Yes, methinks too + ships in combats are very slow, I think it would be better to increase speed of little (tiny) ships and decrease the agility of big ships (huge+)
the big ships allways turn too much in their axes which let them look crazy.
adding the feature, that engines increase shipspeed in combat, would be very very cool.

thx,

Stefan

hello,

I have a quick question:

With the Starbase modules section, there is the StarBaseAbilityValue and a set of Def and Att values that all give a value for the funtion of the module.

In the case of weapons for the starbase (or ship assist), do the Att and Def strings overwrite the StarBaseAbilityValue?

Ive noticed in the Starbas modules file, that there is only one instance where There is a StarBaseAbilityValue along with an Att or Def value, the Electro-Magnetic Surge.
Here:

!-- <starbasemodule internalname="ElectromagneticSurge">
<name>Electro-Magnetic Surge</name>
<model>Starbase01</model>
<tech_requirement>Aereon Missile Defense</tech_requirement>
<module_requirement>BattleStations</module_requirement>
<description>Your best line of defense against an Overlord-class Missile attack.</description>
<modulesize>2</modulesize>
<starbaseability>StarbaseDefense</starbaseability>
<defpointdefense>16</defpointdefense>
<starbaseabilityvalue>30</starbaseabilityvalue>
<type>Defense</type>
</starbasemodule>
--
So what does the value of 30 actually do?

From looking at the data files (can't test it right now), I'd say that the starbaseabilityvalue is probably meaningless in conjunction with Attack/Defense/Assist abilities, which need the actual attack/defense types to be defined.

how do you modify the screens or the game in general? what programs are there ??

@serptico: You can mod the screens with desktop X (software from Stardock)
open the .dxpack (screen) you want to mod, and replace the graphics.


kindly regards,

-Stefan

Dudes, I was wondering there was a way i could replace the music for this game, i only like the war music- and only slightly then-. However i would like to replace all the music with Holsts' planet suite. Do i just paste the mp3 and rename them to the old musics one, and if so which peice of musice is placed where- for example when is war 00 played differing from war 01. Anywho if you could help this noob I'd be very gratefull

Yep. Don't know offhand how the game decides which war music to use when a war is on, though.

hmm I've tried adding a ship model to the game with no success..

I have the model in .x format, named it S4_example for the .x file and placed it in the models folder. I placed all necessary textures in there, and I entered the info in ship components. However, when i go into the game and look at the ships for i see the thumbnail named correctly as my ship, but the thumbnail is black and my ship doesn't show up at all in the viewer either. What have I done wrong?

Is there any way, for the tech tree colors, to add new ones or change existing ones?

@ Rusty gamer: I didn't tried it yet, but when, it should be changeable in the screen file of the techtree, maybe it's called techtree.dxpack or something like this, it should contain all color versions of the technology image, and you could swap it.
If it's just a white png picture the colorising may be hardcoded.
but swapping the design of the tech should be 100% possible by this way.

sincerly,

Stefan

nobody can help me out?

it seems that your shipmodel was converted wrong, please list all steps you made while exporting to x-format, so I can see what you probably made wrong.

How many textures did you used?

did you used multimaterial?

which exporter did you used?

thanks =O)

-Stefan

Thanks, i'll put it to use when i get a respond to my post, then it will be time for some serious modding.

What are the limitations on which techs you can mod a civilization to start off with? I have been able to do pretty-much everything I have wanted mod-wise for this game except for adding starting techs to certain civilizations, for some reason, simply using the given format for racial mods and putting in the name of techs I want to be added is not working out for me...

This has to do more with a "maximum" points value which can't be geared/stacked/loaded beyond a fix amount. 250, if i remember correctly.
So, if a "wanted" tech (of say, 50pts) puts your cumulative number at just 255 total... it won't count/record as active, and never will even if you'd edit the xml at the source rather than using the built-in routine which always verifies that specific condition.

- Zyxpsilon.

Thanks for the info...

So is there a way to modify that 250 number?

.

Kay, here's a dot!?!

How, strange... does this mean a brand spanking new *MODDING* guide for TotA (even backward compatible with DA stuff, btw) is in the works?

The Editors are really fun to have. Some kinda help (documentation) for these may be needed, though.

*Space Monsters*

I want space monsters by crackee! It says in the guide they are disabled. When will that come to be?

I was hoping to make a monster patrol a prize planet like in Masters of Orion or make a monster come out when you explored the spooky spaceship graveyard. At any rate I love space monsters so what can i do?

It means I did in fact bump the thread :p

As the editors are just a GUI for the XML editing, the modding guide is still (mostly) valid and useful documentation for modding.

Okay... it still would need some sort of an actualization though since, the entirely new TA and the unaccounted for DA features aren't IN the current guide.

As a basic reference, it's perfect for the casual modders but when someone wants to delve *much* deeper into a number of modding tricks a more complex and thorough "agenda" to the secrets of GC-code & functions (plenty of things!) would certainly be of use. Me-think.

I have a question for you Kryo, though I have this in another thread too..perhaps you or some others may have some insights into what Im doing wrong. BAsically, Im trying to change the events and add new ones! Ive been succesfful in the changes and additions, but.....you knew there had to be a but didnt you? All my values, when playing, come up as +- the value..so lets say I want to give 1000 bc...then it shows +-1000 bc(and it subtracts it by the way). Does this for every value, whether PQ, Research, etc. Ive read over and over the event section in the moding guide and have everything labeled correct that I can tell. Ill post an example below and plz tell me where i went wrong:



(Edit) I added the category names as it wont show them how I copied them over. I dont have them like this in my XML files...its just to show you what the values go with) So when i do this event, it will come up as +-40 PQ?? Im at a complete loss as to what Im doing wrong...any constructive help(note the constructive I put in there) is very welcome.

Nevermind I guess. I think I found my answer. I changed evil events to try and give negative bc, research, pq, or what not, and it didnt work...they still get positive events. Now how can that be right? Is it hardcoded and if so why? Neutral can have either, but as of now, unless someone knows another way, it looks like good cant have positive events, which I dont understand. They can have a 0 event or no negative event...but not a positive one. Is this true then Kryo?

Since by convention only negative numbers are signed, it looks like the devs just put a + in the description as you see above (+[NEUTRALVALUE]%). You can take it out, but then bonuses for that event (if any) will not have a sign on them at all.

I see events without the + and have tried that too, but again, for some reason good events will come up as negatives, unless you give them a zero,or nil value, meaning say nothing happens either way. Can you tell if the devs didnt in fact hardcode for good to always have a negative outcome and evil a positive? Thanks so much Kryo!