USEFUL INFO

• Full installation package available on Steam.
• Conquest & War in Rebirth (CWIR) users please download the compatibility patch under "Miscellaneous Files" (resolves a conflict in Upkeep mission patches).
• Ship pack and station mods users please download the Ship Mods Menu Patch under "Miscellaneous Files" to gain the ability to spawn custom ships.
• Tired of all the NPC's looking the same? Check out Simoom's Galactic Dress Code, the most expansive NPC appearance overhaul for X Rebirth!
  

DOCUMENTATION

• User Manual
  

INSTALLATION

• MAIN MOD - Extract the mod folder to the "extensions" folder in the X Rebirth root directory (default C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\X Rebirth\extensions).
  
  1. Requires Sidebar Extender to work (if using the side bar interface). The mod menu can be accessed under the Information section on the side bar, or the Universe section of the legacy menu.
  2. Please remove the mod folder fully whenever you update - some files names may have changed.
• SUPPLEMENTS - Extract to the same folder as the main mod, overwrite if prompted.
• MISCELLANEOUS FILES:
  
  • CWIR Compatibility Patch - This file is a standalone, and will work with either Steam or Nexus version of the mod. Simply extract the folder into the "extensions" folder in X Rebirth.
  • Ship Mods Menu Patch - This file is for Nexus Mod's version only (it overwrites the default menu file with a modified one). Extract folder into the "extensions" folder in X Rebirth, overwrite all files when prompted. Currently supported mods are: "Denied Space Initiative", "Reaper's Ship Pack", "Terratech's Ship Pack", "Hunter Ships", "Redesign Ships", "Super Transport", "Project TOBS", and "Toride Colonist Builder Ship".
    

Simoom's Lantern is a full-featured cheat menu for X Rebirth. Not to be confused with alexalsp's CHEAT MENU; this mod was written from ground-up with a completely different logic and set of goals in mind:

• Unparalleled Cinematic Immersion - "Immersion"; what a strange word to describe a cheat mod. Yet Simoom's Lantern was designed around this very concept. Although the Goddess grants you nearly unlimited power, everything action you perform still follows cause & effect. Summon your Auxiliary Fleet and watch the ships jump into your position (instead of spawning out of nothingness), complete with meticulously-tailored animation and effects! Perform an X-Perimental Jump and watch both Betty and Yisha go bonkers. Every command comes with full audio & visual feedback (often with proper reaction and commentary from the NPC's), as well as informative Event Monitor text, so you know exactly what you did and what in-game object was affected.
• Masterful Menu Layout - Designed with user-friendliness in mind, Simoom's Lantern offers a thoughtfully-designed menu categorization. Functions that players are likely to frequent (such as X-Perimental Jump and Target Manipulation) are placed right at your fingertips, while more minor cheats (such as reveal map, add money, and notoriety settings) are tucked away in the last section. I also plan on adding convenient shortcuts to the Sidebar for quick access to the various features.
• Keeping it Lean n' Mean - Offering powerful features does not means throwing in a bunch of unnecessary add-ons the user may not want! Simoom's Lantern is designed to work with only vanilla scripts and assets, thus keeping it completely save-game safe should you choose to uninstall the mod.
• Chasing Perfection - I am obsessively tidy and organized in my work. If there's a more efficient way to code a function, I do it; and retroactively update all previously-written scripts as well. Nearly all scripts in my mod have been completely written and re-written several times as I learned more about coding, and you can bet I won't stop until everything is perfect.
  

Despite what the title may imply, Simoom's Lantern is much more than a simple cheat menu - it is also an extremely powerful tool set for addressing some of the most common issues and player complaints in X Rebirth.

Below is but a small glimpse of what you can do with Simoom's Lantern! Please refer to the User Manual for the full list of features & helpful tips!

• Any Ship, Any Station - Yes, you heard that right! If it's in the game files, you can have it - this includes all the unique production stations, trade outposts, landmark stations, prototype PMC fighters, Kha'ak fighters, Zepp, UFO... and these things aren't just eyecandy: They are all functional via vanilla scripts! So even if you uninstall the mod, the unique ships and stations you added will continue to function! What's more, the completely original station-spawning routine closely emulates the normal construction process via an Architect, including proper build location association and obstruction check. Nobody will even know you cheated (if you don't tell)!
  
  
  

  

  

  
  A player-owned Teladi Overwatch station being created.
  
  
• Deployable Weapon Platforms and Landmark Stations - Truly make a zone uniquely yours! Create impenetrable fortresses with powerful deployable Xenon and Kha'ak weapon platforms. Decorate your space with habitations, highway stations, and pirate dens! These stations are deployed at the exact location of the Skunk (complete with an obstruction check), so you can place them precisely where you want them!
  
  
  

  

  

  
  Player-owned Kha'ak weapon platforms taking on a Xenon P.
  
  
• More NPC Shipyards - One of the biggest complaints many players have is there simply isn't enough economy sink for the TRULY ambitious empire-builders! With Simoom's Lantern, you can spawn a shipyard anywhere you like, then hand over control to an NPC faction via the Change Faction feature (which works on any ship or station, and can be used creatively to really customize your galaxy). Care was taken to make sure that when a player-owned station is handed to an NPC faction, the correct manager script will be assigned - so any shipyard you hand over to an NPC faction will build capital ships automatically, and create a significant sink for end products!
  
  
  

  

  

  
  New NPC shipyards created in Steady Mole.
  
  
• Secure the Galaxy... with Faction Patrols - Xenons and pirates run rampant through every populated sector... Why aren't the major factions doing their job? Sure, you could post your own patrol ships in every zone, but if the micromanagement don't annoy you, the constant bombardment of combat and reputation event messages surely will! Simoom's Lantern allows you to easily and conveniently summon a patrol fleet belonging to one of the major factions in the game (you can choose the appropriate race/faction and keep the immersion), which will patrol the zone they were summoned in. Now you can make sure every zone has adequate security provided by NPC fleets, and never worry about those annoying combat messages again!
  
  
  

  

  

  
  A Family Ryak patrol fleet being summoned.
• Civil War Behavior - Are you annoyed by the fact that the Teladi Union does not lay a finger on the pirates who go around Fields of Opportunity unchecked, blowing up everything in sight? Are you an empire-builder who wishes for a peaceful Albion, because the constant fighting between HoA and PMC is bad for your business? Simoom's Lantern contains tools specifically meant to address these issues! With the flick of a switch, you can turn these entwined factions against each other, or place them at peace.
  
  
  

  

  

  
  A Marauder Phoenix being engaged by TU patrol forces after hostility settings were enabled.
  
  
• Canteran Plot Stations - Are you on an older campaign save, and you couldn't get all the post-plot Canteran NPC stations to build, because some of the NPC Construction Vessels were destroyed? Or perhaps you are on a non-campaign game start, but wish to reap the benefits of having those plot-specific stations? Simoom's Lantern has a tool dedicated for exactly that! With a single press of a button, the mod intelligently detects any existing Canteran plot stations in your game, and fills in only the missing ones. It also assigns the correct manager script to the shipyard, so it will build capital ships on the clock like a normal shipyard should!
  
  
  

  

  

  

  
  Canteran plot stations being created. Event monitor feedback shows you precisely which stations were built.
  
  
• Remove Plutarch Overwatch - Annoyed that the wreck of the Plutarch Overwatch left over from the campaign never despawns? Simoom's Lantern has a fix for that, too! Safety check is included to target only the destroyed Plutarch Overwatch, so if you haven't gotten to that point in the campaign, don't worry about accidentally pressing it!
  
  
  

  

  

  
  Plutarch Overwatch wreck removed.
  
  
• Disable Hostile NPC Stations - Annoyed by the fact that all stations in the game are indestructable? Patrol ships stuck attacking enemy stations while your own assets are being hammered by enemy ships? Worry no more! Simoom's Lantern comes with a highly intelligent Self-Destruct function, whose routine is completely contextual. When used against an NPC station, this feature completely disables it (removes all crew, destroys all surface elements, and sets all module hull to 1%), then sets it to "Ownerless". The ownerless status prevents any hostility from being directed toward it, therefore patrol ships won't bother with them - and can actually focus on doing something useful, like chasing after enemy ships!
  
  
  

  

  

  
  A Reiver Waystation disabled by the power of Simoom!
  
  
• Reveal the Galaxy - No, I don't mean simply unlocking the galaxy map (though this mod certain can do that)! One of the major gripes many players have is the station-scanning minigame, which get boring and repetitive very quickly (and yields little tangible benefits). Simoom's Lantern comes with the ability to fully unlock all stations galaxy-wide! Never enter a Beholder drone again!
  
  
  

  

  
  The "Reveal Galaxy" feature comes with three modes: Unlock galaxy map, unlock station info, and unlock ship info.

Depending on whether or not you installed the Supplements package, Simoom's Lantern may be incompatible with the following mods:

• CHEAT MENU - This mod contains a large number of XML patches that will conflict with my files. Additionally there are a lot of overlapping features, so choose one or the other (my mod is recommended... see Technical Discussion for details).
• Xenon Hunt 3 - The Supplements package contains conflicting patch files, allowing for similar functionality (though my patches do not add drone & cargo bay to Xenon ships, since rebalancing game asset is not the purpose of this mod). If you prefer Xenon Hunt's implementation, simply remove the conflicting XML patches from the Supplements package..
• Hull 3x Skunk - The Supplements package contains conflicting patch file, allowing for Skunk hull repair by the on board Engineer (my implementation is recommended... see this post for details).
• RS Booster (or any player booster mod) - The Supplements package contains patch file for overtuning player booster.
• Ultimate Fleet Overhaul (UFO) - DO NOT use this mod! It is very outdated and breaks vanilla capship jump scripts (among other things). Subsequently affects my mod's capital ship summon feature since it relies on vanilla jump command.
  

If you wish to use an incompatible mod, simply removing the conflicting XML patches from Simoom's Lantern's mod folder should resolve any incompatibility.