Introduction
Gather around my anvil, beardlings, and let me share with you the secrets of my arcane studies of runic magicks!
Welcome to my guide on advanced save file editing. In this guide I shall attempt a comprehensive record of everything you can do to save files in sprocket. Below I shall reveal everything from simple tweaks to 20-segment cannon barrels to the arcane secrets of eight-tracked vehicles with 8 working tracks.
First though, the basics. With the geometrics alpha, save files are now a single more-or-less plain text file. Your vehicle saves are located at: Users\(Your username\Documents\My Games\Sprocket\Factions\(your faction name)\Blueprints\Vehicles. To modify these comfortably, make sure you have a text file editor to hand. I highly recommend notepad++, which has many conveniences attached.
Also of interest are the parts files, located under: \steamapps\common\Sprocket\Sprocket_Data\StreamingAssets\Parts, and the era files, located under: \steamapps\common\Sprocket\Sprocket_Data\StreamingAssets\Technology.
Now, before you start doing anything to any of these files, remember: MAKE BACKUPS. Why? Because a single misplaced comma can and will wreck your save file, and you probably don’t want six hours of work to be irrecoverably borked, or to have to verify game files over and over.
The Basics Of Save Files
At first glance, a sprocket save file is likely to look quite… mysterious. However, they are in fact well organized. In fact, because each part tends to refer to several others, they have to be. This is both great, and not so great, because you will be jumping all over to make sure each reference is correct.
Now, in order to understand save files, we must understand their vocabulary. Unfortunately, I do not know exactly what some these acronyms mean. My guesses are included below. Fortunately, there are not too many to know:
- ID: these are the number of descriptions for parts of your tank, and found mainly under the blueprints data block. Every part in your tank has one of these, or has a VUID.
- VUID: (Virtual unit identity?) This is the unique number used to identify parts physically present in your tank.
- PVUID: parent VUID. This gives the identity of what part the thing you are looking at is attached to. Most parts of your tank either have PVUID: 0, which is your hull plate, or parent to specific parts like your transmission, or wheel mounts.
- GUID: (general unit identity?) this is always followed by a string that refers to the game’s files for an object. If you want to use Hamish’s new invisible track parts to make halftracks or cars, this is what you change.
- Flags: what it says on the tin. Flags tell the game more about a specific part. Their effect can vary from unnoticeable to absolutely essential. Notably, you cannot modify the powertrain fully without using them.
Failure ModesNow, before we dive into the save files, let us look briefly at what may go wrong. As mentioned before, it is important to be accurate when making edits. Save files can easily be broken. However, broken comes in two main flavours, and it is useful to know this when troubleshooting.
The first failure mode of a save is when it entirely fails to show up in the loading menu. In this case the save file is no longer recognized by the game at all. Generally, this means a comma is missing or a bracket is misplaced. This error commonly shows up when you copy a block of text, but fail to ensure it has exactly the right formatting. The main ways to guard against this are careful editing, and using the powers of Notepad++ or whatever your preferred text editor is to ensure all brackets are closed.
The second main failure mode is when your save file does show up in the ingame load folder, but fails to properly load. In this case you can select and load the design, but nothing will happen and the usual sound queue wont play. To recognize this type of error most easily I recommend loading a completely different design from the one you are editing to ensure you are not confused into thinking something loaded when it didn’t. This second failure mode occurs when your save file is valid in formatting, but not in content. For example, this will happen if you add a second engine blueprint ID to the save file without also adding its object block and powertrain link. Expect to run into this failure mode a LOT, especially when editing the powertrain.
Data BlocksThe first few lines of your save file are metadata and will look something like this (Some lines omitted for clarity):
{
"v": "2.0",
"header": {
"name": "(Name of Your Tank)",
"gameVersion": "0.2.24.7",
"mass": 7640,
"creationDate": "1945.09.02",
},
For most purposes other than era editing and the name your tank has in-game, this block is not important. After this block follows "blueprints": [, and this is where things get complicated, and where we get down to business.
Basically, every sprocket save file contains three major blocks of different data that are of interest to us. The first is the blueprints block. The second is the objects block. The third is the meshes block. What do they do? Blueprints concerns the technical specifications of parts of your tank, the kind that, most of the time, you can edit more easily on the right-hand menu that will pop up in-game when you click the relevant part. The blueprint block is where most simple save editing can be done. For example, if you want a gun that fires 800mm doomshells, this is where you go. Since this guide is mainly about advanced editing, I will append known tricks for blueprint parts at the bottom of this guide for easy reference.
Now, the next block is the objects block. In Notepad++ you can easily find it by just searching for “objects”. The objects block records the physicalized instances detailed by blueprints. In other words, where the blueprints tell the game that you have a gun of size x, the objects block tells the game where it is. Objects modding is the most powerful tool in this guide, but also the hardest to get to work.
Finally, the meshes block records the geometry of the different turrets, addon structures and of course, of the hull of your tank / battleship / ICBM / battle altar. For most intents and purposes, the data in this block is infinitely easier to edit in-game. Yet, if you want to transfer hull geometries, fix corrupted meshes, or just to copy one turret ten times over, then this is where you need to be.
Planning Edits, Saving Sanity[/b]Before starting an attempt at save modding, make sure you know what you want to do, and how you should do it. Sprocket save files are inflexible insofar as that they do not permit many shortcuts. Whenever you edit the save files, remember that the different data blocks inside like to refer back and forth to each other. Keep a notepad by hand and make sure you remember what needs to be linked to what.
For example, consider what you would need to do if you want to add a second turret to your tank with the same mesh as the first. You might expect to be able to just copy the geometry in the meshes data block and to be done. Yet, such a save file would blow up.
To do this successfully, you must first add a blueprint for the abstract turret array to the blueprints block – along with a blueprint for its turret ring, turret basket, its motor and the turret’s plate structure. Then you must add an entry to the objects block that describes the new turret. This would consist of one entry referring to all of the blueprints you just added. Then at last you would need to add an entry to the meshes block which would then inherit the “mesh” block from your original turret. And as if this doesn’t sound painful already, remember: you must assign each of these blocks a unique ID or VUID and make sure their PVUIDs are correctly arranged.
Of course, going through all the hoops above would be tedious, and quite simply a waste of time. After all, you could instead just add a turret to your blueprint in-game to save yourself all steps but the very last – the actual copying of one turret’s geometry to the other.
To conclude before we start cooking, a lot of the time you can save yourself a lot of grief by doing as many steps as possible in the game. This even goes for some steps that might not be obvious. Notably, a little bit of obvious modding of the parts files can already save a lot of work. For example, adding a second engine is tedious, as described above. However, you can skip a lot of work by modding the parts file to let you duplicate engines. This will let you place a barebones engine in a save before you start modding said save. Doing that lets you skip most of setting up that engine apart from linking it to your powertrain.
Whatever your aim may be, remember that the game already gives us much power, especially if you modify the parts files. Try availing yourself of shortcuts whenever possible: your sanity will thank you.
Rune Magicks I - Quad Tracks Basics
Now, let us dive into the deep end at last. I will explain with examples drawn from some of my template designs: making quad tracks such as these, and making dual engines.
Adding tracks is one of those things where the game does not give us many shortcuts and where pretty much everything needs to be done by typing in the save file directly. So, what do we need to do exactly?
STEP 1 - BlueprintsFirst, decide if you want your new tracks to be independently editable, or whether you are fine having them inherit their settings from the base tracks. If you are fine with having all tracks inheriting the exact same settings you can skip this step. Be warned however that this includes settings like track spacing. Since your second pair of tracks won’t be very dramatic while clipping inside the first you will usually want to include this step.
That is not to say you can never do this: if you parent the second track set to an addon structure, you can move it around independently of the first. Thus, you have two choices: either you include new blueprints for your new tracks, or you reparent your new tracks to some addon structure. If you want to reparent your tracks, just attach a plate structure to your hull and parent the object IDs of your new tracks to that.
If you do want new blueprints for your new tracks, you must begin with the blueprints block and copy the blueprints for your trackwheelarrays, trackwheelmounts, trackwheels, tracks and trackbelts. In a default blueprint this means IDs 8 through 19. Having done this, assign them new IDs and remember these for the next step.
Note that unfortunately it seems impossible to copy 34 and 35, the suspension’s logic settings, without borking the save – these two you will want to exclude.
STEP 2 – Track ObjectsTo proceed, we must copy the existing track objects. All of them. That means, the track object block, and the object blocks for the attached wheel mounts and wheels. In a default blueprint this would mean VUIDs 16 through 58. Note that unlike with blueprint blocks, object blocks are mirrored: your blueprints describe one track, but there will be two track blueprints in your objects block. Each of these copied VUIDs will need a new unique number, and will need its references updated. For example, VUID 16 includes this:
"sprocketMountVuid": 21,
"idlerMountVuid": 28,
"rollerArrayVuid": 35,
"roadwheelArrayVuid": 37
These numbers define which parts your new track is attached too, and should be the number of the VUID you gave to their object block. After all, if you create a new track you will want to make sure it is properly parented to the new sprocket you just made for it. An easy way to duplicate the object blocks and to keep track of which set is which is to take the objects you copied and to keep their number the same but to prefix it with something easily recognizable. In such a case, track set 1616 will be parented to something like this:
"sprocketMountVuid": 1621,
"idlerMountVuid": 1628,
"rollerArrayVuid": 1635,
"roadwheelArrayVuid": 1637
When rewriting IDs or VUIDs, pretty much any number goes so long as it is higher than 100 and is not 250 through 270. The former are occupied with standard objects and blueprints, the latter refers to your standard transmission. I recommend choosing an easily recognized number and noting down what you used it for somewhere.
If you got here from step one and wrote in new blueprints, you will also need to update the BlueprintVuids of your new track objects to refer to the IDs of the new blueprints you made. For example, on a new track set your wheels and mounts will need updating from something like:
"wheelMountBlueprintVuid": 10,
"wheelBlueprintVuid": 11
To something like:
"wheelMountBlueprintVuid": 1610,
"wheelBlueprintVuid": 1611
Finally, when copying your track objects, pay special attention to the powertrainNode. In a default blueprint, you will have "powertrainNode": 18, and "powertrainNode": 40, attached to VUID 16 and 38 respectively. You will want to assign a new number to these as well, and to remember this one especially: it is the one part you will need from your tracks to link them to the powertrain.
STEP 3 – PowertrainsHaving copied your tracks does not yet make them fully functional. Thus far we have done nothing that editing via parts file editing wouldn’t let us do in-game. At best your save will load but the new tracks will not actually work. At worst, your save wont load at all – the more likely scenario. To actually make the new track functional they must be linked to the powertrain. The great thing about modding the powertrain is that it grants vast power. The terrible thing is that it is Painful. This next step gets its own chapter though, because powertrain modding is useful for more things than quad tracks. If you know how the powertrain works, skip to chapter III, otherwise, let chapter II inform you.
Rune Magicks II - Powertrain Pain
In this chapter we look at the powertrain and harness its great power. Be warned that a fair number of sanity points might die in the process.
How does it work?To find your powertrain, just go to the head of the objects data block and scroll past VUID 0, your hull, to VUID 260. VUID 260 is your default powertrain, and the only one you will need if you actually want the stuff you are adding to work. Much like multiple engines, the game only recognizes one powertrain, and any additional ones do not work. As you will see, the powertrain object block is huge.
The first segment of the powertrain functions much the same as any object data block, and has the same functionality. By changing the PVUID of your powertrain you can change what the entire engine and transmission assembly is attached to. Hook it up to your turret and suddenly you have a Chrysler TV-8.
"powertrainBlueprint"It is with the next header that we have business though: the powertrainblueprint. The powertrain blueprint describes how the different parts of your transmission attach to each other to do what. This includes describing how the engine is hooked to the transmission(s), and how the transmission connects to the sprocket mounts. It also includes the driveshafts connecting all the previous.
The powertrain blueprint contains three main parts. The modules, the ports and the connections.
The modules describe your engine, your transmission and the spheres that serve as nodes connecting them. Note that every connection actually consists of a blue sphere: some of them are flagged to be invisible however. Your engine actually contains an invisible connector sphere and your transmission contains two. Similarly, the end of the powertrain that likes to complain with red “out of range” text isn’t actually the end of your drivetrain: an invisible connector links it to an equally invisible logic node in your sprocket mount.
Ports are the cylinders with bolts at either end of the driveshafts. Every connection between two modules includes exactly one port each on those modules. As with modules, some of these are flagged invisible, meaning there are more listed than are visually present in your tank.
Connections are what they say, and link modules via the ports attached to them. They too carry flags, and the flags matter. Note that each connection is defined by a providerID and a receiverID. Power flows from your engine to your transmission to your sprocket mounts, and the connections flow in the same direction.
Note that unfortunately for us mortals, the powertrain blueprint was designed to be read by machine, not man. At first glance, it is a confusing soup of numbers. Remember however the importance of linking the right IDs together and know: connections refer to ports, and ports refer to modules.
BehaviourIDs, Flags & TypesNote that each module has a behaviourID – this tells the game what other object this module’s behaviour affects, or is affected by. Objects with "behaviourID”: -1 have no behaviour assigned themselves. On modules that do have behaviours assigned, the number entered here is the same as the powertrainNode in the object block of the part affecting that module’s behaviour. For example, take your default engine’s data block, which looks like this:
"vuid": 9,
"pvuid": 260,
"flags": 2,
"engine": 10,
"powertrainNode": 11,
And now consider the first node in your default powertrain:
{
"id": 0,
"flags": 0,
"type": 1,
"behaviourID": 11,
"mirrorID": -1
},
Thus, to properly set up a new engine or a new pair of tracks, you will need to enter the appropriate new powertrainNode under the behaviourID of a new module.
For a new engine, you will need to add a new module with the behaviourID set to the powertrainNode of your new engine data block. For new tracks, you will need two new modules, each taking the powertrainNode from one of your new track data blocks.
When setting up any new powertrain module, pay close attention to the flags as well: at best a misplaced flag might make the connection between your sprocket mount and the rest of the powertrain visible. At worst, it will tell the game that your engine is a transmission and then your blueprint wont load.
Similarly, each module has a type assigned to it. Even more so than the flags, you will want to make sure that any added module has the correct type. An easy reference would be to check if the new module has the same type as an equivalent module from the original powertrain. For example, an engine module takes type 1. A normal blue sphere is type 4. The logical node inside your sprocket mount is type 8. Be warned that getting any of these wrong will bork your save.
For an example of how a transmission might fit together, behold the mess that is my quad track blueprint, in glorious paint:
Powertrain GeometryRegarding powertrain geometry, I admit that I have not fully figured this out myself. In theory one would expect 3 coordinates for each node for example, but in practice the number of modulePositions tends to not even by divisible by 3. I suspect that logical nodes of type 1 and type 8 (as described above) inherit their geometry from elsewhere. Even then however, this part remains something of a mystery.
Thus far when designing new powertrains, I have used one of two methods. The first method is to add a bunch of zeroes at the end of the geometry descriptions under modulePositions, moduleRotations, portOffsets and portDirections. However, this method has tended to be… unreliable. Sometimes it works, sometimes the save dies.
Remember though what was discussed about planning one’s edits. The more reliable method that I have used is to load the powertrain you want to mod, to load it in-game and to split it to add new nodes until you have a number of nodes equal to the number you plan to use for your powertrain. Going this way means no worries about saves getting borked by geometry. However, it does make it more confusing to figure out what needs to be hooked up to what, since you will have more modules, ports and connections from the start.
A third method would be to write your powertrain from scratch as per the first method, and to port into it the geometry obtained from splitting a sacrificial powertrain (with an equal number of nodes) in-game as per the second method.
As a final note, know that no matter which method you go with, you are likely to end up with powertrain spaghetti that will need untangling in-game.
Rune Magicks III - Quad Tracks, Continued
Now that we know what the powertrain does, let us see how to use it to add stuff to either end.
First, lets continue with quad tracks by actually hooking them to the powertrain. When adding tracks, you will be hooking up two behaviour nodes. For the logic of your new nodes to work, you will need to duplicate the entire structure consisting of:
1. The invisible module inside the sprocket mount, which takes type 8 and flag 10 or 2, depending on which side of the tank it is on.
2. Its port, flagged 0 (invisible)
3. The port on the previous module in the powertrain, flagged 0 (invisible)
4. The connection between the two ports, flagged 1
5. The module attached to port no.4, this will be the visible end point of your new tracks’ driveshaft. This is of type 4 (normal blue sphere node), and flagged 0 or 6160
6. The other port attached to the above, which is flagged 3 (meaning it is visible)
7. The connection attached to the above, flagged 0
8. The port at the other end of the above, also flagged 3
Thus, you are duplicating two modules, two connections and four ports. If you are writing these from scratch, remember to give them new IDs. Note that since you have two tracks, you will need to duplicate the above twice. Having done this, you will need to reassign the behaviourID of your new sprocket mount module to the powertrainNode from the new track objects you added.
If you are remapping an existing geometry you will then need to reassign the port on the far end of your new module chain’s connection (number 8 in the list above) to attach one module higher in the chain, and remap the original chain to attach to that same module. To remap a port, change its moduleID:
{
"id": 9,
"flags": 3,
"moduleID": 1
},
If you are writing your new geometry from scratch, you will need to manually add each of these modules, and pray that adding their geometry coordinates doesn’t blow up your save.
Either way, you ought to end up with two chains of two modules that attach to a third module immediately behind your transmission (Modules 266 and 269 in twin transmission). Said third module ought to have three ports attached to it. Note again that only half of this structure is visible.
Rune Magicks IV - Multiple Engines
Adding a second engine involves much the same procedure, but is done at the other end of the transmission map.
Now, before you add an engine to your powertrain, do make sure you have created an object block for it. As this involves copying one data block rather than twenty or so, I am not including a separate section for this step. You are not likely going to need separate blueprint blocks for your engines, so all you need is an engine object block with a unique VUID and powertrainNode.
To connect a second engine, you will need to add:
1. A module for the engine itself, which carries type 1 and is flagged 0. It needs its behaviourID set to the powertrainNode of your new engine.
2. A port attached to No.1, flagged 0
3. A port attached to the next module in the powertrain, flagged 3.
4. A connection between the ports above, flagged 0.
In this case, you are duplicating one module, one connection and two ports. Once again, make sure that each module has a unique ID assigned.
Note about adding additional engines that they are not in fact properly registered as, well, engines, by the game’s logic. Presently, sprocket only seems to register one of the engines in a vehicle as contributing to its torque. Thus, a second engine is only decorative by default. Presently I have not found any way to get around this apart from era editing. By duplicating the era your tank is in and doubling the torque multiplier in the engine file you will be able to harness the full potential of your second engine.
What about simply adding an entire transmission map, transmission, track set and engine to the same vehicle you ask? Well, in my experience there are two possible results. If you add all of these and do not map both to the same steering wheel (and thus to the controlVUID of your tank), you end up with one powertrain and track set that works, and one which does'nt do squat. If you do link them both to the same controlVUID, your save blows up.
Rune Magicks V - Vehicle Layouts
Now that we have gone through the trouble of modifying the powertrain to create fully functional additional track sets, it is possible to do more with them than just making quad track tanks. Remember here that your tracks are linked to your powertrain through powertrainNode, not PVUID. This opens up the opportunity to parent the physical track to other things.
The most obvious candidate? Addon structures. Now, finding your addon structure in the save can be… tedious. I recommend naming your addon structure something recognizable. Having done that, you will be able to search for its name and find its ID in the blueprints section of your save. That done, take the ID of that blueprint and look for an object block whose "structureBlueprintVuid" number matches that of your named blueprint.
Moving tracks Relative to the HullIf you want to make a vehicle with one set of tracks forward, and one backward you may put an add-on structure on your hull and parent your second track set to it. By default, your track objects will be parented to VUID 260, your transmission. But because the logic of their movement works through the powertrainNode, you can set the PVUID to whatever you want. Doing so is rather simple: you only need to reparent the object block for your tracks to that addon structure. That is, you would be reassigning two PVUIDs: one for each track, which would end up looking something like this:
"vuid": 38,
"pvuid": 870,
"flags": 2,
"track": 39,
"powertrainNode": 40,
By parenting both tracks to the same addon structure you can independently move that pair relative to the hull. If you want to move both you can simple reparent the original tracks to another addon structure.
Articulated TanksBy the same logic described as above, you can also make articulated tanks. The only difference in this case would be that you would parent your tracks to a turret, or to an addon structure attached to a turret, rather than to an addon structure only. I recommend including the addon structure as an additional step because it lets you move the tracks more freely than a turret alone would.
HalftracksSimilarly, it is also possible to create halftracks via this method, ones with steerable front wheels. To do this, you can parent one track each to a separate addon structure attached to two separate turrets. As with the above, using addon structures on the turrets will permit you to more freely reposition the turrets themselves while keeping the tracks on the ground. Note that your roadwheels will not enjoy moving sideways and will bug out: I recommend hiding them inside your idler through downscaling.
Rune Magicks VI - Misc. Notes And Recommendations
Here I record tips, tricks and general observations about editing.
Visual MappingWhile editing save files lets one done hilarious things, these things also have some… issues. Notably, modding the powertrain is very complicated. To mod mine with as little suffering as possible, I prefer to map out the entire powertrain -or at least the part I am working on - visually first, including all modules, ports and connections. A program like paint is a great way to get a quick visual mock-up of how an existing transmission works, or of how you want the one you are designing to work. On the right is an example I used when making my Octopus, featured in this guide's cover image.
The Issues with Multiple TracksObviously, having four fully functional tracks is awesome. However, the game’s logic was not designed for four tracks, which has consequences. In particular, each additional set of tracks adds traction, and therefore performance, to your tank. This is particularly obvious on light quad track vehicles once you add any kind of powerful engine and transmission to match.
Because of their superior traction an otherwise unmodified quad tracked vehicle will turn very quickly, and will generally not be slowed down by added weight as much an equivalent normal tank. In my experience, you will end up with between half and a third more performance than you would expect, at least. This may extend to 140 ton tanks with 18 hp/ton somehow giving their crew whiplash from turning on a dime at 63km/h. Vehicles with larger numbers of track sets tend to experience diminishing returns, but tend to pull zero-point acceleration out of turns on uneven terrain due to their insane traction.
Theoretically, all of these issues could be fixed by editing the traction of your vehicle, but on this I am yet to experiment.
The Issues with Articulated Tanks and Turret-Steerable TracksWhile steerable halftracks and articulated tanks sound nice, note that the roadwheel assembly does not enjoy being moved sideways by turrets. Due to synergy with track destruction physics your roadwheels will tend to bug out at the best of times. For this reason, I recommend that you keep any steerable axis to a minimum number of downscaled, hidden roadwheels.
I have recently made a vehicle on which every track was separately steerable. While hilarious, it was utterly nonfunctional. Behold its glory:
Whenever you make a vehicle you intend to make steerable, I recommend that you keep the main set of tracks non-steering and that you ensure it contributes most of your tank’s traction.
Rune Magicks VII - Miscellaneous Tricks
Here I will be recording various simpler uses of save editing. Many of these are well-known, but are recorded here for the sake of making this guide as comprehensive as possible.
GunsGuns can be modified in several ways. The main uses include increasing calibre beyond 250mm, increasing propellant length beyond 1200mm, and adding more than ten segments to a gun. To do any of these, find your cannon in the blueprints block. To make this easy, name it something recognizable, like Doomstick 9000 or something.
Caliber does what it says on the tin. Breech length refers to propellant length.
Below the basic data of the cannon you will find the description of its barrel geometry, consisting of segments such as this:
{
"t0": 25,
"t1": 25,
"l": 500
},
T0 is the first diameter, t1 the second. L is the length of the segment. You can copy and paste this block to add however many segments you desire, or change the values within to make a cannon with 40 meter long, 5 meter thick barrel walls. Do consider modding responsibly though: I have it on good authority that 64 meter guns tend to explode the game when fired…
Invisible TracksWith a recent update, Hamish provided us a way to make tracks invisible that does not involve making them tiny – and hence does not involve causing the physics of your vehicle to become wonky.
To do this we shall be making rare use of the GUID. Simply find the InvisibleTrackSegment file and take its GUID (843f3a65-30f6-4180-a719-f3af1e2bacfe), and replace the segmentID of your vehicle’s tracks with it in the blueprints data block. By default, your trackBelt has ID 19.
The result should look something like this (some lines omitted for clarity):
{
"id": 19,
"type": "trackBelt",
"segmentID": "843f3a65-30f6-4180-a719-f3af1e2bacfe"
}
Editing SuspensionsSo, you have a nice four-tracked tank, or some nice steerable one, but it has these huge torsion bars sticking out, while making them smaller removes your suspension’s vertical travel? Fear not, simply find blueprint datablock 35:
{
"id": 35,
"type": "torsionBar",
"blueprint": {
"torsionBarLength": 1500,
"torsionBarDiameter": 60
}
Now you need but edit the last two entries to whatever suits you.
Transcendent Jacobs for CrewA Jacob in a crate makes a decent autoloader, but has the disadvantage of looking rather uncomfortable when all folded up. And even when folded up Jacob can’t fire 400 rounds per second. To make Über-Jacob, simply find his blueprint data block, which will look something like this (Some entries omitted for clarity):
{
"id": 38,
"type": "crewSeat",
"baseEfficiency": 1.0,
"operatedBehaviours": 7
}
To ascend Jacob, simply raise his baseEfficiency to a value that you find appropriate. In my experience, 5.0 will make your 20mm autocannon fire a couple times per second.
“Unborking” VUID errors, Transplanting mesh dataA common bug with the alpha’s geometry involves edge splitting causing mesh corruption. While it is not presently within my power to restore borked geometry, it is possible to replace the affected structure mesh with another to at least get the rest of the tank back to working. To do this, you will first need the VUID of the affected structure and then find said VUID in the meshes datablock. A mesh block will look something like this (some lines omitted for clarity):
"meshes": [
{
"vuid": 0,
"type": "plateStructureMesh",
Once there you can replace its entire geometry description, being the data within “mesh”:, with another which I recommend you port from a default mesh sourced from a sacrificial blueprint.
In a more productive vein, if you have a turret or addon structure you want to replicate, you can instead copy and port the existing mesh onto another. Note however that the Sprocket discord bot commands offer a much easier way to do this.
Final Notes
Regarding other resources for Sprocket, I recommend the official Discord, which has all kinds of guides and resources and useful resources. It is also where I post all of my blueprint templates.
That’s it from this guide for now. I hope you will have fun modding your tanks to the moon and back. And when you do, consider posting them: I’ll be glad to see them.
Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3398203392
More Sprocket guilds
- All Guilds
- Poorly made German tanks pack (NOT FULL)
- Selfmade Tanks
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