While I issue Great Praise for Privateer Remake 1.2, the default asteroid fields wreck havoc with old reflexes. It does seem a bit extreme that my ship can be hit from behind by asteroids while doing 200KPS(F5 view key so I saw it coming in like a missile). Yes, I have tried modding asteroid difficulty in vegastrike.config and in the *.system files with no obvious change visable to me(unless I am doing it wrong). My search of the FS forums failed to find a how-to on asteroids.
Game PC: Just in case it is applicable, I am running the game on a Dual P4-1000, 1GB-DRAM, ATI Radeon 9600-Pro with W2K-SP4 (stripped-clean version) that benchmarks favorably with most standard P4-2.4G systems.
Question: If it even possible, could some kind soul post how/where to modify the game files to reduce asteroid density and speed?
Thanks in advance.
Asteroid Question: How To Mod?
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- Elite Hunter
- Posts: 1149
- Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 3:56 pm
- Location: Black Forest, Germany
/Privateer/units/objects/asteroids/AFieldBasePriv
is the file where a standard asteroid file is defined. I suppose, but I didn't test that you can change values here, e.g. by taking out subunit lines (should reduce density) or by changing values - don't ask me which ones. Maybe someone else knows that.
Else, try
/Privateer/sectors/Gemini
and take out the lines that niput the AFieldBasePriv - this will take away the whole asteroid field.
Both accessible with notepad. For a better overview, have a look at them with your IE.
Hope that will help a bit.
I also don't like the current asteroids - Flying through them is like russian roulette, you don't stand a chance evading the asteroids. I observed merchant orions afterburning to Nexus, asteroid from starbord, boom, merchant gone.
is the file where a standard asteroid file is defined. I suppose, but I didn't test that you can change values here, e.g. by taking out subunit lines (should reduce density) or by changing values - don't ask me which ones. Maybe someone else knows that.
Else, try
/Privateer/sectors/Gemini
and take out the lines that niput the AFieldBasePriv - this will take away the whole asteroid field.
Both accessible with notepad. For a better overview, have a look at them with your IE.
Hope that will help a bit.
I also don't like the current asteroids - Flying through them is like russian roulette, you don't stand a chance evading the asteroids. I observed merchant orions afterburning to Nexus, asteroid from starbord, boom, merchant gone.
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- Explorer
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:32 am
Dilloh, thanks for your response. It helped me understand the "asteroid" structure better.
What helped even more was another scan of all forum entries. In particular I found http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... php?t=4166 which showed me that I had not made a large enough change in asteroid difficulty setting to get the change that I wanted. Don't know how I missed this topic on my previous two scans. Think I will just blame it on being cross-eyed from too many asteroid collisions.
What helped even more was another scan of all forum entries. In particular I found http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... php?t=4166 which showed me that I had not made a large enough change in asteroid difficulty setting to get the change that I wanted. Don't know how I missed this topic on my previous two scans. Think I will just blame it on being cross-eyed from too many asteroid collisions.
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- Explorer
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:32 am
Quick Postscript: Just ran a series of quick tests for Pender's Star with asteroid difficulty settings of 0.0/0.01/0.02/0.03/etc. I can get the asteroid motion that seems reasonable to me.
Noting that lots of people seem to be arguing about what is the "correct value", I surmise that the "asteroid routine" is a background task that does not self-adjust for the host-PC (CPU speed, memory size, etc). Thus a "reasonable setting" for one PC is not reasonable for another PC. Maybe the Privateer Setup program should have a slider-bar for asteroid difficulty. Just a thought!!
Noting that lots of people seem to be arguing about what is the "correct value", I surmise that the "asteroid routine" is a background task that does not self-adjust for the host-PC (CPU speed, memory size, etc). Thus a "reasonable setting" for one PC is not reasonable for another PC. Maybe the Privateer Setup program should have a slider-bar for asteroid difficulty. Just a thought!!
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- Elite Hunter
- Posts: 1149
- Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 3:56 pm
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So if you're familiar in creating so-called masks why don't you do it? It could be a stand-alone program since there is no necessarity to implement it into the setup. PR_asteroid_tuner_by_dhague@cfo.exe?
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- Explorer
- Posts: 13
- Joined: Mon Oct 23, 2006 12:32 am
Nice recruiting try Dilloh! But I am a retired computer "hardware" engineer. I did some Algol programming in the 60s, Fortran/Ratfor in the 70s, and assembly-level device drivers for my hardware designs. I became "programmer obsolete" at Ada, C++, and the Windows GUI. My software time in the 80s and 90s could best be described as being the translater between actual programmers and ignorant managers. While I can still figure out small hacks, I think that it would take me two years of study before I could do what you suggest. By that time I suspect that it will have become appropriate to drop of the net, trash your computers, and start wearing a tin-foil hat.
and Cheery Bye
and Cheery Bye
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- Elite Hunter
- Posts: 1149
- Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 3:56 pm
- Location: Black Forest, Germany
Well I know the tunes, although I'm a little bit younger than you. There was a time I really considered studying into this direction, but I gladly kept my fingers away from it. With a laughing and a whining eye. On the one hand, you always have to keep your knowledge up to date - which eats up a lot of your free time. On the other hand, I would now have a much safer job, MUCH better payment, and I wouldn't have to work at xmas, newyear, etc.
But I'd better stop whining... Maybe someone else wants to do the program job. I'm thinking of a prog that makes modding easier, some sort of CSV editor which tells you what you're doing (e.g. unit editing: checkbox for afterburner capability), plus a foundation (as seen at bridgecommander.filefront.com) which allows you to implement a MOD without overwriting all CSVs. Advantage would be that you can easily melt several MODs without overwriting old ones.
Anybody else who would appreciate that?
But I'd better stop whining... Maybe someone else wants to do the program job. I'm thinking of a prog that makes modding easier, some sort of CSV editor which tells you what you're doing (e.g. unit editing: checkbox for afterburner capability), plus a foundation (as seen at bridgecommander.filefront.com) which allows you to implement a MOD without overwriting all CSVs. Advantage would be that you can easily melt several MODs without overwriting old ones.
Anybody else who would appreciate that?
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- The Shepherd
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i also wrote my first code in the days of punch cards but there is such a tool beta dropped this morning http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... php?t=7615 windoz and linux binaries available also GAlex's cvs_editor v2 http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... php?t=7143 either should do the job.
Enjoy the Choice
Enjoy the Choice