Tyco's Freelancer MODding Page

Welcome Freelancers!

If you visited my web site previously for Sabre XR MOD you will notice the difference. I recently redesigned my web site. I think it looks better now and contains more information.

My Inspiration: A news cast I saw in Planet Malta and unused hardpoints on the hull of Sabre made me think about of an upgraded version of Sabre: Sabre XR. XR stands for eXtended-Redesigned. If you have ever looked at the Sabre hull you should have seen two more hardpoints at the bottom of lower wings and two more under the upper wings and one more hardpoint in opposite position of the thruster that are not used in the game. There are 5 unused hardpoints, two of them are defined in the ship component file, the others not. There is also a second engine mount point and a clocking device mount which are also not used in the original design.

    The news cast I saw on Planet Malta which started all...

    "Outcast Riding Fleet to be Updated

    MALTA -- Engineers are revamping 100 ships per month over the next two years in an effort to make the Raiders more deadly than they already are. Master engineer Ibrahim Casse has developed a new design that will be implemented on the fleet. Casse's 100+ years of experience as an engineer makes him the finest ship designer and builder in all of Sirius. His academy builds new prototypes every semester as he trains a new generation to follow in his footstep."

I think DA designers designed Border Worlds ships to be much more decorated ships than currently they are. There are at least three unused hardpoints on each of them! And the above news cast points that there was supposed to be a better Border Worlds Series in the story, but somehow, most probably for the sake of balancing the fire power among the ships in the game, Sabre and its relatives were downsized to what they are today.

So, I made up a story and used it as my inspiration to make the Sabre XR MOD: Ibrahim Casse's design for the next generation Outcast Raider ship is what we call today as Sabre XR. Outcasts are already building these ships and these are sold in Planet Malta for a huge price. The new version has now 8 Gun, 3 Turret hardpoints. They added a second engine and a thruster for making Sabre XR the fastest ship in Sirius. Outcasts are smugglers you know, they have to be fast in fleeing from the scene.

Outcast engineers also developed new weapons, shields, special power sources to power all that magnificent weapons and twin thrusters, special engine with a bigger fire and a nice trail, special deep space scanner to see into the space better, special tractor beam to get the loot from far away and faster...

With my latest MOD I extended the work I did on Sabre to Stiletto, Dagger and Dromedary. Yes, Dromedary... That ship really is something now.

After this introduction, please proceed to the next section for more information about the MOD itself. Check the ship pages too...

Border Worlds Upgraded Ships Pack MOD for Freelancer 1.0

This MOD is an improved version of the Sabre XR MOD and much more. In order to use this MOD you have to remove the Sabre XR MOD. FLMM 1.2.1 will tell you that this MOD will conflict with the Sabre XR MOD. I could make 4 even 5 separate MODs out of this one, but these MODs would complement each other, therefore I chose to make them a single MOD.

!!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!!

For this MOD to work as intended, you have to use FLMM 1.2.1 and up. This MOD was written with features which will be available only in 1.2.1 and later versions. Download FLMM 1.2.1 Beta-1 from here: flmminstallerv1_21BETA.exe. Please check also related TLR forum for latest available version: FLMM v1.2.1 beta-test 1.

NOTE: This MOD is backward compatible with Sabre XR 1.0 MOD, which means that you can use your Sabre XR MOD saved games with this MOD. However, this MOD replaces Sabre XR MOD with more realistic stats for Sabre XR, Wyrm Type 3 weapons, thruster,etc. If you want mega blasters with almost no power consumption like the ones in Sabre XR MOD you won't find them in this MOD. I think this MOD provides a better game experience with Sabre XR than original Sabre XR MOD.

NOTE: Unless otherwise mentioned all the features explained below work both in SP and MP.

This MOD adds the following items to Freelancer (all additions to the original ship models):

• Adds Sabre XR Border Worlds Very Heavy Fighter as an improved version of Sabre Border Worlds Very Heavy Fighter. New: 4 weapon hps, 2 turret hps, second thruster, second engine, deep space scanner, advanced tractor beam.
  
  
• Adds Stiletto XR Border Worlds Heavy Fighter as an improved version of Stiletto Border Worlds Heavy Fighter. New: 2 weapon hps, 2 turret hps, second thruster, second engine, deep space scanner, advanced tractor beam.
  
  
• Adds Dagger XR Border Worlds Light Fighter as an improved version of Dagger Border Worlds Light Fighter. New: 1 weapon hp, 2 turret hps, second engine, deep space scanner, advanced tractor beam.
  
  
• Adds Dromedary XR Border Worlds Freighter as an improved version of Dromedary Border Worlds Freighter. New: 1 weapon hps, 2 turret hps, second thruster, second and third engines, deep space scanner, advanced tractor beam.
  
  
• Improves and balances stats for ships, weapons, engines, power plants and thrusters. More fire/thrust power means more power consumption. Does not touch the cargo space, mass, handling. Only improves power output, engine effects, armor, shield/weapon class.
  
  
• Moves each ship to the next ship class in terms of stats:
• Dagger XR: Mid-level heavy fighter stats in a light fighter hull.
  
• Stiletto XR: Mid-level very heavy fighter stats in a heavy fighter hull.
  
• Sabre XR: Beyond very heavy fighter stats in a very heavy fighter hull.
  
• Dromedary XR: Beyond freighter stats, more defensive and offensive capabilities, no cargo capacity increase though...
  
  
• Adds ship dealers to Cali and Ruiz bases where where one of the new XR series ships is sold. Check ship pages for more information about which ship is sold where. Removes Sabre from Planet Malta ship dealer, you can still buy it at Vogtland Base ship dealer.
  
  
• Adds new infocards for each item added.
  
  
• Changes Trent's costume to an Outcast uniform (new game required to see). -- If you don't like it just send me an e-mail I can send you a version of the MOD without this part.
  
  
• Adds bigger and nicer engine fire and trail for ship engines. -- Listen to the engine sounds, especially to the one of Dromedary XR. Three engines roar like they should. Great game this Freelancer...
  
  
• Adds Local Subspace Drive (LSD) effect for Sabre, Stiletto, Dagger and Dromedary. This drive has a speed between the normal drive speed and the warp drive speed. This drive allows you to use the ships weapons while activated but it is harder to aim and hit any target. Hit Z (kill engine) key and see! Don't activate LSD too close to suns, planets, docking rings, bases or places such as debris fields where you can hit something big. To deactivate hit Z again or decrease speed. Here is some technical information about this novel propulsion technology:
  
  This drive creates a subspace field around the ship which puts the ship into a local subspace; hence the name. Once the ship is inside the subspace field the rules of Physics change. The ship can fly at the speed limit determined by the interaction between our space and the subspace. It is like the ship is in a bubble and glides in the space much faster with the same engine power.
  
  LSD requires no extra engine power and when activated you will notice a decrease in the engine sound, this is because the subspace the ship enters has different physical rules. One more important technical point is only ships with more than one engine can use LSD effect. This is because a very specific pattern in phase modulation of ship engine power signatures creates the LSD effect. In order to activate LSD you have to have your engines running, because it needs the power signatures of ship engines!
  
  Story: Actually, it is not a real drive but a side effect which was discovered accidentally by one the Outcast ship designers who is a student of the legendary Outcast ship designer Ibrahim Casse.
  
  
• Adds Wyrm Type 3 Tachyon Cannon, Wyrm Type 2 Tachyon Turret, Neutralizer EMP Turret, Ion Drive Thruster, Colossus H.F. and Fr. Shields. The new weapons consume much more power, have a decreased refire rate but considerably more damage per firing compared to the original Sabre XR MOD.
  
  
• Multiplayer Issues:
  
  • MOD has to be installed both on the server and the client. If not, either server or client will crash or in case of a patched server, client will be kicked out of the server for cheating...
    
  • Tested for these Server/Client version combinations: 1.0/1.0, 1.1/1.0, 1.1/1.1. Not tested for 1.0/1.1.
    
  • Server console prints these messages, however they seem to have no effect on the game experience:
        "E:\FL\Scratch\Source\Common\RoomData.cpp(1448) : *** ERROR: script ..\data\Universe\Systems\Hi01\Bases\Rooms\Hi01_01_shipdealer.ini calls for setpoint X/Shipcentre/02 which does not exist in room .ini = Universe\Systems\Hi01\Bases\Rooms\Hi01_01_shipdealer.ini"
        "E:\FL\Scratch\Source\Common\CEqObj.cpp(278) : *** WARNING: Object(0x906f708d) tried to connect internal type(0xba24aa4b) to hardpoint(). Ignorable."
        "E:\FL\Scratch\Source\Common\CEqObj.cpp(278) : *** WARNING: Object(0x906f708d) tried to connect internal type(0xba24aa4b) to hardpoint(). Ignorable."

I modified the hull component files (.cmp) of the ships and added new hardpoints. I used UTF Editor and since this is my second time doing this it was much easier than the first time. I had to replace the original component files with my versions. Adding new directories for the new ships with all the .cmp, .sur files and stuff - for not to touch the original ships - does not work well. What happens is this: you buy the ship and take off. In the space newly added hardpoints are gone. After replacing the original files, the problem disappears.

Please contact me if you have any problems with this MOD. I will try to help you as much as I can. And, please, give me my credit if you use any of the modified ship component files... Having said this it is time for me to give some credits:

Special thanks go to IGx89 for his great tool FLMM and his responsiveness in listening my problems with FLMM and fixing them as soon as he can. Thanks to Bakedpotatoo for his help in announcing Sabre XR MOD and this one, all other TLR administrators for doing a great job in The Lancers Reactor, and all the tutorial writers in Freelancer editing forums...

Happy gaming!

Tyco
The "free as a bird" Freelancer
tyco9000@yahoo.com

Disclaimer:
"This MOD is provided as is. Although the Author of this MOD did everything in his power to make this MOD stable and fun, there is absolutely no guarantee included and Author can not be held liable for what happened to your FL experience due to the use of this MOD."

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"Freelancer Alpha 1-1. You are free to launch. Good luck out there!"