Mod Squad Rules

Repo Man · #1 October 19th, 2001, 11:49 PM

No, not the hip TV show, but rather the need for instructions for the rules on modding.

Little by little, I've been deciphering the text files for my own mods. Some are easy, some not so, and it is time consuming. Based on some of the questions, I'm not the only one in this boat.

I've got a handle on settings, components and facilities (plus a few other easy ones) to the degree that I can change the existing components. But I'm still 90% clueless how to add my own items and change the AI to use new additions, although I am making some headway.

Likewise, I think I just figured out how the AI politics works; acceptance of treaties seems more based on a ratio of scores and not the anger level. This seems to be why brotherly empires remain at war. (I was looking for a line which adjusted the % to accept a treaty based on the anger level .. it doesnt seem to exist, although I could be wrong)

What would help the masses would be an explaination of the individual lines within each text file.

Would any of the veteran modders be willing and/or able to post this information? Come to think of it, sharing this information could help the vet modders too, it would be a simple way to make sure everyone interprets each line the same way.

If time permits, this information would be a geat addition to the upcoming CD.

Phoenix-D · #2 October 20th, 2001, 12:58 AM

AI I can't help you with.

Adding new facilities, components, and research areas is easy. Just copy/paste an existing entry and change as needed. The order in the files gennerally translates into the order in the game, too.

Watch the family numbers though. If you want to make, say, an entirely NEW class of weapon, you'll need to change the family numbers or the game will think it's just an upgrade Version of the old component.

Roman numerals are fluff and upgrade wise do nothing. The component order is god for that.

i.e., if you had
Armor III
Armor II
Armor IV
Armor V
Armor I

in that order in the file, with the same family number, Armor I would be the "latest" component and the one that would appear when "only latest" is checked. It would also be the one the AI would use.

Confused yet?

Phoenix-D

Suicide Junkie · #3 October 20th, 2001, 01:41 AM

quote:
in that order in the file, with the same family number, Armor I would be the "latest" component and the one that would appear when "only latest" is checked. It would also be the one the AI would use.

BUT, AIs will always choose Phased shields over normals, and for some types of components (any with ability amounts), they will choose the one with the highest value.

This does not mean they're the best: you could have:
Big Armor: 100 HP, size 50KT
MiniArmor: 10 HP, size 1KT

Humans would recognize that the miniarmor is 5x stronger than the big armor, but the AI will choose the higher number (100).

Repo Man · #4 October 20th, 2001, 02:17 AM

>>>>for some types of components (any with ability amounts), they will choose the one with the highest value.
This does not mean they're the best: you could have:
Big Armor: 100 HP, size 50KT
MiniArmor: 10 HP, size 1KT

Humans would recognize that the miniarmor is 5x stronger than the big armor, but the AI will choose the higher number (100).<<<
________________________

Hmm, so if true, size should remain constant and the value should be the variable. Fewer variables would make AI that much smarter and easier to modify.

Has this ever been brought up before?

Suicide Junkie · #5 October 20th, 2001, 04:43 AM

Not in a big way...

What you've got to do is give the tiny armor a second, useless ability, like "Star - Unstable".

AI designs can then call for that ability, and specify a low "spaces per one" value.
Placed Last in the list of design entries, the Ai will fill up the Last bits of space with miniarmors.

You can, of course specify exactly how much you want and give a higher priority.

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An interesting tidbit that just came up as I was working on P&N:

For Facilities:
- You can only upgrade to a Higher roman numeral facility of the same family. Two facilities with the same roman numeral cannot be upgraded to each other.
- Order in the file is unimportant for upgrades
- Roman numerals can skip numbers with no side effects.

[This message has been edited by suicide_junkie (edited 20 October 2001).]

Alpha Kodiak · #6 October 20th, 2001, 03:25 PM

Check out this thread in the mods section:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/For...ML/000019.html

Especially look for Dubious' Modders Guide. It will help with much of this stuff.

Repo Man · #7 October 20th, 2001, 06:32 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Alpha Kodiak:
Check out this thread in the mods section:
http://www.shrapnelgames.com/ubb/For...ML/000019.html

Especially look for Dubious' Modders Guide. It will help with much of this stuff.

Thank you! This is going to save me countless hours.

Lots of those downloads look like exactly what I'm looking for.

Assuming they are all original works, is there any reason not to include them in the new CD burn?

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Edit typo
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[This message has been edited by Repo Man (edited 20 October 2001).]