Modding SEV Thread Questions

[Elsemeravin]

President_Elect_Shang said:
You can’t make components obsolete right now!

you can by simply add a "Get_empire_tech_level("toto") <= 5" requirement.

[Phoenix-D]

Nope. That isn't checked except on savegame load.

[President_Elect_Shang]

Or you can do it the way I am. Build an entire Mod based on generational tech. Test it by saving then reloading the game for needed updates and tweaking. And THEN proclaim to Phoenix-D and CPT Kwok that it is all working fine and THEY are wrong generational does work!

Wait… that really happened!

Sorry guys, I still feel bad about that one.

[Phoenix-D]

As I recall I'm the one that suggested the idea in the first place without testing it properly, so..

[Elsemeravin]

President_Elect_Shang said:
Build an entire Mod based on generational tech.

Can you explain (again?) what you mean by "generational tech" ? I haven't seen anything new here so I might have missed your point.

[President_Elect_Shang]

This is essentially SE4 style tech were you can phase out one component in favor of another after meeting certain requirements. For example let’s say you start the game with Ion Engines and after reaching tech level 3 in area A and tech level 5 in area B the Ion Engine is removed from the components list and replaced by the Nuclear Engine. As it stands now you can design both those components and set the requirements to phase the one out when the other is developed. The problem is that SE5 is only checking the Components.txt file when the game is loaded, so using the above example the Ion Engine will stay in the components list with the Nuclear Engine until you the player quits SE5. When you start it back up the Ion Engine will be removed and only the Nuclear Engine will be available. The foundation of my mod rests on generational components. If this is not fixed by Aaron I am doomed. And it would hurt even more because I have been trying to create this mod since pre-Gold SE4 days.

[Elsemeravin]

However if I undertand correctly, you can still make the Ion Engine unusable once the Nuclear Engine is available, even if it is still appearing in the list.

Is that so different from what you expect ? It seems to be just a display glitch, isn't it ?

[President_Elect_Shang]

I don’t know of a way to make components unusable without adding restrictions to the vehicles they are to be used in. Also if they can be made unusable that would just make for a mod doomed to failure. Ask yourself if you would really want to play a mod that clutters the ship design screen with components that you aren’t even allowed to use? What you are describing is closer to a semi-generational component. Any generational mod must, by nature, have the components removed from the list.

If you can’t imagine what I am saying start a game of SE4, give yourself all tech to start with, go to design a ship, then make sure the “Only Latest” button is not selected. Now try scanning through all that. That is an example of what I am coining as semi-generational. Keep in mind this is an example of semi-generational. Meaning the components may be outdated but you can still use them. In the example above and in your question the components aren’t usable. They are just cluttering up space, in other words almost semi-generational.

[Phoenix-D]

Nope. If an item is displayed, you can use it. And the point is to get it off the list, really; making it unusable is just a side-effect.