[Mod] All Alien Weapons Available for Rebel Galaxy 1.07

[Ifret]

This mod makes Korian Viridian Laser turrets, Greel Arbiter turrets, Murath Badger turrets, Murath Electro-bolt cannons, and Viriax Mirv turrets purchasable at most (if not all) stations.

Files moddified:
MEDIA\COMPONENTS\15_BROADSIDES
MEDIA\COMPONENTS\15_TURRET_LASER
MEDIA\COMPONENTS\15_TURRET_MISSILE
MEDIA\COMPONENTS\15_TURRET_PROJECTILE

code added to Alien weapons:

{    --TURRET[1]
          n="AVAILABILITY",
          vars = {
            { n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="NEUTRAL" },
          }
        }, { --TURRET[2]
          n="AVAILABILITY",
          vars = {
            { n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="HUMAN NEUTRAL" },
          }
        }, { --TURRET[3]
          n="AVAILABILITY",
          vars = {
            { n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="HUMAN MILITARY" },
          }
        }, { --TURRET[4]
          n="AVAILABILITY",
          vars = {
            { n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="HUMAN PIRATE" },
          }
        }, { --TURRET[5]
          n="AVAILABILITY",
          vars = {
            { n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="SMUGGLERS" },
          }
        }, { --TURRET[6]
          n="AVAILABILITY",
          vars = {
            { n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="MERCENARY GUILD" },
          }
	}, { --TURRET[7]
          n="AVAILABILITY",
          vars = {
            { n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="Merchant Guild" },
          }
        }

string added to MEDIA\COMPONENTS\15_BROADSIDES, MEDIA\COMPONENTS\15_TURRET_LASER,
MEDIA\COMPONENTS\15_TURRET_MISSILE:

 [16316] = {   --, "Merchant Guild" },

Briefly tested and seems to be working
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=599472913
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=599473010

[Mod] All Alien Weapons Available for Rebel Galaxy 1.07[www.dropbox.com]

[Mod] All Alien weapons and components available 1.07[www.dropbox.com]

[Mod] All Alien weapons available + [Mod] No ordnance used 1.07[www.dropbox.com]

Note: these weapons weren't balanced for buying as they weren't intended to be purchased. They may not have max and min ranges set for system purchasing, which means all marks may be available in all systems. Some (probably most) of these weapons will be overpowered, especially for the cost to purchase.
The modified lua files are included but not needed to run the mod.

[Darphnix]

Basic difference between your files and mine:
You never reference the corresponding array entry from the start to any changed parts. If your using the standard LUA2DAT.LUA that alone could create some wonky results. I can’t say for sure that my way is the clean version (The corresponding content as comment is not needed), it’s just the way the LUA conversion is handled. I don’t know the exact details, but the heavy use of unreferenced strings in the file could hinder the game in any kind of ways (Or just does nothing at all).

Mine:
{ n="FACTION", t="STRING", v=16114 }, --"MERCENARY GUILD"
Yours:
{ n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="MERCENARY GUILD" }, 

I even improved my files (Last ghostpatch) with nearly 100% matching array structure (lowest ID gets the lowest in file number, first appearance => higher/earlier in the file, separated by “TRANSLATE” and “STRING”).
With that you can now just reverse my DATA2.pak and get a clean LUA file out of every DAT in the PAK.

About the 15_TURRET_PROJECTILE.LUA in particular I can’t tell you anything, I’m sorry. They look mostly the same aside from the referencing.

[Ifret]

Messaggio originale di Darphnix:

Basic difference between your files and mine:
You never reference the corresponding array entry from the start to any changed parts. If your using the standard LUA2DAT.LUA that alone could create some wonky results. I can’t say for sure that my way is the clean version (The corresponding content as comment is not needed), it’s just the way the LUA conversion is handled. I don’t know the exact details, but the heavy use of unreferenced strings in the file could hinder the game in any kind of ways (Or just does nothing at all).

Mine:
{ n="FACTION", t="STRING", v=16114 }, --"MERCENARY GUILD"
Yours:
{ n="FACTION", t="STRING", v="MERCENARY GUILD" }, 

I even improved my files (Last ghostpatch) with nearly 100% matching array structure (lowest ID gets the lowest in file number, first appearance => higher/earlier in the file, separated by “TRANSLATE” and “STRING”).
With that you can now just reverse my DATA2.pak and get a clean LUA file out of every DAT in the PAK.

About the 15_TURRET_PROJECTILE.LUA in particular I can’t tell you anything, I’m sorry. They look mostly the same aside from the referencing.

Well, i will look into this, but I am modding the same way since before 1.07. As for the code, it was copy/paste of the devs code. It sounds like maybe my lua library needs to be updated or something.

[Kitsune]

Hey! This mod is really cool, great job!

I was able to outfit my ship with the different weapons and try them out. You know, they really aren't that unbalanced to what we can buy, it's a shame that they weren't included already in the price lists for the various system tech levels.

Performance wise, the alien ♥♥♥♥ turrets are right between scatter and pulse. They miss more than they hit and the dmg is low. The range is nice, but since hitting things is difficult (even with a turret accelerator).

The alien broadsides also fill a niche left open by the regular options. I ended up going back to pulse. I LOVE the sound of them, however.

The badger turrets fill an interesting gap (very low performance vs. no ammo required)

The game, however, pushished the HELL out of me for outfitting my ship with alien weaponry.
Even at the same TL, all of a sudden the random missions were unbeatable.

I'm talking 2 McKinleys, a few destroyers, a frigate or 3, and a swarm of fighters vs. my frigate.
I died every mission and I'm not that bad. I took the equipment off and purchased regular Mk 4 gear and all of a sudden the missions were beatable again.

I think they game is coded to give waaaaay too much credit for alien weapon power in adjusting random mission difficulty.

I really think that the addition of these weapons as part of the regular game with some adjusted pricing (only some items seem too cheap, not all imo) and "value considered by the game vs. random mission difficulty and spawning" would allow for some interesting builds.

It's a shame that they were not included in the regular agame already. I realize they can be found in drops, but not reliably, and their power is not enough to warrant that small percentage.

The only item I really felt was overpowered was the multiphase armor, I think it's called. 20% resist small craft and explosions. Even that's debatable, I suppose. The engines were more powerful, for sure.

Anyway, thanks again! It was enlightening to be able to play around with them.

[Ifret]

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I felt the Viridian laser turrets were OP at earlier levels, at mk 5 and 6 the mining lasers seemed just as good, others have concluded that many of the laser turrets are OP.

[Alastair]

Ok so I'm confused, does this work with Rebel galaxy newest update or not. I have read though the topic at least 6 times and I cant tell if I need to do something to this mod, to make it work or just drag and drop it into place.

[Kovy]

Will this mod work with the retro fited mod?

[ScrambieBambie]

Messaggio originale di Kovy:

Will this mod work with the retro fited mod?

IJ don't think so...it seems they mod same files...when we can expect v1.08b ?
Regards.

[Ifret]

Sorry, I haven't been gaming much had some hardware issues that still aren't resolved. But I will try to look into an update for this mod next week.

[Zidders 'Rockin' Bard' Roofurry]

Messaggio originale di Shiranui:

Ok so I'm confused, does this work with Rebel galaxy newest update or not. I have read though the topic at least 6 times and I cant tell if I need to do something to this mod, to make it work or just drag and drop it into place.

Sorry nobody got to this. The only thing you should need to do is change the date of the file to make sure it's dated as any date past when the latest patch was released. Just make it the same day you change it and you should be good. Bulk file changer is a pretty good program for that purpose.

Keep in mind this mod might conflict with other mods so it's probably best to use it on its own.

[Krylia Viru]

So, I could try to make my own manual change to make this work for retrofitted, but, no guarantees. Wish me luck. Will edit accordingly depending on results.

EDIT (RANT?) FOLLOWS;
Obtuse modding methods prevent progress. Binary within files further causes confusion. WinMerge useless due to lack of general use .bat files for mass file conversion, and binary being present within files to be merged upon unpack.

Really, what is needed is a better packer and unpacker. Requiring .bat files other than the ones for packing and unpacking just makes things unnessecarily complex. Setting a standard for modding, and then using that standard only, removes the worries of incorrect folder pathing, thus enabling this concept to work perfectly.

For instance, it may be a different game, different code, but the packer/unpacker for Dragon's Dogma Dark Arisen does just this, in a simple and easy to use manner. In games where mod merging is required to be able to use multiple mods, ease of use is of utmost importance. Of course, you still have to have some idea of what you are doing, and there will always be cases of people, no matter how simple something is, not being capable of grasping how to go about doing something.

Is this me saying I'm too stupid to understand the modding tutorial? Yes and no. No, because the tutorial has a rather round-about wording, and my brain just doesn't work that way. Yes, because I couldn't grasp how mass file conversion from .dat to .lua works in this particular scenario, if there is any available.

Ok, looking up, I think I've said a bit much.

[Darphnix]

@Krylia Viru
I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish. If you use the values of Ifrets mod these weapons would be around double the power of all my weapons (Retrofitted) and the Greel Arbiter turrets as well as the Murath Electro-bolt cannons would work in their standard way.

The availability would only change in the sense that more merchants have them (I have limited that aspect to a degree), but you can already buy all of them.

[Krylia Viru]

My mind was in another place. I am now capable of this, as my mind is clear, and I re-read the modding guide, without my brain on maximum overdrive. The purpose would be to make them available at all stations, as well as the ordnance usage removal. For all intents and purposes, I don't even need to use winmerge, I can go through manually.

[Krylia Viru]

All right, I pulled it off. I was too lazy to keep the retrofit rank limits, however, and I probably should have excluded the antimatter probe from not using ordnance. But, hey. Oh well. It doesn't crash, it works, all components are available at all stations, and I am a happy camper now. I did note some minor FPS loss in station, but I'm gonna chalk that up as either pre-rendering issues, if the game does that potentially, or non-graphical issues. Who knows.

When I get to Charon, I'll probably incorporate the mod relating to that too.

I still think there really ought to be a mass folder convert. Lua just says "no" if you try to do it, already tried popping admin access on the command prompt too. Big ol ACCESS DENIED. But to what? To the lua executable? To the cmd prompt? I'll never know.

[N0-V1CE]

So will there be a 1.08 update...?

[Ifret]

I can't update it right now as I can't test it due to my graphics card going out. I hope to have that resolved soon. I can provide the unpacked files for the previous version if someone wants to update it and repack it. It may be possible if I have time I can update and someone else can test it. To do that I would need someone to volunteer to test and let me know which mod variant to update.