Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - Printable Version +- Discovery Gaming Community (https://discoverygc.com/forums) +-- Forum: Discovery Development (https://discoverygc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=7) +--- Forum: Discovery Mod General Discussion (https://discoverygc.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?fid=37) +--- Thread: Including Dab's systems in to Discovery (/showthread.php?tid=2660)

Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - Igiss - 04-04-2007 INCLUDING DAB'S SYSTEMS INTO DISCOVERY This post is a detailed description of how Dab's systems were included into Discovery mod and tweaked. Writing it in the form of developer's blog, so that everyone could evaluate how much work is done to make this mod work. And, more important, it will help everyone who makes new systems to avoid mistakes that Dab's done. Note that Dab's systems were faction systems, unlike Angel's systems. Therefore, design mistakes here were more tolerable. By 'design mistakes' I mean, for example, object placement that I didn't like visually. The system submission rules (http://discoverygc.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=16875) were updated using experience I describe here. Still, I recommend everyone who is submitting systems to read this long post to the very end. The process described here might seem brief, but in fact it took many, many hours - amost two weekends out of my life, actually. And it's not over yet. Hope that it will help to understand why we've got submission rules. 1. PREPARATIONS First I need to copy Dab's new system ini files into the Discovery to review them. First, I compare the files of systems present in Discovery with IW08.ini and EW85.ini files sent by Dab. After I know that no serious errors are present within Dab's files, I replace original files with his ones. Then I copy entries for new bases into universe.ini. They are in a separate text file, like I said in the submission rules. However, most of them contain wrong W02bF** sections, which is explainable for most of my own new bases contained wrong entries (fixed now). W02bF** of each base should be equal to other bases owned by same faction. Many INI files are not copied into Discovery at all at this stage. For example, I don't need any trade properties now or asteroid field files. And I don't need mbases.ini entries for new bases. Wait, where's mbases.ini? It's lacking, so I'll have to duplicate NPCs into each base manually. Which actually might be better for me. 2. NAMES I've decided to put in the infocard names before seeing the systems in Freelancer Explorer. Descriptions are not needed right now, but names will make things more convenient. Dab sent two files with infocard texts - one for each system. Names were listed on the top of each file. For the Lane Hacker system they looked like 465050 - Atlantic Ice Field 465040 - Pacific Ice Field 465030 - Pearl Harbor 465070 - Oceanic Ice Cloud 465075 - Planet Massachusetts 465080 - Lockheed Depot 465085 - Philedelphia Base for Zoner system they were 479302 - Freeport XV 479320 - Zoner Satellite 479325 - Planet Leigan 479330 - Newport Shipyards 479345 - Ribina Asteroid Field 479335 - Afru Development Center 479340 - Raines Station 7 for each system. Zoner systems had no connections with real world geography. Despite I enjoy making up names myself, it's better to follow vanilla pattern here. Zoner bases should have Mediterranean/Balcan names due to their location between Outcast and Corsair systems. For now, I'm leaving these as they are, will edit later. With Lane Hacker system, it's more obvious. Central American/Carribean names of neighboring Independent Worlds don't allow to use any US names here. Naming ice clouds like oceans is a bit too global, so those will have to be renamed too. America base name might sound global, too, but remember the name of the system? Lane Hacker system bases were renamed into Mexican (mostly) places. I also note that infocard numbers are not consistent. For eaple, 479330 is occupied, as well as 479332, but 479331, 479333 and 479334 are not. 479335 although is occupied once again. This should not be done cause it won't be convenient to add more infocards. Numbers should follow each other (ALL numbers must be different): object name -> object description or base name -> base stats -> base description. Base descriprions are tied with stats in Interface\InfocardMap.ini file. Dab does not provide base stats, however refers to them in his ini files. I'll have to add entries like this: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?><RDL><PUSH/><TEXT>CLASS: Psi</TEXT><PARA/><TEXT>GRAVITY: Complete </TEXT><PARA/><TEXT>DOCKING: Yes</TEXT><PARA/><TEXT>AMENITIES: Yes</TEXT><PARA/><TEXT>POPULATION: 400</TEXT><PARA/><POP/></RDL> for every new base myself. 3. FIRST EXPLORER I open new systems in Freelancer Explorer and prepare to surprises. Both good and bad. This is how systems look like at this stage. Omicron-74: Vespucci: Okay, strangely no surprises here. But some flaws that need to be fixed... I begin with EW08 (lane hacker system). Former Oceanic (now Carribean) ice cloud is too huge and extends far beyond the system border, which is not very good. Also, asteroid zones are nearly same size as encounter zones. Reviewing the encounters reveal that only area_defend encounters were added here. Since they won't be any different from area_scout encounters for a guardian faction, I will remove two excess ecounter zones and enlarge original encounter area to contain asteroid fields. Reviewing asteroid field files showed that no exclusion_zones were added for the bases. Exclusion zones look like this: [Exclusion Zones] exclusion = Zone_Br03_to_Bw01 exclusion = Zone_Br03_Tradelane_3 exclusion = zone_Br03_large_icecrystal_1 exclusion = zone_Br03_large_icecrystal_2 exclusion = zone_Br03_large_icecrystal_3 exclusion = Zone_Br03_to_Bw01_hole_exclusion exclusion = ZONE_Br03_vignette15_exclusion a section of ini file that's inserted between [Field] and [properties] sections of asteroid field ini file. Almost the same with nebulas. Also I find out that there's a weird IW08_atlanticicecloud_01.ini file in Dab's DATA\SOLAR\ASTEROIDS folder. This file is not used anywhere and should be deleted. Now I copy Dab's files from DATA\SOLAR into Discovery. 4. STARTING TO EDIT Now the complicated part starts. I need to add all infocards that were missing. Most of them were submitted by Dab in non-XML format. For example, 465031 - Pearl Harbor is the main ship construction facilities. The four large shipyard docks are made for the construction and repair of the Hacker's Spyglass battleships. The base manufactures the enhanced sensors used on the battleships. The shipyards are defended by large amounts of weapon platforms, along with numerous patrols of Hacker Sabres. should've been 465031 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?><RDL><PUSH/><TEXT>Pearl Harbor is the main ship construction facilities. The four large shipyard docks are made for the construction and repair of the Hacker's Spyglass battleships. The base manufactures the enhanced sensors used on the battleships. The shipyards are defended by large amounts of weapon platforms, along with numerous patrols of Hacker Sabres.</TEXT><PARA/><POP/></RDL> Most of the base stats infocards are missing, like I said before. Time to add them all. Next, I'm going to add exclusion zones for all bases that Dab placed inside asteroid fields. Next, I will review encounters. And only then playtest and see how the systems look. After playtest, tweaking of the system will begin. 5. VESPUCCI BASICS I start with Vespucci. That's what Dab submitted: 465051 - The Atlantic Ice Field was once part of the Pacific Ice Field. The two parts split, and the Atlantic Ice Field began making a slow orbit around the sun. 465041 - The Pacific Ice Field was originally part of the barrier, but drifted away causing a large emptiness where it once was. The field moves approximately a kilometer per decade, slowly heading towards the Rheinland Lava Fields. 465031 - Pearl Harbor is the main ship construction facilities. The four large shipyard docks are made for the construction and repair of the Hacker's Spyglass battleships. The base manufactures the enhanced sensors used on the battleships. The shipyards are defended by large amounts of weapon platforms, along with numerous patrols of Hacker Sabres. 465071 - The Oceanic Ice Cloud is a collection of both the Atlantic, and Pacific Ice Fields, combined with a large gas cloud. Taking up nearly a third of the known area of Vespucci, the Hackers get alot of their water from this cloud, which they can mine in relative safety due to the large number of patrols. The water is shipped from here to other Hacker and Outcast bases. 465076 - A small planet found in Vespucci. The ground is covered by meters of ice and snow from water out of the Atlantic Ice Field. The water would refreeze on its way down to the ground. 465081 - Lockheed Depot is a storage base for the Lane Hackers. 465086 - Philedelphia Base is the fall-back fortress of the Lane Hackers in Vespucci. Protected by numberous, and very deadly, weapon platforms.The base contains Sabres for use for the Hacker's pilots, and their most advanced weaponry. This base rivals the strongest of the Liberty Navy's military outposts and stations. All of the infocards contain certain mistakes (apart from the names that I've already changed), so I have to rewrite them all. Atlantic field cannot orbit any sun cause there's no sun in Vespucci. Hacker Spyglass is not constructed anywhere, only one ship of this type currently exists (according to history). Water cannot be shipped to remote systems cause shipment would be more expensive than water itself (Independent Worlds and Liberty are rich with water). Besides, all descriptions listed here should not be present in system ini file. Descriptions are added into DATA\Interface\InfocardMap.ini file in the following format: Map = 465031, 465032 Map = 465081, 465082 Map = 465086, 465087 First is ids_info for base/planet, second is description. Description ID should not be used in any other ini files. The way how ids_info should've been written was mentioned above (class/gravity/amenities/population). I've created a file with templates for many common infocards that me and all future system modders could use for their (and my own) benefit. Hopefully I won't forget to share it. Infocard for non-dockable planets contain both info and description. I add a proper infocard to a planet that's now called Guadalajara and correct stats for it; atmosphere range was set properly, but death damage should've been 2000000 instead of 50000 (Freelancer Explorer is wrong on that). I also do some basic INI checking to ensure everything is correct. Appears that objects that are attached to bases have names; I delete all ids_name and ids_info entries for those objects. 6. OMICRON-74 BASICS Now getting to Omicron-74, that I left with old names to think about some new ones. This is what Dab submitted for Omicron: ids_name; 479302 - Freeport XV 479320 - Zoner Satellite 479325 - Planet Leigan 479330 - Newport Shipyards 479345 - Ribina Asteroid Field 479335 - Afru Development Center 479340 - Raines Station ids_info; 479303 - <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?><RDL><PUSH/><TEXT>CLASS: Psi</TEXT><PARA/><TEXT>GRAVITY: Complete </TEXT><PARA/><TEXT>DOCKING: Yes</TEXT><PARA/><TEXT>AMENITIES: Yes</TEXT><PARA/><TEXT>POPULATION: 400</TEXT><PARA/><POP/></RDL> Freeport XV is the biggest producer and exporter of food products in the Omicrons. The station was modified heavily to house numerous biodomes to supply the demands from the Zoner population, as well as have some to sell to other groups in the Omicrons. 479321 - An advanced sensor satellite that picks up cloaked, and uncloaked, vessels within a 300 kilometer radius. 479326 - A gas giant with a large asteroid ring that Newport Shipyards is located within. 479332 - Newport Shipyards is the major construction and manufacturing facility for the Zoners. This shipyard is the main manifacturing site for all Zoner Juggernauts, Eagles, and a large number of other civilian ships ranging from Hawks to transports. 479346 - Ribina Asteroid Field is a large field of alien organisms and asteroids. 479337 - Afru was created by the Zoners to research and design new weapons, ships, and commodities such as the Fury 4, Zoner Juggernaut, and Deuterium. 479341 - Raines Station, along with numerous weapon platforms, was created to guard Afru Development Center. Most of the area's patrols originate from this base. The lower rankings of the Zoner's navy are stationed on this station as well, with the higher ranks residing in Freeport XV. I decide to use Greek names for Omicron-74, except for Planet Tyrane named after capital city of Albania. When all fixes were implemented (similar to Vespucci), it was time to proceed to the next stage of editing. 7. ZONES After rewriting the infocards and code fine-tuning I open the systems in Freelancer Explorer once again. There's much work to be done regarding the zones. This time I start with Vespucci. Excess encounters were already removed from there. System contains 3 objects inside asteroid fields: two stations (with surrounding objects), and one jump hole. I create exclusion zones around them, and add names of those exclusion zones into asteroid files. [TexturePanels] file = solar\asteroids\ice_shapes.ini [Field] cube_size = 400 fill_dist = 1400 tint_field = 255, 255, 255 empty_cube_frequency = 0.200000 [Exclusion Zones] exclusion = Zone_IW08_01_lane_access exclusion = Zone_IW08_vignette_01_exclusion exclusion = Zone_IW08_vignette_02_exclusion [properties] flag = ice_objects flag = Object_density_med These are exclusions for Sonora field: two for bases, one (lane_access) for a pathway from America station towards one of the bases. Zoner system is a bit more complicated. There's one large encounter that overlaps sun zone (which should never happen), and many smaller encounters. I delete them all to create new encounter zones that will include all stations and avoid the sun. I leave only one encounter zone intact, one that goes around two bases in the asteroid field. I can make a good exclusion zone from that one. Encounters that Dab added would look like faction = gd_z_guardian, 1.000000 encounter = area_scout, 19, 0.250000 faction = gd_z_guardian, 1.000000 encounter = area_trade_trader, 19, 0.150000 faction = gd_z_grp, 1.000000 encounter = area_trade_freighter, 19, 0.350000 faction = gd_z_grp, 1.000000 encounter = area_trade_freighter_smuggler, 19, 0.350000 faction = gd_z_grp, 1.000000 Problem is that gd_z_guardian (Zoner guard) have no freighter ships to fill the encounter, and Zoners have no area_trade_freighter encounters of level 19. I change encounters to what they were before. encounter = area_scout, 19, 0.500000 faction = gd_z_guardian, 1.000000 encounter = area_trade_freighter_pirate, 15, 0.100000 faction = gd_z_grp, 1.000000 At this point I also notice that Dab used different weapon platform loadout than the one I already used in this system. I'd rather save my edits in Freelancer Explorer and start messing with the code... ...after saving edits, I copy only three ini files into Discovery mod folder. IW08.ini (system file for Vespucci), EW85.ini (system file for Omicron-74), and BW11.ini (system file for Munich, that I also edited). Copying all files from FLEx editing folder is a bad habit, and those who create their own systems should know about that. And NEVER open the "main" folder where you keep edited files with FLEx. After that, I continue to keep Freelancer Explorer open. Why? To know what objects I'm editing in the code. For example, Freelancer Explorer is unable to change zone size, so I change this directly in the ini. But to change I need to know what I'm changing, and here FLEx comes in handy. I change weapon platform loadouts and check property_flags = entries for fields and nebulas. Those determine how the field looks on the navmap. As expected, errors were found here, since we don't want ice asteroids to look like stone asteroids on the map. And we don't want nomad asteroids look like industrial debris. The work continues now; I copy the Discovery files to FLEx editing folder twice more to enhance location of different objects. All inclusion zones are enabled now, all zones located where they should be. But we shouldn't forget that bases and stations in new systems are empty - all of them. 8. ADDING NPCS Adding NPCs is an easy stage if I don't create new characters and names. I just need to copy existing base interior for new bases. Problem is, which bases to choose? Lane Hackers have two stations, Leiden and Mactan. I will use Mactan template for a base that will sell ships (there will be only one in Vespucci), and Leiden for all others. Zoners are more versatile. They own Freeport 1, Freeport 6, Freeport 10, Freeport 5, Freeport 9, and more new bases. Only Freeport 9 sells ships, so I'll use Freeport 9 template for one station (the shipyard). Others will be Freeport 6 and Freeport 5. Meanwhile, I notice that Dab set difficutly levels above 19 for weapon platforms and stations, which should not be done, and set normal weapon platform loadouts for ice weapon platforms. Fixing... I open the mod in FLEx again and try to add NPCs. Failure. I've made a wrong thing by copying the new room files into the mod before; now I'll have to delete them all, since my idea of what stations should be is different from Dab's. FL Explorer will generate rooms automatically, and I'll entrust this part to software rather than myself. ... finally, this stage is over. That's how Dab's systems look now. Omicron-74: Vespucci: This is not the end. I'll write more when playtesting time will come... did not even visited the systems in-game yet! Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - Commodore - 04-04-2007 ouch, and people PAID dab to make systems this way. Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - Igiss - 04-04-2007 Dab's made his job well. This was only the first submission I ever recieved (after Angel's systems a year ago, but that was a completely different story). So I suppose that the systems are worth the price. Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - OsoRojo - 04-04-2007 Igiss, as always, I am in awe of your creation. Curious, will Virginia make the cut? In addition, the names of our bases, and nebulas/asteroids, are based upon USA geography, cities, and battlefields, i.e. Cali-BS is Potomac, New station-San Jacinto (scene of Texas victory over Mexico), and Nebulas have such as Arlington Nebula (honor fallen players), Concord, Lexington, etc. These follow the trend set in the NY system like the Detroit Debris field. Overall, I am just biting my nails hoping our system will make the deadline. Plus, if it does, will the ship encounters have the mixture of Guardian/Avenger as was discussed? In the end, if Dab is unable to make the next version, is it possible for you to make the encounter changes? OsoRojo of the South Alliance Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - BestFlyerHere - 04-04-2007 Dab, what happened to America Shipyards? I didn't want an Oceanic Asteroid Field.... Also, how many weapons platforms do we have in Vespucci? Igiss, although you're right about Lane Hackers being mostly Hispanic, the original base was named by you America Base. That's why we felt the American names were appropriate. Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - Dab - 04-04-2007 America Shipyards was renamed to Pearl Harbor since you wanted one named Pearl Harbor, and the shipyards named America Shipyards. But the original station was America base, which would have been bad to see America Base and America Shipyards. Vesp had 20-25 WPs. All were level 19 except Philidelphia base and its WPs.. If all became above level 19 than something messed up in the file transfers.. @Igiss I tried using those text types for the class and population and stuff, but everytime I went to test it, it never showed up correctly. Only Freeport XV worked, so I left that on there.. And thanks for the exclusion zones part, couldn't get the craps to work, but after reading that I know where I was messing up. And I made Vespucci's base names according to HF's wishes, but tried to follow what I thought would fit the LH name conventions.. Zoners were extremely hard to figure out.. Most of the bases are just freeports and the few that aren't don't seem to have much in common (Ames Research Station, Corfu, and one other). Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - Commodore - 04-04-2007 shame that your systems took so long to fix... anyway, who wants me to make a system for them? I can make pretty good ones! Including Dab's systems in to Discovery - Commodore - 04-05-2007 o and what were angels systems and what were they renamed to? This is what i know: Omega 15=proxima* Omega49=Eden Newcastle=Birmingham Munich=Alstenburg * = Not sure.