[Seeking Advice] Dug too deeply & too greedily. Restarting from scratch and need help

[Overwatch]

About 10 days ago I got the itch to play freelancer again. Then I realized that I own X3TC and X3AP from a steam sale a while ago. So I jumped right in to TC with both feet as I usually do.

The following day I figured I had enough gripes to start looking for mods. You see, I'm kind of a mod-aholic. I have WELL over 3000 hours spent in the various Bethesda creation kits (Even though I have less than 300 total in all the games that those tools mod).

I started with the bonus pack. Then I manually installed a few other mods. I learned about file priorities when I wanted to install a current version of Turboboost. I changed some Tfiles to balance things out a bit more to my tastes and changed some visual elements.

I was having a blast in my Vidar and my wing of 4x Cutlass wingmen. This was, of course, after I spent a bit of time using CLS to camp the EMPC factories and manually propping up the Terran economy. My Trade empire was booming. 20 Baldrics set up as UTs and some Caiman XLs as STs, plus some other haulers keeping some sectors stocked and making me about 150m credits every real time day. No SETA idling for me, but I didn't find it unreasonable to leave it running while I was in class or sleeping. My character may be important, but there is no need for the world to cease existing just because I can't be there to see it.

Then I dug even deeper into mods once I bought a few TLs and realized that I couldn't use them as traders or even dock a cargo ship to them. Learning about Tships and scene files quickly followed. Then I made my first post on the forums to see if I could get some help docking a TM WITHOUT having the external dock also accept fighters. At this point I'm not sure it can.

I was finding the world a bit stagnant at this point. It was strange watching 2 dozen Xenon parade through Argon Prime, killing every trade ship in their path between gates. The military just stood and watched. Mod time. I'm still trying to keep the Vanilla feel at this point, so I'm not installing any huge ship packs, or extra races. I just wanted the current world to be a bit smarter. I'd hoped it would make my game harder without resulting in any more silly one-shot deaths. I'm looking at you M2s. Who shoots a nuke at a frigate while 10 of your own fighters, 10 civilian freighters, and ALL of my guys are dog fighting it?

Then I decided I'd take a peek into the SP files while I was tearing up TC. So I went into Steam and clicked install.

Wait.

Me: I have 3 library locations set up. Why did it not ask me which one I want to install in, yet it is downloading right now?
Me: That's weird it looks like it is overwriting my TC directory...*SLAMS the stop key*
Steam: Oh? You don't want to install this game? No problem.
Me: Thanks. I'm going to ch...
Steam: Let me just clean up those files for you then. All done.
Me: Oh. OK. At least I won't have any AP files in my folder. Even if it overwrote some files I can just use Steam to verify my game cache and it will replace them.
Me: Wait. Where is my X3TC folder?
Steam: X3TC is not installed. Would you like me to install it for you?
Me: What do you MEAN it is not installed? It was RIGHT THERE!
Steam: Oh that? That was you X3AP folder. You said you didn't want it so I deleted it for you.
Me: *Jaw Drops*
Steam: You are welcome

I had made enough hand edits to the files that after a fresh install + reinstalling the mods I remembered, my save games aren't loading.

So now I'm starting from scratch. I uninstalled everything related to X3. including all the modding tools. Cleaned out any settings and app data and the registry. Reinstalled X3TC and the tools.

But I'm actually at a bit of a loss. 10 days ago I knew nothing about these games. I decided I'd do TC first since AP happens after. I picked my mods by how they sounded, and only ended up using about 1/3 of them. I don't mind restarting, but I have some questions first. Keep in mind that up until this point, I have only finished the First Terran plot chain. If you could avoid any big spoilers in your answers I'd appreciate it.

1. I would like to play through the TC plots at least once. Should I start again in TC? Or should I be using AP, and using one of the mods that adds the TC quests in?
2. What are the pros/cons of moving to AP? Are there any key mods that are incompatible?
3. Now that I think about it. What is actually different about AP? Is the engine the same, but the resource packs and world map different?
4. How should I be modding the game? Mechanically speaking. Should I be adding them 1 at a time and testing them in game for a few minutes before adding more? Should I dump them all in and then backtrack any problems?

[Mechanis]

well, I can't talk much about AP (I got X3TC long before that was a Thing) I can say that the main things X3 really needs is things like the Race response plugin (vaguely functional militaries, le gasp!) and other AL plugins that generally improve the utterly pants AI. I could write up a giant list of 'mods I'd never play without'...

except that, recently, that list has gone from a few dozen to two:

X-tended and my own mod.

now, granted, the TC plots aren't there, because it's literally an entirely new map- essentially, the XTC team wrote a proper sequel as a mod- but it is amazingly pretty and has a much greater immersion factor.

for 'vanilla' X3,
Improved Races 2.0 is a good one, as is Pirate Guild. LV's Race Responce fleets makes the various navies actually do something besides flying around looking pretty, and most of the stuff by Serial Kicked is good.
really, past AL plugins, it all comes down to stuff you think you'll use: if you aren't doing much piracy, fixing the brokenass boarding system and abyssal NPC bailing isn't going to be a high priority, etc, etc.
personally, TC is very bloated and difficult to manage, because it's been added to and added to without much regard for streamlining or evolution (as is evidenced by the way GOD smites the Terran economy because of things that don't get spawned until certain points in the plot) and the general haphazardness of sector design that results in some very screwy traffic flows.

XTC is, in those aspects, a vastly superior design, as it has a fairly comprehensive and intuitive difficulty menu, completely re-written spawn scripts, well-though-out sector design that takes traffic flow into account, and better response to things like Pirates or Ka'aak invasions. also for a freelancer fan, it feels a lot more freelancer-y than X3TC.
heck, I've been thinking about making cockpits at some point, even.

[Overwatch]

Well at the moment I was using these. Not all actually got used, since my game kinda went bye bye. I also have the relevant library files, and the bonus pack.

• ADAMS - ITT
• Anarkis Defense System - Real Wings Edition
• Automated Satellite Network
• Auto prep ships
• Board Station
• Bounce
• Docking Lockup Fix
• Follow me - Remember Homebase - Wingman status
• Force_NPC_Undocking_v2
• Galactic News System
• Improved Boarding
• Jump to Me
• MarCon
• Military Base Response - REVAMP
• missilemonitor
• Missile Safety
• MK3 Blacklist Manager
• NPC Bailing Addon
• Numeric Race Rank Titles
• PirateGuild 3
• Salvage Commands and NPCs
• Scan Target Object
• Ship killed notifications
• Station Repacker
• Trade Overview
• Turbo Booster
• Universal Best Buys/Sells Locator
• Upgrade Kits
• Wing Attack Commands
• Wing hotkeys
• Wings2
• Player Workshop
• Yaki Armada 2
• Equipment Research and Development
• TRP - ATF Shipard for X3TC (Not sure If this is enough to serve my needs. Never got to try it)
• TS-TP-M6 (I was really just using it as a base to make my own docking edits)
• Cheat Collection Package (For quickly testing my edits)

[Overwatch]

I've decided to stick with TC for the moment. So I'm going through the process of installing 2-3 mods at a time to make sure they are stable and working well. I have run into something strange.

I'm not certain this issue is with the mod itself, but it does seem to be repeatable for me.

When I go into the Mod configuration menu (I think that is what it is called, it is very late and I need sleep), Then into Military Base Revamp, everything initially shows up fine. But, once I expand 2 of the sections. Some of the race names go crazy. It does not matter if I keep all but one section closed, as soon as I open the second menu, they all change to the labels shown on the left.
[ external image ]
If I restart the game and reload a save before the bug, I can repeat it indefinitely. If I keep the game open after I hit the bug, loading the save game shows the bug immediately. I'm not sure if the mod will keep working, I have not had time to test it yet.

The weird thing is, I can't see anything wrong with the strings file.

Code: Select all

    <t id="10000">
      {
        "locals" : 
          { 
            "debug"                               : {"var" : "mbase.debug",                             "value" : 0},
            "msgtimeout"                          : {"var" : "mbase.msgtimeout",                        "value" : 1200},

            ...Skipping a bunch of locals for brevity sake...

            "races"                               : {                                                   "value" : ["Argon", "Boron", "Paranid", "Split", "Teladi", "Terran", "Xenon"]},
            "invasionStationDefensePirateSector"  : {"var" : "mbase.invasion.station.pirate.sector",    "value" : 0},
            "invasionsRaceEnabled"                : {"var" : "mbase.invasions.enabled"                  "value" : [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]},
            "invasionsRaceBorder"                 : {"var" : "mbase.invasions.border"                   "value" : [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]},
            "invasionsRaceDefensive"              : {"var" : "mbase.invasions.defensive"                "value" : [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]},
            "invasionsRacePirate"                 : {"var" : "mbase.invasions.pirate"                   "value" : [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]},
            "tkvrSpawnFix"                        : {"var" : "mbase.tkvrs.spawning"                     "value" : 1},
            "tkvrRaceEnabled"                     : {"var" : "mbase.tkvrs.enabled"                      "value" : [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]},
            "tkvrRaceBorder"                      : {"var" : "mbase.tkvrs.border"                       "value" : [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]},
            "tkvrRacePirate"                      : {"var" : "mbase.tkvrs.pirate"                       "value" : [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1]},
            "tkvrAnarchyEnabled"                  : {"var" : "mbase.tkvrs.anarchy.enabled"              "value" : 1},
            "tkvrPGResponse"                      : {"var" : "mbase.tkvrs.pg.response"                  "value" : 1},
           },
      }
    </t>

Then the section that uses the local shown in the picture

Code: Select all

    <t id="10001">
      {
        "locals"      : { },     
        "title"       : "Military Base Revamp",
        "description" : "Configuration",
        "categories"  : 
          [
            {
              "title"   : "Installation",
              "items"   :
                [
                  { 
                    "id"    : "save",
                    "title" : "\33WSave options\33X",
                    "type"  : "custom",
                  },
                  { 
                    "id"    : "install",
                    "title" : "Install/update",
                    "type"  : "custom",
                  },
                  { 
                    "id"    : "uninstall",
                    "title" : "Uninstall",
                    "type"  : "custom",
                  }, 
                  { 
                    "id"    : "resetoptions",
                    "title" : "Reset options to default",
                    "type"  : "custom",
                  },                                   
                ],
            },
            {
              "title"   : "News and notification settings",
              "showhide"  :  0,
              "items"   :
                [
                  { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyGalNewsTimeout",
                    "title"    : "Article timeout:",
                    "type"     : "uint",
                    "tid"      : 6,
                    "negValue" : 9,
                  },
                   { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyGalNewsDefense",
                    "title"    : "Articles from defending race:",
                    "type"     : "enabledisable",
                  },
                  { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyGalNewsXenon",
                    "title"    : "Articles from Xenon:",
                    "type"     : "enabledisable",
                  },
                  { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyInvasionSubtitle",
                    "title"    : "Subtitle on invasion:",
                    "type"     : "enabledisable",
                  },    
                  { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyInvasionMsg",
                    "title"    : "Message on invasion:",
                    "type"     : "enabledisable",
                  },
                  { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyInvasionLog",
                    "title"    : "Logbook on invasion:",
                    "type"     : "enabledisable",
                  },
                  { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyTakeoverSubtitle",
                    "title"    : "Subtitle on sector takeover:",
                    "type"     : "enabledisable",
                  },    
                  { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyTakeoverMsg",
                    "title"    : "Message on sector takeover:",
                    "type"     : "enabledisable",
                  },  
                  { 
                    "id"       : "locals.notifyTakeoverLog",
                    "title"    : "Logbook on sector takeover:",
                    "type"     : "enabledisable",
                  }, 
                ],
            },   
            {
              "title"     : "Invasions / sector takeover global settings",
              "showhide"  : 1,
              "items"     :
               [
                  { 
                    "id"      : "locals.reputationEnabled",
                    "title"   : "Show/enable reputation modifiers:",
                    "type"    : "enabledisable",
                  },               
                  { 
                    "id"      : "resetsectors",
                    "title"   : "Reset sector ownerships",
                    "type"    : "custom",
                  }
                  { 
                    "id"      : "locals.tkvrSpawnFix",
                    "title"   : "Fix ship respawn in conquered sectors:",
                    "type"    : "enabledisable",
                  },
                  { 
                    "id"      : "locals.invasionStationDefensePirateSector",
                    "title"   : "Race stations in Pirate sectors call for help:",
                    "type"    : "enabledisable",
                  },                  
                  { 
                    "id"      : "locals.tkvrAnarchyEnabled",
                    "title"   : "Become Pirate sector if General dies:",
                    "type"    : "enabledisable",
                  }, 
                  { 
                    "id"      : "locals.tkvrPGResponse",
                    "title"   : "Pirate Guild - give money on takeover:",
                    "type"    : "enabledisable",
                  },
                  
               ],
            },
            {
              "title"     : "Invasions race settings - enabled",
              "showhide"  : 1,
              "items"     :
                [               
                  { 
                    "id"          : "locals.invasionsRaceEnabled",
                    "type"        : "list",
                    "elemType"    : "switch"
                    "elemTitles"  : "locals.races",
                    "elemDefault" : 1,
                    "switches" :
                      [
                        { "tid" : 4, "value" : 0 },
                        { "tid" : 3, "value" : 1 },                    
                      ],
                  },                
                ],
            },                      
            {
              "title"     : "Invasions race settings - defensive \(only invade if originally owned\)",
              "showhide"  : 1,
              "items"     :
                [               
                  { 
                    "id"          : "locals.invasionsRaceDefensive",
                    "type"        : "list",
                    "elemType"    : "switch"
                    "elemTitles"  : "locals.races",
                    "elemDefault" : 0,
                    "switches" :
                      [
                        { "tid" : 4, "value" : 0 },
                        { "tid" : 3, "value" : 1 },                    
                      ],
                  },                
                ],
            },
            {

I remember this happening in another mod but I don't remember what one off the top of my head. Does anyone happen to see anything obviously wrong?



EDIT: Image cropped and re-uploaded to comply to restrictions

[X2-Illuminatus]

A general advice for modding the Steam version is creating a backup / second installation outside of the Steam directory. Therefore simply copy the whole X3 Terran Conflict Steam folder to another directory. Afterwards download the 3.1.1 -> 3.2 patch, install it to an empty folder and copy the X3TC.exe to your newly created second installation. That way you have an installation, which is independent from Steam (it will still use the same savegame folder though) and cannot be damaged / destroyed, when Steam decides to update any of your files. You can then keep your Steam installation completely vanilla, which is good when you need to test anything in the vanilla game or simply need some vanilla files or want to create another installation.

If you decide to install X3AP, it will be placed in the "addon" folder inside your Steam X3 Terran Conflict directory. This is because, X3AP is an addon to X3TC and will use files from Terran Conflict. As for their differences, there's a good overview available in the X3: Albion Prelude Survival Guide (covering everything up to X3AP 2.0). Additions of further updates are mentioned in their announcement topics (most notably Update 2.5 and Update 3.0). To play it without Steam, there's a NoSteam.exe available in the downloads section.

I have never used Military Base Response - REVAMP, so I don't know, what the problem with this is. Based on your screenshots, I can only guess that some local variables are wrongly referenced or have been changed unintentionally. If you haven't done so yet, I would suggest to have a look through the respective script/mod thread, to check if someone else has reported a similar problem.

[Overwatch]

That strings issue is not exclusive to the mod I showed. I just happened to have a good screenshot of that one.

What I was looking for was an explanation of what would cause something like that, in the technical sense. Assuming the UI itself is functioning properly, then the problem is either...
[link][*]The refrence to the string being changed
[*]The pointer to the data being changed
[*]The data stored in the string being changed[/list]
It's fine though. I figured out that you can change the defaults to the settings you actually want, then just start the config and save it. Though it does not matter anyway since I'm not using the mod anymore. Even on the lowest settings for the Xenon, and highest for the Commonwealth, The Xenon were still capturing 2-3 sectors an hour. I may try it without capping though. Or I'll switch to IR2.

Thanks for the reply