External Docking Sorted (real, no scripting) + Custom Asteroid Base (pix)

[DeadlyDa]

...so that means someone could add docking to the Terran Carrier?

Well...to be honest, that was never really a problem. I got the standard Cap ship internal docking to work quite some time ago. I also posted instructions on what was needed to get it working (along with screen shots).

I have two of my cap ships with full internal (and external, now) docking in the mod I'll be releasing.

The issue is time. If someone doesn't get around to it, I'll eventually fix the Terran ships...but it won't be for awhile.

[kryptyk]

excellent work Deadly!!!

I'm am looking forward to wreaking havoc and destruction from a secret asteroid base.


I do have a question though. Would it be possible to add an external M6 dock to an M1? Would you still be able to land fighters internally and an M6 externally? Or would it rip a hole in the space/time continuum and suck all of reality into a nether region?

If so then I'm figuring that a mobile base would be entirely feasible?

[Matthias_N]

Maybe you can, after you finished your mod, create a nice and throughout tutorial on how to add internal/external docking to existing/new ships. It would be a great help for many beginners, like me.

[Hob Anagerik]

DeadlyDa, if you don't have a job in the industry doing this stuff, why the hell not? Outstanding work.

[Red Spot]

Well, I also have a couple of other stations I am working on...one that uses elements from two of the Homeworld stations (Tannis and Foundry) as a base. Maybe they would be more "shipyard-ish".

well I've the main-scripts for the building of ships and dismanteling(?) of a ship almost working .. hooked it up to the PHQ via a traderscript (it gets wares stores it as a var. on the HQ instead off actually onloading them)

so I'll just wait and see how you put them in the universe and see if could hook it up to one of them ..

Thanks for the info ..



G

[DeadlyDa]

Would it be possible to add an external M6 dock to an M1?

Yes...already in the mod.

The new X3 docking logic checks the target object (station or ship) to determine if there is 1) docking capability for the class of ship you are flying (which activates the command menu item), and 2) an open slot of the correct class.

This means that fighters on my Sulaco model dock in the hanger bay, and TP, TS, and M6 class ships use the external docking port.

On my Grendel M2, there are 3 external docking ports, 2 for fighters, and 1 for larger ships. This is generally in keeping with the X2 philosophy of using external docking for M2's, and internal docking for M1's.

Currently I have the Roger Young as a TL (so that it can carry stations)...but it also has internal and external docking for 91 ships, and waaaay too many weapons. I'll need to figure something out on that one

But the simple answer to your question is...yes

[Sandalpocalypse]

it sounds like you should classify the Roger Young as an M0, frankly.

Excellent work.

[skylinedr]

Hi. Nice work. Thank you for this !

Can u tell me exactly, what i have to add to the ship_scene file ? For Example the Argon Zentaur. Or does this work only with 3dmax?

[X-it]

Sorry for being a bit unenlightened here, but where is the Roger Young everyone talks about taken from?

[DJ | Wolf]

...so that means someone could add docking to the Terran Carrier?

Well...to be honest, that was never really a problem. I got the standard Cap ship internal docking to work quite some time ago. I also posted instructions on what was needed to get it working (along with screen shots).

I have two of my cap ships with full internal (and external, now) docking in the mod I'll be releasing.

The issue is time. If someone doesn't get around to it, I'll eventually fix the Terran ships...but it won't be for awhile.

Ah time yeah, I know that one *grins*

I am very much looking forwards to the mod since I have to admit seeing the Roger Young and the Asteroid base in X3 will be sweet

That's a nice X3 Sfury in the sig too my friend, very nice.

[DJ | Wolf]

Sorry for being a bit unenlightened here, but where is the Roger Young everyone talks about taken from?

A Capital ship from the movie: Starship Troopers

[X-it]

Ah thanks, I vaguely remember that movie. Didn't appeal very much to me. Too 'American hero'-ish...

Still the ship looks good!

[DJ | Wolf]

Heh, well, I'm a Limey Fork Flinger! (In joke, if you haven't seen Mysery Men you won't get it)

The Roger Young is a definite + as a capship. I think it'll be more sound than the Terran Carrier in X3 and I'm looking forwards to seeing the other ships like the YT-1300 and Dash Rendars' YT-2400 (The Outrider).

I don't suppose you've got a Whitestar planned for the Babylon 5 ships there Deadly?

[DeadlyDa]

I don't suppose you've got a Whitestar planned for the Babylon 5 ships there Deadly?

Ah well...the sky's the limit. Unfortunately, the clock is the constraint

I have looked at ships like the Whitestar and the Excalibur. The challenge is that they're very "curvy", which makes it quite hard to do a nice ship and still keep the poly count down. Also, some ship configurations will end up looking pretty strange when docked.

...but who knows? Sometimes I surprise myself...guess we'll all just have to wait and see what new ships come our way once the base mod is up and stabilized

[Mailo]

Just one question, DeadlyDa, will your mod require a complete newstart?
If yes, I'll stop playing until you release it, I just had to restart after 1.3 and got to my first couple million, wouldn't be too much to give up.

@X-it: If you thought Starship troopers was American-Hero-type of play, you should watch it again (and maybe read the book, I have not read it so far, but have been told it is even better).
The movie is actually exactly the opposite of what you found, it is a brilliant piece of criticism of militarism, not applauding it.
I spent a year in an US high school ... and it is frightening, how little had to be changed to switch from current times to a near future with a militaristic dictatorship.
Enough offtopic, sorry for the excurse

[DeadlyDa]

Just one question, DeadlyDa, will your mod require a complete newstart?
If yes, I'll stop playing until you release it, I just had to restart after 1.3 and got to my first couple million, wouldn't be too much to give up.

...just finished the A-Wing, and decided to take a break before working on the B-Wing, so I'll post a quick response.

I don't know. (How's that for quick?)

Seriously, while I have replaced a number of type files, my changes are all additions rather than alterations. Plus I have decided to add the new station(s) and ships into the game via scripts (unlike my X2 mods where I used a custom galaxy map). Taken together, that should mean that the mod will work on top of an existing save game.

I have been adding things incrementally to my game(s), and can load an run older save games without any problems...so it's looking pretty good from that standpoint.

However, I haven't really logged any serious X3 playing time since I got stuck into this effort, so I really can't say for sure.

One thing I did with my X2 mods is give the player the option of getting his HQ completely empty, or loaded with a small amount of wares...enough to sell for a couple of million credits. Since in this initial version of the mod, you will get a Player HQ when you start the game (or, hopefully when you 1st load a savegame), I could easily do the same.

[Cisor]

DeadlyDa: I know this is a bit off topic, but after reading your excellent first post in this thread, you may be the best person to ask.

So...

Is it possible to increase the number of available Wares Slots using the methods you describe? (Changing line count in the file etc.)

As you probably know, this limited ware slot problem is a major mod conflict area already, so a means of increasing this would be a great help.

In fact, this is the sort of thing that should perhaps go into Bubba Fats Community Patch/Mod, so we all use the same base for modding.

Your thoughts appreciated.

PS: If you'd prefer we can start a new thread regarding this.

[DeadlyDa]

Cisor,

If by wares slots you mean increasing the number of available elements in...say TWareT, then no problem.

I have already done that to add in additional software slots to support the old X2 Xai Trade Commands Mk1 & Mk2. In fact, I also combined it with the change that Aalaardb made to the same file so I can run his most excellant Savage Mod.

Just make sure you add new elements to the end of the file, and ensure that the "index" (as shown by Doubleshadow's X3E) is properly incremented for each new line that you add.

[Cisor]

DeadlyDa,

Yes, that's exactly what I mean. This is excellent news indeed.

The problem is if I do it just for my mod, then the plugin mod incompatibility problem doesn't go away, it is in fact compounded.

What we need is for the base to be increased for the scripting community as a whole, so we can be sure our mods will (at least in principle) work together. I understand that something like the mod you're developing is another issue alltogether, and in fact is best played and enjoyed in a new game in a custom universe. (Like I played your excellent X2 mod).

Ideally, of course, Ego will increase the basic bases in the next patch, but since we have no control over that, we need, as a community, to create an interim basic base which will ensure plugin compatibility. If Ego then does increase their base, we can just remove or edit the community base and carry on.

Anyhow, this is a discussion for another thread, but thank you so much for your input, and in fact, the answer.

Kudo's to you and Doubleshadow both.

[Sandalpocalypse]

NO, deadlyda's changes will not require a restart, speaking as someone who does 10 minutes of TShips fiddling for every 30 minutes of gameplay.

It is relatively easy to merge mods that simply add things. And I see no way egosoft can make merging mods easier except by radically changing X3's structure so that you could make 'additional' types files that would tack on to the end of the original. Another option is for someone to develop a mod merger tool that would look at the differences between mod files and dynamically merge them every time the game is started, or something similar. Both of those would have serious problems that I could see, however. For instance, many things in x3 still reference the position an entry is in a file, rather than an index number, which is something that would have to be changed.