How to?

[Reefa]

Just out of curiosity, no one has lifted the Tech- / Facility- or Secret Project thing yet, yes?

I tried to add a Tech -> ACX crashes,
I tried to add a Tech on those deleted Techs -> ACX crashes,
I tried to change names or symbols on Techs -> works,

I tried to add a Secret Project -> ACX crashes,

I tried to add a facility -> works.

So ... since at least Facilities work, my question now is: How can you make an effect (for example more resources in that base) or find the effects used by the game *and* how can you assign them to the custom facility?

Regards,
Reefa

[Sigma]

There's a thread about there here actually. Short story is that the modding tools don't exist at this point to actually create new facilities from whole cloth.

[Reefa]

Yes. That's why my thought was about to just combine already implemented effects.

Regards,
Reefa

[Geo]

More or less directed at Yitzi as he's for the time being our resident .exe tinkerer, but if anyone else knows:

Have you ever seen the code that links certain abilities/units with certain caviar files in the executable? And if so, can these be relinked? Or is that in a completely different file you don't work with?
It's just there's quite a few abilities without a caviar file linked to them, and wondered if these have a command like "high morale linked to no graphics" flag, or aren't even mentioned at all, thus probably can't be relinked at all.

[Yitzi]

There's a thread about there here actually. Short story is that the modding tools don't exist at this point to actually create new facilities from whole cloth.

In fact, due to the way it's implemented, it is impossible to have such modding tools without a huge amount of work.  If you want a particular facility, or even minor control over what the facilities do (e.g. how much they increase something by), that can be added via .exe coding, but making it possible to make your own via .txt is not feasible.

More or less directed at Yitzi as he's for the time being our resident .exe tinkerer, but if anyone else knows:

Have you ever seen the code that links certain abilities/units with certain caviar files in the executable? And if so, can these be relinked? Or is that in a completely different file you don't work with?

I have not seen it, but I probably could find it and relink it if I set to do so.

[Dio]

I have some knowledge on this topic because I have spent time working on the code that is used to assemble the Infantry chassis. From the time spent doing this I have learned that the caviar files for weapons, armor, chassises, reactors, and ,I am assuming, special abilities are grouped by type and then assembled in their seperate procedures. These groups of prodecures are then called to such places like the design window, world map, and unit selection screens. Finally, I know that it is possible to change what pieces are used to create chassises, so it should be possible to change the graphic that is associated with a special ability.

[Geo]

I have not seen it, but I probably could find it and relink it if I set to do so.

If you come across it, please let me know. 

I have some knowledge on this topic because I have spent time working on the code that is used to assemble the Infantry chassis. From the time spent doing this I have learned that the caviar files for weapons, armor, chassises, reactors, and ,I am assuming, special abilities are grouped by type and then assembled in their seperate procedures. These groups of prodecures are then called to such places like the design window, world map, and unit selection screens. Finally, I know that it is possible to change what pieces are used to create chassises, so it should be possible to change the graphic that is associated with a special ability.

Yes, I once made a list of what caviar file appearantly links to what (see attachment). For the time being I simply rename certain caviar files in order to use them in another role on a design, but as you can imagine it's extremely limited due to size and placement.
My main bother atm is that the alien (infantry) colony pod only uses one caviar graphic, while the human (infantry) colony pod uses several caviar parts combined to form the pod. Simply renaming files here doesn't help, one race always has a 'floating piece' colony pod.
My final attempt last night was creating a dedicated line in the #UNITS section of the Alphax file, but these apply to both races as well, even when a tech is a prerequisite. The first colony pod created in the #UNITS section is always used. 

For the time being, I'll have to rethink the setup of this mod I'm working on.

[Yitzi]

Also, about it crashing the game, can you provide the alphax.txt that you used that ended up crashing the game?

[Geo]

Also, about it crashing the game, can you provide the alphax.txt that you used that ended up crashing the game?

I suppose that's directed at Reefa for the top post of this page?

[Yitzi]

Also, about it crashing the game, can you provide the alphax.txt that you used that ended up crashing the game?

I suppose that's directed at Reefa for the top post of this page?

Yes it is.

[Reefa]

Just the basic .txt file you get with the install. Renamed those open Techs / Facilities / Projects and even tried out that Monolith-Terraforming-Thing. As for the crash, I somehow can't reproduce it now ... have to take a deeper look on that again.

Regards,
Reefa

Edit: Whatever I did, the project-thing worked now. So, the fun part of the question is: How to add an effect to some new facility or secret project?

[Yitzi]

You either find a .exe modder who's taking requests (none so far AFAIK, though I plan to take requests in a few months) or learn .exe modding yourself.

[Geo]

For people using GIMP.

Does your version of GIMP checks for plug ins and other stuff each time the program starts? It takes a full minute before my version (2.8.6.) is ready to work with.

[Buster's Uncle]

Mine (v. 2.6.11) does not, and I just timed a test-boot at 16 seconds, (which is a lot faster than is typical).

[Geo]

A request for the graphic artists at the forum.

Would someone like to add a sort of leafcrown to the sporelauncher graphics in the units.pcx file?
The color of the leafs should come from the monsoon graphic (in texture.pcx). And perhaps to finish it the foot of the sporelaunchers mostly the same color as the ground in alpha centauri.

I had thought of the flat-like levels like african savannah trees/baobab trees have (see attached picture).

Any takers?