TShips Discoveries and Listing

[IneffableModder]

These notes are taken from my application.

0; <- This is the volume that the object takes up in cargo units. (this might be incorrect as I just found out my application wasn't parsing this. oops and thanks, made me relook at this.)
Price (~ xxxxx * 50 = ingame price) <- Relational value. This is the value that determines the rate a product is consumed. The Relational value times the value factor will give you its price. Different product types have different value factors.
Price Modifier 1 (25) <- This is the price variation if sold as a primary resource.
Price Modifier 2 (1) <- This is the price variation if sold as a secondary resource.
Ware Class (Keep at 0) <- This is just common to all objects, 0 means that this is a ship upgrade (when in fact it IS the ship)
Price again <- This is the Relational Value for player owned objects.
Race Recognition Required for Purchase
0; <- This determines the graphic that plays in the monitor when buying wares.
0; <- Unknown
TShips Entry Name (SS_SH_...)

Just to note, this shouldn't be referenced like a bible, for example the graphic that plays on the montior, I havn't tested yet.

[Ryuujin]

Whereabouts do the turret's get *their* laser mask from? - Some ships the turrets have their own laser set, seperate from the forward guns. I added BPBE's to the Argon Centaur, but they were only available on the forward guns, not the turrets.

[Andras]

I recognize THAT Tship layout

The turrets have their laser masks defined in the Tcockpit file.

A.

[Ryuujin]

The turrets have their laser masks defined in the Tcockpit file.

Ohhh, I see it now. Thanks I'd never worked that out in a million years.

[IneffableModder]

You know, I didn't even know that ... I'm going to have to make some more modifications to my application to account for that.

[nuclear_eclipse]

I updated the OP to clean up the entry descriptions, added Maulkye's notes for the hardpoint/gun entries, added information about an unknown entry, and moved notes on entries into a seperate section to make everything easier to read and understand.

Cheers for all your efforts everyone!

[jlehtone]

And I still disagree with

Code: Select all

Velocity (xxxx / 5 = base, base * 0.10 * tunings = max) 

Unless your tunings equals 10+bought tunings and you have bought them all.

Otherwise, buy an untuned ship.
=> tunings=0
=> max = base * 0.10 * 0 = 0

[nuclear_eclipse]

I found out more info: second to last offset is for setting the ship as pirate or not, and ship variants beyond 7 DO indeed function properly. I've updated the OP.

[nuclear_eclipse]

Quick Add: lots of entries from Doubleshadow's Editor, plus a listing of Class Descriptions. Only three Unknown Values left!

[x2newbie1]

Ship Scene File
Cockpit Scene File
Laser Mask (See Below)


--> ships\argon\argon_M1_scene;4514;51314702;

Maybe someone can shed some light here. The laser mask appears to be for the entire ship here. But the actual lasers allowed are different for different turrets in the ship. So shouldn't there be a mask for each turret instead of one for the entire ship??

[nuclear_eclipse]

Each turret's laser mask is defined in the TCockpits file. Cockpits are then referenced by TShips. Changing the definition in TCockpits will affect every ships that uses that Cockpit definition.

[x2newbie1]

Each turret's laser mask is defined in the TCockpits file. Cockpits are then referenced by TShips. Changing the definition in TCockpits will affect every ships that uses that Cockpit definition.

Still a bit confused. For example, the paranid M1's front and right turrets have different possible laser loadouts. How is this reflected in the TCockpits file? How can I find out which cockpit definition it uses?

[nuclear_eclipse]

Look at the Tship entry for the paranid M1. On the turrets tab, in the sector listing pane, you'll see a list of cockpits that are similar to the form SS_COCKPIT_P_XXXX where XXXX is a name relating to the placement on the ship. These are standard cockpits used for turrets on the M1 and M2. If you then look in Tcockpits for the SS_COCKPIT_P_XXXX entry, you will find a lasers tab that allows you to edit the lasers compatible with that turret. Note that if you simply change the existing turret info, it will affect all ships that use that turret cockpit, which in this case includes both the paranid M1 and M2.

[fud]

Yep. My Falcon has a rear-firing BFAA now for missles. The funny thing is, it's murder on M5s that come too close.

[apricotslice]

Just seen this for the first time, and ....

1 - There is no specific, required, or hardcoded order of ships or ship types.

This means you can throw your M3 into the slot previously used by an M1 or M2, or vice versa, with absolutely no ill effects! Unlike X2, X3's TShips file is not hard linked to an OBJ file, so TShips slots are no longer directly linked to a specific ship class or anything else!

Ah, no.

All the ships you start the game with are hardcoded to a slot.

As far as I can see, the game code is riddled with minor hardcodings, and changing the order of anything gives off strange results.

Its not just the tships file. I upped the lasertower shield size to 10gj, and all of a sudden, I get drone images for lasertowers and squash mine images for drones.

The starting ships should be coded to an ID, but thats not how they did it.

[nuclear_eclipse]

Just seen this for the first time, and ....

1 - There is no specific, required, or hardcoded order of ships or ship types.

This means you can throw your M3 into the slot previously used by an M1 or M2, or vice versa, with absolutely no ill effects! Unlike X2, X3's TShips file is not hard linked to an OBJ file, so TShips slots are no longer directly linked to a specific ship class or anything else!

Ah, no.

All the ships you start the game with are hardcoded to a slot.

As far as I can see, the game code is riddled with minor hardcodings, and changing the order of anything gives off strange results.

Its not just the tships file. I upped the lasertower shield size to 10gj, and all of a sudden, I get drone images for lasertowers and squash mine images for drones.

The starting ships should be coded to an ID, but thats not how they did it.

That's generally because they use a sort of 'internal scripts' for player starting conditions, and scripts can only use ID slots, not IDs themselves, since the script engine must be backward compatible with older scripts, which always worked just like that (as did all the modification efforts).

[apricotslice]

That's generally because they use a sort of 'internal scripts' for player starting conditions, and scripts can only use ID slots, not IDs themselves, since the script engine must be backward compatible with older scripts, which always worked just like that (as did all the modification efforts).

That sounds like an exception that should go in the original document/post

[nuclear_eclipse]

That's generally because they use a sort of 'internal scripts' for player starting conditions, and scripts can only use ID slots, not IDs themselves, since the script engine must be backward compatible with older scripts, which always worked just like that (as did all the modification efforts).

That sounds like an exception that should go in the original document/post

Well, we all decided that no real modification should change the order of the original TShips. My point about order not mattering is due to limitations we had in X2, where each slot in the Tships file HAD to be of a specific ship class. X3 has no such limitations, and that is what I was primarily focusing on.

So good practices would state that any mod should keep the default Tships file as it is, and simply edit the spots as they are without reordering, not only because the game hard codes some spots, but also because any community script that relies on creating ships will need a standard functionality reilant on all the original ships being where they should.

[apricotslice]

So good practices would state that any mod should keep the default Tships file as it is, and simply edit the spots as they are without reordering, not only because the game hard codes some spots, but also because any community script that relies on creating ships will need a standard functionality reilant on all the original ships being where they should.

Then you should say exactly that.

The ordering does not matter, but because of backwards compatibiltiy, the major modders recommend you do not change the order, but new ships to the bottom of the file. Or words to the exact effect of the quote above.

If I was a dev, I would be modding the system itself so that multiple tships files could be added. The original could then be frozen from adding to, and development continue using new tfiles. New add-ons to the game or an X4 simply adds a new tfile, not changes the existing one. This would also allow multiple mods that add new ships, to be run at the same time.

[nuclear_eclipse]

Then you should say exactly that.

If you read the first page, it says exactly that =]

If I was a dev, I would be modding the system itself so that multiple tships files could be added. The original could then be frozen from adding to, and development continue using new tfiles. New add-ons to the game or an X4 simply adds a new tfile, not changes the existing one. This would also allow multiple mods that add new ships, to be run at the same time.

The problem with that is: how would you go about modifying, removing, or replacing the previous ships? Moxy modifies a LOT of original ships for his M7 mod. Deadly does too for his DDRS mod. I even modify original ships for my Syndicate mod. The way you propose, you couldn't do that, and then nobody could change the core ships to fit their mod...

I know it's possible for there to have been a 'better' way, but the truth of the matter is that the modification process we have in X3, albeit a bit obtuse at times, is VERY powerful indeed, and I think time is better spent using that great power than trying to find a better way...