Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (Full Version)

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DasTactic -> Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/18/2018 8:45:04 AM)

Hi guys,

Finally have the Bacon Mod working on my system and it makes incredible changes to the game. I've made a mod-mod that slots the RetreatUE mod into the Bacon Mod and adds a number of other things as well. You can download the file below.

INSTRUCTIONS (IMPORTANT):
1. Download and install the Bacon Mod (read inside the file how to install - it is much more than just putting everything in the Customization folder. Test that it is working.
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4263783

2. Download the RetreatUE mod and expand that into the Customizations folder of the game. Rename 'RetreatUE' to 'RetreatUE Bacon' or similar.
http://www.mediafire.com/file/1byh8bj91wwciy8/RetreatUE.zip

3. Download this file and overwrite all the files in the 'RetreatUE Bacon' directory.

4. Run the batch file 'install_dasblue.bat' in 'RetreatUE Bacon' to remove conflicting files. The game will throw errors if these files remain!

5. Change to the new theme and play the game.

To help with the Bacon Mod I added a couple of help files to the game under 'Game Info'. This is essentially the information Roger Bacon wrote for his mod.

You will also find a Das_BaconSettings.txt file that shows the settings I'm using.

For really detailed instructions and a step-by-step procedure please check out this video:
https://youtu.be/pjErAuBd0ZQ

Cheers

Das

PS. I did a short live-stream on YouTube going over the Bacon Mod changes (v1.69):
https://youtu.be/17A0s5AERX0

PPS. A full game using this can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NisJobuJWss&list=PLGB6RkFB7ZmMwtqYemP8t8oC0sLJJnFr4&index=2&t=0s



Retreat1970 -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/18/2018 11:09:03 AM)

Thanks Das123.



RogerBacon -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/18/2018 4:14:46 PM)

Hi Das. I just watched your livestream of the Distant Worlds combined mod. It was great. Also, it was a great idea to add the readme notes directly into the game. I think I will do that for future Bacon Mod releases.

It is really useful to me to see other people use my mod to learn where I need to explain things better and to know what thee value.
The reason the !note didn't work is because it was used on an automated exploration ship. Automated exploration ships are a special case because the game automatically reassigns their mission to explore something else so the note message never gets a chance to fire.
Adding ships to a fleet with the #add command is very useful for me. I use it to reinforce a fleet after battle or even during battle. It's clear from watching your video though that I need to explain it a bit better.
#add katana=4 would find the four nearest ships of the katana design (excluding low fuel ships or ships already in another fleet) and add them to the currently selected fleet. Note that there is no space between the design name and the equals sign or between the equals sign and the number to be added.

I use the 'hold position' toggle when I'm invading a planet and I want to keep a ship overhead to keep the +25% space superiority bonus. You could probably do the same with the correct ship stance setting but this way there's no need to make a global change.

One more thing about the new shiplist options. If you open the shiplist with a ship or planet selected, the ships listed will be sorted by distance from your selected object. That is really useful for, for example, finding the nearest construction ship to come and repair your fleet after battle. If you manually sort the shiplist then that will override the sort by distance.

Looking forward to any more videos you make.



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/18/2018 9:47:21 PM)

Thanks for such a great mod, Roger. It really takes the base game to a whole new level.

And thanks also for explaining where I went wrong in the video. There is so much in the mod that it is difficult to understand what to do the first time around. One aspect that I had wrong about the mod is that I assumed I would be needing to learn about it before playing but in reality, the mod itself changes so many cool things the commands are just a bonus.

I had decided to make the help files so I could reference them in-game for the recording. I was going to add more help files that focus on types of ships such as freighters, fighters, fleets, the config file, etc to make it easier to digest but if you are going to make them then I'll just copy whatever you build. :)



StarLab -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/18/2018 10:42:30 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Das123
4. Download this file and overwrite all the files in the RetreatUE Bacon directory.


Hey Das.

Is there a link to "this file" for this step? I assume it's Das Chrome is what this is referring to?? Or was there more to it?

EDIT: I assume this is it? http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4475672

EDIT2: Nevermind... Tired eyes missed the attachment link...



RogerBacon -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/19/2018 1:29:03 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: StarLab

quote:

ORIGINAL: Das123
4. Download this file and overwrite all the files in the RetreatUE Bacon directory.


Hey Das.

Is there a link to "this file" for this step? I assume it's Das Chrome is what this is referring to?? Or was there more to it?

EDIT: I assume this is it? http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4475672



Hey Larry pokes his head up. What happened man? You went missing from your playthrough after your empire went bankrupt. My lunch breaks weren't the same after that.



StarLab -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/19/2018 1:48:46 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: RogerBacon
Hey Larry pokes his head up. What happened man? You went missing from your playthrough after your empire went bankrupt. My lunch breaks weren't the same after that.


Creditors, man! They chased me to the other end of the galaxy! They repo'ed my fleets - it wasn't pretty! [;)]



RogerBacon -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/19/2018 2:39:27 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: StarLab


quote:

ORIGINAL: RogerBacon
Hey Larry pokes his head up. What happened man? You went missing from your playthrough after your empire went bankrupt. My lunch breaks weren't the same after that.


Creditors, man! They chased me to the other end of the galaxy! They repo'ed my fleets - it wasn't pretty! [;)]

LOL. Well if you ever continue the game you can now get a loan in the newer versions of the Bacon Mod to get your state economy going again. Just watch out for those interest rates.



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (5/19/2018 5:50:19 PM)

UPDATED VERSION 1.01 - FASTER SHIPS & FIGHTERS
I have been talking to Larry Monte a bit about the mod settings and he mentioned that the Gravity Well introduced in the Bacon Mod can slow things down a bit and that this was an aspect that people had commented on in his videos. To mitigate this a bit I thought I'd increase the main thrust of the ships and fighters by a factor of 50%. In the revised version linked in the OP there are three new files: components(FASTSHIPS).txt, fighters(FASTSHIPS).txt, and research(FASTSHIPS).txt. These need to replace the existing components, fighters and research text files. I'll probably eventually make this the default but I haven't tested it much yet.



Pocus -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/4/2018 5:24:11 AM)

Thanks for the mod integration. As I said in another thread, there are a lot of warnings issued by Sabranan utility on faulty data, any desire to fix them? [:D]

see post #4
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=4489481



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/5/2018 3:20:08 PM)

I downloaded the modding tool to check it out. It is a great utility. :)

There are a lot of warnings. Thanks for the heads-up. It looks like many of the warnings come from the old mod integrations so I might have a look to see if the equivalent file exists in those.



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/5/2018 4:44:48 PM)

There were a few things in the research, facilities and fighters area which I've corrected in my master files. Many of the other warnings are changes it wants to make to the RetreatUE mod files but having a look I don't think these changes are warranted. The files it gives warnings for all work correctly from what I can see.

I'll wait until the next version of the Bacon Mod before uploading because I want to see what I need to change/remove in the help files of my mod-mod-mod.



Sabranan -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/5/2018 10:40:54 PM)

Just loaded Retreat UE into my tool and this is my read of the warnings that you should actually do something about:


The current line contains invalid data in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\policy\pirate\banoserit.txt file, the "searchDesignAutoUpgradeFighters" variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the policies are outputted.
The current line contains invalid data in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\policy\pirate\caleph.txt file, the "esearchDesignAutoUpgradeFighters" variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the policies are outputted.
The current line contains invalid data in the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\policy\pirate\enton.txt file, the "RResearchDesignAutoUpgradeFighters" variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the policies are outputted.


The above are just typos in the policy files, best to correct them just so they're actually used.


Pirate policy file "Ylta.txt" skipped as it does not match a race name. This file will be dropped on output.
Dialogue file "ylta.txt" skipped as it does not match a race name. This file will be dropped on output.


These just need the files renamed to include the apostrophe, then the game should actually use those policy/dialogue files.


The current line contains invalid data In the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\dialog\mortalen.txt file, the "\n\nAre you certain about this?" variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the dialogues are outputted.
The current line contains invalid data In the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\dialog\mortalen.txt file, the "Your insult will be remembered. Repayment will come to you in due time..." variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the dialogues are outputted.
The current line contains invalid data In the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\dialog\mortalen.txt file, the "Are you looking for a fight?" variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the dialogues are outputted.
The current line contains invalid data In the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\dialog\visareen.txt file, the "\n\nAre you certain about this?" variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the dialogues are outputted.
The current line contains invalid data In the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\dialog\visareen.txt file, the "Your insult will be remembered. Repayment will come to you in due time..." variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the dialogues are outputted.
The current line contains invalid data In the C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Distant Worlds Universe\Customization\RetreatUE II\dialog\visareen.txt file, the "Are you looking for a fight?" variable is not recognised. It will be dropped if the dialogues are outputted.


All of the above are just formatted in such a way that the text in quotes is on it's own line. DW will probably just ignore them, but it's an easy fix and it's only in two files.

The rest of it is probably fine. If it was me I'd fix the issues above manually, then load it into the tool again and output research, components, facilities, races and policies since the issues in those files are corrected by the tool itself.



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/6/2018 7:56:51 AM)

Thanks Sabranan. I've made a patch file for most of these in my mod-mod-mod but when I looked at the various iterations from DW Extended Univers --> Extended AI Improvement Mod 1.05 --> RetreatUE many of the issues stem from when the mods were first written so there could be a lot of mods that need a bit of attention.

There are a couple of things that did pop up using your utility. It stripped out a lot of the designTemplates\[faction]\pirate templates:
gizurean, human, mortalen, naxxilian, paratis, and rictoh.
There were also a lot of missing pirate templates in the original files as well:
banoserit, enton, hiigaran, lemeresh, lipid, mechanoid, napoar, ortain, quameno, shakturi, wekkarus, and zenox
Are these design templates simply not needed? Not sure how this all works.

Also in the HyperDeny components in components.txt the utility wanted to put a zero in Value3 which is the energy usage when fired. Is this correct? I thought the energy usage amount was legitimate.



Retreat1970 -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/6/2018 8:42:05 AM)

Some races cannot be pirates per the race file therefore they do not need a template. There's a default pirate template if one isn't specified though if you change that.



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/6/2018 10:23:10 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Retreat1970

Some races cannot be pirates per the race file therefore they do not need a template. There's a default pirate template if one isn't specified though if you change that.


Thanks Retreat, I found the command in the races files and the original missing pirate files are correct as they are indicated as not being pirates. :) Not sure why the edit utility is stripping out some of the others as they a=indicated as being pirates.



Sabranan -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/6/2018 1:00:07 PM)

Oh well done Das, that was a bug! Turns out the "DEFAULT" folder in there was being counted by one bit of code but not by another, so the first ended up being one ahead of the second. Usually it wouldn't matter but in a case like the enton which had a blank pirate folder by design, the "next" race would be assumed to be blank instead.

I've pushed 1.1.0.13 to sort that issue.

As for the HyperDeny that is working, but some components in Retreat UE that are named HyperDeny are actually HyperStop (the HyperDeny - Space Denial 5000S for example).




DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/6/2018 6:58:53 PM)

The utility is awesome. :) Really makes the process so much easier.

I went through all the files flagging issues and fixed them. I decided to do this manually so that the original comments etc were still in there. I ended up doing this as a livestream and there were a number of viewers who came in not knowing anything about Distant Worlds so they were 'skooled'. :)

I'll upload once the next Bacon Mod comes out.



Sabranan -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/6/2018 10:16:39 PM)

Just seen the first half of your stream Das, I've made a small update to the tool to correct two issues I saw you were having.

First, if the design templates come up in data validation it should now tell you whether it's talking about a pirate/standard template, and it also tells you what ship/base it's talking about.

Second, if the tactics on the design templates are invalid the default value will be set to whatever valid value is closest to the one it's reading. This should help with simple typos.



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/7/2018 12:43:03 AM)

That's great Sabranan. Finding those issues in the design templates was a bit tricky until I grepped for it. :)



Pocus -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/7/2018 9:31:06 PM)

@Bacon

I might have spotted a bug, a troublesome one. Twice I had a (state) freighter loaded to the top with caslon (9000 units) and upon unloading in a deep space starbase, I got half this amount in ... aculon. Quite a bother!




DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/7/2018 10:13:02 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Pocus

@Bacon

I might have spotted a bug, a troublesome one. Twice I had a (state) freighter loaded to the top with caslon (9000 units) and upon unloading in a deep space starbase, I got half this amount in ... aculon. Quite a bother!



That's a big one. Actually, this would be better over at the Bacon Mod thread. I was wondering why there was always so much Caslon reserved at mining stations and this may be part of that issue.



RogerBacon -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/7/2018 10:18:50 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Pocus

@Bacon

I might have spotted a bug, a troublesome one. Twice I had a (state) freighter loaded to the top with caslon (9000 units) and upon unloading in a deep space starbase, I got half this amount in ... aculon. Quite a bother!




Do you have a save right before it happened? Once the resource is on board the dock and unload routine is purely vanilla DWU. Was this a manually assigned mission or was the state ship automated?



Pocus -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/8/2018 5:23:13 AM)

Sorry wrong thread indeed!

The situation is slightly different than the one I thought. Reloading an old save (that I can still pass around), I see that the tiny deep space station was already full from a stockpile of 4351 Aculon (max capacity 1350). So the 9000 Caslon had nowhere to go and this why I ended up with 0 Caslon and 4351 Aculon. There was no magical transformation. Now it still poses a few issues, like:
1. Why in the first place a tiny deep space depot got saturated by a strategic resource
2. Should extra resource be lost if there is no room at destination

Side remark, it seems you can transport resources with constructors, as they are state ships and they have a cargo capacity. Is it an issue? For balance perhaps, for the code you did, Roger?



RogerBacon -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/8/2018 1:53:40 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Pocus

Sorry wrong thread indeed!

The situation is slightly different than the one I thought. Reloading an old save (that I can still pass around), I see that the tiny deep space station was already full from a stockpile of 4351 Aculon (max capacity 1350). So the 9000 Caslon had nowhere to go and this why I ended up with 0 Caslon and 4351 Aculon. There was no magical transformation. Now it still poses a few issues, like:
1. Why in the first place a tiny deep space depot got saturated by a strategic resource
2. Should extra resource be lost if there is no room at destination

Side remark, it seems you can transport resources with constructors, as they are state ships and they have a cargo capacity. Is it an issue? For balance perhaps, for the code you did, Roger?



I'm really glad to read your post. I was really scratching my head wondering how one resource could turn into another.

As to why a tiny space port in the middle of nowhere gets a certain amount of a strategic resource, who knows. The mysteries of the resource system are deep.
2 The developers coded the game that way. Their main concern, it seems, is that a freighter could end up with 'orphaned' cargo if it couldn't unload. Then, when it got assigned its next mission it wouldn't have any space available. They were so concerned about this that if you have a freighter performing a mission and you cancel the mission it will dump its cargo into space. The same happens when a ship is captured. By the way, I changed that so that a ship will only auto-dump its cargo if its auto-controlled. So you can feel free to cancel cargo orders for state-run ships without fear of losing your cargo.

Yes, any ship with cargo space can perform cargo missions and that includes constructors. It seems like a waste of a good construction ship though so I think I'll leave it that way.



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/9/2018 8:44:15 PM)

Version 1.03 is linked from the OP.

I decided to release this one now as it looks like there is still a bit to go through before the next version of the Bacon Mod will be available. I mainly didn't want this mod-mod-mod to overwrite any new help files coming with the next version of the Bacon Mod but there are a lot of other changes now made to this version:

* Syntax for selected RetreatUE files has been changed to parse correctly through Sabranan's Modding Tool
* This has fixed some long-term issues such as missing Yl'ta portraits in game. Nothing game breaking through.
* Each of the factions now has new chrome UI.



RogerBacon -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/9/2018 11:04:33 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Das123

I decided to release this one now as it looks like there is still a bit to go through before the next version...


Actually, I just released the next version of the Bacon Mod. Sadly, I still haven't looked into adding the text files that you created so yours remain the latest and greatest.



Pocus -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/10/2018 5:23:56 AM)

Thanks Roger. Some of your doc don't document commands, like unloading to a planet (alt U very rarely work for me btw...) and this !nodump command I read in the other thread is not listed either. Can you make a passe (please!) and see if your doc is up to date on commands?

I get what seems to be a recurring bug from your code now. Sadly as it seems to be deterministic, my game is stuck I fear.
[image]https://imageshack.com/a/img922/4156/ghERHd.png[/image]

And here is a bonus image, I called it 'Sober at least' [:D]
[image]https://imageshack.com/a/img921/8086/SZRpWe.jpg[/image]



Pocus -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/10/2018 5:25:37 AM)

Rats, I posted the bug report to this thread, not the main one, sorry about that.



DasTactic -> RE: Bacon Mod + RetreatUE + Das Chrome (6/10/2018 8:09:37 AM)

Just uploaded version 1.04 in the OP

The only change this time was to make the gas extractors about 30% more productive and to increase the cargo bays by about 30% on the gas mining stations. Should help with the reservation issues a bit and also help the AI. :)



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