How to mod a starting planet?

GeorgiaBoy · #1 May 5th, 2007, 08:01 PM

I was wondering how I can mod a player to start off with their native environment on their first planet? In this case, it would be Rock, Oxygen, Mild conditions (med+ size planet would be nice. Every time I start a game, I get a dome 95% of the time...

GB

P.S. I feel like a kid in a candy store with this game...Wifey has been quiet so far

Suicide Junkie · #2 May 5th, 2007, 10:58 PM

That shouldn't happen...
There is the occasional glitch, where if your homeworld has a moon, your starting planet may be the moon instead of the actual homeworld, but that is pretty rare.

GeorgiaBoy · #3 May 6th, 2007, 12:20 AM

Hi SJ,

Well, I got mad and used the map editor and gave the first AI a sphereworld...more than perfect conditions. I even went into settings.txt and set the planetary starting conditions low,med,high to 150...Anyway, problem solved, not with a scapel, but with a chainsaw...

On to my next task...the Swarm!

GB

P.S. I know the system limit is 255--'hard-coded', but with the editor, I believe that a person can go beyond this, if said 'self-flagellent' is willing to manually use the map editor...

Suicide Junkie · #4 May 6th, 2007, 11:28 AM

The problem is that systems are indexed by a 1 byte value. Your game is sure to break if you try to add more.

GeorgiaBoy · #5 May 6th, 2007, 12:27 PM

OK...I guess I will have to mod in more planets per system...I guess SE V has the same limitation. Thanks for the heads up, SJ.

GB

P.S. The better half and I were in Vancouver a little while ago...was wondering if Ontario provence is as clean and tidy?

Captain Kwok · #6 May 6th, 2007, 12:49 PM

SE:V does allow more than 255 systems, but with around 300 or so, you start to lose connectivity in the warp point network.

Fyron · #7 May 6th, 2007, 01:49 PM

From my understanding, in SE5, the WPs are still present; they just stop being drawn on the quadrant map at some point.

capnq · #8 May 6th, 2007, 04:29 PM

Since you're already using the Map Editor, if you put starting points in an empty sector, game setup will automatically add the appropriate planet there. That won't work for ringworlds and sphereworlds, though. I don't know if it's possible to mod the startup files to allow races to start on those.

I remember it taking me quite a long time to realize that one didn't have to put starting points on existing planets.

douglas · #9 May 6th, 2007, 04:39 PM

There are two possible ways I can think of for you to start with a domed planet. First, you're playing with a pregenerated map with your start location marked. Second, you're playing with a mod that allows moons large enough to be considered for homeworld selection.

To fix the first problem, edit the map and change your start location to an empty square. When the game starts, if there is already a planet at your start location it will put you on that planet with whatever size and atmosphere it happens to have. For start locations without preplaced planets, however, it will generate a customized planet for you. Planet size will be determined by the homeworld quality setting in game setup and the atmosphere will match what your race breathes.

To fix the second problem, you will have to either change the mod to not generate unusually large moons or select a homeworld quality that will force your homeworld to be larger than the largest possible moon. The homeworld selection process might pick a moon if it's large enough, but will then place the homeworld on the planet the moon is orbiting. I am not aware of any published mods with moons larger than Medium, so unless you've added such things yourself selecting Good quality homeworlds (which forces all homeworlds to be Large) should solve the problem.

GeorgiaBoy · #10 May 6th, 2007, 05:44 PM

Quote:

douglas said:
There are two possible ways I can think of for you to start with a domed planet. First, you're playing with a pregenerated map with your start location marked.

Nope.

Second, you're playing with a mod that allows moons large enough to be considered for homeworld selection.

Bullseye! I have a quadrant mod which converts systems into 'sectors', with a star(s) and planets stacked on each other comprising a 'system' (actually many moons), with multiple 'systems' in a 'sector'. It has generated about 8400 planets on the map. It is much like Geoschmo's UltraQuadMod, but with the planets stacked on one another...

To fix the first problem, edit the map and change your start location to an empty square. When the game starts, if there is already a planet at your start location it will put you on that planet with whatever size and atmosphere it happens to have. For start locations without preplaced planets, however, it will generate a customized planet for you. Planet size will be determined by the homeworld quality setting in game setup and the atmosphere will match what your race breathes.

To fix the second problem, you will have to either change the mod to not generate unusually large moons or select a homeworld quality that will force your homeworld to be larger than the largest possible moon. The homeworld selection process might pick a moon if it's large enough, but will then place the homeworld on the planet the moon is orbiting. I am not aware of any published mods with moons larger than Medium, so unless you've added such things yourself selecting Good quality homeworlds (which forces all homeworlds to be Large) should solve the problem.

Thanks for your insightful input, douglas. I guess the Chainsaw it is...

GB