[MOD] [TC/AP] X3 Rebalance Mod (XRM) - Total conversion - v1.30d (02.12.13)

[Eidolan]

Hoping someone can help with an issue I have been having with regards to Terran weapons. The EMR is a nice addition as in vanilla the Terrans really have no effective weapon for fighter vs fighter use at anything below M3+ size. However it seems to have a problem.

I am finding that things like Keris drones are being equipped with EMR instead of EMPC, this makes them great against small craft but almost useless against M6+ or larger, they do eventually win but you throw hundreds of them at M2 ships.

In addition to this Bullwinkles drone carrier script suffers the same problem, when a carrier creates a Terran M3 fighter drone to use it comes with EMR as default instead of EMPC. Now when you have a carrier launching 40 M3 Excalibur's at a target you expect some serious fireworks. What you do not expect is to watch them drop like flies as they can barely dent the targets shields.

I think the problem here is down the the way the weapons are set up. In X3 editor there is a class of weapons for Terran light guns, this includes both EMR and EMPC, with EMR coming first in the list. For whatever reason it seems that because EMR is first in the list when drones are created via launch, or ships made with scripts like drone carrier then it is chosen as the default weapon for them.

For now I have make a tempoary hack by altering the Tbullets so EMR work the same way as EMPC, but is there a more viable proper solution to this issue?

Maybe I should look around in the files to see what "weapons" the XRM goblins are armed with, maybe that is why they keep trying to "fix" a ship in my game but are just shoot Impulse Emitter Arrays at their host.

Also had an kinda funny bug doing the Terran plot line, you are supposed to board the Vidar as practice and when I launched my marines to board, it turned hostile and launched 10 drones that WTF pawned my poor space walking marines.

[paulwheeler]

Unfortunately the way X3 arms ships in vanilla is pretty dumb - you are absolutely right in saying it picks the first weapon it comes to in TLasers on the relevant weapon subtype. In vanilla there is generally only one weapon on each subtype - but I had to expand this in order to add all the new weapons to the game.

The correct solution is to use a more intelligent weapon selection script like the EES script thats built into the XRM. However, this does not run for fighter drones.

As fighter drones have been part of the X series for a long time, I doubt they are equipped via a script - more likely its a hard coded script.

IIRC (I've not got the files in front of me), there is a warelists entry for the various fighter drones that defines a weapon - but I can't remember if altering this actually affects the weapon it is equipped with. That said, (it was a long time ago that I played with this particular facet of the game) it might be worth trying to alter this first - make sure you edit the correct version of warelists (TC or AP). Find the relevant entry from TShips and then alter the weapon subtype defined in warelists for this entry.

Otherwise, the only option is to reorder TLasers and swap around the EMR and EMPC - but this will have consequences for other aspects of X3 - this will make scripts equip the EMR when they are supposed to be equipping the EMPC and vice versa. It may just be something you have to put up with.

Over time, the EMR and EMPC do very similar amounts of damage - the EMPC does more per hit, but with a lower fire rate.

[Darquies]

wondering if I am red with pyramid and some privateers

if I am in boron space and they shoot me first can I defend myself.

just spent the last 10 minutes in kingdom end with a privateer heavy nemesis hot on my 6 trying its best to kill me, yet the boron authorities haven't lifted a finger, especially when the H nemesis basically just sent a salvo of rapiers and cannon fire into their equipment dock(yea I was hiding and whatnot to get some wiggle room in me M4 buster)

just trying to get a handle on the relations and defending oneself in allies space.

thank you

[BlackArchon]

Hi guys,

currently I'm creating updated XRM ship comparison tables (the old ones can be found there). The first goal is to provide a similar amount of data. Next step is to add graphical charts where you can compare certain criteria from ships.

However, long story short: This is the beginning of the new page. Please have a look and comment here.

[reeboker]

Very good indeed, well, since I've just started with X3 I'm more confused after adding in the XRM (:

Hope it works how it should even when I'm not renaming the files to 05,06,07 ETC... because I keep reading that everywhere I don't know how much is changed or not in my edition of X3 custom AP

[RayF]

hey guys, whew, this is big thread ...

coming back to X3 after some time.
Picked this mod over litcubes universe because of the script compatibility.

I want to play a modified game this time. First go was vanilla..(almost! had mars...)

I want to give emphasis on boarding and stealing..
Any script recommendations?
So far I Have in my list:
MARS
universe explorers
mk3 improvement
Marine repairs and training (anything similar to this??)
Universal best buy/sell
bonus pack

[BlackArchon]

Maybe these could also be interesting:

- NPC Bailing Addon: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=219440
- Salvage Command Suite: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=223882
- Salvage Commands: http://forum.egosoft.com/viewtopic.php?t=221059

Al of these are XRM compatible (as showed in willfe's Youtube Let's Play of XRM).

[solarahawk]

I *highly* recommend you install Bounce, Cronos Advanced Fight Scripts, LIFE. Bounce fixes much of the stupid autopilot nonsense in collision avoidance. The Cronos Fight Scripts make NPC combat tactics much more intelligent. Fighters will respond to you targeting them and hitting them. When they realize you can wipe them out, they are more likely to try to move out of firing range. LIFE adds a great deal of life to the universe, with a dynamic news network that responds to what is happening in the universe. It adds in-sector chatter, distress calls, and pilot leveling as they score kills. LIFE also adds a bounty system, so I disable XRM's Bounty system to keep things balanced.

Here's my full loadout in my current XRM game:

TC Plots in AP (plus the XRM compatibility patch)
Organic Boron Hulls
Salvage Command Suite
NPC Bailing
Enhanced Briefings
Gazz's Ring of Fire (patched to fix pirate recognition; instructions near end of thread)
Saturn Complex Hub (patched for XRM; instruction in forum thread)
Sector Takeover (patched for XRM; instructions in forum thread)
Low Poly Roids
MK3 Trader Optimized
Galaxy Explorers
Follow Me
Gate No Rep Loss
Safe Undocking
Bounce
Improved Boarding
Drone Carrier Software 2
MARS
Anarkis Defense System
Cronos Advanced Fight Scripts
Improved Khaak 2
Pirate Guild 3


Clearly, I like having a lot of conflict around. Everything runs quite well, but I did take quite a while checking everything to over multiple game starts to make sure everything runs properly. I also had to pick up some basic scripting knowledge so I could compare overlapping scripts in mods. A few mods have to be patched for XRM and there are notes in their forum threads on how to do that.

[Sorkvild]

I want to give emphasis on boarding and stealing..

You want "improved boarding" script.

[RayF]

thank you guys!
Checking out your recommendations now:)

appreciated.

[wingmarra81]

Hello guys!

XRM is the true total conversion the community needed, thanks a lot!

I got some fps problems but I can't sort out the source of the problem. In fact I experience an heavy frame rate drop when I get hit or if I shoot something with beam weapons. If I see other ships hitting each other there's no frames drop...that's strange! In fact I tried to remove impact effects...no difference, seems like the problem is about the calculations, not about graphic load. The vanilla game runs perfectly. The problem is the same on both my laptop and desktop computer, with a small advantage for the laptop which is more recent.

My specs are:
laptop
I7 2.8 ghz dual core
16 gb RAM
Intel Iris graphic card (1,5 gb shared)

desktop
I7 2.9 ghz quad core
6 gb RAM
HD 5870 (1 gb graphic memory)

Thanks in advance!!

[Eidolan]

Played around with the player goblins for the 1st time last night, noticed they needed quantum tubes to use their repair lasers. Maybe the problem I need seeing over and over again with NPC drones not fixing ships is they have no tubes loaded into the drones? I have also seen my own ships (not under my direct control) launch goblins even tho they have none in their cargo bays, Should this be happening?

[BlackArchon]

Only OTAS Maintenance Pods need quantum tubes as ammunition because they use Quantum Repair Lasers. Goblins use the standard repair lasers (the same from your space suit) and so don't need ammo.

[solarahawk]

I got some fps problems but I can't sort out the source of the problem. In fact I experience an heavy frame rate drop when I get hit or if I shoot something with beam weapons. If I see other ships hitting each other there's no frames drop...that's strange! In fact I tried to remove impact effects...no difference, seems like the problem is about the calculations, not about graphic load. The vanilla game runs perfectly. The problem is the same on both my laptop and desktop computer, with a small advantage for the laptop which is more recent.

Yeah, if there is one thing to criticize XRM (and really it is a vanilla issue that is exacerbated by XRM) is the performance can really take a hit at times. Beam weapons have a significant impact. Ultimately, this is why Litcube's Universe is such a huge advance for the game. Litcube has revamped nearly all the scripts in the vanilla game to fix all the performance and stability issues that the base Egosoft setup has.

That said, I have improved things by installing the Low Poly Asteroids mod, plus removed all the particle trails from ships. Removing trails isn't dififcult, just involves unpacking the TShips file and running a small php script on it to turn off the trails flag on all ships XRM. There is a forum thread around here somewhere that discusses this. That seems to have improved things, though in sectors with heavy fleet combat, (especially with all those beams!) my frame rate suffers. It is playable but tough getting an accurate aim on the smaller fighters (FPS 20-30 depending on sector conditions).

If anyone else has ideas on improving on that, I'm all ears, but I don't think there is that much that can be done apart from what Litcube did: rewrite all the scripts to make them more efficient. He found a TON of inefficient algorithms all through Egosoft's scripts.

[wingmarra81]

I got some fps problems but I can't sort out the source of the problem. In fact I experience an heavy frame rate drop when I get hit or if I shoot something with beam weapons. If I see other ships hitting each other there's no frames drop...that's strange! In fact I tried to remove impact effects...no difference, seems like the problem is about the calculations, not about graphic load. The vanilla game runs perfectly. The problem is the same on both my laptop and desktop computer, with a small advantage for the laptop which is more recent.

Yeah, if there is one thing to criticize XRM (and really it is a vanilla issue that is exacerbated by XRM) is the performance can really take a hit at times. Beam weapons have a significant impact. Ultimately, this is why Litcube's Universe is such a huge advance for the game. Litcube has revamped nearly all the scripts in the vanilla game to fix all the performance and stability issues that the base Egosoft setup has.

That said, I have improved things by installing the Low Poly Asteroids mod, plus removed all the particle trails from ships. Removing trails isn't dififcult, just involves unpacking the TShips file and running a small php script on it to turn off the trails flag on all ships XRM. There is a forum thread around here somewhere that discusses this. That seems to have improved things, though in sectors with heavy fleet combat, (especially with all those beams!) my frame rate suffers. It is playable but tough getting an accurate aim on the smaller fighters (FPS 20-30 depending on sector conditions).

If anyone else has ideas on improving on that, I'm all ears, but I don't think there is that much that can be done apart from what Litcube did: rewrite all the scripts to make them more efficient. He found a TON of inefficient algorithms all through Egosoft's scripts.

Yes, it is likely as you said. By the way I keep finding playthrough videos with excellent performance and very similar if not worse specs!?!? Removed trails and applied low polyroids already plus no small rocks and no particles. Another factor is my complex. ..the bigger it becomes, the slower my universe becomes...20-30 fps? During heavy fleet combat with beam weapons I can reach 10-15 when a beam or more hit me.

[dizzy]

LU also has severely reduced the number of projectiles on screen by a combination of:
- weapons fire rate being much lower
- weapon speed much higher

If you were to count the number of "objects" on screen that vanilla game needs to track vs LU in a similarly sized battle I wouldn't be surprised if the LU version is 25% or even less compared to vanilla. This type of changes can be done to any other mod but it has impact on the "feeling" of game fights (not to mention overall balance that needs to be worked out). Since in LU I play more as a general/leader rather than dogfight pilot I don't mind but I could see others finding these changes problematic.

I believe XRM too has dropped some heavy FPS hogs and it talks specifically about beam weapons:

WEAPON REBALANCING – All weapons in the game have been overhauled and rebalanced. Many have new effects with performance in mind, including all the beam weapons which no longer kill frame rates. Ammo based weapons have been converted into standard energy weapons and rebalanced to compensate. In addition the Ion Disruptor and Phased Shockwave Generator have been converted into standard bullet types to remove their frame rate killing effects. All missiles have increased speeds. Refire rates have been greatly increased. Dumbfire missiles have been converted to low turn rate tracking missiles with large blast radii. Damage, blast radii, special abilities, prices and reps have all been rebalanced. All missiles are now for sale in the universe.

Use something like the Complex Cleaner to organize and scale your complexes without the FPS hit. Even a mod that removes the complex tubes will still eventually run into lower FPS issues once the game has to display tens of/hundred factories in the same system. Not sure but I think the Saturn Complex Hub (what LU uses for complex compaction) was made available as a separate mod at some point.

[Eidolan]

Only OTAS Maintenance Pods need quantum tubes as ammunition because they use Quantum Repair Lasers. Goblins use the standard repair lasers (the same from your space suit) and so don't need ammo.

Then why do the NPC ships never get fixed? Argon one has been at 70 something percent hull strength my whole friggen game, despite a swarm of goblins shooting "something" beam like (looks like an impulse emitter) at it.

And does having MARS installed on a NPC ship = free goblins? Ships that I have scanned or even ones that I own will shoot out drones even tho they have none in the cargo bay.

[solarahawk]

Oh yeah, dumping the old complexes for the Saturn Complex Hub has been a life changer. You have to patch TFactories to make the Saturn hubs available for sale in XRM, but they work like a champ. Alternately, Logain's Freight Distribution Network (the full version or Light) can accomplish much of the same by allowing you to link your stations together into distributed complexes without the mess of complex tubing and hubs.

[Sorkvild]

Hello guys!...

You could try using patches like remove rocks, remove civilians, remove adsigns. They can relieve the cpu load a bit.

[Misthalin]

Hi guys!

I have a slight problem with my x3tc XRM-saves getting corrupt over and over again. I have the latest updates for both x3tc and XRM.

I start a new game as a USC Commander, then I use XRM_all_plots_complete and fire up Cycrows cheat package. If I save this game at that state, I will be able to load it later. But if a play for a while, exploring, building ships and the like, I can still save my game, but I can't load it afterwards. I get a CTD and a message saying "Error Loading savegame, may be corrupt!".

I have tried reinstalling the game and reinstalling XRM and I have the following scripts and libraries installed:

Cheat Collection Package v1.60 by Cycrow
Galactic News System v1.02 by XTC team
LV's Cheats v1.4 by LV
MarCon Clone Station v3 by mark_a_condren
Military Base Response Revamp v2.16 by ThisIsHarsh
AP Libraries v2.2 by 7ate9tin11s
Community Plugin Configuration v1.51 by Cycrow
Hotkey Manager by v1.21 Cycrow
JSON parser library by v1.2 ThisIsHarsh
Ware Manager by v1.10 Cycrow
MARS repacked for plugin manager, for major mods. v5.26
STO v1.57
Galaxy Explorers v1.9.8.12


Thanks in advance!