mod help plz

[kenster9119]

hi all,hope u can help,
im trying to make a new mod,just single player for now really untill i learn more,i can allready add ships to my chosen race but thats a bit unfair,and i can add components and other simple stuff,but how do i add a whole new race and get the comp to use them against me,does anyone know of any step by step tutorials to get me started,
thanks.

[Suicide Junkie]

Well, its actually much easier to create a multiplayer-only mod, rather than a single player mod.
That way, you can forget about the AIs, and just forge a universe without them holding you back.

I'm not much of an AI modder myself, but I'm sure one of them will be along shortly to give out some pointers.

[JLS]

Kenster, are you modding an AI Player for stock se4 or are you creating a whole new environment and adjusting an AI to fit that environment?

[kenster9119]

i started out just adding new ships from the ship sets u can get cos when i built the base ship it just wasnt big enough for me.lol.so i added new ships to the terran dir for myself and made the ships the size i wanted,but then i thought it wasnt very fair,so i want to add ships for the comp players to use but when i placed a new ship in their dir like the Eee for ex it didnt work,and also ive added tons of new research to my game,does the comp research and also use the new stuff ive added to the componenets folder

[ July 26, 2004, 22:46: Message edited by: kenster9119 ]

[kenster9119]

Originally posted by JLS:
Kenster, are you modding an AI Player for stock se4 or are you creating a whole new environment and adjusting an AI to fit that environment?

sorry bud but i dont know what any of that means.lol

im only modding the game cos its very similar to a game called freelancer which i used to mod and most ofit is easy to understand.MOST.lol

[Suicide Junkie]

Ok, lets see...

First, you added some new pictures, and a vehicle size to match.
The Eee image didn't work for you... my first thought there is you may have not changed the racename at the beginning of the filename to read "EEE_" instead of "Terran_"

1) As for the AI using the ship hulls you created, if the tonnage is within the range of the existing ships, they'll use one of the existing design patterns.
Otherwise, you'll need to go into the AI_designCreation.txt and copy a blueprint to use for your really big ship hulls.

2) The AI research plan is found in AI_research.txt, just add an entry for new tech area name in the right order for when you want them to research it relative to the other existing techs.

3) What the AI will actually use depends on what its design blueprints call for, and what facilities it is told to build in the text files.

[JLS]

Ok, then this is going to be your new environment and it is similar to freelancer

Now that you added new Components to the Component data file: you may created new weapons numbers or abilities that the AI can use in that AI’s Design file to load your appropriate items on the Vehicle and then vehicle will have to be constructed by the AI and this is accomplished thru that AI’s vehicle file. Then you may need to address any new Facilities in that AI Facility Construction file and this will depend on the Colony typw and that is generated from that AI’s Planet File… Trust me this list can continue.

This was a very broad answer.

Let us start with an fictitious example or please fill int any title and we will build on this with your AI:

~A new weapon spelled DOOM.
~A new Facility called Heaven.
~We also will create a Hull class that is call FreeLance.
~A few new connecting techs for your research file.
Would you like a new Racial Trait or do you think we can start from this and is there anything else you may want to cover?

[ July 26, 2004, 23:09: Message edited by: JLS ]

[Atrocities]

Kenster,

Did you change the ship sizes, or add new ships to the VehicleSize.txt file in the DATA folder located in your base Space Empires IV main directory?

If this is all you have done, then the AI will automatically use the new sizes. Unless you add new components to the components file, you should be ok. If you do add new components, well then you have a lot of learning and reading ahead of you.

Modding is actually easy, its tracking what you mod for use with the AI's that is hard.

[Atrocities]

Try reading these two threads for some helpful hints.


http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...;f=23;t=011800
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/cgi-bin...004;p=1#000041

[kenster9119]

ok first to JLS,
i can allready add new weapons,faciltys and new techs trees,they were easy to figure out.lol.ive not messed with the racial traits yet,not 2 sure about them.

and to ATROCITIES,
no change in ship size,ive left all the origanal ships alone,ive added completly new ones and made a file for them in the vehchilesize.txt file,i just copied one of the others and changed its name and so on to how i liked it.and change the pic to for ex..terran_portait_killermk1,and terran_mini_killermk1.that works just fine for me when i play as terran but if i do the same with another race and let the comp play as them will the be able to research and use the new shipsi give them,sorry for the long post,i will check this thread again in tomorrow cos its late and im up early in the morn,thanx again,