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Update: Version 0.3.7e - Decided to add in a new M1...the Roger Young. Fast, lots of guns, decent hull strength...not much shielding. Minor tweaks and updates to the ships...see the SSG 0.2.x thread for details. Also added in a set of startup scripts to "police" the shipyards and equipment docks, and make sure they are present and have the correct ships loaded. This means you should be able to use save games from the older version of SSG...caveat emptor...make sure you have a good save game (or two) before upgrading against a save game.
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Initial Release: Version 0.3.7d (Version number convention following SSG mods). Due to multiple requests, I have packaged my "personal" game environment along with the SSG mod.
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Overview:
This is a mod "compilation", which includes my basic SSG mod (w/Mauzi! re-balancing), along with many portions of the Massive War Mod (the 1.8 version) and version 0.16b of The Big Mod (TBM).
I have also included quite a few 3rd-party scripts that I find make the game a bit more interesting, and have swapped some of my custom ships with those of the various races.
The SSG portions are at version 0.3.7d, which is simply the current 0.3.7c with a few small tweaks and fixes.
While this is the typical setup I run for my personal game (hence the "PE" designation), you wouldn't be getting your hands on it without the focused effort of the SSG test team. so, before I go much further:
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A SPECIAL THANKS TO THE SSG/PE TEST TEAM
A special thanks (in no particular order) to Vayde, Szun, Kadass, Aketzali, Barron, and Jonus for their assistance in testing this mod package. When you start with a compilation of mods and scripts, many of which are over a year old, and then bundle in some of the "latest and greatest" scripts by the current scripting wizards in the X2 community, it tends to make for a very complex environment. Without the serious efforts of the SSG/PE tester's, this mod wouldn't exist. Thanks team.
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OK, if you want to know more about SSG, or amaze (amuse?) yourself with some screen shots of the 33 custom ships it contains...head over to main thread at:
http://www.egosoft.com/x2/forum/viewtopic.php?t=74603
The readme files for the various 3rd-party scripts are contained in a separate folder, that will be created when you install the mod.
I run the mod with five elements from the official Egosoft Bonus Pack; Trade Commands MK3, Basic Patrol, BPH, SDS, and Waremanager. You must install them yourself, since they cannot be distributed independently. (The Gunnery Crews doesn't work with Mauzi!'s re-balancing files, and the SMS and MK1 tuning Kit will create a conflict...so you must not install them.)
As for the MWM and TBM portions of the mod, I have included the readme files, and links to their respective threads on the Egosoft X2 Scripting & Modding forum. (See the readme file, in the mod package.)
You need to be aware that there are quite a few game elements specific to MWM and TBM that must be created and/or modified when starting a new game. Depending on your system spec, it can take a long time to fully initialize all the new factories, wares, and NPC ships. PLEASE BE PATIENT...in some cases we are talking about several minutes...after all "space is big, really big!"
Also, once you are up and running, game play may be a little "chunky" for the 1st few minutes. This is due to the initial MWM invasion script in Argon Prime. Once the "baddies" have been taken care of by your friends the Argon, and you have scooped up as many wares as possible, things will smooth out considerably. Still, there are a lot of scripts running in SSG/PE (both AI, and "old" style) and if you have a particularly low-spec machine, you may need to go to the AI control menu and turn a few things off.
I have added three new commands/scripts to the additional commands menu of your ship that will allow you to initialize factories for the custom weapons, missiles, and shields that SSG adds into the game, and to start (and stop) the MWM Secondary Khaak Invasion scripts. (For those whose X2 experience doesn't go back to the "old days" when MWM was a "hot item", let me assure you that there was a reason I included the command/script to stop this sucker...depending on the difficulty selected, things can get very very intense. This is even more true now, since the NPC fighters use the Xai Advanced AI...which is also set to eXtreme difficulty level.)
A quick note on custom Factories and Fabs in X2...
As I mentioned above, one of the commands/scripts I have added is used to initialize the custom weapon and missile factories. As many X2 players have already noticed, when you purchase and place a factory that produces a custom ware, they will not (yet) work without scripting in their products and the necessary primary/secondary resources. This is an X2 limitation. Hopefully, the next version of CheckerTwo's OBJ patch utility will take care of this limitation, but in the interim I have provided a factory initialization script. Your will find it hooked to command 1220, in the additional commands menu for your ship. It doesn't cost anything, since you are already purchasing and placing the factory.
In addition to SSG, MWM, and TBM. this mod includes many scripts and portions of other mods, including:
- ++ 2-Way Money Transfer (I use this instead of the similar "1-way" function in SMS...it is a station command that both adds and removes money to maintain a level set by the player) - Unknown Russian author.
++ You can (and should) install the following five elements from the official Bonus Pack; Trade Commands MK3, Basic Patrol, BPH, SDS, and Waremanager. You must install them yourself, since they cannot be distributed independently. (The Gunnery Crews doesn't work with Mauzi!'s re-balancing files, and the SMS and MK1 tuning Kit will create a conflict...so you must not install them.)
++ AS Turret Guard (Gunnery Crews from the Bonus Pack will not work with the Mauzi! re-balancing files).
++ AS Buy Rare Goods (send a ship off to buy something, even if you don't know where to find it).
++ Hull Repair System.
++ The Race Attack Script set (STM V5.0).
++ Infoware (a mild cheat, that lets you locate wares & stations).
++ The SETA Boost Extension (can use Space Fuel)...this is why I don't use the MK1 Tuning Kit from the Bonus Material!
++ Secondary Production Lines. Very handy if you like to tweak stations once your economy is up and running.
++ BountyHunter V2.0...adds a little "spice" to the game.
++ Race Response Fleets (JTP - jump to protect).
++ TelCat 1.61 fighter launching package.
++ Piraten V1.3 scripts. Enables pirates to fly other races ships, re-supply their main base in Anarchy Port with a TL, provides attacks and rescue missions. No English language readme available...sorry. If this one gets too intense for you, you can turn it off in the AI control menu.)
++ FLDS/LB (Factory Loop Distribution System) with tweaks and Load Balancing by AyeCapn.
++ NavST1 Jumpdrive Software (Jump to Position and Jump and Dock) V6.0.
++ Xai Advanced Combat Project V3.12m
++ Xai Manual Trade Command (MTC) V1.2 (rc3)
++ Xai TL Trader V0.5
Credits:
In addition to the above scripts, and the credits contained the SSG readme file, I'd like to offer specific thanks to:
- ++ The entire SSG/PE test team; Kadass, Vayde, Barron, Szun, Jonus, and Aketzali.
++ Mauzi! - For permission to use his ship balancing mod, V0.89
++ StarTrekMarc for permission to use his race attack scripts...they add considerable depth to the game.
++ SpaceTycoon for permission to use his Navigation/Jump scripts.
++ Xai Corp for creating such useful scripts...right form the earliest days of X2.
++ Burianek for all his hard work on analyzing the X2 economy, and for the very handy Secondary Production Lines AI scripts.
++ Nazgutek for creating the Factory Loop Delivery System (FLDS), and Aye Capn for the Load Balancing features (a very significant enhancement).
++ Ghalador for his TelCat carrier-based fighter launch system.
++ E.R.Hyland for his S.E.T.A. Boost extension (I much prefer it to the MK1 Tuning Kit).
++ Adam00 for his AS.BuyRareGoods, and AS.TurretGuard scripts.
++ Holo_doctor's Hull Repair System (HRS)
++ MQ for the Bountyhunter scripts.
++ LV for the use of the Race Response Fleets (JTP).
++ Ticaki for the Piraten script set.
++ Barron for translating the language files and readme into German, and keeping an eye on things over in the German forum.
++ Jonus for translating the language files and readme into Italian, and keeping an eye on things over in their forum.
++ Doubleshadow for the best development "workbench" any modder could ask for. Without his tools, I simply would not have bothered.
Installation Instructions:
IMPORTANT INSTALLATION CONSIDERATION FOR MWM: Initialization for a non-plot X2 game is considerably faster than for a game you start with the plot active (about 2 minutes and 30 seconds). This matters, because MWM runs an opening sound clip, and a mission is launched very soon after the player is ready to go. The choice was to either put a looong delay into the initialization logic so that it would work well with the plot, and let everyone who ran a non-plot game wait around for 2.5 minutes, or provide two separate MWM initialization scripts. I have done both. The mod is packaged (as shipped) with the "plot-optimized" version of the initialization script. You can certainly play a non-plot game with it, but the opening sound clip and mission will be delayed for about 2.5 minutes. However, if you prefer to run a non-plot game all the time, there is an alternate initialization script provided. Simply copy the "Deadly.SSG.PE.warmodinit.xml" script from "/SSG-PE NoPlot script" folder into your X2 /scripts directory...replying "yes" when asked if you want to overwrite the existing file. To revert back to the version tailored for the X2 plot, use the script in the "/SSG-PE WithPlot script" folder.
If you don't start many "fresh" games (unlike myself, since I have to test things both ways), it is probably easiest to just leave things alone, and twiddle your thumbs for 2.5 minutes when you first start a non-plot game. Once you are up and running, you won't have to do it again for awhile.
If you start a fresh game with the plot enabled, using the "non-plot" initialization script, you will not hear the opening sound clip, and will have to hurry to complete the initial rescue mission (while H. Seldon natters away in the background).
1. Extract the .rar files to your X2 directory. You can install all three, and decide which one to run by selecting the Mod Package at run-time.
2. (Optional) For the wares/no-wares versions, you can use the editor of your choice to modify the text in the 441370.xml to suit your name/game.
3. (Optional...but highly recomended) Install the following five elements from the official Egosoft Bonus Pack; Trade Commands MK3, Basic Patrol, BPH, SDS, and Waremanager. You must install them yourself, since they cannot be distributed independently. (The Gunnery Crews doesn't work with Mauzi!'s re-balancing files, and the SMS and MK1 Tunning Kit will create a conflict...so you must not install them.) When you are done, the Bonus install process should have put two language files into your "/t" folder; xx0003, and xx5066. If it also installed xx2244 (MK1 Tuning Kit, which seem to get installed no matter what you do), you should remove it manually.
4. (Optional) Replace the SSG-PE init script with the non-plot version, if that is your preferred mode of play.
5. On the initial X2 start menu, click on Select Mod Package, and choose which version you want to run.
6. Once you are at the main menu (in the game), you can start a regular game by selecting the difficulty (Easy, Normal, Hard, X-TREEM), which will run the X2 plot. Alternately, you can select "New Game in Custom Galaxy" ), and click on entry that says "<X2 Universe>".
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Download Links:
You can get the mod, in either RAR or self-extracting EXE, right here:
*edit - burianek* links temporarily removed while we sort out the no mirror restriction on bonus material scripts. We'll figure out how to package this up and get it available for download right away. Cheers.
EDIT (Deadly): OK...Official Egosoft Bonus Material removed...links are back up. The text message above (including installation instructions) has been upated. Apologies to all for the inconvenience, as I do know better...I just got caught up in the release cycle, and forgot.
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/wolf/images/ ... 0.3.7e.rar
http://www.flatrock.org.nz/wolf/images/ ... 0.3.7e.exe
Seeing as the Argon Mammoth has a capacity of 21,000, this isn`t much of an improvement, maybe enough for 1 more factory. I was hoping for a ship of at least twice that capacity. Why all the turrets? I currently have 3 Mammoths and 3 Elephants (although I just replaced the latter with an unarmed Split Raptor), none of which carry any armaments and they rarely get attacked.
