Are The JSON Files Editable To Change Starting Mechs?

[ShiaRa]

............ thanks..... sometimes you dont see the forrest because of all the trees.... and i was dman wondering what i did wrong... never paid attention at THIS detail... -.-

thanks for your help.

 

[Qnub]

I started with 3 Locusts, a Commando 2D and a Urbie, lots of fun, can recommend!

 

[23rdCypher]

............ thanks..... sometimes you dont see the forrest because of all the trees.... and i was dman wondering what i did wrong... never paid attention at THIS detail... -.-

thanks for your help.

No worries, enjoy your shiny new Urbie!

 

[ShiaRa]

Yeah i will... tought to create a own Pheripheryversion but dosnt work until now...

https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/index.php?threads/create-mechversions.1095446/

maybre someone know something... tought i did all ( modded many years for Farmsimulator 2008 up to 2015 ) so ... but often are only small details and no chance to figure it out...

 

[NFSRacer]

Searched for 3 hours now and all i can do for you is how you can mod yourself as one of the Backerpilots into the game, but not as the commander.
(Needs to be verifyed though, the Presets have a strange pointer "Is commander: false" maybe it is changeable into true and becomes available.. dunno yet.)
As far as i found out, the commander itself, and the whole startinglance, get generated from the presetoption. There are, all in all, over 250 json files for presetportraits, but in them there are no paths to preset pictures. So i guess, there are non. Or maybe they are hardcoded or pretty well hidden *scratching head*

On the other hand, all Backers and NPC have available Portraits in this folder here:


D:\GOG Games\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\sprites\Portraits
(search for the similar path if you use Steam)

So my best guess so far is, just change the Portrait of one of the backer Pilots and you can at least be a pilot under your commander.

As for the savefile:

Its pretty well hidden, too =)
C:\Users\XXXX\AppData\LocalLow\Harebrained Schemes\BattleTech

I was trying to find the save files itself. I followed the file path, but it doesn't seem to help. Where are the save files or what is the file(s) I'm looking for?

 

[Max_Killjoy]

I was trying to find the save files itself. I followed the file path, but it doesn't seem to help. Where are the save files or what is the file(s) I'm looking for?

Not the save files -- they're not in plain-text and AFAIK can't be edited yet.

 

[NFSRacer]

Not the save files -- they're not in plain-text and AFAIK can't be edited yet.

Right, I'm trying to find them to preserve my play through.

 

[Max_Killjoy]

Right, I'm trying to find them to preserve my play through.

Ah! I think you're looking for a folder named SGS1, full of .sav files.

It's either several folders deep in the Steam user folders, or in the (username) appdata local GOG files.

 

[NFSRacer]

Ah! I think you're looking for a folder named SGS1, full of .sav files.

It's either several folders deep in the Steam user folders, or in the (username) appdata local GOG files.

Could you be a bit more specific where?

 

[Banshee6]

It's not hardcoded for the MM contract.

I changed mine last night to have my starting mech be a standard Thunderbolt without any other changes, and after the tutorial was over and the MM mission started I had it as my mech.

You won't get your custom mechs until after you do the tutorial and see the ' 3 years later..." bit

 

[Bodha]

Im tempted to start with an all banshee lance. Skip bulwark and start down the piloting tree. The goal would be to make the lance melee centric just for lolz.

 

[Fallenkezef]

I don't know if it's a case of much of the playerbase coming from a clan invasion+ background, used to loads of boomsticks.

I'm old school most of my TT campaigns have been succession wars era so I appreciate melee mechs. Banshee has always been one of my faves, hold it with your fire support mechs then rush out and bash whatever comes close.

Tenpted to do that 4 BNC thing for my next play through.

 

[Killuelihie]

Im tempted to start with an all banshee lance. Skip bulwark and start down the piloting tree. The goal would be to make the lance melee centric just for lolz.

Well you can always implement yoiur own unique Banshee into the game. It's a bit of work, so the game recognizes it as fetchable for Enemies etc, but it's pretty fun. I Already modded Inferno SRMs, Starleague variants for the Jenner, Battlemaster and Thunderbolt.
All you need is a SQLlite editor to implement your Stuff into the Database of BT and add Tags for it / jsonfiles.

I could imagine building a Banshee with nothing but an improved Armor and.. let's say 2 Inferno SRM4, i made the Infernos to add 30 Heat, minimized the Stabdmg and only do 4 Damage (The Original was 12, if i remember it correctly...) So they are more or less firefilled waterballons. Pretty fun, equipping a Mech with those on a Desertplanet =D

I don't know if it's a case of much of the playerbase coming from a clan invasion+ background, used to loads of boomsticks.

I'm old school most of my TT campaigns have been succession wars era so I appreciate melee mechs. Banshee has always been one of my faves, hold it with your fire support mechs then rush out and bash whatever comes close.

Tenpted to do that 4 BNC thing for my next play through.

Well yes, most players love the Clans, simply because they are overpowered. I prefer the decently better SLDF Mechs though i love the Clandesigns. Kodiak, Direwolf, Timberwolf..

For Brawling you need armor, because the Game strips you, if you try to get close, later on.
I would suggest editing the Banshee into a
1) Completely new variant of it or
2) editing the Chassis and Mech jsonfiles to give it more armor, sacrificing the weapons in it for that.

You'll need to test around for abit to see what amount of additional armor keeps the game fun and your Mechs alive though

 

[Max_Killjoy]

Could you be a bit more specific where?

It's going to depend on whether you have Steam or GOG, what your username is, if you installed to the defaults, etc.

 

[Killuelihie]

Could you be a bit more specific where?

Yupp, i can:

D:\users\"user"\appdata\local\gog.com\galaxy\applications\50593543263669699
as for I don't have it at Steam, it should be around:

\Steam\userdata\your User ID\Game-ID(some numbers)\

 

[NFSRacer]

Yes. The file is SimGameConstants.json in the ...\BATTLETECH\BattleTech_Data\StreamingAssets\data\simGameConstants folder. Look for the keyword StartingLance, then change the mechdef_mechname parts to the mechs you want. The mechdef files are in the \mech folder. Make sure you get the filenames exactly correct or the game will get stuck in a loading loop. You can even add a sixth battlemech to the starting lance if you wish. This will not change the player character's battlemech until the start of the first mission after the tutorial.

edit: DragonsRage showed the relevant code section in his post above.

I think what you are looking for is found in the "SimGameConstants.json" file.

"StartingPlayerMech" : "mechdef_blackjack_BJ-1",
"StartingLance" : [
"mechdef_vindicator_VND-1R",
"mechdef_shadowhawk_SHD-2H",
"mechdef_spider_SDR-5V",
"mechdef_locust_LCT-1V"

So, I tried playing around with this file. I couldn't get it to work. After getting it modded and changing the starting lance and player mech, it wouldn't load a new game. Help?

 

[DragonsRage]

So, I tried playing around with this file. I couldn't get it to work. After getting it modded and changing the starting lance and player mech, it wouldn't load a new game. Help?

Can you copy and paste your changes. Kind of hard to trouble shoot without it

 

[ShiaRa]

had problems to but got it working after help from here. just a small mistake and the deadwheel is rolling...

 

[Killuelihie]

Even without the edited passages, five things come to mind:
1. did you use the mechdef files? Easy to misuse the chassisdef here.
2. missed a , somewhere? Most common json error so far.
3. used the complete filename without the .json-ending? mechdef_vindicator_VND-1R for example
4. forgot the “ around the mechdeffilename?
5. forgot to close the brackets around it? Every [ ( or { needs its corresponding ] ) or }

Edit:

Err six things even. The filenames function as database tags for references. So if you write the
mechdef_vindicator_VND-1R Like this : mechdef_vindicator_VND-1r it wont work too.

 

[Smoke Me A Kipper]

looks like you can also change MWs in there
"StartingMechWarriors" : [
"pilot_sim_starter_glitch",
"pilot_sim_starter_behemoth",
"pilot_sim_starter_dekker",
"pilot_sim_starter_medusa"
],
"StartingMechWarriorPortraits" : [
"PortraitPreset_glitch",
"PortraitPreset_behemoth",
"PortraitPreset_dekker",
"PortraitPreset_medusa",
],

Okay but can you put the kickstarter backers or ronin in this file? Or only regular MWs?