Need little help! |

All the game people and others say if u want to change something do it urself...improve ur own game.My question is how do u do this, im not really sure and i dont want to touch and programming and other game stuff?

Re: Need little help!
How i started was just reading the txt files in the DATA folder. everything that you can change is in them. just figure out what's out there. then make sure you always back up a file before you change anything in it. if it messes up you just use your back up.
Or do what fyron suggests.. in the GameTypes folder make a new folder called... "MYMOD" and copy the data folder into it. You can change the data files and it won't change the stock game. When you start a new game your 'mod' will show up in the list.
you can't play multiplayer if you change your stock files, just so you know. its best to make a mod directory in the GameTypes folder.
Re: Need little help!
At the very least, you should copy the data files in to the "Standard SE5" game type folder. Whenever a game patch comes out that updates data files, you will lose all your work if you are editing the stock data files... There really is absolutely no good reason to ever edit them, beyond maybe some Settings.txt parameters (though this file is the most frequently replaced by patches..).
Re: Need little help!
Maybe for starters you could give an example of what you want to do, and we can tell you how to do that.
The more specific examples are better then generals: "How do I increase the range of torpedoes" is better then "How do I make AI better more competitive.", as the first is easy to answer, while the second takes quite a bit of coding, planning and actual designing of the said AI to define what are the things that actually make AI better.
Re: Need little help!
Amount as in "space available"?
First: Remember to take backups of the files mentioned here, and any files you work with: Warranty void if backups are not taken. Not that I provide any warranty to begin with... ;P
Go to your space empires\data folder, and open a file called vehiclesizes.txt. this contains the data for ships and units.
At the start of the file, you will see the this:
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Technological Based Ships
//-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Name := Frigate
Short Name := Frigate
Description :=
Code := FG
Vehicle Type := Ship
Maximum Level := 10
Tonnage Space Formula := 250 + (([%Level%] - 1) * 25)
Tonnage Structure Formula := 250 + (([%Level%] - 1) * 25)
[and a lot more]
Change the Tonnage Space Formula to what you wish for your frigate to have in space (tonnage structure is the damage same hull can take. As of now, the space is 250, plus 25 for each level of the tech after first one. (so 250 for first, 275 for second, 300 for third.) You can change either start size or the step it increases or both. Do this to all ships you wish to change. (notice that organic and chrystalline versions are separately listed at the end of the file).
For planets, in the same folder there is a file called planetsize. When opened it looks like following:
=======================================================================================
*BEGIN*
=======================================================================================
Name := Tiny
Physical Type := Planet
Stellar Size := Tiny
Max Population := 500
Max Facility Space := 5000
Max Cargo Space := 2000
Max Supply Storage := 5000
Max Ordnance Storage := 5000
Domed Max Population := 125
Domed Max Facility Space := 1000
Domed Max Cargo Space := 500
Domed Max Supply Storage := 1000
Domed Max Ordnance Storage := 1000
Constructed := False
Special Ability ID := 0
Changing Max Facility Space or Max Cargo space will change the amount of facility and cargo space available, respectively. Domed Max Facility space and Domed Max Cargo space are for domed planets (obviously)
Remember, you can always read the files in the folder. If you get more questions, ask. Just remember, some files may contain things that were not implemented, or that are not working as of now. There are some obsolete stuff there. (like references to monsters) Just so you know.

Re: Need little help!
Note that the tonnage structure is one of those things that is not used - the hit points of a ship are actually computed by adding up the hitpoints of the components installed on a design!
~~~
The power of the ancients is now yours to command. You are truly the Master... of the obvious 
Re: Need little help!
Glad to be of assistance. If you need more, let us know. 
Re: Need little help!
Re: Need little help!
You need to place the mod files in a ...\Space Empires V\Game Types\My New Mod folder (note "My New Mod" is the name of a folder in the "Game Types" folder)
There should already be a ...Game Types\Standard SE5 folder there, this folder has the STOCK files, and should not be changed.
The mods should be located there also. In each folder there should be a Mod_Definition.txt file, the "Mod Name := My New Mod" will show "My New Mod" when you start a new game in SE5, along with a Standard SE5 game.
Re: Need little help!
Can you paste your entry for the new trait from the racial traits.txt here? It might help troubleshooting.
Re: Need little help!
I'm not sure, but the percentage could be a bit excessive, and might cause computing problems. Try with smaller percentage rates first (say 25) to see if that causes problems.
I'll try to to figure out if I can make it work on my own system when I have some time, and tell you know if I can make it.
Re: Need little help!
I think I figured it out.
You need to remove the dot from the end of the line in ability type.
so:
Ability 1 Type := Point Generation Modifier - Research. ->
Ability 1 Type := Point Generation Modifier - Research
and so forward
Minerals and organic also need a space before the - sign, so they will be like:
Ability 4 Type := Resource Gen Modifier- Minerals. ->
Ability 4 Type := Resource Gen Modifier - Minerals
Radioactive needs s in the end too
Ability 6 Type := Resource Gen Modifier- Radioactive. ->
Ability 6 Type := Resource Gen Modifier - Radioactives
and galaxy sight has wrong word in it:
Ability 7 Type := Empire- All Systems Seen From Start. ->
Ability 7 Type := Empire - All Systems Seen At Start
That did the trick for me, game loads, didn't try the game effect.
These things are defined somewhere in code, so they must match to every space, dot and letter (propably upper/lower case too). When doing this it is best to copy the line from the real trait so you get it exactly right. Description allows typoes (it only shows in game menues etc, everything else must be exact.
Re: Need little help!
Well Ability 3 won't do you much good as there is a Speed cap of around 22-24 movement a turn If I recall Correctly. Have not checked to be sure since Ver 1.33. I could be wrong.
Re: Need little help!
Well I think the problem is that you can not define new resources.
So your getting an error from the lines
Ability 1 Type := Mined Resource Generation - Lava. with the Error - Could not find ability-
and on to the next problem
Ability 1 Type := Resource Conversion. - this ability is used by the Resource Conversion Button to change one resource to a different resource at a loss in the conversion not one in to all three resources.
Ability 1 Description := Converts ([%Amount1%]) lava into ([%Amount2%]) crystals, ([%Amount2%]) metanide, ([%Amount2%]) tritium per turn.
Ability 1 Scope := Space Object
Ability 1 Range Formula := 1
Ability 1 Amount 1 Formula := 5000 - this is a percentile so your saying that you want it to convert at 5000% percent efficiency so for every 1 resource you convert you would get 50 back.
Ability 1 Amount 2 Formula := 10000 - not used - for this one.
The storage facility
Resource Storage - Lava. - same as the first not a defined ability -
Ability 1 Type := Resource Storage - Lava.
Ability 1 Description := Stores (([%amount1%]) * ([%Level%]) units of lava. Ok so this will return a different amount than actually stored At level 1 all is good but at level 2 you get false Information
Ability 1 Scope := Space Object
Ability 1 Range Formula := 1
Ability 1 Amount 1 Formula := 10,000 You do not have a formula to increase this with each level increase
Ability 1 Amount 2 Formula := 0
So This is what a player would see in the description .
LEVEL -----SEEN BY PLAYER ------TRUE AMOUNT
1 -----------10,000-------------10,000
2 -----------20,000-------------10,000
3 -----------30,000-------------10,000
ect....
So to fix this use these line
Ability 1 Description := Stores (([%amount1%])) units of lava.
Ability 1 Amount 1 Formula := 10,000 * ([%Level%]) this would
Hope this helps you.
Re: Need little help!
1)Me and someone else r making a mod, but, i need to limit the buildings u can build on one of the planet types so that u can only build certain things.
2)I need to limit the chance of anopther type of planet so that it is as rare as ruins are.
3) i need to put the project on to "my projects" onl8ine and then to the modders bit 4 people to download wen its ready.
If u can answer any of these plz do.
Anubite Lord
2) Ruins are stellar abilities, that are imposed over existing stellar objects. You could use Stellar ability types to impose similar abilities to normal planets. Check how ruins are done in StellarAbilityTypes.txt
I have to think about 1 for now.
And as noted, you can not have new resources, but you can rename the old ones...

Re: Need little help!
u makin a "revolutionary" mod
Re: Need little help!
Re: Need little help!
Chance Type 1 Number of Any Planet Compositions := 3 Chance Type 1 Any Comp 1 Type := Rock Chance Type 1 Any Comp 1 Chance := 34 Chance Type 1 Any Comp 2 Type := Ice Chance Type 1 Any Comp 2 Chance := 33 Chance Type 1 Any Comp 3 Type := Gas Giant Chance Type 1 Any Comp 3 Chance := 33
Re: Need little help!
Did you add data file entries to use them? You need an XFIleClass_Stellar.txt entry to define a class using the new planet texture, then a StellarObjectTypes.txt entry to define a mappable object using the XFile class (and reference the planet mini icon from Planets.bmp).
Also, do you plan to submit such graphics to the Multimedia Pack for the benefit of all?
Re: Need little help!
Re: Need little help!
Re: Need little help!
Have you created a new colonization module for your special planets?




Re: Need little help!
Simply copy the relevant relevant Data file into a new mod (aka GameType folder) and start hacking away... A few modding tutorials exist, but they aren't yet fleshed out for SE5.
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