Nexus Skirmisher
Nexus Modding => Game Assets => Topic started by: Keldane on October 06, 2009, 01:08:50
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Just a quick question - is it possible to utilize all the basic ship models in a new mod, or do you need model/mesh files if you want to use a custom tacticstypes.ini file?
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you can get the ship files opening the nexus_00.dat using the DaTool. http://www.moddb.com/groups/the-nexii/downloads there you can find it, along with some other cool downloads for nexus.
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Ah, excellent. Thank you very much for the link.
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You can use all the ship models from the vanilla game in your mod. You don't even need to include their files in your mod, when offering it as a downloadable package. For example if you create a new shipclass in your tacticstypes.ini using the "earthmaincruiser" mesh, that shipclass will use the Noah cruiser model, that's included in the nexus_00.dat archive in your Nexus installation folder.
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Sweet, even easier. Thanks very much.
Although, if I use a Tacticstypes.ini, it'll replace -all- the existing ship configurations, even if there's only one in the file, yes?
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Yeah, that's how it works. You just sort of "overwrite" the default Nexus files hidden in nexus_00.dat. If your mod doesn't have a tacticstypes.ini, then the default one from the singleplayer campaign will be used instead. If you have your own tacticstypes.ini, then only that one will be used and the default tacticstypes.ini will be ignored... therefore you have to supply a "complete" tacticstypes file including all the shipclasses you wish to use (including escape pods, asteroids, etc.).
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So, start by copying and pasting and go from there. ^_^ This last question's getting a bit off topic, and is there any way to set a weapon to do different amounts of damage at different ranges?
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no, you can't do that, but you can set it to have different accuracy at different ranges.
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I guess accuracy will have to do.
I have run into a bit of a problem, though. I attempted to define a custom ship class by copying and pasting the entry for the Support class from the Nexus Skirmisher tacticstypes.ini file, and the result was the game crashing on me repeatedly. I wound up having to overwrite my custom tacticstypes.ini with a fresh copy in order to repair the damage done and get the game to run in a stable fashion once again. A subsequent run through of the modding instructions included with the game yielded no useful information. So, would anyone be so kind as to tell me how to add a new ship class?
Edit: Would it be possible to create a machine or script that allows the player to use Commandos to take over an enemy ship mid battle? In this case, I don't mean a specific, scripted event, I mean any time the player has a unit of Commandos they can get onto an enemy ship, they can use them to take over that ship and add it to their fleet for the remainder of the battle.
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Hi Keldane,
You're more or less there when it comes to adding a new shipclass ( or shiptype).
Copy the entry of an object that you think is similar to the object you're trying to create, then edit the ShipClass/ShipType number and name details (obviously, these have to be unique) and you're done. Your new beastie should be available.
One thing to bare in mind though, is that Nexus has a hardcoded shipclass limit of about 250. Picking a higher number than this will lead to a crash.
I take it you recieved no error messages at the crashsite?
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I had a unique name and ship class number, so theoretically that should have worked. I thought it might have something to do with the Serial line, but changing that didn't fix the issue.
It seems that whenever I try to define a custom Ship Class, or when I exceed certain parameters (trying to put 6 fighters in a squadron instead of 5, for example), I don't get an error message. The game just loads up to a certain point (for the fighter issue, it got as far as trying to display the in-mission UI; when adding a ship class or trying to change what sort of weapons can be equipped at a given hardpoint, it didn't even get to the main menu) before the game crashes to the desktop and I get a little message from Windows informing me that NexusDX9.exe has stopped functioning. I don't have this issue with any other mod using custom ship types, so I've concluded it must be me doing something wrong. :P
Edit: The issues have mostly been resolved. Using a lower number and shifting the position in the list fixed the Ship Class issue, and allowing different weapons to be equipped in a given slot doesn't seem to be a problem as long as I don't try to allow Flak weapons to be equipped in slots normally allotted to other weapons.
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Remember that you'll only get meaningful error messages, if you start the mission editor and not the game itself. The game usually just crashes without further comment, but the mission editor will give you relatively accurate description of the error (at least most of the time).
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Hmm, an excellent point. I'll use the mission editor for testing from now on.
Edit: Does anyone know how make weapons capable of both firing on fighters and firing on larger ships?
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That's already been done... well, apart from a few entries that we're still confused by.
Drop by the Nexus forum and have a look at this thread... Secrets of tacticstypes.ini (http://'http://forum.keyswow.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7')
It's helped me out quite a few times.
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Gaaaah, I can't believe I made that mistake. >_<
At any rate, I'm still having my multi-target difficulties. My experiments seem to suggest that it's not possible to have a weapon that can fire on both fighter-size craft and normal size craft. Has anyone else attempted this, and if so, have they been successful?
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sadly no, it can't be done. But I can offer you a good number of alternative solutions for the problem:
1- Make a brand new weapon with the same effects (start, travel, end lines) than the flak but anti-ship wise and place it on the ship
2- Same as a above but you can also make it automatic, to fire on ships as if they were fighters, just add the line "automatic" to the weapon's description on the tactics (not very advisable, though, it can malfunction...)
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I thought so. Ah, well.
Now I have a question concerning energy generators. According to the wiki, the EnergyOutput line is the amount of support energy produced by the generator. When reading the tacticstypes.ini file, I see that the format for the line is actually EnergyOutput (X) (Y). I assume that (Y) is the output, given that it's the larger number, and I'm wondering what the (X) value is. Does anyone know, off the top of their heads?
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"EnergyOutput- Energy output of generators. first number is the type of energy. 1 is for weapon gens, 2 is for shield generators, 3 is for engines, and 4 is for support generators. the second number is the amount of power generated every 0.1 seconds. Only Type 4(support) power is capable of filling up the reserve power cells."
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A big thanks to everyone who has answered questions for me. I think my mod is off to a solid start now.
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No probs, just keep us up to date with your mod. We get very interested in new developments. :)
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It's nothing too spectacular; I'm just modding ship classes and devices to replicate Ground Zero Games' Full Thrust tabletop space combat system (clicky (http://www.groundzerogames.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=9&id=29&Itemid=50)). It's nowhere near exact, and hopefully it'll provide something a little different from standard Nexus games. I also intend to include the Warfare mod written by Arparso in some of the missions, once I get to the point of creating them and pending permission from Arparso.
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Consider my permissions granted. ;)
However, keep in mind, that Nexus doesn't like too many ships in a mission at the same time, so it'll crash sooner or later.... perhaps implementing a hard limit concerning the number of ships to build would be a wise choice.
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Thank you, it is greatly appreciated.
My thought had been to have a set number of resource points for a given mission, and have the construction of each ship cost a certain number. That way, by adjusting the points value of the smallest ship and the maximum number of points for the mission, I would ultimately set a limit on the number of ships that could reach the battlefield. Determining points value and determining the armament of a given ship type would become easier with this method, as well, as I could simply use the Full Thrust rules for ship construction to come up with both.
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Sure, that'll work, too.
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Alright, I have a new question. This one isn't really important in any way; it's just a curiosity thing. Would anyone here happen to know how (or, for that matter, if it's even possible) to make commandos transfer ship to ship without the use of their own fragile little pods? I tried to set them to use the Datascanner's animation, and it predictably did not work.
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Probably take a little experimenting to get it right, but in theory, you should be able to script an event that will...
1) Remove the marines from their host ship (DeleteDevice).
2) Play the 'transmission' animation (Transmission).
3) Add a marine unit to the target ship (InstallDevice).
As I say, in theory you could do it in three steps. Now in a movie sequence, it shouldn't prove too difficult (fingers crossed). However, during gameplay it could well prove more troublesome.
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Hmm... That would work for transferring commandos to a friendly unit, and would it work for beaming them to an enemy ship?
Also, your mention of Cinematic vs. Actual Gameplay reminded me of an old question I thought I asked, but apparently did not - does anyone know how to set it up so that commandos have the ability to commandeer any enemy ship, say as a secondary attack?
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'bout the first one: we've been working on something similar, but I think that either never worked out or we just dropped it :P no idea, but I guess it could be done...
the second one: yes, it can be done.
first of all, you have to select the command:
Commando:=GetFreeSel();
SelectDevice(Commando, m.OwnerShip, InSet(the set of the command));
Com1:=Pick(Commando);
well... I don't know, but it's either that or this (more probably this):
Commando:=GetFreeSel();
SelectBoats(Commando,S.class=#the shipclass of the commnado ferry);
Com1:=Pick(Commando);
then, set a "Breached" rule:
> Breached
An enemy boat has breached into the ship (commando). E.location: the ship, E.ship: the boat
Like this:
Rule event Breached
E.location=M.BreachedShip&E.ship=Com1 //the one we have given earlier
:action
//and here we add the line in question
M.BreachedShip:Race:=#race_player;
(...)
:end
END
of course, this will only worked for an scripted event in particular (in theory, I would have to test this...), not as part of an ai machine, in order to do that you'll have to write a few more lines of coding, and start a whole process of debugging and all that I frankly don't feel like doing at 5:54 in the morning :P
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No worries, thanks for the detailed reply.
Hmm... What about creating a device, in an extra slot on each ship (so that it's in the dead center of the ship, and can't be fired on by anti-device weapons), and making control transfer when that device is reduced to 0 HP? Would that be any easier for allowing the capture of multiple ships than dedicating a special command to it?
Edit: Scratch that, as the center of some ships is actually outside the model itself and therefore vulnerable to anti-device weaponry as well as commandos.