Noob requesting Help

simple changes to entity file not showing up in game

from Sins Forums
Ok I guess I should start by saying that the last time I modded anything at all was Freelancer....  I was pretty unskilled at that...   I just goofed around with very simple things to make my single player game more fun after I had finished it:
starting credits, starting ship available was the Titan... changing out engines and stuff that was already in the game....

This should be very similar no?

I followed the steps on the beta tututorial from ironclad.... 

Named my mod "Titan" and put that directory inside the mod directory

Loaded up the game and made sure it found it... it did

Next I copied the Reference Data folder and placed it in my folder called "Titan"
I then copied and place the strings file into the main directory of my "Titan" folder.

I loaded the game and the info card is now calling the TEC battleship a "Titan" class battleship...  so far so good.
Then I went in and changed a couple of lines in the 'GAME INFO" sub-folder of the "Reference Data folder that is in my mod folder called "Titan"      in CAPITALSHIP_TECHBATTLESHIP   I changed the starting hull points to 6000 and shields to 500.... 

I load up the game and the info card is still calling it Titan.... but didn't pick up the change to the HullPoints or Shields.

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

It seems like it's loading the "strings" file from my mod directory ... but for some reason then going and loading the stock CAPITALSHIP_TECHBATTLESHIP from the stock game info folder in the main directory.... 

as an experiement I made a backup of the stock file and dropped my modded file into the stock directory...   it made my game crash.... 

I'm using notepad to edit the files....  I remember it was ok to use notepad with Freelancer files.... but not wordpad... 
any help or suggestion on what I'm doing wrong would be much appreciated...


on a side note... I've got a sudden urge to put Freelancer on this machine and play it again....  It was a game with a lot of potential....   Wish they had made a second one with all the suggested fixes.

Thanks in advance... and if you can make sense out of any of my babblings.... then an extra thank you and congratz!

modding
2,648 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
There should only be "GameInfo" folder, the "Reference Data" folder is just where the various files are kept in text form for the modding pack. So move your folders in the "Reference Data" directly to the mod folder. That should fix it. Or give you a minidump if you messed something up. ;)

Actually, if all you are going to do is edit .entity files, then I suggest simply copying ONLY the files you changed to the "GameInfo" folder of your mod. There is no need to copy yht entire GameInfo folder from the "Reference Data", that will just make your mod take longer to load since all your .entity files will be in text form instead of binary.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
You can enable logging in your user.setting file to see what went wrong.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
then I suggest simply copying ONLY the files you changed to the "GameInfo" folder of your mod. There is no need to copy yht entire GameInfo folder from the "Reference Data", that will just make your mod take longer to load since all your .entity files will be in text form instead of binary.
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Unless something has changed recently, you still need all 800-odd GameInfo files in there, you can't just have the ones you changed. This only works for the Textures folder. The unused ones can be in Binary, but they still have to be in your mods directory nonetheless.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Gah, my bad. Yes, you are correct about that... what I meant to say (and failed miserably, blame lack of sleep) is:

1. As you already said, copy the original files from the game directory - since they are already converted to binary it cuts down on loading times a lot. Then one can use the text versions of the files which need to be changed, since its impractical to convert them every time a change is made.

2. Also when making a mod its best to create a separate folder where you keep ONLY the files you have changed. For example I have a sub-folder "Changed Files" and in it the same directory structure ("GameInfo", "Mesh", "Textures" etc.) as in the mod folder. There I keep the files I edit or create, which is especially useful when you need to keep track of hundreds of alterations. Admittedly this is not necessary if you will change one or two files, but even in such cases it helps when you need to track down a bug and don't have to hunt down for that one file in a whole pile of them.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
2. Also when making a mod its best to create a separate folder where you keep ONLY the files you have changed. For example I have a sub-folder "Changed Files" and in it the same directory structure ("GameInfo", "Mesh", "Textures" etc.) as in the mod folder. There I keep the files I edit or create, which is especially useful when you need to keep track of hundreds of alterations. Admittedly this is not necessary if you will change one or two files, but even in such cases it helps when you need to track down a bug and don't have to hunt down for that one file in a whole pile of them.
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Mmm... a very good idea, I might adopt that strategy. I used to arrange by Modified, but since the new reference data for 1.03, its a bit messy. I have changed files before and after them.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
I usually just keep another folder in there called *modname* Stable, and when something doesn't go wrong I back up everything else. :p
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
Thanks for the many responses, I goofed around a bit before lack of sleep caught up with me and your instructions worked great...

Now I have another WTF moment.... LOL

All I did was increase the weapon damage numbers on the battleship, and instead of having to wait for a few levels to get a squadron of fighters I changed the starting command points...

To test out my new beefed up battleship... I started a game and went to an unexplored planet... and started attacking the misc faction that was there...

and now the WTF moment... he goes guns blazing at every single ship there... except for some reason decided to stop shooting at the flak frigit in the area... It's the strangest thing... I thought maybe it was just something glitching ... so I left and went to another planet.... same thing happened... guns blazing at every ship in the area... except when it's just a flak frigget left.... my ship won't shoot...
Except unlike the first planet I went to.... where it started shooting... but then just stopped... it wouldn't even start shooting.

It will acknowlege the attack target when you click with your mouse... and will move towards it... but then just sits there and won't shoot....

I've never really payed attention before.... but will Capital ships not shoot at flak friggets? it WILL use a special ability against it... but just won't shoot at it with any of it's weapons.