Modding Resources (Full Version)

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Drybreeze -> Modding Resources (4/21/2016 11:09:56 AM)

Best to move this into it's own thread since it's diverging a bit from colony-manufactured resources.

History of my efforts with this are in the last few posts of "Colony Created resources" thread.

I've had a lot of success in general. I've managed to get all my desired resources (both raw and colony manufactured) into the game, including their resource icons (which looks sweeeeet all lined up in a list in-game)... but for whatever reason I simply cannot get this resource to change from luxury to strategic... why on earth not?!

This resource launches fine: 
31, Natural Materials, 31, 5.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.5, 100,			0, 4, 0.231, 0.2, 0.6,


It is an edit from the default game's: 
31, Terallion Down, 31, 5.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0, 0,			0, 4, 0.231, 0.2, 0.6,


I have successfully altered the pop quota "ColonyManufacturingLevel" to 100 (representing 100,000,000) as you can see, however that's where I hit my next brick wall.

If I alter the TYPE from 2 (Super Luxury) to 0 (Strategic) it crashes the game.
If I alter the SuperLuxuryBonusAmount from 0 to... anything at all really... it crashes.

If I alter both of them to be identical to the line above it (hosing), it crashes: 
30, Hosing, 30, 20.0, 0, 10, N, N, 0.2, 100,						0, 0, 0.095, 0.2, 1.0,	
31, Natural Materials, 31, 5.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.5, 100,			0, 4, 0.231, 0.2, 0.6,


I just don't understand it. Any pointers please? I swear I've launched this game like 200 times today testing one change after another, and now I'm just chasing my own tail it seems...

On the plus side, I've made great headway in getting all my resources into the game. Once I get them to be the exact format I want I'll move on to including them in the galactopedia and then move on to components.



Drybreeze -> RE: Modding Resources (4/22/2016 12:15:34 AM)

Well I've successfully managed to get all resources into the game that I want there, and their appropriate images.

These resources will all have their own Help pages listed into the Galactopedia which I'm working on at the moment... I've succeeded in creating one of them, so it's just a matter of doing another 39 now.

Then I'll create the Components which I've also got pre-planned from a game development I've been working on for awhile now.

But I can't seem to edit whether a resource is strategic or luxury in resource #30 onwards - I can only leave it as the default resource's assignment... which is inconvenient but not critical.

The best part about all this is that I've got lots of realistic resources appearing realistically on appropriate planet types. I hope that the same thing happens for colony-manufactured resources, but I'll have to do a play-through or two to test this.

Interestingly I noticed that ehsumrell1's Picard Era mod resource list also has basically identical settings to the default game for resources #30 onwards... I wonder if this is because ehsumrell1 also ran into this difficulty and just ran with it?



ehsumrell1 -> RE: Modding Resources (4/22/2016 6:35:02 AM)

Hello Drybreeze, I've sent you a PM containing my comments on this matter.
[:)]



Drybreeze -> RE: Modding Resources (4/22/2016 8:47:50 AM)

Thank you ehsumrell1 your input is very valued! [&o]

Meanwhile I am now working on components... I have added my own armors and images in line with the rest of the format for resources, and will now edit the resources required to make them. Once they're successful I'll apply that across the board to all components, and hopefully by that stage I'll have finished polishing resources to exactly where they need to be... depending what your input is on the matter ehsumrell1.



Drybreeze -> RE: Modding Resources (4/24/2016 3:10:12 PM)

Well it seems that there's a lot to learn about editing resources in this game.

I have methodically trial-and-error'd one at a time each of the 52 resources in the below list, and for whatever reason the game simply refuses to allow me to change some of them from Strategic to Luxury.

Interestingly, it seems to insist on there being a minimum of 15 luxury resources... but I need to experiment more before I can confirm this with total confidence. For example I have managed to set one of the strategics to luxury, so perhaps there's a MINIMUM number of luxury resources, as well as potentially a MAXIMUM. Time and experimentation will tell.

Below is a list of resources and their CURRENT settings. I should point out that these (as well as the distribution attributes which I haven't listed below) will change over time as I test the mod out. Soon the forums will let me post links, and at that time I will produce a development thread including links to images of what I've produced so far. Each resource has it's own image, and most of the components. All of the components will soon, and I will produce Galactopedia entries for each of them. With luck I'll even be able to cross-link it all in a way that the current Galactopedia doesn't cater for.

quote:

0, Bauxite, 0, 3.0, 0, 0, N, Y, 0.2, 0,
1, Biomass, 1, 2.0, 0, 0, N, Y, 0.3, 0,
2, Diamond, 2, 8.0, 0, 5, N, Y, 0.1, 0,
3, Food Stuffs, 3, 8.0, 0, 0, N, Y, 1.0, 0,
4, Gold, 4, 5.0, 0, 2, N, Y, 0.3, 0,
5, Gravel, 5, 0.5, 0, 0, N, Y, 0.3, 0,
6, Hydrocarbons, 6, 1.5, 0, 0, N, Y, 0.2, 0,
7, Hydrogen, 7, 2.0, 1, 0, Y, Y, 0.2, 0,
8, Iron, 8, 2.0, 0, 0, N, Y, 0.1, 0,
9, Natural Magnets, 9, 1.5, 0, 0, N, N, 0.1, 0,
10, Methane, 10, 2.5, 1, 0, Y, Y, 0.0, 0,
11, Nitrogen, 11, 4.0, 1, 0, Y, Y, 0.0, 0,1, 0.8,
12, Oxygen, 12, 5.0, 1, 0, N, Y, 1.0, 0,
13, Pelts, 13, 6.0, 2, 5, N, Y, 0.1, 0,
14, Silicon, 14, 1.5, 0, 0, N, Y, 0.2, 0,
15, Silver, 15, 3.5, 0, 1, N, N, 0.1, 0,
16, Uranium, 16, 5.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0.1, 0,
17, Water, 17, 2.5, 0, 0, N, Y , 1.0, 0,

' Below are Colony-Manufactured Resources.

18, Advanced Chips, 18, 10.0, 0, 10, N, N, 0.5, 1,
19, Aesthetics, 19, 12.0, 2, 8, N, N, 0.5, 2,
20, Aluminium, 20, 7.0, 0, 20, N, N, 0.3, 1,
21, Awesome Aesthetics, 21, 35.0, 2, 25, N, N, 0.2, 100,
22, Biofilm, 22, 20.0, 0, 15, N, N, 0.1, 3,
23, Concrete, 23, 3.0, 0, 35, N, N, 0.8, 1,
24, Electronic Chips, 24, 6.0, 0, 15, N, N, 0.6, 1,
25, Explosive, 25, 6.0, 0, 2, N, N, 0.2, 1,
26, Engineered Biomass, 26, 12.0, 2, 5, N, N, 0.1, 5,
27, Fine Aesthetics, 27, 12.0, 2, 10, N, N, 0.4, 5,
28, Glass, 28, 4.0, 0, 15, N, N, 0.7, 1,
29, Glorious Aesthetics, 29, 25.0, 2, 20, N, N, 0.1, 20,
30, Hosing, 30, 6.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0.2, 1,
31, Natural Materials, 31, 5.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.5, 1,
32, Petroleum, 32, 3.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.3, 1,
33, Polymers, 33, 7.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.6, 1,
34, Plutonium, 34, 44.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0, 7,
35, Rocket Fuel, 35, 7.0, 2, 30, Y, N, 0.5, 4,
36, Steel, 36, 7.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.8, 1,
37, Artificial Tissue, 37, 32.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.1, 15,
38, Artificial Organs, 38, 40.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.1, 20,
39, Computers, 39, 12.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0.9, 3,
40, Electronics, 40, 8.0, 2, 0, N, N, 1.0, 1,
41, Engineered Organisms, 41, 86.0, 2, 0, N, N, 0, 40,
42, High Explosive Devices, 42, 12.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 2,
43, Laser Units, 43, 15.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 4,
44, Lightweight Machinery, 44, 14.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 2,
45, Machinery, 45, 23.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 2,
46, Missile Units, 46, 45.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 4,
47, Nuclear Reactor Units, 47, 100.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 10,
48, Nuclear Explosive Devices, 48, 90.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 10,
49, Rocket Units, 49, 35.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 6,
50, Solar Panels, 50, 4.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 1,
51, Structure, 51, 9.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 1,
52, Tanks, 52, 2.0, 0, 0, N, N, 0, 1,


When the mod is in a playable state (well... MORE playable - it's already at a playable state) I'll release it as a draft for feedback from you good people... but for now I'm just publishing what I've been working on.

Distant Worlds is one of the most complicated and in-depth games I've seen to date, and closely approximates the detail that I want in an "ideal" game that I intend to develop in the future. So it's ideal to mod it and experiment with things like resource trees and supply lines and research trees and so on.



Hattori Hanzo -> RE: Modding Resources (4/24/2016 4:10:51 PM)

well done DryBreeze, I wait impatiently for your release [X(]



mordachai -> RE: Modding Resources (4/25/2016 3:09:42 AM)

I'd help you with pearls of wisdom... except I've mostly messed with the technology & some with components & governments & design templates and races and automation templates... but not really messed with resources! lol - sorry! :P

Good luck!!!



Drybreeze -> RE: Modding Resources (4/25/2016 11:39:38 PM)

Thankyou I look forward to having something to show as soon as forum let's me post links in a couple of days. I've got all resources and most components done including custom images and requirements. 100% new everything. .. trying to make it more realistic and natural so a player can have a better time understanding what things are used for what. Research tree will need overhauling but that's also underway.

I look forward to tapping your expertise when I get to governments and races mordachai. :)




Drybreeze -> RE: Modding Resources (4/28/2016 9:17:04 AM)

After a week of working on the mod when I get home from work I've played a test game with all the resources and components edited.

The end result was an interesting one...

On the plus side, it has resulted in a much higher focus on trade than military conquest. You need resources that you can't mine from but must manufacture in order to make components, and as a result it is necessary to trade for them... since other empires have colony-manufactured resources that you may not. Therefore trade becomes vital. I don't mind that.

One the negative side, it's TOO reliant on trading. And sometimes even other empires still haven't gotten basic colony-manufactured resources such as polymers (which is currently required by most components, representing all kinds of plastics, wiring, hosing, casings, mouldings, and so on) and so the game stalls while everyone is playing with a non-expanding fleet, can't colonise, can't grow or build mines, and is waiting on someone (ANYONE!!) to begin manufacturing this key resource and THEN DECIDE TO TRADE IT. So in that way it fails. Fast and hard. = unacceptable.

Therefore I will need to make some modifications to "raw resources" as opposed to "colony manufactured resources" and ensure that these raw resources (which your own empire is FAR more likely to acquire whether you trade or not) are the only ones necessary for any basic fleets... and let the trade aspect become necessary only for really super advanced stuff like maybe advanced warp drives or targeting systems or whatevz.

So... resource and components list MK II, which (it seems) needs to be designed and edited at the same time as the reseach.txt document. This is fast becoming a major project. Excellent. [:D]

One other positive note: all the custom icons I've produced for resources and components look crash hot, in-game. I've made them all have a uniform look and feel, which I think makes a very nice improvement to the over-all game UI. Especially lists like potential resource sites, etc, where you see columns of them all lined up.

[image]local://upfiles/54100/282E9CDD80DE422AA87469F7E45D9733.jpg[/image]



Hattori Hanzo -> RE: Modding Resources (4/28/2016 5:26:55 PM)

seem you still have some hard work to do, but you're also on the right way to success [:)]



Drybreeze -> RE: Modding Resources (5/4/2016 9:06:33 AM)

Ok well I've done quite a bit of experimenting now, and cross-compared successfully modified resource.txt files with other mods and also the default game resource.txt, and it seems as though the rules are pretty simple really.

1) Raw resources can only be 0 - 18.
2) All resources 19 and higher MUST be luxury or colony-manufactured.
3) The only difference between luxury and colony manufactured is that while they both appear sparesly (the distribution values are treated differently) the colony-manufactured ones will appear on colonies once settings are met for population density and development levels. Note that both luxury and colony-manufactured resources can spawn naturally at game-start.
4) Unconfirmed: something is going on with #2 and #13 - it won't let me make them raw resource at the moment, even though the game default ones are. I'm being forced to have them as a luxury. I will get to the bottom of why.



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