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So what mods do you reccomend?

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Shant
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Yeah I should've been more specific in that question. What I meant was, when will I start to see the crossfire unique weapons/items? So far on manhattan and pittsburgh it's all the same weapons/ships as vanilla. Crossfire adds a lot of new gear, does it not?

Yeah I use regedit fairly often. I was going to ask you if you thought it was a good idea to rename the freelancer folder after each mod that I activated for it, but then I realized that the mod would remain activated in FLMM. Having tried to deactivate a mod after putting my vanilla folders back got me into trouble once already so I figured I'd scratch the idea. Your regedit idea will fix that. This, it seems to me, makes for the best solution. Full proof. I'll rename my folder "Freelancer - crossfire", and then put "Freelancer" (vanilla) back, do the registry trick, and I can try other mods without worrying about crossfire. That sound about right?

Oh, on your suggestion I downloaded discovery 4.80 (I don't play MP). It doesn't, however, have the flmm extension, it's rather just a collection of folders and files. I think you warned me about this once already, but how do I implement these mods? Install the folders over vanilla?

Lastly, on the fight/flight thing, it's not a question of knowing when to run or fight. I realize I should run when I'm getting my ass kicked, along with the factors you mentioned. My query is more about the situations where I don't have the luxury of running. My ship is absolutely worthless at the moment and I'm getting creamed, but I can't run or the guy we have to protect will get killed and I have to go back to last save. But the enemy ships are tearing through me with ease and I can't tell if it's because I'm being too aggressive...let me ask it like this. Do you ever find yourself needing to fire up cruise and get away from the enemy until your shields return, and then go back to continue combat and repeating this cycle as necessary? I never had to do that in my vanilla playthrough, I'm just wondering if that's going to become necessary with crossfire.


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
So far on manhattan and pittsburgh it's all the same weapons/ships as vanilla. Crossfire adds a lot of new gear, does it not?

Unless I have my mods confused, one of the best Crossfire-specific ships is available immediately, right from New York, before Juni unlocks the gates to the rest of Liberty. If you want me to tell you where it is then we should do it in a clearly marked "spoiler" thread, ok?

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Your regedit idea will fix that. This, it seems to me, makes for the best solution. Full proof. I'll rename my folder "Freelancer - crossfire", and then put "Freelancer" (vanilla) back, do the registry trick, and I can try other mods without worrying about crossfire. That sound about right?

Exactly! That is precisely the way that I do it. If you also keep track of your saved games, then you can flip back and forth between mods without having to start at the beginning again.

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I downloaded discovery 4.80 (I don't play MP). It doesn't, however, have the flmm extension, it's rather just a collection of folders and files. I think you warned me about this once already, but how do I implement these mods?

Just change the mod's file name, giving it the .flmod extension: Discovery480.zip.flmod

Then use it with FLMM.

(.FLMOD is just an invention by the author of FLMM that associates properly-formatted .ZIP files with FLMM)

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My ship is absolutely worthless at the moment and I'm getting creamed, but I can't run or the guy we have to protect will get killed and I have to go back to last save. But the enemy ships are tearing through me with ease and I can't tell if it's because I'm being too aggressive...let me ask it like this. Do you ever find yourself needing to fire up cruise and get away from the enemy until your shields return, and then go back to continue combat and repeating this cycle as necessary? I never had to do that in my vanilla playthrough, I'm just wondering if that's going to become necessary with crossfire.

Worthless ship... so you're still in the Starflier that Juni gave you? That is perhaps the most vulnerable time of the game because you have weak shields, thin armor, and she gives you those wimpy Liberty lasers to start. Yes, about the only thing you CAN do in the Starflier is run away. Oh, but then your buddy, King, drags you into a couple of knife fights against superior numbers of well-armed and well-trained enemies... yeah, you're pretty much toast (*heavy sigh*).

The safest thing to do would be to give up and go play a Sid Meier's game. 😀 But Juni is counting on you... Heck, the very survival of humanity in the Sirius Sector depends on your ability to survive those first couple of missions! I know you're going to man up and meet the challenge!

Here some early game tips:

    [*:355y883p]The Starflier has one advantage over all other ships: It is the lightest and most nimble ship in the game. Use that to your advantage and avoid being hammered too hard.

    [*:355y883p]Cruise engines are great for escaping from pirates, but they have two problems in battle. First, they take five seconds to warm up. Your thrusters don't work during those five long seconds, so you cannot even slide or run... you are a sitting duck. Second, if you flee too far from the center of combat during a mission, then Mission Command (the "Big Brother" people who pay you) will fail the mission on you.

    [*:355y883p]However, you can still use thrusters and slides to avoid being hit, and you can weave through asteroid fields to further avoid taking fire. That gives your shields a few seconds to recharge, which can make the winning difference.

    [*:355y883p]Note that the combination of sliding and thrusters allows you to keep your speed up while increasing your turn rate -- a double win. When combat is inevitable, turn your engines off and just slide your way through the battle.

    [*:355y883p]Also note that you can conserve your thrusters while sliding. Just tap your thrusters once in a while to keep your speed up.

    [*:355y883p]Another good defensive technique is to

fly in a corkscrew pattern. Pick a visual point of reference (star or planet, for example), and keep it in your field of view as you fly in moderately tight circles. So you are headed roughly toward your point of reference, but your ship is constantly changing direction, right? It is very difficult for the NPC's to clobber you while you do that. They might get in a shot or two, but they won't get you with a full salvo.

[*:355y883p]Now that you have a couple of survival techniques, let's turn our attention to squeezing more firepower out of your little Starflier. The Liberty lasers are the weakest of all lasers, and lasers are the weakest guns in the game. They can be effective weapons, but you will need more than the Starflier's three guns to do much damage with them. Sell your lasers, and sell your nanobots and shield batteries, too (now you really have to avoid taking much damage for a mission or two!). That will give you enough credits to buy LavaBlade plasma cannons. These hit MUCH harder than lasers.

[*:355y883p]Remember to use your tractor beam after ever kill. You may pick up nanobots or shield batteries from the wrecked ship, in addition to valuable cargo and maybe even bad-ass weapons.

[*:355y883p]Remember, also, that enemies drop unused bots and bats when killed. Therefore, the more quickly you can kill an enemy, the greater your chances of recovering bats and bots from them.

[*:355y883p]Note that your targeting computer considers many factors -- speed and direction (vector) of the enemy, your own vector, and the average vector of the "ammunitions" of all of your guns. In other words, if all of your guns have the same speed, then your targeting computer will be more accurate.

[*:355y883p]Since the physics are Newtonian, the vector of the ammunition is added to the vector of your ship. If you are sliding backwards, your gun's shot will be slower. If you are thrusting directly toward your enemy, then the speed of your gun's ammunition can be nearly doubled. Use that to your advantage.

[*:355y883p]If you watch the enemy AI behavior closely enough, you will see that they have some "habits". One is that they tend to evade when you attack, and attack when you evade. This gives you a clue that you can use to your advantage.

[*:355y883p]Finally, let's put all of the above together to give you an effective offensive maneuver. I think of it as "space jousting":

    [*:355y883p]Target a single enemy ship ("R" key).

    [*:355y883p]Turn your engines off. Fly at full thruster speed directly toward your enemy.

    [*:355y883p]When your enemy is in range, fire all your weapons and do as much damage as you can. The combination of your ship's vector and your gun's vector will give your weapons maximum accuracy, speed, and damage.

    [*:355y883p]Use your peripheral vision to keep an eye on your shields. If your shields get too low, then break away. Otherwise, keep hammering the varmint.

    [*:355y883p]As you pass the enemy, flip end-to-end without using your engines (still sliding). You will now be flying backwards, away from your enemy, at high speed, but your guns will be facing the enemy.

    [*:355y883p]Keep sliding backwards until you are about 1,000 klicks from your target. Since you just hammered your enemy, he will usually fly away from you, too, so this only takes a couple of seconds.

    [*:355y883p]Your enemy will turn to attack you again, but you now have the advantage because you have already made your turn! Lean on your thrusters and head full speed at the enemy, repeating your assault.

[*:355y883p]Using the corkscrew and space jousting, even your puny Starflier can take out most of the enemies in New York. The Outcasts that hang out in the Badlands are tougher, especially when they team with a wing of Rogues. However, by the time that you get there, you should have had a chance to upgrade your own ship and weapons.

[*:355y883p]Since Juni's missions are mostly combat, many players prefer to upgrade to stronger fighters. The Defender is the strongest fighter in Liberty (do you know where to get one?).

[*:355y883p]However, as mentioned elsewhere, I find that a Rhino equipped with LavaBlade guns and turrets is a formidable craft. It has twice the cargo space of the Defender, with similarly tough armor, and it has more guns than the Defender. You must be good at sliding in order to maneuver a Rhino effectively, but the jousting technique gives you enough of an edge to be able to take out even the very quickest of light fighters.


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Shant
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Phew! This mod is very unforgiving! An average battle that used to take 5-7 minutes now takes nearly an hour! The enemy's shields recharge almost as fast as I can damage them, and when I do manage to do some damage, it seems every enemy has at least 3-4 bots/bats, so I have to get them to use up all their bots/bats and then slowly widdle down their hulls.

Fortunately I got lucky a few times and made it to a battleship where I bought the defender. I still feel dreadfully under powered and outgunned.

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if all of your guns have the same speed, then your targeting computer will be more accurate.

HA! THat's brilliant! I would've never thought of that one.

The lavablade...is that the one with a refire rate of 2.00? That may take some getting used to...I've been relying on missiles to do the bulk of the work for me. I use the lasers to chop away at their shields/hulls and when I know they're out of bots/bats, I start firing missiles in conjunction with jousting. I find it very hard to hit them with missiles from behind, we need to be coming at eachother.

Haven't tried the corkscrew yet, will give that a go on my next run.

The rhino...is that a freighter?


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Shant
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Oh I checked out solcommand's page you posted for me. Looks like he's putting in a lot of work! Is it primarily a 'new ships/bases mod'? Any idea when it's looking at completion or if there's a beta? Hard to find that info on his site.

Also, he links a mod on that page called XLR...ever heard of it? http://www.smfweb.com/forums/xlrdev/index.php


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
Oh I checked out solcommand's page you posted for me. Looks like he's putting in a lot of work! Is it primarily a 'new ships/bases mod'? Any idea when it's looking at completion or if there's a beta? Hard to find that info on his site.

Hopefully SolCommand will respond directly, but my sense is that he is a graphic artist who makes 3-D models that can be used in games (and, perhaps, in other places?). I believe that he is contributing the artwork part of the job, so that a more programmer-ish kind of person can turn it into a finished mod.

But don't take that as "official". 🙂

I have seen him around on other boards... he seems to know what he is doing (as in, he's a pro).


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
Phew! This mod is very unforgiving! An average battle that used to take 5-7 minutes now takes nearly an hour!

Yep. The assumption is that you have already played vanilla Freelancer at least once, so you probably want more of a challenge this time. 🙂 Stick with it... you will sharpen your piloting skills and the missions are definitely win-able.

For me, the first few missions are always the most difficult. That Starflier really is a "hunk of junk" as Tobias puts it. But jousting is sort of a "hit-and-run" technique, and it is effective, even in the Starflier.

Here are more tips about weapons:

    [*:eqb2m7jr]In order to compare weapons, multiply Refire Rate x Damage to get amount of damage per second.

    [*:eqb2m7jr]NPCs have quicker reflexes than you and they target more accurately than you can (pesky AIs!). Therefore, if you hit them with a laser shot, they will immediately begin to evade. So, just because you tagged them with one laser blast does not mean that you be able to continue to hit them for the several seconds required to destroy them.

    [*:eqb2m7jr]That is why a harder-hitting weapon (such as a plasma cannon) is more effective against AIs. You may not get as many hits with a plasma cannon, but each hit does enough damage to be significant, even if they do evade your second and subsequent shots.

    [*:eqb2m7jr]Missiles in Freelancer kind of suck. You would think that they could develop better homing devices if they can travel faster than light, wouldn't you? Oh, well... some people do well with missiles and mines, but I put three LavaBlades on a Starflier before I fly the very first mission.

    [*:eqb2m7jr]The only missiles that really hit their targets effectively are the cruise disruptors (Wasp and Hornet in vanilla... some mod has a Mosquito that is quite excellent). Hint: They have uses beyond just cruise disruption.

    [*:eqb2m7jr]Since missiles consume credits and don't really work all that well anyway, considering using all guns.

    [*:eqb2m7jr]Add a mine if you want to add a little more firepower. The NPC almost has to run into a mine, so the time to drop it is just before they pass you (or if they are chasing you).

    [*:eqb2m7jr]The hardest-hitting guns in the game are slow compared to lasers and tachyon guns. They also have low refire rates. Learn to aim better, and use them effectively while jousting, then you won't have to chase the NPCs for an hour just to get in a lucky shot!

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Fortunately I got lucky a few times and made it to a battleship where I bought the defender. I still feel dreadfully under powered and outgunned.

OK, that's great! The Defender is pretty good, and its turret fires forward which effectively gives you an extra gun. Try fitting it with all LavaBlades and see how you do.

Note that the cheapest LavaBlade hits a lot harder than even the best lasers in Liberty.

Also, keep your eyes peeled for a better shield for your Defender. The farther you get from Manhattan, the better the available gear becomes. If you get a chance to sneak out of Liberty early (before being chased out), then you can make friends with the Outcasts or Corsairs and buy truly superior gear from them.

Tip: Graviton shields have the best price-to-performance ratio. I always buy the best graviton shield available.

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if all of your guns have the same speed, then your targeting computer will be more accurate.

HA! THat's brilliant! I would've never thought of that one.

🙂 Your enemies are computers, so it helps to think like a computer in order to beat them!

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The lavablade...is that the one with a refire rate of 2.00?

Yep. It took me a couple of times through Freelancer before I figured out the above tips about how the AIs behave and how to beat them at their own game. Like you, I flailed with lasers for a long time before I finally tried the LavaBlades.

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Haven't tried the corkscrew yet, will give that a go on my next run.

It's a life-saver, literally, when you've been hammered too hard. 🙂

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The rhino...is that a freighter?

Yep, it is the budget-rate freighter available at Pittsburgh, among other places. It doesn't look fancy and it doesn't handle like a Porsche, but it gets the job done. A Defender has 6 guns while a Rhino has 8.... that means an extra couple of hundred damage points per hit, or more.

Think of it as a tank with big cargo hold, and maybe it will be more appealing. 🙂

BTW, I see that Crossfire 1.8 is now in "public beta". It is HUGE compared to 1.7... the download is seven times larger! I just installed it so that I could give you better answers about Crossfire. I will let you know if I discover anything interesting.

The one thing that I have noticed already is that the installer does not cause a virus alert, which is nice.


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Shant
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How were you able to change your rank from within ioncross? There are a lot of options there but nothing for pilot rank.


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
How were you able to change your rank from within ioncross? There are a lot of options there but nothing for pilot rank.

Nuts... that is one of the things that you will need the Save Game Editor for. 😳

I uploaded the Save Editor (and the IonCross Editor) to the Freelancer / Tools area here. With any luck, this should be the link.

Here is what it looks like... as the name suggests, it is pretty simple:

[hsimg] [/hsimg]

At first, just ignore the stuff that is not obvious and stick with the easy things such as Rank and Money. When you feel up to it, you can edit anything about your character here, including reputations, cargo, etc.

The IonCross Character Editor is more human-friendly, but it won't let you edit the Rank.


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
Phew! This mod is very unforgiving! An average battle that used to take 5-7 minutes now takes nearly an hour!

I just ran through Mission 1 in Crossfire 1.8 and, as you say, it is pretty tough. You are tightly restricted on ships and weaponry, even though Crossfire at least gives you some "angel capital" to get started.

As soon as I got the Starflier I upgraded the shields and bought the three biggest plasma cannons that they would sell me (LavaBlade Mk IIs). The Order ships (Avenge the Donau) take some work but they don't shoot back much.

The Rogue ships go down in one or two passes with those LavaBlades, usually leaving bots and bats behind. That's good, but there are a lot of them and it can be hard to survive long enough to kill them all!

As soon as I landed at Pittsburgh the first time, I upgraded to a Rhino. They don't sell plasma cannons at Pittsburgh so I had to buy laser turrets. Still, the 8 guns on the Rhino do a good job... taking out the tougher Rogues around Pittsburgh and Maine in a pass or two of jousting.

You probably noticed that you have to be very careful when approaching the Rogue base near Pittsburgh. Those Weapons Platforms are brutal. You have to take out those two platforms quickly in order to be able to focus on the fighters.

I am just beginning with Crossfire 1.8, but my experience so far is that it feels more stable than 1.7, even though it is a beta version. When you are ready to try it, you can find Crossfire 18 beta here.

Another difference in version 1.8 addresses your earlier question about fancy Crossfire ships. The Pittsburgh Ship Dealer sells a Werewolf Very Heavy Fighter that sports a vicious-looking cannon. In fact, the entire ship looks like part of the cannon, as though they slapped an engine and a cockpit on a huge cannon and called it a "ship".

The Werewolf costs 8 million credits, but it looks as though it might be worth saving up for. 🙂


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:

At what point do I start to see the new ships/weapons?

Well, I just explored around before meeting Juni on Manhattan for Mission 2 (in Crossfire 1.8). I am impressed with what the Crossfire team has done since version 1.7. The overall feel is more polished, it seems more stable, and there is a place you can go that reminds me of Alice's Restaurant (because you can get anything you want!).

There are ships galore, and most of the weapons and other goodies as well. So you can beef up your ship to a very high level before you even leave New York (officially).

I know that you just installed 1.7 and the 1.8 version is only a couple of days old, but I think you're going to like it.

I'll bet that your saved games from Crossfire 1.7 will work with 1.8... it is worth a try, at least.


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Shant
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Yeah, may as well try 1.8. I suppose I should just copy over a vanilla installation and install 1.8 from scratch via flmm, yeah?


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
Yeah, may as well try 1.8. I suppose I should just copy over a vanilla installation and install 1.8 from scratch via flmm, yeah?

Yes, exactly.

Also, try copying your Autosave.fl, from the Crossfire1.70 folder that FLMM will create, back into your SinglePlayer folder (Documents\My Games\Freelancer\Accts\SinglePlayer). If it crashes, then just start a new game.

Were you able to edit your rank with the Save Editor?


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Shant
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Yeah I was, but I'm gonna leave it as is. Reason being, I'm going through the game way too fast now, and bumping up the rank will only speed things up more. I'm already past the dexter hovis (racing) part. Last time it took almost a week to get that far.


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
Yeah I was [able to edit my rank], but I'm gonna leave it as is.

Sure, I understand.

I just wanted to make sure that my instructions made sense, and that you found them (because I edited a message -- adding links and a pic -- rather than posting a new one). Personally, I kind of hate it when people give only a half-useful tip, but I never know for sure what the reader knows and what he/she doesn't know (plus I assume that others will read the thread in the future). So I tend to write everything I can think of, in the most organized way that I can, but sometimes too much information can be as confusing as too little! 🙄

In other words, I know that I write too much sometimes, but it is hard to know which parts to leave out! 🙂


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Bullwinkle
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Shant wrote:
I'm going through the game way too fast now, and bumping up the rank will only speed things up more. I'm already past the dexter hovis (racing) part. Last time it took almost a week to get that far.

Yeah, I feel ya on that one.

First, remember that you can adjust your difficulty in PerfOptions.ini (in Documents\My Games\Freelancer). If you buy a better ship, then maybe adjust your difficulty. Try 1.5 or thereabouts... it makes the AIs tougher but not impossible.

Second, you bring up a very interesting point, Shant, and it is one that I have been thinking about in the background for a couple of weeks now. I have an open question that I would like to ask of you (and anyone still reading this thread) -- would it be helpful to have a few mini-mods that could make small adjustments to the game while co-existing with whatever major mods you may be playing?

This applies to Single Player only. The Multi-Player crowd would consider it "cheating" unless it is built into whatever mod the server runs.

I am thinking along the lines of small mods that you could activate or deactivate within FLMM without screwing up, say, Crossfire. For example, you mentioned the Hovis race, which is tuned for vanilla cruise speeds. The race is quite challenging in vanilla but, in Crossfire, Hovis just blows past one of the gates and gets lost, making it far too easy to win. So an example of my idea would be a small mod that temporarily sets cruise speed to vanilla speed while you compete with Hovis, then allows you to return to normal Crossfire speeds for the rest of the game. This would be similar to the Speed Mod that comes with FLMM, but with more options.

While I am at it, FLMM makes it easy to give the user choices, so the mod could allow you to, for example, crank your cruise speed way up for easy exploring of an uncharted system, then go back to a more normal speed for playing the missions.

Note that any mod implemented with FLMM requires you to exit the game in order to activate or deactivate the mod.

Here are some ideas:

    [*:20ew47f4]Shorten or eliminate the 10-second jump gate animation that serves no purpose other than eye candy.

    [*:20ew47f4]Better ship, weapon, and/or shield, available at Manhattan, purchasable at Level 0, to take some of the repetitive frustration out of playing Mission 1 (if you have already played it before). This could be as simple as allowing the player to buy a Patriot or Rhino on Manhattan before the first mission.

    [*:20ew47f4]Larger cargo holds, which allow you to make money faster, without having to do the same run over and over again. You would still need to trade intelligently, but there are only so many times I can do the "diamond run" from Dresden to New Tokyo before I want to scream.

    [*:20ew47f4]Expanded Speed Mod, with more choices.

    [*:20ew47f4]Dromedary (or other ships, such as Very Heavy Fighters - VHFs) purchasable at low level, so that you can buy them during the storyline game, when you need them. Most of the really great ships can only be purchased after completing the storyline, which is pointless for those of us who only play the storyline.

    [*:20ew47f4]Turn off the intro movies.

Things that I have played with, some of which are just for messing around (they could unbalance the game):

    [*:20ew47f4]A gun that actually hits what you aim at. It is viciously effective -- perhaps too much so. Maybe it could be tuned differently.

    [*:20ew47f4]Cruise disruptor missiles that do some damage when they hit (explosive and/or EMP-shield-damage).

    [*:20ew47f4]Faster engines, thrusters, and/or cruise speed. I have not found a single setting that works in all scenarios, so the idea would be to allow the user to change speeds for a single mission, then return to "normal".

    [*:20ew47f4]More powerful power plant -- so that guns recharge faster.

    [*:20ew47f4]Instant-on Cruise Engine (or faster-charging cruise engine... vanilla takes 5 seconds to charge). Makes Cruise Speed easier to use, but also makes it harder for enemies to nail you as you try to flee.

    [*:20ew47f4]Discount Debit Card. Buy, say, $1,000 (or $1 million) for $1. Just a cheap way to increase money without making repetitive cargo runs.

Things that I would love to do but are impossible, difficult, or I just don't know how:

    [*:20ew47f4]Faster Trade Lane Top Speed. This is hard-coded into Freelancer. While it is possible to change, there is no reliable way to automate the change in a way that will work under all circumstances.

    [*:20ew47f4]Skip the cut scenes. The cut scenes are a big part of the fun of Freelancer, but some of them are pretty long. Like Dexter Hovis's long-winded race tutorial... if you have to run the course a dozen times in order to beat him, that's something like half an hour spent just listening to him say the same thing, over and over. The best idea I have come up with is to truncate the cut scenes... like play the first 10 or 15 seconds, then just cut it off. It's not very smooth, however. Too bad you cannot just press Escape to skip them, as you can with the intro movies.

    [*:20ew47f4]Instant take-off and landing. If you really want to find all of the surprises in Freelancer, then you have to stop at a lot of bases. Each base has a few seconds of animation during docking and take-off that do not matter much to your ability to evade enemies but which take up time, making it a little tedious to visit all those bases. My sense is that there might be a way to shorten this, but I have not yet figured out how.

If I could get my hands on the source code for FLMM, I could do more with it, but I have not seen it posted anywhere.

So here are my questions:

    [*:20ew47f4]Do any of these ideas sound fun or interesting?

    [*:20ew47f4]Do you have ideas of your own that we could add to the list (at this point, I am mostly interested in small-ish projects).

    [*:20ew47f4]Which ideas would be your favorites?


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Shant
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Funny enough the race was far easier for me in vanilla, I beat Dexter the 2nd time so I only had to listen to his tutorial the first time. I don't know why it was so easy for me the first time, I'm thinking I had a weak ship which was more maneuverable. This time I had the crusader, and I must've raced him 20 times and couldn't pull it off. Then I played with max cruise speeds and realized the faster you go the harder it is to beat him, not easier. In the end I had to cheat and swapped out my crusader for a starflier and beat him right away. It's all about maneuverability.

Yeah those ideas sound good. I would think cutting off the jumpgate sequence is a definite because it won't mess with the balance of the game. Another one I like is increasing afterburner speed. Honestly though, after this playthrough I'm pretty sure I'll be done. I almost never play through a game twice...but 3 times? I really doubt it.


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Bullwinkle
(@bullwinkle)
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Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 209
 
Shant wrote:
the race was far easier for me in vanilla, I beat Dexter the 2nd time

As a programmer, I am kind of fascinated by the AI behavior, so I watch it closely. Dexter Hovis misses a gate on his second time through the course, so your best opportunity to win is on the second try (or 4th or 22nd, or so on). His reflexes are computer-fast and -accurate, and he flies the Dagger, which is the best light fighter in the game. I am not sure that it would be possible to beat him if he did not miss a gate... I never have. It is more like he loses to me rather my winning.

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I played with max cruise speeds and realized the faster you go the harder it is to beat him, not easier. In the end I had to cheat and swapped out my crusader for a starflier and beat him right away. It's all about maneuverability.

Right. The faster the race, the greater the advantage in Dexter's computer-fast reflexes... up to a point. When the cruise speed is too high, he misses the gates and cannot recover, so you are better off using thrusters rather than cruise speed.

And you did the right thing by getting a Starflier. I wouldn't call that "cheating"... it's like buying another ship just for that mission. You really have to try a few (or many) different ships in order to get all of the fun out of the storyline, so don't feel bad about hacking your level or money in order to do so. Anyway, the Starflier is probably the only ship more maneuverable than a Dagger, so it is the right call for the race track!

(By the way, the Dagger is a very popular ship in multi-player because of its high maneuverability and five guns. It hits pretty hard for such a nimble ship. You have to make friends with the Liberty Rogues in order to buy one at Buffalo.)

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cutting off the jumpgate sequence is a definite because it won't mess with the balance of the game.

Yeah, it's the first thing I do when I start the game. You said that you experimented with cruise speeds but you didn't say whether you did it with the Speed Mod or by editing Constants.ini. If you are into editing the .INI files, here's how to shorten the Jump Gate effect:

Freelancer\DATA\FX\jumpeffects.ini

[JumpGateEffect]

...

jump_out_tunnel_time = 1 ; Change all lines like this to 0 or 1 rather than the default (often 5)

jump_in_tunnel_time = 1 ; Do the same with these lines (was 5)

Ironically, it appears that Crossfire 1.8 changed (it auto-updates itself) so that some of the ship- and weapon- mods don't "stick" without a lot of extra effort. It is beyond the capability of FLMM to correct, and I hope that the Crossfire team will make another update so that they don't do their anti-cheat stuff in single-player mode. I can fix it for myself, but it would be hard to package in a way that would be easy for somebody else to implement.

In other words, Crossfire 1.8 wiped out some of my ideas (including afterburner speed) after I posted them. 🙁 But the good news is that Crossfire makes so many excellent ships and weapons available from New York and New London that all you really need is to hack your Level (and, maybe, money) in order to buy them.

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Honestly though, after this playthrough I'm pretty sure I'll be done. I almost never play through a game twice...but 3 times? I really doubt it.

Yeah, I'm the same way... usually. Freelancer is the only (non-card) game that I have played more than twice. But Freelancer is special because:

    [*:iflh5ufa]It is so highly adjustable that I can keep the game interesting by trying different combinations.

    [*:iflh5ufa]Mods such as Crossfire add such a huge amount of new space -- and new puzzles -- to explore.

    [*:iflh5ufa]I have yet to find another game, since Freelancer, that I like as much.

Speaking of puzzles, have you found the Crossfire-specific systems and ships that you asked about? Or the puzzle(s)? There is at least one that will take you a while to figure out. And you will probably need a well-equipped Very Heavy Fighter to survive in some of the Crossfire systems.

If you have gone beyond New London without finding new systems to explore (and new ships to experiment with), then you may be rushing through the missions. You will get other chances later, but the Crossfire extensions don't lead you by the nose the way the storyline does... you have to do some exploring in order to get the full benefit (in case you have not already done so).

I don't want to spoil your fun by giving away too many clues, but just be sure to read the News in a bar before hanging up the game forever. 😎


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Bullwinkle
(@bullwinkle)
Warrant Officer Registered
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 209
 

Finding wrecks, secret bases, hidden jump holes, and some other crazy Crossfire stuff, requires exploring off the beaten track... outside of the Trade Lanes. Space is vast, and Freelancer underscores the vastness by sometimes-long cruises in between destinations.

Q) How do you explore a new system without a tedious grid search?

A) Use the Nav map to display common Patrol Routes for Friends, Foes, and Neutral Factions. The Patrol Routes will show you where the NPC's go. Sometimes it is just some rich gas cloud or asteroid farm but, other times, there might be something interesting there. If you see many Patrol Routes converging on one spot, then you can bet that there is a reason that the AI's are all going there.

Of course, Rumors, paid Information Tips, and the News sometimes give you clues about where to search as well.

Also, especially in Crossfire, you can sometimes see a distant object with your eyes that your scanners might not pick up. When I cruise to a destination, I often sit in the turret seat ("H" key) and look around while I let the autopilot ("Go To...") do the flying. This works whether or not your ship is equipped with a turret.

For Example, BPA Newgate is a prison ship, in Bretonia, that pays well for prisoners that you tractor after a battle. It is not on a Trade Lane and the story line does not take you there. You have to find it for yourself... and, once you locate it, you have to figure out how to get in without being blown to smithereens. Hint: I tried autopilot the first time, which is how I know about the "smithereens" part. 😮


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

Wow I'm glad you mentioned that I should read the news. I have not been doing that. I'm already in New Tokyo and have not seen any new crossfire specific ships or new systems. Thank goodness you mentioned it now, at least I can go do some back tracking before I'm at the end!

Prison ships...so they're the ones who buy the ejected pilots and pay more than $1 for them? I have not encountered a prison ship as of yet.

So you're saying anytime you're in a new system, you check the nav map and check the trade routes, and wherever there's activity, you check there? Haven't tried that before, will do so on my next play. I've got around $200,000 saved up now and would really like a top notch ship, as the enemies' shields are really powerful now and I'm beginning to get out-gunned again. But I don't want to cheat either, no more messing with my save game. I guess I should be doing more exploring than I'm used to.


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Bullwinkle
(@bullwinkle)
Warrant Officer Registered
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 209
 
Shant wrote:
Wow I'm glad you mentioned that I should read the news.

Good! It sounded as though you might be rushing past some good things and I didn't want you to miss them, but I also didn't want to give away too much.

The Crossfire extensions have multiple entry points, so you have not missed the major stuff yet. You can start the News thing at any point -- even after Mission 14. But you have already gone past great ships and a couple of interesting points. That's what those Saved Games are for, aren't they? 🙂 Or, as you say, it's not that hard to just go back. Maybe you can make it a profitable cargo run.

The ship levels (rank) and commerce are balanced better for multi-player than for single-player, and the Crossfire money balance is even more tuned that way. If you don't hack your rank then you cannot fly the best ships until after the storyline. If you plan to stop soon after the story ends, then what is the point of depriving yourself of the fancy gear? If you feel that the game is too easy with a great ship, then crank up the difficulty.

But I am pretty sure that you won't think the game is too easy when you get deep into the Crossfire systems. If you think Nomads are tough, wait until you take on a pair of Dom K'vash gunboats (*evil grin*). They make Nomads look like rookies. 🙂

As for money, well, you have already seen that some runs can net you 1,000 credits per unit of cargo. It still takes a lot of repetitive cargo runs to earn the $8 million that some of the Crossfire ships cost. Personally, I expand my cargo bay, which feels like a good blend between keeping the game balance while reducing repetitive runs. However you do it, it will take a long time to be able to try even a few of the fancy ships without hacking something... whether it is your money in your saved game, or the cargo hold in shiparch.ini, or something.

So find your own path on modifying things, but remember that Freelancer was designed from scratch to be easy to modify. And you DID beat the game the first time you played it in straight vanilla mode, so it is not really a question of cheating so much as a question of what will be the most fun for you?

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Prison ships...so they're the ones who buy the ejected pilots and pay more than $1 for them? I have not encountered a prison ship as of yet.

Yes, exactly. In fact, the prison ships pay quite well for those prisoners. Maybe you found LPI Sugarland or LPI Huntsville when you were in Texas but did not know what they were? No matter... the point is that they are worthwhile to watch for. There are only a few prison ships in the game. As far as I know, only one is close to a Trade Lane (in Texas). The rest are off the main trade lanes so you have to look for them.

If you are only going to look for one prison ship, I recommend finding BPA Newgate. It is, um, "different", especially if you find it on autopilot. 😉

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So you're saying anytime you're in a new system, you check the nav map and check the patrol routes, and wherever there's activity, you check there?

Yes, exactly. During the "get a job" phases of the game, I ignore Juni's whining about hurrying up to meet her. I take my time to look around, because that is where a great deal of the fun in the game is... hidden away for you to find. Also, it allows me to earn more credits and buy better gear, which makes the later missions, um, "differently fun".

You can even Decline missions from Juni... she will wait around until you are ready. She will pout a bit, but she will wait.

Wrecks are great places to pick up free cargo and high end weapons, so they are worthwhile to look for. The Level 10 weapons sell for high prices so you can either keep them for your ship or sell them to make a profit. Wrecks are often in dangerous places (that's why there are wrecks there). 🙂

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I've got around $200,000 saved up now and would really like a top notch ship, as the enemies' shields are really powerful now and I'm beginning to get out-gunned again.

Vanilla Freelancer has four Very Heavy Fighters (VHFs): Anubis, Eagle, Saber, and Titan. Each have slightly different characteristics, and are only sold on one base, so you may have to look around for them. Obviously you will also have to be friendly with the proper factions in order to land on those bases. Crossfire adds many more VHFs, as well as some other interesting ships. It takes a big "Defense Budget" to try them all, but that's why I gave you the Save Game editors.

When you go back to Bretonia to find BPA Newgate, you should also look for The Corridor. It's like going to the Galleria. 🙂

I don't know how far you want me to go with hints, so just let me know if you want more... like specific systems, maybe?

One more point of interest to check out if you are going back is in Omega 3, near Planet Sprague, east of Cambridge. I am not sure what to make of it at this point... it's just "interesting".


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Bullwinkle
(@bullwinkle)
Warrant Officer Registered
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 209
 

Another improvement in Crossfire 1.8 is that you no longer have to work through the original story line in order to play the story line extensions. In Crossfire 1.7, the player had to go through the original story line in order to get to the extended "Mission 14" (the vanilla Freelancer story line ends at Mission 13).

However, Crossfire 1.8 uses the News and Rumors systems to give puzzles to the player. So, in the 1.8 version, a puzzle replaces what was previously Mission 14.

You can play the old story line if you want -- the missions are harder and there are a zillion new ships and bases to explore. But you can start the Crossfire-specific extensions at any time, by reading the News and following clues there. Once you follow the first clue, subsequent clues will usually come by News and Rumors, although you may stumble upon Secret Storage Containers with Data Disks that contain further clues.

It is more like an adventure game that way. The puzzles replace cut scenes for extending the story line. It is an excellent solution to the problem that modders run into -- everything about Freelancer is easy to mod except for the cut scenes.

In other news, I also found out why Crossfire is not more popular than it is... the developers are a bit nutty about trying too hard to control the Crossfire environment. 🙂 Between that and the fact that they speak English as a second language, they don't make a sterling first impression. In the end, though, they work hard to make Crossfire excellent. I am not sure why they work so hard at it, but I am glad that they do.

I still like Crossfire, and 1.8 cleans up a lot of 1.7's rough edges, even while it is in beta.


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GUNSMIF
(@gunsmif)
Senior Chief Registered
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 90
 

Any advice for starting up on multiplayer???? i hear it can be a bit of a drama getting going?? 😕


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Bullwinkle
(@bullwinkle)
Warrant Officer Registered
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 209
 
GUNSMIF wrote:
Any advice for starting up on multiplayer???? i hear it can be a bit of a drama getting going?? 😕

That's an easy one... get the Discovery(*) Mod and join the Discovery server: http://discoveryfl.com/

Then just start exploring and trading. Soon enough, somebody will come around to give you a hand. They will know that you are new because you will be in a Starflier. Most of the folks who take the time to greet newbies are nice and friendly. In fact, most of the folks in New York are friendly, because that is where newbies start. You won't run into tough competition until you are ready to handle it.

Multi-Player (MP) has a Chat feature so that you can talk with others.

Each MP server has its own rules -- read them and follow them, or expect to be punished. 🙂

A common rule at most servers is "No PvP in New York". That means that newbies, like you, flying around in your Starflier, don't have to worry about human pirates attacking you. The NPC's (Non-Player Character -- or AI's) might attack you, but not humans. "PvP" means "Player vs. Player".

When you get a better ship and move out of New York, then it is up to you to be able to handle whatever you encounter. Usually there are groups or "clans" that you can join. When you do, they will give you tips, train you, and fly missions with you.

Some MP servers use "Role Play" which means that you participate in a huge, multi-authored, interactive, "story". You may be expected to declare yourself as Cop, Mercenary, Trader, Pirate, Smuggler, or Freelancer -- and you will usually be expected to behave accordingly.

PS: (*) It does not have to be Discovery. Any MP mod will suffice because all of the communities welcome new players. "Fresh meat" makes the game more interesting for the more seasoned players. -- (just kidding!) 🙂

Well, mostly kidding. 😉

I only mentioned Discovery because it is designed to have broad appeal, they have phenomenal documentation, and many of the board members speak English as their first language. In other words, it is just an easy place to start.

PPS: Many of the mods include the no-cd feature that Darkone mentioned. So you might be able to skip using your CD just by installing the mod -- no Daemon Tools required. That depends on the mod, of course.


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HunterKiller
(@hunterkiller)
Petty Officer Registered
Joined: 15 years ago
Posts: 45
 

I recommend the Underverse v 2.24 mod to anyone that wants something to really get into when it comes to a new playing field. Check out the forums @ http://underverse.us and experience the way of the Underverse for The "Underverse Awaits You."


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zhokar
(@zhokar)
Crewman Registered
Joined: 14 years ago
Posts: 2
 

Hey guys.

This is my first post on the forums and already i'm being a thread-necrophiliac.

I´ve read up on some great info on mods in this thread and was hoping you guys could help me out, because I am a bit frustrated at the moment.

I installed Freelancer again yesterday and wanted to do some trading. I had forgotten that the system gates need to be unlocked one after the other by Junky'Zane during the campaign. So after an hour I had myself running into the Magellan gate in my Rhino - access denied.

I started googling and found several tips. One would be installing the OpenSP mod - but this would completely remove the campaign. Then I found out about editing the initialworld.ini - but this only seems to work for LAN games, in local single player gates seem to be locked through the save files. Then I tried with the Discovery mod - only to find out the vanilla campaign isn't playable. Also I haven't looked into it yet, but I guess both Discovery and Crossfire have altered commodity prices/availability In Discovery I didn't even manage to find the "Flint" wreck in New York. Did I take a wrong turn or did they change wrecks as well?

My questions are:

- Is it possible to play the original campaign without gate restrictions in Discovery or Crossfire?

- Is it possible to fly the "good" trade routes from vanilla in both mods or have they been modified too much?

- Is there any way (modded or unmodded) to play the original storyline without gate restrictions at all, so I could fly around and trade for a better ship earlier (Doesn't feel like cheating if you actually play for it 😉 )

- If so, is there any way to play the original campaign with the graphics from Crossfire or one of the other great graphics mods?

xoxo, zhokar

Edit: Also the only working save game editor only seems to work with win98 / 2000 / XP savegame directories and cannot be modified to look into the Vista directories without disassembling the program.


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