Many questions...
 

1: How does one MOD the AI files?

2: How do ministers work and how can they be utilized well?

3: Is it possible to MOD colony modules to only colonize specific atmospheres?

4: Can Argon be used as an atmosphere type?

5: What is a good place to get free web hosting from?

6: Does anyone think it reasonable to have both regular armor and shields and the "leaky" variety (smaller and cheaper) in the same MOD?

Re: Many questions...
 

7: What are the weapon and component family fields for?

8: What (or where can I find out which) abilities can be used with what items (component, vehicle size, facility)?

9: What happens if an ability is used with an illegal item?

Re: Many questions...
 

There is an Edit Post button...

1: How does one MOD the AI files?
You open them in text files and start playing with the values in there. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif I don't know too much about AI modding, but others do.

2: How do ministers work and how can they be utilized well?
They will control parts of your empire for you, using the AI. But, they are not very good, and it is generally better to control your empire yourself.

3: Is it possible to MOD colony modules to only colonize specific atmospheres?
No, it is not.

4: Can Argon be used as an atmosphere type?
You can not add any new atmospheres.

5: What is a good place to get free web hosting from?
http://www.spaceports.com

6: Does anyone think it reasonable to have both regular armor and shields and the "leaky" variety (smaller and cheaper) in the same MOD?
It depends on how it is done. You can make the regular armor only have about 1/2 or fewer hitpoints as the leaky armor. But, combining normal and leaky shields gets very tricky, and probably shouldn't be done.

7: What are the weapon and component family fields for?
They determine what an item will be made obselete by, and what will be replaced by what when you "Upgrade" a design.

8: What (or where can I find out which) abilities can be used with what items (component, vehicle size, facility)?
Look in Abilities.txt. It lists a few. Check out my SE4 Modding 101 tutorial, linked in my sig, for some more pointers. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

9: What happens if an ability is used with an illegal item?
Nothing. It will list the description of the ability in-game, but it will not funciton (that ability, at any rate).

Re: Many questions...
 

regarding 3: there is an option at game start to 'colonize only own atmosphere type' or something like that. that way, empires can only colonize planets with the same atmosphere that they start on.

Re: Many questions...
 

Much useful information here. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Thanks.

A few additions:
1: I meant "What exactly do all the values in the AI files (especially design creation) do?"

3: I was looking to implement a colonizer for each atmosphere type (using the other component pictures) as a way to expand the total number of colonizable planets without immediately affecting the beginning of the game.

7: What happens if the families (either kind) overlap?

8: I have read through the entirety of Modding 101 (it has been very helpful) and was hoping for, not just a list of the abilities, but where they can be used. This would be to clear up "Can you MOD a facility with the remote mining ability so it would mine orbiting moons?" and "Can ships\bases produce resources with the solar resource generation ability?" type questions en-masse.

- LostCommander Conquest http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon6.gif

Re: Many questions...
 

Re: No 8

I have written a program to mod many of the data files. (see my sig) As part of this I created a modified abilities.txt file that adds an additional line to the file specifying what it can be used for. (ie facilities, components or systems. whith vehicle abilites assumed to be anything a component can have)

This file may not be completely accurate but should provide a good initial guideline.

The new txt file is here:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/dgunsten/AbilitiesNew.txt

< Edit > I can't spell

[ December 20, 2002, 01:05: Message edited by: DavidG ]

Re: Many questions...
 

Re No 3

Do you mean you want to start the game with the ability to create Ice, Gas and Rock Colonizers? If so change the 'Start Level' of the colonization techs from 0 to 1.

Re: Many questions...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Surely not! It doesn't work in 1.49 anyway.

Re: Many questions...
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Surely not! It doesn't work in 1.49 anyway.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">hehe Classic!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Figures the first entry would have an obvious bug. Well if anyone follows the SE4Modder thread I mentioned there that I though there would be a few bugs since I really haven't done extensive modding myself.

Re: Many questions...
 

Thank you very much for answered questions. A few more though...

How / Can weapon mounts be given technological prerequisites?

What I wanted to do with the colony stuff was make Oxygen Gas Colonizer and Carbon Dioxide Gas Colonizer separate components. This would be so that all planets could be colonized, but each type pair (atmosphere + planet type) would be a separate tech and require a separate componentfor colonization. Is this possible?

Re: Many questions...
 

Edit: Misinformed. Please read post above.

[ December 20, 2002, 23:13: Message edited by: TerranC ]

Re: Many questions...
 

no, i thought you could research mounts now? you mean these settings dont work?:

Number of Tech Req: (Optional)
The number of Tech Requirements that are for this enhancement. The Tech requirement
determines the technology level an empire must have before this enhancement
becomes visible to be used in designs.

Tech Area Req X: (Optional)
For each of the Tech Requirements, this is the tech area of the requirement.
The X is the number of the requirement.
Allowable values for Tech Area Req:
A name from the TechArea.txt file.

Tech Level Req X: (Optional)
For each of the Tech Requirements, this is the tech level in the given area
that must be reached.
The X is the number of the requirement.
Allowable values for Tech Level Req:
A value from 1 to the Maximum Level for this Tech Area as defined in the
TechArea.txt file.

Re: Many questions...
 

Puke:
Yes, those do indeed work.

Re: Many questions...
 

But for some reason the mounts don't show up as fruits of research - if you right click on a tech area it doesn't list them, and even when you research them you don't get a log message saying you've researched Uber Spinal 1337 Hyperspace Mount of DooM http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Many questions...
 

So bug Aaron to get those log Messages added! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Many questions...
 

Oh yeah, like that's going to work! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

mlmbd http://www.shrapnelgames.com//ubb/icons/icon6.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif