Topic: SFC veteran asking noobie question:

[Czar Mohab]

How the heck do I get my ships added into shiplist.txt (using both excel and ship edit, and each separately) to show up in a campaign? I seem to have forgotten...

Game: SFC:OP, OP Enhancement Pack (highest number available, 5.1?) installed, with all the bells and whistles from it, including the patches.
OS: Win7 x64.
I don't think further PC stats are relevant at this time.
Problem: Added ships in shiplist.txt not showing up in campaigns as purchasable and usable to the player.
Things I've tried:
 Starting a new campaign.
 Moving all save games to a new file and starting a new campaign.
 Adjusting BPV of ships lower than calculated (assuming economy might have a play at things) and starting a new campaign.
 Adjusting Year First Available to earlier than normal, and starting a new campaign.
 Doing both of the above together.
Things I've Noticed:
 Available in Skirmish Mode
 Available in Ship Library
 NOT available for purchase in campaign.

I know that I missed something somewhere, and it is probably stupid simple. Help would be appreciated. Yes I did a forum search, but after reading 50+ postings that don't answer the question I felt it was easier to just ask. I do know that the answer is probably here in the forums, too.

[marstone]

A possible answer. Did you put the shiplist in the meta folder(I think that is the one needed for local campaign)?

The game uses two locations for shiplists. To me seems you put it in the location for online play, thus why it is available for skirmish games but not the campaign.

[TAnimaL]

I second Marstone's comment, and have another thought... but first a question -

are these totally new ships or different versions of existing ships?

In the shiplist there's the "Special Role" (column "F" in Excel) - S, V, C, M, etc. I know V = carrier, S = scout, T= tournament, but some of the others like R & NT...
Do they matter in campaigns? Does R = restricted? PFs are NT, but what does that mean? Maybe your new ships have something wrong in that column?

I swear I saw a breakdown of Special Roles in a forum post but had no luck finding it. Anyone know?

[bonusbartus]

well, the special roles are listed somewhere in the shipedit 3.0 manual, which you can find in C:\program files\EagleEye Software Group\SHIPEDIT 3.0 MANUAL.PDF
I have been adding ships last week too, and noticed the same thing, solved it by saving it to both MetaAssets and the assets/specs folders
Oh and sometimes it takes a few "years" for that specific ship to get build!

[Czar Mohab]

A possible answer. Did you put the shiplist in the meta folder(I think that is the one needed for local campaign)?

The game uses two locations for shiplists. To me seems you put it in the location for online play, thus why it is available for skirmish games but not the campaign.

Yep. That's what it was. Forgot about the second location. Been buried in SFC1 of late. Where there's only one place for such things.

are these totally new ships or different versions of existing ships?

Ultimately, both. Initially, was supposed to be all new, just to make sure things worked and ships could be play-tested and balanced.

In the shiplist there's the "Special Role" (column "F" in Excel) - S, V, C, M, etc. I know V = carrier, S = scout, T= tournament, but some of the others like R & NT...
Do they matter in campaigns? Does R = restricted? PFs are NT, but what does that mean? Maybe your new ships have something wrong in that column?

I swear I saw a breakdown of Special Roles in a forum post but had no luck finding it. Anyone know?

well, the special roles are listed somewhere in the shipedit 3.0 manual, which you can find in C:\program files\EagleEye Software Group\SHIPEDIT 3.0 MANUAL.PDF

Shipedit 3.0 Manual, Pg. 25-26 has those. No, the ships I've added do not have the wrong special role code letter. Some have none at all. Also:

R=restricted It won't show up in missions unless called for in the script. If you delete it from the shiplist the mission won't be able to run. This is why it's not a good idea to just delete ships from the shiplist. You could say it means reserve or any word you want that begins with "R". To my knowledge the developers never released a glossary. Has nothing to do with police, tender, border patrol, etc...

There's no designation for boarder patrol vessels or tenders in SFC. Except for PF tenders which are classified as carriers.

K= Not used.

KM= Not used.

D= drone

C= command

S= This is for anything that has a scout channel and would be what the FES, FEL would have for a designation.

F= freighter This is typically what auxiliaries get listed under in SFC.

P= police

V= carriers

E= escort As in carrier escort. Not convoy escort or any other kind of escort.

and

Just a few of the others from the EAW/OP shiplists:

A = mauler
q = small Q ship
Q = large Q ship
T = tournament ship
NT = defsat or listening post (can't remember which OTOH)
M = marine/commando ship

dave

Thanks to those who replied. Things are working much better now. And I was right. It was stupid simple.

[TAnimaL]

The manual? Who would think of looking there?

Thanks for the listing of those roles. I'm curious, do scripts like the various "fests" (Battle, Lite, Slug, et. al.) consider these roles?

I've been making my own modified shiplist, and, for example, made a version of the Fed Asteroid Base that is player-usable and shows up in the Ship Library. If I gave it a "F" or "NT" in the special role, would that prevent it from showing up in a Battlefest?

Or does the special roles only matter in campaigns, and in any scripts so designed by players?

Since we're on this topic, do these special roles matter at all to the game, or are they just part of fleet/campaign makeup?

[Czar Mohab]

I believe that the special roles are meant to limit what ships are faced in campaign missions that select ships based on BPV rather than scripted vessels; it is set up such that you shouldn't face, say, 3 K-C9's; but you might go up against a K-C9, K-D7L, and K-F5L (all have "C" - Command as their special role).

It does go further than that, but I am not sure that they were fully implimented. In SFB, unless otherwise stated within a scenario, a carrier ("V" - Carrier special role in SFC:EAW and OP) is supposed to have escorts (E - Escort special role). Scouts, Maulers, Commando ships, Drone ships, etc. are supposed to be of a limited number (one each, iirc) per fleet.

The most handy would be "R" - Restricted, which allows for a ship to be available if scripted into a scenario, but otherwise is unavailable to you or the AI. This can be used to limit certain ships that you are having troubles with from being an opponent, getting dropped into a ship that you really shouldn't ever be in when you lose yours in a mission (F-CLH, anyone?) and allow for a special ship to be available for a special scenario, yet still be available in skirmishes and such.

As to the fests, I don't think that a sepcial role has much play there, but I didn't write those scripts, so I do not know for sure. Heck, most of what I have written here is based more on observation than hard facts.