[William Wolfen]

I'm just wondering if there is any way to enable all pilotable ships in any given mission or campaign.  I would assume there is probably a table somewhere that can be edited to do this, but seeing as i know very little about the FS2 file structure, i thought it best to come to those who know it before i mess something up! 

[blowfish]

That involves editing the mission in FRED (or desired text editor ) to allow those ships.

[Galemp]

Yep. It would actually be fairly simple. First, you need VPView 32 to extract the mission files; they would be in root_fs2.vp and have names starting with SM (for Single-player Mission). Extract them to Freespace2/data/missions/ and then you can open them in Notepad. Scroll down past the briefings to this section:

Code: [Select]

$Ship Choices: (
"GTF Pegasus" 5
"GTF Perseus" 5
"GVF Tauret" 5
"GVB Osiris" 5
"GVB Bakha" 5
)

+Weaponry Pool: (
"Mekhu HL-7" 112
"Akheton SDG" 24
"Circe" 100
"Harpoon" 144
"Trebuchet" 504
"Stiletto II" 500
"Cyclops" 100
"Helios" 136
)
And edit away. You'll have to do this for each mission you want to edit.

Additionally, the campaign file restricts what ships you'll actually be able to use (are unlocked) during the campaign itself. Then you'll have to extract and edit Freespace2.fc2 in the same way:

Code: [Select]

+Starting Ships: ( "GTF Ulysses"  "GTF Hercules"  "GTF Loki"  "GTF Myrmidon"  "GTB Medusa"  "GTB Ursa"  "GTB Zeus"  "GVF Seth"  "GVF Horus"  "GVF Thoth"  "GVB Osiris" )

+Starting Weapons: ( "Subach HL-7"  "Mekhu HL-7"  "Akheton SDG"  "Rockeye"  "Tempest" )

[William Wolfen]

Ok, i changed out the available ships in FRED2, checked the files in notepad, and the correct lines are there, i changed the FC2 file to include my test ship as a starting ship, and yet it still doesnt show up ingame.  not sure what i'm doing wrong, i've recompiled the VP and stuck it back int he right spot with the correct name, so that isnt the problem.  Any idea what might have gone wrong?

[Jeff Vader]

i've recompiled the VP and stuck it back int he right spot with the correct name ...  Any idea what might have gone wrong?

You've answered your own question.

Never edit/recombile/configure/calibrate .vp files. If you want to change something (like mission and campaign files in this case),
- extract the files you want to edit
- edit the files
- never touch the .vp files again
- place the edited files to the appropriate subfolders under \freespace2\data\ or preferrably \freespace2\modfolder\data\ . In this case you'd plac the .fs2 and .fc2 files to \freespace2\data\missions\ or preferrably \freespace2\modfolder\data\missions\ . That way these files will be used instead of the ones in the .vp files.

[William Wolfen]

Thanks Lobo, i didnt know that.   

[William Wolfen]

Well, i've gotten it to work in the mission simulator, but when i start an actual campaign, it fails to work, are there any other files i need to edit to make this work? 

[Galemp]

Just make sure it's unlocked in the Campaign file (.fc2) and you should be all set.

[William Wolfen]

Just make sure it's unlocked in the Campaign file (.fc2) and you should be all set.

been there, done that, not working.  


oddly enough, the guns i enabled have worked though...

[Galemp]

Uh, did you save the mission with the same filename as the original, campaign mission? You shouldn't be able to see it in the Single Missions mission simulator.

[William Wolfen]

Yes, the file names are the same.  what i dont understand, is when i go to the campaign list on my mission simulator, it has the ship in the list to use, and when actually playing the campaign it doesnt.

[Galemp]

Try restarting the campaign to reset the allowed ships list.

[William Wolfen]

Tried that and tried a new pilot.  I also setup for both Templar and the main campaign to work, and neither one does.