Modding Common Ship Hulls |
I'm trying to make particular ships that are available for all players to use. An important requirement is for the ship type to LOOK the same for all players. In other words, the appearance is independent of the individual race styles. While I could simply add exactly the same graphics and inventory layouts to all empires, this seems like a waste of resources and disk space to me.
My alternative approach is to consolidate all of the common ships under the "Default" ship set, and alter the relevant files to look there first.
Successes
1. The portrait, largeportrait, and inventory pictures will correctly use files in the Default directory. CODE USED:
Vehicle Portrait Primary := ..\Default\Default_Portrait_marauder.bmp
Vehicle Portrait Alternate := [%EmpireName%]_Portrait_frigate.bmp
Vehicle Portrait Default := [%EmpireName%]_Portrait_frigate.bmp
Vehicle Large Portrait Primary := ..\Default\Default_LargePortrait_marauder.jpg
Vehicle Large Portrait Alternate := [%EmpireName%]_LargePortrait_frigate.jpg
Vehicle Large Portrait Default := [%EmpireName%]_LargePortrait_frigate.jpg
Vehicle Inv Portrait Primary := ..\Default\Default_InvPortrait_marauder.jpg
Vehicle Inv Portrait Alternate := [%EmpireName%]_InvPortrait_frigate.jpg
Vehicle Inv Portrait Default := [%EmpireName%]_InvPortrait_frigate.jpg
Vehicle Inv Configuration Layout Primary := Default Marauder Layout
Vehicle Inv Configuration Layout Alternate := [%EmpireName%] Marauder Layout
Vehicle Inv Configuration Layout Default := [%EmpireName%] Frigate Layout
Vehicle XFile Class Name Primary := Default Marauder
Vehicle XFile Class Name Alternate := [%EmpireName%] Marauder
Vehicle XFile Class Name Default := [%EmpireName%] Frigate
Failures:
Changing the directory doesn't work for the Inventory Slots and XFile_Classes. For the .x files, the shipset viewer won't even load the relevent ships. The empire_shipset and empire_vehicle_main_texture files also need duplicate images.
Just figured I'd share this in case anyone is trying something similar. I'd love to hear some work-arounds so I don't have to pad my mod with several MB of unnecessary models and textures.
