[Mod] JK_Variants 1.8.0.0 - 175+ 'Mechs and 125+ Vees, Rarity Tables, and more

[Eximar]

@Justin Kase
There are a few mechs that I blacklist in the mod and I went in and did that as I had in the previous version, but they are still showing up.
Any ideas on why blacklisting isn't working now?

 

[bloodydoves]

@Eximar That seems to be a vanilla bug. I recently had a mission where I ran into a pair of AC/2 Atlases, which are a testing variant in the game's files that is blacklisted but spawned anyway. Not sure what's up with that.

 

[Eximar]

Hmm, I'm not running vanilla, but it's very irritating.

 

[Justin Kase]

@Eximar - I'll look into it, but I think what @bloodydoves meant, is that it is an error baked into the base game causing the Blacklist toggle not to work.

Was at PAX all weekend, so only just seeing this. Working on chasing out a few other reported errors and will add this to my list!

 

[Eximar]

Yeah, I should have edited when I realized that after the fact. Thanks.

 

[Justin Kase]

Not a worry I'd rather double check than miss something.

Running through a new campaign now with all the Variants, working to get the Stores functional again and add in the CP-10-Z-DC with a modified Command Console with the B2000 integrated in.

Would also be nice to figure out the 'fixed' function so I can avoid using the (2) slot trick for the Command Console to keep it from being shifted to other 'Mechs.

 

[unclecid]

Not a worry I'd rather double check than miss something.

Running through a new campaign now with all the Variants, working to get the Stores functional again and add in the CP-10-Z-DC with a modified Command Console with the B2000 integrated in.

Would also be nice to figure out the 'fixed' function so I can avoid using the (2) slot trick for the Command Console to keep it from being shifted to other 'Mechs.

having a DC cyclops would be really awesome....a proper command mek that one.
and i hop you do figure out the fixed eq thing...would make those DC variants far more valuable.

 

[Justin Kase]

Testing it out - got the stores to work at least, that is progress....

 

[Eximar]

After 1.3.2, blacklisted regular mechs are still showing up. No pieces of them are available to salvage, regardless of how they are killed, which is interesting and so far, none of the couple JK variants I blacklisted have shown up, which is also interesting.

 

[Justin Kase]

That is interesting. I wonder if we added a 'blacklist' mod that merged JSONs - even on 'Mechs that are already Blacklisted in the base game, if that would 'fix' the problem. If it did, whatever is breaking the Blacklist would have to be happening prior to the Mod kicking off.

 

[Eximar]

Good Question.

I was hoping 1.3.2 would do the trick since people have been reporting things like the 2xAC2 test Atlas showing up, when it has been blacklisted from the start and should never have shown up anywhere, but who knows if HBS is even working on this.

I also tried deleting unit release in the tags just for grins, but that makes no difference for the blacklisted mechs.

 

[Justin Kase]

Version 1.3.2 is out​

Updated the mod to include the DLC support and added in the Cyclops CP-10-Z-DC

Also added in some new Swiftwind and Mobile HQ variants.

But, the bigger news is that we finally have the Faction Specific LanceDefs working!!! Special thanks to @Sabrist for the initial work on this with me converting the Xotl tables, and even more thanks to @Dr. Banzai for his work on the LanceDefs!

The rarity values mean that certain 'Mechs are more or less likely to appear for the various existing factions. This translates into some 'Mechs becoming a lot less common (like the Panther, which will become rarer outside of Kuritian lances or the Hatchman becoming almost non-existent outside of Lyran/FedSuns lances).

Please keep in mind that the rarity is based off the Xotl tables for the 3028 era - and we don't have the full mix of 'Mechs to pull from (YET!). So you may get some repetition among the various factions on the 'Mechs / Vehicles you see (which is the idea).

If there is a 'Mech/Vehicle you want to appear more often - you just go into that JSON file and change the value from whatever it is to common.

For example - here is part of the Panther JSON file:

"unit_very_rare_MagistracyOfCanopus",
"unit_very_rare_TaurianConcordat",
"unit_very_rare_Liao",
"unit_very_rare_Marik",
"unit_rare_Davion",
"unit_rare_Steiner",
"unit_common_Kurita",
"unit_very_rare_ComStar",
"unit_very_rare_AuriganDirectorate",
"unit_rare_Betrayers",
"unit_very_rare_AuriganMercenaries",
"unit_very_rare_AuriganPirates",
"unit_very_rare_AuriganRestoration",
"unit_very_rare_Locals",

If you want the Panther to appear more often for Pirates (or anyone), just replace the _very_rare_ with- that will automatically make it common for that unit (once you restart the game).

 

[Eximar]

That's fantastic JK. Looking forward to faction flavor in my Opfor very much.

The patches haven't fixed the inability to Blacklist mechs (haven't had anyone at HBS acknowledge the problem), so I'm still frustrated with that and out of things to try experimentally. Is there a rarity beyond very_rare that would at least make it extremely unlikely to see certain mechs? Or is very_rare sufficient to make a mech effectively invisible?

 

[unclecid]

One thing about those redefined lances....
Folks who are into that kinda thing will really get their urbie fix fighting on planets where liao has influence.
Nothing funnier then a urbie sans cannon doing a melee run up on you.
It truly is laughable.

 

[Justin Kase]

That's fantastic JK. Looking forward to faction flavor in my Opfor very much.

The patches haven't fixed the inability to Blacklist mechs (haven't had anyone at HBS acknowledge the problem), so I'm still frustrated with that and out of things to try experimentally. Is there a rarity beyond very_rare that would at least make it extremely unlikely to see certain mechs? Or is very_rare sufficient to make a mech effectively invisible?

It appears that the new LanceDefs / Tags provide an additional bonus in making the Blacklisted 'Mechs vanish - as I do not provide those 'Mechs tags to be called

If you want to make a 'Mech "vanish" from being a viable choice, give it the "unit_none_(((faction)))" tag. Please note, you must enter the name of the faction you want it to vanish from. Alternatively, if you delete the file that creates the tags, that 'Mech should vanish as well, with only a minor chance of appearing in a 5 skull mission (IIRC).

One thing about those redefined lances....
Folks who are into that kinda thing will really get their urbie fix fighting on planets where liao has influence.
Nothing funnier then a urbie sans cannon doing a melee run up on you.
It truly is laughable.

Heh, yes It certainly does give the Urbies a little more screen time than you normally would see. With the Panther taking a backseat (due to its rarity in this part of the Periphery), the Urbie steps into a support role (Dr Banzai had suggested the role shift after we had made the Panther less common).

Once HBS gives us some more 'Mechs, I think these faction specific lances will become even more interesting!

 

[Eximar]

If you want to make a 'Mech "vanish" from being a viable choice, give it the "unit_none_(((faction)))" tag.

That is fantastic. As always, you're the Man.

Urbs in the Opfor makes me almost as happy as an Urb in my lance.

 

[NickAragua]

Question: Let's say I'm using Hangar of the Dispossessed or some other mod that adds extra tanks/mechs. Are those still going to show up if I activate the new lance definitions?

 

[Justin Kase]

That is fantastic. As always, you're the Man.

Urbs in the Opfor makes me almost as happy as an Urb in my lance.

Glad to oblige! Please let me know if any particular factions feel 'off' or are missing 'Mechs that should be there. Right now there isn't a lot of difference for the Aurigan Restoration, Aurigan Directorate and Locals. The Pirates have a few differences (such as preferring the easier to maintain Schrek AC Carrier over the more valuable PPC version).

I am open to all suggestions on creating better tables for them! At least until the Aurigan sourcebook comes out and gives us something to work with

Question: Let's say I'm using Hangar of the Dispossessed or some other mod that adds extra tanks/mechs. Are those still going to show up if I activate the new lance definitions?

For now, you would have 2 options.

1 - You can use the mod as is and not enable the Sab_JK_Encounters (Rarity) portion. Then it will behave as per normal.
2 - You can add in files for all of the HotD that are missing into that folder and determine their rarity. If people are interested, I can give a run down of how this works, or I can reach out to those mod creators and make the basic tables for them and provide them as a courtesy.

The good news is, @Dr. Banzai is working on a compilation mod of all the extra 'Mech skins bundled. He and I have been trading ideas back and forth on the organization of the mod and have adopted a lot of the same tags (right now he is using common/uncommon/rare/none), so the two mods will work relatively well together. He is working to add in the Very_Rare labels next, but he may exclude the Ext_Rare - which really don't mean too much with the way we settled on how the LanceDefs pull things.

All that being said, because the LanceDefs occasionally work via Exclusions, they could technically pull 'Mechs/Vees that are lacking the unit_none_{faction} labels

 

[Justin Kase]

Been trying out some Shop mods for the past several days - only done a few so far, and they are straight-up replacements for the itemCollections in the data folder.

If you would like to try these out, please :
1 - Make a copy of your : \\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\itemCollections folder
2 - Download attached itemCollection_ files and paste them into the itemCollections folder
3 - Restart your game

That should make Half-Ton MG ammo appear in all general shops, and allow some of the variant mechs to start spawning as parts at the Davion linked shops. Mydron linked shops should have a chance of the Mydron MG + to appear and Defiance linked shops will have a small chance of the Binary Lasers appearing.

Still working on the itemCollections - and welcome suggestions on what should be appearing where

 

[Sykriss]

Been trying out some Shop mods for the past several days - only done a few so far, and they are straight-up replacements for the itemCollections in the data folder.

If you would like to try these out, please :
1 - Make a copy of your : \\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\itemCollections folder
2 - Download attached itemCollection_ files and paste them into the itemCollections folder
3 - Restart your game

That should make Half-Ton MG ammo appear in all general shops, and allow some of the variant mechs to start spawning as parts at the Davion linked shops. Mydron linked shops should have a chance of the Mydron MG + to appear and Defiance linked shops will have a small chance of the Binary Lasers appearing.

Still working on the itemCollections - and welcome suggestions on what should be appearing where

I haven't posted it here on the forums (not sure why) but I made a mod for RogueTech that re-adds all of the RogueTech weaponry back to the shops, and while it does straight-up replace most of the base itemCollections, I also figured out how to get completely new itemCollections imported via ModTek. Here's the link if you want to examine how I did it. https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/334

I would love to know where to get reliable data on commonly used equipment and mechs by each faction.