Questions About Simple Modding

[Hubologist]

I would like to create a simple mod that replaces the stock SEIV races with races of my own design, borrowing elements from existing shipsets and AI setups. I've read a number of guides at this point, but I still don't have a clear picture of how to go about doing it.

1.) There are sixteen empires that show up in the "Quick Start" screen in stock SEIV, yet there are actually twenty empires available. You can see the other four only when you start a "New Game". What determines which races will appear in the Quick Start selection menu?

2.) I've noticed that I can edit the Description, Biological Description, Society Description, and General History Description text in a race's <race>_ai_general.txt file, and that those changes will then show up in-game. Is this all one needs to do to change an empire's description, or would changes need to be made to the .emp file (or a whole new .emp file created) as well?

3.) How do I design and implement my own AI settings .txt files for an empire from scratch? I've used the "Add New" function when starting a New Game to create my own custom empire. When I check the SEIV directory, however, I notice that my custom empire only has an .emp file to represent it, whereas the stock races not only have their own .emp file, but also their own Race Pictures and AI settings.

4.) Perhaps more to the point, how can I create (from scratch) a full-fledged custom empire that will show up on the "Quick Start" screen, has its own AI settings, and has the same directory structures as a stock race? Do I need to use a combination of manual modification (messing with directories) and in-game customization?

5.) Some things confuse me. For example, I know what "Neostandard" ship graphics are, and that makes sense to me. However, in many mods (like the Star Trek mod) and even standalone shipsets meant to be used with the vanilla game, there are three .emp files for each empire: 2k, 3k, and 5k. I know that these are supposed to be for different Racial Point levels, but the stock game only has one .emp file per empire, and it too allows you to select whether you start with 2k, 3k, or 5k. So why the need for three .emp files?

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Is there a tutorial that shows how to create empires from scratch, from the ground up, that are functionally identical to the stock races in SEIV (so that they can go in the Quick Start menu, have their own proper AI settings and .emp files, etc.)? Or multiple tutorials?

Links or advice would be much appreciated. I've found a few tutorials already, but maybe I can't see the forest for the trees.