[MOD]DeadAir Mods

[DeadAirRT]

Is anyone else having an issue where there are a whole lot of dark sectors, with no backgrounds and no light sources?

Saw your post on nexus.

If the sectors have no skybox, light, background it means that the assets aren't being loaded. Most likely due to filepath of mod.

What operating system are you on?
Where is mod located? (full drive filepath)

[Misunderstood Wookie]

There is a well known issue for win7 and 8 and some win 10 configurations where if a mod is not in the games root folder under assets it does things like this and cannot find the mod or use assets.

For some packing file into a catalog resolves but tbh it would be much better if everyone just installed everything to the root to begin with to avoid errors.

This is a good idea because the documents folder is a protected user folder and some users likely don't have or have not given the permission for the game process to access more sub folders than the game initlsly sets up for itself I could be wrong on this.

A solution tho if savvy enough is to symlink the extension folder into the root then you can keep the extensions folder anywhere you want in any drive.

Symlink are symbolic to the operation system and it reads any linked files or paths as it narivelly placed into the location of the link.

Sys operators use them all the time get around situations where you want to move a lot of user files into one server but retain system path access.

[kmunoz]

Normally I would put mods in the correct (application) extensions directory, but I was using Vortex for this one, which doesn't have an option to put the mod anywhere other than the documents directory.

[Misunderstood Wookie]

Normally I would put mods in the correct (application) extensions directory, but I was using Vortex for this one, which doesn't have an option to put the mod anywhere other than the documents directory.

My Vortex did that recently as well very annoying but you know what I did, I copied it all back to the games root after install.
Another way to do that is to use the same trick Vortex does with a hard link back to the extension folder in your Documents.
It as Vortex is not using some magic to make these links and storage the files somewhere else no they are using what is called an mklink

This allows a file to be located anywhere on any drive/ network location and creating various kinds of links to it which the OS will interpret the location of the link as all those files existing in the location of the link the software has no idea the files are located anywhere else and it also gets around a lot of permission issues so it is widely used on domain servers to give access to various folders without sharing the entire path which may req access to several or more servers and becomes a security risk when you can just symbolic link all you need back to the Domain Server and call it a night without setting up any access to anything the path the links are kept in.

If you are not comfy doing this manually you can use tools to make links http://schinagl.priv.at/nt/hardlinkshel ... nsion.html which is what I use or https://sourceforge.net/projects/symlink-creator/
Vortex makes those links for you already even when it installs them into your Docs folder just copy whole extension folder to the root of X4 and delete the one in the Docs it will not take any more space or use any space on the drive X4 unless you have Vortex saving it's downloaded mods to the same drive.

Alternatively, you can be a bit savvier and use mklink to create a mirror link in which you can keep your files in the docs folder but have it update the links in your X4 Root for new files.
The most simple way tho would be too Symbolic link the docs extension folder into the ROOT of X4 which will work around all the issues as X4 will have no idea your mods are in Doc as far as the application is concerned they are loading from the root path and you will never have to worry about permissions to the Docs folder as it will use the system user which has access to everything anyway.

Hope that helps.

[kmunoz]

That's a great idea, I'll definitely set that up. Thanks for the suggestion!

[Misunderstood Wookie]

That's a great idea, I'll definitely set that up. Thanks for the suggestion!

Quickest fix I did was just move the whole folder of what Vortex installed (Extensions) in your Doc X4 save folder back into the X4 root they will still work the symbolic links get created my Vortex and so it makes no difference where it installs too provided you have the mirror file enabled which is the MKLINK and that is what it does by default anyway asks when you set up your mod install location.

Otherwise, you will have mods in two locations and X4 does not like this, so just move them all which are all 0kb file anyway as it is just a special shortcut or attempt to fix Vortex as mine used to install them into the Root of X4 then one day it moved them to Docs

[DeadAirRT]

Coming soon:
HAT/ALI/SCA/MIN have full economies and faction logic.
HAT/ALI/SCA have their own shipyard/wharf and assortment of blueprints.
6 new sectors (they still all look the same )
Complete rewrite of all the jobs.
Plunder ships are no longer spawned but built at a shipyard/wharf.
Changed faction colors for easier differentiation on map.
Replaced all superhighway gates in multi sector clusters with actual gates.

Unfortunately, this requires a new game. Anyone interested in helping to test?

[XTC0R]

Unfortunately, this requires a new game. Anyone interested in helping to test?

I could test 6-8h on Saturday. Any specific I should test?

[laseraces]

For the life of me i cannot figure out if this mod is actually running for me. Cant seem to find any new sectors

Is there a good known link between 2 sectors that could be used to test if its working on an install? Is the continued existence of superhighways enough of an indicator it didnt load?
ex, the sector overview you posted shows Argon P->Second Contact II Flashpoint->Sayas Choice->Litany
is Says and litany not being between SCIIFP and TS an indicator the gates didnt get rearranged?

this games finickyness with modding is driving me nuts(win 7 so i constantly have to deal with the packing)

[Misunderstood Wookie]

For the life of me i cannot figure out if this mod is actually running for me. Cant seem to find any new sectors

Is there a good known link between 2 sectors that could be used to test if its working on an install? Is the continued existence of superhighways enough of an indicator it didnt load?
ex, the sector overview you posted shows Argon P->Second Contact II Flashpoint->Sayas Choice->Litany
is Says and litany not being between SCIIFP and TS an indicator the gates didnt get rearranged?

this games finickyness with modding is driving me nuts(win 7 so i constantly have to deal with the packing)

Pretty sure you just have to plop the mods into your X4 directory into an extension dir and NOT use the my documents path with win7 tho I have been doing this since day 1 regardless.

[DeadAirRT]

For the life of me i cannot figure out if this mod is actually running for me. Cant seem to find any new sectors

Is there a good known link between 2 sectors that could be used to test if its working on an install? Is the continued existence of superhighways enough of an indicator it didnt load?
ex, the sector overview you posted shows Argon P->Second Contact II Flashpoint->Sayas Choice->Litany
is Says and litany not being between SCIIFP and TS an indicator the gates didnt get rearranged?

this games finickyness with modding is driving me nuts(win 7 so i constantly have to deal with the packing)

If the main superhighway is in, then it isn't loading correctly. I don't have win 7 so it's impossible for me to test but if my understanding is correct then:

If you are packing the files, you will need to pack it into two files. Edit: Looks like I had it backwards. Edit2: Looks like I was completely wrong.
From asking on discord:
All files go in ext_01.cat/dat. This must still be placed in the game's extensions folder.

[DeadAirRT]

Uploaded new version of main mod and submods. Added additional submods.

[laseraces]

For the life of me i cannot figure out if this mod is actually running for me. Cant seem to find any new sectors

Is there a good known link between 2 sectors that could be used to test if its working on an install? Is the continued existence of superhighways enough of an indicator it didnt load?
ex, the sector overview you posted shows Argon P->Second Contact II Flashpoint->Sayas Choice->Litany
is Says and litany not being between SCIIFP and TS an indicator the gates didnt get rearranged?

this games finickyness with modding is driving me nuts(win 7 so i constantly have to deal with the packing)

Pretty sure you just have to plop the mods into your X4 directory into an extension dir and NOT use the my documents path with win7 tho I have been doing this since day 1 regardless.

they are in the root

If the main superhighway is in, then it isn't loading correctly. I don't have win 7 so it's impossible for me to test but if my understanding is correct then:

If you are packing the files, you will need to pack it into two files. Edit: Looks like I had it backwards. Edit2: Looks like I was completely wrong.
From asking on discord:
All files go in ext_01.cat/dat. This must still be placed in the game's extensions folder.

has to be be either something that screwed up when i packed it or my entire installed went ****. i got it in one cat/dat at the moment. the compatibility patches and whatnot would be treated as their own mod and not a sub for the main right?

currently ive gone down to only the base DAGO and Myesterials FF and its still not activating the gate/superhighway portion. Ill just have to try a full clean install with only DAGO next to see if it will work.

[DeadAirRT]

Hmmm that is strange. Each of the submods are separate mods technically so they should be separate.

What system are you in when you start? The v0.5 didn't remove the "superhighway" gates in multi sector clusters like Black Hole Sun or Grand Exchange for example but it did remove the circular superhighway from the universe. Annoying naming scheme for sure.

If you are starting in one of the sectors mentioned above, v0.6 will have all gates be normal gates. Might be easier to check that way.

[Misunderstood Wookie]

For the life of me i cannot figure out if this mod is actually running for me. Cant seem to find any new sectors

Is there a good known link between 2 sectors that could be used to test if its working on an install? Is the continued existence of superhighways enough of an indicator it didnt load?
ex, the sector overview you posted shows Argon P->Second Contact II Flashpoint->Sayas Choice->Litany
is Says and litany not being between SCIIFP and TS an indicator the gates didnt get rearranged?

this games finickyness with modding is driving me nuts(win 7 so i constantly have to deal with the packing)

Pretty sure you just have to plop the mods into your X4 directory into an extension dir and NOT use the my documents path with win7 tho I have been doing this since day 1 regardless.

they are in the root

If the main superhighway is in, then it isn't loading correctly. I don't have win 7 so it's impossible for me to test but if my understanding is correct then:

If you are packing the files, you will need to pack it into two files. Edit: Looks like I had it backwards. Edit2: Looks like I was completely wrong.
From asking on discord:
All files go in ext_01.cat/dat. This must still be placed in the game's extensions folder.

has to be be either something that screwed up when i packed it or my entire installed went ****. i got it in one cat/dat at the moment. the compatibility patches and whatnot would be treated as their own mod and not a sub for the main right?

currently ive gone down to only the base DAGO and Myesterials FF and its still not activating the gate/superhighway portion. Ill just have to try a full clean install with only DAGO next to see if it will work.

Tell me which mods you are using of his,
I only see an issue of improper cat packing or the mods subfolders are all messed up somehow.
You did not actually just drag his mods into a cat did you?

A best practice is you need to have the mod folders for each mod located in "X4 Foundations\extensions" now download Xtools if not already, run XRCatToolGUI , open up the extension folder in a new window or use the browse button import all of the mods folders into the cat, if there are any UI folders import them separate as new cat with the name subst_01 (this is required or they will not override the vanilla lua functions), you MUST KEEP FOLDER HIRACHARY intact.
This is what a correct import should look like if you include all of DeadAirs work minus his game start mod.
https://i.imgur.com/aKCIc3A.gifv


I went ahead merged everything for you and in case he wanted to use it as an example later.
Tested and functional cat file, tested on 2.5 Beta 4. (yes the supply ships are spawning and being used by AI)
DeadAir's Mod's Merged - All of his mods, including the new supplement mod for making minor factions major fully functional factions, No WWGamestart.
Faction Fixes Merged - DeadAirs Version of faction fixes slightly modified to his taste for DeadAir Universe, ALL modules except catchup.

Install the mods here



Proof that it is working -
Started a new game with one of my game starts - no superhighway and the jumpgates are deffo his universes.

[laseraces]

snip

i was originally using the base DAGO, ROR pack, and FOCW pack but had it reduced to only the base DAGO with no addons/sub mods(fill, god, jobs, ect).

if by "drag his mods into a cat" you mean use the X packign tool, yes? ive been following this post on repacking mods viewtopic.php?f=181&t=412563&p=4830277#p4830277, but it doesnt go into huge details on what to do with multipart ones like this so ive either been leaving the additional parts off, or treating them as separate mods(which until i started getting into gate tweeking stuff, the game was handling fine).

my packed version of DAGO has 81 files in it as opposed to your 714. looking through it again, seems like i somehow durped up big time and might have thrown the whole mod folder in rather than its contents?

**** me, all this because i cant into packing. i better go over the other ones i was doing with a magnifier to make sure i didnt durp up multiple times. The game itself really didnt seem to give a damn though and was happily running along thinking all that was going.

as an additional note, the win7 packing requirements do need all of the language lists in the content.xml or the game hangs on start.
ex:
<text language="7" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="33" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="34" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="39" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="44" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="45" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="49" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="81" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="82" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="86" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="88" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />

[Misunderstood Wookie]

snip

i was originally using the base DAGO, ROR pack, and FOCW pack but had it reduced to only the base DAGO with no addons/sub mods(fill, god, jobs, ect).

if by "drag his mods into a cat" you mean use the X packign tool, yes? ive been following this post on repacking mods viewtopic.php?f=181&t=412563&p=4830277#p4830277, but it doesnt go into huge details on what to do with multipart ones like this so ive either been leaving the additional parts off, or treating them as separate mods(which until i started getting into gate tweeking stuff, the game was handling fine).

my packed version of DAGO has 81 files in it as opposed to your 714. looking through it again, seems like i somehow durped up big time and might have thrown the whole mod folder in rather than its contents?

**** me, all this because i cant into packing. i better go over the other ones i was doing with a magnifier to make sure i didnt durp up multiple times. The game itself really didnt seem to give a damn though and was happily running along thinking all that was going.

as an additional note, the win7 packing requirements do need all of the language lists in the content.xml or the game hangs on start.
ex:
<text language="7" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="33" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="34" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="39" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="44" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="45" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="49" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="81" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="82" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="86" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />
<text language="88" name="DeadAirPack" description="DeadAir's Mods Merged into one pack" author="Misunderstood Wookiee/DeadAir" />

• My Merged is not just the DAGO it is all of DeadAirs modules including this mod (DAGO) that would explain the file count.
  The only modules of his not included are WorldWarStart, DeadAirDebug, DeadAirGateOverhaulROR.
  All of his work can be found here https://www.dropbox.com/sh/u67ngmm70t8b ... 2_0ka?dl=0
• Packing Tool- Yes and No, I am referring tool the proper tool on Steam
  
  The packing tools posted to a forum are a copy of this but are likely outdated too as this tool is updated with X4 in mind, the official toolset included the cat builder and workshop support.
• You are more than welcome to open the contents.xml, I will not support Win7 users, as Win7 is scheduled for EOL (End of Life) in next month (June) after then Microsoft is cutting support for the operating system and you will have to pay a hefty price for continued support. Win10 has mature for the most part no need to be using a now six-year-old operating system with no support for current hardware, yea Win7 is now almost as old as Windows XP was when Win7 replaced WinXP.
  Source: https://www.pcmag.com/encyclopedia/term ... s-versions
• By import all of the mod files I mean this
  
  You should NOT be dragging the entire mods folder into the cat this will not work. You want the files inside the mods folder.
  You also do not want any files other than the contents.xml in your mod when you use a cat file for the mods files or they will conflict.

[Azran_Zala]

Cool mod. Great work.
"Dead Air Jobs" + "supplement" sub-modules makes my FPS go kaput though (hope Im not missing much without it)

[boogieman335]

Great Mod. However something in the supplement is causing game crash for me. Tried it with new game start and it loaded once but frames were like at 2.00 or so. Then it wouldn't allow the game to start at all. Removed it and the game started normally. I am using the 2.50 beta version of the game.

[DeadAirRT]

Cool mod. Great work.
"Dead Air Jobs" + "supplement" sub-modules makes my FPS go kaput though (hope Im not missing much without it)

Those two modules completely rework the jobs and make min/sca/hat/ali full factions with wharf/shipyard. It does have more ships so it's likely that your cpu just can't keep up sadly. The economy wont be as robust compared to having all the mods but it should still prove more interesting than vanilla.