Please read the mod description and any relevant articles before asking any questions or posting any bug reports. I will not answer questions that could be answered by reading the mod description.
Please check the mod requirements before downloading.
If you enjoy this mod, please consider taking some screenshots with ansel and uploading them, or uploading screencaps of your builds using these mechs.
MECH ROADMAP Black Inferno - 23 variants implemented. Solaris Factions Bush League Mechs (generic arena variants) - 70 variants implemented VEST - 30 variants implemented Solaris Arms - 30 variants implemented Triple F Restaurants - 30 variants implemented Jump Jet Fuel - 30 variants implemented High Impact Ballistics - 24 variants implemented Bullhead Armour - 30 variants implemented Musclebound Myomer - 22 variants implemented Earthwerks - 30 variants implemented Ironclad Systems - 30 variants implemented Ledoux Enterprises - 30 variants in implemented Novatech - 26 variants implemented. Starfall Corp - 27 variants implemented. Vanguard Industries - 30 variants implemented Mercenary Factions The Bad Dream Blackhearts Brions Legion Crater Cobras Eridani Light Horse - Star League Tech Filthy Lucre Gray Death Legion - Lostech Greggs Longstriders Hansens Roughriders Harlocks Warriors Kell Hounds - Renaissance Tech Lindons Company McCarrons Armoured Cavalry Mobile Fire - LRMs Northwind Highlanders Thumpers - Artillery Waco Rangers Wolfs Dragoons - Clan Tech FEATURE ROADMAP Second pass on all factions, to bring them up to 40 mechs (10 of each weight class) Third pass on all factions, to add post 3055 variants (probably 5 of each weight class, to bring them up to 60 mechs) Faction Heroes - need to learn how to make custom skins first. YAISM submod. YACM submod. Submods for other mech mods, if I get given access to the source files for those mods. NOTES Keep in mind that apparently vanilla arena spawning behavior apparently ignores rarities, just choosing random mechs from the arena factions. Additionally, free for all matches uses spawns from all the arena factions, so they are a good mechanism for salvaging variants from the factions you are allied with. Arena Control has an optional feature that expands arena spawns - it makes it so that arena matches do actually respect faction rarities, but it also pairs up each arena faction with a regular faction, adding that factions spawns to that arena faction, so it will also mean that for example YAFVs Black Inferno mechs will spawn in arenas, which isn't intended behaviour for YAFV. (Thanks to Doop for explaining aspects of how Arena Control works to me). FAQ Will you make a version of this mod that doesn't require YAML? I only play YAML MW5, and making a vanilla version of the mod would mean having to make everything twice, which I do not want to do. Will you make a version of this mod that doesn't require YARW/YARQE? No, one of the main intents of this mod is to distribute YARW/YARQE/YAEC items into spawns, and I don't want to have to make two versions of the mod. Why do mechs have DLC requirements? The main goal of the mod is to distribute underused items into spawns, so the mod needs to add DLC items, and I don't want to potentially upset PGI by allowing players to get DLC items without having said DLCs. At what order should YAFV load? It shouldn't matter, YAFV doesn't overwrite any files. In general, you should not touch load orders unless you read instructions to do so, which you can find by reading mod descriptions, which are required reading.
I really like facing them in missions with each faction preferred weapons and equipments. It felt really unique and spice up the enemies i'm facing. One thing i don't like is how the mech salvage gets really diluted. Using default value of YAML salvage V2 (iirc 5 parts and 0.7 variant requirement), building a mech can get a bit hard.
Is there no way to make the salvage revert to their own original/derived variant?
Because I remember comparing one of the faction variant that I built has the same hardpoint as the original variant it was derived from (either from original MW5Mercs or other YAML mech mods) with the only difference of default equipments and quirks. Seeing your ambitious roadmap, I can imagine the mech salvage will get a lot more diluted.
idk about modding, but if reverting to the derived variant is imposible, maybe make the unitcard use the derived variant but with the customized equipments (idk if any of that make sense, but I hope you get the point)
there is no way to make a mech drop another mech's salvage in the V2 system. such a change would need to happen in YAML itself, it's completely out of the hands of other modders (also imo it's unlikely to ever be added)
maybe make the unitcard use the derived variant but with the customized equipments
re: this, the short answer is "sorry, not possible, it doesn't work like that"
I wouldn't want to make them drop regular variant salvage anyway, because it would make salvaging the faction variants with their fancy quirks impossible. With V2 by default you can use 2 of the faction variant salvages to contribute to salvaging a regular variant if you want the mech with the boring quirk instead.
Since Tex changed how Inferno/Magpulse SRM/LRMs work in YARW, in that they now use special ammo like ACs in his mod would for their INC/Flak ammo, are their plans to change loadouts for mechs that still have the old Inferno and Magpulse launchers?
I really don't want to play without this mod, as it adds the perfect flavor to the game. Listed in the requirements is YARW, stating, "You can use YAW instead, but many loadouts will be invalid." Does this mean I will see mechs with no weapons if I use YAW instead of YARW, or will load-outs default to a vanilla variant? I don't care much for the faster missile speed in YARW and prefer the vanilla-like speeds of YAW. I also wondered if I could disable the affected mechs with spawn control if I use YAW. Is it possible to know which mechs specifically might be affected?
You can look in the articles tab and see what the mechs are equipped with to get a vague idea - I believe anything using Inferno LRMs will be missing those, and some mechs with RF/ACs or BF/ACs will be missing their incendiary/flak ammo (black inferno and triple F mechs use incendiary ammo when they have RF/ACs, and some mechs here and there have flak ammo for their AC-BFs, and the VEST mechs in the next update all exclusively use flak ammo for their AC-BFs).
At the very least you should use YARQE, as it contains the quirks for the mechs, and I think pirate engines are a YARQE specific thing, so a lot of mechs will end up overweight without it.
Having an issue with the Arena addon. When trying to travel to a world with Arena missions the game will freeze. I can unload the mod and then travel, save, re-enable the mod and then the game will freeze when clicking Contracts.
Unloaded all my mods except YAML, PO and Coyote (Needed or game won't load) and it will happens. Everything is fine without the addon or if the addon is loaded in the wrong order (before main).
Even tried traveling to a new area so the missions would be generated, but as soon as I enter another Arena mission planet, boom - frozen.
I know this is a tall order, but could you make the MOD with separate packs for each faction? Or release the source files, so people can remove the variants they don't want?
At the moment my main focus is on getting all of the arena sponsors done, to fix the issue with vanilla arena spawns where you see nothing but Crusaders and Longbows (seriously, the vanilla spawnlist for arenas is over 50% Crusaders and Longbows). As I add more factions, the amount that any single variant is seen will decrease, so ones people don't like will be easier to just ignore.
I will however at some point soon investigate whether doing spawn toggles is possible, which would mean learning how to do mod options (this is my first mod, so currently all I know how to do is make mech variants). IF spawn toggles is feasible, and I can actually find how to do it, I will add spawn toggles for all of the mechs. It is surprisingly difficult to find out how to do anything in the mw5 editor - even the video guide I followed for making mech variants left out a lot of key information that I had to ask around on discord to find out. For most things you have to find the person who knows how to do that and hope they have the time to explain it, or figure it out manually.
Currently I don't know of any YAML mech variant mods that do spawn toggles for individual mechs, so I don't yet know how feasible it is.
Subdividing the mod into separate faction files would be a nightmare, as it would mean having 32+ files in the downloads tab, and would take a lot of work in the editor to set up, so I probably won't be doing that. Maybe I could feasibly subdivide into just Black Inferno, Mercenaries, and Solaris Sponsors.
Yet Another Mech Lab has somewhere on his code how to make UnitCards go to the year 9999, so they don't spawn in the current year. I guess the problem is more about creating the User Interface and variables for each UnitCard as more mechs are added, a lot more tedious work, and more Unreal Engine crashing nonstop. Some users had asked me the same thing, so I just released the Unreal Engine source code for them to do whatever they wanted. MDA, Loadout, and UnitCards can be transferred without problem from one MOD/directory to another by just dragging or copying their files on Windows Explorer, but some other files like MDL, and HPS actually have reference paths of other files on them, so they have to be manually written if they change directory. Sorry to ask such stuff; I just didn't like Pirates having mechs with good tech (from the alternative spaws of Black Inferno), so I would get rid of those.
I sure hope people read them given the effort I put in XD. By the way, most of the issues people have with Black Inferno spawns for Outlaws should be alleviated at this point, and someone is working on a mod that adds spawn toggles for all mechs, so that will hopefully be out soon for those who don't like certain variants.
Some about Javelin with 4x 10rockets. I thin they need some another weapons like ssrm, because if there a full arena of this mechs after first shot it starts to be just shooting range.
Well, they have AI roles that should bring them into close range if using TTRulez AI Mod (I often see mechs with the role I gave them getting into punch-ups with enemy mechs even if they do have long-range weapons), which is generally an automatic part of any load order (there is no compelling reason to ever not use TTRulez). Have added TTRulez to the recommended modlist. I won't be changing the JVN-MBM1 to use SSRMs, because it is a 3015 introduction mech and I want to generally respect the intro dates on equipment (the Black Inferno get some lostech because of who they are, but solaris sponsors generally won't get it until the appropriate re-introduction date), and the JVN-MBM2 which has a later intro date has 4 SSRM2s anyway.
Love the idea of this mod, can’t wait to see it expand to more factions. Especially looking forward to the Mercs!
edit: when you say many of the loadouts will be invalid if you don't use YAWR does that mean it will actually break anything? Or just that mechs with YAWR equipment will be passed over and substituted for a different spawn?
You can use it without TKU - the Black Inferno spawns will probably show up in campaign missions (if they use procgenned spawns), and you can use either TKU or Better Mission Choices to get them to spawn missions in career. I am not sure if TKU actually uses Word of Blake spawns for its Word of Blake faction (it probably just uses Comstar spawns), but they are there in case a mod does actually use it. I can't make them spawn for Comstar as it would ruin the whole plausible deniability thing Comstar/Black Inferno have going on. If I find out a way to make them spawn for Comstar, but only at a later intro date (when Comstar becomes Word of Blake), then I will add them as spawns that way.
The other factions in the roadmap probably won't have as many variants as Black Inferno, though the Solaris ones will need a few, as the goal of adding them is to counteract PGIs weird decision to make the Solaris faction spawns be over 50% Crusaders and Longbows.
I think if you reach in the future the TKU mod author to make a patch to spawn your variants accordingly would be great, I think he would be happy to help you with that... TKU is kind of mandatory mod since it expands the map and factions in-game, and your mod when reaching enough variants for some factions, will also, become mandatory as well for making factions distinguishable with different kinds of variants.
No special compatibility patches should be required. As long as proper faction names are used in the mech's unit card for spawning rarity, the game will recognize that and match up the mechs with factions for spawning. The only "compatibility" required would be making sure the proper names are used; and I believe all of the factions listed are already in the vanilla game's faction registry.
30 comments
Please check the mod requirements before downloading.
If you enjoy this mod, please consider taking some screenshots with ansel and uploading them, or uploading screencaps of your builds using these mechs.
MECH ROADMAP
Black Inferno - 23 variants implemented.
Solaris Factions
Bush League Mechs (generic arena variants) - 70 variants implemented
VEST - 30 variants implemented
Solaris Arms - 30 variants implemented
Triple F Restaurants - 30 variants implemented
Jump Jet Fuel - 30 variants implemented
High Impact Ballistics - 24 variants implemented
Bullhead Armour - 30 variants implemented
Musclebound Myomer - 22 variants implemented
Earthwerks - 30 variants implemented
Ironclad Systems - 30 variants implemented
Ledoux Enterprises - 30 variants in implemented
Novatech - 26 variants implemented.
Starfall Corp - 27 variants implemented.
Vanguard Industries - 30 variants implemented
Mercenary Factions
The Bad Dream
Blackhearts
Brions Legion
Crater Cobras
Eridani Light Horse - Star League Tech
Filthy Lucre
Gray Death Legion - Lostech
Greggs Longstriders
Hansens Roughriders
Harlocks Warriors
Kell Hounds - Renaissance Tech
Lindons Company
McCarrons Armoured Cavalry
Mobile Fire - LRMs
Northwind Highlanders
Thumpers - Artillery
Waco Rangers
Wolfs Dragoons - Clan Tech
FEATURE ROADMAP
Second pass on all factions, to bring them up to 40 mechs (10 of each weight class)
Third pass on all factions, to add post 3055 variants (probably 5 of each weight class, to bring them up to 60 mechs)
Faction Heroes - need to learn how to make custom skins first.
YAISM submod.
YACM submod.
Submods for other mech mods, if I get given access to the source files for those mods.
NOTES
Keep in mind that apparently vanilla arena spawning behavior apparently ignores rarities, just choosing random mechs from the arena factions. Additionally, free for all matches uses spawns from all the arena factions, so they are a good mechanism for salvaging variants from the factions you are allied with.
Arena Control has an optional feature that expands arena spawns - it makes it so that arena matches do actually respect faction rarities, but it also pairs up each arena faction with a regular faction, adding that factions spawns to that arena faction, so it will also mean that for example YAFVs Black Inferno mechs will spawn in arenas, which isn't intended behaviour for YAFV. (Thanks to Doop for explaining aspects of how Arena Control works to me).
FAQ
Will you make a version of this mod that doesn't require YAML? I only play YAML MW5, and making a vanilla version of the mod would mean having to make everything twice, which I do not want to do.
Will you make a version of this mod that doesn't require YARW/YARQE? No, one of the main intents of this mod is to distribute YARW/YARQE/YAEC items into spawns, and I don't want to have to make two versions of the mod.
Why do mechs have DLC requirements? The main goal of the mod is to distribute underused items into spawns, so the mod needs to add DLC items, and I don't want to potentially upset PGI by allowing players to get DLC items without having said DLCs.
At what order should YAFV load? It shouldn't matter, YAFV doesn't overwrite any files. In general, you should not touch load orders unless you read instructions to do so, which you can find by reading mod descriptions, which are required reading.
Is there no way to make the salvage revert to their own original/derived variant?
Because I remember comparing one of the faction variant that I built has the same hardpoint as the original variant it was derived from (either from original MW5Mercs or other YAML mech mods) with the only difference of default equipments and quirks. Seeing your ambitious roadmap, I can imagine the mech salvage will get a lot more diluted.
idk about modding, but if reverting to the derived variant is imposible, maybe make the unitcard use the derived variant but with the customized equipments (idk if any of that make sense, but I hope you get the point)
re: this, the short answer is "sorry, not possible, it doesn't work like that"
At the very least you should use YARQE, as it contains the quirks for the mechs, and I think pirate engines are a YARQE specific thing, so a lot of mechs will end up overweight without it.
Unloaded all my mods except YAML, PO and Coyote (Needed or game won't load) and it will happens. Everything is fine without the addon or if the addon is loaded in the wrong order (before main).
Even tried traveling to a new area so the missions would be generated, but as soon as I enter another Arena mission planet, boom - frozen.
I will however at some point soon investigate whether doing spawn toggles is possible, which would mean learning how to do mod options (this is my first mod, so currently all I know how to do is make mech variants). IF spawn toggles is feasible, and I can actually find how to do it, I will add spawn toggles for all of the mechs. It is surprisingly difficult to find out how to do anything in the mw5 editor - even the video guide I followed for making mech variants left out a lot of key information that I had to ask around on discord to find out. For most things you have to find the person who knows how to do that and hope they have the time to explain it, or figure it out manually.
Currently I don't know of any YAML mech variant mods that do spawn toggles for individual mechs, so I don't yet know how feasible it is.
Subdividing the mod into separate faction files would be a nightmare, as it would mean having 32+ files in the downloads tab, and would take a lot of work in the editor to set up, so I probably won't be doing that. Maybe I could feasibly subdivide into just Black Inferno, Mercenaries, and Solaris Sponsors.
Sorry to ask such stuff; I just didn't like Pirates having mechs with good tech (from the alternative spaws of Black Inferno), so I would get rid of those.
e: oops i meant this to be a new comment, not a reply
By the way, most of the issues people have with Black Inferno spawns for Outlaws should be alleviated at this point, and someone is working on a mod that adds spawn toggles for all mechs, so that will hopefully be out soon for those who don't like certain variants.
edit: when you say many of the loadouts will be invalid if you don't use YAWR does that mean it will actually break anything? Or just that mechs with YAWR equipment will be passed over and substituted for a different spawn?
The other factions in the roadmap probably won't have as many variants as Black Inferno, though the Solaris ones will need a few, as the goal of adding them is to counteract PGIs weird decision to make the Solaris faction spawns be over 50% Crusaders and Longbows.
Thank you for your hard work!