Thu Jan 01, 2004 7:55 am by Spacerock
CAID: If you are still hanging out here, please give me some details to a response you made to an earlier question. The question was "how do I create new ids for object without editing the existing dll files.
Your response was "copy a readable dll, add it to the list of existing dlls and the first item id will be 45xxxx" (not verbatim, but close enough).
That's a VERY hurried response, and for most of us who are not old hands at this, that response is cryptic as hell. But it sounds like you are saying "copy NameResource.dll and rename it, then drop the renamed file back in the folder with the other .dll files. And the new filename to the list of resource dll files in the freelancer.ini file, and you can start using the id spaces in this file which begin with 45xxxx (I didn't copy the exact starting number....sorry!)."
But that brings up a whole slew of questions. Like for example "what about duplicate entries? How do I CLEAR out the dll? How do I use the spaces in the file? I know I need fled-ids, but that doesn't answer all the questions. Can you please give us some details? You seem to be very knowledgable in this regard, but a clearer, more detailed procedure would be very welcome to MOST newbies who want to rename items and systems in the game.
Now, before you take that "rename" aspect seriously, I don't want to RENAME anything at all. I want to create NEW ids for my custom system and custom planets. But I want them in a separate dll that is JUST for my own custom stuff.
Now, if you are up to it, here is another tutorial you can do for us newbies. I have seen countless posts like "modding for dummies" - except he spelled it "moding".....duhrr! ....and "moding" and "how to make a new mod".
But you know what? NOT ONE OF THEM tells me a single thing about creating a MOD! All they tell me is how to alter things in the game. I can already do that. I need to know how to make a MOD.
Don't tell me to go read the topic in FLMM. That is written with the assumption that you already know how to create a mod. It doesn't tell how to create a mod, just how to make it compatable with FLMM. It also assumes that you know how to write XML files. I don't.
If I DID know how to write xml, I would probably just use that process. But that process leaves several dark areas. For example, it says "for files that are completely custom, like new system files, that are really large, you would not want to enter the contents of the file in the script, and would want to only reference the file....." But how the hell do you reference the file?
See, the problem is that I don't know the syntax and format of an xml script. And I don't know when to just paste in the excerpts of altered stuff, and when to just reference a whole custom file. I would imagine things have to be done in a specific order.....like reading in the universe ini changes FIRST, and then the system ini next, and so forth....
Anyway, as you can see, creating a mod is being skimmed over by those who are writing these tutorials. The really disappointing thing is that some of the authors WANT to help, but they also DON'T want to have to type. So they are very brief and vague, and some of them are not even covering the topic of their post. One says "Modding for dummies" but that post assumes you already know how to mod. And it doesn't say a single thing about MODDING - only about changing ships weapons. That isn't modding. Yes, it is PART of making a mod, but the mod itself is a package. There's nothing out there that tells us how to create a mod package.
Keep in mind when writing these tutorials (if you do, that is) that some of us are newbies and don't write in xml and don't know the process of ripping apart a dll and calculating the formulae for id'ing items and places in the game.
Basically, I have my working system. I have my nice jumpgates established. I have my planets rotating and looking gorgeous. I have my asteroid fields in place and they are already mineable and producing resources. Everything already works. I KNOW HOW to do all that already. What I need is a reasonable simple way to get the names of my planets, bases, and asteroid fields in the game! And it would be nice to be able to package up this HUGE mess and put it into a mod that others can download and look at because it really is gorgeous!
Thanks for your time guys and from the bottom of my heart I wish you all well and thank you for any help offered. Happy New Year folks!
Goin crosseyed after a few pages of this thread