Modding?

[woodelf]

Has anyone played with modding GalCiv2 yet? Is it possible now or does Stardock need to release a kit or something?

I'm wondering about changing the number of planets per sun and also making moons habitable. Right now it seems like there are tight ranges and I'd like it to be wide, like 0-10. And owning a moon just seems cool.

 

[Zhahz]

I don't think you'll be able to do hardcore modding - it'll be limited to what you can get away with in the xml data files, and things like number of planets per star aren't likely to be alterable. I seriously doubt occupying a moon is possible.

It doesn't matter to me since I don't create or use mods but I can see this bothering people who like to mod (more than play? ).

One nice thing about Stardock is that they'll continue to add features, enhancements, and fixes for ages after release, so if you are very passionate about something and suggest it there is a possiblity that it'll be considered for a patch or the inevitable expansion (that will go well above and beyond their already generous post release patching).

IMO, Civ IV goes well beyond overboard with modding support. I don't think the majority of players use mods, even know about mods, or create mods and I'd prefer to see dev effort focused on aspects of the game that the majority enjoy. <shrug>

 

[doronron]

Zhahz is about right. I've not put out any ships for the past week because I've been digging around in the XML. The command line tags in the files are subroutine specific. You can't attach a starbase effect onto a ship component, you can't put a planetary effect on a starbase. There is some limited play within the libraries, though. You want a gun that makes you go faster? Sure. How about life support and shields. Or Colony pods that shoot. It looks like you can also scale the parts and their effects a bit, too.

 

[woodelf]

I guess I'll hope for inhabitable moons from Stardock.

 

[doronron]

To be honest, I haven't looked much at planets in the game outside of the improvement stuff. There might be a way to make a habitable moon...or more than five planets per star.

 

[woodelf]

Well looking through the folders I don't see anything like Assets in CivIV. I think I'll let someone else be the first.

 

[doronron]

I'm not at my game, so I'm doing this from memory: TotalGaming -> Galciv2 -> Data -> English

The files in this folder are mostly XML. Some are obviously named. Others aren't. Make backups of files before you start messing with the code.

Enjoy.

 

[woodelf]

I'm not at my game, so I'm doing this from memory: TotalGaming -> Galciv2 -> Data -> English

The files in this folder are mostly XML. Some are obviously named. Others aren't. Make backups of files before you start messing with the code.

Enjoy.

Thanks. I missed that one by a mile!

And, oh yeah, making backups is a big definite.

 

[doronron]

Get to it, YAAH! Make me Endor. And give me Ewoks to shoot, too!

 

[woodelf]

It's not exactly what I expected, but you can customize the hell out of the planets! I'll have to keep digging before I make any Ewoks for you.

 

[matthewv]

It's not exactly what I expected, but you can customize the hell out of the planets! I'll have to keep digging before I make any Ewoks for you.QUOTE]

Don't let modding galciv2 distract you to much from our song of the moon mod for Civ4

 

[woodelf]

Don't let modding galciv2 distract you to much from our song of the moon mod for Civ4

It's having quite the opposite effect. By playing GalCiv2 a bit I'm not getting burnt out of SotM. Odd synergy happening....

 

[doronron]

Still working on my mod project. So far, no real progress. ARRRGH!

 

[woodelf]

I thought I read somewhere that Stardock had to release something to let us really mod. But I might be getting CivIV's SDK and this game mixed up. But on the main page it does have a modding section, but it's "coming soon" or something like that. Who knows what I mean?!?!?

 

[Ranbir]

I hope we get mods which make the galaxy itself less bland.

Feels a bit empty with just planets and suns.

Sure it has anomolies but they vanish once you survey them. What about nebulae occupying a couple of parsecs, that slow down your speed? Or make shields impossible to use in them?

What about permanent wormholes to add some strategic danger, or boon.

The galaxy itself just doesn't feel interesting enough. Remember Birth of the federation? That was a nice game, always built near blackholes and pulsars so sometimes the AI would try to go through them (to bypass my starbases). Very rarely that happened though, since AI aren't that smart.

 

[woodelf]

Exactly. Right now we have suns and planets. It's pretty, but once the anomolies are gone it's bland, to steal your appropriate word.

 

[Supreme Shogun]

Right now lots of things are do-able. I've "google-ed" my own Captain Kirk pic to match that spiffy UFP race logo from the Galactic Library. There's a section on the Galciv2 forums for modding. There's a couple posted for creating your own space anomaly (or space debris I call it ) or making your own custom world graphics and all not just name. People are posting their own ship designs they made with graphics programs...

I'll start with my own limited experience on data modding.
1) Back up your data directory. (Don't worry metaverse games have their own data directory. )

2) xml editing should be familiar.. Civ 4 anyone ? Want to start on a PQ 26 planet? -> customplanets.xml a simple change of a 10 to 26.

3) can modify "custom races" in \my games\galciv2\
if you saved a race they should have their own file, the last race you used is currentcustomrace if you want to mod that.

4) Want your own starnames or add more? Theres a file for that. Stars.txt in the data directory.

5) Political parties can be added or modded.

6) Random events can be added or modded.

7) Ditto for starbase modules.

8) Ditto for techs.

9) The screens are moddable if you have Stardock's DesktopX. That's what they were made with.

That's quite a lot ! I don't think you can mess with the AI but they're quite efficient anyway.

So in essence if you are a fan of any Sci-Fi and had the time/desire/inclination you could design and play in your favorite worlds (Star Trek/Star Wars/Serenity/Battlestar Galactica-Colonial Fleet/ Babylon 5, etc.. )

In closing, check out the Galactic library and you can see what people are uploading. And of course try it all out !

 

[woodelf]

Thanks for the info Shogun. I'll be sure to check out that Library. I'm still looking for the way to mod in habitable moons..... It's a dream of mine.