The Forge Tools 3 has modding documentation which is a good introduction, but much of the information is outdated and has changed for Entrenchment, Diplomacy and Rebellion. According to the original Sins Mod Set (2008), you will need to copy the 'entire' folder set from your SoaSE install directory to the created mod folder, then convert the files you wish to modify to text. Those which are not included will not be used by the game.
For the Entrenchment, Diplomacy expansions, and Rebellion, you only have to include the files that you want to change and if you want to "remove" an original file you have to remove it from the entity manifest (which is explained in the documentation). Also note that it includes some reference files which are outdated and you will need to create your own or download the archives for Rebellion or Trinity that includes all current versions.
TECH = TEC PSI = Advent PHASE = Vasari
The first thing on a new modder's list should be the Developer.exe's. Weather you are starting to build a new mod or testing a downloaded mod this tool is very useful for finding errors and game testing. If you are not sure about the errors generated or you want to keep track of them you will want to Enable Logging, then you can copy the information to paste into a thread in the modding forum.
See Also:
Install Mods
Getting Your Mod MadeSoaSE Mods on WinCustomizeSoaSE Mods on ModDBSoaSE Wiki
Install and Mod Paths
SoaSE Modders OneDrive CloudRebellion Training Manual pdf
Finally got everything working great.
Great to see someone making an effort for begginners, after the sinswiki didn't get as far as I think it shoud had. A little late to reply from your requst, but better then never
Some things you could add is the DANMAN modtolls package which cover most areas with free tools, another toool is the depeche viewer. It is a free tool which you can use to search the content of multiple text files (free version supports a max of 1000 files if you search a folder or 100 mb). Good if your searching for a specefic line, but don't know the file to find it in. Also there will soon* be a new tool which you can add to the list (I hope ).
Finally there were some pictures in step 2 and 8 which didn't work anymore. Also just noticed that the links in the first posts F.A.Q.s are dead.
Continue the good work.
* Remember that soon is a relative term within the gaming industry.
I'm completly new at modding so I just want to say that this guide has been fantastic for me, was wondering though Is there a complex walkthrough on how to add new races and put in custom ships from scratch etc? I know it would be a bit of a pain but I'd love to know what all the lines in the entity files do and how to get the files to work with each other. Thanks a bundle.
Welcome to modding Sins Velisx
Start off with Sins Modset, that will get you on your way.
There are 100s of articles lost in this forum. Try "create new race" or something in the forum search.
@myfist0
I have some new updates to my Sins of Solar Empire code.google.com project (https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/380774 and here Project Home) that you my find useful to link from your weebly. The first is the Ant Tools and Eclipse Plugin for Soase. The second one is a Wiki representation of the Soase source file definitions including all the currently coded syntax rules used in my Eclipse Plugin. The Wiki syntax pages are dynamically generated from my Soase definitions and will expand as new content and help text are added.
CapitalShip
...
Thanks myfist0. I will check the site often to see whats new. Also I saw the "How to create a new race using existing files" post and will give that a try soon
Wow, 422 downloads of the reference files I posted on WinCustomize in a month. We are going to see a big influx here of new modders. The Devs even gave me 5 out of 5 stars, cant even find a mod with 4 stars.
can i get the novalith cannon and the ogrev cruiser
Sure. Give me a few days.
Yay, my own sticky that I can update links
Thank you so much kyro
Finally got rid of that other one with the dead links and this one replaces the soase dictionary
just tried x90x with no problem. One reason I went to x90x is 2 heavily secured networks that block most sites still allow mine, except the files on dropbox and weebly were a no go.
Are you behind one of these networks? Have you been able to get in before?
I was not aware of any old Weelby links, in the OP anyway.
mephistopheles
Thanks for the response. No I have never been able to access any 90net or weebly pages on any thread here. I wondered why there were so many broken links on the forum but I guess they are not actually broken after all. I use internet explorer. I down loaded the fire fox browser just to see if I could access the links using a different browser but still no luck. What are these 2 network thingys you are talking about? Where do I disable them at? I see nothing obvious in the internet options panel etc.
There are many different ways to block sites from showing.
Router - I blocked words and some domains from porn and torrents for when the teenagers are hereSafe Search settingsPortsAntiVirus Settings
Quoting deu58, reply 65 What are these 2 network thingys you are talking about? Where do I disable them at? I see nothing obvious in the internet options panel etc.
The 2 networks were school and public library. They block tons of sites, but neither blocked x90x.
Maybe post this in the technical part of the forum as I am fairly n00b at this myself
If you need a specific page, I can post it here.If you want it all and you cant get in, I can maybe upload the root folder somewhere to download.
See if you can look at this page before I upload here
http://www.moddb.com/members/myfist0/addons
or I just started a google drivehttps://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B4HiI3UcrxF8aVFWejQyVHZsUGs/edit
Ahhh crap looks like I am screwed. I am in a motel on wifi and I bet their router has some stuff blocked. I lead a rather complicated existence. I am a merchant seamen by trade so I spend most of my time at sea with no internet access and when not at sea here in the same motel all the time on their wifi. I do have a home with a real wife in it but I have not been there in two years and it will probably be close to another year before I can actually get home to see ole what's her name again. Got some monster real life bills to pay off so I have been catching ships almost back to back to get stuff paid off. If I was home using my own home PC I bet I would not be having any problems. I have the Steam version of Rebellion. It was recently updated to 1.1.4480. I would like to get the text game files for this version plus the current bin to text tool. The one in the steam folder does not work or maybe I am not using it right but it will not convert diddly. It just flashes a DOS screen and phht nothing. Lots of stuff in various links at this forum I would like to check out and see if it can give me some pointers on how these files work. Things are different with these game files compared to other games I have fiddled with i.e. sensitivity to white space, add or remove an item you have to change the item count. Do not recall ever seeing a game where each and every thing is counted like this one, Perhaps you can answer this one for me, I am curious about label errors in the dev tool. Other games you can comment out or simply remove an entire function with out issue as long as you have properly isolated or removed any other code affected by it. This game seems to get annoyed if you remove a "label". It does not mini dump. It simply says missing label at line such and such. Is this a true error or is it just the game being miffed that you tweaked a file? Something else is there a tool that locates white spaces? I am using Emerald Editor. This is the old Crimson Editor under new management actually. Somebody else took over the project a long time ago. I also use Win Merge for file comparison. Both are old tools and I do not believe there is anymore work being done on them.
Win Merge is great, I use notepad++ to edit the text files.
At the bottom of the OP is a link to the reference files if you can link to ModDB. Includes all versions, just drag and drop Rebellion folder to your desktop or mod folder.
The game does not mind some errors, but others will crash the game. Not sure by what you mean about "white spaces". The files do all have an order, the game engine loads each line and expects curtain information at the line which is changed with counts. Most sections cant be removed, rather the link to the asset is blanked out. example with a line with a link to an asset and one without.
GameEventSound:PlayerFleetArrived "EVENTPSI_PLAYERFLEETARRIVED" GameEventSound:PlayerFleetArrivedToFleetBeacon ""
To remove an entire entity, like a ship or a structure or research, you need to take the file out of the manifest and change the count.
Starting to mod SoaSE first requires converting files from .BIN format to .TXT format. Once converted, the files can be edited with any text editor like notepad. I recommend Notepad++ (free). BIN file are used to help the game load faster.
Note: The ConvertData files are version specific. The old ConvertData files included with Forge Tools 3 will not work with current files or the current ConvertData files will not convert older mod files.
Converting files will keep the same extension (e.g. *.entity). To open the converted files you will need to first specify a program to do so (e.g. notepad). The very first line upon opening the file will either read TXT or BIN.
To keep all my modding files together, I created a Developer folder in my C drive (C:\Developer). Inside the Developer folder, I created a folder called ConvertData
Navigate to where SoaSE is installed (e.g. C:\Program Files\Stardock\Sins of a Solar Empire) and COPY [Ctrl + C]
Paste [Ctrl + V] the files in the ConvertData folder (e.g. C:\Developer\ConvertData). Note the short address location. This address will need to be typed at the DOS prompt so keep it short to avoid spelling errors. You can also use paste at the DOS prompt.
BIN to TXT
Navigate to the folder containing the BIN files, where SoaSE is installed or the mod folder e.g.
and COPY [Ctrl + C] the files which you choose to mod and paste them to the ConvertData folder.
The 3 ConvertData exes are DOS programs and will need the Command Prompt window to use them.
Navigate to Start --> Programs --> Accessories --> Command Prompt
or type cmd [Enter] in the Start --> Run box.
Navigate to Start --> All Programs --> Accessories --> Command Prompt
or type cmd [Enter] in the Start --> Start Search box.
Navigate to the ConvertData folder in DOS using the cd "Change Directory" command and address, this is not case sensitive. e.g.
CD C:\Developer\ConvertData
There are 4 different types of files to convert.
To do each file separately from the selected expansion, use...
ConvertData_OriginalSins type FileName.type FileName.type txt [Enter]ConvertData_Entrenchment type FileName.type FileName.type txt [Enter]ConvertData_Diplomacy type FileName.type FileName.type txt [Enter]
Here is an example using AbilityEMPBlast.entity from OrgSins GameInfo directory.
ConvertData_OriginalSins entity AbilityEMPBlast.entity AbilityEMPBlast.entity txt
If there was no error the file will be converted to TXT and the DOS prompt will return to the convert directory.
Once the mod is tested and everything is good you may want to help the game load quicker by converting the TXT files back to BIN format. This is the same as the process above accept for the TXT switch at the end of the command line.
By default, the ConvertData exes will convert to BIN so the bin switch at the end is not required. The next 2 examples are identical.
ConvertData_OriginalSins type FileName.type FileName.type bin [Enter]
ConvertData_OriginalSins type FileName.type FileName.type [Enter]
This .BAT example will convert the original Sins .entity files from the GameInfo directory to TXT format. The .BATs still require the ConvertData files in the same directory to work.
Inside the convert folder (e.g. C:\Developer\ConvertData) , create a new text document. Open the new text document and add the line...
for %%a in (*.entity) do ConvertData_OriginalSins entity %%a %%a txt
Press "Save As" and name it something to distinguish it from the others e.g.
EntityBIN2TXT_OriginalSins.bat
Copy the original Sins .entities to be converted to the convert folder. Double clicking on the .BAT file will allow the file to open the command prompt and execute the command line.
I have made a collection of all the .BAT files for download. Add them to the convert folder for converting a single file or multiple files at once.
There are 3 ConvertData's that convert 4 file types. This makes 12 .BAT files for converting to TXT and 12 .BAT files to convert back to BIN. No need to use the DOS prompt any longer. To check or edit a .BAT file, right click the file and choose "Edit".
harpo99999's GUI for converting files
Thanks harpo
I truly appreciate your help here and I am very grateful for your time. I am going to down load your last post where I can more absorb the content. Lots of information there.
----White Space---- Value "Nitheim Rebels"Value "Nitheim Rebels" The first line is from strings as it should be. The second line shows the N moved one space. This will cause the game to not read anything else past that point. Most games you could do this, V a l u e " N i t h e i m R e b e l s " and it would cause no problems. The spaces between the letters is called "white space" and it does not count as a character and has no effect on the games ability to read the string correctly. In this game it seems that an empty space between letters actually has function.I first ran up against this playing around in strings. I loaded the game and all seemed well until the factions started giving missions and I started getting string not found messages. Had me scratching my head for awhile wondering what I did wrong and I tracked it down to extra empty spaces between words.
You can add spaces between the quotes, just not between Value and the 1st quote.
V a l u e " N i t h e i m R e b e l s "
Value " N i t h e i m R e b e l s "
if I wanted to find all the possible bad spaces, I would use notepad++ find in files feature, point to the mod directory and search for Value " where there is 2 spaces between, then repeat replacing Value with a different label.
EDIT: or find and replace Value "Value "
Well alright this is great! I can convert my own Rebellion files from bin to txt and back again. To help out new people trying to convert Rebellion files, I only found a msvcr80.dll in the steam directory for Rebellion. Apparently the other dlls you mention are not necessary with Rebellion. For the batch files take, for %%a in (*.entity) do ConvertData_OriginalSins entity %%a %%a txt and edit it to
for %%a in (*.entity) do ConvertData_Rebellion entity %%a %%a txt
Same procedure of course for the text to bin bat file. For those who do not know how to make a bat file simply make a new note pad document.When you create it it will be named New Text Document.txt Add one of the code lines from above and rename your new text document New Text Document.batYou will get a warning about changing a file extension do not worry about it. Just change it. Your text document will change appearance now. Copy it to the folder you are using to convert your files and click on it and it should do its job. I did get some program has stopped working messages but when I clicked on the cancel button it picked up right where it left off until the folder was completely converted. My untested guess is that I had all 1600 + entity files in the folder and the convert program may have simply choked.
Many thanks to myfisto for helping me sort all this out!!
Chances are they are some bad files from trinity, need to list them, try them separately see what happens
Dang! you was right. All the planets and the 3 star bases were not rebellion entities. Fortunately I keep multiple back ups in various safe places. Not sure how they got bungled but it is all straightened out now. Must have somewhere in the past accidentally copied to that file. Strange though because if that were the case my mod file should be porked but it converts back and forth without issue. Any way problem found problem solved. No crashes on the converter. Now on to bigger and better things. I want to try that empty string thing you showed me to get rid of my label errors. Basically what I am doing is just setting this up for my own style of play. I do not like the Titans. I am a turtle player and my games take days. Layered defenses huge fleets etc and to have some uber monster come in and smash it all up in just a few minutes really ticks me off. I would have been very happy if they would have just taken trinity and removed the 2gig ram cap etc. I like the other super weapons but the AI spam's them and I only play big maps.9Ai's all spamming super weapons all targeting me makes for a pretty short game. It appears that all that stuff is hard coded so I cannot limit how many cannons the Ai can build.The only things that are causing label errors is the titans. I thought about just nerfing the titans down to super instead of uber but then I thought nah because I think they are butt ugly anyway. Especially the Advents flying statue thingy. I already removed all the researches etc they do not cause a problem. Just this section in the player entities.
titanInfoPage:0count 1entityDefName "TITAN_PHASELOYALIST"
If I am reading you right this should do the trick.titanInfoPage:0count 1entityDefName " " Even though the researches are removed I am worried the Ai may just go into a loop looking for these things. I am just getting back into this mod after a long time of it sitting on the shelf. I remember when I first tried to remove the titans it really crippled the Ai. It would not build crap for fleets and was extremely weak. This time around things are much better. The Ai builds huge fleets now. Curious if you have run into this issue before. If I remove the Advent mine research for the drone host it causes a mini dump. No info in the mini dump that says what happened. It just bang drops dead. Apparently from what I can find the Advent method is for fighters to actually convert to mines. Poked around in Buffs/Abilities and what not and I cannot readily see why removing this research would cause a problem. Just curious really because I have set the mines to 0 in all the planet and game constants entities anyway but the AI will still waste resources on a tech it can't use. Removed all the other factions mine techs/units without issue.
titanInfo Page:0 count 1entityDefName " " Caused mini dumps. But so far this works.
titanInfo Page:0 count 0
Game now starts properly with no errors and I have a running game. Just getting started on this game so I will have to wait and see if something goes boom later on as the game develops. Rereading the info you gave me you say if I remove a research from the game info files I should remove it from the manifest entity also? If the dev program is not showing errors do you still advise to remove the researches from the manifest? I have a long way to go with testing here the game may very well throw some errors or even dump later. I have not even built a structure yet so way to early to tell what may unfold. I was happy just to get the thing up and running with no errors. Major improvement right there.
Yes I would recommend removing the research from the manifest, update count, and player.entity, update count. Once the file is out of the manifest, it can be removed from the mod.
entityDefName " "
these fields will require a proper entity name that also must be in the manifest. Items with a count can be 0ed out but the 2 I quoted are hard coded in place, you cannot add or remove to those sections, on double quote no asset, with no space, "".
Quoting deu58, reply 74It appears that all that stuff is hard coded so I cannot limit how many cannons the Ai can build.
try to either make them use more slots or cost more. Or move the research for it to late level. Been so long since I played a reg game, and I don't own reb, but are they last research lvl still?
Avent, try to remove the ability from the ship.
Yes the cannons are still the highest tier. I read a post where somebody said make them tier 8. Tried that but it is an ugly approach. You can still research them but can't build them. So the Ai would still waste resources on a unit it can't use and hard to tell what if any negative impact it may have on other parts of the Ai. Just because something is not throwing an actual error does not necessarily mean it is working correctly. Right now though with my mod as is I am getting my butt kicked by a bunch of angry women. Never had the Advent ai play so forcefully and smart before.
Had to quit for now and go back to a save because right now they are wiping out my home world. Apparently parts of the Ai that may not have been working correctly before may actually be working now. It really looks like I am up and running right now. Once I get done with my current testing I will take your advice and clean up the manifest files etc.
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