Comprehensive list of Entrenchment modding changes

This is where all the cool stuff is.

from Sins Forums

 

Ironclad made some very considerable changes to modding possibilities in Entrenchment, and I decided to throw together this post to encourage modders both new and old to take advantage of these things.

 

The Huge Stuff

 

  • Manifest System

Manifest allows for stacking of mods, meaning the game basically merges mods for you. It is a priority system  so higher priority mods override lower priority ones if the same things are changed.

  • "Visual Only" Mods

Before, anything in the mod folder was checksummed which meant that no mod could be played in MP without every player having the mod. This is no longer the case. Only the GameInfo and Mesh folders are checksummed, allowing for visual-only mods to be played online without everyone needing them. With Manifest, it also makes it cake to run these mods along with others.

  • Per-patch mod folders

Each game version now creates its own mod folder in the user path. That means you don't have to worry about having a mod launching on startup when updating the game, since the new version will not care and not try to load an older version mod. It also keeps them nicely organized, especially between Vanilla and Entrenchment mod folders.

 

The Big Stuff

 

  • Ships can use fighter attack physics

usesFighterAttack FALSE

  • Ships and structures can use "upgrade" meshes to change appearance linked to research or upgrades (for starbases)

MeshNameInfoCount 4
MeshNameInfo
    meshName "PlanetModule_TechOrbitalGaussDefense"
    criteriaType "None"
MeshNameInfo
    meshName "PlanetModule_TechOrbitalGaussDefenseMissiles"
    criteriaType "Research"
    prerequisites
        NumResearchPrerequisites 1
        ResearchPrerequisite
            Subject "RESEARCHSUBJECT_ABILITYACCESS_GAUSSDEFENSEMISSILEBURST"
            Level 1

  • Weapon unlocks can now be tied to research or upgrades. Meaning, ships/buildings can be set to require research before they are allowed to fire a weapon

fireConstraintType "Research"
    researchPrerequisites
        NumResearchPrerequisites 1
        ResearchPrerequisite
            Subject "RESEARCHSUBJECT_PLANETMODULEIMPROVEMENT_TECHHANGARDEFENSE"
            Level 1

  • Ships can be set to engage multiple targets for each of their banks (FRONT, LEFT, RIGHT, REAR)

TargetCountPerBank:FRONT 1
TargetCountPerBank:BACK 0
TargetCountPerBank:LEFT 0
TargetCountPerBank:RIGHT 0

 

The Smaller But Still Cool Stuff

 

  • Ships can now have 5 abilities (up from 4). Capital ships and starbases with their level-up/upgrade UI buttons cover the 5th ability slot, but an ability can still go there.
  • Carriers are now allowed to host up to 4 different strikecraft entities (up from 2).
  • Strike craft squads can now use some abilities. AoE-only, I believe.
  • Ships can now be set to attack only structures, if desired.
  • Many new ability/buff dynamics: percentage damage/antimatter drain, frontal shielding, sucking up debris, etc.
  • AI retreating threshold can now be changed.

 

I'm sure I missed something, so feel free to post any additions and I'll update the list. And, a big thanks to Ironclad for continuing to expand modding possibilities!

modding
15,714 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Great stuff. But - the big question: can those new modding abilities be used by mods separate/outside of Entrenchment? Or do the modders and users have to have Entrenchment installed in order to, say, play a mod which has fighter physics for all ships?

At a first glance, I'd say that the answer is yes, you have to have Entrenchment installed, but I haven't had the time to look at the new files more closely, so I can't be sure.

I imagine this would be fairly important for all major mods since it entails a pretty big decision - whether to use the *really* cool new modding features at the cost of requiring players to purchase Entrenchment.

 

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

I would imagine most of them are Entrenchment specific. Blair did say that once Entrenchment is out they'll back-port some stuff into vanilla but that it won't be easy since the engine changed considerably. I would expect most of these to remain Entrenchment-only. If anything, fighter physics would be one of the few to get back ported, since it's not directly tied to anything Entrenchment does :P

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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Well, I hope we'll get a dev version of the Ent exe - I miss my little insta-switches already! ;)

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

I can see there are some genuine improvements with Entrenchment, thanks for the summary.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Well, I hear the updated Galaxy Forge should be out later today, perhaps the other tools as well!

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

Later today! AWESOME! cus I need it to make some new maps ;)

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

I hope that the Manifest system and limited checksumming get ported to vanilla Sins.  Manifest, would be cool, however if something is as simple as making only the GameInfo and Mesh folders count towards the checksum, why would it be Entrenchment-only?

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

How about porting over? I'm considering doing so but have a ton of assets and don't want them all thrown off by one stupid line. I also don't care to do the English.str file again, but that seems inevitable. How bad is it?

 

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

Well, it's pretty bad. Every ship and building entity was changed to accomodate the weapon and mesh stuff. Abilities should be relatively unaffected, though. And the string file obviously got a good deal of change.

But still, updating isn't too bad if you use a good file comparing proggy. I know IC uses Beyond Compare (and I do too), it basically can compare the entire GameInfo folder and show you the differences line by line in each file, and it has easy to use merging/replacing options.

Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top

The latest version of Beyond Compare (v3) makes it even easier. I highly recommend it.

Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

I'll just consider it for our second release then. Too far into feature lock to do all of that + new Entrenchment stuff. What's the current situation on the # of capital ships? Is it still locked to 5? IIRC there was a change either in base or Entrenchment that upped it to 6.

Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top

It's 9, that was changed in 1.1 :) If your mod isn't up to 1.1, then the abilities received a structural change as well to accomodate the option to use resources, instead of always antimatter.

Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top

Nah, we're up there, just never noticed the difference. Thanks.

Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top

Good thing I chose to finish the visuals first - its an hour's work for me to adapt to the new versions. Though I probably won't be so smug when I honestly dig into the ability modding... :p

Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top

Wooot thank manshooter you helped me a lot, I'm definetly getting entrechment now (when it comes out in a boxed version unfortunetly...)

Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top

Quick Question.

 

I'm updating a mod I had but I'm having trouble getting it to work. I'm doing it in baby steps with no luck. All I've done so far is add a folder to the Entrenchment 1.02 mod section. Within that folder i have Game Info, Mesh, Textures, Particles, Window and String.

 

I've added one player file to the game info and 4 capital ships then updated the string file accordingly.  For some reason, the mod won't load. It just freezes. 


Any idea what could be causing the freeze up? Do I have to edit the "Enable Mod" file that's located in the Mod folder?  Have I added unecessary folders?

 

p.s. I'm using the Reference Data from Forge Tools 3.

Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top

tkins are you using 1.02?

because the forge tools reference data is from 1.01 and has been reported to cause crashes in 1.02.

 if you need a quick reference set for 1.02 you can either download my txtbin gui program and convert a copy of you game files OR download the converted files for entrenchment 1.02 that I uploaded

as I understand it the reference data for each version is INCOMPATIBLE with another version ie 1.15 ref files crash 1.16, entrenchment 1.01 ref files CRASH entrenchment 1.02

hope this helps

harpo

 

Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top

Yeah thanks harpo. That fixed it.


Now I'm having another problem. I've created a bunch of fighters and squads, but for some reason it says it can't find them.


"Failed to find data file "FighterCapitalshipBomber". (SubPath = GameInfo)

 

 

NM I think I figured it out.

Oddly enough though, I also had a similar error with "abilityDamageLink". This ability was nowhere in any ofthe game info folders i had except an old mod folder under "MODS". What in the? Shouldn't it only be referencing files in the Mods Entrenchment v1.02?

 

EDIT#2 So now it's asking for another ability. This ability along with the other one it's searching for is from the old MOD I had in beta. It doesn't make sense to me that it is looking for these files. I must have copied something from the old mod and pasted it with the new one so now it's looking for those files. I can't figure it out.

Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top

tkins my manifest maker works in the folder THAT HAS BEEN  opened and showing the sub-folders within it in the folderlistbox and also the entrenchment and sins folders(if the sins & entrenchment tickboxes are ticked), listing all of the entity files, then removes the duplicates, and writes the manifests, BUT DOES NOT check the entity's to see what they refer to, but the starting location for all of my utilities is the user space sins folder so that it is easy for the user to locate where the mod they are working on and is applicable to ALL modders without exception

harpo