The GLFrontier Thread

[Styggron]

Wow this will be the first post in around 4 years. I had some questions on GLFrontier but did not just want to start another thread so I looked and found this.

Ok some questions.

1. The latest version I can find is a 2006 version so I gather no new ones are forthcoming ? I really miss the WIND sounds although With D-Fend-Reloaded from http://dfendreloaded.sourceforge.net/index.html thanks to Geraldine it is easier to just fire FE2 up.

2. Ok for my next question I have to first SERIOUSLY apologise because I fear this is a mega newbie question. There seems to be a bug that when you set your destination, say Barnard's Star and you take off from Ross 154 you press the map and you NEVER see Barnard's Star sector so the hyperspace button never comes up. Fuel is there of course (even pressed refuel). I tried picking another close sector on the map and it never goes off Merlin and the hyperspace button never comes up. I'm doing something STUPID here I know or there is a bug, sorry I have not played it properly for a long time I mainly play ELITE and Oolite.

It must be something to do with my fuel even though I buy 1 ton of fuel and the fuel meter is still in the green. PLus on the map if you can't reach it it tells you.

<sigh> I know I know.....I'm ashamed I don't play FE2 more but I am now I promise.

No new news on FFED3D yet either.....hopefully whenever the new one comes ... NO missing icons. I wonder if Elite: Dangerous will come before the new FFED3D.

Thanks to everyone in advance, especially Geraldine who told me about D-Fend. I'm a DOS expert sure but D-Fend just makes it easier and quick.

As a scientist what I should REALLY have tried before posting is see if I can replicate the conditions exactly in GLFrontier then do the SAME thing in FE2 PC and Amiga versions but I'm afraid I havn't done that this time.

I suspect I'm doing something stupid with the fuel or much like the icon for the map does not work and I need to press F2 on GLFrontier, it might be a bug.....

I thought I'd ask the experts.

 

[Non Grata]

FE2/GLFrontier questions

1. How many shields do I need to withstand an energy bomb? I thought it was 3, but apparently that isn't enough in a viper (albeit with a 20% hull, not sure if that matters).

2. There seems to be a bug whereby the 30mw mining laser never overheats if you keep your finger on the trigger.

3. Have been swatting pirates and taking on assassinations for fun in a Sidewinder with 5mw pulse laser. As soon as I upgraded to a Viper and 1mw beam, my first assassination target all of a sudden had 57 shields and was invincible. Does the game shield-up the victim ship in response to the player ship, or was I just unlucky?

 

[Warbler]

5 shields should do it. The mining laser is a bug, and I've never noticed the number of shields jump up like that, it's probably a bug too. (Never played GL extensively)

 

[Non Grata]

5 shields should do it. The mining laser is a bug, and I've never noticed the number of shields jump up like that, it's probably a bug too. (Never played GL extensively)

Thanks for your answers Hadar.

Coincidentally I've just upgraded my Viper to 5 shields, and as you say it seems to be the right number. I took an energy bomb hit and they were reduced to about 20%. Maybe 4 shields would suffice with a little hull damage - might try it.

Not sure how many shields the Panther I just destroyed had, but it certainly had some, whereas previously they never had any. Seem to be getting a lot of Vipers with beam lasers attacking me since I've got a bigger ship/laser too. Seems like the game accounts for what you're flying with...

On another note a 5mw pulse seems to be much better at getting through shields than a 1mw beam. Seems to be the ideal laser for a small ship.

 

[Warbler]

You're welcome taotoo

 

[Geraldine]

Not sure how many shields the Panther I just destroyed had, but it certainly had some, whereas previously they never had any.

If you buy a Radar Mapper, that will tell you how strong the shields are of a targeted ship.

On another note a 5mw pulse seems to be much better at getting through shields than a 1mw beam. Seems to be the ideal laser for a small ship.

This is the ultimate weapon for a small ship, totally deadly when used correctly

 

[Mika]

If i remember right, Geraldine is correct:

High MW pulses work best for small ships, if you use them right.

Multiple low MW or a few high MW beams, work best for large ships, because it lets you compensate for accurate aiming (which is the ONLY thing that matters in E2/3 combat - there is no "dogfighting"). But this is only affordable for larger ships.

E2/E3 ship combat - thanks to taking out dogfighting skill - really just is about accuracy and weapon power, versus shields and hull mass. It is about who manages to inflict the most accurate damage, versus shields/hullmass.

While you fly a low-mass ship, you can via superior accuracy-skills take out ships a bit above your class. However, once mass goes significantly above your own, skill becomes increasingly less relevant, because agility matters less than sheer power and endurance.

TL/DR: Bigger means better, but aiming skil and luck, can take out ships SLIGHTLY heavier than the own one.

 

[Non Grata]

If you buy a Radar Mapper, that will tell you how strong the shields are of a targeted ship.

Yep got one, just forgot to look at the shield strength.

This is the ultimate weapon for a small ship, totally deadly when used correctly

Yes seems to have a lot of power for it's size. I actually got on just fine with a 1mw pulse until I encountered big heavily shielded ships.

 

[Non Grata]

If i remember right, Geraldine is correct:

High MW pulses work best for small ships, if you use them right.

Multiple low MW or a few high MW beams, work best for large ships, because it lets you compensate for accurate aiming (which is the ONLY thing that matters in E2/3 combat - there is no "dogfighting"). But this is only affordable for larger ships.

E2/E3 ship combat - thanks to taking out dogfighting skill - really just is about accuracy and weapon power, versus shields and hull mass. It is about who manages to inflict the most accurate damage, versus shields/hullmass.

While you fly a low-mass ship, you can via superior accuracy-skills take out ships a bit above your class. However, once mass goes significantly above your own, skill becomes increasingly less relevant, because agility matters less than sheer power and endurance.

TL/DR: Bigger means better, but aiming skil and luck, can take out ships SLIGHTLY heavier than the own one.

Not sure I quite agree that there's no dogfighting. I find you can go a long way in a small ship by maneuvering. The only barriers I came up against was the inability of a small ship to withstand an energy bomb, and not enough room for a laser big enough to kill heavily-shielded big ships (though I now know a 5mw pulse can do that just fine).

 

[Geraldine]

That was the whole reasoning behind the 5MW Pulse, to give the smaller ships a fighting chance and your correct taotoo, 1MW Pulse lasers are only of use on small unshielded ships or if your feeling very brave

 

[Non Grata]

Maybe 4 shields would suffice with a little hull damage - might try it.

Just for any future searchers on the subject, four shields seems to be sufficient to absorb an energy bomb in a Cobra MKI, with 1.8% hull damage resulting (not sure if ship size matters or not..).

 

[Styggron]

Save Game editor for Amiga FE2 / Frontier GL ?

Just wondering if anyone knows of a save game editor for FrontierGL at all ?

Indeed I have not found any save game editors for FE2 Amiga version, only PC version and unfortunately I could not get any of those working. There is a russian GUI based one I saw that also did not work. I just wanted a quick money cheat to get me started. I even tried the "trick" of selling all equipment putting in a cabin and then selling the ship but that does not work on FrontierGL (or the Amiga version).

Sooooooo I then tried a money cheat which was changing one of the .OVL files which I did, sure this works for the PC FE2 I then tried to use THAT savegame on Frontier GL to no avail.

Any ideas for GUI based save game editors that could work with

1. Amiga FE2

2. Frontier GL

3. FE2 PC version (Did see all the ones at Sharoma too and tried some but I was trying to avoid using a hexed etc but I fear I might have to).

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

 

[Sir.Tj]

Just wondering if anyone knows of a save game editor for FrontierGL at all ?

Indeed I have not found any save game editors for FE2 Amiga version, only PC version and unfortunately I could not get any of those working. There is a russian GUI based one I saw that also did not work. I just wanted a quick money cheat to get me started. I even tried the "trick" of selling all equipment putting in a cabin and then selling the ship but that does not work on FrontierGL (or the Amiga version).

Sooooooo I then tried a money cheat which was changing one of the .OVL files which I did, sure this works for the PC FE2 I then tried to use THAT savegame on Frontier GL to no avail.

Any ideas for GUI based save game editors that could work with

1. Amiga FE2

2. Frontier GL

3. FE2 PC version (Did see all the ones at Sharoma too and tried some but I was trying to avoid using a hexed etc but I fear I might have to).

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Hang your head in shame.

But, I don't know of anyway to "enhance" your money on the Amiga versions.

You'll just have to do it the hard way.

 

[Geraldine]

I used to have a sheet with many of the addresses of the values of certain things in Amiga FE2 to mod with a hex editor, but it's been lost in the mists of time I am afraid. Also, to my knowledge, there was never a GUI editor for FE2 on the Amiga.

However there was a hack that you could install and overwrite the startup sequence to a Frontier floppy disk. You will find that here. Obviously you will need a real Amiga to get this to work. But if you did, you could then convert that disk to an ADF, upload it someplace and have the thanks of all the people who still play Frontier on emulated Miggys

Secondly, some down and dirty cheats

Passenger Exploit
Buy a passenger cabin and take on a passenger, then attempt sell the ship by going for a cheaper ship to get a positive trade in value (this works for PC and possibly Atari versions too). You will get the trade in price but will keep your original ship with a slightly bemused passenger. You can do this as often as you like. Note: This bug was fixed in versions 1.05 of the game.

Hull size exploit
Buy a ton of rubbish and fly off out into space (or for a laugh, do it over a starport I dare you! ). Place your mouse pointer just below the jettison button and press the mouse button. Magically, you will hear the cargo jettison and your available cargo space go up, but it will still be sitting there in your hold. You can do this over and over to give even the smallest of ships as big as a capacity as you like.

There is a trade off however, as you reach it's proper cargo capacity, any more mouse presses over this will give you a jumbled up negative reading in your available cargo space. Don't worry about this though, you will still have all that wonderful space to create the most heavily armed and longest ranged ship in the galaxy.

Another "bug" that was fixed in the later versions was the 650 light year wormhole. Why oh why did David fix this?

Of course, if you use either the hack I linked to at the start or the cargo space exploit, fitting a class 7 drive to something small, like say an Eagle, will give you unlimited jump range. Every star system in the game will be within your grasp.

Have fun out there

 

[Spacegamer]

Maybe someone will have a save game with a lot of money.

 

[breakpointUK]

Here are the stats from my current Amiga savefile:- (no cheats)

MILITARY STANDING
Federal Rank: Lieutenant
Imperial Title: Outsider
Elite Rating: Dangerous

LEGAL STATUS
Federal: Clean
Imperial: Clean
Interpol: Clean

MEDALS AND PERMITS
Certificate of Valour
Starburst
Purple Omega
Vermillion Crest
Blue Excelsior
Frontier Medal
Ross 128 Prision Permit
Guardian's Permit
Commune Visitor's Permit

CASH:
12,153,337.8

TIME AND DATE:
2:59:25 7-Sep-3234

i would 99.9% of that was achieved between 1993 to 1996, i was aged 17 to 20.

i can send it to you if you like

 

[breakpointUK]

it always works on the PC

 

[Styggron]

Thanks everyone.

@Geraldine yes I tried those cheats as I wrote but they don't seem to work on the Amiga. :-( or I did them wrong. I will try the passenger trick again but it never seemed to work.

As for firing up the real amiga.....that could be hard as it is in storage but I think I should get it out of storage and pull out the battery on the motherboard as I read that could be a real issue....... I run it emulated on a A4000 with 060 (just like you suggested Geraldine).

Sounds like the best way is just to do it the old way, start from scratch on the Amiga version and just get those credits. :-( or play Pioneer and use CTRL-M Don't get me wrong everyone I think the build up is important it is just I don't want to take months doing it.

I do have the PC version now working with the replaced OVL file so I start with 2 million, I just wanted the same on the Amiga version as I prefer the Amiga Version of FE2..... the graphics seem a little better too (or is it my imagination).

@Breakpoint thank you for the offer but I really just wanted an original starting points with millions of credits. I know I know............a bad thing... ;-)

 

[Styggron]

Ok I spent a few hours on FE2.

I am just doing runs between Sol and Barnards Star.

Taking Robots/Computers to Sol (and checking the bulletin boards just in case there is a special as there is sometimes)

Taking Luxury Goods to Barnards from Sol as according to the trading guide on Sharoma, this is whatI should get. So I managed to get 22,000 in a few hours so I need to save up to get rid of that piece of crap Eagle Fighter and get a Cobra for around 120,000

It is odd that when looking at the ship upgrade menus it does not list what you actually HAVE to remove and nor does it list somethings on the inventory for example I know I had missiles but I did not know which as it was not listed that I could see and so I just clicked remove until it had something to remove. I took away atmos shielding and the useless pulse laser as well to lighten the ship............so a few more days and I should get the cobra then restock.

 

[ratdeath]

(glFFE) Commander Rotten's Log

I started a new commander in glFFE and will try to write log/journal over his adventures in the elite universe as he try to make it as a new pilot. His dream is probably to own an Imperial Explorer and just explore the galaxy, until then he needs to earn a lot of credits and will probably try a career in trading first and perhaps a military career as well. Makes a bit more fun with a story and just no speed jump between Barnards Star and Sol for a few months of ingame time.

Finally I have my own ship, it’s not much but it’s mine and I have polished my last plasma conduit ever now, feels good to leave that old rusty Transporter behind me. I feel sorry for whomever captain Hubbard is able to recruit to that rusty piece of junk he calls the finest trading ship in the sector.

https://grimsqueekers.net/~ratdeath/?p=295

I will try to update this journal at least weekly

Frontier:First Encounter is still the best space game at least for another year and a few months Hope I don't butcher the English language to much

Who knows maybe I am ELITE in both Elite (Amiga) and Frontier: First Encounter (PC) before Elite: Dangerous is released.