As the writer of this mod, have compiled a FAQ of the things that I think people are going to want to know about before they tear into this.  Bear in mind, nobody's actually *asked* me much about this mod yet, and maybe nobody will- but I'm hoping that this serves as a new starting place for people interested in modding the game, so I've tried to think about this stuff in advance.

Basically, this mod tears apart FL's game-balance ramps, re-organizes FL's code, and puts lots of "tags" into many major game-balance areas.  So, here's the FAQ:

1.  I've never made a FL mod before in my life.  Is this a good place to start modding?

Yes!  If you're willing to take the time to read the documentation that came with Freelancer Mod Manager, version 1.31 (the current release, as of this mod's development), then you can mod a lot of things in Freelancer very easily and quickly, and this mod provides some very useful tools and example code to do it with.  In fact, I have included demonstration code in this mod, showing what changes what, and have included extensive documentation about the "tags" I have put into the FL INIs to make modding easier.

2.  I want to build (insert totally gonzo total-conversion mod- Muppets in Space, anyone?).  Is this a good thing to use for that?

The answer to that is "probably".  While Total Conversion mods that intend to radically alter most of Freelancer's gameplay are likely to require some extensive INI alterations or brand-new XML scripts(in other words, there are a lot of things you will have to do the hard way), this mod provides ways to re-purpose a lot of things in FL's code very easily.  That's the best answer I can give you- please do *not* send me email, asking if such-and-such crazy idea could be built from this codebase... if you don't know the answer, then you might as well start here and then work your way through things, like most of us do ;-)

3.  I want to modify what you've done here and use it on my server, claim it as my work, etc.- do I need your permission?

No, but credit would be nice.  I've worked very hard to build this and give it to everybody- please show the same respect to me that you would to somebody who made a custom spaceship for you, and let people know that I helped you out.

4.  I am a Freelancer purist!  How do I make the AI quit using shields that recharge, alter the weapon damage back to the original (lower) levels, etc.?

My answer to that is:

A.  The AI ships have been rebalanced in many ways, to give players a slightly more difficult gameplay experience without making the SP campaign much harder.  

In short, the changes made on the game-balance end were quite extensive, which is why there is a custom Loadouts.ini and st_equip.ini (these files hold the AI ship's equipment and the list of available Shields, respectively).  It's quite possible to add non-regenerating Shields back into the game... but I humbly suggest that instead of doing that, you go into the Loadouts and give the AI ships lower-level Shields, so that they resemble their weaker former selves.

B.  The AI is better than FL's defaults, when you're not in the SP storyline.  It will hit with its weapons more often, dodge more effectively, and generally give you a harder time than in "stock" FL.  This was done to compensate for the way that the game was re-balanced- one of the goals of this mod was to fix DA's game-design errors, and make MP much more balanced.  To remove this feature, simply delete the file called Npcships.ini from the mod.  You will notice an immediate change in the overall effectiveness of the AI ships, believe me!

C.  To remove the changes to the effects of weapons on Shields, delete the file called 001_Weaponmoddb.xml.  These were fairly subtle changes put into the mod to reflect the new game-balance, and quite frankly, you'll hardly notice.

D.  To "fix" the Shields (i.e., set them back to FL's original levels), requires that you build an extended/altered version of 008_Shield_Modifier.xml.  This file was designed to allow people to very easily change the game-balance behind the three Shield types found in the original game. 

E.  To set the Weapons back to their original values for Hull/Energy damage, refire_rate, muzzle_velocity and other things... is super, super easy.  I have already built a short demo script called 006_Weapon_Modifiers.xml, which will give you an example of how to alter weapons in the INI. 

F.  The removal of weapon class restrictions can be undone by taking 002_Weapon_Equip_Remove_Levels.xml from the mod.  Just because *I* think that FL plays a lot better without the arbitrary and non-sensical restrictions on weapons doesn't mean that you have to agree, and it is easy to remove.

G.  The removal of the level/friendliness levels for weapons, equipment and ships can be accomplished by deleting market_misc.ini and market_ships.ini and 009_Ship_Market.xml from the mod.  Again, this was done because I felt that DA basically tried to push players into a bit of a game-design box with their restrictions- why one has to be a certain level to buy a given gun is a mystery to me... and if you can land on a Base without getting shot to pieces, then I would have to think that you can do business there- after all, IRL, people rarely have to *like* you to take your money...

******************************************************************************************
******************************************************************************************
******************************************************************************************

I think that covers the major areas of game-balance changes, but feel free to mess with whatever you want- that's kind've the point of this mod.  I re-built FL so that it reflected my priorities:

1.  To be balanced and fair for SP **AND** MP.  Without weapon/equipment levels, it is now theoretically possible for a Starflier pilot to kill an Eagle pilot, if the Eagle pilot isn't skilled and the Starflier pilot is skilled (and is super-smart about weapons choices- it isn't a drop-kick).  

	This is a major, radical change from most MP mods, where people who apparantly have hours of free time to spend on Cardemine runs or sitting around in Omicron Gamma or Unknown become invincible warlords who're invulnerable against players in lower-level ships.  I've always thought this was incredibly poor game-design on DA's part, and this mod fixes these issues.  Feel free to put the "S" back in "sucks", if you like elitist gameplay- I've even told you how to do it ;-)

2.  To allow players to play the entire SP campaign from beginning to end without having to do anything ridiculous.  "Play it again, Sam" is a favorite thing for many FL players, and I played the entire campaign through again as part of playtesting this mod.  I can assure you that you *can* win, and it's not that hard, if you play smart.

3.  To build an extensible codebase that would allow XML scripting to be used much more widely by modders everywhere.

4.  To finally begin a push towards some sort've standards as to what is "good" coding practice.  Literally hundreds of people have modded FL... most have failed.  This tells me that either it's really hard (which it is), confusing (which it most certainly is), or easy to screw up (which it really, really is, when you get past the basics).

5.  To show my fellow modders that yes, there is such a thing as a mod where damage levels aren't tiny, the AI isn't dumb... and it's not ridiculously hard, unbalanced in MP, or so weird that nobody can figure out how to play it right, unless they spend a lot've time studying the stats.