[Mod Release] Tetsuhara Heavy Industries Mod Thread

[Lynx7725]

I'm releasing this, as sort of beta.

Tetsuhara Heavy Industries - Solaris SkunkWerks Release version 1.1

Also, Nexus link.

WARNING: There are risks involved in installing this mod.

One unpleasant game client behaviour is that in Skirmish and Mechlab, the game client will scan all saved mech builds for integrity. This is fine as long as all the files needed are present, including from mods. It is not fine when the files have been deleted or otherwise not found. The system behaviour is to lock up.

Thus, if you want to remove this mod, you would need to first go into Mechlab (at least) and remove all builds involving the Mechs here or the weapons. ALL must be removed before you can deregister the items from the VersionManifest.

Otherwise:

There's 146 mechs here. Not much more to say. Well actually...

These are converted from Solaris Skunkwerks save files, and makes use of existing, known, working prefabs to bring the loadouts into the client. It doesn't have new 3D models but abuses the existing ones pretty badly. You do get a crapload of mechs.

These mechs are primarily meant for stock Skirmish battles and are NOT integrated into the sim game. They also tend to have fairly restrictive hardpoints, so customizing is not always an option.

You also get the THI WD weapons and equipment, mostly because some of the 3039 records sheets actually have those equipment. At this time they have been tuned with PROD weapons value as a guide but there's always room for improvements.

In Weapons Division (WD), the focus is on equipment not found in the release. Things like Ultra, LBX, Artemis, XL engine, etc. etc.

These are at best "imperfect solutions" and almost certainly will be obsoleted when eventually HBS gets around to it.

Weapons Division Release is *NOT* meant for the casual modders. It is assumed you know something about how to mod stuff and just want to save some time.

In this Release Version, the following items are included:

• Gauss and Light Gauss Rifle
• Ammo for Light Gauss Rifle
• LB-10X in cluster and slug mode
• Ammo for LB-10X cluster rounds
• LMG and HMG
• Ultra AC5
• ER Laser family
• Heavy and Light PPC
• Pulse Laser family
• LRMs and SRMs with Artemis IV
• MRMs
• Ammo for MRMs
• Rocket Launchers
• Technical Implemnetation for Internal Heat Sink Upgrade
• Technical Implementation for XL Engine
• 1 Target Drone. Look, if you want to drive this deathtrap...

Although HBS has some "lostech" in the game files, they are specifically locked out from the skirmish. In other to preserve the integrity of the files, THI WD has implemented our own versions of the equipment, and made them available to Skirmish.

Having said all that, there's no way I can QA 146 mechs in the time I have. Some of these will have errors, so please report them here.

As much as I'd like to make this as painless as possible, you do need a basic level of mod competency to figure out some problems that might occur. I have tested that the client would load all the files and run, but individual mechs can have oddities.

Also.

The game client is not meant to load over 200 mechs. There WILL be a bit of lag when entering Skirmish or Mechlab, depending on your system. It's still workable currently, but it's hard to say what direction things would go.

There is also an oddity in that sometimes the loading will have problem. In such a case, please update the ApplicationConstants.json file with the following, in the PrewarmRequests section below the existing item.

{
"ResourceType": "AmmunitionDef",
"ResourceID": "All",
"Priority": "Background"
},
{
"ResourceType": "AmmunitionBoxDef",
"ResourceID": "All",
"Priority": "Background"
},
{
"ResourceType": "HeatSinkDef",
"ResourceID": "All",
"Priority": "Background"
}

====================================================================
INSTRUCTIONS
====================================================================

All files in this release have the THI_SSW_ or the THI_WD_ prefix, with one exception. The files included are already in their correct directories.

What you need to do:

1. Download and Unzip the Release.

2. *BACK UP* your VersionManifest.csv, found in

[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\

This is the only file that needs to be modified in this Release, so save a copy just in case.No other existing
original files are modified.

3. Go to the [STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\
directory. Note that this is one directory above where the VersionManifest is stored.

4. Create a "mods" directory, with lowercase "m". This is important!

Copy all the folders in the zip file over to the Mods directory. It should look like this:

[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\SSW\data\chassis
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\SSW\data\hardpoints
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\SSW\data\mech
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\SSW\data\movement
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\WD\data\ammunition
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\WD\data\ammunitionBox
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\WD\data\chassis
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\WD\data\heatsinks
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\WD\data\mech
[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\WD\data\weapon

Note that there is no need to copy these files into the data directory. Step 5 will take care of most Manifest issues.

5. Go to the folder:

[STEAM_INSTALL_PATH]\steamapps\common\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\Mods\THI\

There are three files here:

ModInfo.json
ModManifest.csv
THI_SSW_11_README.txt (this file)

If you are interested just to have these mechs and the basic client mechs, just copy everything in the ModManifest file into your VersionManifest.csv; REMEMBER TO BACK UP THE ORIGINAL FIRST!

If you are looking for only specific mechs, look them up in the ModManifest file. Each mech has either 3 or 4 rows: chassis, hardpoints (optional in some cases), mech and movement. Just copy the rows into your VersionManifest.csv as per normal modding.

====================================================================
IN EVENT OF EMERGENCY
====================================================================

If you are looking to remove the mod, REMEMBER TO:

Delete all related mech builds you have in the Mechlab, as well as any Mech builds that uses the weapons here, and possibly the saved Skirmish lances and save files, BEFORE you remove any lines in the VersionManifest.

(Look, I'm not happy about this either.)

If your client refuses to run and you suspect this Release to be the culprit, and you are fortunate enough not to have any mech builds, you can turn off the release by doing the following:

1. Replace the modified VersionManifest.csv with your original
backup, OR

2. Delete the relevant lines from the VersionManifest.csv.

The files are safe to leave in the subdirectories, but if you feel particularly threatened by them, just search by the THI_ prefix and delete the files.

====================================================================
FEEDBACK
====================================================================

Please feel free to leave feedback here

 

[Lynx7725]

Tetsuhara Heavy Industries is happy to announce the update to its Weapons Division release. Link to the Nexus page.

In this release, we have the technical implementation for:

• Gauss and Light Gauss Rifle
• Ammo for Light Gauss Rifle
• LB-10X in cluster and slug mode
• Ammo for LB-10X cluster rounds
• LMG and HMG
• Ultra AC5
• ER Laser family
• Heavy and Light PPC
• Pulse Laser family
• LRMs and SRMs with Artemis IV
• MRMs
• Ammo for MRMs
• Rocket Launchers
• (New!) Guardian ECM
• (New!) 3025-era EW Equipment
• (New!) Beagle Active Probe
• (New!) Command Console
• (New!) Target Acquisition Gear
• Technical Implemnetation for Internal Heat Sink Upgrade
• Technical Implementation for XL Engine
• 1 Target Drone. Look, if you want to drive this deathtrap...

 

[Lynx7725]

Version 1.2 for the SSW is released.

https://www.nexusmods.com/battletech/mods/53?tab=files

In this release, I've reduced the number of Mechs from 146 to 93, to get around a VersionManifest problem. Also updated the weapons and equipment to update to the latest to include GECM, BAP, EW, TAG and Command Console. Lastly, there are now SQL statements to bring these mechs into the campaign game proper.

 

[Lynx7725]

So yeah, I seriously doubt too many people are following my mod, but I just updated to v1.3, compatible with Battletech v1.3.2 with Flashpoint DLC; Proven to work with Career mode and Skirmish. How do I know it works with Career? Well, the reason why it took so long for me to publish the updates is because I'm having too much fun making Ostscouts and Thorns explode in my new Career play-through....

Anyway the files are being updated to Nexus, so they should become available soon. I understand I'm not supposed to post new posts with links there, so you'd just have to go there yourself to look it up.

This release doesn't rock the boat too much, it's just meant to update the VersionManifest so that things would work with v1.3.2. In fact, those of you who are using the files probably can/ have updated the VM file by yourself already. If that's the case there's really nothing new in this one for you.

So moving forward... what's upcoming?

Firstly, I have to say my interest in modding isn't as strong as it was, but I'd probably continue to tinker with this at my own time and pace. I'm not looking to shake up the whole game system; for me, just adding the variety of mechs currently already make the game experience quite interesting, because of the variety of possible threat/ attacks. If the AI is a bit better, I'm fairly sure some of these mechs would make life a lot more interesting.

So, yeah.. I've been lifting the hood on some parts of 1.3.2, which HBS didn't appear to mind us lifting. Some of the things are truly interesting. The big ones are as follows:

1. The introduction of fixed equipment. The fixed hatchet on the Hatchetman and the computer on the Cyclops is a bigger deal than most think. With that now in place, I can now better implement XL engines, true engine heat sinks and probably Endo Steel -- that brings a lot more mech possibly in game. Ferro remains challenging, and most likely would not make it. Possibly, advanced Gyros.

In addition, this allows me to bring in some very odd chassis. The very obvious example is the 302X Ravens; there's really no good reason to bring a Raven-1X if you can dismount the EW equipment and put it somewhere else. Similarly, Command Orions and Beemers are now suddenly much more valuable when their Command Consoles cannot be shifted. Expect to see some changes to certain key mechs, and from there, certain odd variants may pop up.

2. The resolution of the old 8550 VM lines problem now opens the way for more mechs to be included. I should be bringing some of the old ones back in.

3. Continual exploration of some of the effects, including the new one that the Cyclops computer highlighted, will mean I'd most likely continue to tinker with stuff. Field testing is also going to fine tune some equipment; currently I am fielding a Raven-1X in my Career mode, I'm actually not quite finding the EW equipment that good... Jury is still out on that one. I'll probably revisit some of the advance tech weapons I have too, to see if there's a way for me to rework them in light of better understandings.

4. In terms of the MDD updates, HBS apparently moved from UUID to more meaningful names. I'd probably also adopt that in the future, because it's a damn sight more readable that way, and I'm no longer chained to existing UUID. Unfortunately, that does mean things would break in save games, so I'd need to think how to handle stuff.

So what's the timeline? Well... I honestly am having fun in Career mode, which eats into the time for modding. I really only have until the end of 2018 before work picks up again, so I'd see what I can do.

 

[Lynx7725]

I encountered an interesting "bug" while testing and playing various things in Career mode. It isn't a show stopper, which is why I'm still releasing Mod v1.4 later, but it's good to be transparent about these things.

So, a bit of backstory first.

The mod is about bringing extra Mechs to the Battletech game experience, but it isn't just about putting extra Jsons in. The other part of the experience is to put together Mechs that look the part from available parts. And sometimes, that requires me to steal parts from elsewhere, such as below:

Part of that was a long period of exploration and testing how parts fit together and how the system reacts to it, mostly during the BETA period. Generally speaking, I got it to a point where the Skirmish part of things work decently enough. But at that point we didn't have a Campaign or a Career mode to test with.

So, around Mod v1.2, I put in the SQL statements for people who want to put the mechs into Campaign mode, which when Career came around in Btech v1.3, also worked for that. But that doesn't mean there weren't.... problems. One of which surfaced lately when I was playing around with my own toys in Career.

So the bug is this:

The preview image in the Mechbay is not static; it's actually reading your mech's Mechdef and putting together a "Live" model. This is triggered every time you look at a different Mech. However, the method used by the SimGame to render a Mech, and the method used by the tactical game to render a Mech in combat are different.

Specifically, while the tactical game is willing to put up with stolen parts, the Mechbay one is only expecting parts from the configured prefab base. And when it encounters something that I coded that isn't from the prefab base? It literally draws a blank and spazz out, as above.

That's still not the bad part. Actually overall it's not terrible, since the data is fine, and you can actually trigger the refit and repair buttons on the front panel, but the initial null pointer can sort of snowball badly. After doing a refit, it can save the work order, but refuses to exit the panel properly, leading to what looks like a hang, or worse, an overlapping panel:

What's happening is that Mech configuration panel is overlapping with the Mechwarriors panel, which is somewhat problematic because the Mech config panel is blocking some UI elements. But generally speaking, you can still get the panels to reset properly by clicking a few times on the upper left "Back" arrow icon.

However, null pointers are fairly insidious. I am suspecting this null pointer in causing some memory issues further down the road, resulting in some crashes, including live locking when trying to load a map. But it is somewhat situational, and a restart generally clears the situation up, so it's not a show-stopper per se.

So to summarize, the way to get around this Campaign/ Career problem is as follows:

1. If you need to refit the mech, you might run into a problem where the confirmation of job panel seems to be unresponsive. If you have clicked once on Confirmed, just cancel; that should reset the panel. Check your work orders afterwards; your refit should be one task in there.

2. If your UI spazz out like above, click on the upper left "Back" arrow until it resolves.

3. If you are going into live lock, particularly when trying to load a mission, reload the client; the data is generally safe and the memory problem clears once the client has reset.

This doesn't apply to Skirmish, which appears to work as intended.

-----------

To the Devs, if any are reading: I'd like to appeal to change the method in the SimGame Mechbay to allow grabbing from other prefab bases that are declared in the VM; that opens up opportunities for mods like mine, and is more consistent with the tactical game. If not, that fixing the null pointer issue may resolve some of the memory issues/ livelock issues I'm encountering.

 

[Lynx7725]

Merry Christmas!

Tetsuhara Heavy Industries is happy to announce the release of version 1.4 on Nexus.

Changes for this includes:

1. Inclusion of 2 new mechs:

Toro

This 35 ton Mech is a relic of Taurian resistance to the SLDF and is in the timeline, very rare. In its day, it was one of the few Taurian homegrown and built designs and the Taurian military fielded it in large numbers. A PPC paired with double LRM5s give this mech a good reach, and it has good ground speed, though not jump capable.

Talos

This 50 ton mech was selected for inclusion as a historical Taurian mech that brings the hard-hitting AC10 into the medium lines, backed up with LRM5s and SRM6. Without energy weapons, some might assume an ammo dependency, but this mech carries more ammo than is usually carried by SLDF and House designs.

2. Updating of Mechs to use Fixed Equipment.

Most of the Engine Heat Sinks implementation has been moved to Fixed Equipment to basically prevent looting. In addition, the following four chassis had updated Fixed Equipment:

• Command Atlas - Command Console
• Command Battlemaster - Command Console
• Command Orion - Command Console
• Raven-1X - EW Equipment

3. Updating of some equipment.

In Battletech v1.3, HBS introduced Lance-wide effects, which has been integrated into some equipment, notably the Command Console and EW equipment. This, tied into the fixed equipment item above, is intended to make the chassis stand out and become more desirable for salvage. Do note the Command Console advantage is significant and it does turn the mech bearing it into something quite special.

Side note: while testing the mod in Career mode, I did end up fighting the Command Orion in a mission in which a total of 6 heavy mechs were involved, against my 2 heavies and 2 mediums. Having 6 heavy mechs and their firepower moving in Phase 3, often with my mediums, is significantly painful. On top of that, I basically had to raze the Orion into components in order to get rid of the buffs it gave the enemy team. So... not easy.

4. Backend work.

The Addendum method mentioned here is implemented for this mod. This allows the VM modifications to be reduced to a single line for all 95 mechs. In additional, with Battletech v1.3, HBS switched the MDD from UUID to readable names, which was complied with for readability.

5. Some debugging work.

In the course of sorting out the Career Mechbay issue, I ended up debugging some chassis to check if they were the issues. The Crusader gained the most benefit; now it is utilizing Jagermech assets more completely:

And that's what's in v1.4.

 

[Lynx7725]

Ok. Fine. THI SSW is now BTML/ Modtek compatible as of v1.5

Also, because the changes were so trivial, I've included the following changes:

1. Updated shops in Campaign/ Career to sell some basic stuff. Specifically, some more common Mechs, Mechparts, HMG, LMG and Rocket Launchers. Other stuff like Artemis, MRMs, H/L PPCs are not available in shops.

2. The old problem of AmmoDef unloading itself is still in place, so I included a ApplicationConstants to have the necessary settings.

Ok, stop poking me about BTML/ ModTek already.

 

[Lynx7725]

Oh good grief. It's been a year?

So, for all the disinterested people out there, an update...

Is this mod still alive? What the heck happened?

Short answer: Yeah kind of. Expect a release (v1.6) for Btech v1.8 in a relatively short time frame.

Long answer: Hobbes poked me about it and with Heavy Metal coming out I got curious enough to dig around. I fell off the Btech train just before Urban Warfare due to family medical issues and so I'm not as current as I liked.

Coming back at this time with mods supported is an interesting time. The short form of it is, my mod still loads and works (mostly) under v1.8, and I was able to quickly adapt the stuff to go into the new Modloader standard.

Unfortunately, that's where things ran off the rails. The Modloader works... but that's not the only thing that HBS changed. One of the changes was ammo category enumeration, and combined with a sequencing error I made in the mod.json, gave me no end of grief. The net effect of the enumeration is that you can't declare new ammunition -- that's the ammo, not the ammo box. Had ammo enumeration been opened up for mod work from the Modloader, it won't be a problem, but currently it isn't; the Factions was the first, the rest based on HBS pirority. Ammo enumeration is the correct way to go IMO, so it's a matter of Patience.

The issue sort of starts with the ammo boxes. We can declare new ammo boxes, but HBS changed a bit of the old behaviour, so there are some constraints now. previously, you can declare an ammo box of say, missile, but the internal ammo category could be say, AC. The system doesn't care about the internal ammo category, it'd just take the ammo box and feed your weapon.

Now, the combat system still doesn't care, but because the enumeration shifted some behaviour, the Mechlab UI suddenly cares. If you had done the above (AC ammo hiding inside a missile box), the Mechlab now peeks into the ammo box and puts the ammo box not in the missile category, but in the ballistic category.

Why is this important? Because if your mech doesn't have a ballistic hardpoint, the mechlab UI automatically blocks any attempt so use that ammo box, so now you can't load ammo for your weapon. Bummer.

So now your new missile weapon have to use a pre-existing missile ammo. You have to start worrying about ammo sharing. If you put MRMs on the same ammo category as SRMs, you may end up sharing ammo between SRMs and MRMs, which can lead to quite offensive mechs. If you stupidly put "NotSet" on say, an UAC, then you end up with an infinite ammo UAC. Some of you might actually like these changes, but we sort of have to strike a balance somewhere... I hear the AI Mechwarriors are unionizing.

So that leads to a lot of weapon tinkering, and that gets weird too. In order to avoid having AMS ammo lookups, I changed my Rocket Launchers to Flamer ammo, and that lead to a fun "out of ammo" audio because the enumeration now have those in settings. Rocket Launchers are Flamers now, ho ya. Actually, I ended up putting them as SRM Infernos, because that ammo has a new parameter to only use internal ammo (i.e., don't use bins... I think).

So yeah. Somewhat problematic, especially if you have a long history of new weapons that has been tuned. You now potentially have to go back and redo a lot of parameters and do retuning again, and that might not last very long, depending on when HBS will introduce Ammo Category Enumeration by Mod.Json.

(Obi-wan HBS_Ecks, you are our only hope.)

Yeah yeah, so what can we expect?

Short-ish answer: There will be a v1.6 rollout for my mod(s). This is primarily to keep things updated and users to have continuity in their saves. This is not intended to be a full blown update, just a technical bridge.

v1.6 will:

• Use the new Modloader technique.
• Ensure compatibility for Career and Campagin games.
  • This is still to be tested, as I am now focussed on Skirmish to test out the bugs there.
• Ensure the new weapons are updated to work in the new environment.
  • Currently I think all the weapons work -- and I've upgraded the LBX. I'd need to do more testing on those.
  • Equipment I didn't test. They should still work.
• My Warhammer and Marauder are still FrakenMechs.

Following on:

v1.7+ will:

• Update Warhammer and Marauder to use HBS assets. I still need to maintain these mech jsons for continuity.
• Probably revise and update EW once I get to grips with the EW equipment from Urban Warfare. I won't replace my equipment, but probably update them with new capabilities that HBS introduced.
• Reach a decision how to handle DLC mechs. I probably will have to spin off a "Reseen and Retired" package to update all of these mechs for DLC holders, so that existing users of the mod can apply those and still have continuity in their save files.
• Maybe introduce more off-beat mech designs to replace DLC mechs. I would try to keep this mod at around 100 mechs, due to performance reasons.

Lastly, just to share...

My perspective of this mod is really an entry-level, simplistic (and in some sense safer) mod for users who aren't so keen to start with more complex mods. Think of it as a gateway drug.

 

[Lynx7725]

Tetsuhara Heavy Industries is happy to announce that the THI-SSW mod is updated to v1.6!

Usual spot to look is Nexus Mod.

This is primarily a technical bridge to bring the mod inline with Battletech v1.8. The mod has moved onto HBS's Modloader framework and because I am now using some resources only from Battletech v1.8, it is now a pre-requsite to be on Battletech v1.8. As an side-effect, the Mechs and equipment are now defaulted into the Campaign and Career game.

With the movement onto Modloader, it is now significantly easier for normal users to access the mod content, and as this mod is not particularly ambitious, the content is fairly safe for less technically inclined users to use.

No DLC is required. However, I would be working to use some of the DLC resources in another mod, for those people who have those DLC.