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Modder's "Get-an-Answer" Thread

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Modder's "Get-an-Answer" Thread

Answers from Modders, for Modders who "Ask a Question"

from Sins Forums

This is the place to ask and recieve specific modding (mod making) questions and answers. If you have a mod making question, post it here.

If your question involves long snippets of entity files and the like, please don't paste the entire file contents here but put them at the incredibly easy to use http://pastebin.com and then provide the link to your paste in your question posted here.

Please do limit  "just comments" here to brief posts please.  If you don't know the answer or can't point to help--don't post.  Please note that a random, uninformed guess isn't an actual answer.  

You can refer people to another source--IF it actually helps answer their question.  This could be in the form of links, outside sites, specific modding-useful programs, direction towards another post or poster, etc., etc.

Remember--specific questions, specific answers.  Only respond to the ones you can help solve.  Also, feel free to amplify, clarify, suggest alternatives to or correct answers seen here if such actions are merited and help provide a real solution. No flaming, insults or put downs here in the answers or other posts please.

Thanks in advance for your help and cooperation.  The reason for the rigid rules here is those this thread becomes a usable resource in the future to new people looking for answers.

NOTE: If an answer resolves your issue, please share it here.  These answers will help others coming along later too.  Karma is a great way to respond to people providing help without clogging the thread or bombing their forum mailbox here. Thanks!

 

OTHER SINS HELPFUL MODDING LINKS*

*Links are updated when requested.





The Soase Idiot's Guide

Confused?  No idea where to even start?

Determined to work at it?

This is the place!

 


 

  
   

Sins Modding Wiki

ZombieRus's Eclipse Wizardry

 
     

Tutorials

MyFist0's full modding site.

Emphasis on modeling  and

texturing.                            

 

 

 
                    

REBELLION MODDING TOPICS

Rebellion Modding Q & A

Mesh Editing

Changing Diplomacy Files to Rebellion

IT REALLY HURTS MY BRAIN--HOW TO START

An Idiot's Guide To Getting Started

MyFist0's Modding Megasite!

MOD DOWNLOADS

ZombieRus5's Mod Yard

Directory of Planet Mods

STEAM

STEAM Sins Forums

DEVELOPERS

Sins Developer Journals Forum 2007 to Present

REFERENCE FILES

Research Modifier List

MyFist0's Exported Models & Files

Modifier List

Harpo's Converted Sins Reference Files 2011

THIRD PARTY TOOLS

3dS Texturing Toool & Tips

Ship Fleet Calculator

SoaSE Eclipse Plugin Project

Mesh Resizing Tool--courtesy of the Reqiuem team.

Harpo's Sins Utility Package -- Dropbox

The Sins Optimization Project (TSOP)

Artificial Unintelligence (Mod and AI info)

Sins Data Converter by BCXtreme

EXPLANATIONS & DISCUSSIONS

Rebellion Updates by Blair Frazier

How to Add a Fourth Race

User-updatable Ship Reference Chart

Sins Modding Dictionary

Adding phase Effects to other weapon types

Culture, Explanation/Discussion

Weapons, Explanation/Discusion

Shield Mitigation & Armor, Explanation/Discussion-1

Shield Mitigation & Armor, Explanation/Discussion -2

Graphic Chart of Sin's Counters

Annotated Guide to the Developer.exe

In-Game Map Creator

Weapons Banks & DPS

Combat Mechanics

Rebellion Shield Mitigation & Focus Fire testing

PARTICLE FORGE

Particle Forge Help Thread

GALAXY FORGE

Adding Artifacts

Working Template Examples

SemazRalan's Template Guide

Pirates Base Start Template

SOUND RESOURCES

[SFX] Black Sun SFX/Music Resource for Modders

MODELING & TEXTURING--SOFTIMAGE XSI, 3DS MAX

XSI Texturing, Tutorial

3dS Model Exporter

3DS Max Rigging, Texturing & Exporting, Guide

Modding/Modelling/Texturing/Converting, Tutorials

WIKI'S

Sins of a Solar Empire Official Wiki

 

modding
7,603,840 views 2,761 replies
Reply #1701 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ParadePartizan, reply 1700
Im looking for an ability that makes damage to a target per second and stops when the target is destroyed. Is that doable?

Well all buffs stop when the target is destroyed, so I don't think you need to do anything extra.  ;)

Reply #1702 from Sins Forums Top

Ah yes, i guess i should have been more precise :D

At the moment the ability is doing damage per second for 5 seconds and then recasts (duration/cooldown both 5 secs)

I would like to get rid of the cooldown and the  duration thing. So its casted just 1 time and persists until the target is destroyed or the target is switched (if possible) and then recasts on a new target and so on.

Ps: Is it possible to restrict an ability to be used only out of combat?

Offworld Trading Company
Reply #1703 from Sins Forums Top

Anyone know what this error means?

C:\Projects\P4\SinsRebellion\main\CodeSource\GS\Entity\Interfaces\IAntiMatterPool.cpp(107): assert! [antiMatterAmount >= 0.0f]

I get it occasionally...doesn't seem to cause any problems...at least not that I know of....

Reply #1704 from Sins Forums Top

Here's what the pop up actually looks like...

Assert @ C:\Projects\P4\SinsRebellion\main\CodeSource\GS/Entity/Interfaces/IAntiMatterPool.cpp(107)

antiMatterAmount >= 0.0f

Reply #1705 from Sins Forums Top

Hi all im just wondering im Making a BFG mod on sins and the scaling is some one okay for the Titan but all my structures and ships wont show up they all have there textures in game so i was just wondering if you could help.

 

Thanks,

Palaisy

Reply #1706 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 1703

Anyone know what this error means?

C:\Projects\P4\SinsRebellion\main\CodeSource\GS\Entity\Interfaces\IAntiMatterPool.cpp(107): assert! [antiMatterAmount >= 0.0f]

I get it occasionally...doesn't seem to cause any problems...at least not that I know of....

I can only assume something the game doesn't expect to have antimatter has antimatter. But yeah, weird.

 

Quoting palaisy, reply 1705

Hi all im just wondering im Making a BFG mod on sins and the scaling is some one okay for the Titan but all my structures and ships wont show up they all have there textures in game so i was just wondering if you could help.

 

Thanks,

Palaisy

What do you mean by "not show up"? The textures won't show up? The ship is totally invisible? You can not build the ship?

Reply #1707 from Sins Forums Top

They are invisible even with there textures im not sure if its cause they are to small or a coding mistake on my part when i converted them to Rebellion from entrenchment.

Reply #1708 from Sins Forums Top

to small is very possible. Take a look at the bounding radius in the txt version of the mesh and post it here

here is the tec scout from Diplomacy

TXT
MeshData
hasValidTangents FALSE
BoundingRadius 67.937225
MaxBoundingExtents [ 29.118217 17.545380 61.241741 ]
MinBoundingExtents [ -29.118221 -14.877146 -67.873711 ]
NumMaterials 1
Material
DiffuseTextureFileName "FrigateTechScout-cl.dds"
SelfIlluminationTextureFileName "FrigateTechScout-da.dds"
NormalTextureFileName "FrigateTechScout-nm.dds"
DisplacementTextureFileName ""
TeamColorTextureFileName ""
Diffuse ffffffff
Ambient ffffffff
Specular ffe5e5e5
Emissive ff000000
Glossiness 16.000000

or Rebellion which adds a line "maxDiffuseMipLevel 0"

TXT
MeshData
maxDiffuseMipLevel 0
hasValidTangents FALSE
BoundingRadius 67.937225
MaxBoundingExtents [ 29.118217 17.545380 61.241741 ]
MinBoundingExtents [ -29.118221 -14.877146 -67.873711 ]
NumMaterials 1
Material
DiffuseTextureFileName "FrigateTechScout-cl.dds"
SelfIlluminationTextureFileName "FrigateTechScout-da.dds"
NormalTextureFileName "FrigateTechScout-nm.dds"
DisplacementTextureFileName ""
TeamColorTextureFileName ""
Diffuse ffffffff
Ambient ffffffff
Specular ffe5e5e5
Emissive ff000000
Glossiness 16.000000

 

Hmm, why does this not have valid tangents? WTF?

Reply #1709 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting myfist0, reply 1708

to small is very possible. Take a look at the bounding radius in the txt version of the mesh and post it here

 

 

TXT
MeshDat
maxDiffuseMipLevel 0
hasValidTangents
BoundingRadius 55.956429
MaxBoundingExtents [ 24.627974 19.356306 53.193695 ]
MinBoundingExtents [ -24.627996 -19.356302 -53.193695 ]
NumMaterials 1
Material
DiffuseTextureFileName "navy_cobra_cl.dds"
SelfIlluminationTextureFileName "navy_cobra_da.dds"
NormalTextureFileName "navy_cobra_n.dds"
DisplacementTextureFileName ""
TeamColorTextureFileName ""
Diffuse ffffffff
Ambient ffffffff
Specular ffffffff
Emissive ffffffff
Glossiness 30.000000

 

this is for the Imperial navy scout

Reply #1710 from Sins Forums Top

also how do i replace the tec instead of it looking for tec it to look for Navy

Reply #1711 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting palaisy, reply 1710
also how do i replace the tec instead of it looking for tec it to look for Navy

huh? A little more detail please

 

Not sure if its your copy/paste but I see some weird stuff in you mesh, but the size looks ok

TXT
MeshDat 
maxDiffuseMipLevel 0
hasValidTangents

should be

TXT
MeshData
maxDiffuseMipLevel 0
hasValidTangents TRUE or FALSE

 

Reply #1712 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting myfist0, reply 1711


huh? A little more detail please



 

 

how do i get sins to reconize say "navy_cobra.mesh" imstead of "frigate_tecscout.mesh"

 

Quoting myfist0, reply 1711


Not sure if its your copy/paste but I see some weird stuff in you mesh, but the size looks ok

TXT
MeshDat 
maxDiffuseMipLevel 0
hasValidTangents

should be

TXT
MeshData
maxDiffuseMipLevel 0
hasValidTangents TRUE or FALSE

 

 

i dont know what you mean i copied it exactly.

Reply #1713 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting palaisy, reply 1712
how do i get sins to reconize say "navy_cobra.mesh" imstead of "frigate_tecscout.mesh"

 in the ships .entity

GameInfo\FrigateTechScout.entity

MeshNameInfo
    meshName "Frigate_TechScout"
    criteriaType "None"

Change that to 

MeshNameInfo
    meshName "navy_cobra"
    criteriaType "None"

 

If those errors I pointed out in in your mesh, you have a bad conversion.

Reply #1714 from Sins Forums Top

okay so i need to reconvert those models then? and thanks for the help with the ship dilemma 

Reply #1715 from Sins Forums Top

fixed it thanks for the help i have just one more question for now how do i remove the loyalist rebel stuff? or change it the names?

Reply #1716 from Sins Forums Top

how do i remove the loyalist rebel stuff? or change it the names?

No idea, as I do not buy games on Steam  :annoyed:

Someone else will jump in hopefully.

Reply #1718 from Sins Forums Top

oh you might be able to answer this how do you change Tec name to what ever name you want?

Reply #1719 from Sins Forums Top

GameInfo\PlayerTech.entity

raceNameStringID "IDS_PLAYERRACENAME_TECH"

 

Open String\English.str

do a search for IDS_PLAYERRACENAME_TECH

you will find 

StringInfo
    ID "IDS_PLAYERRACENAME_TECH"
    Value "TEC"

change to 

StringInfo
    ID "IDS_PLAYERRACENAME_TECH"
    Value "Steam Sucks"

Reply #1720 from Sins Forums Top

Myfist0, a thread where aspiring modders ask for help is not a good place to air your anti-Steam sentiments.  However, as I happily own and play Rebellion, I shall help him.

Palaisy, open up English.str in your mod's String folder and do a search for "TEC Loyalists".  All text in the game is controlled through that file.

Reply #1721 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting SpardaSon21, reply 1720

Myfist0, a thread where aspiring modders ask for help is not a good place to air your anti-Steam sentiments.  However, as I happily own and play Rebellion, I shall help him.

Palaisy, open up English.str in your mod's String folder and do a search for "TEC Loyalists".  All text in the game is controlled through that file.

That said, if you are making a new race, I highly recommend making a new string entry and changing the reference in your race.entity file. It seems easier at first to just replace an existing race as needed, but starting from scratch saves you more time in the long run.

Reply #1722 from Sins Forums Top

Assert @ C:\Projects\P4\SinsRebellion\main\CodeSource\GS/Entity/Interfaces/IAntiMatterPool.cpp(107)

antiMatterAmount >= 0.0f

Alright this error is really starting to annoy me...any ideas on what it means?  It's coming up every couple minutes...

Reply #1723 from Sins Forums Top

do you have a ship that has no anti matter but has an auto cast ability that costs antimatter?

do you have a ship that does not store enough antimatter for an ability?

are your antimatter sections error free?

Im thinking one of the below sections has an error from an ability

useCostType "AntiMatter"
antiMatterCost
Level:0 100.000000  <-- maybe 0 or more than ship holds?
Level:1 0.000000
Level:2 0.000000

I really got no idea, just throwing out guesses  :|

If it's every couple of minutes, it probably an auto cast going off. You may have to start by turning off all auto casts and test them one by one till you get the error.

 

Reply #1724 from Sins Forums Top

I've checked all my abilities, frigates, structures, the SB, and the capital ship that I have changed so far....most abilities don't require any AM, and the ones that do are either on the capital ship or the 2 support frigates....no other ship or structure has AM...

Could be an AI issue?  Does it matter if things like SC or colonizing no longer require AM?  Does it matter if capital ships don't gain AM with leveling up?

Reply #1725 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Seleuceia, reply 1724
Could be an AI issue?  Does it matter if things like SC or colonizing no longer require AM?  Does it matter if capital ships don't gain AM with leveling up?

Hmm, if its every couple of minutes I would check the ones that don't cost antimatter but regularly used, like an autocast or building strikecraft, or jumping. Try putting back the AM, one at a time, till the problem disappears.

Cants see colonizing popping up that often unless it's a huge 10 player map, I also dont see why capilal leveling would cause an issue. Something is hardcoded to use antimatter, even if you use 1.