Noobie trying to Mod, keep getting Gaians

[DeepWoodsSaint]

Hey there!

I'm sure this is a thread that has cropped up a few times, but I've been unable to troubleshoot the issue myself.
I'm trying to do a pretty simple custom faction; all the text works properly, but I'm unable to use the mildly customized graphics I've made(only a leader image), as whenever I try, it reverts to Deidre.
I've checked the file names, locations, and it all seems to be in order according to other posts I've seen mentioning the issue, but still, Deidre.

What can I do? I'm using the GOG version, with SMAC and SMAX.
I've attached the relevant files; the faction is called Foundation, and is written as FOUNDATION.

Thanks! Any help is appreciated.

[bvanevery]

You wouldn't happen to be on a Mac?  I seem to recall that the GOG Galaxy version has to be used for modding to be successful.  Something weird about the file system stuff.

[DeepWoodsSaint]

I'm running Windows 10 

[bvanevery]

I've never actually tried to mod the graphics of a faction.  What if you delete all those various .tmp files that get generated?  In particular GAIANS.tmp and GAIANSvals.tmp?

[Buster's Uncle]

The Gaians graphic is the default, so it's probably in the .txt files.

I can't find any real irregularities in yours, so time to nitpick for the sort of hopelessly trivial thing that borks people up - there's two spaces in/between "FOUNDATION,  FOUNDATION" under "#CUSTOMFACTIONS" in your alphax.txt.  It shouldn't be that, 'cause the official factions get away with it in the two categories above, but that is literally all I can find...

The "#FOUNDATION:" line in FOUNDATION.txt looks exactly right -you even kept the case consistent for extra good measure- and that's where people usually trip up...

[DeepWoodsSaint]

I'll try fiddling with the text file again; deleting .tmp files didn't do much, sadly.

[DeepWoodsSaint]

No such luck. Two spaces or one, all lower case or all upper case, uninstalling and reinstalling doesn't seem to have done anything.

Could it be an issue with the imagepack?

[Buster's Uncle]

Dunno why it would be - if you screwed up the color palette horribly, the game would just show it looking bad.  This is almost certainly some filename/addressing issue, to give you the default graphics.  Is the .pcx in the same folder with the .txts?  That would give you Deirdre, even though it was formatted right, if it wasn't where the game was looking...

[DeepWoodsSaint]

That would probably be it! I've got the .pcx file in the Alpha Centauri folder alongside the .txt. Where should it go instead? All the standard faction .pcx files are in that same folder, as well.

[Buster's Uncle]

That is where it goes - the root AC directory, same as the .txts.

This is a real stumper.  That Deirdre graphics problem is common for beginning faction modders, but it's always a problem with precise formatting of the name.  -Maybe try changing the name(s) -faction filenames, and the listing in both .txt- and see what happens?

[DeepWoodsSaint]

Hm. Then it is a mystery I suppose.

[Buster's Uncle]

See my edit suggestion…

[DeepWoodsSaint]

No dice, I'm afraid! Text and the faction load fine, but still nothing but 

[Buster's Uncle]

I'm stumped.

Maybe tomorrow, my subconscious will have made a sensible suggestion.  Maybe someone else will figure it out...

[DeepWoodsSaint]

I appreciate the effort!