Killer's Mods: PF Thales/Escape Pod Fix/Tractor Turrets

[w03]

The internet is still down for me, but a tech guy should be coming to fix it in a day or two.

@KillerB: For the custom paint, just edit the texture file for whatever ship you want. The texture file should be in the the corresponding ship folder in units. For example, to repaint the admonisher, just edit admonisher.png in \units\admonisher.
Different sections of the ship will be unwrapped into a 2d map in the texture image. Paint over the corresponding parts with the opacity set below 100 for a paint coat.

[w03]

Updates are here!

Added tractor turret v2.0 and custom upgrade system (still a work in progress).

The custom upgrade system will require you to start a new game, sell and rebuy all of your ships, or modify the serialized.xml ship files/send them to me to be modified.

@KillerB: Could you send me your weapons_list.xml and size.txt (the one from units\subunits\size.txt)? My new copy of size.txt is filled with experimental turrets not in the mod or the game. The old one I can't find - I think it was lost when my old computer died.

I don't have the modded size.txt, so for now, if you are installing the mod, add this to size.txt:

Code: Select all

turrettractorv2.0,capshippd
turrettractorv2.0gun,capshippd

I will try to get an updated size.txt released soon.

I am sorry for the inconvenience.

[KillerB]

Updates are here!

Added tractor turret v2.0 and custom upgrade system (still a work in progress).

The custom upgrade system will require you to start a new game, sell and rebuy all of your ships, or modify the serialized.xml ship files/send them to me to be modified.

@KillerB: Could you send me your weapons_list.xml and size.txt (the one from units\subunits\size.txt)? My new copy of size.txt is filled with experimental turrets not in the mod or the game. The old one I can't find - I think it was lost when my old computer died.

I don't have the modded size.txt, so for now, if you are installing the mod, add this to size.txt:

Code: Select all

turrettractorv2.0,capshippd
turrettractorv2.0gun,capshippd

I will try to get an updated size.txt released soon.

I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Will do this weekend, and no worries...
not even online yet myself, browsing this from a library comp....I'll bring the laptop this weekend and 'pirate' the library WIFI (they're cool with it...even got a power outlet for me to plug in )

[KillerB]

The down and dirty way to do that is:

1. Hack Atlantis to have all the upgrades and ships you want as a starting point
2. Start a new game and save it
3. hack your newly saved game to give you an insane amount of cash
4. Load the edited save-game and outfit the ship
5. save the game with the desired configuration

Easier.
Make a system and a mission launching in it (e.g. by copying and editing data/sectors/Special/Modelview.system and data/mission/modelview.mission), add planets and stations as needed (e.g. Commerce Center, Trantor and Starfortress cover nearly every human vessel and upgrade, etc.), set starting cash and starting craft for the mission. Launch VS with this mission (e.g. with -D../data mission/my_test.mission) instead of main menu mission. Save if you don't want to launch it like this every time.

Those are both awesome hacks, but the whole point is that I'm trying to make it so a new player can have an option of fighting instead of trading, right outa the box without resorting to hacking his savegame etc.

[travists]

That's why I had the save it as "new_game" in there, originally. Hack once and that's the new start.

[KillerB]

WO3: here's that turretsize you wanted in the attachment below>>>

turretsize.zip

Travits: right well I'll give that a go & see

[KillerB]

The internet is still down for me, but a tech guy should be coming to fix it in a day or two.

@KillerB: For the custom paint, just edit the texture file for whatever ship you want. The texture file should be in the the corresponding ship folder in units. For example, to repaint the admonisher, just edit admonisher.png in \units\admonisher.
Different sections of the ship will be unwrapped into a 2d map in the texture image. Paint over the corresponding parts with the opacity set below 100 for a paint coat.

I don't seem to have a .png editor *shrug* any idea where to get one?

[travists]

WO3: here's that turretsize you wanted in the attachment below>>>

turretsize.zip

Travits: right well I'll give that a go & see

Check the Privateer mods, that's how they start and is quite simple to hack.

[w03]

@KillerB: Sorry to bother you again, but the turretsize.txt you sent me is the wrong document. I believe you sent turretsize.txt from .\units. That one is kind of useless, as far as I can tell, changing it has no effect on the gameplay. The one I need is size.txt from .\units\subunits\. It is in the same folder as all the turret meshes and stuff. There should be a bunch of folders like aeraturretpd and turretbeamgun, with size.txt at the bottom.

About the .png files, I forgot to tell you that the ones in VS are mostly .dds with the extension changed. A good program to use would be GIMP (another free open source editor). Here is the link: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
To edit VS image files, you also need to add this to the GIMP plugins: http://code.google.com/p/gimp-dds/downl ... p&can=2&q=

If there is anything left to work on, let me know.

[Clint_Thomas]

here are some fresh files, unadulterated. Just did full reinstall from SVN. Just remove the .txt from the weapon_list. Also the unit.csv in the killer mod crashes VS. The Killermod units.csv directory column is (./hyena), where the new unit.csv has the directories listed (./vessels/hyena). I just had to go back and correct the directory location to keep it from crashing. Attached an unmodified units.csv in case you wanted to see the difference. Again just remove the .txt from the end of the filename.

Thanks

[KillerB]

here are some fresh files, unadulterated. Just did full reinstall from SVN. Just remove the .txt from the weapon_list. Also the unit.csv in the killer mod crashes VS. The Killermod units.csv directory column is (./hyena), where the new unit.csv has the directories listed (./vessels/hyena). I just had to go back and correct the directory location to keep it from crashing. Attached an unmodified units.csv in case you wanted to see the difference. Again just remove the .txt from the end of the filename.

Thanks

Hello all....sorry for the late and short reply. RL has been taking up way too much of my time here lately...
Welcome to the Killer Mod Clint_Thomas!
Sorry to hear that the Killer Mod units.csv crashed your comp. I would appreciate some specific details about which version of VS you modded w/ the Killer Mod, which version of the Killer Mod you downloaded & your OS (Operating System).
I'm still working out of the VS 5.0 version.
My OS is Windows Vista.
My platform is a HP Pavillion/4G + 2G Video Card.
I don't experience any crashes that is any more crashes with this program & the Killer Mod than with any other graphics hungry gaming programs eg. Fallout New Vegas.

[w03]

@Clint_Thomas: I think your bugs are caused by the fact that the Killer mod is made for VS 0.50 stable release. The directories and general program of SVN are different. I can port it to SVN if you want me to.

[KillerB]

Laptop took a dive...gonna have to start over fresh once I get the thing going again, as it seems the only way to fix it is going to be a reformat & total reinstall.

On the agenda:
More Space in Space: the VS universe is almost always ridiculously crowded with ships. I think going into the Universe Python file will fix this.
Better Shopping: most of the planet types have nothing to offer in the way of commodities, weapons & upgrades. Had some luck with this before the comp died; mostly just editing the units/planet files in the units.csv; unfortunately the progress died with my laptop
Biggies That Come Apart: apparently all the ships, including the freighters and capitol ships, are monolithic (one peice). Gonna have to find a way to open the files up in something like Milkshape or Hardcmp & section the hulls off. The way the game is atm you bang away at any part of a large ship forever until the whole shebang goes up. For example, you should be able to blast one of the modules of a Yeoman and make it come apart, but alas it is not so.
Targetable Engines, Sensors, Reactors & Shield Generators: Had some luck with this a couple years ago....seems like I stuck those things into fake turrets through some subunits fenagling in the units.csv; as I recall just making them a subunit didn't make 'em show up.
Capship Armor & Reactors: the factory originals eventually die and then there are no suitable replacements for them. It was a shortcut the designers took...easier for them to just write in that the thing had a monster reactor than to 'build' that size reactor in the units.csv and master_parts_list.csv

[travists]

You may wish to keep klauss informed on your destroyable upgrades progress, this is somthing that is being kicked around for the main line.

[KillerB]

Okay, i finally got the new 5.1r1 working without crashing so now I'm experimenting with the Killer Mod again.
Got the master parts list csv to work but the new version doesn't seem to like the Killer Mod units.csv
I may have to edit that one all over.....

Found a new ammo to add to the mod: the Resignation special missile. This thing hits like a torpedo sized Dumbfire. I bought a Kiergaard and the thing came loaded with these, but reloads aren't available. Which brings up another point....my new gunboat is losing turrets, and the game won't let me replace them. It shows up as a 'damaged turret' hardpoint in the upgrades screen.

btw the Kiergaard makes an awesome big game hunter. Only drawback is a smallish cargo hold (400 m3) and I lost half my Resignations when I added a Heavy Tractor.
Which brings up another idea for the Killer Mod: make the Tractor Capability upgrade ADD a light weapon mount to stick the tractor beam gun into
Maybe another one to add a Tractor Turret mount hardpoint.....

[KillerB]

Killer Mod version 2.1 Last edited 08/23/12 by KillerB

These files are to convert Vega Strike version 5.1r1 to the Killer Mod.
This is an Alpha release, which means it has some hickups in it that the Killer Mod team is still trying to work out.

What's New:
1-Shipyards now actually SELL ships!
2-Le Condor Noire (the stealth Thales)is now sold only in Forsaken shipyards, and she has the awesome paint job that Turbo created for her.
3-Resignation ammo is now for sale at Confed bases.

Hickups:
1-Stormfire ammo now shows up in the upgrade screen, but you still can't actually buy or sell it.
2-Same thing for something called a Spacebomb.

Works in Progress:
1-Vega Strike v5.1r1 has its units.csv & master_parts_list.csv totally redone, so we had to go back to scratch to edit the Killer Mod back in.
So far we've got Contraband & the usual Yeoman/Gleaner loot re-edited so you can make a killing while you go around killing haar matey.
The Pirate Thales should be dropping some nice stuff, but I haven't had a chance to bag one yet since editing her import cargo file...
This is an Alpha after all....you are our test pilots!
2-You should be able to escape in an Escape Pod again, haven't manage to get shot down since I edited that one either *shrug*

The Killer Mod Team:
KillerB, Cat Herder
W03, Turret Mods
Turbo, Killer Paint Jobs

[KillerB]

Arrgh I can't seem to upload files anymore......

[charlieg]

Get yourself an account on www.box.com or www.dropbox.com, or even Google Drive.

[KillerB]

Killer Mod version 2.1 Last edited 08/27/12 by KillerB

These files are to convert Vega Strike version 5.1r1 to the Killer Mod.

THE KILLER MOD:
Vega Strike is an awesome space flight sim, with interactive factions, realistic dynamics and a dynamic universe.
Kudos to the Vega Strike team, but sadly the designers are apparently more merchant types than fighter pilots....
So I started cooking up some modifications to make the game more Killer friendly:
better payout on looted cargo, some ships that can loot a nice fat load of cargo instead of going back and forth and back and forth trading cargo:p
This is an Alpha release, which means it has some hickups in it that the Killer Mod team is still trying to work out.
Use this Mod at your own risk; you are your own test pilot and guinea pig!

WHAT'S NEW:
1-Shipyards now actually SELL ships!
2-Le Condor Noire (the stealth Thales)is now sold only in Forsaken shipyards, and she has the awesome paint job that Turbo created for her.
Oh, and the Forsaken shipyards have docking points now so you can actually land there and shop for new nasty toys!
3-RESIGNATION AMMO is now for sale at Confed bases.
4-The new Forsaken Light Fighter JACKAL now has a cocpit and is available for sale at Forsaken Shipyards (and asteroid shipyards...those guy's don't care who they do business with).
I took the liberty of altering her stats. She would have been a crippled old dog instead of the Wolf of Africa and Asia with the original stats:P
5-PIRATE PINYATAS-Added some nice loot to the Hyena, Plowshare, and especially the Thales XD
6-Stuck Turbo's killer stealth blackout/Pirate flag paint job on the scourge of the spaceways, the Pirate_Thales XD
7-Killer -new- CONFED REACTORS, the Pegasus mk10
8-Wicked -new- CONFED THRUSTER, the Mercury mk6
and RLAAN THRUSTER, the Ktek mk3
9-Corrected the Thales weapon ugrade that came with the 5.1r1 release (they addded 2 of those nasty capship guns but one was on top of the other)
and upgraded the Thales lineup (Pirate_Thales, Matilda, Le Condor Noire)
10-Revamped the Robin.hunter and Hyena.hunter:
Installed some weapons so you don't get that annoying "Sorry boss I can't do that" message when you order them to attack a target.
(designers neglected to give any of the cargo wingmen weapon loadouts)
Added fuel capacity & edited mass/inertia figures to factor in extra fuel mass.
11-CAPSHIP UPGRADE ARMOR: so far we have the new Thales upgrade and replacement armor 5400Mjoule/4400 tons added weight (I figured at 5% of her overall mass of 88,000Tons)
hey you *could* stick this on your Llama...you'd be almost invincible...and PRETTY MUCH IMOBILE!


INTALLATION:
Just cut & paste or copy & paste the included files into the Vega Stike folder in your computer's hard drive something like my "computer/c/program files/Vega Strike"; so far everything just sticks into the front page.


HICKUPS:
1-Stormfire ammo now shows up in the upgrade screen, but you still can't actually buy or sell it.
2-Same thing for something called a Spacebomb.
3-Designed a new shady upgrade called "Auxilliary Fuel Tank" to give light fighter pilots an option to avoid running out of gas on those long "Sweep" missions...
unfortunately, while I got the thing to show up for sale, and install, and all the other stats are correct (extra 2 tons of fuel, 2.2 tons added mass,-2 Cargo)
the extra 2 tons of fuel don't actually show up....gotta find a way to install the fuel LINE and approprite valves and solenoids apparently *shrug* *sigh*
4-Got the CLOACKING DEVICE to show up for sale as upgrades/Experimental....but I still can't install it on any of the ships I own or can buy at Watson carrier, that I've already edited with Cloacking stats eg energy consumption/cloak_min
I *think* its a prohibited upgrades problem...might've misspelled something....who knows.
For some reason we seemed to have lost the Condor cloacking stats....redid those, but still haven't found a Forsaken shipyard or asteroid shipyard to try her out.

WORKS IN PROGRESS:
1-Vega Strike v5.1r1 has its units.csv & master_parts_list.csv totally redone, so we had to go back to scratch to edit the Killer Mod back in.
So far we've got Contraband & the usual Yeoman/Gleaner loot re-edited so you can make a killing while you go around killing haar matey.
2-You should be able to escape in an Escape Pod again, haven't manageD to get shot down since I edited that one yet *shrug*
3-I think the Jackal needs a paint job...haven't managed to buy one yet to check her out, but I noticd the vessels/Jackal file doesn't have a .png in it.
4-I tried to give the new Confed Reactors & Confed/Rlaan thrusters sound effects, but no luck so far.
5-I'm trying to work out a way to make adding a bigger reactor increase your ship's thrust...which is how I wound up with the Mercury and Ktek Overdrive...
I tried just sticking in the correction factors directly but that only screwed up the stats on the Upgrade Screen...maybe a subunit link to a dummy multi_upgrade file?

STUFF THATS BUGGY IN THE 5.1r1 RELEASE:
(that I'm fairly sure I didn't break while modding....fairly sure...)
1-Gawain.confed has a Gawain Milspec package that SAYS it has a fair sized reactor...only she puts out 0 joules :O
Gawain.highborn has all the right stats for the Gawain_Milspec package...but the package doesn't show up in the Upgrades screen!
2-Weapon sounds don't always work.
3-Watson Confed carrier has a hangar deck that's too small to land even a Pacifier torpedo bomber. Anyone know how to stretch a .bfmx file?
For a temporary fix I stuck in a Docking Mount I borrowed from the Shaper Carrier Midwife (hey they'd need to be able to dock freighters with her to resupply in space).
08/27/12 2AM Okay, now she has a set of Docking Mounts running along her upper (or is it lower? hard to tell in space) deck. This really makes more sense anyway...
they don't fly jet fighters INTO an aircraft carrier. They land on the deck. Gonna have a go at sticking some landing lights on there. Made a "Watson experiment" savegame so I can peek in and see how everything goes together. BTW the new DMs are offset 2 meters above centerline and thier size is .75 meters, and the bottom edge kisses the deck.
That means its only about 3 meters from the outside top deck to the outside bottom deck...seems a little smallish for a carrier...in point of fact those .75 meter DMs take up most of the height of the inside of the deck...which means it can't be much more than 1.5 meters vertical clearance in there...I thought the Pac was bigger than that.


WISH LIST:
1-It'd be awesome if we could get some custom .png's for the Killer upgrades:
Resignation Ammo
Pegasus Reactors
Mercury Overdrive
Ktek Overdrive
Capship Armor
2-Some Killer custom paint jobs for the Hunter variant Cargo Wingman fighters. I'm thinking maybe a reddish-brown Desert Planet camo pattern with yellow & black nose/tail/wingtip markings...Killer Bee squadron markings XD
3-A better way to recover Cargo Wingmen than the current 'chase 'em down and tractor 'em in' thing we have going now. It now only takes for EVER, last time I had enough dough ingame to regularly use Cargo Wingmen, I wound up with the Privateers Faction turning enemies with me because tractoring in a ship is considered an act of war...so my wingmen started showing up Red on my scanner and spamming me with hate mail, and eventually turned against me.
What we need is an AI instruction that says "Dock Here". The code's gotta be in there somewhere waiting to be finagled...after all the NPC ships are all the time cutting in front of me when I'm trying to dock at a station! So they MUST know how to do it...we just need someone to figure out how to TELL them to dock!
4-Landing Lights: in some of the darker systems, its a mother bear to land on a station or dock with a ship. Easiest way I think would be to make a 'weapon mount' type upgrade which would mount a 'beam weapon' with a broad mesh coning out in a wide cone and 0 damage. Anyone know how to build a dummy weapon from scratch?


THE KILLER MOD TEAM
- KillerB, Cat Herder
- W03, Turret Mods
- Turbo, Killer Paint Jobs

[KillerB]

Killer Mod version 2.2 Last edited 08/30/12 by KillerB

These files are to convert Vega Strike version 5.1r1 to the Killer Mod.

THE KILLER MOD:
Vega Strike is an awesome space flight sim, with interactive factions, realistic dynamics and a dynamic universe.
Kudos to the Vega Strike team, but sadly the designers are apparently more merchant types than fighter pilots....
So I started cooking up some modifications to make the game more Killer friendly:
better payout on looted cargo, some ships that can loot a nice fat load of cargo instead of going back and forth and back and forth trading cargo:p
This is an Alpha release, which means it has some hickups in it that the Killer Mod team is still trying to work out.
Use this Mod at your own risk; you are your own test pilot and guinea pig!

WHAT'S NEW:
1-Shipyards now actually SELL ships!
2-Le Condor Noire (the stealth Thales)is now sold only in Forsaken shipyards, and she has the awesome paint job that Turbo created for her.
Oh, and the Forsaken shipyards have docking points now so you can actually land there and shop for new nasty toys!
3-RESIGNATION AMMO is now for sale at Confed bases.
4-The new Forsaken Light Fighter JACKAL now has a cocpit and is available for sale at Forsaken Shipyards (and asteroid shipyards...those guy's don't care who they do business with).
I took the liberty of altering her stats. She would have been a crippled old dog instead of the Wolf of Africa and Asia with the original stats:P
5-PIRATE PINYATAS-Added some nice loot to the Hyena, Plowshare, and especially the Thales XD
6-Stuck Turbo's killer stealth blackout/Pirate flag paint job on the scourge of the spaceways, the Pirate_Thales XD
7-Killer -new- CONFED REACTORS, the Pegasus mk10
8-Wicked -new- CONFED THRUSTER, the Mercury mk6
and RLAAN THRUSTER, the Ktek mk3
9-Corrected the Thales weapon ugrade that came with the 5.1r1 release (they addded 2 of those nasty capship guns but one was on top of the other)
and upgraded the Thales lineup (Pirate_Thales, Matilda, Le Condor Noire) to match.
10-Revamped the Robin.hunter and Hyena.hunter:
Installed some weapons so you don't get that annoying "Sorry boss I can't do that" message when you order them to attack a target.
(designers neglected to give any of the cargo wingmen weapon loadouts)
Added fuel capacity & edited mass/inertia figures to factor in extra fuel mass.
11-CAPSHIP UPGRADE ARMOR: so far we have the new Thales upgrade and replacement armor 5400Mjoule/4400 tons added weight (I figured at 5% of her overall mass of 88,000Tons)
hey you *could* stick this on your Llama...you'd be almost invincible...and PRETTY MUCH IMOBILE!
12-CAPSHIP UPGRADE REACTOR: Stingray v1 upgrade reactor for the Thales corvette XD approximately 25% bigger.
13-Resized Thales upgrade space from 600 to 6000. She's a light capship not a heavy fighter after all.
14-Resized the Stock Reactor lineup (had made the Stingray ~ 4 times bigger than the mkXV...then noticed that even though I had upsized the Thales upgrade space by a factor of
ten, not only didn't the Stingray fit but not even the mkXV...looked at the power increase curve vs the volume curve and decided that the VS designers really didn't plan for people to use capships in combat...just trade).
15-CAPSHIP WEAPONS AND AMMO
Now you can upgrade that good used Andolian corvette you bought from a reputable dealer at a commerce center, shipyard, or Ice Planet! Or from a not so reputable dealer at an asteroid shipyard or Forsaken shipyard...
16-SHOP AROUND
FACTORIES turn out heavy weapons and ammo, so they have the best prices on 'em; they also have the biggest inventories.
COMMERCE CENTERS are the middlemen, so they have mid-range prices.
CARRIERS/FIGHTER BARRACKS are the end users, so they tend to charge a little bit more.
17-THALES UPGRADE OVERDRIVE: the Predator Overdrive from Forsaken Industries LLC delivers predatory performance. By vectoring exhaust gases from a secondary breeder reactor, the Predator boosts the turning jets, allowing your reconditioned Andolian corvette to swoop on her prey like a bird of prey. The Predator installation also includes auxilliary vertical and horizontal thruster nozzles and an overboosted thrust reverser. All of this comes at a cost of course; after all this overhaul requires extensive labor intensive refitting and those Astrotech Union technicians don't work cheap! The Predator weighs in at 800 tons and takes up 150 m3 of upgrade volume, but will pay for itself in one or two good "salvage" operations ya pirate you!
18-Worked in downscaled thrust vectoring into the Mercury and Ktek Overdrives.
19-GAUSS AMMO (which is honestly the main gun for the Leonidas preloaded with enough ammo to last a lifetime) now costs 32 million credits, takes up 180 upgrade space and wieghs a cool 45,000 tons (15,ooo for the ammo and the other 30000 for the big honkin gun). So nobody is sticking that sucker in a Robin now! Unless they don't care if they can move or not....it'll still fit into the Thales but barely and uses a gawdaful amouont of energy, so you pretty much have to fire just this thing if you wanna get off more than 2 or 3 shots before bleeding even a Condor Cap dry. And it really cuts into the performance edge of that Predator overdrive cause the manuevering inertia goes up too.
20-RESIGNATION AMMO now takes up 20 upgrade space and weighs 4 tons, so you can't fit it in a Robin, though it'll still shoehorn into a Pac if she isn't overloaded w/ upgrades.



INTALLATION:
Just cut & paste or copy & paste the included files into the Vega Stike folder in your computer's hard drive something like my "computer/c/program files/Vega Strike"; so far everything just sticks into the front page.


HICKUPS:
1-Stormfire ammo now shows up in the upgrade screen, but you still can't actually buy or sell it.
2-Same thing for something called a Spacebomb.
3-Designed a new shady upgrade called "Auxilliary Fuel Tank" to give light fighter pilots an option to avoid running out of gas on those long "Sweep" missions...
unfortunately, while I got the thing to show up for sale, and install, and all the other stats are correct (extra 2 tons of fuel, 2.2 tons added mass,-2 Cargo)
the extra 2 tons of fuel don't actually show up....gotta find a way to install the fuel LINE and approprite valves and solenoids apparently *shrug* *sigh*
4-Got the CLOACKING DEVICE to show up for sale as upgrades/Experimental....but I still can't install it on any of the ships I own or can buy at Watson carrier, that I've already edited with Cloacking stats eg energy consumption/cloak_min
I *think* its a prohibited upgrades problem...might've misspelled something....who knows.
For some reason we seemed to have lost the Condor cloacking stats....redid those, but still haven't found a Forsaken shipyard or asteroid shipyard to try her out.
5-Designed another shady called SPEC Ballast to dampen those annoying yo-yo autopilot flybys...gotta figure out where I got the stats fubarred...shows up as a 99% reduction in mass instead of increasing the Warp Cost by a factor of 10.

WORKS IN PROGRESS:
1-Vega Strike v5.1r1 has its units.csv & master_parts_list.csv totally redone, so we had to go back to scratch to edit the Killer Mod back in.
So far we've got Contraband & the usual Yeoman/Gleaner loot re-edited so you can make a killing while you go around killing haar matey.
2-You should be able to escape in an Escape Pod again, haven't manageD to get shot down since I edited that one yet *shrug*
3-I think the Jackal needs a paint job...haven't managed to buy one yet to check her out, but I noticd the vessels/Jackal file doesn't have a .png in it.
4-I tried to give the new Confed Reactors & Confed/Rlaan thrusters sound effects, but no luck so far.
5-I'm trying to work out a way to make adding a bigger reactor increase your ship's thrust...which is how I wound up with the Mercury and Ktek Overdrive...
I tried just sticking in the correction factors directly but that only screwed up the stats on the Upgrade Screen...maybe a subunit link to a dummy multi_upgrade file?
6-THALES.STOCK WEAPONS:
TURRETS: only the turret pd's show up to sell. Seems to be an issue of missing listings in the Master_Part_List.csv



STUFF THATS BUGGY IN THE 5.1r1 RELEASE:
(that I'm fairly sure I didn't break while modding....fairly sure...)
1-Gawain.confed has a Gawain Milspec package that SAYS it has a fair sized reactor...only she puts out 0 joules :O
Gawain.highborn has all the right stats for the Gawain_Milspec package...but the package doesn't show up in the Upgrades screen!
2-Weapon sounds don't always work.
3-Watson Confed carrier has a hangar deck that's too small to land even a Pacifier torpedo bomber. Anyone know how to stretch a .bfmx file?
For a temporary fix I stuck in a Docking Mount I borrowed from the Shaper Carrier Midwife (hey they'd need to be able to dock freighters with her to resupply in space).
08/27/12 2AM: Okay, now she has a set of Docking Mounts running along her upper (or is it lower? hard to tell in space) deck. This really makes more sense anyway...
they don't fly jet fighters INTO an aircraft carrier. They land on the deck. Gonna have a go at sticking some landing lights on there. Made a "Watson experiment" savegame so I can peek in and see how everything goes together. BTW the new DMs are offset 2 meters above centerline and thier size is .75 meters, and the bottom edge kisses the deck.
That means its only about 3 meters from the outside top deck to the outside bottom deck...seems a little smallish for a carrier...in point of fact those .75 meter DMs take up most of the height of the inside of the deck...which means it can't be much more than 1.5 meters vertical clearance in there...I thought the Pac was bigger than that. Oh that's right...she is...she scraped the ceiling and got stuck:P


WISH LIST:
1-It'd be awesome if we could get some custom .png's for the Killer upgrades:
Resignation Ammo
Pegasus Reactors
Mercury Overdrive
Ktek Overdrive
Capship Armor
Stingray Reactor
Predator Overdrive
2-Some Killer custom paint jobs for the Hunter variant Cargo Wingman fighters. I'm thinking maybe a reddish-brown Desert Planet camo pattern with yellow & black nose/tail/wingtip markings...Killer Bee squadron markings XD
3-A better way to recover Cargo Wingmen than the current 'chase 'em down and tractor 'em in' thing we have going now. It not only takes for EVER, last time I had enough dough ingame to regularly use Cargo Wingmen, I wound up with the Privateers Faction turning enemies with me because tractoring in a ship is considered an act of war...so my wingmen started showing up Red on my scanner and spamming me with hate mail, and eventually turned against me.
What we need is an AI instruction that says "Dock Here". The code's gotta be in there somewhere waiting to be finagled...after all the NPC ships are all the time cutting in front of me when I'm trying to dock at a station! So they MUST know how to do it...we just need someone to figure out how to TELL them to dock!
4-Landing Lights: in some of the darker systems, its a mother bear to land on a station or dock with a ship. Easiest way I think would be to make a 'weapon mount' type upgrade which would mount a 'beam weapon' with a broad mesh coning out in a wide cone and 0 damage. Anyone know how to build a dummy weapon from scratch?
5-WATSON CARRIER:
a)Could use some landing deck stripes painted along her new topside heavy fighter landing strip and underside freighter landing strip.
b)Landing beacons for same.
c)Gantries installed on her new underside freighter landing strip.
6-SMARTER TURRET AI'S: atm the quickest way to PO factions randomly is to turn your turrets on FAW in a crowded space, or really to use them at all if there are any non-hostiles anywhere nearby. This seems to be because:
a)The turrets will fire even if the intended target is nowhere near thier gunpipper.
b)The idiots usually keep shooting after the target is destroyed.
I think they really just need a simple little code add-in that says, "don't shoot if you don't have the target in your crosshairs". Anybody know how to write that?


THE KILLER MOD TEAM
- KillerB, Cat Herder
- W03, Turret Mods
- Turbo, Killer Paint Jobs

[w03]

Hello Killer, nice to see ya back.

I think I can fix most of the hiccups with stormfire ammo and such.

The Watson fix is good as is, i think, because although I can stretch the .bfxm, i'll need to do the same to the shield mesh, and the textures will look awkward.

I can make the landing lights, but I'm not sure if they will actually light up anything. I believe only the texture of an installation/vessel/planet and the light from whatever star(s) are in the system affect brightness. Perhaps it is easier to just paint bright spots to indicate docking points.

I'll see what I can do with the bugs and wishlist. Milspec ships have always seemed a bit troublesome though.

For version changes, it might be a good idea to copy all your lines of changed or new code into a new .xml/.csv file. That way we can just copy/paste + reformat whenever there is a new release.

Its fairly astounding to see how much your mod has grown from the initial fixes with some cargo prices and ejection pods!

w03

Also, where do I get the mod files? I can't find them in the thread. Thanks in advance.

[KillerB]

@W03: Thanks buddy
I'm having trouble uploading files atm. Phoenixstorm is on it though. Hang in there a bit.
re Watson: Actually I've been kicking around an idea for a new carrier.
What I have in mind is to take the angled flight deck of a 'modern' real world aircraft carrier eg. CVN America, and use that for both the 'top' and the 'bottom';
The angled flight decks would have Docking Points running along them and landing lights. The smaller 'forward' launching deck would coincide with a pair of 'special missile' launchers loaded with whatever faction fighters & bombers.
Being all asymmetrical and all I'm thinking this should be an Unadorned built ship.

There must be a way to make landing lights, 'cause some of the bases have 'em. The factory I landed at yesterday had a couple of small landing strips which each had a line of lights & a big grappler around the docking mount.



PROGRESS REPORT
Killer Mod version 2.3 Last edited 09/04/12 by KillerB

These files are to convert Vega Strike version 5.1r1 to the Killer Mod.

THE KILLER MOD:
Vega Strike is an awesome space flight sim, with interactive factions, realistic dynamics and a dynamic universe.
Kudos to the Vega Strike team, but sadly the designers are apparently more merchant types than fighter pilots....
So I started cooking up some modifications to make the game more Killer friendly:
better payout on looted cargo, some ships that can loot a nice fat load of cargo instead of going back and forth and back and forth trading cargo:p
This is an Alpha release, which means it has some hickups in it that the Killer Mod team is still trying to work out.
Use this Mod at your own risk; you are your own test pilot and guinea pig!

WHAT'S NEW:
1-Shipyards now actually SELL ships!
2-Le Condor Noire (the stealth Thales)is now sold only in Forsaken shipyards, and she has the awesome paint job that Turbo created for her.
Oh, and the Forsaken shipyards have docking points now so you can actually land there and shop for new nasty toys!
3-RESIGNATION AMMO is now for sale at Confed bases.
4-The new Forsaken Light Fighter JACKAL now has a cocpit and is available for sale at Forsaken Shipyards (and asteroid shipyards...those guy's don't care who they do business with).
I took the liberty of altering her stats. She would have been a crippled old dog instead of the Wolf of Africa and Asia with the original stats:P
09/04/12 oops shoulda test flown her before messing with her stats...gotta find an original copy of Units.csv and put everything back. Things insanely uber now...
5-PIRATE PINYATAS -Added some nice loot to the Hyena, Plowshare, and especially the Thales XD
6-Stuck Turbo's killer stealth blackout/Pirate flag paint job on the scourge of the spaceways, the Pirate_Thales XD
7-Killer -new- CONFED REACTORS, the Pegasus mk10
8-Wicked -new- CONFED THRUSTER, the Mercury mk6
and RLAAN THRUSTER, the Ktek mk3
9-Corrected the Thales weapon ugrade that came with the 5.1r1 release (they added 2 of those nasty capship guns but one was on top of the other)
and upgraded the Thales lineup (Pirate_Thales, Matilda, Le Condor Noire) to match.
10-Revamped the Robin.hunter and Hyena.hunter:
Installed some weapons so you don't get that annoying "Sorry boss I can't do that" message when you order them to attack a target.
(designers neglected to give any of the cargo wingmen weapon loadouts)
Added fuel capacity & edited mass/inertia figures to factor in extra fuel mass.
11-CAPSHIP UPGRADE ARMOR: so far we have the new Thales upgrade and replacement armor 5400Mjoule/4400 tons added weight (I figured at 5% of her overall mass of 88,000Tons)
hey you *could* stick this on your Llama...you'd be almost invincible...and PRETTY MUCH IMOBILE!
12-CAPSHIP UPGRADE REACTOR: Stingray v1 upgrade reactor for the Thales corvette XD approximately 25% bigger.
13-Resized Thales upgrade space from 600 to 6000. She's a light capship not a heavy fighter after all.
14-Resized the Stock Reactor lineup (had made the Stingray ~ 4 times bigger than the mkXV...then noticed that even though I had upsized the Thales upgrade space by a factor of
ten, not only didn't the Stingray fit but not even the mkXV...looked at the power increase curve vs the volume curve and decided that the VS designers really didn't plan for people to use capships in combat...just trade).
15-CAPSHIP WEAPONS AND AMMO
Now you can upgrade that good used Andolian corvette you bought from a reputable dealer at a commerce center, shipyard, or Ice Planet! Or from a not so reputable dealer at an asteroid shipyard or Forsaken shipyard...
16-SHOP AROUND
FACTORIES turn out heavy weapons and ammo, so they have the best prices on 'em; they also have the biggest inventories.
COMMERCE CENTERS are the middlemen, so they have mid-range prices.
CARRIERS/FIGHTER BARRACKS are the end users, so they tend to charge a little bit more.
Rlaan & Aera turrets can be found at any of these, but they're scarcer and more expensive at bases & ships not owned by the faction producing them (reconditioned captured units or trade-ins).
17-THALES UPGRADE OVERDRIVE: the Predator Overdrive from Forsaken Industries LLC delivers predatory performance. By vectoring exhaust gases from a secondary breeder reactor, the Predator boosts the turning jets, allowing your reconditioned Andolian corvette to swoop on her prey like a bird of prey. The Predator installation also includes auxilliary vertical and horizontal thruster nozzles and an overboosted thrust reverser. All of this comes at a cost of course; after all this overhaul requires extensive labor intensive refitting and those Astrotech Union technicians don't work cheap! The Predator weighs in at 800 tons and takes up 150 m3 of upgrade volume, but will pay for itself in one or two good "salvage" operations ya pirate you!
18-Worked in downscaled thrust vectoring into the Mercury and Ktek Overdrives.
19-GAUSS AMMO (which is honestly the main gun for the Leonidas preloaded with enough ammo to last a lifetime) now costs 32 million credits, takes up 180 upgrade space and wieghs a cool 45,000 tons (15,ooo for the ammo and the other 30000 for the big honkin gun). So nobody is sticking that sucker in a Robin now! Unless they don't care if they can move or not....it'll still fit into the Thales but barely and uses a gawdaful amouont of energy, so you pretty much have to fire just this thing if you wanna get off more than 2 or 3 shots before bleeding even a Condor Cap dry. And it really cuts into the performance edge of that Predator overdrive cause the manuevering inertia goes up too.
20-RESIGNATION AMMO now takes up 20 upgrade space and weighs 4 tons, so you can't fit it in a Robin, though it'll still shoehorn into a Pac if she isn't overloaded w/ upgrades.
21-Updated the size notepad in Units/Subunits so all the turrets in a Thales can be upgraded XD Mine has Rlaan 'mini-turrets'(ironically this is a Medium turret but they're the biggest ones on my ship) where the turret_120's were; cappship pd longs swapped out for the flackturret_90's; Aerapd's where the turretpd's used to be now.
22-Edited the Ox's docking points so that you can dock 2 Oxen nose to nose, or bring in your Thales at a 90 degree angle and dock with an Ox, if you're verrrrry careful.
23-Built a TRACTOR TURRET to fit in the turret_120 slots of a Thales (or any other ship that uses a 'medium' turret. 09/04/12 ooops it quit working....
24-Stuck some loot in the Aera fighters. While I was at it I convinced the Captains of the Confed carriers to pay a premium for contraband delivered into thier 'safekeeping'.
25-Aera fighters drop Aera Contraband now, & Confed carriers pay extra for it! Sort of a standing bounty on the Horse People of the Apocalypse XD
26-Installed tractor beams in the VIGILENCE & beefed up her upgrade space so you can refit her with replacement reactors etc like the Thales as she gets shot up.


INSTALLATION:
Just cut & paste or copy & paste the included files into the Vega Stike folder in your computer's hard drive something like my "computer/c/program files/Vega Strike"; so far everything just sticks into the front page.


HICKUPS:
1-Stormfire ammo now shows up in the upgrade screen, but you still can't actually buy or sell it.
2-Same thing for something called a Spacebomb.
3-Designed a new shady upgrade called "Auxilliary Fuel Tank" to give light fighter pilots an option to avoid running out of gas on those long "Sweep" missions...
unfortunately, while I got the thing to show up for sale, and install, and all the other stats are correct (extra 2 tons of fuel, 2.2 tons added mass,-2 Cargo)
the extra 2 tons of fuel don't actually show up....gotta find a way to install the fuel LINE and approprite valves and solenoids apparently *shrug* *sigh*
4-Got the CLOACKING DEVICE to show up for sale as upgrades/Experimental....but I still can't install it on any of the ships I own or can buy at Watson carrier, that I've already edited with Cloacking stats eg energy consumption/cloak_min
I *think* its a prohibited upgrades problem...might've misspelled something....who knows.
For some reason we seemed to have lost the Condor cloacking stats....redid those, but still haven't found a Forsaken shipyard or asteroid shipyard to try her out.
5-Designed another shady called SPEC Ballast to dampen those annoying yo-yo autopilot flybys...gotta figure out where I got the stats fubarred...shows up as a 99% reduction in mass instead of increasing the Warp Cost by a factor of 10.
6-Built a copy of the Tractor Turret which worked fine for a while but now i can't install it in any of the biggies I own (Thales.stock, Matilda, Mule, Kierkegaard). Seem to have lost it when I built another turret called Jackhammer Turret.

WORKS IN PROGRESS:
1-Vega Strike v5.1r1 has its units.csv & master_parts_list.csv totally redone, so we had to go back to scratch to edit the Killer Mod back in.
So far we've got Contraband & the usual Yeoman/Gleaner loot re-edited so you can make a killing while you go around killing haar matey.
2-You should be able to escape in an Escape Pod again, haven't manageD to get shot down since I edited that one yet *shrug*
3-I think the Jackal needs a paint job...haven't managed to buy one yet to check her out, but I noticd the vessels/Jackal file doesn't have a .png in it. 09/02/12 wrong about that...bought one aboard a Forsaken Gleaner. The Jackal has a killer paint job. Wrong about her stats too. Even after I put the originals back in she's way too Uber. Turns out her mass is only 24 tons. Which imho is way too light/ the tiny Derivative weighs in 40 tons heavier.
4-I tried to give the new Confed Reactors & Confed/Rlaan thrusters sound effects, but no luck so far.
5-I'm trying to work out a way to make adding a bigger reactor increase your ship's thrust...which is how I wound up with the Mercury and Ktek Overdrive...
I tried just sticking in the correction factors directly but that only screwed up the stats on the Upgrade Screen...maybe a subunit link to a dummy multi_upgrade file?
6-THALES.STOCK WEAPONS:
TURRETS: only the turret pd's show up to sell. Seems to be an issue of missing listings in the Master_Part_List.csv
Tractor Turret only works in manual mode "[" key to enter turret. Even made a custom AI called 'Loot' that targets:
Inert
Cargo
Torpedo
Missile
Bomb
(the last 3 so it will try to catch 'em before they detonate/ have accidentally caught missiles with regular tractor beam guns before...figure it can't hurt)
Gonna try taking out the color feature in the tractor turret's bfmx files next...I've noticed that turrets won't fire at neutral (yellow) or friendly (green), even when you use TCNT and shift P to order them to. Maybe if we make it color blind it won't know the difference.



STUFF THATS BUGGY IN THE 5.1r1 RELEASE:
(that I'm fairly sure I didn't break while modding....fairly sure...)
1-Gawain.confed has a Gawain Milspec package that SAYS it has a fair sized reactor...only she puts out 0 joules :O
Gawain.highborn has all the right stats for the Gawain_Milspec package...but the package doesn't show up in the Upgrades screen!
2-Weapon sounds don't always work.
3-Watson Confed carrier has a hangar deck that's too small to land even a Pacifier torpedo bomber. Anyone know how to stretch a .bfmx file?
For a temporary fix I stuck in a Docking Mount I borrowed from the Shaper Carrier Midwife (hey they'd need to be able to dock freighters with her to resupply in space).
08/27/12 2AM: Okay, now she has a set of Docking Mounts running along her upper (or is it lower? hard to tell in space) deck. This really makes more sense anyway...
they don't fly jet fighters INTO an aircraft carrier. They land on the deck. Gonna have a go at sticking some landing lights on there. Made a "Watson experiment" savegame so I can peek in and see how everything goes together. BTW the new DMs are offset 2 meters above centerline and thier size is .75 meters, and the bottom edge kisses the deck.
That means its only about 3 meters from the outside top deck to the outside bottom deck...seems a little smallish for a carrier...in point of fact those .75 meter DMs take up most of the height of the inside of the deck...which means it can't be much more than 1.5 meters vertical clearance in there...I thought the Pac was bigger than that. Oh that's right...she is...she scraped the ceiling and got stuck:P


WISH LIST:
1-It'd be awesome if we could get some custom .png's for the Killer upgrades:
Resignation Ammo
Pegasus Reactors
Mercury Overdrive
Ktek Overdrive
Capship Armor
Stingray Reactor
Predator Overdrive
2-Some Killer custom paint jobs for the Hunter variant Cargo Wingman fighters. I'm thinking maybe a reddish-brown Desert Planet camo pattern with yellow & black nose/tail/wingtip markings...Killer Bee squadron markings XD
3-A better way to recover Cargo Wingmen than the current 'chase 'em down and tractor 'em in' thing we have going now. It not only takes for EVER, last time I had enough dough ingame to regularly use Cargo Wingmen, I wound up with the Privateers Faction turning enemies with me because tractoring in a ship is considered an act of war...so my wingmen started showing up Red on my scanner and spamming me with hate mail, and eventually turned against me.
What we need is an AI instruction that says "Dock Here". The code's gotta be in there somewhere waiting to be finagled...after all the NPC ships are all the time cutting in front of me when I'm trying to dock at a station! So they MUST know how to do it...we just need someone to figure out how to TELL them to dock!
4-Landing Lights: in some of the darker systems, its a mother bear to land on a station or dock with a ship. Easiest way I think would be to make a 'weapon mount' type upgrade which would mount a 'beam weapon' with a broad mesh coning out in a wide cone and 0 damage. Anyone know how to build a dummy weapon from scratch?
5-WATSON CARRIER:
a)Could use some landing deck stripes painted along her new topside heavy fighter landing strip and underside freighter landing strip.
b)Landing beacons for same.
c)Gantries installed on her new underside freighter landing strip.
6-SMARTER TURRET AI'S: atm the quickest way to PO factions randomly is to turn your turrets on FAW in a crowded space, or really to use them at all if there are any non-hostiles anywhere nearby. This seems to be because:
a)The turrets will fire even if the intended target is nowhere near thier gunpipper.
b)The idiots usually keep shooting after the target is destroyed.
I think they really just need a simple little code add-in that says, "don't shoot if you don't have the target in your crosshairs". Anybody know how to write that?


THE KILLER MOD TEAM
- KillerB, Cat Herder
- W03, Turret Mods
- Turbo, Killer Paint Jobs

[w03]

Landing lights are fairly easy to make but it requires some model editing.

Thales mounts a capship disruptor and some flak turrets, unless you changed the weapons on it, so to fix the weapons simply add this to master_parts_list.csv (add descriptions/weapon images though)

Code: Select all

"capship_disruptor","upgrades/Weapons/Capship",0,0.01,1,"@upgrades/heavy.image@Description"
"turret_120","upgrades/Weapons/Turrets",0,0.1,1,"@upgrades/turret_medium.image@Description"
"turretflak","upgrades/Weapons/Turrets",0,0.1,1,"@upgrades/turret_medium.image@Description"
"turretflak_120","upgrades/Weapons/Turrets",0,0.1,1,"@upgrades/turret_medium.image@Description"
"turretflak_90","upgrades/Weapons/Turrets",0,0.1,1,"@upgrades/turret_medium.image@Description"

[KillerB]

Thanks w03, saved that to my scratch sheet to work in later.

Since the last update, we now have Razor and Reaper ripoffs:

29-RIPPER CONFED LIGHT GUN: I always wanted a downsized version of the Razor for use in fighters with light gun mounts. Now we have one! Damage is half that of the Razor; refire is 8 shots/second vs 5. Packs 500 rounds in a light hardpoint (my testbed).
30-REAPER now has longer range and a slightly higher refire rate. I had always wanted one of these until I bought one...and found it inferior to the Razor (with the original refire rate it had much lower damage per second in spite of being a heavier weapon and using much more energy).
31-Busy day today! Also built a capship-light sized Reaper knock-off, the REAVER antimatter cannon...AND a capship-heavy version, the RAPTOR antimatter cannon! Flight tested the Reaver on my Vigilance. Nice killing power. Really sucks down that big fat capacitor though! Haven't had it up against anything big yet, but my Vigilance eats Nicanders alive! When I actually manage to hit them that is...this thing is really more for large targets.
updated: took Matilda out w/ 3 Raptor Cannon 2 Reaper Cannon weapon loadout on a bounty mission on a Thales. Daddy likes! Well worth the expensive ammo for this kinda killin' power XD
Took out my Robin with 3 Rippers on a Nicander bounty. Didn't even touch the Stormfire & IFF missile loadout. Like the Razor, they're tricky to hit with, but when they connect its TKO in a couple of bursts. The high refire helps some, though like the Stormfire, you'll find yourself RTB for a reload on those long Sweep missions. Rippers rip through thier 500 round magazine rat quick y'all!

So now the Confed Weapons lineup for 'hybrid' guns is:
Ripper light mount autocannon
Razor mediuim mount autocannon
Reaper heavy mount cannon
Reaver light-capship cannon
Raptor heavy-capship cannon

-and-

32-VIGILANT CAPSHIP ARMOR: upgrade replacement for the armor that comes with the Vigilance. 7020 all around; 6600 tons. Works on the Thales lineup too, if you don't mind the extra 2200 tons over the Corvette Armor upgrade.

[KillerB]

weapon_list.zip

Okay don't use this one now, it has been updated (see upload on page 5 for the new version)