Balance Mod to become Stock SEV Petition

[Shadowstar]

The only problem here is that most serious modders will want to use Balance as the basis for thier mods. This works until Balance gets updated, at which point there is no clean and easy way to update the new mod's files accordingly. There is also the fact that most mods will be replicating Balance mod files with thier intalls, which wastes disk space. This would not be a problem if Balance was Stock.

If Kwok doesn't want Balance to become Stock, maybe there is a way to make the process of updating mods based on Balance easier? Perhaps make Balance mod something like the old Imagemod, and have it replace Stock files, but still be optional. After all, people who play Balance mod rarely ever go back to Stock. But there's no reason there can't be a way to uninstall Balance just in case.

EDIT: It occurs to me that Balance mod could be included in the new "Community Bonus Pack" or whatever that is being worked on as the SE5 equivalent of Imagemod.

[Devnullicus]

Shadowstar said:
The only problem here is that most serious modders will want to use Balance as the basis for thier mods. This works until Balance gets updated, at which point there is no clean and easy way to update the new mod's files accordingly.

This is what CVS and other source control is made for... I used it extensively in the original devnullmod and if you want to use a dynamic mod as a basis for your own mod, I would highly suggest learning to use a source control system. WinCVS is free and easy to learn...

[Suicide Junkie]

Once you've gotten started on your mod, you are very very unlikely to start over from scratch/stock again.

You will either add the new change a s a good idea, or more likely ignore it since it dosen't apply because of the changes you've made already.

[Shadowstar]

I have used WinCVS in my work on the ChaosUT2 mod, so I know how useful it can be. I hadn't actually considered using it with SE5 modding but it's a good idea.

SJ has a point too, however as my mod (Starscape) tends to be episodic, I often will make major changes to it between episodes. During SE4, I would incorporate new changes in the Imagemod into Starscape during the inter-episode interims, and remember as several patches for SE4 were released throughout Starscape's two most recent episodes (S6 and S7). Originally, Starscape used some data from various SE4 mods as a starting point. This worked well for the most part but also muddled the modding environment. As a newbie, I let it slide as part of the "learning experience".

This time around, I would very much like to dev Starscape from scratch, but as I don't like the Stock files, I feel I don't have much choice but to base it off Balance mod.

However, this is all very tentative as I have not actually begun development of Starscape:SE5 and do not intend to until SE5 is patched a bit further and I see what kinds of things come out of the community in the coming month(s). This will also give me some time to experiment with sandbox mods and get more accustomed to the way SE5 works before committing myself to what I know will be a large project.

So, that said, I am interested in this issue but I suppose I don't quite lean one way or the other on it yet.

[Suicide Junkie]

This time around, I would very much like to dev Starscape from scratch, but as I don't like the Stock files, I feel I don't have much choice but to base it off Balance mod.

Isn't that contradictory? How do you make it from scratch while basing it off something else, stock or otherwise?

[Shadowstar]

Suicide Junkie said:

Isn't that contradictory? How do you make it from scratch while basing it off something else, stock or otherwise?

I don't know about you but I don't consider Stock to be a mod. The point I was making is that I was planning to do it from scratch but given the state of Stock, I wouldn't do that unless Balance replaced Stock.

[Phoenix-D]

"From scratch" implies, well, from scratch. Like I'm doing with my mod- there are *no* elements of stock in it, except for the planets and some systems.