Matrix Games Forums

---------Basic Modding Reference Guide & FAQs----------------

I've decided to write a simple modding guide for those trying to figure it out to get started, and saving the trouble for those that are already at it.

It's meant to be a basic reference guide, not a complete one.What I've planned for this is to go through some the basics and important values and compile some of the problem I have encountered and those from the forum I happen to come across into a Q&A.

Advanced Modding such as Mission Scripting and Model&Texture will not be covered, since I've never touched those before.

As this is only one of the few times I made guides, and many info are yet to be discovered along the way, so expect complete revisions.

But hopefully someone with more experience and time could make a better if not a complete guide to replace mine


In Progress....


Section I Common Attributes


Section II JAZZ Folder & Campaign Values


Section III Logic Folder & Attributes


Section IV Q&A


-----------------------------------------------------------
Before you start:

-The following require a new start

New items

Phase

Rarity

Person equipments (NPC,Enemies)

Person starting stats (NPC,Enemies)



-Many of the files inside of logic folder has variations regarding difficulty xxxx_hard.xml xxxx_easy.xml
and xxxx.xml for medium.




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Section I Common Attributes

Phase - 0-4 stage of the game to be available

Efficiency - 0.0 - 1.0 protection the item offers, displayed in game as multiplied by 100

Resistance - the item's resistance against damage. Higher the better

reliability - set it to 10 and higher would mean almost impervious items, although still take wear

size - 0-4 quantity of a item can be contained in one slot, is subtracted by 4.(0 means 4 item in a slot, and 4 means only containable in large slot and not stackable)



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Section II JAZZ Folder & Campaign Values (directory\campaigns\JAZZ)

This section covers strategic portion of the game, such as starting assets, income, training, healing, reputation.

------------
global_vars
------------
Starting Assets(only money and land), reputation with various groups are contained here


------------
training_facility.lua
------------
Involves the training mechanism in-game, chance(frequency) and max&min values.



--------------------------------

Section III Logic Folder & Attributes (directory\basis\script\logic)


This is where you can mod various items, person and their equipments. Such as: cost, salary, weight, reliability.


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Action_Cost
------------
Specific cost for various action are stored here, both breath and AP.



------------
Ammo
------------
Various ammunition value are stored here, such as penetration and weight.



------------
Armor
------------
attributes for Armors are stored here



------------
Clip
------------
Information on different magazines, packs, clips. Such as cost, weight, and total number contained.



------------
Constants
------------
Constant values for the game mechanism such as breath value, recover&deduct rate. AP values and accuracy are stored here.



------------
Equipment
------------
Healing equipments only-- medkit and regenerator



------------
Pants
------------
attributes for Leg armors are stored here



------------
Person
------------
in-game characters and there values, including the starting characters.



------------
Weapon
------------
attributes for Weapons are stored here



------------
Weapon_Upgrade
------------
attributes for Weapon accessories are stored here


--------------------------------

Section IV Q&A


1. Q - How to make various commodities in Dicky J 's shop to appear earlier?

A - The game has the concept of stages,total four that can be triggered but not limited to.
You'll have modify the phase line to 0-4 with 0 being available at the start of a new
game



2. Q - My Mercenaries train like old ladies, only much more stupid. What's up?

A - look inside of the basis\campaign\JAZZ\. Open training_facility.lua with a text editor

local baseChances = 5 + masterSkillValue - 80
baseChances = baseChances*(leadership/60)

to
local baseChances = 5 + masterSkillValue - 0
baseChances = baseChances*(leadership/60)

Side effect? is that you'll be clicking dialog box all day long. (be easy on it though, can cause CTD)



3. Q - And the max value can be trained?

A - Inside of basis\script\logic\Constant.xml search for 85 then change it to any value you wish.
Although it has to be used in conjunction with the training_facility.lua in a matching value.


if (pupilSkillValue < 85) then -change to 100
chances = baseChances + 85 - pupilSkillValue

log(log_id, ">>> base throws:", baseChances)
log(log_id, ">>> total throws:", chances)
log(log_id, ">>> dicing!")



4. Q - Are there more mercenaries I could add

A - Yes, but in order to add more you need to remove one or more of those already existed in game
Apart from that there are 9 hidden mercs already in game see here



5. Q - Can Main character stat be changed?

A - For now only HP could be modded. Open basis\script\person.xml (depending on difficulty) find characters with Imp_ , six in total, change the line indicating HP. It also work in a saved game, though your Max HP will be the same, as if been gravely wounded.



6. Q - How is ammunition weight calculated in-game

A - Each single bullet has its own weigh, therefore it's calculated by the the total number of bullets weight plus magazine(clip) weight.

----------------------------------------------------

Credit--MatrixGames forum only

Myself of course

flankspeed -------- for the 9 hidden mercenaries

ArtVan9000 -------- Almighty DJs mod

2. There is no "JAZZ" folder on my machine, nor does any file "training_facility.xml" exist on my hard drive. (I'm running the 2nd beta patch 1.07.001) I believe you are referring to an old file left over from when HG was JA3D and that has since been removed.

3. Making the value greater than 85 doesn't work. (This is discussed in another thread.) It appears that there is a hard-coded limit that overrides any attempt to raise the training limit above 85.

It's also a mistake to provide modding instructions to XML files as if they were being editing with a non-XML (plain) text editor. At best, you're going to confuse people. The XML files are intended to be edited by a proper XML editor, or at the very least something like MS Excel.

2. there is a Jazz folder for my version of the game (basis\campaign\JAZZ)

3. the value has to be used in conjunction with the training_facility.lua file

4. I apologize for the misunderstanding, I used a txt editor for the files.
As I do not have a XML editor, can you show me what it looks like in that format


the guide is in revision, I'm still trying to figure a lot of the stuff out and fix mistakes. Thanks for pointing out for me.

2. Yes, I do indeed have a JAZZ folder in basis\campaigns. But I still see no file named training_facility.xml anywhere.

3. Okay, so if you change the value in Constant.xml to greater than 85 you must also change the line in training_facility.lua that reads "if (pupilSkillValue < 85) then" to a matching number. The code to calculate the chances to increase a skill are all fairly clearly written in training_facility.lua, so anyone who'd like to see just how good the chances are can peruse the code.

4. There are several threads on these forums discussing what XML editors to use. When you use MS Excel to open one of the XML files, the format appears just like any normal spreadsheet would, with columns and rows. Using Excel is nice, because it gives you powerful search capability. You can also change the data sorting, but I wouldn't recommend saving a resorted file under the same name, as I don't know how that might affect the game.

2. I have a JAZZ folder on my system as well. The full path is C:\Matrix Games\Hired Guns\basis\campaigns\JAZZ

And no these are not left over files. I know for a fact that some of them actually are used by the game. For example the sectors.lua contains the base income per day for those sectors. If you change it then start a new game, these sectors will show the changes you made to their income.

3. Blurrk is correct if you want to train over 85 you would have to change a value in training_facility.lua which contains the following value

if (pupilSkillValue < 85) then
chances = baseChances + 85 - pupilSkillValue

That value doesn't allow a training dice roll unless the mercs value is less than 85...not matter that the constants.xml says.


@Blurrk thanks for the credit. You might want to try Notepad ++ it works great with .lua files like those in the jazz folder, and can also open .xml
But as shadow said excel is really the best for .xml

Its free and you can get it here http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm

Good luck with your modding


EDIT: Bah-ShadoWarrior your too quick for me. You answered your own question...I typed all that for nothing [8|]

Thanks, I'll keep it up.[:)]

oops

Blurrk101,

Thanks for taking the time to post this reference sheet.

I can already see that the global_var.lua can be a powerfull tool and perhaps a modders wet dream !

Although it contains "starting" perameters, I can also see that these parameters are dymanic within the game and may provide info as to how the plot plays out. In another thread, "UN Camp" , it can/may help finding a reason to why that camps there and for the other sectors as to what/where and how each sector's parameters could change.

Thanks again for you info,
Rob

Anyone knows why our avatar spawn without equipment? As far as i can tell, we should get some equipment by default (persons.xml), but for some reason it's disabled... I wish to mod it.