Alien Races

[Metheglyn]

quote:

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Originally posted by Str8_Gain:
Looks like it'd be the only way implement such a thing like I described, given the constraints imposed by the game itself. Rather brute-force, and it would make a HUGE tech tree like you said.

Hmm, this could be a suggestion to float by MM.....

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I tried something similar to this, by pulling out all of the normal weapons components and techs, and by creating nine separate tech trees for nine separate weapons families. I made each family a racial trait. I expanded the weapons available in each tree, of course, and I did my best to balance the capabilities of each family. Yes, it's a lot of work, and yes, the tech tree becomes gigantic in a hurry. The problem is that when the Components.txt file passed 512Kb, the components at the bottom of the file never became available in the game. I could research whatever it was, but it didn't yield any components that I could use. I experimented with moving components around within the file by cutting and pasting, and whatever components were at the bottom at the time never became available, so I'm pretty sure the problem involves the size of the file. The game only reads it to a certain point and then quits.

Has anyone else encountered this? Am I right in my assumption? Is there a workaround?

[Suicide Junkie]

You'll have to make a new component no matter what, but all you have to actually do is:

copy-paste the original component
edit the name, size, cost, pic, whatever
add a new tech requirement: whatever the racial tech is.

If you want the component to be available from the beginning, you could make the first tech level really cheap.

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Sure, the normal components would still be there, but hey, they can waste space on extra-large bridges/lifesupport/crew quarters if they want. Not practical, but possible. It could be for alien crews, from captured populations, too.

[CombatSquirrel]

quote:
Metheglyn:
The problem is that when the Components.txt file passed 512Kb, the components at the bottom of the file never became available in the game.

I am really working hard at designing a complex, thoroughly customized tech tree, heavily race-centered with all kinds of inter-related specialities. I understand the complexity, but if the 512kb limit is true, then I am wasting my time. Does anyone know if this is still true?

[Phoenix-D]

No, it's not. TechMod beta 5 breaks 600 kb, and everything loads.

I'm betting he was using Notepad to edit, which can't save or open above a certain file size. I use metapad myself.

Phoenix-D

[CombatSquirrel]

Thanks, Phoenix-D


Is anyone else currently working a massive, racially-biased technology tree? It looks very doable, but challenging.

[Baron Munchausen]

quote:

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Originally posted by CombatSquirrel:
quote:
Metheglyn:
The problem is that when the Components.txt file passed 512Kb, the components at the bottom of the file never became available in the game.

I am really working hard at designing a complex, thoroughly customized tech tree, heavily race-centered with all kinds of inter-related specialities. I understand the complexity, but if the 512kb limit is true, then I am wasting my time. Does anyone know if this is still true?

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There is no such limit in the game itself. My components.txt has been over 600 kb for months. I've got a 'new edition' in the works that breaks 700 kb. Not having the exact content of your mod, I can only guess what was going wrong. It might be a limitation of your editor, but that also seems unlikely. Notepad will only edit files up to 64kb anyway. What were you using? It's most likely that you simply made a mistake somewhere. The limits on many of the abilities are not clearly documented. You might have exceeded one of them. A mispelled entry or even just an extra blank line could break the parsing process and the game might not even give a proper error message. It would just stop interpreting the components list at that point.

[AJC]

Wordpad is another one thats good to use when editing files. I will often use Notepad to design a new component and have the components file open in wordpad. Then I copy the new item off of notepad and paste it into the component list in wordpad. Never had file size problems.