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Shant
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I just played and beat this game for the first time a few days ago. LOVED it. Normally after I finish a game I delete it from the hard drive and never touch it again but there are exceptions when the game in question is truly top notch. This game qualifies and I'd like to extend the experience as much as possible. I was looking through the mods and found mostly tweaks and stuff. Are there any mods that actually add gameplay, like new missions and such? Were there any expansions ever made for this game?


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Shant
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Ah btw, I created a Pinnacle profile for this game (www.pinnaclegameprofiler.com) for Xbox 360 controller. Haven't posted it in their forum as I doubt too many people would use it, but if anyone wants it I'll be happy to post it.


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DarkOne
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I like these two personally:

freelancer-f22/mod-phoenix-mod-t52.html

freelancer-f22/mod-itano-circus-t42.html

It has been a while since I played FL and there might even be an updated mod for each of those. I know those two are standalone. Those are generally what I like to play since multiplayer servers tend to go down.


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Shant
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So how does it work, you install the mods and the story continues? How do you get started, ie where do you go to get your first new mission?

Also, can you have multiple mods installed at the same time?


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DarkOne
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You will need to use mod manager to enable/disable mods. You can only have one game changing mod at a time. There are small little mods that don't really change the game that can be enabled with others. It depends on the mod if story is intact or if they have created a a open world (which is the way FL should be without a story, or very minor one).


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Shant
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So if I have one mod installed, I don't need a mod manager? Can I install one mod, play through it, uninstall it and then install/play the next mod? Or would I have to uninstall the whole game and start over?

Also, the two mods you reccomended, are they both 'game changing' mods?


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DarkOne
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Yes you need to have the mod manager installed: FLMM v1.31

Here is a good description of Itano Circus: http://www.moddb.com/mods/itano-circus

And in the download description of Phoenix it has most of the info you are looking for: Phoenix Mod v1.04


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Shant
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Cool thanks. I keep seeing the word vanilla. What is that?


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Geraldine
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Shant wrote:
Cool thanks. I keep seeing the word vanilla. What is that?

I think it might refer to a clean install of Freelancer as in without any mods. Just they way it is when you normally install it. Also have a look for the discovery mod. Highly recommended. 😉


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
So if I have one mod installed, I don't need a mod manager? Can I install one mod, play through it, uninstall it and then install/play the next mod? Or would I have to uninstall the whole game and start over?

Short Version

You want FLMM (Freelancer Mod Manager) because it makes it simple to install and manage mods. It's free and quite a bit easier than learning how to install mods by hand.

Sure, the mod manager makes it as easy as toggling a mod "on" and "off". Activate one, play it, then deactivate it and activate another. The mods do not contaminate each other. Mostly. 🙂 When everything works correctly you can experiment with different mods without ever reinstalling the game.

Long Version

Modding is entirely a community-supported reverse-engineering "hack" with very little help from the original authors. The game engine is designed to make it easy to extend the game -- or even to create new games based on the same engine. But there is no Official Freelancer Modding Handbook -- the "how-to" information is spread across the Internet. Fortunately there are places like SpaceSimCentral that help to organize and share the information.

I've never seen a simple description of how mods work, so I'll take a stab at it here. There is a LOT of information on the Internet about Freelancer and modding it, but even the "beginner" tutorials seem to assume some understanding of how it all works. I won't attempt to explain everything and I will even tell you a couple of small lies to make the story simpler, but this should help you get started. The "lies" are just telling you one way (or tool) to do something when there are often more than one method or tool to do the job. I won't actually tell you anything wrong. Not intentionally, anyway. 🙄

Freelancer is highly extensible but it requires a few specialized tools to do so. The majority of the files that make up the game can be edited, added to, or extended. You can make huge changes to the game simply by editing text files. Well, almost simply -- see ".INI" files below.

Tip - Back up Freelancer before modding. Applying packaged mods is a snap with FLMM but it is pretty easy for a combination of mods to make the game not run correctly. And, by "not run correctly", Freelancer usually just crashes when it doesn't like something. Just copy the game folder "Copy of Freelancer" will do. The default location (for Windows XP) is:

C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer

Just copy that tree. You can leave your copy in C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\. If you ever scramble Freelancer completely, just re-copy the tree back into the Freelancer folder. It is much faster than reinstalling from CD.

Freelancer commonly-modded file types, what they do, and what you need to work with them

.flmod Freelancer Mod Manager (FLMM) mod package. A mod can change anything from a single word in a .INI file to making vast changes in thousands of files. A .flmod package is simple a .zip compressed archive with a special extension so that FLMM will know what to do with it. Mod packages can be scripted (.XML) or they can replace files. FLMM stores each mod as a folder tree and simply replaces the files in the Freelancer tree with the modified files. It can activate a mod (replace original game files) or deactivate a mod (restore the original game files). FLMM will not allow two different mods to replace the same file at the same time -- this is why most large mods must be played individually.

Scripted mods use a simple .XML script format to apply changes to files. FLMM will allow multiple scripts to modify the same file but it will warn you that it may not work correctly. This makes it possible to apply multiple mods at the same time.

Unless otherwise noted, the following files are in the DATA tree (under C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer).

.INI Once decompressed, these plain text files control the vast majority of the game. An amazing amount of changes can be made simply by editing plain-text ".INI" files. Well, almost plain text -- .INI files are supported by the Windows API (Application Programming Interface) and they are a simple way to organize data, parameters, controls, and pretty much any program information that can be stored in a single line of plain text. Freelancer's .INI files are compressed on the CD, but you can expand them and use them as plain text files. Freelancer automatically figures out whether a .INI file is compressed or not and handles it either way.

The easiest way to get uncompressed .INI files is the Freelancer SDK. "SDK" means "Software Development Kit" but don't let that scare you if you are not a programmer -- the FLSDK is simply the uncompressed .INI files for the entire original (a.k.a. "vanilla") game. Other tools include Bini (a command-line tool good for batch files) and BiniQDU which is a windows program. Many other tools decompress Freelancer .INI files in addition to doing other things.

.fl Saved game file. This is your saved game, which stores information about your character, ship, cargo, credits, rep, rumors, and bases visited. The default location is My Documents\My Games\Freelancer. Dive down the tree to find your .fl files. For Single Player games you will find them in My Documents\My Games\Freelancer\Accts\SinglePlayer. The IonCross Character Editor is easy to use but is not 100% compatible with all mods, so keep a copy of your game file before using it. The Freelancer Simple Save Editor always works, but some of the information will take you a while to understand.

.cmp, .3db, .sur, .utf, .ale These are various 3D files which include both image and data (node) trees. You will see them for ships, characters, planets, bases -- most graphical objects. Drizzt4.0's Complete Freelancer Ship Editing & Creating Tutorial is an awesome starting point for more information about Freelancer image files.

.dll InfoCards.dll contains names, rumors, ship, and equipment "info cards". A couple of other .dlls contain other text and information that can be edited, but the file that most common is InfoCards (in the EXE folder). Editing these message .dlls requires something like Visual Studio (M$) or utf_edit (free).

InfoCards.dll Editing Tip Ignore the Ship Editing tutorial's advice and just think of InfoCards.dll as a list that can contain either a name (plain text) or an infocard (formatted text). Each name or infocard has an ID number. Get the Freelancer Empty DLL and follow the instructions to make your own infocard file ("MyInfoCards" or whatever you like) and add it to Freelancer.ini (one of the few .INI files in the EXE tree rather than the DATA tree). Then create a new ID for every name or infocard that you create. While the .dll can store both a name and an infocard with the same ID, don't do it.

Freelancer.exe There are a few things that are hard-coded into Freelancer.exe that you might want to change, such as the maximum speed indicated on the HUD (999). There are various published offsets if you want to hack Freelancer.exe with a hex editor, but there are at least three versions of the .exe (probably more due to mods) and I have only seen published offsets for two of them. Note that Freelancer.exe is a compiled file which is not intended to be modified, so hacking it is an "adventurous" task at best. Jason Hood's FLHack is an easy way to temporarily modify the game without actually changing the file. FLHack does not work with all versions of Freelancer.exe but, if it works for you, then it is the way to go.

OK, that's the overview. I did not develop any of this stuff... I just play the game. As a programmer, I find that exploring mods is just as much fun as playing the game and exploring star systems. I have played Freelancer many times, and have gotten a kick out of running through the story line with more money, more accurate guns, harder missions, etc. For my tastes, Freelancer is the perfect game. It is a shame that the engine was used once and then not officially expanded. But the interest of the community makes the game continue to be fun seven years after its first release. And there are new mods in development!

My favorite hacks of all time -- speeding up the game

There are some tedious parts of the game that become annoying after a few plays -- being unable to skip long cut scenes, the time that it takes to explore the vastness of space, and the completely pointless 10-second jump gate animation. You can hack engines and thrusters to make your ship faster sub-light, or add two lines to Constants.ini (in the EXE folder) to improve cruise speed. These hacks are not universally "good" because they mess up the autopilot and, sometimes, the Artificial Intelligence (AI) characters (a.k.a. NPC's or Non-Player Characters). I recently heard a lot of background screaming over the comm link when my AI characters cruised right past docking rings and burned up in a planet's atmosphere or smashed themselves into asteroids -- whoops. Speed kills... even for AI's!

Two clear winners are shortening the jump gate animation and faster acceleration in trade lanes:

DATA\FX\jumpeffect.ini


[JumpGateEffect]

jump_out_tunnel_time = 0 ; Instant Jump Gate (was 5)

jump_in_tunnel_time = 0 ; was 5

DATA\FX\gate_tunnel.ini


[gate_tunnel]

time_to_max_speed = 0.5 ; Faster trade-lane acceleration (was 5). Minor SPOILER -- easier escapes.

DATA\Constants.ini


[EngineEquipConsts]

CRUISING_SPEED = 450 ; default = 300. Note that this also speeds up NPCs.

CRUISE_ACCEL_TIME = 1 ; default = 5. Minor SPOILER -- easier escapes.

[PhySysConsts]

ANOM_LIMITS_MAX_VELOCITY = 450 ; must change this with CRUISING_SPEED above.

Favorite Hacks, Part II

Learning how to earn money in Freelancer is part of the fun, but the trade system is complex. Modders have spent thousands of hours re-balancing the trading system, discovering "best" trade routes, adding new commodities, etc. I find all of this overly complex, when all you really need to make money in Freelancer is a bigger cargo hold. With a large cargo hold you can buy a few commodities ever time you see a good deal, and leave yourself space to pick up something else along the way. That makes trading as simple as knowing where things are produced (like diamonds in Rheinland and the Omegas). Sell when you find a good customer, and don't sweat whether you are making the best deal ever. With a large hold you will always be making money, so it doesn't matter whether you make the "most" or not.

One way is to fly a freighter. The Lane Hacker's Dromedary (only sold at Mactan Base in the Magellan System) is a versatile pirate freighter with a huge hold and lots of guns. But you cannot buy it early in the game when you need it, because your "level" or rank is not high enough. Solution: Edit your saved game to increase your rank.

If 275 tons (or whatever the units are) is not enough cargo space for you, then make your own. With Dr. Who's phone booth in mind (and it's fourth-dimensional huge interior), I like to put a 1,000 ton hold in a fighter. Or 6,000 ton. 🙂 Then you can buy and sell at most bases, tractor goods from your pirating missions, and have a tough enough ship for attacking bases and capital ships. OK, so it breaks one of the strategy rules of the game, but it makes trading a lot more interesting (and more realistic). Here's how:

DATA\SHIPS\shiparch.ini


[Ship]

hold_size = 600 ; change this line from whatever it was, like 80 for a Rhino, for example.

; NOTE: Each ship has a nickname which you will have to figure out or look up. For example,

; a Rhino is li_freighter. A Defender is li_elite. A Dromedary is bw_freighter.

;

; While you're in this file, is there any good reason that you should not be able to load your

; tractored Nomad Cannons or Blasters on your Dromedary? I didn't think so.

; Increase gun levels by changing or adding lines similar to the following:

;

hp_type = hp_gun_special_10, HpWeapon01, HpWeapon02, HpWeapon03

hp_type = hp_gun_special_9, HpWeapon01, HpWeapon02, HpWeapon03

hp_type = hp_gun_special_8, HpWeapon01, HpWeapon02, HpWeapon03

hp_type = hp_gun_special_7, HpWeapon01, HpWeapon02, HpWeapon03

hp_type = hp_gun_special_6, HpWeapon01, HpWeapon02, HpWeapon03


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Shant
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Holy cow...thank you Bullwinkle! That is a HUGE help.

OK, well I probably won't be doing any modding anytime soon, and apart from trying out the speed boost and jumpgate animation shrinker that you provided, I don't envision editing any text files (unless I have to).

For my purposes, at least for now, I just want to keep the game going. So, please correct me where necessary. If I read you right, all I have to do is:

Step 1 - Download & install FLMM

Step 2 - Copy my FL game data tree

Step 3 - DL & install whichever mods I want to play

Step 4 - Start FLMM and enable the mod I want to play

Step 5 - Start the game as usual

...and it's as simple as that?

Separately, a few more questions.

1 - I've had the Discovery mod, Phoenix, & Itano Circus reccomended to m me so I'll start with those. Any other mods you reccomend trying?

2 - Are the 3 mods mentioned above all game changing mods? IE, do they all add new missions? And if so, does that mean there are new rumors, dialog, etc...?

3 - Do the in-game changes made by the mods run concurrent to the original missions/story, or do they replace them altogether? In other words, if I install a mod, do all traces of the original story disappear or will they still be there for me to pick & choose?

Can't thank you enough for that, once again.


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
Holy cow...thank you Bullwinkle! That is a HUGE help.

Glad to help. I have learned a lot from others, so it is nice to be able to contribute back to the community.

Sure, start small; one mod at a time, and try other people's mods before making your own.

Small changes to your list:

Step 1 - Copy my entire Freelancer tree: C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Freelancer. Get it all, including the DATA, EXE, and DLLS trees. Mods can change things in any of the sub-folders.

Step 2 - Download & install FLMM

Right. For some reason, version 1.31 is more universally accepted than 1.4x

Step 3 - DL & install whichever mods I want to play.

Right... a note about "installing" FLMM mods. The easy way, after FLMM is installed, is to make sure that the mod has an extension like "MyMod.zip.flmod". Then all you have to do to install the mod is to double-click the file and FLMM will do the rest of the installation. Some mods download with the correct extension while some require you to add the .flmod part.

Note that, by default, the Home Edition of Windows does not let you see file extensions. This causes much more confusion than it solves. If Windows Explorer does not display file extensions, then fix it:

Tools | Folder Options | View |

[ ] Hide extensions for known file types <== Uncheck this box.

Step 4 - Start FLMM and enable the mod I want to play

Step 5 - Start the game as usual

Yep! It's that simple. FLMM does most of the hard work for you.

Shant wrote:
1 - I've had the Discovery mod, Phoenix, & Itano Circus reccomended to m me so I'll start with those. Any other mods you reccomend trying?

I am plan to try Phoenix and Itano Circus myself. Discovery is pretty good, and it does some of the speed-ups for you. Version 4.80 is the last version of Discovery that includes the single player story line, so you might try that rather than the newer versions (which are tuned for multi-player). The story line is basically the same, but the missions are more challenging, the payouts higher, and there are some cool new ships to try.

After watching all of those cut scenes a billion times, I can't tell you how much I appreciated the new uniform that the Crossfire mod has for Juni! When you activate Crossfire choose Sexy Outfit 2. I liked the uniform so much that I saved it for use with other mods.

Crossfire, by the way, has an extremely cool Sol System, complete with a dockable Earth. It is done to scale, so it will take you like a week to get from Pluto to Earth (just kidding about the week, but the system is HUGE compared to most Freelancer systems). The planets all have moons and there are a couple of in-system jump gates to speed up travel from the Keyper Belt (Pluto) to Jupiter, and a special trade lane from Jupiter to Earth that neatly takes you through the Van Allen asteroid belt.

Oh, and Crossfire adds a final mission to the story line, with a cute twist at the end. It is worthwhile to play Crossfire just for that final mission to Earth.

Shant wrote:
2 - Are the 3 mods mentioned above all game changing mods? IE, do they all add new missions? And if so, does that mean there are new rumors, dialog, etc...?

Let's talk about terms for a moment. Remember that most of the big modders are primarily multi-player people who do not play the story line. I think that DarkOne's use of the phrase "game changing" was perhaps a shortcut way to explain what I tried to say about the way that FLMM can either replace files or script minor changes. I believe that he meant that you cannot use two mods at the same time that change game files by replacing them.

In other words, FLMM comes with a couple of small mods that you can use with other mods (a gun, a ship, faster cruise speed). But mods that make a lot of changes (such as the mods that you mentioned) can only be activated one at a time. You can install as many as you like, but FLMM will usually make you disable an active mod before you can activate another.

So, yes, most mods have "new missions", but they are typically changes to the missions that you get in the Bar or on the Job Board. Some are pretty good. If you are thinking of extensions to the story line, that part of Freelancer has had less work than others, mainly because it is much easier to edit ships, guns, systems, and bar missions than it is to add a cut scene or extend the story line script. Remember, none of this modding stuff is supported by Microsoft (although they don't seem to mind mods that don't infringe on their copyrights).

And, yes, new rumors and infocards. Don't expect new cut scenes or audio dialog, unfortunately. As I said, the Crossfire team got pretty creative in their Mission 14, and they added new music and other sounds.

So that leads us to your next question:

Shant wrote:
3 - Do the in-game changes made by the mods run concurrent to the original missions/story, or do they replace them altogether? In other words, if I install a mod, do all traces of the original story disappear or will they still be there for me to pick & choose?

Some mods have no story line at all... just exploring. Many are built with the multi-player game in mind. Some mods let you play the original story line with different variations. Some add a little to the story line. Some replace the story completely. Have fun exploring!

-- B


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Shant
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Wow I guess that covers all the bases. Thanks again man! Will let you guys know how it goes.


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Shant
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Do you have a link to the crossfire mod?


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
Do you have a link to the crossfire mod?

http://www.moddb.com/mods/crossfire/dow ... nt-version

You may have to disable your antivirus program before it will install. There is a false alert with some checkers (including mine - Norton).

Merry Christmas!

B


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SolCommand
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"Shattered Worlds" is a cool mod also, very well made.

http://www.freelancer-swwt.com/


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cultist
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for me discovery was the best

i played a lot of Single Player

sadly the differences between SP Discovery and MP Discovery are big.

they should focus on the SP part too


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SolCommand
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I played Discovery also a wile ago but I guess it all depends on what mod you're looking for: total conversion, tweaked vanilla etc


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cultist
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imagine what could be done if microsoft releases the code for freelancer


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Shant
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Topic starter  
SolCommand wrote:
"Shattered Worlds" is a cool mod also, very well made.

http://www.freelancer-swwt.com/

Where do I download the mod from? I can't find any download links on that site...


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
SolCommand wrote:
"Shattered Worlds" is a cool mod also, very well made.

http://www.freelancer-swwt.com/

Where do I download the mod from? I can't find any download links on that site...

:)... yeah, figuring out how to download the Shattered Worlds mod is a bit like finding wrecks in the game -- you have to follow little clues! I followed the link at the bottom of the page to ModDb (which hosts downloads for many mods), read the page there, found a link to another page which led to another page which linked to a .PDF file that gives instructions for how to download.

Or, as it turns out, you can just go the the Shattered Worlds Forums page and click the big, friendly, button that says, "Getting Started": ( http://freelancer-swwt.com/Forum/index.php?action=page;id=4 )

Edit: On closer inspection, I see that this is a multiplayer mod only. 🙁

By the way, SolCommand is a modding "top gun". Check out his web page: http://solcommand.blogspot.com/

After playing a couple more of these mods (BigDaddy and Phoenix), I am beginning to think that none of them have a story line that is much different from the vanilla version. Many change details that make the original storyline missions different... new ships, weapons, commodities, rumors, bases, systems... but (mostly) not different missions (or story). Like you, Shant, I would love to find different stories to go with the changes in the game.

I will say that I find variations in NPC (AI / enemies) behavior to be pretty fun. Both Crossfire and BigDaddy did nice jobs with that. BigDaddy starts out brutally hard but gets easier if you survive long enough. I built my own weapons at first, but found that the game is more survivable if you can struggle your way through the first few missions. It is not even easy to run away in BigDaddy... the NPCs are merciless about chasing you down. Hauling cargo is more profitable, but you have to earn your credits. Just getting your cargo from Fort Bush to Pittsburgh can be rough! If you are a good pilot, it is an interesting challenge.

Did you try Crossfire? That is still at the top of my "most creative mods" list. When you get to Mission 14 (and the wreck puzzle that follows), you will see some Alliance and Coalition ships with crazy behavior; flipping end to end while playing goofy music through the comm. They seem to emit some kind of disruption field... if you let them get close to you then your own ship will go berserk for a few seconds.

It is vaguely reminiscent of the Infinite Improbability Drive from Zaphod Beeblebrox's Heart of Gold (from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

Well, almost, but not quite, entirely unlike the Infinite Improbability Drive...

Don't panic.


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Shant
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Topic starter  

I tried the crossfire mod, 1.7. Problem is it kept messing everything up. I couldn't 'deactivate' it in the mod-manager without some sort of error. Then it asks if you wanted to restore backups. I click 'yes', but after that I can no longer activate crossfire anymore. Strange issue, never happens with any other mods.

Good thing I backup my Freelancer folders like you told me. Still managed to lose all my save data though...I need to find where the game saves are stored to ensure that doesn't happen again.


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
I tried the crossfire mod, 1.7. Problem is it kept messing everything up.

Hmmm... could you restate that in less technical terms? Were you able to play the game?

Quote:
I couldn't 'deactivate' it in the mod-manager without some sort of error. Then it asks if you wanted to restore backups. I click 'yes', but after that I can no longer activate crossfire anymore.

Oh, yeah... I forgot to warn you about that when I mentioned the false virus thing. 😳 Crossfire has some quirks but it is fun enough (IMHO) to be worth a little extra effort. Here are notes from my experience:

    [*:17rmq7rg]Crossfire installs differently than most mods. It has a real installer program. I assume that has something to do with their anti-cheat code, which is also the reason for a different launcher program and the false virus alert. For those of us who only play single-player mode, anti-cheat is useless, but we get stuck with the unintended side-effects.

    [*:17rmq7rg]Because of the Crossfire installer, it is no surprise that FLMM cannot deactivate Crossfire correctly. I didn't even try to do it that way, but I'm a professional geek.

    [*:17rmq7rg]FLMM's "restore backups" technique is pretty simple... it removes everything it added during mod activation and restores the original files. Well,

almost all off the original files... there is a known bug in FLMM 1.31 that does not always restore one of the DLLs properly. Darkone has a copy of the culprit DLL in the downloads section, but I find that just copying the Freelancer tree is easier and more thorough (plus it allows me to keep a history of any of my own mods with which I am currently experimenting).

[*:17rmq7rg]Unfortunately, the developer(s) of FLMM never fixed FLMM 1.31. Instead, they made a major overhaul to FLMM for versions 1.4x (and 1.5x?). The bad news is that 1.4x+ is not compatible with 1.31 mods, which is pretty much every major mod in existence. So the community is in a weird state of limbo... 1.31 has a minor bug, but 1.4x+ is somewhat pointless. I believe that there are legitimate reasons for this situation, but it is still a pain for you (and the rest of us).

Quote:
Good thing I backed up my Freelancer folders like you told me.

    [*:17rmq7rg]I am glad that you had a backup of your Freelancer folder! That is the easy solution to all of the potential problems with mods.

    [*:17rmq7rg]The only problem with restoring your Freelancer folder is that it could leave FLMM in a state where it thinks that Crossfire is still active. So you cannot deactivate Crossfire but you cannot activate other mods. There is a simple solution for this, which I will describe in another note. Do you use REGEDIT? If so, then it will be no problem for you. If not, then I want to be very careful to give you 100% bullet-proof instructions. Good?

Quote:
Still managed to lose all my save data though...I need to find where the game saves are stored to ensure that doesn't happen again.

    [*:17rmq7rg]Saved Games include all of the information about your current game, including your ship, weapons, cargo, and systems visited. As a result, Saved Games may be mod-specific. Using a Saved Game with the wrong mod can crash Freelancer.

    [*:17rmq7rg]Because Saved Games are mod-specific, FLMM automatically puts them into separate folders every time you activate a mod. So you have not lost your Saved Games -- FLMM just moved them for you.

    [*:17rmq7rg]Don't feel bad about not knowing where your saved games are stored. Microsoft, in an attempt to make things easier for you, actually made it much more difficult than necessary. I would like to post a full set of instructions on this topic, but it is complicated by different versions of Windows. Perhaps Darkone will let me use the Wiki?

    [*:17rmq7rg]The short version is that single-player games are in:

Documents\My Games\Freelancer\Accts\SinglePlayer

(Vista) (or My Documents\My Games\Freelancer\Accts\SinglePlayer for XP). If you look at that tree in Windows Explorer you should see one or more sub-folders created by FLMM. Your saved games for each mod are in those sub-folders. You can simply copy a save from one of the sub-folders into the SinglePlayer folder and it will be visible in Freelancer.

[*:17rmq7rg]Note that Saved Games have computer-generated names and there is no easy way to see the title that you created for the save. Usually you can work with "Autosave.fl", or perhaps you can identify your saved games by Date Modified.

[*:17rmq7rg]If you want to know more about Saved Games I can go into a little more detail. Or check out the IonCross Freelancer Character Editor. It isn't perfect, but it is an easy way for a human being to view (and make minor changes to) a saved game.

Feel free to ask questions or report troubles here.... I will be happy to help as much as I can.


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Shant
(@shant)
Warrant Officer Registered
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 229
Topic starter  

Thanks bullwinkle, well beyond helpful as usual.

Here's what I'm thinking. When I restore the Freelancer vanilla and then run FLMM and activate crossfire for the first time, it works and activates without any errors. I was able to play for a little while. The problems started when I shut the game down, started FLMM and tried to de-activate crossfire in order to try another mod. I'm thinking as long as I don't deactivate it I won't have a problem.

Besides I've tried a few of the other mods and crossfire seems to offer the biggest changes. I noticed the ship AI is much rougher. Enemy ships 'wag' from side to side when I'm on their 6, making it hard to focus my fire on them. I wasn't even able to get to Pittsburgh during my first run! I don't mind it though, since there's no difficulty setting I'll just approach it as though the game's on 'hard' mode (more like 'very hard'!). Still, it's hard for me to tell if I'm being too aggressive or not aggressive enough. I never had to use hit & run tactics during my first playthrough of vanilla. If that's what it takes, I'm fine with that as well. It adds a different gameplay element.

At what point do I start to see the new ships/weapons? Oh, and what do I do with those million dollar licenses?


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Bullwinkle
(@bullwinkle)
Warrant Officer Registered
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 209
 
Shant wrote:
Thanks bullwinkle, well beyond helpful as usual.

Here's what I'm thinking. When I restore the Freelancer vanilla and then run FLMM and activate crossfire for the first time, it works and activates without any errors. I was able to play for a little while. The problems started when I shut the game down, started FLMM and tried to de-activate crossfire in order to try another mod. I'm thinking as long as I don't deactivate it I won't have a problem.

...

At what point do I start to see the new ships/weapons? Oh, and what do I do with those million dollar licenses?

Right, that's all good.

To be honest, I only activate mods in FLMM. Instead of deactivating a mod, I change the name of the Freelancer folder, make a fresh copy from my vanilla backup, and use FLMM to activate another mod.

The trick to doing this is to clear FLMM's "memory" of the activated mod.

If you are familiar with REGEDIT, look at HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Freelancer Mod Manager. You will see a string value for each activated mod with a name such as mods\Crossfire1.70. I just change the name by adding "x-" to make the name of the string x-mods\Crossfire1.70. The only important part is that the prefix "mods" must be changed to something else (almost anything else will do).

If you are not familiar with REGEDIT, then maybe forget that I mentioned it? 😉 It really is not hard, but REGEDIT has the ability to screw up your PC if you do something wildly wrong like, say, deleting the SOFTWARE key. That would be, um... bad. As in "reinstalling-Windows-from-scratch bad". But, if you are careful, it is not all that hard and not all that mysterious. Finding some of the wrecks in Freelancer is more difficult.

If you make a Restore Point before fiddling with REGEDIT you should be pretty safe. Mostly. Probably. 🙄

Shifting topics, there IS a difficulty setting in Freelancer. It is in PerfOptions.ini, which lives in Documents\My Games\Freelancer (above the Accts\SinglePlayer folder where your saved games reside). The default value is 1.0. "God mode" (invulnerable) is 0, and anything above 1.0 increases the difficulty.

Figuring out whether to fight or flee is part of the game, and will depend on your shields, weapons, skill, number of opponents and their ships/weapons/skill, etc. It's all about situational awareness, and it is part of your job as pilot to figure out what to do in each battle. I think you knew that... I'm just covering all of the bases, as usual! 🙂

The million dollar licenses are for multi-player. I think they put a logo on your ship. If you fly around without one (in a sophisticated ship), then everybody picks on you... in other words, you have no friends at all. Yikes!

I've played so many mods in the past couple of weeks that the ships and weapons blur a little... if memory serves, I think that I found a ship called the Raven's Claw that served me well in Crossfire. You can find it as early as the Liberty section of the game (after your second stop on Pittsburgh), although it is a bit expensive.

How much of a hint do you want here? If you want specifics then we should start a new thread clearly marked "Freelancer Spoilers".

You will find other ships and weapons scattered throughout the game. Here are a couple of general "rules of thumb" (but beware of the exceptions to the rule!):

    [*:2czydkmp]Ships can show up on almost any base, but the best fighters are usually sold by military factions (on battleships) or at outlaw bases. The Outcasts have some of the best gear, but the Corsairs have good stuff, too.

    [*:2czydkmp]The best smuggler/pirate freighters (big cargo and many guns) are usually sold by pirate factions... as you would expect. I mentioned the Dromedary in another thread... it's the best vanilla pirate freighter, sold only by the Lane Hackers at Mactan Base in Magellan.

    [*:2czydkmp]You may have to hack your saved game to raise your level in order to be able to buy some ships. I just set my level to "30" at the beginning of the game, and that allows me to buy anything I can afford. The levels, IMHO, are a little half-baked, so it feels more like fixing a bug than cheating to me. 🙄

    [*:2czydkmp]If the Outcasts and Corsairs hate you (probably because you are too much of a wuss 🙂 ), then try the Zoners (at the Freeports). The Zoners are highly independent, with only a mild dislike for outlaws. Otherwise, they will trade with almost anyone. Some of the Freeports have the best-available "civilian" ships and weapons.

    [*:2czydkmp]The Bundschuh also have exceptional gear in the vanilla mod. Their role in other mods varies. You will naturally arrive at their base (Bruchsal) at a later point in the game, but you can go there on your own (as long as you attain the proper reputation with them).

    [*:2czydkmp]Another place to get top gear is on wrecks. The hardest-hitting (Level 10) guns are only found on wrecks (or, in some systems, by killing Nomads).

By the way, don't feel as though you have to pay attention to Juni's constant whining about hurrying up to do her next mission. She will wait until you are done earning credits and getting the gear that you want. So, when you have the chance to "get a job", take it as an opportunity to prepare for the next wave of missions.

Notes on travel restrictions:

    [*:2czydkmp]At the beginning of the game you are restricted to New York. The best fighter in New York is usually the Defender. The Rhino may not look like much on paper, but it packs a lot of forward-facing-guns and a lot of cargo space on the cheap. It is a little sluggish to turn, but good enough when you slide.

    [*:2czydkmp]As I mentioned, in Crossfire, I think there is a jump hole from New York to another system that has very high-end ships (at high-end prices). 'The good news is that you can get there without leaving New York (although you may have to hack your level).

    [*:2czydkmp]After your first trip to Colorado, you can travel throughout Liberty. That's California, New York, Colorado, and Texas. Don't forget the prisons in Texas... in some mods they pay well for prisoners.

    [*:2czydkmp]When you get chased out of Liberty you can go pretty much anywhere in Sirius with a couple of exceptions: You cannot go from Texas directly to Rheinland (although the long routes through Krusari or the Omegas work), you cannot go from Colorado to Krusari space, and you might have trouble using jump

gates from Magellan or Cortez back to California. However, you may be able to get back into Liberty via jump holes. If you have some spare cash, a couple of bribes will bring your rep right back up to normal so that you can resume trading in Liberty again. Since Manhattan pays best for a couple of commodities, it can be handy to be able to return to Liberty.

[*:2czydkmp]Even when the authorities all hate you, there will usually be an outlaw or independent base that will welcome you. It is a good idea to get a feel for where the different factions have their bases so that you can find a friendly base wherever you are.

If you want to know specific bases for ships and/or weapons, we really should start a different thread. It is not super-secret information, but this is an adventure game, after all.


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