Modding SW3?

[StarShatter]

Haha. It's not to hard to learn
But at the moment, many of the mods overwrite the same files.
So you'd only be able to simply use one mod at a time.

Perhaps notepad++ or notepad2 can auto text stuff into the files?

I'm mostly just adding semi-balanced (Since they're endgame ships, they're by nature very powerful, and expensive) Templar styled ships atm. So if anyone likes they can incorporate it to their mods.

I don't have much LUA knowledge either (and that lolgoogletranslation of the Russian SW2 guide is hard to understand), I'm doing it like these guys are: editing the stuff which we think should do what it says it does, and then testing. And testing.

Missile stuff hardly overlaps anything so you should be able to throw my mod together with any other mod; the most likely collisions would be in Modules.xml if the other mod changes ship items (guns, systems, anything actually). m_modules.loc too but as those are descriptions it's no big deal (maybe confusion due to incorrect text). I'm still looking around PFX, there's some interesting stuff in those folders. Like if you want different coloured bullets, rail gun effects.

[Goblin Wizard]

You don't have to change any original "loc" file. Just create your own loc file and put it in ../LocData/English folder. Engine checks all these files when searching for linked text.
The same goes for script files but you have to place path to your own script file inside ../Data/Scripts/system.lst file.

@Goblin Wizard:
That does explain why the game was choking on the backups if I left them in the same folder as the originals. Don't we need to edit any include scripts though? I'll try this when i get back, gotta go eat.

@StarShatter:
You mean changing the colours on the existing textures so they stand out better? Up to you, but I don't really have a problem with the existing ones.

[Goblin Wizard]

Originally Posted by Trucidation

@Goblin Wizard:
That does explain why the game was choking on the backups if I left them in the same folder as the originals. Don't we need to edit any include scripts though? I'll try this when i get back, gotta go eat.

It depends what you want to do. In most cases you put name of the function, you want to execute, in the original script file. The function itself is inside your own script file. Check my mod. There is "gw.script" where I keep all my functions. It easier because if something goes wrong you have to check only one file.

[StarShatter]

Originally Posted by Trucidation

You mean changing the colours on the existing textures so they stand out better? Up to you, but I don't really have a problem with the existing ones.

Nah I mean SHINY, reflect more light, I've already tried to make the blues and white stand out more. And be a bit cleaner.

Also I keep may back ups in .rars... I have a 2.83gb back up of all the files now...

Originally Posted by Goblin Wizard

You don't have to change any original "loc" file. Just create your own loc file and put it in ../LocData/English folder. Engine checks all these files when searching for linked text.

Definitely trying this when I get my save up to be able to test right. Would take a bit of pressure off modding original files.



Edit: In reference to all things about ships having low HP,

Yeah they kinda do. Shield Regen on a Dragon is only 3, even when boosted by perks it isn't much (I like those perks). For my Dragon T I dropped the shields to ~300 (just testing), but ramped up the regen to 10! Cant take much damage all @ once, but in a dog fight its a hell of an advantage, It's huge armour helps. Same for my Smilodon, lots of shields. Best way to increase HP is to have a healer on your team, it has a massive effect. Shields in this game work more to protect from initial damage before a dog fight, when there is a heavy damage exchange/missiles, when in the fight, their regen will protect you a little bit more on the next pass and such, but definitely not much. That's my just opinion though.

I think a big part of survivability in this game is to not get hit, speed and pilot skill modifiers on mobility being the key factors. Obviously with all the missiles you're playing with its like squatting flies. Homing makes it kinda makes pilot skill redundant (I like missiles).

For the Excalibur T I'm planning, I was going to make it just much more agile/quick in combat, have that what makes it superior (that and 2 extra light cannons, trying to play on the Templar myths, shoots twice as fast/makes unbelievable maneuvers, and based solely on superior equips).

Lasers are not as big as a problem as particle accelerators, you cant resist them for 80% . Imo lasers SHOULD be weaker than particle accelerators and plasma weapons by default :\.

Ship re-balance community patch? lol

Another Edit: Weapons increase in power faster than ships increase in HP? The battle with the Greys and all their Shinnings caught me so off guard. I usually just put missile defense and shields in system slots :\. Maybe Prototype X/Diamond if there is a spare one.

Wait, I thought someone mentioned somewhere that particle accelerators were considered to inflict laser damage and thus affected by the %laser resist? No? Crap, in that case they need to be toned down as well. My main problem with those is that they basically hit/miss upon firing; there's no projectile travel time. I'm fine with plasmas, you can see them miss (even expert gunner pilots miss fairly often). Kinetics are just about right, but I think their gimped range also helps. I agree, weapon power overall just increases too much compared to shields/armor.

Homing on missiles is a factor but I made sure most of my modded missiles have low antijam rating, you can see enemies use AMS against them with great effect. Right now I'm not too worried about them. And, same, i also prioritise antimissile defense & shields.

I'd prefer shields to prevent recurring damage more rather than just absorb the bulk of the initial attack. Sure, it'll make enemies more annoying, but look at it from their point of view: our handful of pilots basically shoot down hundreds of them by the end of the game.

Plus you can always harvest exp on those weak pirates (I pity them...), go cache hunting, or shoot up warehouses, lol.

[StarShatter]

I tried playing with Create_flight_2 and ShipDescriptions to add in my ship to Templar fleets didn't work to well. Think I'll drop that idea for a while...

The ships just vanished from the groups haha, might have had to start a new game to get it to effect. Alternatively might have been because I was in easy mode.

Dragon texture is scary, it's brown and it's scary!

What do you think about making the blue lines and or silvery metal on the ships shinier? Or maybe just the cockpit screen?