Dale's Mod Blog

[Dale]

I will no longer be posting at or visiting CFC. Please find me at WePlayCiv.


I have started a blog at WPC and my intention is to post about modding Civ5. You can find my blog here.

List of blogs with topic summary:
Modding Architecture - My own design wishes for how mod architecture should be.
Civ5 Modding Explained - Bringing all the little pieces of modding information together, and showing you how Civ5 modding will work.
'Twas the Night before Civ5 - Just a little poem for those waiting for tomorrow's release.
Civ 5 Release Day Mods on the Hub by Civ Fans, and how to get them to work! - Explaining how the mod menus work, and how to get mods to download and run.
The way to a man's heart is through his modinfo and civ5mod files - How to create and publish a mod without the mod tools.
I'm Back! - Where has Dale been the last month and a half? And what happened to those modding tutorials he promised?
Civ 5 Modding Tutorial 1: Foundation lesson - In this first tutorial of the series, learn the fundamentals of modding Civ 5, from the four levels of modding to examples showing how to harness the full power of the Civ 5 engine.

 

[Dale]

Blog: Modding Architecture

I have posted a blog outlining what I believe a modding architecture should be. I cover aspects such as the "three levels of modding", a game database, modular mods, mod tools and mod browsing.

I originally wrote this article for a post on the Elemental forums, but have re-posted it here in relation to Civ5 as I believe it fully fits into the topic of Civ5 modding.

But as we approach Civ5 release day, I find myself re-reading that post and ticking most of the items off in my head as confirmed in Civ5. This gives me a huge smile, as it sounds like Civ5 WILL be completely moddable.

 

[Thorburne]

Pretty cool! I look forward to seeing what you have in store. Thanks for sticking up for us little guys...

Game data editor: this will help players with no modding experience change or add things like factions, units, leaders, etc. Should include some tutorials on how to create a new faction, create a new leader, the basic things for new modders.

 

[Dale]

Blog: Civ5 Modding Explained

I have posted a blog explaining how Civ5 modding will work. I cover the mod tools (as much as I can as has already been publicly released) and tie it all together to show you how everything fits together to create a fantastic modding environment for Civ5.

We've had little pieces of information at various times about Civ5 modding. Due to the nature of the tiny pieces being given out in such a big spread, there is a lot of confusion as to HOW Civ5 modding all fits together. I will explain the whole picture for you, in one simple blog post, so that you will have the entire picture of how Civ5 modding all fits together. (And let's hope I don't overstep my NDA by doing this ).

 

[Dale]

Pretty cool! I look forward to seeing what you have in store. Thanks for sticking up for us little guys...

Thanks, I think you'll be VERY interested in the blog I just posted.

 

[Olleus]

Thank you very much!

So is the Mod Buddy the only tool we need to make mods then? As in, can I tell it that I want to create a new mod called "ABC", and it then creates a new folder for that, and I can edit the .xml and lua files through it and save them into the "ABC" folder? I wasn't entirely sure if that's what you were saying.

And the tuner can edit anything on the go as long as its not SDK based?


This all sounds awesome.

 

[Dale]

Thank you very much!

So is the Mod Buddy the only tool we need to make mods then? As in, can I tell it that I want to create a new mod called "ABC", and it then creates a new folder for that, and I can edit the .xml and lua files through it and save them into the "ABC" folder? I wasn't entirely sure if that's what you were saying.

Partly correct. Sorry if I poorly explained this bit.

The MB is a file IDE, so you can create AND edit XML and Lua files inside MB (just as you explained). Of course if you wanted, you could edit those files in notepad, but you would have to copy those files back into MB for publishing to the hub. It's just easier to edit them in MB as then you only have to track one set of files which you are editing.

And the tuner can edit anything on the go as long as its not SDK based?

Technically it's all part of the Civ5 SDK (MB, WB, Nexis, Tuner and C++ code), but I'm going to assume you mean the C++ code part.

The Tuner only connects to the game database and acts as the Lua console. So to debug C++ code you would add calls out to a custom written Lua function to dump info to the console.

BTW, it's pretty much guaranteed we won't see the C++ code soon. It'll be like Civ4, so we'll probably see the C++ code in January.

This all sounds awesome.

Yes, it really is.

 

[Szpilman]

I had sparsely heard about the Tuner before, but now it comes to me as the biggest surprise of all! It sounds completely amazing! Thank you and the devs for coming up with such a convenient toolset, Dale, and the publishing part of the mods is the icing on the cake (major icing!).

So the MB I'm assuming it has some syntax highlighting for Lua or is extensible in such a way?

 

[Thorburne]

I'd have to say that the phrase "unprecedented mod tools" appears to be quite accurate.

I will admit that I am still a bit confused as far as the specifics, but there were a few eyebrow raising comments. I assume that you can't get any more specific, though, so I understand. I certainly look forward to learning more about the World Builder as that will likely be my primary tool. I'll have to see if and how much the other tools make the deeper elements of the game a little easier for me to be able to do anything more than just creating maps.

Some questions (if you can answer them at this time)... Will the ModBuddy and Tuner provide the XML data at least in a similar, much easier to edit fashion as a GUI based editor? I mean, from your description, it appears that they allow for advanced XML and LUA editing... but I am just wondering how accessable they are for those not familiar or experienced with those.

Also, I know that you mentioned that the actual full code will likely be a wait, but what about the World Builder and Mod Buddy... how long will we have to wait for these?

Thanks

 

[The_J]

Blog: Civ5 Modding Explained

Thanks, now i have to steal this to make some overviews here .

 

[deanej]

What about adding new XML fields? Given the lack of schema files and using an editor for them, I'm concerned that it's not even possible any more.

 

[The_J]

The schemas are included at the beginning of every XML file, so i don't see any problem with that.

 

[Olleus]

Thanks Dale, I think I'm going to have to change my pants after reading this...

 

[Valkrionn]

I'd have to say that the phrase "unprecedented mod tools" appears to be quite accurate.

I will admit that I am still a bit confused as far as the specifics, but there were a few eyebrow raising comments. I assume that you can't get any more specific, though, so I understand. I certainly look forward to learning more about the World Builder as that will likely be my primary tool. I'll have to see if and how much the other tools make the deeper elements of the game a little easier for me to be able to do anything more than just creating maps.

Some questions (if you can answer them at this time)... Will the ModBuddy and Tuner provide the XML data at least in a similar, much easier to edit fashion as a GUI based editor? I mean, from your description, it appears that they allow for advanced XML and LUA editing... but I am just wondering how accessable they are for those not familiar or experienced with those.

Also, I know that you mentioned that the actual full code will likely be a wait, but what about the World Builder and Mod Buddy... how long will we have to wait for these?

Thanks

As I mentioned in the other thread.... ModBuddy allows you to edit files in text format. Not much different from notepad; You are still editing xml files. It will have several features that make it more useful than notepad, however.

No idea on the wait, but shouldn't be long at all.

 

[Dale]

As I mentioned in the other thread.... ModBuddy allows you to edit files in text format. Not much different from notepad; You are still editing xml files. It will have several features that make it more useful than notepad, however.

Yeah, let's just say it's one of those areas we can't go into yet.

 

[Gedemon]

thanks, now I really, really can't wait for the release date !

"unprecedented mod tools", indeed, and the tuner looks like every modder's dream

 

[deanej]

We mostly had the tuner in civ4 in the form of worldbuilder, the python logs, and python reloading. What's new is the ability to edit the XML on the fly and all being in one program.

 

[Dale]

What's new is the ability to edit the XML on the fly

Careful about that assumption. I was quite specific that it was the "game database" that could be edited on the fly.

 

[deanej]

Close enough provided you remember to make the change. Still lightyears ahead of "change file, reload mod, start new game to test it out".

 

[Dale]

Close enough provided you remember to make the change. Still lightyears ahead of "change file, reload mod, start new game to test it out".

.