Mars colonisation mod (WIP)

I thought you were using retextured marsh for lichen and retextured (and resized?) forest for vegetation, so you could actually put the snow texture (qua ice) in the oasis slot and a blue texture (qua water) in the fallout spot, then make fallout an improvement as discussed earlier.

Passability is easy; you can use an invisible terrain or a feature. The issue was only with the graphics not updating.
 
Didn't you say the only really usable features were oasis and fallout? I understood your post as saying that if you changed stuff in another slot (e.g. marsh) you still got the original marsh (save, perhaps, for graphics). Then again, I may have misunderstood what you were saying. If I have access to forest, jungle, marsh, oasis and fallout as fully changeable features and can change the graphics for some other feature (e.g. ice) to make it invisible, the whole problem is taken care of.

(You may be right; it might actually turn out to be easier to mod Civ:BE than to mod Civ V. Until Civ:BE comes out, though, I'd still like to give Civ V a shot.)
 
OK, I did a couple more tests to confirm most of the below, but let's sum up this conversation so we're all on the same page. These are observations about the graphics only. You can change features and terrain during the course of a game, but--except in 5 cases--the model used in the 3D view won't change without saving and reloading the game.

Jungle, Marsh, Oasis, Forest, and Fallout are the exceptions. They are what I call "replaceable" features, i.e., where the model can be changed without needing to save and reload the game.

Unlike the Jungle, Marsh, and Forest [and the other features], you can effectively change the art define used by the Oasis and Fallout; though while textures and effects can be changed, the model doesn't work properly; the result is always flat.

Whether or not Reload Landmark System is activated, you can't just replace feature models or textures with VFS=true*. If you wanted to replace the other models/textures, you'd need to make a fake DLC or use LooseFilesOverridePAK = 1 in the config.ini (both of which will involve your users manually copying files to their game installation folder--though you don't need to actually copy over any files). Not ideal, but that's always a possibility.

* = You can change the textures for the Marsh (for some reason), and the terrains using VFS=true replacements (but not any of the other features, AFAIK).
 
All right, thanks. (By the way, I tested what you said with the IGE and confirmed that precisely the five feature types you mentioned are the only "replaceable features" (to use your term).)

I'm still worried about the coastlines, but I'm sure we'll figure something out..
 
I'd like to make a quick mod file to test a few things. I'm modding on a Mac, so I don't have ModBuddy. Does anyone know how to generate a "mod ID" (or, even better, a functional .modinfo file)?
 
Start with this mod. You can change any hexadecimal character (0-9 + A-F) to any other hexadecimal character to make a mod ID.
 
So it'll work with basically any mod ID I want (provided it isn't the same ID as some other mod's)?

Thanks, I'll have a look at those. :c5happy:
 
Nice!

Will any md5 hex work when loading .dds files? In fact, can I just erase the md5 bit when importing files (in the .modinfo file)?

Seriously, mate, thanks for all your help.
 
I managed to change the terrain yields (mostly; water doesn't seem to be working yet, but I'll experiment further with it) and textures, but not the terrain names.

My .xml file is basically as follows:
Code: 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<GameData>

  <Defines>
    <Row Name="_MY_CHANGES_XML" Value="1" />
  </Defines>

  <!-- Change terrain names -->

	<Terrain>
		<Language_en_US>
			<Update>
				<Where Tag="TXT_KEY_FEATURE_MARSH">
				<Set Text="Lichen">
			</Update>
			<Update>
				<Where Tag="TXT_KEY_FEATURE_JUNGLE">
				<Set Text="Grassland">
			</Update>
			<Update>
				<Where Tag="TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_SNOW">
				<Set Text="Water Ice">
			</Update>
			<Update>
				<Where Tag="TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_GRASS">
				<Set Text="Dune Desert">
			</Update>
			<Update>
				<Where Tag="TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_PLAINS">
				<Set Text="Rock Desert">
			</Update>
			<Update>
				<Where Tag="TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_DESERT">
				<Set Text="Crater">
			</Update>
			<Update>
				<Where Tag="TXT_KEY_TERRAIN_TUNDRA">
				<Set Text="Permafrost">
			</Update>
		</Language_en_US>
	</Terrain>
</GameData>
Should the .xml file be actually called Language_en_US.xml? Right now it's called something else.

EDIT 1: Ah, I feel a little silly. I had <File import="0"> instead of <File import="1">. Let's see if it works...

EDIT 2: No, that doesn't seem to make a difference. I have <File import="1"> for .dds files, but for the other files (.sql and .xml) it appears not to care whether I have <File import="0"> or <File import="1"> (names don't change either way, yields change either way).
 
Hello, Iridescent Rain, and good luck with you mod!

It's interseting, and I hope for you that this mod will success after the release of beyond earth.

Sadly, I can't help you with programming or with graphic things. But, I;m here for suggestions.

The suggestion that I have now is about the uniques. The time of your mod is in the future, so nobody knows what will happen. Therefore, you don't know what will be the countries and the diffrences between them. My idea (wich I think is not so good but it's the solution for the uniques) is to have unique things from the past but with a futuristic twist. Examples (need to have some working): Samurais with lightsabers, Jaguar warriors that have genes of jaguar inside them so they look more like jaguar and more. So what do you think?
 
Hi, orikos!

Thanks for the kind words and for your suggestion. I like your idea, especially since it's in the lines of what I originally wanted (still do) for the uniques: something which will preserve each civ's flavour but also be adapted to a more advanced setting. I don't know about light sabres (they'd have to be ultra-hot sabres or something; you can't reduce the speed of light to zero, so you can't have a sword made of light), but something among those lines (samurais with some super-advanced kind of melee weapon which is somehow better than firearms, at least in some situations) should work. And I really like your idea for the Aztec UU (unlockable with Genetic Engineering in the Colonisation Era). All the mounted UUs will be mid-game and late-game units (unless I replace the animals with vehicles; I can picture a Carthaginian battle mech of titanic size which intimidates enemy units and is stronger but slower than the other civs' mechs!).

EDIT: Speaking of Beyond Earth, I do plan on this mod being a sort of middle ground between traditional Civ V and Beyond Earth. Since both games will run on the same engine and have similar-looking graphics and mechanics, this shouldn't be too hard to achieve. From a historical (or, rather, sci-fi) point of view, it also makes sense to colonise Mars before sending a ship to another star system (whatever the situation on Earth), so it could also provide an intermediate chapter in the history of <your favourite civ> for storytellers like me.
 
Iridescent Rain said:
Hi, orikos!

Thanks for the kind words and for your suggestion. I like your idea, especially since it's in the lines of what I originally wanted (still do) for the uniques: something which will preserve each civ's flavour but also be adapted to a more advanced setting. I don't know about light sabres (they'd have to be ultra-hot sabres or something; you can't reduce the speed of light to zero, so you can't have a sword made of light), but something among those lines (samurais with some super-advanced kind of melee weapon which is somehow better than firearms, at least in some situations) should work. And I really like your idea for the Aztec UU (unlockable with Genetic Engineering in the Colonisation Era). All the mounted UUs will be mid-game and late-game units (unless I replace the animals with vehicles; I can picture a Carthaginian battle mech of titanic size which intimidates enemy units and is stronger but slower than the other civs' mechs!).
Click to expand...

I am happy to see that you like my ideas. I don't know if you understood my meaning of light sabres, but I meant to light sabres like in Star Wars.

And about your edit, this sound interesting.
 
Iridescent Rain said:
I know you meant the light sabres from Star wars. Have a look at this (and, while you're at it, this). :)
Click to expand...

I didn't know that it's impossible to create light sabres. I also didn't know that you want to do sci-fi realistic things. What about greek hoplites with elctrifying spears? It's possible?
 
Hey Iridescent Rain! Looks like you're undertaking an ambitious project, but so far it sounds quite cool! I did enjoy playing around with the Mars terrain mod, and I've tried playing around with some of my own ideas for a near-future mod, so I'm quite curious to see how it goes.

I'm curious about how broad of a scope you plan -- will the mod run all the way up to a "green/blue Mars" terraforming? I suspect it would make a natural conclusion, although there could be other goals. (An orbital elevator would seem to be an interesting science victory equivalent...)

In terms of military units, I suspect sticking to relatively modern units is a good idea. While hoplites in powered armor with electrical spears are a possibility, it sounds rather space opera-ish compared to harder sci-fi, although I suppose Clarke's Law would allow it. It depends on how you consider the tech tree evolving. I know there's at least one old future mod that postulated a futuristic tech tree that you could consider.

I'm also curious how easy you plan growth to be. It would be interesting if, at least in the early game, growing population would be difficult, with famine being a constant danger. It would also be interesting if simple survival was a major concern, making warfare less likely in the beginning, although once technology advanced to make it easier to thrive, I imagine old human habits would kick in. Still, a tech tree where you had to make hard choices between military advancement and the tech necessary for survival would be interesting.

Finally, if you need some help with some of the graphical elements I can try to give it a shot. For military vehicles, you're mostly stuck with modern units (although there's been quite a few of those over the years, so you can at least vary up aircraft and tanks a bit to reflect different designs). There's Skajaquada's Warhammer 40K models that could serve for future tanks and such as well, although they need some work to use visual effects properly. I've also been converting a few of the sci-fi city models from Civ 4 for use in my own mods -- there's a domed model I think from Civ 4 BTS that was adapted to make a hydroponic form I've been considering adapting. (I already used part of it to make a sci-fi citadel for a mod I'm working on.) So I can probably help with some of the improvement models you might need.

Good luck with it!
 
Iridescent Rain said:
Should the .xml file be actually called Language_en_US.xml? Right now it's called something else.

EDIT 1: Ah, I feel a little silly. I had <File import="0"> instead of <File import="1">. Let's see if it works...

EDIT 2: No, that doesn't seem to make a difference. I have <File import="1"> for .dds files, but for the other files (.sql and .xml) it appears not to care whether I have <File import="0"> or <File import="1"> (names don't change either way, yields change either way).
Click to expand...
The only time the filename matters is if you're trying to replace a base game file (in which case you'd set it to VFS=true, i.e., import="1"; in which case you wouldn't use OnModActivated > UpdateDatabase nor a Lua entry point (though Lua files imported by another Lua file would not have an entry point, and would instead be VFS=true. File paths, likewise, don't matter, but it's always nice to have things organized before it gets too confusing.

There's 2 XML files included in whoward69's template mod. MyXmlChanges.xml is meant to make changes to the game database, where MyUiTextStrings.xml is meant to make changes to the language database (TXT_KEY_*). Keeping it in the one file versus the other doesn't actually make a difference, however.

Your XML files should be VFS=false, i.e., import="0" because you're instead bringing it into the game by using OnModActivated > UpdateDatabase.

Your problem is you're trying to put it into the Terrains table, and then Language_en_US is a sub-table or something (there's no such thing). Treat Language_en_US as it's own table (it's really a view, but that's how you add to it).

In other words, just take out <Terrain> and </Terrain> and it should work.
 
Hi, everyone! Thanks for all your feedback. :) I'll reply to each of you below. I'd also like to note that I added a little info to the posts about :c5food: terrain types and :c5razing: victory conditions.

orikos said:
I didn't know that it's impossible to create light sabres. I also didn't know that you want to do sci-fi realistic things. What about greek hoplites with elctrifying spears? It's possible?
Click to expand...
Yep, electrifying spears are possible within the realm of physics.

bouncymischa said:
Hey Iridescent Rain! Looks like you're undertaking an ambitious project, but so far it sounds quite cool! I did enjoy playing around with the Mars terrain mod, and I've tried playing around with some of my own ideas for a near-future mod, so I'm quite curious to see how it goes.

I'm curious about how broad of a scope you plan -- will the mod run all the way up to a "green/blue Mars" terraforming? I suspect it would make a natural conclusion, although there could be other goals. (An orbital elevator would seem to be an interesting science victory equivalent...)

In terms of military units, I suspect sticking to relatively modern units is a good idea. While hoplites in powered armor with electrical spears are a possibility, it sounds rather space opera-ish compared to harder sci-fi, although I suppose Clarke's Law would allow it. It depends on how you consider the tech tree evolving. I know there's at least one old future mod that postulated a futuristic tech tree that you could consider.

I'm also curious how easy you plan growth to be. It would be interesting if, at least in the early game, growing population would be difficult, with famine being a constant danger. It would also be interesting if simple survival was a major concern, making warfare less likely in the beginning, although once technology advanced to make it easier to thrive, I imagine old human habits would kick in. Still, a tech tree where you had to make hard choices between military advancement and the tech necessary for survival would be interesting.

Finally, if you need some help with some of the graphical elements I can try to give it a shot. For military vehicles, you're mostly stuck with modern units (although there's been quite a few of those over the years, so you can at least vary up aircraft and tanks a bit to reflect different designs). There's Skajaquada's Warhammer 40K models that could serve for future tanks and such as well, although they need some work to use visual effects properly. I've also been converting a few of the sci-fi city models from Civ 4 for use in my own mods -- there's a domed model I think from Civ 4 BTS that was adapted to make a hydroponic form I've been considering adapting. (I already used part of it to make a sci-fi citadel for a mod I'm working on.) So I can probably help with some of the improvement models you might need.

Good luck with it!
Click to expand...
Yep, I do plan on making it go all the way to blue Mars (passing through green Mars along the way). This is why I've been struggling with which terrain features update dynamically (without having to reload the game) and which ones don't; Nutty's been incredibly helpful here. I'm still in need of textures for one of the green-Mars features (grassland, which should replace jungle) and the blue-Mars feature (water, of course; I'd use the normal water terrain type, but, as it's not a feature, it doesn't update dynamically, so I need to make it a feature... which makes me wonder whether coastlines can ever be right).

I'd planned for a space elevator (I wonder if this is what you mean by "orbital elevator") to be a world wonder providing some huge benefit, not a science victory condition. Then again, you're right that it would make for an interesting science victory. Maybe I could have space elevators be a prerequisite for researching techs such as Trade with Earth, Migration from Earth, etc -- techs which would eventually lead to some world wonder which would be the condition for a science victory. Thanks for the idea!

I did mention somewhere (I think it was at the end of the post about terrain types) what I expect the growth/development rate to be. It appears we think alike; super-slow early growth which slowly gives way to an easier growth as Mars is terraformed is exactly what I had thought of. Your idea of making famine an actual hazard in the game, forcing players to choose between military might and survivability, is an excellent one. I might have to modify the tech tree to achieve this.

I'd very much like and be grateful for your help concerning the graphics. Thanks for the suggestion! For terrain improvements, I'm thinking stuff like early extraction plants and biodomes for the early game, more-advanced mines for the middle game, and eventually farms for when Mars is terraformed. The exact specifics of the improvements are yet to be detailed, but I doubt it'll deviate much from there. Think you could make a design or two and send it/them my way so we know we're on the same page here? I'd really like to see your hydroponic farm. :)

Nutty said:
The only time the filename matters is if you're trying to replace a base game file (in which case you'd set it to VFS=true, i.e., import="1"; in which case you wouldn't use OnModActivated > UpdateDatabase nor a Lua entry point (though Lua files imported by another Lua file would not have an entry point, and would instead be VFS=true. File paths, likewise, don't matter, but it's always nice to have things organized before it gets too confusing.

There's 2 XML files included in whoward69's template mod. MyXmlChanges.xml is meant to make changes to the game database, where MyUiTextStrings.xml is meant to make changes to the language database (TXT_KEY_*). Keeping it in the one file versus the other doesn't actually make a difference, however.

Your XML files should be VFS=false, i.e., import="0" because you're instead bringing it into the game by using OnModActivated > UpdateDatabase.

Your problem is you're trying to put it into the Terrains table, and then Language_en_US is a sub-table or something (there's no such thing). Treat Language_en_US as it's own table (it's really a view, but that's how you add to it).

In other words, just take out <Terrain> and </Terrain> and it should work.
Click to expand...
Thanks for this advice. I'll try it out and get back to you.
 
Oh... I just noticed. The other thing is you need to close the Where and Set tags off, i.e., end with /> instead of just >

Code: 
<Update>
    <Where Tag="TXT_KEY_FEATURE_MARSH"[COLOR="RED"][B]/[/B][/COLOR]>
    <Set Text="Lichen"[COLOR="RED"][B]/[/B][/COLOR]>
</Update>
Or you could use the traditional form:
Code: 
<Update>
    <Where><Tag>TXT_KEY_FEATURE_MARSH</Tag></Where>
    <Set><Text>Lichen</Text></Set>
</Update>
(Which is useful if you want to add quotation marks to your text fields)
 
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