Oolite Bulletins

I want to create a ship, player-only. I know this requires an OXP.
Total noob as I am, I can't write it. But I do want to give it a shot,,,
Anybody want to help me with that??

Now this depends on what you want to do. Do you want an existing ship, just customised for you? Or design a totally new ship from scratch? Or something in between?

welcome to the forum Hamish.

Creating your own ship OXP is great fun.

If you want to create your own ship I would suggest that the easiest way for starters is to produce a simple ship model in something such as Wings 3D and then use existing config folders (tweaked to apply to your new ship).

As JazHaz says it depends on exactly what you want to do

I think I'll start with an existing ship and customize it for myself. I'm tinkering abit with models and textures

I think this discussion is more fit for the Expansion Pack sub-forum. Topic moved.

Hamish wrote:

I think I'll start with an existing ship and customize it for myself...

Ha, that's how I started OXP-ing, modding the Boa 2 into the Clipper (and look where that got me! )
Seriously, it's a good easy way to start, and if you do need any help, just ask

Hi and welcome Hamish!

I made my first ship in this way:
- locate the AddOns directory,
- make a subdir named YourShip_0.1.oxp,
- step into and make at least these subdirs: Config, Models and Textures,
- copy a working [wiki]shipdata.plist[/wiki] and [wiki]shipyard.plist[/wiki] file into the Config folder from any playable ship OXP,
- change at least the dataKey of the ship which is usually "shipname-player" in these files to "yourshipname-player".

You can use the original model and textures: copy the contents of this directories also, or you can build your own model into the Models/yourship.dat file: [wiki]OXP_howto_model[/wiki].

If you want to start the game in your ship then install [wiki]Start_Choices[/wiki] OXP and replace the dataKey of a ship, for example the "cobramk1-player" to "yourshipname-player" in AddOns/start_choices_1.4.oxp/Config/script.js (105. line) .

Then start the game with holding down the Shift key and choose the replaced ship.

Norby wrote:

- copy a working [wiki]shipdata.plist[/wiki] and [wiki]shipyard.plist[/wiki] file into the Config folder from any playable ship OXP...

This will work well, but there may also be problems depending on the OXP you choose to 'borrow' parts from. For example if you choose an old OXP some aspects may be out of date. Also the ship you are using may have sub-entities that yours doesn't, or scripts attached to it etc. The point is many of the more modern OXP ships are pretty sophisticated compared to the 'core' ships, so I'd suggest keeping things simple.
Find the shipdata and shipyard plists in the core game 'resources' folder and choose the ship which is most similar to the one you want to create. Then c&p the relevant parts of the core-game plists into your own. Just copy them to a text editor (not Notepad though - that breaks things) remembering to add curly brackets top and bottom, and you'll have what you need to get you started.

Norby wrote:

... start the game with holding down the Shift key...

You'll need to do this every time you alter something - or you can use the always-flush-cache key.

Smivs wrote:

Just copy them to a text editor (not Notepad though - that breaks things)

I think you're using Windows, and as Smivs says, Notepad can cause problems. Wordpad is fine, but Notepad++ is free and excellent.

Oh... and welcome aboard.

Thanx for the help guys

Immersing in the different files now. Indeed it's good fun.

Question.
How can I make my ship truly unique?
Only I fly it and not some spannermonkey from a backwater Anarchy turned pirate for the weekend...

Hamish wrote:

Question.
How can I make my ship truly unique?
Only I fly it and not some spannermonkey from a backwater Anarchy turned pirate for the weekend...

You only make a player version and not an NPC. Plus make a unique texture too.

Hi Hamish. I do hope you will share with us your unique player ship when finished.

Hamish wrote:

Question.
How can I make my ship truly unique?
Only I fly it and not some spannermonkey from a backwater Anarchy turned pirate for the weekend...

Hamish - As an example have a look on the link on my signature strip. Select the Galtech Escort Fighter and you can see on the Wiki page the different versions of the same ship. You can use a similar principle and create your own texture for use with the player ship only.

This will give you a ship unique to yourself.

Hamish wrote:

How can I make my ship truly unique?

NPCs get ships based on the roles key in shipdata.plist. If you set roles="player" then only you will get it.