Is there a mod faq out there?
I have a question about a value for weapons. What are the units of fire interval?
no faq, but i can answer your question. the higher the fire interval, the slower the weapon fires. and if you’re asking how the interval is measured… no clue. just test, modify, and find an interval that you like. 
How do people figure out the Damage Per Second (that’s what “DPS” is, right? Or is it Damage per shot?).
Strikes me that the volume of fire matters to a huge extent when doing such comparisons.
Knowing this value would also be useful to make balance weapons in mods.
I was thinking of making a torpedo that acted like a real torpedo—say an IJN “Long Lance.” One hit by such a fish should take out a frigate. The reload time should be huge though. Perhaps it only fires once per scenario, maybe twice (since we don’t have limited ammo for missiles).
Yeah, some sort of beginners guide would be awesome. I’m wanting to mod this game but have no clue where to start.
Doing : damage / fire interval can give an idea about the DPS, in fact this will be Damage Per Interval.
For example :
Heavy plasma : 0.01 DPI , 0.015 DPI on armor , 0.015 DPI on shield
laser : 0.047 DPI , 0.035 DPI on armor , 0.128 DPI on shield
So laser is better DPI (so better DPS) than heavy plasma.
Are arbitrarily large map sizes possible?
The answer seems to be yes!
Beam weapons have a min range (self explanatory), a max range, and an optimum range.
Does the beam attenuate based on the difference between optimum and max range?
Say you set min range to 1, and max range to 2000—but optimum range ALSO to 1. Wopuld the beam do max damage at 1, and slowly fade to zero at 2000?
I think you just started one. 
It’s approximately 1/400 sec. I timed a bunch of different weapons with a stopwatch and that’s what I calculated it to be. Someone else did more or less the same thing and estimated 1/360. I don’t think we’ve heard an official word from Cliffski yet.
I set my “long lance” torpedo to 120,000, and once every 5 minutes seems in the ballpark. I might make it longer.
I tried making a beam with a range of 2000, but I set the min range at 1, and the optimum at 100. It still does some decent damage out near 2000, so I’m not sure how (or if) damage falls off with range.
I just stumbled upon this page after working through the standard missions in GSB. I’m excited to try out some of the mods but have realized that I am apparently an imbecile. I attempted to follow the provided instructions to extract the mod files into the GratuitousSpaceBattles\data folder only to find that there was no such folder. I then created one to extract the files to, started up GSB and none of the modifications were present. I admit that I didn’t really think that approach would bear fruit. I was wondering if anyone had any input or a link to a “Mods for dummies” thread.
Cliffski said that we will soon have a “mods” folder to put them into, and the game will load them with not other efforts.
In the meantime, my suggestion would be to find my thread on JSGME, download that and install it in the GSB root directory.
Dump mods into the MODS folder and enable them (as long as the extracted mods are in the format where the modname is a folder which contains the foder structure data/(various GSB folder names)/various files
actually the multiple directory mod stuff is already in as I recall. I need to do an extensive forum post on how it works at some point, but the way I described it working is exactly how I did it. As I recall the latest version (1.26) already processes it this way.
Ok, I downloaded and installed JSGME. I attempted installing BlckKnights weapons mod. I have this as the folder path: MODS\weapons\data\modules(various .txt files from BlckKnight’s mod). I enabled the Mod through JSGME aaaand nothing. Where have I gone wrong?
EDIT: Ok, apparently I may be even more of an imbecile than I previously thought. Following instructions through another post I believe I was in the wrong GSB folder. Will report back on success/failure
EDIT: Yep, I’m an idiot. Got it working by going to the right installation folder.
Looks like the MOD Faq answers it’s own questions before it even realizes it.
Dude. Modding Weapons are the easiest thing to do in this game. That’s what makes it even for total beginners like me get used to it easily.
Look here, I’m using one of my first nooby mods I created from a default weapon. [Still using default weapons as a base. When you’re ready, Make your own.]
YOU HAVE GOT TO READ THIS CODE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW HOW TO MOD WEAPONS!!
[code][config]
unlockcost = 0 - This thing is how much You Honor you need to unlock this thing. Make sure you have lockable turned on though.
lockable = 0 - This turns the item’s lock on or off. Used for an item you need to get with honor.
armour_penetration = 8 - Well, The name says for itself. How much it penetrates through armor.
beam_duration = 200 - How long the beam lasts. Simple.
beamwidth = 3.0 - How wide the beam is.
blasttexture = “beam_green_atlas.dds” - Basically The texture used when hitting a other ship or shield.
category = “WEAPONS” - What category of modules it’s in.
classname = “SIM_BeamWeaponModule” - Don’t know about this one, Ask other people.
color = 15,202,255 - This one is quite confusing, Haven’t messed with it yet. I think it’s used for the beam color.
cost = 114 - How much it is on your ship.
crew_required = 5 - How much crew it needs to work.
damage = 15 - How much damage it does.
description = “Nothing irritates starship cruiser captains more than those tiny irritating fighters that evade the average turbo-lasers. This highly maneuverable beam weapon is the solution.” - Just a description about this weapon. You can edit it however you want. Make sure you got the " at the beginning and end.
fire_interval = 550 - How long it takes to fire. Lower means faster, Higher means slower.
guiname = “Cruiser Defence Laser II” - Basically The name in game. You can also use this name in the “Name = …” Part.
hitpoints = 110 - How much hitpoints it has until it gets destroyed.
icon = turret - Basically the icon of this thing. I don’t know what it does still.
min_range = 50 - Range Minimum.
max_range = 500 - Range Max.
name = “cruiser_defence laser II” - You can use the “Gui_Name = …” For this one.
optimum_range = 270 - I don’t know what it does yet, I’ve messed with it. I think its the range that it works best at.
powerconsumed = 7 - How power it uses.
shield_penetration = 6 - Almost the same as armor penetration, Except with a shield.
size = “CRUISER” - The size? Havent tried this yet.
sound = “data/sounds/cruiser_defencelaser400.ogg” - The sound when it fires I think.
soundvolume = 1.0 - It’s volume when firing.
texture = “beam_green_atlas.dds” - Dunno about this if it’s the turret texture or beam texture. {EDIT - Beam Texture.}
tracking_speed = 3.7 - Do not know about this one. Probably the turning speed.
turret_sprite = “turret_las_v5” - Turret sprite when in battle. Easy.
turretsize = 12.0 - Well, here ya go, the size.
weight = 65 - The weight it is. More weight means a slower ship.
slot_type = TURRET - What slot it fits into.
uisortpos = 1060 - I don’t think you should mess with this. Haven’t messed with it yet.
[dataitems] - Ignore all this crap. I don’t think it’s that important. But make sure you include it when your making your own from scratch.
0 = cost,DECIMAL
1 = weight,DECIMAL
2 = hitpoints,DECIMAL
3 = powerconsumed,DECIMAL
4 = max_range,DECIMAL
5 = damage,DECIMAL
6 = fire_interval,INTEGER
7 = tracking_speed,DECIMAL
8 = shield_penetration,DECIMAL
9 = armour_penetration,DECIMAL
10 = crew_required,INTEGER
11 = optimum_range,DECIMAL
12 = min_range,DECIMAL
[/code]
There. Know you can make your own mods. I haven’t tried making my own ship mod yet. Ask some more experienced members for that. Hope you enjoyed my little tutorial on how to mod weapons!
Btw, I’m new, but I’ve been playin this game for a while. So yea.
Actually, if you add the installs folder to the MOD path in JSGME you get the benefits of cliffski’s code, AND you can swap mods in and out at will.
Instead of the mods in the MODS folder looking like:
modname/data/folder_paths
it would be modname/data/installs/folder_paths