Help with modding PPC's

Husky_Alpha_I · Post by **Husky_Alpha_I** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 03:14

ok so my goal is to make the PPC projectile faster. My problem is, i dont know how to. ive installed both the X3 mod manager and X3 editor. So can anyone give me instructions to make the PPC projectile faster, give me directions to a link that shows how to, or a mod thats alreadt done? Thanks in advance, i have no idea how to mod so ya.

Thanks
~Husky

defiant1 · Post by **defiant1** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 03:21

if your new welcome to our quiet (not really all that quiet) corner of the world...

xfir01 · Post by **xfir01** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 04:19

get the X3 editor, open it up and select the text editor.

Then you need to open the highest numbered .cat file with types\Tbullets.pck in it (08.cat if you're running vanilla, 10 if you're using XTM) and then go into types Tbullets.pck

*make a backup of your file before you edit anything* it can be either the .pck or the whole .cat, but if you screw up you'll want something to go back to.

The top 3 entries in the left window are your Alpha/beta/gamma PPCs. "SS_BULLET_CAPITAL_ALPHA" etc.
Highlight the one you want to edit and the stats will appear in the right window. You want to make them faster, so edit the speed entry (near the middle) and increase it a bit, then save the file, load up X3 and see if it's as fast as you want it to be.

Things to consider: the range of the weapon is determined by 2 things, the speed and the lifetime. So by increasing the speed you also increase the range, so to counter this you'd have to shorten the lifetime as well. Increasing the projectile speed will very much unbalance things since they'll hit a lot more often, toning down the damage can help balance this a bit, but then you've got to consider the power cost and all the other factors and you end up with either a completely unbalanced mess, or a beta IRE.

Husky_Alpha_I · Post by **Husky_Alpha_I** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 05:23

hhmm ok thanks alot for your help... ill just mess around with it for now. is it just as easy to make your own weapon, a different PPC that only i the user can use so everyone else still uses stock PPC's? Again thanks for the help

xfir01 · Post by **xfir01** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 05:46

Husky_Alpha_I wrote:hhmm ok thanks alot for your help... ill just mess around with it for now. is it just as easy to make your own weapon, a different PPC that only i the user can use so everyone else still uses stock PPC's? Again thanks for the help

Yes and no. This is kind of a grey area for me. You can't really add new weapons, so you'd have to find one that doesn't get used and go from there. There's a spare Pulsed Beam Emitter that I'm guessing is only used in the second mission of the plot (where you're manning the goner turret) that you could probably take over. I think you'd have to start with the TLasers file, getting it sorted out, then add it as a compatible weapon to the ships you want to use it on in the Tships file (which may or may not have mixed results, I remember one guy had an issue where he could only equip the weapon from the flying screen and not from the menus after adding some custom weapons, altho I don't know what was causing that for sure). Then you'd just need some way to get them in game. You could just script them onto your ships or work out some kind of custom factory to produce it.

Yeah...that sounds like it should work...

Husky_Alpha_I · Post by **Husky_Alpha_I** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 07:17

ok i think i might be able to do that...but using the editor can you change the shape of weapons. like so if i did you the PPE i could change it to look like a PPC?

Husky_Alpha_I · Post by **Husky_Alpha_I** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 07:28

actually im sorry to ask you this but can you walk me through the process? ive never done anything like this. the biggest thing ive done is install XTM, then uninstall it again... thanks

xfir01 · Post by **xfir01** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 16:23

Husky_Alpha_I wrote:ive never done anything like this.

Well, that makes 2 of us.

Let me mess around with the editor a bit and get back to you.

Madw0lf · Post by **Madw0lf** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 16:57

After readig this I fooled around a little,....

Once youve got the TBullets.pck opened up in the X3 editor, go to the appropriate entry for the PPC you want (Like if you want to change the Gamma PPC, you want, SS_LASER_CAPITAL_GAMMA or something similar, PPCS are the ones with the CAPITAL in the name)

when you double click on the name a list of stats will come up on the left, theres numbers for shield and hull damage, speed and lots of other things. Just double click on the number for the entry you want to change, and a littl window will pop up where you can input the new number.

Close out an save and that should do it...

Husky_Alpha_I · Post by **Husky_Alpha_I** » Wed, 25. Jul 07, 21:17

ok so far i have been able to change the speed of the PPC's. thta pretty easy once you guys told me what to do. Im just totally lost on changing the extra PPE into my own weapon, because i want to change it to look like a PPC...i was looking into changing all the PPE stats to be exactly like the PPC's...still not sure...wow tis stuff is confusing.

Tom5Cat · Post by **Tom5Cat** » Sat, 29. Mar 08, 19:58

It's been a while since the last post in this thread and maybe the author isn't interested at all any more, but on the other hand, others might look into this so I'm posting my findings anyway.

If you'd like your own custom PPC-weapon, one that only you can use, you can use, and/or if you'd like alter, the Terran A- and B-EMPC (SS_BULLIT_TERRAN_ALPHA and _BETA in Tbullets). When fired, they are very similar to the PPC's, but do a lot more damage. As with the B_PBE used in the plot, you will have to put these gungs 'manually' into your turrets too. You can't put them in through the menu. (see earlier post)

There are other ways of changing the 'look' of a weapon, but since we're talking about PPC's, this might be the easiest way to go about it.

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Help with modding PPC's

Help with modding PPC's