Basic ODF Questions

posted on October 10th, 2009, 10:53 pm

I wanted to change some of the damage and weapon settings for various ships in the game. I am completely new to the whole concept of "modding" so I have a few questions.

- To edit a ship, do you have to edit ODFs for all 6 levels?
- Within each ODF, for torpedoes for example, there are damage settings for all opposition units. Is there an easier way (i.e. changing a base damage number) that will propagate to units?
- Given that we have multiple avatars, veterancy levels, and weapons, how can you tell which ODF refers to what
- How do you change the hit points and shield capacity of a ship? The ODFs seem to be primarily geared towards weapons.

Any answers would be appreciated!

[Vorsath]

posted on October 11th, 2009, 12:19 am

Last edited by Vorsath on October 11th, 2009, 12:55 am, edited 1 time in total.

Quickest answers to these questions:
- Yes, you need to edit the ODF for all 6 levels of a ship (including those for different weapon modes, such as when the Sabre is using it's Hyper Impulse or the Galaxy uses its Type 3 Torpedoes).  Changes made to one ODF do not spread to the rest.
- There is a base damage number for weapons, but each unit entry overrides that number for that unit.  You could either change every one or break the balance by deleting it all and just using the base number.
This is the base damage code "damagebase = 15.456"
- Usually you can tell as most ships or stations that belong to one avatar has a Z after the name in the ODF, while the other avatar has a Y.  In most occasions, if there is no Z or Y version of a ship or station, that one could be unique to one of the avatars.  Only real way to find out is to look at an avatars starter outpost and see the ODFs it builds, then follow the tree.
- ODFs that use a W after the race, ie FedW_, are the weapon ODFs, the ones that do not have the W or another letter such as U for Upgrades, are the ones for ships and stations.

If you need more elaborate answers than this, either I can answer in more depth later or some1 else can do it

/edit: slight change to the 'determining an avatar' answer as per blades input

posted on October 11th, 2009, 12:20 am

to Edit a ship Yes you do have to change each odf for it unless u just want that ranked version to have a specific new atribute.....in other words each of the 6 odfs represent another rank.

In regards to weapons its a real pain because u see the list of damage modifyers specific to each unit. So basicly you have to change the entire table since the list over rides the damage base number.

In each ship odf u will see the codes:

maxhealth = 28000
curhealth = 28000
healthrate = 25.495
maxshields = 0
curshields = 0
shieldrate = 0

shieldgeneratorhitpoints = 0
engineshitpoints = 99999999999999
weaponshitpoints = 99999999999999
lifesupporthitpoints = 9999999999
sensorshitpoints = 99999999999999


Now obviously u can change these values howerever you wish to make ur ships stronger or weaker.

Typicly Avatar version are denoted by adding "z" to the odf name one version will not have a "z" the other avatar will....which one is which avatar I forget now.

Hope I helped somehow.

Happy Modding!!


EDIT: Vorsath beat me by mere seconds

posted on October 11th, 2009, 12:25 am

the other avatar letter is Y lol but yh i guess most stuff is covered but to make ur life easier u can just let ur new ship/station use the basic weapon stats and it will b ok

posted on October 11th, 2009, 2:36 am

Check out RCIX's modding kit, over in the modding section.  It has a few cool programs that will help you generate damage outputs for vessels, and some good tips on modding.

posted on October 16th, 2009, 10:31 am

Hey thanks for mentioning me!

Yeah it doesnt have anything specifically built for changing damage values of weapons but it's got a pretty powerful tool that will help greatly with making new ships.