Greetings,

First of all, I want to sincerely thank Timmy51m and for Tow_Sushi for directing me here from Moddb. Now, lets nail the subject.

I've currently took over of Continuum with my small development team of myself, a certain Dodger and Freestalker.fr. The original developers, Folgore_RM, Dave.Synk and SWAT OP8R apparently failed to deliver what they promised to the community. Folgore_RM allowed me to take over the project and delve into this wonderful game that I discovered thanks to his help. The issue is, that while I read some lore here and there, I'm still not practical with 'how modding' is managed in Freelancer.

I have my previous experiences with the CryENGINE (2 and 3), with UDK (from where thanks to god I learned some .lua and .lscript), the Android SDK (currently converting iOS apps), Python (from Mount & Blade's module system editing), and well, some five or more years of experience with Bethesda's Construction Kit.

In the last week, from when Folgore_RM gave the mod ownership and the group to me, so that I could manage it or just scrap it, I've tried to do my best in learning how Freelancer is managed file wise.

Thanks to Nvidia's developer zone, I've managed to find information regarding Freelancer's .cmp and .3db formats. Thanks to the Starport I've managed to learn that I can use .lua for the 'Main Menu' scenery by recoding everything in .thn.

I'm confident that nothing is too hard to do, that's why I'm halting all my other mod projects so that I can get immersed with Freelancer and its community. I still have some problems in understanding the lore, but after that I played the campaign, everything is a lot more clear.

Anyway, lets get down to the modding aspect.
Folgore_RM and Dave.Synk, in their Google Documents specified that Freelancer has a wrong 'ship to planet' proportions.

(Which I noticed when Marcus Walker's LNS Ohio was hitting the Unity in front of Manhattan)

They mentioned rescalling the solar objects, such as planets, suns and moons, and leave ships, weapons and other stuff unvaried in size. However, the system size should be modified accordingly, to meet the new 'proportions'.

That's how I bumped into the TCM utility of TEAM RIP over at Moddb, it basically deletes every vanilla system, making it more easy for us.

So, my plan is to:

- Use the TCM utility pack and start every system from zero
(I've followed a tutorial here and there and it doesn't seem too hard respect to coding with Python in Warband)

- Make a small Admin system which I can call for example 'Developer's Den', where I can test around with asteroid fields, nebulas and whatnot. I can start testing everything manually as I add content.

Do you think that it is enough realistic for a newb in Freelancer?

Also, feel free to tell me about tools and extensions that could give me a hand in editing the game. I've been used to mod games via text, instead of using some fancy GUI tool, just me and IDLE.

Advices are always welcome.
You can find me here by the way, if somebody wants.
http://www.moddb.com/members/lordmalacath

If somebody is interested in modding Warband, CS, BF1942/2/2142 or The Sims 3 (no, I don't play it - I just create clutter for the thing with Maya 5 - and you need Maya 5 for it) I can help them. Mutual cooperation, that's what I expect from people.

If you're just staring out I'd agree with Bob Giskards guide is excellent as it covers the basics in reasonable detail.

Try this for an overview of the file infrastructure used in FL

http://the-starport.net/freelancer/do ... lefile.php?cid=2&lid=2638

more recommended reading, encounters!

http://the-starport.net/freelancer/do ... lefile.php?cid=5&lid=2420

FL Explorer can be very useful but I believe you need to know basic modding before you use it, if you don't it's easy to make a real mess (been there done that! )

FL Mod studio is currently my system creation tool of choice

http://code.google.com/p/freelancermodstudio/downloads/list?can=3

It works on the activated mod (unlike FL E) and has a 3D system viewer that's incredibly useful.

Up scaling planets and systems I believe can impact on a lot of area's, e.g. system size beyond 400k x 400k causes the player ship to shake and objects over 250k distant lose visibility.

Large planets need higher resolution textures (and it's a squared factor too!), large systems take ages to traverse at cruise but increasing speed I believe adversely impacts on encounter performance.

Any questions please feel free to ask.

CK256

I can change some weapons characteristics to make the game experience more various. The coefficients of damage modifier in weaponmoddb.ini are not really different as Gisteron said me. We have to change damage modifiers to make weapons types unique.

Here where we can begin in term of weaponry.

How can I add a friend in ModDB?

hey there,

just because I read the comments at http://www.moddb.com/mods/freelancer- ... e-but-this-wont-pass-away here is a piece of advice:

You are currently walking through a mine field. SWAT_OP-R8R is the owner of lancersreactor.org (where the Continuum mod "officially belongs to" according to SWAT_OP-R8R)
For a piece of history, check this out: http://the-starport.net/freelancer/fo ... hp?topic_id=4191&forum=23

In any way, Im glad we have another passionate modder in the FL community so take whatever you need and I hope we can help you on your journey. You are also invited to make use of our forge website http://forge.the-starport.net
I hope you dont get sucked into the TLR.org/SWAT vs TSP drama war. You dont have to stick to either side - you are always welcome here

Well, I already know him well enough (and I had enough), despite the fact that he added me less than 72 or so hours ago.

Conversation log
The issue arose when he informed me that he requested the Moddb staff, at my back (when he knew that I was managing the page) the definitive cancellation of several resources contained in the mod's page.

He specifies various times, without admitting that he's wrong, that he holds the 'rights' over all the Continuum material, just because he hosted them at this lancersreactor.org. There is quite a difference from creating something to uploading it somewhere.

Just to make an example, this is part of the material that I'm referring to. Concept images, precious concepts that can help me a lot since I do not know the style of the various factions in the game.

The author who made that concept is a certain Pintoro, that I found over at DeviantArt thanks to an URL that the previous leader of Continuum sent me. I sent him a message to specify, in a signed internet document that the work that he made was for Continuum, and not for something else. I'm currently awaiting his reply. The uploader was of course, David.Synk, which is part of SWAT's team, working on a new project. DS, in particular, uploaded several images on the page that he's author of, author of some unfinished models made in Google Sketch Up, and not how SWAT said, that he's author of those concepts as well.

I've lost how much time? I've lost almost 40 minutes over this matter just to receive another wiseass reply with the fact that he's contacting the staff over at Moddb nevertheless.

I said that he can have the models that DS made, since I do not care about some models that I can easily remake with the concepts provided by freestalker.fr and

He wants that page stripped of everything actually useful to this project, to be brief.

I'm not the old team, I could be quite an ass as well if I wanted, but luckly, patience got the best out from me yesterday. When someone comes at me and demands me to something that I do not want to do, I doubt that I'll act friendly on the second occasion.


Regarding the conflict between the two websites, I'll just say that I dislike when people try to throw a monkey wrench in the works.

By the way, I thank you Vodka. And thanks Timmy for sending me over here. Also, excuse me if I forgot some typos here and there.

Excuse me Huor, I didn't know that you were related to SWAT.
SWAT is the team, and OPR8R is the nickname of OP.
Got it.

And no, I'm not accusing a whole team because of the misfits of only one person.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Seriously, don't get involved in an argument or debate with OP, it will just go on, and on, and on.... and you will get absolutely no where. The guy can't be reasoned with. All I can say is, whatever you decide to do, carry on and do it, pay no attention to him.

It's just a game and a mod when all is said and done. If you look at OP's mod you'll notice it's full of models from games like X3 and Spaceforce. Nobody cares! We just want to mod and play the game

Whatever history and bad blood exists between people in freelancer, it doesn't involve you or me, so ignore it. Look forward to seeing your work in the future if you decide to have a go, and I hope you enjoy modding the game!