ASK DANMAN - Question and Answer

DANMAN3712

Join Date 02/2008

+101

ASK DANMAN - Question and Answer

DANMAN GAMES

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Greetings All!

Throughout my time here playing and modding the game I have become quite knowledgeble in the overall aspects of the game and modding the game as a whole. While I learn stuff everyday, I feel like I can teach and answer questions as well. People have helped me along the way, so this is my way of giving back to the community. So, if you have a question that you think I may know an answer to, feel free to post and I will reply whatever I know. Feel free to ask about anything about the game, modding, or anything else in general, my head is full of useless facts and knowledge. I have played most Space/Sci-fi games, love fantasy games (like Oblivion and NWN) watch just about every Sci-Fi & Fantasy TV show, and have a deep knowledge of science and history, especially ancient history. I have a Marketing and Sales background, with a specialization in graphics and art. I also know modeling programs, but use 3D MAX specifically for modding.

So, I leave it up to you, the modding and gaming community. I will be listening....

DANMAN

modding

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ratchit01
xXx
soasertsus

Thoumsin,

I am new to the forum world, (just joined July 1). Found PM on Wikipedia, no prob now. Got the serial for Entrenchment, thank you very much (not sarcastic.

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Hey, 7DS team,

had a few Q's, so I thought I'd ask where they'd likely be answered correctly.

1. Do ships with shields require a shieldmesh?

2. If so, then how t create said shieldmesh?

3. as I understand it, each ship can have up to 3 DIFFERENT weapon TYPES, but in up to 4 BANKS of weapons. Is this correct?

4. (kinda dumb) where is the shieldmesh resizing tool for D/L?

5. (also kinda dumb) which faction do you think is the best? (my moneys on the Vasari&maybe TEC w/ Entrenchment)

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Quoting Whiskey144,

reply 2

5. (also kinda dumb) which faction do you think is the best? (my moneys on the Vasari&maybe TEC w/ Entrenchment)

You can send me your money... no one race is really better that a other... they are different and are simply asking a different way for tactical...

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Quoting Whiskey144,

reply 2

3. as I understand it, each ship can have up to 3 DIFFERENT weapon TYPES, but in up to 4 BANKS of weapons. Is this correct?

I am not sure at 100%... but ...

yes, the theorical limit for weapons type is 3... i wrote "theorical" because nothing stop you to code a new ability who act like a weapons...

I think that since entrenchment, you can use 60 weapons point shared between these 3 types of basic weapons... by the way, planet bombardment is a weapons but it use his own harpoint and it is not counted in the 3 basic types...

Bank are related to grouping weapons by direction... i think that you can have primary and secondary bank...

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thanks Thoumsin, that helps quite a bit.

Any info on shieldmeshes being required for shielded objects though?

Also, I already found& D/Led the resize tool.

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sorry for the double post (probably again), but I had 2 more Q's:

1. reusable starbase constructors- how could I do this if it's possible. here's some code from the ships that build starbases-

moveThruTarget FALSE

Note that this value is the same on all 3- the Jarun Migrator, Raloz Heavy Constructor, and the Advent constructor (don't know the name yet, as I haven't played Advent since I 1st got the game)

2. starbases that can phase jump- how could I do this if it's possible. Would I have to rescript the starbases as vehicles, or could I add a 'canPhaseJump 1' line to it (if that's what's used for the ships)?

if you could answer these Q's, that would be great.

Oh, Thoumsin, could you please PM my Sins Forums account intead of my 7DS one, I'm on the Sins Forums more often.

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Quoting Whiskey144,

reply 5

Any info on shieldmeshes being required for shielded objects though?

I don't think it's required, but I'm not sure. In the last patch they added a line "renderShield TRUE" I assume that if you turn that to FALSE it will still have a shield, but it won't show, but you might want to check that yourself.

for you other questions:

1. I think you want to look in the files for the ability that creates the starbase, and the buffs for those abilities. I assume that somewhere in one of those files is where it removes the constructor, so you would just have to change that.

2. SB's cannot phase jump, because they are buildings. You probably could make it so that they are actually a capital ship, but I don't know how that would affect their ability to upgrade.

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thanks kyogre for the info.

also, anybody know how to assign weapon hardpoints?

and kyogre, are you also part of the 7DS team?

kyogre, I specified the value that I think has the constructor consumed in the process (check post #381). The mod I want to/am making will have ships called 'Mobile Star Forts', which will have some starbase-style abilities but capital ship mobility.

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hmm that would be in xsi perhasp, umm its like addind null point or something to a point on the ship or strucutre or what ever under the main rootpoint. U can read the guide in the pdf file in forge tools.

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Quoting Whiskey144,

reply 8

thanks kyogre for the info.

also, anybody know how to assign weapon hardpoints?

and kyogre, are you also part of the 7DS team?

kyogre, I specified the value that I think has the constructor consumed in the process (check post #381). The mod I want to/am making will have ships called 'Mobile Star Forts', which will have some starbase-style abilities but capital ship mobility.

No problem.

1st question: I don't remember exactly how to do it, but look in the documentation in the Forge Tools. The one about prepping your model for convertXSI has a section on hardpoints.

2nd: Yes, I am a part of the 7ds team, and I'm also making the Sins of the 13th Tribe mod (shameless plug )

3rd: I don't think that is the right line, because it is in the ship's entity file. Typically, things like that are applied in the ability buffs, so you want to look there.

hm... actually, now that I look at it, you may be right. My suggestion is then to change that to TRUE, build a starbase and see what happens. If the constructor still dissapears, then its not the right line, if it doesn't, then it is.

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Hi all, couple of questions.

1) In the documentation of the forge tools "section E" step 5 it says on the last couple of lines -

The rootpoint and the
mesh should have no scaling and rotation values and should have
a global position at origin (0,0,0).

When I have the globlal position and the rotation values 0,0,0 is no problem, but having the scale all 0 makes my model none existant. I'm a little unclear how to follow this step.

2) This could be related to my first problem. When I assign tangents my model it apears all bright yellow, orange and blue. The textures are no longer vissable, allthough when I have the nm activated it is vissable in those bright colours. Is this how its suposed to be?

I'm sure I havn't missed a step, though I may be interpriting things wrong.

Edit; Don't worry about answering these questions. I understand now the (0,0,0) location reffers to the rootpoint and null locations when they are created. And for Qu.2 I'm still a little unclear but I think I just had the specular decay set to high.

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kyogre,

the line I gave is actually out of the ability file for the Vasari's starbase construction. otherwise, very helpful

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7DS team,

a few more Q's (I'm full of them aren't I?):

1. Post #11/#13 (can't remember which) by Annatar11 notes that Entrenchment is coded for up to 4 TYPES OF STRIKECRAFT. I know that it's up to 3 at least (Advent are the evidence), but is it true that up to 4 may be used?

2. Zero10oneSB, have you tried zooming in on the model, or where it was? If so, and it still wasn't there, try doing it with scale factor at 1, and then script it and put it in the game. If it's bigger than a starbase, try decreasing the factors by 0.2 or 0.5. Once you have it the size you like, then leave it that way.

3. could anyone on the 7DS team PM me a simple tutorial on how to add a new race? So far the mod I'm still working out the details of is set for 2 new races. Also, what's the race# limit?

4. any info on changing the infocard details on the weapons would be most appreciated.

also, is double-posting against the forum rules?, and if so I apologize. (I don't know where the forum rules are)

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Quoting Whiskey144,

reply 13

7DS team,

a few more Q's (I'm full of them aren't I?):

1. Post #11/#13 (can't remember which) by Annatar11 notes that Entrenchment is coded for up to 4 TYPES OF STRIKECRAFT. I know that it's up to 3 at least (Advent are the evidence), but is it true that up to 4 may be used?

2. Zero10oneSB, have you tried zooming in on the model, or where it was? If so, and it still wasn't there, try doing it with scale factor at 1, and then script it and put it in the game. If it's bigger than a starbase, try decreasing the factors by 0.2 or 0.5. Once you have it the size you like, then leave it that way.

3. could anyone on the 7DS team PM me a simple tutorial on how to add a new race? So far the mod I'm still working out the details of is set for 2 new races. Also, what's the race# limit?

4. any info on changing the infocard details on the weapons would be most appreciated.

also, is double-posting against the forum rules?, and if so I apologize. (I don't know where the forum rules are)

1. If Annatar says 4, I'd go with 4. He is almost always right.

3. To add a new race, (I'm too lazy to PM you, sorry ) copy+paste the playerTech, playerPsi, or playerPhase file in the GameInfo folder, rename it to whatever you want your race to be, then (for Entrenchment) add your race to the entity.manifest.

To add a ship to your race, again, copy+paste an existing ship, rename it, then put it in the entity file for your race in the appropriate section. If you are adding the ship to existing ones, make sure to add +1 to the counter for the # of ships. If you're replacing an existing one, you don't need to. You also need to add any ships you make to the entity.manifest.

4. Open the entity file for the ship you want to change, find the weapons, and change the numbers.

5. No, its not technically against the rules, although it's usually better to just edit your existing post.

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thanks for all the info kyogre. once again, I have other questions:

1. one of the new races I am planning to put into a mod, the Empire of Taun'Shas (no, it's not the Tau from Warhammer 40k), will (hopefully) use the same factory to produce all of their ships. Is this possible, to have a single factory produce frigates, cruisers, and capital ships in either Sins 1.17 or Entrenchment 1.03?

2. any good ideas for a 3rd race? (I have 2 so far- the Legion of Vraxedes (pro. VRAKS-AY-DEES), and the Empire of Taun'Shas. they are based on- Legion: TEC&Warhammer 40k Space Marines; Taun'Shas: Vasari&Warhammer 40k Tau) I'm thinking of doing one based on the Advent, with powerful psychic-type weapons and deadly energy weapons, but I'm not sure what else to blend in.

2 more things-

3. max particle effect emitter #- what is it? last I checked (it was this forum) it was 60 for weapons (I think)

4. I will hopefully be able to start a post about my mod. The mod's name is "The Legions". It will hopefully be for both SoaSE v1.17 and Entrenchment v1.03. A possible Sins v1.05 release may also be planned (improbable at best).

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Hi all, i'm new at modding and having some trouble with star bases. I've been using the forge tools reference data, but the star bases entity files dont seem to work in entrenchment 1.03. I managed to get ships and planet files from forge tools to work, but even an unedited star base file doesn't work when i copy it to the game info folder. During game play as the base begins to build it totally disappaers.

Any help would be appreciated.

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No problem.

1. I'm pretty sure it is possible to build them all at the same factory, although I don't know how...

2. I have no idea. Maybe skip the psychic stuff, and go energy weapons all the way. High powered lasers, beams that can cut a ship in half (ok, you can't really do that in Sins, but still) Expensive, and all about technology. Maybe for a name, Tech Empire? I don't know, I'm not good with coming up with names.

3. No idea

4. I would reccomend that you don't bother with a 1.05 version. The only reason anyone still has it is to play 7ds, and now that 7ds is slowly making its way to Entrenchment, there won't be much of a reason to keep 1.05.

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GoaFan77

Join Date 10/2008

+629

Quoting BluChild,

reply 16

The forge tools reference data hasn't been updated for 1.03 yet, so that is probably the problem. You can download one of the convert data applications (so you can copy and convert the 1.03 gibberish in Vanilla entrenchment) here on the modding forums or occasionally someone will put up the 1.03 reference data to download.

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Where on the forums do i start to look for the convert data app?

Is there a link to 1.03 reference data?

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https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/353296

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/322559

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/336084

Check these for convertdata tools.

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This one worked fine thanks a lot for ur help guys

https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/322559

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hey all,

just thought I'd say that my post on my mod, 'The Legions', is up, and so far I've got the fluff (backstory/story) on it as well as the new types of craft to be added, as well as the vanilla races new stuff. check it out, I'd like some ideas, constructive criticism, that kind of thing.

Also, DOES ANYBODY KNOW HOW TO CREATE A SHIELDMESH??!!!

and does anyone happen to know if strikecraft can have multiple (around 3's good) weapon types? (and also have them able to traverse?)

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Hey DANMAN,

How can I merge several mods together. Is it as easy as putting them all in the same folder? I want to merge Sins Plus (by the way is that compatbile with Sins v1.17?), bailknight graphic mod, Sins enhanced (sky box edition), and a good balancing mod once I find one. I would use 7DS but it's incompatible with Sins v1.17, or requires entrenchment.

Also, are their any tech-tree add-on mods/blancing mods that you would recommend?

Thanks.

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and does anyone happen to know if strikecraft can have multiple (around 3's good) weapon types? (and also have them able to traverse?)

You can have up to 3 weapons per ship no matter the type (Cap, frig, sc, cruiser, sb). I dont know what you mean by traverse.

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I think by traverse he means turret-mounted. And the answer to that is "no". Everyone has been dying for turrets in Sins since it was in Beta. And the ability to fix turret arcs. And the devs haven't seen fit to provide either one.

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