Bigger Galaxies?
 

I'm starting up with SE4 after a hard-drive meltdown, and IIRC, there is a mod somewhere which permits the creation of galaxies rather larger than are allowed for in the standard game. I've searched a bit through the forums, however, and have not found a pointer to this mod, and it apparently is not included in the "extras" on the Gold disk.

So, if someone could point me to this mod, I'd appreciate it.

-- Mal

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Edit settings.txt with notepad.

Simply change "Maximum Number Of Systems := 100"
to "Maximum Number Of Systems := 255" or whatever your prefered value is.
More than 255 will overflow though.

Unless you add more names to the systemnames.txt though, you will run out, and be left with a set of unnamed systems.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

You don't really need a mod to do this. Open settings.txt in the data directory and change the Maximum Number Of Systems := 100 to up to 250. This will give you up to 250 systems on a large map.

Now there is a very good Mod that effectively does this for you and gives many quadrant type options called Fyron's Quadrant Mod and it can be found at spaceempires.net

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

You could also download and install FQM or FQM Deluxe and use those after modifying your Settings to use 255 systems.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Thanks. Given that my internet connection is dialup, I don't think I'll be doing many 30 mb downloads anytime soon, but adjusting the number of systems will be easy.:)

-- Mal

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

If you do this, you will also want to increase the number of names in the systemnames.txt file. If you don't, the game will still run fine but there will be lots of systems that have blank names. Their planets will be just I, II, III. Makes things confusing after a while.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Names are no problem; I'm already adding to the list, since SE4 doesn't include names of Milky Way stars in it's list. With enough Denebs, Arcturuses, and Betelgueses, I'll have plenty of names.

A couple of questions, though. Can I use an apostrophe in the name, or will this cause a crash? (eg, "Deirdre's Star"). And what happens if I have more than 250 names?

-- Mal

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

You should be fine with apostrophe's, I am pretty sure I've seen them. Isn't "Odin's Gate" a system in FQM?

Also, there are plenty of special characters that get in there as well...

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

A mod that changes the system names to real-life star names might be cool.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Download some system mod files from Se.net if there are some available. Or check the dowloads section here on this site, bottom of the main forum list, in the archieve section.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Most nearby stars have relatively boring names, like "Groombridge 386" and "Luyten 28," which may be one reason why the SE designers didn't use "real" star names. But an easy Google search will come up with a bunch of star names that could be added to the game the old-fashioned way: by typing them in.:)

-- Mal

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

There's some cool names that aren't boring, maybe I'll place those in.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

There's an add-on (I believe it was on the Gold disc, it's part of EyeCandy) which adds over 400 systemnames, including scifi and real star names, such as Hoth, Romulus and names like "42 Pisces 3" and such.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Hoth and Romulus? Wouldn't that be infringing on copyrights? Star Trek and Star Wars might not be happy about that.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Romulus is from Roman mythology, and Hoth can be found in Norse mythology, I believe. I doubt Paramount or Lucasfilm could do much about the use of those names any more than they could prevent you from using names like Luke or Loki.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

For those interested, an intersting site to get started with is here:

http://www.solstation.com/stars.htm

It catalogues stars out to approx 65 ly radius of Sol, and has information and such about them.

I've heard of Romulus, but whatinhell is Hoth? Or is that some STNG name (I never did watch STNG).

-- Mal

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Hoth

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

You could download the JPEG version. It is only 8.5 MBs. It requires converting the jpeg system images back to bitmap, as in the included instructions, however. This is easy if you have a program capable of batch conversions.

Of course, you still have to download the Planet Pack of the Image Mod to play with FQM Deluxe, which is another 6 MBs...

Alternatively, you could get FQM Standard, which is practically the same mod except that it does not use any custom system or planet images. It is only 1.2 MBs in size.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Hoth is a planet on Star Wars, first heard of in the movie Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. It was the location of the Rebel's secret base, that is before it was found out and anniliated.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Also, note that FQM includes a system names file with over 40,000 names in it. There is a "real stars" file included as well, which I believe is a listing of all of the named stars as of some point in time when I found the list. I have attached this list to this post. You will need to rename this to just SystemNames.txt to use it in-game, of course.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Ah, Hoth is Hodr. I wonder who changed the spelling? The only Hoth I know of is "Pappy" Hoth, the German panzer general.

I was wondering if the FQM standard was useable without the image mod, it is good to know that it is. Since it has been over a year since I played SE4, I want to fool around with the standard version a bit before modding too extensively. Seems like whatever programs I get (Baldur's Gate, Jagged Alliance 2, Age of Wonders, etc...), I always get bogged down in mods.:)

-- Mal

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Fyonn: you take all the fyonn out of life.:) Seriously, though, good work on the star list. It would save lots of work for people who want a "real" science fiction atmosphere to their SE4 games.

-- Mal

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

You can try to BT the FQM D.... Read about it at HERE

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

The imagemod isn't a mod, per se.

Its just a graphics extension that will come in handy (and is usually required) whenever you DO download any mods.

There is an imagemodmod available, though, if you want the stock game with fancier facility pictures and weapon animations.

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

I did not make the list, but I forgot to write down where I found it...

Re: Bigger Galaxies?
 

Although it hasn't got anything to do with the game, this site: http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/projects/sow/sowlist.html is a very intertesting place to learn about stars...

-- Mal