OXP

What are OXPs?

An OXP (Oolite eXpansion Pack) is an enhancement to the game Oolite. Typically, an OXP is downloaded as a ZIP file, which is expanded and placed in Oolite's AddOns folder. On the Mac the OXP is a shown as an application, which takes the form of the icon shown here. On Windows the OXP appears as a normal folder ending ".oxp". An OXP could be a new game object (such as a ship, space station or a moon), a mission, or a combination of several elements. OXPs can use all of the facilities of Oolite, including some that are not used in the standard, unexpanded game. Whatever your OS, you need to move the OXP into Oolite's AddOns folder. Oolite will only read an OXP if you move the .oxp folder (or Application on the Mac) into Oolite's AddOns folder.

Most OXPs are not placed on this site itself but hosted externally. This means when you have problems downloading from a certain host, other OXPs might download without problems. Additionally many of the Mission OXPs will contain lots of other ships, stations or weapons that are not listed here.

Finding OXPs

The OXP List provides information regarding Oolite's expansion packs, and the latest OXP download links.

Information on OXPs can also be found on the Expansion Pack Forum, the friendliest Board this side of Riedquat. The helpful people there will be happy to assist you with any questions you have about OXPs.

Some older OXPs can also be found at The Oolite Satellite Resource Site (Oosat2) or the older Captain Hack OoSat Site (Oosat1). Please note however that neither of these sites have been updated for a long time, nor will they be. This means that most of the oxps hosted there will simply not work with current Oolite versions!

Installing an OXP

Unzip the OXP and place it in the folder named AddOns. Sometimes the zipped files contain several folders, make sure you only copy the folder -or file for Macintoshes- ending with .oxp into the AddOns folder. This folder is found in different locations, depending on the platform:

Mac OS X

Found in the folder that contains the Oolite application.

Alternatively you can also have the AddOns folder in your user area at ~/Library/Application Support/Oolite/AddOns/. When both places contain an AddOns folder, both contents are read with the content in the user libraries loading last.

Troubleshooting: If you get an error saying "The item could not be moved because "AddOns" cannot be modified", that can happen if you weren't the user that installed Oolite. The solution is to put the OXPs of your choice in ~/Library/Application Support/Oolite/AddOns/ instead (you may need to create this folder). The error could also be triggered because you’re running from the disk image, you’ll need to copy the game somewhere else. Having done so, if you still get the error, use the Get Info command on the AddOns folder, open the Ownership & Permissions pane and check that it says You Can: Read & Write.

Linux

The OXP directory can be found in $HOME/.Oolite/AddOns. for all current versions of OOlite

Windows

If the installable package was used (post Jan 06) then the AddOns folder should be in the top level of the Oolite install directory (at the same level as the oolite.app folder). If the GNUStep dedicated versions (pre-Jan 2006) is used, then the AddOns folder must be created in the oolite.app folder.

After unzipping the file, make sure that it is the OXP folder that put into the AddOns directory - some zipped OXPs can contain a top level folder with a readMe file, and the actual OXP folder is a level further down. If this is the case, move the item with the .oxp extension into the AddOns folder.

Caveats

If you purchase a ship that is an OXP ship and save the game, you will only be able to load that commander as long as this OXP is installed in AddOns. If it's not, Oolite will give you an error instead of trying to load the commander.

Creating an OXP

It is intended to be easy to create expansion packs. With a few simple tools, a player can make small or big changes, and customize the gaming experience.

• How to make OXPs