPC spawn offsets and persistence(not simply density) will require heavy editing of npc behavior = wander encounters and patrol paths.

I know what I am saying, just believe me. I’ve tested my concept and it works. Just ask if you are interested.

Zefiryn wrote:
The problem is, as long as initial spawns hang around somewhere (if they are friendly/neutral), no other ships will spawn for me. Increasing spacepop just gives me more initial spawns.
I think, I’ll decrease distance over which NPC spawning will ignore density cap in SP to 100. I should do it right away but I have been hoping for some better solution. I feel it is bound to have some unpleasant side effects.

Guess you’ll have to limit behavior = wander encounters.

I have a quick question on encounters if someone is able to answer it.

Just for example, you take the jump gate from new york to texas. When you enter texas you will normally find outcasts duking it out with a few freighters and police etc.

That must mean that the jump gate zone encounter has spawned ships and also the outcasts patrol path encounter has spawned ships.

Two encounters are active.

Lets just say as often happens the outcasts destroy the other ships. Why is it that the jump gate zone does not continue to spawn ships?

You can sit there in god mode letting them shoot at you for ages and as the turrets on the gate eventually knock one out, another will soon spawn from the patrol path encounter to make the numbers back up. The jumpgate zone will never spawn new ships until you destroy the outcasts and no ships will come through the tradelane either.

If two encounters spawned ships when you entered the system, why is it that only one zone remains active and the other drops out.

Does one pop type take precedence over another? In this instance an attack patrol over jump gate. Is it supposed to simulate the area being dangerous so other ships don’t spawn, doesn’t really make sense seing as police are part of the jump gate encounter.

The patrol path encounter allows a density of 3 ships, and it was the surviving encounter of the 2 that spawned the initial ships. As a result no other ships are spawning. The jump gate encounter allows 10 ships density and has a quicker repop time so it is obviously not allowed to co-exist with the patrol path encounter otherwise ships would spawn. I wonder if there is something that can be hacked to allow both encounters to continue to spawn?

That’s interesting, you’ve reduced the distance that npc’s spawning will ignore the density cap to the minimum spawn distance. What was the result of this, greater numbers spawning? I’m getting the impression others are increasing it not decreasing, but I can see your chain of thought there.

edit: nevermind, tested it myself, that results in spawnus maximus, going to be difficult to ballance though.

Timmy51m wrote:
I have a quick question on encounters if someone is able to answer it.

Just for example, you take the jump gate from new york to texas. When you enter texas you will normally find outcasts duking it out with a few freighters and police etc.

That must mean that the jump gate zone encounter has spawned ships and also the outcasts patrol path encounter has spawned ships.

Two encounters are active.

Lets just say as often happens the outcasts destroy the other ships. Why is it that the jump gate zone does not continue to spawn ships?

You can sit there in god mode letting them shoot at you for ages and as the turrets on the gate eventually knock one out, another will soon spawn from the patrol path encounter to make the numbers back up. The jumpgate zone will never spawn new ships until you destroy the outcasts and no ships will come through the tradelane either.

If two encounters spawned ships when you entered the system, why is it that only one zone remains active and the other drops out.

Does one pop type take precedence over another? In this instance an attack patrol over jump gate. Is it supposed to simulate the area being dangerous so other ships don’t spawn, doesn’t really make sense seing as police are part of the jump gate encounter.

The patrol path encounter allows a density of 3 ships, and it was the surviving encounter of the 2 that spawned the initial ships. As a result no other ships are spawning. The jump gate encounter allows 10 ships density and has a quicker repop time so it is obviously not allowed to co-exist with the patrol path encounter otherwise ships would spawn. I wonder if there is something that can be hacked to allow both encounters to continue to spawn?

Have you tried altering max_battle_size ?

Timmy51m wrote:
I have a quick question on encounters if someone is able to answer it.

Just for example, you take the jump gate from new york to texas. When you enter texas you will normally find outcasts duking it out with a few freighters and police etc.

That must mean that the jump gate zone encounter has spawned ships and also the outcasts patrol path encounter has spawned ships.

Two encounters are active.

Lets just say as often happens the outcasts destroy the other ships. Why is it that the jump gate zone does not continue to spawn ships?

You can sit there in god mode letting them shoot at you for ages and as the turrets on the gate eventually knock one out, another will soon spawn from the patrol path encounter to make the numbers back up. The jumpgate zone will never spawn new ships until you destroy the outcasts and no ships will come through the tradelane either.

If two encounters spawned ships when you entered the system, why is it that only one zone remains active and the other drops out.

Does one pop type take precedence over another? In this instance an attack patrol over jump gate. Is it supposed to simulate the area being dangerous so other ships don’t spawn, doesn’t really make sense seing as police are part of the jump gate encounter.

The patrol path encounter allows a density of 3 ships, and it was the surviving encounter of the 2 that spawned the initial ships. As a result no other ships are spawning. The jump gate encounter allows 10 ships density and has a quicker repop time so it is obviously not allowed to co-exist with the patrol path encounter otherwise ships would spawn. I wonder if there is something that can be hacked to allow both encounters to continue to spawn?

Maybe the problem is that the patrol path zone is very narrow, so that the outcast leave it when they attack the gate.