has another one of those amusing I feel bright moments

Yeah, try opening xml with notepad, works a lot better =p

And those shockwave missiles… Heh I want to make one now, but it’d feel like copying someone else’s work so unsure there.

The info inside is kinda helpful too for what I’m working on, and at first I was curious how Silverlight got the rocket pods to fire with right mouse. Helpful yes, it’s been bugging me trying to figure that part out.

That and I noticed that weapon type was listed as W_rocket instead of W_laser01. Yet I couldn’t find any other reference to it in the script. Something that references a different weapons related file? Or just a way for an editor to keep track of his guns?

But after a bit more study it seems like they’re really just a laser gun with missile graphics. As there’s no explosion tab attached with them, and no seeker = DUMB. Which I seem to need to get the explosion to behave right, but which still kills the ability to right mouse fire the gun.

Though on a side note i did figure out one workaround by simply keymapping fire weapon 7 to E instead of it’s usual use. Hold it down and weapon will chain fire. But this seems like a bit of a band aid approach, not exactly fond of it.

One other problem has cropped up that’s I’m fairly sure is also tied to adding in Seeker = The gun seems to fire any normal in game proj file just fine. But if I make it a custom beam effect I get no graphic at all. Thought my initial one had a typo or something was added in improperly so afterwards I tried using a custom effect from another gun which I’ve seen so I know it works. Still no graphic that way either.

Any ideas what could be causing that?

Found the weapon pack, but the only thing inside it that i could see was an .xml file. What would I need to go digging through that to really see the weapon stats and such for the things he created?

On a side note too. If I wanted to get past just editing the .ini files, and say editing the actual game projectile graphics (among other things) I’m gonna guess I need to get my hands on an .ale editor? Try searching the site for a link to one?

Forgot I still had the blast radius set at 10000
fires gun once
watches entire area around Planet LA go hostile

Yeeeeah adding seeker = dumb gave it missile like properties without a doubt, now if I tweak the blast or det dist it behaves at those ranges.

But on the downside this has caused one other lil problem, FL is treating the gun like a missile launcher. So holding down right mouse won’t chain fire it anymore like with lasers. The only way I can get a fire rate that makes it effective is to click right mouse like mad, or hold down the fire missile button, which is a no go when other missiles are equipped on the fighter.

Tried the fire weapon group buttons too but no luck there, any suggestions on how to get around this problem?

Yes, if the bullet actually scores a hit I get the explosion effect as you would with a missile. Nice normal radius too like it’s still set around 16 or so.

May try setting in seeker = dumb, but not sure how well it’ll work, seems like every time I try to make a laser into a missile by adding homing and such into the gun, or a missile using laser graphics for the projectile effect things get wonky. Still worth a go though, i’ll see how it works.

Don’t know how many FL fans ever played what I consider a equally enjoyable xbox 360 shooter. But decided to take a crack as part of weapon modding at recreating a few weapons from that game FL style, and what ended up being a few custom creations of my own by the time all was said and done.

Course all of this is still lacking a bit of polish I’ll admit, as the icons don’t quite mesh, and I really am not sure at all if some of the guns are anything resembling balanced. But either way comments welcome, really curious on ways to improve upon this start here, hehe and maybe fixing anything I’m doing way wrong too.

Hope you all enjoy it.

EDIT: headdesk and thats why i should double check things at 1:30 AM too, the zip doesn’t have an edited freelancer.ini file. So you’ll need to add the DLL in under resources to get it working.

Just for a little update I think I solved the IDS problems I was having. Genius me still had FLserver up and running while trying to edit IDS’s. And for some technical reason that kept them from saving properly. Haven’t had any problems since in that regard. But am having a color me confused moment regarding the scatterguns I’ve been making.

The weapons all have an explosion tab added in above munition and gun, along with a detonation distance value (despite being modeled off the info and stats from a liberty plasma cannon) And I know the explosion part is working, I can fire at tightly packed npc’s as they spawn for a mission, and I’ll damage all three.

Problem is I wanted to make a mini mine launcher / flak cannon, crank the det distance up way past what normal missiles or mines have, along with a bigger blast radius to boot. But it doesn’t seem to be working visually or otherwise. I tried some above normal values like 100 radius and 50 DD then went silly and even raised them up to around 10000 then even 500000 just to see what would happen.

As for what didn’t happened, I get the feeling either i ran into another hardcap of some kind i’m unaware of, or just missing something in the weapon itself. Here’s what it looks like currently too
–--------

[Explosion]
nickname = scattergun_explosion
effect = li_missile02_impact
lifetime = 0.000000, 0.000000
process = disappear
strength = 100
radius = 10
hull_damage = 125
energy_damage = 0
impulse = 0

[Munition]
nickname = scattergun_ammo
explosion_arch = scattergun_explosion
hp_type = hp_gun
requires_ammo = false
hit_pts = 20000
detonation_dist = 6
hull_damage = 125.0
energy_damage = 0
weapon_type = W_Laser01
one_shot_sound = fire_plasma1
munition_hit_effect = li_plasma_01_impact
const_effect = li_plasma_01_proj
lifetime = 0.800000
force_gun_ori = false
mass = 1
volume = 0.000100

[Gun]
nickname = scattergun
ids_name = 458779
ids_info = 458780
DA_archetype = equipment\models\weapons\li_heavy_ion_blaster.cmp
material_library = equipment\models\li_equip.mat
HP_child = HPConnect
hit_pts = 400
explosion_resistance = 1.000000
debris_type = debris_normal
parent_impulse = 20
child_impulse = 80
volume = 0.000000
mass = 10
hp_gun_type = hp_gun_special_1
damage_per_fire = 0
power_usage = 5.090000
refire_delay = 0.060000
dispersion_angle= 4
muzzle_velocity = 750
use_animation = Sc_fire
toughness = 1.300000
flash_particle_name = li_plasma_01_flash
flash_radius = 15
light_anim = l_gun01_flash
projectile_archetype = scattergun_ammo
separation_explosion = sever_debris
auto_turret = false
turn_rate = 90
lootable = true
LODranges = 0, 20, 40, 80, 100

So now that I think I’ve got the IDS issues sorted out (thanks for the tips) Couple graphical questions.

#1 Beamspear looks more suited for projectiles with big heads and more narrow tails. While the values under beambolt seem suited for more elongated (or pencil shaped I guess you could say) projectiles?

#2 Regarding that I’ve come to love the Kusari capship graphic (ku_capgun_01_proj) And wanted to play around with it, tweak the color some and all. But unlike the some of the other capship graphics it doesn’t seem to have an entry in beam_effects.ini. So does anyone know where it would be hiding, or pehaps I should just attempt to recreate it using a custom beambolt?

#3 Does the size of a beam have any impact on it’s accuracy? Say just for a silly and extreme example you made a laser bolt that took up a third of the screen. Impossible to miss with, or does some core or center point of the beam have to hit the target for it to count as a hit?

So a question on a different track today, as I tried to make an info card for my weapons, but it’s just not working for some reason.

Found a tutorial on lancers reactor, seemed to follow every step right, here’s the rundown.

Added my own .DLL into the EXE directory.
Added that DLL into the resources in freelancer.ini

Used fled-ids to get an ids_name (458753) And used the next value for ids_info (458754).

Put weapon name in 458753, hit save. Done.

Put weapon info in 458754, saved it, and have since reloaded the xml code from the javelin, then retyped everything to make sure i didn’t delete a bracket by accident, saved it again.

Used 458755 and 458756 as the name and info for hawk_ammo

Changed ids #'s in weapon_equip to match the new ids name and info.

Weapon name shows up in the store properly, as hawk missile (class 1) But it still has the info text for the javelin. Doubly confusing as the name and info text for the ammo is working just fine.

Thought the mistake was tied to the ids #'s in weapon_good which I hadn’t changed. So I fixed them to 458753 and 458754. And now I’m just getting a blank text box when I look at the missile in the store.

Any idea what’s being done wrong here?

EDIT: Well Partial never mind, I solved the problem by addng an additional IDS name and info for weapon_good using 458757 and 458758. Though I’m still slightly confused here, do I need a custom IDS name and info for a gun in weapon_equip, then another different pair for weapon_good? And if so, why is that?

This sounds like the moment I made the battleship gun buyable without adjusting anything else, then suddenly had a gun about 5 times the size of my fighter sticking off a hardpoint, talk about funny.

But after looking through all the INI files I still couldn’t seem to find where missile trails are, if I want to tweak them I’ll have to get into the .cmp right? And that’s more then simple text editing?

On another note one cute toy to share as I was playing with dispersion angle, and it’s actually kinda fun! Not to mention cool looking if you use a graphic like the lavablade projectile. Reminded me a lot of the old school scattergun from the colony wars games.

After that a friend dared me to turn it into a full on shotgun, so I tried to do so by adjusting the power usage so 40 bullets would eat the entire energy gauge. (The spread) Then set the refire to low enough that it would in theory fire the entire 40 bullets in a second. (.025 refire rate) Course by the end I had to tweak it faster, and on a whim i even set it to .000001 in an effort to crash FL But it seems there’s a hardcap somewhere. Even when set that low it still took right around one second to empty the power gauge.

Here’s the settings if anyone wants to play with it. Added in an explosion tab as well to help with the inaccuracy. Currently it’s only accurate at around 350M and down, but if you get close in with it, downright lethal little toy. Though it might still need a little more damage, not sure.

[Explosion]
nickname = shotgun_explosion
effect = li_missile02_impact
lifetime = 0.000000, 0.000000
process = disappear
strength = 100
radius = 12
hull_damage = 75
energy_damage = 0
impulse = 0

[Munition]
nickname = shotgun_ammo
explosion_arch = shotgun_explosion
hp_type = hp_gun
requires_ammo = false
hit_pts = 2
detonation_dist = 6
hull_damage = 75.0
energy_damage = 0
weapon_type = W_Laser01
one_shot_sound = fire_laser1
munition_hit_effect = li_plasma_01_impact
const_effect = li_plasma_01_proj
lifetime = 0.800000
force_gun_ori = false
mass = 1
volume = 0.000100

[Gun]
nickname = shotgun
ids_name = 263357
ids_info = 264357
DA_archetype = equipment\models\weapons\li_heavy_ion_blaster.cmp
material_library = equipment\models\li_equip.mat
HP_child = HPConnect
hit_pts = 400
explosion_resistance = 1.000000
debris_type = debris_normal
parent_impulse = 20
child_impulse = 80
volume = 0.000000
mass = 10
hp_gun_type = hp_gun_special_1
damage_per_fire = 0
power_usage = 37.5
refire_delay = 0.020
dispersion_angle= 4
muzzle_velocity = 750
use_animation = Sc_fire
toughness = 1.300000
flash_particle_name = li_plasma_01_flash
flash_radius = 15
light_anim = l_gun01_flash
projectile_archetype = shotgun_ammo
separation_explosion = sever_debris
auto_turret = false
turn_rate = 90
lootable = true
LODranges = 0, 20, 40, 80, 100

So making a few swarm type missiles, but the high refire plus the wide exhaust trails is kinda cluttering the screen and my vision.

If I wanted to change this, do I need to look for the .Ini files related to const_effect or HP_trail_parent? Someplace within the FX folder?

Also if I change what’s under effect = li_missile02_impact, that would be how to change the graphic for a missile explosion?

Ah it’s shots per second is the ingame value. Ok that makes a bit more sense now, thanks for clearing it up.

Heh, can’t believe I didn’t think to ask this one till now too. What exactly is the equation that dictates refire delay? As this one doesn’t seem like a straight number given that .12 on a laser turns into a refire rate of 8.33 in game. Basically trying to set a missile with a 9 second refire delay is the goal.

Thanks again for the helpful replies. Couple more questions as I play with missiles.

#1 Found a tutorial that says a value of 1 in lifetime = 700M That is correct right? If so that value of 13.75 for the basic jav missile seems kinda high. Just means the missile is gonna travel a ways away from combat if the seeker lock fails?

#2 Speaking of this. It’s when the lifetime under the munition tab runs out that a missile will self explode, regardless of being near anything? Or does it just disappear?

#3 The accel value under motor combined with muzzle velocity under gun, how does that speed translate in game? I know all non modded ships have a max speed of 80. But that would seem to give a jav missile a speed of only about 52 if you added it up directly.

Just curious for balancing issues as I’m trying to make some faster missiles, but not impossible to dodge ones, probably just play around with tweaking values a few steps at a time and go from there?

#4 seeker_range, obviously the max lock range right?

#5 seeker_fov_deg, does this only dictate the angle range you need to be within when first firing the missile for it to lock? And after that it all depends on the max_angular_velocity value? Or can missiles lose a lock once fired?

#6 If seeker_fov_deg was set to something silly high like 90 or even 180, would that pretty much create a fire and forget missile so long as the target was in front of you?

Thanks for the answers, just a couple more questions I forgot last night and a new one for this morning.

Dispersion angle. Put that in the gun tab or munition tab with the ammo?

Is there anyway to alter the max ammo for a weapon? such as max 200 count for jav missiles. Or creating a laser with a max ammo of 3000? Or is this hardlimited by the size of a ship hold?

Also tried making a tracking gun eariler by putting the lines under seeker = lock onto a laser. But it’s suffering from graphic glitches. The bullets go straight and don’t appear to turn at all, yet the damage would register on the ships I was fighting.

Wondering if this is related to the force_gun_ori = true combined with a 0 turn rate on the gun (And yes there’s reasons behind that too) or if it’s glitching due to something else missing.

Hmm missiles tend to have a slower velocity then guns too, maybe i should turn that down and see what happens? Perhaps the projectiles are traveling so fast they don’t have time to track properly in a way I can see or FL can register?

EDIT: (Just tried this and no good. The graphics still appear to be glitching, but just not as badly with a slower projectile. All it changed was I had to aim a bit closer to the ships)

If nothing else, make a workaround by editing a missile launcher, and changing the projectile graphic to a laser bolt to see what happens?

And since I already read some of the other threads I’ll spare you the quest for the stable looking beam cannon. =p

But a few other things I am curious about as I delve into weapon modding more.

*In the weaponequip.ini for missiles there’s missile_01_rtc, then just missile 01. Do both of these need to be altered together to make a modified launcher? I tried just editing the non rtc equipment, got a crash every time I tried mounting the launcher (yet oddly enough it would stay on the ship and work when I restarted FL)

*Is trying to make launchers ammo = false a recipe for mod crashing too?

• If you removed from [munition] seeker = LOCK and the lines below it, would this give you a dumbfire missile?

*Detonation_dist. Is this how close the missile needs to be in meters before exploding?

*explosion radius, is that value simply calculated in meters?

*Toyed around and made a “justice MK I” that shot jav missiles instead of laser bolts by editing it’s projectile archetype, but it still had the quirk where you have to press fire every time to launch a missile, any way to rig it so holding down fire will keep it shooting?

*Also when i got within about 300-200m of the liberty rogues i was using for target practice the missiles seemed to go bonkers, and would dance around on the screen, or not seem to register hits even after an impact. Editing glitch or just them dropping countermeasures?

*Edited the cruiser forward gun so I could make it buyable and mountable on a fighter. Saw it listed in the store as “Crusier forward gun” What I’m still not fully clear on is which of the files has the weapon name itself. So if I wanted to name a new custom gun something like “death ray!” how would I do that?

*Regarding that I saw in effects.ini these two paragraphs.

[Effect]
nickname = li_capgun_01_proj
effect_type = EFT_WEAPON_PROJ
vis_effect = li_capgun_01_proj
vis_beam = li_capgun_01_beam

[Effect]
nickname = li_cruiser_maingun
effect_type = EFT_WEAPON_LARGE_PROJ
vis_effect = li_cruiser_maingun
vis_generic = li_cruiser_maingun

Changed the first to create a custom graphic for the cruiser gun (and was happy it seemd to work right on the first try) But still curious what the second is for. Or what I can create by editing it. An even bigger cruiser gun shell tied to the graphic? Just wasn’t sure as the _proj and the _beam were missing off the listing for it.

Those aside, a few more out there in left field questions too.

*Is there any way you could edit a laser gun to add [motor] and the values that go with it, along with/or simply adding Seeker = lock and the matching values underneath within [munition] to create one with tracking bullets?

*possible to add an explosion radius and a matching graphic to laser bullets?

*is there any way graphically to create a “shotgun spread effect.” As in what seems like a random bullet spray leaving a turret? Or straight line every time for lasers?

*Any way to make a more anime style missile with a super long contrail, or would this be lag waiting to happen?

*On the anime tilt too, any way to make a “multi missile.” That would fire one missile then be able to split into more? Or on the truly silly front fire a missile that could then explode into beam bolts, or fire extra bullets as it traveled?

*If not that, what about a swamer missile? Super high refire, or one click firing multiples from the same turret?

*If you had two different [munition] paragraphs with the same nickname (such as dualboom_ammo) Then one [gun] that was tied to that projectile archetype. Crash waiting to happen? Or would it fire both?

Just to let everyone know, for reason I still have no idea how to explain, the problem solved itself?

Still haven’t restarted my computer, still haven’t done any other editing or system setting changes after all the attempted workarounds last night. Yet here at 10:45 this morning, i tried to load my server on a whim, and it worked just fine?

Beginning to think this computer of mine really is possessed, that or i should at least patch it to 1.1.

Much older compy, I’m running XP instead of 7 or Vista.

And weirder and weirder, after reinstalling freelancer (write over not full install) Also just had a friend remotly disable virtually every firewall, all my security, clean up all my gateway settings (at&t SUCKS) redo all my router ports and NAT settings, basically everything as he put it “Logic ditactes this should work” And while I can connect to his server just fine, still no dice in hooking up to mine.

we’re both stumped now.

Gets better, I tried using fldirect ip with 127.0.0.1 (friend suggestion to mirror things) was able to see my server, but couldn’t connect to it.

Then tried putting the server IP into fldirect, and still no dice, same couldn’t connect errors.

Comp hasn’t been rebooted.
Could log on to my own server at 2am last night for testing.
All characters deleted off server.
Only change was copying shiparch.ini and the related equipment files to try a modded ship, then clean backup copied back over it. No a single edited .ini in any folder.

Yet still can’t get to my server, at a loss as to how to fix this.

Was testing lil tweaks to weapons last night using flserver.exe to load up a personal mutliplayer session, then just loading freelancer, logging in, and playing around.

Today though after trying to edit a ship and go to test it I couldn’t see my server on the list. Thought it might be an editing glitch so I copied the clean backup files back over the edited ones. Exited freelancer and FLserver, tried restarting it. Still can’t see my own server, and not sure what exactly has been done wrong now. Any idea how I can get it back to a playable state?

Hey there everyone, just got sucked back into freelancer by a friend running a tiny vanilla server, and forgot up until now what an awesome game this really is. amazed it’s still so alive and kicking in it’s own way too, and people are still modding it 7 years down the line.

That said it’s something I want to try my hand at too. Nothing terribly major mind you. Just wanted to take a couple baby steps and play around with making custom weapons or fiddling with ship specs (not modeling so much as just editing the stock ones in the main game) Maybe at some point work up to a custom system.

Only problem is I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed you could say, a lot of the tutorials I’ve found on lancer reactor and other sites seem to start in the middle, or assume you know all about the modder tools already, and know exactly what does what. That a lot of the links on the starport here seemed to lead to empty pages. So if anyone could point me to page 1 of the weapon editors handbook =p Or just a few tutorials for a beginners beginner when it comes to this stuff, much obliged hehe. ^_-

EDIT: Forgot to also ask, which tools would I need for simple editing and modding?