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FREELANCER COMPANION A guide on usage of the program that unlocks Discovery
So, say you've been trading for a few hours now. You're making some profit on your run, but you think you can make a ton more. What if I told you there was a way to find a better trade route in just a few clicks? Or maybe you're looking for one of those hidden-away unlawful bases in one of the edge worlds, and you can't find it? Well, never fear, for Freelancer Companion is here to save you.
In short, Freelancer Companion is one of the two most-used programs alongside Freelancer, along with FLStat. While FLStat gives more statistical information about ships, items, et cetera (hence the name), Freelancer Companion is more about trade routes / routes in general, maps of sectors, and the locations at which items are bought and sold. But before I get into detail, let's start by installing the program. 1) Downloading FLCompanion
First, navigate to this post by @Its Raisu to download the latest Freelancer Companion. Once it is downloaded, open the zip file and run the program.
2) Configuration and Optimization
Upon completion of installation and a few moments, the program will open. More than likely, it will be displaying vanilla systems (if any at all). Before we go into details, you'll need to set up your directory. On the top bar, click 'Settings' and then 'Set Freelancer Directory'. You will need to navigate to your Discovery Freelancer installation (not your vanilla freelancer installation) and set that folder as your directory. If no error occurs, you should see the message "For this setting to take effect, you will need to exit and restart the application." Click OK, and then restart the application. Once it is opened again, it should show all Discovery systems.
NOTE: *Before doing this, make sure your game is running, and you are connected to the server with your character in-game*
If you're using 2.01 (you should be if you downloaded it from this page), you can go to Universe -> Load Dynamic Economy or hit ALT+D. Launch your game, connect to the server (Discovery Freelancer RP 24/7) and then alt-tab and click 'Load'. This will load the server-set prices, mainly ore prices like premium scrap, aluminum ore, et cetera. This feature will only work when you are logged into a character on the server, keep that in mind.
3) Understanding FLCompanion
When the program opens again, you should be greeted by this:
In numerical order, these are:
1) System/Base Selection, Trade Route Listing:
This menu is roughly 80% of what FLCompanion offers. In the top left is the "System" tab. It defaults to either All systems or your last opened system. If you click on it, it will open a drop-down list of every system in the mod files. Many of the features in FLCompanion work off of both this and the "base" drop-down. The Base drop-down selection is tied to what System you select, and will display a list of all bases within that system. Once a base is selected, the map will highlight it, and the IFF of the base will be listed to the drop-down's immediate right. Selecting a system and a base will allow you to see all outbound trade routes from that base in the trade-listing, as well as selecting the active base on the System Map (2).
The Trade Window is the most important part of this section. Once a System and Base is selected, it will list all trade routes (within your parameters [see section 4]) outbound from the base selected. In left-to-right order, it displays:
Commodity - commodity to be purchased on selected base
To - destination of commodity from selected base
Profit - estimated total profit (sell price - buy price), varies depending on parameters
Distance - estimated distance to destination in minutes/seconds (depending on parameters)
Profit/Distance - estimated profit per second. Used to pick out the most efficient trade routes
We'll get into this further in section four, where we discuss the various parameters you can set to optimize the trade window.
2) System Map
Roughly what it says on the tin, but arguably one of the most important features of FLCompanion other than the trade window. Using what system you currently have selected, FLCompanion will display a 1:1 map of the system, displaying the exact location of every station and field, jump hole, and jump gate, as well as wreck (although, it will not display the name nor cargo of the wreck) locations. Using FLCompanion as a navigation tool in unfamiliar systems is highly advised. If you click on the map, you can click+drag to move the map around, and zoom in and out using the mouse wheel. Zooming all the way back out will bring you to the default Freelancer snap. The grid displayed, as mentioned before, is 1:1 accurate with Freelancer, and thus can be used to judge waypoints for jump holes, hidden bases, wrecks, et cetera.
3) Route Display
This display, normally blank, will fill with information corresponding to your currently selected route. Buy and sell price, current destination, base IFF, and route waypoints will be listed. Clicking any of the listings in the route display will show you the route needed to be taken through each system. It will also list your average speed (configurable) and the location of the jumpgate or jumphole you need to take to the next system. If you click the cross-arrow button to the direct right of the IFF listing, it will swap your currently selected destination and origin, making it easy to make a trade circuit.
4) Mining Fields
Not much to say here. This will list a drop-down of all current mining fields in the system (although, as mining fields are partially server-side, and FLCompanion has trouble detecting certain ores, this information shouldn't be taken for granted). You can click 'mine here' and it will give you information on how to set up a mining operation. However, this feature is rarely used, at least in my case.
4) Configuring and Using FLCompanion
There are two settings windows that you can use to modify FLCompanion to be as accurate as possible when it comes to profit, distance, and profit per second. These are "Speeds and Delays", accessed by going under Settings > Speeds and Delays or ALT+S, and "Limitations", accessed by going under Settings > Limitations or hitting ALT+L.
1) Speed & Delays
The following settings change "distance", and thus, "Profit/distance". Change them to be as accurate as possible.
Average speed for cruise travel: Should be 350, unless you're using a freighter, fighter, or bomber. In that case, it would be 425, 450(Light)/375, or 360.
Average speed in trade lanes: Do not change. Should be 1900.
Jump gate delay: 15 seconds.
Jump hole delay: 15 seconds.
Trade lane docking delay: ~10 seconds.
Base reaching and docking delay: Should be 15-30 seconds. I left it as-is, but you might want to change it to a lower value, like 20 seconds.
Once done, hit OK to save changes.
2) Limitations
Limitations is slightly more complicated but also more powerful. The top three lists are, in order, System exclusion, faction exclusion, and good exclusion. Selecting any option from these will exclude all applicable systems/bases/commodities from FLCompanion's trade window. A good option to use if you're trying to trade from specific faction bases, if you can't dock on certain bases, or if you want to set up specific commodities.
Below 'other limitations', you can set your total cargo volume, maximum investment (i.e., how much money you can spend), and the maximum distance you can travel. All of these act as "filters", in a sense. You can also set FLCompanion to avoid "locked" jump gates (useful only in Singleplayer) and to disable jump holes (check on or off depending on your choice).
You should be set to go at this point. Once all your configuring is done, pop in a system, a base, and get tradin'! Those pixel credits won't make themselves!
Note: If any information here is incorrect or inaccurate, please let me know. I'll get it fixed ASAP. Thanks!
Run regedit, CTRL+F: Wizou , delete the registry folder. Try again. If that doesn't help, locate Wizou/FLCompanion/Settings - FLPath and manually set it to correct folder.
I have the same problem. I get some errors with the v2.01
Code:
---------------------------
FLCompanion - Unexpected error
---------------------------
Le chemin d’accès spécifié est introuvable.
In: IniFile.cpp line 29
Value: 3 (0x3)
Please contact the author with this information
(Press Ctrl-C to copy this text)
---------------------------
Abandonner Recommencer Ignorer
---------------------------
And in the windows "Log of problems found in your mods/game files" I have that :
Code:
Some error was found in your game or mods' files. Freelancer Companion 2.01 will try to work around these.
But please signal the following problem(s) to the author of the mods you activated in FLMM :
universe\universe.ini: Entry sector01 is missing a file
universe\universe.ini: Entry sector02 is missing a file
universe\universe.ini: Entry sector03 is missing a file
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![[Image: 254px-Dsy_trainx2.png]](http://discoverygc.com/wiki/images/thumb/2/28/Dsy_trainx2.png/254px-Dsy_trainx2.png)
