Civlopedia

[cfkane]

Has anyone started extracting the pedia entries from SMAC and writing them into the Planetfall Mod?

I'd be willing to do it if no one else has stepped up. I know it's hardly a priority now, but I don't think it would be SMAC without the sci-fi lore backing the game's story up.

 

[Maniac]

That would be awesome of course!

What exactly do you mean with the pedia entries? Tech quotes etc?

 

[cfkane]

Precisely. What's always drawn me to the game, along with it's fine gameplay and such, was its strong roots in both philosophy and classic sci-fi. So, I'm a fan of the backstory as much as the game itself.

Although right now I'm a bit marred by summer classes, but I'll try to get them out ASAP.

 

[cfkane]

Oh, before I start, is the tech tree basically the same as Alpha Centauri's or are there slight changes made?

I'm asking because the original pedia entries for SMAC reference specificities in the tech tree, so I should adapt them to this mod wherever necessary.

 

[Maniac]

The Planetfall tech tree is different than the SMAC tech tree.
They use the same themes though. For instance they both have lots of genetics and Centauri related techs. So it's possible and my intention to find a place and use as many of the original SMAC quotes as possible.

As a consequence it would be very useful to convert blurbsx.txt into an XML file.
It would however be useless to convert techlongs.txt into XML.

I'd suggest when naming an XML string, to use the strings found in blurbsx.txt. Meaning TXT_KEY_TECH0, TXT_KEY_PROJECT0, TXT_KEY_FAC0...

 

[cfkane]

I'll keep that in mind. Are there any completely new texts in Planetfall? If so I'll need to make up some quotes. I'll see if I can do something creative with the pedia entries; probably just take out the references to the prereqs and expand on the description of the technology.

Would it do any good to use the techshorts as strategy entries, or is that just procrastinating?

And you called the file blurbsx. Does that mean you're working from the expansion pack?

 

[Maniac]

I'll keep that in mind. Are there any completely new texts in Planetfall?

You mean completely new techs? A couple I guess. Though they stay close to the original SMAC themes, so it should be possible to attach a quote to everything. It's just a matter of first finding the obvious matches (those already play a SMAC sound quote when you research them), and then using the remaining quotes and find a place with the remaining techs and facilities.

Would it do any good to use the techshorts as strategy entries, or is that just procrastinating?

Sure some or even most of them could be used. Though I'd say those are a lower priority than the quotes. These much more bring out the atmosphere of the original game.

And you called the file blurbsx. Does that mean you're working from the expansion pack?

They're not included at the moment, but I was thinking to include the SMAX factions and their leaders in some way at a later point. Not necessarily as playable factions though. Anyway, SMAX stuff is definitely used.

Don't you have SMAX?

 

[cfkane]

I do, but I left it at my parent's house when I left for college. I could try asking them to mail it to me, if it's important to the process.

 

[Maniac]

Here's blurbsx.txt

It doesn't contain the SMAX facility quotes though.

 

[Lockesdonkey]

I'm willing to assist with the Civilopedia and all the fiddly bits as well, and I have SMAC (not SMAX, sorry) installed.

In particular, I'd like to write some of the info for the new stuff that doesn't have real SMAC equivalents (e.g. Memetics is only a rough approximation of Social Psych, there are no religions in SMAC, etc.)

 

[Maniac]

I'm willing to assist with the Civilopedia and all the fiddly bits as well, and I have SMAC (not SMAX, sorry) installed.

In particular, I'd like to write some of the info for the new stuff that doesn't have real SMAC equivalents (e.g. Memetics is only a rough approximation of Social Psych, there are no religions in SMAC, etc.)

That would certainly be cool.

Also feel free to turn the SMAC quotes into XML btw. It looks like cfkane changed his mind about doing it.


(In unrelated news, at some later point I think I'll rename Memetics to Social Psych and make Memetics some new level 4 tech or so, which gives the Homo Superior religion)

 

[cfkane]

I haven't changed my mind, I'm not bailing just yet.

It's just that I've been caught up working on my own mod - along with summer classes - that I haven't been able to work on it.

I've already transferred some of the tech quotes with direct correlations to the techs in Planetfall. I can PM you the XML file if you want.

 

[Maniac]

Would be great.

 

[Maniac]

Thanks cfkane!

Here are the text files with part of the quotes added. The relevant file is TextBlurbs.xml. If anyone wants to add to this, they should follow the string naming method: TXT_KEY_QUOTE_TECHXX, where XX is a number. In blurbs(x).txt each tech and fac has a number.