ships

caution

This page is a work in progress!

There may be missing, incomplete or incorrect information on this page as it's still being built! Take information here with a pinch of salt, and feel free to contribute and correct things!

Overview

Although shiparch.ini and rtc_shiparch.ini are listed as having configurable locations in freelancer.ini, ships used by NPCs must be in the default shiparch.ini file or crashes may occur.

Vanilla Examples

• DATA\SHIPS\shiparch.ini
• DATA\SHIPS\rtc_shiparch.ini

Ship Handling

Ship handling is dictated by several keys found in the [Engine] block from equipment, as well as keys attributed to the [Ship] entry itself. The mass of a ship attenuates any change in speed and influences behaviour when colliding with other objects. rotation_inertia operates in much the same manner, but for turning.

rotation_inertia should typically be between 10 to 20% of angular_drag to avoid strange behaviour from the autopilot.

Where linear_drag = the sum of engine and ship linear_drag values: $Strafe\ Speed = strafe\_force/(linear\_drag)$

$Max\ Turn\ Speed = steering\_torque/angular\_drag$

$Top\ Speed = max\_force†/linear\_drag$

†Value is defined in an equipment entry.

Syntax

Simple

[Simple]
nickname = STRING
DA_archetype = PATH
material_library = PATH ;repeatable
LODranges = INT, INT, ...
MinSpecLOD = INT

Parameter	Information
nickname	How this simple object is referenced elsewhere in the game's files.
DA_archetype	The path to the archetype model to use for the simple. Typically a .3db or .cmp file.
material_library	The path to a material library (.mat) file that the DA_archetype uses. Missing .mat files will cause the ship, or parts of the model to render inconsistently.
ScreenReset
LODranges
MinSpecLOD

Ship

[Ship]
ids_name = INT
ids_info = INT
ids_info1 = INT
ids_info2 = INT
ids_info3 = INT
ship_class = INT
nickname = STRING
LODranges = INT, INT, ...
msg_id_prefix = STRING
mission_property = STRING
type = STRING
mass = INT
hold_size = INT
linear_drag = INT
fuse = STRING, FLOAT, FLOAT ;repeatable
max_bank_angle = INT
camera_offset = INT, INT
camera_angular_acceleration = FLOAT
camera_horizontal_turn_angle = INT
camera_vertical_turn_up_angle = INT
camera_vertical_turn_down_angle = INT
camera_turn_look_ahead_slerp_amount = INT
nanobot_limit = INT
shield_battery_limit = INT
hit_pts = INT
DA_archetype = PATH
material_library = PATH ;repeatable
envmap_material = STRING
cockpit = PATH
pilot_mesh = STRING
explosion_arch = STRING
surface_hit_effects = INT, STRING, STRING, STRING
steering_torque = INT, INT, INT
angular_drag = INT, INT, INT
rotation_inertia = INT, INT, INT
nudge_force = INT
strafe_force = INT
strafe_power_usage = INT
bay_door_anim = STRING
bay_doors_open_snd = STRING
bay_doors_close_snd = STRING
HP_bay_surface = STRING
HP_bay_external = STRING
num_exhaust_nozzles = INT
HP_tractor_source = STRING
shield_link = STRING, STRING, STRING
hp_type = STRING, STRING ;repeatable

Parameter	Information
ids_name	The string ID name of the ship.
ids_info	The stat description text used in the ship dealer.
ids_info1	The 'flavour text' used in a ship's description.
ids_info2	The stats 'fields' used in the ship infobox when examining it outside the ship dealer. In vanilla this value is typically 66608
ids_info3	The stats 'numbers' used in the ship infobox when examining it outside the ship dealer.
ship_class	A value between 0 and 3. Determines the ship class displayed in the dealer where 0 = 'Light Fighter', 1 = 'Heavy Fighter', 2 = 'Freighter', 3 = 'Very Heavy Fighter' and 4 =
nickname	The internal nickname of the ship, i.e. how this will be referred to elsewhere in the game's INI files.
LODranges
msg_id_prefix	References an ID prefix such as 'Liberty Heavy Fighter' for use when stations/other ships are hailing one another. These entries are typically found within voices, with the sound files themsevles contained within binary UTF files.
mission_property	Determines what the ship is able to dock to. Valid options seem to be can_use_berths (Which allows the ship to use docking rings), can_use_med_moors and can_use_large_moors.
type	Seems to influence NPC attack_preference values in pilots_population.ini. There are also suggestions that this influences NPC behaviour when in formation. Observed values are FIGHTER, FREIGHTER, TRANSPORT, CAPITAL, GUNBOAT and CRUISER.
mass	The mass of the ship. This value attenuates any changes in speed that the ship makes. A higher value results in greater attenuation.
hold_size	The cargo size of the ship.
linear_drag	'Drag' applied to the ship when you are moving. linear_drag on the ship applies even when in engine kill mode.
fuse	A fuse applied to the ship. Values here are typically a fuse, a delay in seconds and a hit_pts threshold for the fuse to trigger.
max_bank_angle	The maximum bank angle permitted when turning. This value is defined in degrees.
camera_offset	Y and Z axis of the camera offset from 0 for the ship.
camera_angular_acceleration
camera_horizontal_turn_angle
camera_vertical_turn_up_angle
camera_vertical_turn_down_angle
camera_turn_look_ahead_slerp_amount
nanobot_limit	Determines the maximum number of Nanobots a ship can carry.
shield_battery_limit	Determines the maximum number of Shield Batteries a ship can carry.
hit_pts	Determines the ship's maximum hit points.
DA_archetype	The path to the archetype model to use for the ship. Typically a .3db or .cmp file.
material_library	The path to a material library (.mat) file that the DA_archetype uses. Missing .mat files will cause the ship, or parts of the model to render inconsistently.
envmap_material	Cubemap texture to use for the model. Vanilla entries almost always use envmapbasic
cockpit	Path to a Cockpit ini entry. Determines the properties of the ship's cockpit when in first-person view.
pilot_mesh	References a [Simple] block to attach at the HpPilot hardpoint.
explosion_arch	Defines the explosion used when the ship is destroyed.
surface_hit_effects	A damage amount threshold followed by a list of possible visual effects to use when the ship's hull takes damage.
steering_torque
angular_drag	'Drag' when turning, determines the rate of acceleration when turning from zero velocity to maximum permitted.
rotation_inertia
nudge_force
strafe_force
strafe_power_usage
bay_door_anim	The animation in the model file to use when opening and closing the cargo bay doors.
bay_doors_open_snd	The sound played when opening the bay doors.
bay_doors_close_snd	The sound played when closing the bay doors.
HP_bay_surface	A hardpoint denoting the location of the bay doors. Typically this is used for the purposes of animations.
HP_bay_external	A hardpoint denoting the location of the bay doors. Typically this is used for the purposes of animations.
num_exhaust_nozzles	Determines the number of 'HpEngine' hardpoints to use when attaching engine effects to the ship.
HP_tractor_source	The hardpoint source for the tractor beam effect when it is played.
shield_link	Defines the shield bubble to use for the ship. Links to a [Shield] entry, followed by a hardpoint to center the bubble on, and the [ShieldGenerator] mount hardpoint.
hp_type	Determines the 'classes' of hardpoints set on the ship. This is typically a hardpoint class (i.e. hp_gun_special_1, followed by a list of hardpoints to apply this class to. Hardpoints can have multiple classes assigned to them.)

CollisionGroup

[CollisionGroup]
obj = STRING
separable
parent_impulse = INT ;optional
child_impulse = INT ;optional
dmg_hp = STRING ;optional
dmg_obj = STRING ;optional
fuse = STRING, INT, INT ;optional
group_dmg_hp = STRING ;optional
group_dmg_obj = STRING ;optional
mass = INT
debris_type = STRING
separation_explosion = STRING
type = STRING
hit_pts = INT
root_health_proxy = BOOL
explosion_resistance = FLOAT ;optional
linked_equip = STRING, FLOAT ;optional

Parameter	Information
obj	References a [Simple] block defined elsewhere in the Shiparch file.
separable	Typically defined as a key with no values. When present this allows the CollisionGroup to seperate from the ship under certain conditions.
parent_impulse
child_impulse
dmg_hp
dmg_obj	References a [Simple] object to use in this CollisionGroup.
mass	The mass of the CollisionGroup. This value attenuates any changes in speed that the CollisionGroup makes. A higher value results in greater attenuation.
fuse
group_dmg_hp
group_dmg_obj
debris_type
separation_explosion	The explosion to use when this object is seperated from it's parent.
type
hit_pts	The amount of hitpoints this collision group has.
root_health_proxy	Decides whether any damage applied to this collision group is also applied to the root object, too. true applies the damage to the root object, false does not forward the damage and keeps it just to this group.
explosion_resistance	Defines a factor by which damage caused by explosions is multiplied. Defaults to 1. 0 means no explosion damage is applied ever.
linked_equip	When this collision group is being destroyed, it causes damage to a type of equipment on the ship. The first entry accept a defined set of equipment types, which are: scanner, engine, weapon, shield, thruster, power, light, tractor, attached_fx, internal_fx, tradelane, repairdroid, cloaking_device, armor