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.