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About this mod
FOR SWI 0.7x ONLY. NOT NEEDED IN 0.80+! Adjusts the TUG-b13 Quad Jumper in Star Wars Interworlds for more consistent and reliable scrap delivery, especially when OOS.
- Requirements
- Permissions and credits
- Changelogs
FOR SWI 0.7x ONLY. NOT NEEDED IN 0.80+!
What this mod does:
This mod adjusts adjusts stats of the TUG-b13 Quad Jumper, the only scrap tug in SWI, in order for it to more consistently and reliably deliver scrap cubes on the first try. It does this by making the TUG much slower and much more maneuverable.
Look I get that you probably won't want to believe that making a ship 1/3rd the speed will increase its efficiency by 200-600%+, but that's the nature of dealing with game engine limitations. 6.20 X4's scrap script was not designed with modded ships in mind and breaks fairly consistently for TUGs that are faster than vanilla Manticores. Egosoft didn't design the system that calculates the position of scrap cubes in relation to scrap processors to be precise enough to able to handle fast moving cubes; it can be off by hundreds of meters and force the TUG to do a lap and reattempt delivery.
This mod pairs great with Closed Loop Reborn to create the scrap empire you've always wanted.
Why does this mod even exist?
I love scrap, but scrap in the current version of X4 and SWI just does not work very well. Scrap processors in X4 struggle to grab cubes that are moving over 200m/s and the TUG in SWI can do nearly 400m/s. This results in a parade of TUGs doing loops around your station attempting to deliver cubes over and over with minimal success.
Scrap processors work by having a TUG bring a scrap cube within a few meters of the scrap delivery port so that the processor can grab it with its "tractor beam". When a TUG comes flying in at 400m/s with a scrap cube trailing dozens of meters behind it you can imagine how it might have a hard time accurately putting that cube into a very small target space. This mod brings the TUGs down to a speed that the X4 engine can handle and gives them the maneuverability to get the cube lined up more effectively.
Egosoft to their credit has acknowledged the pain points of scrap in 6.20 - even the TUGs being too fast issue - and stated they intend to make sure mods like mine will no longer be needed in 7.0. Let's hope.
What this mod does not do:
This is Better Scrap Delivery, not Perfect Scrap Delivery. Scrap processors still do their jobs in an inefficient way. They grab one cube, process it for 60 seconds, and then ask for another cube to be delivered. This gap between when a cube finishes being processed, another cube gets ordered, and then a cube gets driven over to the processor introduces a lot of downtime to the production schedule of the station. Scrap is the only production module in X4 that works in this inefficient way. Only Egosoft can fix that behavior. By getting the cube to the processor on the first try when ordered this mod drastically reduces the amount of idle time of a processor.
This mod won't help with cramped station designs that block ship pathing. You want open designs like the one shown in the banner photo where there is ample room to fly around without collisions. Having your processor's input port far from the center of the station as shown also can help.
Station managers will not dispatch tugs to collect scrap in any sector where the owner is hostile to you ( -10 rep and lower). You can't scrap inside of a warzone.
The game engine requires that there are S docking spaces available when the TUG comes in for delivery (even though it doesn't dock), so make sure to have plenty of docking spaces available.
This mod will not make your scrap processor have perfect 100% uptime as that is not possible given how scrap was designed. However you will see that you can consistently maintain around 80% of your theoretical max speed if you have enough TUGs assigned; which is a significant improvement over an unmodded version of SWI.
So how well does this mod actually work?
Turns out quite well actually. In my own tests with 60 TUGs attached to the 12 processor scrap station in the banner photo I was able to see the following:
557% productivity increase when using this mod together with Scrap Delivery Coordination vs regular unmodified SWI.
~92,000 Scrap Metal per hour compared to ~14,000 Scrap Metal per hour
Installation:
Extract the zip file and then copy the "starwarsmod_betterscrapdelivery" folder to ...\X4 Foundations\extensions\ with the rest of your mods.
This is a standalone mod and should not be put inside your "starwarsmod_m1" folder.
Compatibility:
What this mod does:
This mod adjusts adjusts stats of the TUG-b13 Quad Jumper, the only scrap tug in SWI, in order for it to more consistently and reliably deliver scrap cubes on the first try. It does this by making the TUG much slower and much more maneuverable.
Look I get that you probably won't want to believe that making a ship 1/3rd the speed will increase its efficiency by 200-600%+, but that's the nature of dealing with game engine limitations. 6.20 X4's scrap script was not designed with modded ships in mind and breaks fairly consistently for TUGs that are faster than vanilla Manticores. Egosoft didn't design the system that calculates the position of scrap cubes in relation to scrap processors to be precise enough to able to handle fast moving cubes; it can be off by hundreds of meters and force the TUG to do a lap and reattempt delivery.
This mod pairs great with Closed Loop Reborn to create the scrap empire you've always wanted.
Why does this mod even exist?
I love scrap, but scrap in the current version of X4 and SWI just does not work very well. Scrap processors in X4 struggle to grab cubes that are moving over 200m/s and the TUG in SWI can do nearly 400m/s. This results in a parade of TUGs doing loops around your station attempting to deliver cubes over and over with minimal success.
Scrap processors work by having a TUG bring a scrap cube within a few meters of the scrap delivery port so that the processor can grab it with its "tractor beam". When a TUG comes flying in at 400m/s with a scrap cube trailing dozens of meters behind it you can imagine how it might have a hard time accurately putting that cube into a very small target space. This mod brings the TUGs down to a speed that the X4 engine can handle and gives them the maneuverability to get the cube lined up more effectively.
Egosoft to their credit has acknowledged the pain points of scrap in 6.20 - even the TUGs being too fast issue - and stated they intend to make sure mods like mine will no longer be needed in 7.0. Let's hope.
What this mod does not do:
This is Better Scrap Delivery, not Perfect Scrap Delivery. Scrap processors still do their jobs in an inefficient way. They grab one cube, process it for 60 seconds, and then ask for another cube to be delivered. This gap between when a cube finishes being processed, another cube gets ordered, and then a cube gets driven over to the processor introduces a lot of downtime to the production schedule of the station. Scrap is the only production module in X4 that works in this inefficient way. Only Egosoft can fix that behavior. By getting the cube to the processor on the first try when ordered this mod drastically reduces the amount of idle time of a processor.
This mod won't help with cramped station designs that block ship pathing. You want open designs like the one shown in the banner photo where there is ample room to fly around without collisions. Having your processor's input port far from the center of the station as shown also can help.
Station managers will not dispatch tugs to collect scrap in any sector where the owner is hostile to you ( -10 rep and lower). You can't scrap inside of a warzone.
The game engine requires that there are S docking spaces available when the TUG comes in for delivery (even though it doesn't dock), so make sure to have plenty of docking spaces available.
This mod will not make your scrap processor have perfect 100% uptime as that is not possible given how scrap was designed. However you will see that you can consistently maintain around 80% of your theoretical max speed if you have enough TUGs assigned; which is a significant improvement over an unmodded version of SWI.
So how well does this mod actually work?
Turns out quite well actually. In my own tests with 60 TUGs attached to the 12 processor scrap station in the banner photo I was able to see the following:
557% productivity increase when using this mod together with Scrap Delivery Coordination vs regular unmodified SWI.
~92,000 Scrap Metal per hour compared to ~14,000 Scrap Metal per hour
201% productivity increase when using this mod together with Scrap Delivery Coordination vs only using Scrap Delivery Coordination.
~92,000 Scrap Metal per hour compared to ~30,500 Scrap Metal per hour
[This] mod fixed scrap REALLY well. It's made my 4x scrap yard more or less work flawlessly.
-Reaperxvii
Your results will vary based on your own station designs, but considering the station it was tested against has a theoretical maximum speed of 108,000 Scrap Metal per hour the results are pretty respectable.
Installation:
Extract the zip file and then copy the "starwarsmod_betterscrapdelivery" folder to ...\X4 Foundations\extensions\ with the rest of your mods.
This is a standalone mod and should not be put inside your "starwarsmod_m1" folder.
Compatibility:
- This mod has basic compatibility with Dangerous Interworlds. The TUGs will seem outlandishly slow due to the lack of travel drive, but they will work. Unassign and reassign your TUGs to the station if installing on an existing save.
- This mod can be added and removed safely from an existing save.
- This mod requires X4 Star Wars Interworlds 0.7x.
- This mod is NOT needed in X4 Star Wars Interworlds 0.8x+.
- This mod requires Scrap Delivery Coordination in order to be effective.
- This mod pairs great with Closed Loop Reborn to create the scrap empire you've always wanted.
- This mod is completely useless for Vanilla X4. This is an SWI submod.