quote:
This sounds clever, but it's the kind of thing I'd rather see in the game itself. Also, when would you run it? Would it leave all your files with the wrong names if you then wanted to run a different mod?
Some Clarification:
- The utility would be run once, when you install a shipset.
- The utility will not change or delete any existing images.
- The utility will add all the images described by your standard, by copying the closest existing image.
So, the shipset will look exactly the same in unmodded SE4, and in mods that only use images created by the shipset designer.
Under mods that use your standard image names, the shipset will have one of the original images, rather than using the generic race default.
Running the utility on one of the shipsets included with SE4 (Eee), it would add to the shipset the following:
New picture name ===> copy of Old picture
Eee_mini_troopinfantry ==> Eee_pop_portrait
Eee_portrait_troopinfantry ==> Eee_race_portrait
Eee_mini_fighterLight ==> Eee_mini_fightersmall
Eee_portrait_fighterLight ==> Eee_portrait_fightersmall
Eee_mini_PlanetoidLarge ==> Eee_mini_starbase
etc...
The pop -> infantry is nice, the small -> light is OK, and the starbase -> planetoid is pushing things.
If no reasonable choice is available, the image can be left nonexistant, and the race can use the mod's default.
The goal here is to keep each races picture's unique, so you don't have to play a game where everybody is using the same default image for their ships & units.
P&N Eg. "Who's battlemoon is that? They all look the same!"
Essentially, you could see it as the practical implementation of:
quote:
All this talk would be redundant if the vehiclesize.txt allowed you to specify a secondary image (between the first choice and the generic) if the first choice wasn't found.
since, if the primary image (specified by your standard) is not there, the secondary choices will be tried in order.
MY utility: "No baseship image? Then is there a starbase image? Copy the starbase image to 'baseship'"
SE4: Looks for "baseship", and always finds it.
Either it is the designer's original intention, or it is the backup "starbase" image, if the designer didn't make an explicit baseship image.
[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 16 November 2001).]