-
There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.
If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.
Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.
The Staff of SOH
Where do i start?
- Thread starter CrisGer
- Start date
OK folks this is a long one... I was not able to find my original How To Fake Patch post so I rewrote it... It was late last night and early this morning so forgive my spellering and typoering mistooks...
Adding Mods to X3TC as "Fake Patches"
There are 2 ways to add mods to X3, 1) is to place the mod files in the "MODS" folder which is inside the main X3 folder, and select them from a list when you open the game launcher. That is a very simple method but it limits you to a single mod (I use it to test a mod to see if I like it, and if I do I then use the Fake Patch method to install permanently). Here are the basic steps to install into the Mod folder and use the Game Launcher to install a mod.
Once you have downloaded the Mod you want and extracted it to a temp folder you should have at least 2 files (there may be instructions and screen shots but the Mod is really only two files). The Mod files will be "Name.CAT and Name.DAT" simply copy these two files into the Mods folder - if you are using a fresh install this folder may not be present if not just create it inside your Main X3 or X3 Terran Conflict folder. Here is the path I use - "S:\EGOSOFT-Moded\X3 Terran Conflict\mods", Once the files are there start X3 and on the main menu the "Select Mod Package" button will be active, click it and the name of the mod will appear in a list box just highlight it and click OK then the Mod will remain activated until you click the button again and unselect it or select another.
The second is the "Fake Patch" method, this is the method I use when I have tested a Mod and decide I want to keep it running, some caution needs to be used as there are potential conflicts with various mods. If you have a problem mod it is simple to remove a "Fake Patch" simply by deleting 2 files so no harm done. The basic steps start the same, however I will leave them here so this can stand alone as a complete cheat sheet.
There are of course many way to do this, this is just one way.
Enjoy and watch out for the Pirates, and the Xeon, they get cranky at times...lol
Adding Mods to X3TC as "Fake Patches"
There are 2 ways to add mods to X3, 1) is to place the mod files in the "MODS" folder which is inside the main X3 folder, and select them from a list when you open the game launcher. That is a very simple method but it limits you to a single mod (I use it to test a mod to see if I like it, and if I do I then use the Fake Patch method to install permanently). Here are the basic steps to install into the Mod folder and use the Game Launcher to install a mod.
Once you have downloaded the Mod you want and extracted it to a temp folder you should have at least 2 files (there may be instructions and screen shots but the Mod is really only two files). The Mod files will be "Name.CAT and Name.DAT" simply copy these two files into the Mods folder - if you are using a fresh install this folder may not be present if not just create it inside your Main X3 or X3 Terran Conflict folder. Here is the path I use - "S:\EGOSOFT-Moded\X3 Terran Conflict\mods", Once the files are there start X3 and on the main menu the "Select Mod Package" button will be active, click it and the name of the mod will appear in a list box just highlight it and click OK then the Mod will remain activated until you click the button again and unselect it or select another.
The second is the "Fake Patch" method, this is the method I use when I have tested a Mod and decide I want to keep it running, some caution needs to be used as there are potential conflicts with various mods. If you have a problem mod it is simple to remove a "Fake Patch" simply by deleting 2 files so no harm done. The basic steps start the same, however I will leave them here so this can stand alone as a complete cheat sheet.
- You first of course need to download the Mod and save it on your system, I usually create a temp folder on the desktop and use that for the basic work.
- Once you have the mod saved to your temp folder, it generally needs to be "Extracted" - Windows XP and Vista can do this for Zip files, if the file has something besides a .zip extension you will need a different utility, (I like 7Zip, if you need this let me know and I can point you to a place to get and install it). If the file is a .zip skip to the next step, if not stop here and get a utility to extract the file.
- Regardless of the program you are going to use to extract the mod files the easiest way I know is to select the file then "Right Click" on the context menu there will be an "Extract" or "Uncompress" option, if you use XP/Vista, if you use something like 7Zip the name 7Zip will be on that menu, select whichever is there and extract the files to the current location - With 7Zip when you select it you will see a new menu offering several options, select "Extract Files Here", other programs like WinZip and WinRar are pretty much the same.
- You should now see the mod files in the temp folder alone with the original zip file. There should always be at least 2, a .CAT and a .DAT (sometimes there will be a Readme.txt, up to you but I do read these)
- What we have to do now is find out what version of the game you have and add the mod as if it were the next game patch from the publisher.
- OK the tricky part of the installation, (NOT) you need to find the main X3 Terran Conflict Folder. The simple way to do this is to use the Desktop shortcut, simply point to it with your mouse and right click (can you tell I like the "Right Click function...lol), and select the "Properties" button. When the Properties dialogue appears there will be a button on the lower left either "Find Target" for Win XP or "Open File Location" for Vista/Win 7, click the button!, This will open Windows Explorer and take you to the main X3 Terran Conflict Folder (there are lots of way to do this, I just find this method is quick and easy).
- Now with the Explorer window open, you should see the folder list on the left and the X3 TC folder should be highlighted and open - if it is not expanded, click the plus sign beside the folder to expand it. In the right pane you will see all the files in the main folder. Look at these files you will see a series of files numbered 01.cat and 01.dat, right up to 09.cat and 09.dat if you are at ver 2.5 and I believe Ver 3.0 puts the number at 11 or 12. If you have not installed the latest update it would be good to do that first but it is not required. Just keep in mind if you add a published update later on that is signed you need to rename any and all "Fake Patches BEFORE you install the publishers update, that's why I recommend doing it first, no "OH $hit" moments later when you have a "Brain Fart" like I often do...
- OK this time we are installing the mod files in the main directory, so if we see the game patches are up to date and the 09.cat, and 09.dat are the highest numbered we just go back to the temp folder on our desktop, and you guessed it, rename the 2 mod files from what ever they are called to 10.cat and 10.dat (if the cat and dat files stop at 7 or 8 you would use the next number, do not skip from 7 to 50 thinking it will allow you safety to install publisher updates, the game does not seem to like that one little bit!)
- Once you have renamed the files, select them both and - you guessed it "Right Click" this time we select "Copy" from the menu. Now you locate the X3 Main folder again and with the folder name highlighted in the left pane list "Right Click" AGAIN, then Paste.
- The only thing to do now is start up the game and test it out, you will need to open save and reopen a game for the cockpits to appear if you are installing the PCO Cockpit Mod, but just select any game from you list and perform the save reload and you will have nice new cockpits for your ships.
- Be aware SOME mods are full conversion and will not work with saved games from the vanilla game so you may have to start fresh, there is generally a warning in the Readme and it is also one of the reasons I like to use the Mod folder to test first.
There are of course many way to do this, this is just one way.
Enjoy and watch out for the Pirates, and the Xeon, they get cranky at times...lol
CrisGer
Charter Member
great thank you very much for taking the time to do all of that, much appreciated.
I decided to go back to the beginning of the series so i could get the whole story and study the entire series...so i am now the happy owner of Beyond the Frontier, X-Tension (both from the Gold edition, the ORIGNAL Gold), X2 The Threat, (which actually had cockpits and allowed you to actually fly into and around inside the stations), X3 Reunion and X3 Terran Conflict 3.0. Gonna be a long slog to get thru them all, i know and i have assembled a gazillion scripts and tools, and dug into the past and found Commander Jamieson's Space Station (and tracked down the Commander hisself in the wilds of Australia).... and am learning about the many and various details of it all... but all the great posts here launched me into the starry void and brought my collection of X Universe games out of the mothball fleet.
There are even some "lost" stations in X2 that were not officially used ..you have to find them but i hear they are fully modeled.....so there is fun ahead.
Ya, i hear about those Xenon, was just studying a "how to capture" Xenon tutorial...that is gonna time a lot of learning.
so thanks again for the how to for the fake patches that will help a lot.
I decided to go back to the beginning of the series so i could get the whole story and study the entire series...so i am now the happy owner of Beyond the Frontier, X-Tension (both from the Gold edition, the ORIGNAL Gold), X2 The Threat, (which actually had cockpits and allowed you to actually fly into and around inside the stations), X3 Reunion and X3 Terran Conflict 3.0. Gonna be a long slog to get thru them all, i know and i have assembled a gazillion scripts and tools, and dug into the past and found Commander Jamieson's Space Station (and tracked down the Commander hisself in the wilds of Australia).... and am learning about the many and various details of it all... but all the great posts here launched me into the starry void and brought my collection of X Universe games out of the mothball fleet.
There are even some "lost" stations in X2 that were not officially used ..you have to find them but i hear they are fully modeled.....so there is fun ahead.
Ya, i hear about those Xenon, was just studying a "how to capture" Xenon tutorial...that is gonna time a lot of learning.
so thanks again for the how to for the fake patches that will help a lot.
CrisGer
Charter Member
OK life has brought me back again..hope some of us are still playing the X Universe games i see there is a new one out! this will be fun. As soon as i finish a work project for real work..i will dive back in here.
thanks so much for the help on entry from everyone and hope all are well and doing fine.
thanks so much for the help on entry from everyone and hope all are well and doing fine.