[NFP] Help editing technology files

[benjidahl]

I have tried to edit the technologies files a bit to make the game go by a bit slower in terms of the pace in which yourself and the AI gets through the tech tree.
But there seems to be a bit of a bug, unless I am doing something wrong.

I am trying to edit the file found at:
Sid Meier's Civilization VI > Base > Assets > Gameplay > Data > Technologies

It changes the science needed for techs in the ancient, classical, medieval and information eras.
But the science needed for techs in the Renaissance, industrial, modern and atomic eras stay the same.

Anyone able to explain why this is the case?
I have all the expansions, so not sure if there's another file that I am supposed to edit instead.

 

[maconnolly]

Are you able to share with us the specific entries you are editing?

We can then advise further. There are equivalent expansion-specific files for lots of things, as these are essentially 'mods' of the original game; so where something needs to be overwritten, there is equivalent code to do that, or where something is newly added, there is code for that. The procedure varies depending on the specific 'thing' and it is possible that changes to the base-game files would be overwritten if those equivalent sections are coded in the DLC.

However - and this is an overall point but probably the most important - it's very strongly not recommended to edit the actual game files themselves. Literally, don't do it. Changes to them are, typically, done indirectly through mods, which then overwrite those entries as appropriate - but, crucially, can be disabled easily for a clean reversion to the base-game rules.

 

[benjidahl]

Are you able to share with us the specific entries you are editing?

We can then advise further. There are equivalent expansion-specific files for lots of things, as these are essentially 'mods' of the original game; so where something needs to be overwritten, there is equivalent code to do that, or where something is newly added, there is code for that. The procedure varies depending on the specific 'thing' and it is possible that changes to the base-game files would be overwritten if those equivalent sections are coded in the DLC.

However - and this is an overall point but probably the most important - it's very strongly not recommended to edit the actual game files themselves. Literally, don't do it. Changes to them are, typically, done indirectly through mods, which then overwrite those entries as appropriate - but, crucially, can be disabled easily for a clean reversion to the base-game rules.

At the moment I am trying to edit the actual technologies in the file called "Technologies" found at:
Sid Meier's Civilization VI > Base > Assets > Gameplay > Data > Technologies

It's literally every single technology. Simply editing the amount of science needed for every technology in the tech tree. Not changing anything besides that.
It's just weird that it works for the Ancient, classical, medieval and information era techs, but don't for the Renaissance, industrial, modern and atomic era techs.

 

[maconnolly]

At the moment I am trying to edit the actual technologies in the file called "Technologies" found at:
Sid Meier's Civilization VI > Base > Assets > Gameplay > Data > Technologies

I know I said this in my previous comment, but I'll repeat it - I would still not recommend editing the base-game files directly. It is a better idea to apply your adjustments via the modding framework/methodology. But that notwithstanding...

It's literally every single technology. Simply editing the amount of science needed for every technology in the tech tree. Not changing anything besides that.
It's just weird that it works for the Ancient, classical, medieval and information era techs, but don't for the Renaissance, industrial, modern and atomic era techs.

I've done a quick search and it appears that in Expansion 2 (Gathering Storm), costs of later techs were rebalanced. As such, changes you make for Renaissance-onwards (starting with TECH_CARTOGRAPHY) get overwritten by instructions provided via this file:

\Sid Meier's Civilization VI\DLC\Expansion2\Data\Expansion2_Technologies.xml

Around line 45 in that file, there's a comment that indicates the rebalancing of costs for some technologies. The string to search for is: <!--Cost balance-->

What follows are various <Update> parameters that set a new cost for each technology listed. For any technology listed there, anything you change (in terms of cost) in the base-game Technologies.xml file will be overwritten.

If you would like some help on how to configure what you are trying to do as a mod, please let me know - I'd be happy to help.