Problem: Engine hardpoints and num_exhaust_nozzles

character_pitch_range
rumble_atten_range
rumble_pitch_range

The above are sound related.

flame_effect –->>> for flame
trail_effect —>>> is this for NPC’s trail???
trail_effect_player —>>> for my ship’s trail, correct me if I am wrong.

You got those right. It depends what you want to change though. If you want something custom, i.e a flame effect that does not already exist, then that requires editing an ALE file. Not such an easy thing to do, but if you’re willing to search the forum a little then you will find some info on the subject.

that requires creating a custom ALE. Not from scratch, you’d base it upon the existing effect you wanted to change, but you’d have to make a custom ALE and do ALE editing.

Ale files are in the subfolders of DATA/FX depending on what they’re for.

To edit them you need either LancerSolarus’s ALE decoder, or adoxa’s XML Project. Both decode to different formats, but ultimately do the same thing. (Though the XML project can decode other files, too)

There are no tutorials on ALE editing, unfortunately.
One of those things that you’ll have to wrap your head around yourself, though I’m sure people in the know here would be happy to help out if you get stuck.

Lancer Solurus has a nice long post documenting what each part of the ALE files do / take for a value. Do a google search on his name and “ALE File”, select the link from EOA serious zone.
if I remember, it’ll be in the Emitter section to adjust trail length /size/ frequency/direction.

adoxa wrote:
You still need to add the leading 0 for engines after 9, i.e. HpEngine010 to HpEngine027.

As for the files, do you literally mean .sur (or { .sur })? If so, they don’t mean anything. Otherwise, if you have ship.cmp then ship.sur provides the collision detection.

Adoxa and constant MAX_EXHAUST_NOZZLES works?
Did not tried because has no ship with more then 9 engines…

MAX_EXHAUST_NOZZLES does not seem to be used (common exports it, but does not use it; nothing else imports it).