Mods suggestion

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Thu May 21, 2009 2:30 pm

There have been a couple of questions in regards to modding and MP that have come up a few times, these are:
1. that pilots can have their own custom (imported ) ship
2. that pilots can have their own 'decal' ( clan / pilot logo type thing) on their ships.

I was wondering if ( possibly in a future game, since I think it would take a massive recoding of certain aspects of the game and mp) it would be possible for the game to check whether the customisations were somewhere in the game dir and use them, using the defaults if they weren't on the local system ( thus avoiding the 'downloading issue). Admittedly this would still add a little extra to the 'entry time' for each pilot on joining.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Thu May 21, 2009 2:33 pm

Good Question and Points worth some discussion and consideration!;)

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Thu May 21, 2009 3:08 pm

Originally posted by verbosity
There have been a couple of questions in regards to modding and MP that have come up a few times, these are:
1. that pilots can have their own custom (imported ) ship
2. that pilots can have their own 'decal' ( clan / pilot logo type thing) on their ships.

1.Yes.
2.Yes.

Everything ok

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Thu May 21, 2009 4:47 pm

Originally posted by Eclipse
Custom ships are already covered by the current engine.

yes but only by ship class, and its only visible on your local machine, my suggestion would allow pilots to have their own custom ship that would be visible in MP to other pilots ( on the criteria that the other pilots already had the texture on their machine).

With decals I'm suggestion that a fixed area of the frame texture could be treated in the same way.

Post by **Marvin** » Thu May 21, 2009 9:18 pm

With a lot of games, modded ships must be in each player's inventory ... else any player without the mod will see a default ship when in MP. It's been that way since at least Combat Flight Simulator ... nothing stranger than seeing a P-47 fly by like something out of BSG simply because you didn't have the Viper mod installed in your game folder.

Daedalao · Post by **Daedalao** » Fri May 22, 2009 1:55 am

I think that this should be limited somewhat. I've seen where this goes and as Glock is sure to point out, it's a slippery slippery slope. Also, with a lot of player made mods comes incompatibility. "Where do I find such and such mod so I can play on this server?" Also, think about the number of ships that would be based on existing IP (which is cool, however I prefer original mod content relevant to the universe I'm playing in.). Also, think about the number of polys and the texture sizes. These things kind of make me not want to have every ship in the universe flying around differently. (also, think of the eventual size of the mods)

As for the decals, I'm okay with that, but a limiting factor should be set as to the file size. (I'd say no more than 500k... less would be appropriate)

As I've said in the past I'm revamping my old website, which looks nothing like the front page... It'll be more... evochron/game oriented. Unless I can find verb I'm also willing to host mods, I've just got to get something easier to control up... With that thought, I'd be willing to be the host for a few insignia... as I have a decent hosting speed. (I can download from my remote host at ~2mb/s)...

If the game goes this way of course.

verbosity · Post by **verbosity** » Fri May 22, 2009 7:18 am

One of the reasons this has not appeared before is the reason you've given above Daedalao.

My suggestion is that these are optional, if a player already has the image/ custom ship on their hard drive ( in the game dir) then it shows up, if not then its just the in-game standard rather than the mod. This avoids any 'incompatibility' issues as well as forcing the server to do lots of big uploads...

warsign · Post by **warsign** » Fri May 22, 2009 12:17 pm

Originally posted by Marvin
With a lot of games, modded ships must be in each player's inventory ... else any player without the mod will see a default ship when in MP. It's been that way since at least Combat Flight Simulator ... nothing stranger than seeing a P-47 fly by like something out of BSG simply because you didn't have the Viper mod installed in your game folder.

If this happens, EL will be awesome. We can witness many strange things.
Awesome.

Post by **Marvin** » Fri May 22, 2009 6:34 pm

Originally posted by warsign:
If this happens, EL will be awesome.

As was, for its time, the original Combat Flight Simulator.

IIRC, the original game only offered WWII fighter aircraft (and one Sopwith Camel) for multiplay. Modders added a fleet of bombers and, next thing you knew, "bomb run" scenarios were being played daily ... with at least four virtual pilots to a side (one side doing the bombing while the other side, flying fighters, trying to shoot down the bombers).

Whenever somebody new joined the server, he/she was directed to one or more websites dedicated to CFS mods. As the community grew, more vets were available to help the new guy download and install whatever was needed to participate.

freshfish · Post by **freshfish** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:22 am

HI, i bought the game yesterday late at night and didnt even put 10 minutes in yet hah. I just printed the key reference and about ready to go in.

So forgive my hastiness in giving these suggestions, since they may or may not be in the game:

- Hire pilot for your cargo ship and protect it yourself in fighter ship.

- smuggle cargo for $ (drugs or else) in zones where cargo is prohibited, black market.

- Buying your own station, (Of various kinds) for example near an asteroid field, starting a mining operation. Hire personnel.

- mechwarrior: mercenaries-style parts salvage from blown ships and derelict installations.

MMaggio · Post by **MMaggio** » Mon May 25, 2009 12:42 am

Hi freshfish!
I think you should spend some time in the game. Some of your suggestions have been discussed at length and some already exist.
Yes, you can buy your own stations. You can buy as many as you can afford wherever they are located and yes, some are located just outside an asteroid field. But they offer more than that when you get some time in the game.
Yes you can hire other pilots as "wingmen".
ATM, there is no "smuggling". There was a discussion about "harvesting beer from a Nebula cloud", but it died a drunken death!
And last, but not least, No, this is not MechWarrior. And yes, you can recover cargo from ships you have destroyed.
Spend some time playing the game and I'm sure you'll see it has just about everything you wanted.
Hope this helps