Full conversion?

[Paasky]

Alright, so my question today is this:

How hard is it to make a total conversion? That is, remove almost all current techs/vehicles/buildings, and replace them with my own ones. I haven't played with the modding tools as I haven't obtained them yet (monetary problems, which got finally fixed today so I just put down the 38€ for a real-life copy, should arrive in a few days).

I've already modded my main game to have standard construction & training speeds in marathon speed with slightly longer research to compensate. I've also upped HP's from 10 to 20 for units & 20 to 30 for cities to make combat last longer. Then I realized ships were useless at killing other ships so I upped their bombard as well.

All that aside, I've been working a lot with excel (ideas & concepts) and the xml code so I know what I can and can't do. Problem is unlike in Civ4 the xml files don't overwrite the previous ones.

If I want to remove stuff, would the correct procedure be first to remove all dependencies (tech>building>resource>unit etc), then remove the unnecessary stuff, then create my own?

Or do I just need to make half the game into dummies that will haunt CPU memory & the Civilopedia?

 

[Nercury]

Yes, you can remove XML data. Either by writing XML or by creating lua queries to delete entries from database (which is generated from XML). Read "Modders Guide".

A lot of stuff is hard-coded in lua, and there probably should be stuff that is expected to exist in XML files. Total conversion certainly is possible though.

 

[Pazyryk]

It's not easy at all. I have a thread on this over here http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=388134.

 

[Dale]

It's actually not that difficult. To completely strip out the database you have to:

1. Unhook all the hardcoded elements out of the Lua files (eg: AssignStartingPlots.lua)
2. Unhook all the XML dependencies
3. Delete the tables

1 and 2 are critical to do first before deleting the database tables or you will get errors.

 

[Pazyryk]

Dale,

If its so easy then why don't you...

Seriously, you're talking about dozens of things that have to happen. One error and you're hosed, with no information to tell you where you goofed.

Edit: Also, one doesn't really want to delete the tables, right? Just the contents. (So we can add our unicorns and pixies in later.)

 

[Nercury]

No pixies please, I am allergic to pixies.

Pazyryk, keep up good work