New Modder: Planet Type Conundrum

[Wydraz]

Greetings! I am a recent fan and new modder to SEIV, and though you don't know it, you have all been a tremendous help on these Boards. I am working on a mod, and I was up till 5am this morning trying to solve this conundrum. I hope you can help me solve it.

My plan was to make a new planet type that was hidden in a stellar storm. At first I thought it would be a simple matter to just place a planet as a moon of a stellar storm, and it would be hidden as only the storm would show on the system map and the player would have to click on it to discover the planet. Unfortunately it seems the game decided that the planet graphic has priority, so the planet shows up instead. That didn't work.

I had considered simply placing a planet within a nebula system to hide it, but I didn't want it to be that difficult to find.

I then created a new graphic and a matching sector type that appeared to be a stellar storm for the small graphic (to appear ton the system map), but a planet for the large graphic (so that when the planet is clicked on and appears in the detail panel).

But this only adds the new planet as a graphic, and I didn't want it to just appear as a random planet. So I rolled up my sleeves and edited the other data files to create a new "Stormworld" planet size so it would appear only in a specified system type.

What follows are my current edits to the data files in my mod folder. I created a new system type where the Stormworld would appear, and a quadrant type for testing. Both are very simple to make it easy for testing.

SECTTYPE ENTRY:

Physical Type := Planet
Picture Num := 303
Description := A hidden world protected by a stellar storm.
Planet Size := Stormworld
Planet Physical Type := Rock
Planet Atmosphere := Oxygen

PLANETSIZE TYPE:

Name := Stormworld
Physical Type := Planet
Stellar Size := Huge
Max Facilities := 25
Max Population := 8000
Max Cargo Spaces := 16000
Max Facilities Domed := 5
Max Population Domed := 500
Max Cargo Spaces Domed := 1000
Constructed := False
Special Ability ID := 0

SYSTEMTYPES ENTRY:

Name := Test 1
Description := Standard solar system.
System Physical Type := Normal
Background Bitmap := Starmap.bmp
Empires Can Start In := FALSE
Mask Background Objs := FALSE
Non-Tiled Center Pic := FALSE
Number of Abilities := 0
WP Stellar Abil Type := Normal Warp Point
Number of System Objs := 2
Obj 1 Physical Type := Star
Obj 1 Position := Ring 1
Obj 1 Stellar Abil Type := Normal Star
Obj 1 Size := Any
Obj 1 Age := Any
Obj 1 Color := Any
Obj 1 Luminosity := Any
Obj 2 Physical Type := Planet
Obj 2 Position := Circle Radius 4
Obj 2 Stellar Abil Type := Normal Planet
Obj 2 Size := Stormworld
Obj 2 Atmosphere := Any
Obj 2 Composition := Any

QUADRANTTYPES ENTRY:

Name := TEST
Description := This is a test galaxy.
Min Dist Between Systems := 1
System Placement := Grid
Max Warp Points per Sys := 4
Min Angle Between WP := 90
Number of System Types := 2
Type 1 Name := Test 1
Type 1 Chance := 900
Type 2 Name := Standard 1
Type 2 Chance := 100

The result baffles me. If I create a map in the map editor, it works like a charm. However, if the game generates a map, the Stormworld does not appear at all. I spent hours tweaking the data files to no avail. Then I discovered that the Stormworld actually was there, but it was completely invisible! I stumbled on its location by accident when I clicked on an 'empty' sector of the system. The details panel shows the planet name, no graphic, a Type of ' - ', an Atmosphere of 'NA', and normal values for Condition and Value. The rest of the panel is empty.

So can anyone figure out what's going on here? Did I miss something in the data files, or is this a bug in SEIV? I have SEIV Gold 1.84.

[Suicide Junkie]

The details panel shows the planet name, no graphic, a Type of ' - ', an Atmosphere of 'NA', and normal values for Condition and Value. The rest of the panel is empty.

That's not a stormworld, its a null-planet!

I suffered from those when I tried to add a planetsize too...
I think others may have had more luck, but I still have no idea what's going on.

What I did for hidden planets, was to just make a system type where lots of storms are generated overtop of the planets and objects... some of the storms are cloaking storms, which leave the planet totally hidden until you bring in ships with scanners.

[Wanderer]

Originally posted by Wydraz:
SYSTEMTYPES ENTRY:
Name := Test 1
Description := Standard solar system.
System Physical Type := Normal
Background Bitmap := Starmap.bmp
Empires Can Start In := FALSE
Mask Background Objs := FALSE
Non-Tiled Center Pic := FALSE
Number of Abilities := 0
WP Stellar Abil Type := Normal Warp Point
Number of System Objs := 2
Obj 1 Physical Type := Star
Obj 1 Position := Ring 1
Obj 1 Stellar Abil Type := Normal Star
Obj 1 Size := Any
Obj 1 Age := Any
Obj 1 Color := Any
Obj 1 Luminosity := Any
Obj 2 Physical Type := Planet
Obj 2 Position := Circle Radius 4
Obj 2 Stellar Abil Type := Normal Planet
Obj 2 Size := Stormworld
Obj 2 Atmosphere := Any
Obj 2 Composition := Any

I think the size has to be one of the original stellar sizes (tiny through huge).

To lapse into pseudo-code, I think the way SE4 works this is to find matches for the following expression then pick a result at random:

SystemTypes.ObjectSize == PlanetSize.StellarSize &&
PlanetSize.Name == SectType.PlanetSize

but I could be wrong.

Another thing that has been known to cause problems is adding planet sizes to the PlanetSize.txt file before the five original ones.

[Fyron]

I am fairly certain that this line:

Obj 2 Size := Stormworld

in SystemTypes.txt referes to the Stellar Size line in PlanetSize.txt, not the name.

Also, adding any planets above the Huge planet entry causes weird effects (something like all the specific planet sizes called in SystemTypes.txt get shifted down by as many new planets as you enter in PlanetSize.txt, so one planet added makes all Huge calls become Large planets instead; it is weird ), and I recommend you do not do it.

[Wydraz]

Hmmm. I added the Stormworld size after the Huge size in Planettypes.txt.

If I can only use the standard sizes, then does that mean I am unable to do what I am attempting? What would you suggest I do if I want a new graphic to go with a new planet type that can only appear in a specific system type? Is this impossible to do?

[ July 04, 2003, 18:33: Message edited by: Wydraz ]

[Fyron]

Based on the first half of my post, I would try setting the Stellar Size of the Stormworld to be Stormworld.

[Wydraz]

By the way, whenever I open a map with the map editor created by the game, the Stormworld also appears invisible. If I try to edit it I get a 'range check error' and I cannot edit it. Yet if I place a Stormworld to the map, everything works fine.

Fyron, Do you mean in the planetsize file change it to this?

Name := Stormworld
Physical Type := Planet
Stellar Size := Stormworld <<==??
Max Facilities := 25
Max Population := 8000
Max Cargo Spaces := 16000
Max Facilities Domed := 5
Max Population Domed := 500
Max Cargo Spaces Domed := 1000
Constructed := False
Special Ability ID := 0

Thanks for the idea, but this does not work.

[ July 04, 2003, 19:06: Message edited by: Wydraz ]

[Fyron]

Now that I think about it, I do not think you can call for custom planet sizes in SystemTypes.txt. I may be wrong, but I think that is it. This has always been a tricky issue.