I mean is there an alternate way to do what Clairvoyance does? Make the planets visible to me without having to waste a capital ship ability on it?

I've actually tried that with the scout frigates, but the problem is they don't use it automatically. I suspect it is because it is a capital ship ability, not a frigate ability, and I'm not sure how to change one to the other. Any ideas?

I don't think you understand. I do not want to continue to use Clairvoyance. I have a map with what seems like an infinite number of planets on it. I have modified Clairvoyance and the frigate does not use it automatically. I do not have the time to hand pick the planets I want to see. There are at least 100 planets in this system. I have my capital ships configured exactly the way I want them, so I don't want to waste one of their abilities on Clairvoyance. I am asking for an alternate way to see planets without sending scout frigates or using modded Clairvoyance, preferably being able to see all the planets from the very beginning. Is it possible? What file do I have to modify? What line do I change? etc... I apologize for the inconvience.

So do you want to remove the fog of war entirely?

hmmm... well that might be a bit hard. IF it is possible you will need to create a targeting "buff" before the actual buff doing what it is you want to do (so lets say "AbilityScout.entity" points to "BuffScoutTarget.entity" which then points to "BuffScoutPlanet.entity". i have some free time later today so ill see if i can get the desired result.

enjoy. it worked for me it least. let me know of any problems. change values to your liking.

to make it require research you will need to replace:

researchPrerequisites
    NumResearchPrerequisites 0

with

researchPrerequisites
    NumResearchPrerequisites 1
    ResearchPrerequisite
        Subject "RESEARCHSUBJECT_ABILITYACCESS_(name of research subject)"
        Level 1 (level can be changed depending on how many levels of said research you want to use) 

a final note. you will have to add these abilitys to your entity.manifest once you create them. (you will have to modify the new patch entity.manifest because when i tried to run it with one i made myself from the old patch, it mini-dumped. works fine with the new one though.  (you can just download harpo's manifest creator if you want to do it within 10 seconds.  simple, easy, flawless)

make sure the the ability points to the buff. for testing purposes i already named, you will have to either name it the same or change the buff name in the ability. and you can change values such as time and anti mater to your liking. if you plan on making it permanent you will have to remove the finish condition. also there is a recast timer in the ability that you can change if you feel 30 seconds is too short.

It minidumped on me, too. Not sure what I did. I added the entities to the manifest. Does wordpad foul it up?

well if you want new icons and whatnot you will need to add them in, a process which i wont get into. for names, you have to edit the "strings" file then reference the name in your ability to the text in the strings file. and can you be more specific. also what version of sins are you using (i forgot to ask this, and it will make a HUGE difference).

the ability i showed you is for diplomacy. if you do not have this xpac chances are that is what would be causing the errors. (if this is the case i can make one for the original or entrenchment)

and yes it is labeled as clairvoyance. you asked if it could be done and i didnt know at the time so it was sort of a test.  as far as for what that particular thing means, hell if i know, i just added it in because it was labeled as missing in the diplomacy dev.  what i THINK it could mean is how many times per person can said buff be applyed to said target. its something new for diplomacy because i dont ever recall seeing it in entrenchment or vanilla sins. (although i could be wrong, it could be that i just never  come across it when i did mod said games.)  if you have any other questions feel free to ask.

can you state the exact error message?

on top of that, can you describe how your using this ability, or rather, what your using it on (the actual ability name as seen on the .entity) and how you added them to the manifest, or if you did it through a program.

I'm not using any mods, and this is what the two files look like:

AbilityScout.entity

TXT

entityType "Ability"

buffInstantActionType "ApplyBuffToTargetNoRange"

instantActionTriggerType "AlwaysPerform"

buffType "BuffScoutPlanet"

targetFilter

numOwnerships 3

ownership "Enemy"

ownership "NoOwner"

ownership "Friendly"

numObjects 1

object "Planet"

numSpaces 1

space "Normal"

numConstraints 0

effectInfo

effectAttachInfo

attachType "Ability"

abilityIndex 2

smallEffectName "CapitalAbility_FarSightActivate"

largeEffectName "CapitalAbility_FarSightActivate"

soundID "EFFECT_FARSIGHT"

needsToFaceTarget FALSE

canCollideWithTarget TRUE

moveThruTarget FALSE

isUltimateAbility FALSE

maxNumLevels 1

levelSourceType "FixedLevel0"

aiUseTime "NotInCombat"

aiUseTargetCondition "Any"

isAutoCastAvailable TRUE

isAutoCastOnByDefault TRUE

pickRandomPlanetToExploreForAutoCastTarget TRUE

ignoreNonCombatShipsForAutoCastTarget TRUE

onlyAutoCastWhenDamageTakenExceedsPerc 0.000000

useCostType "AntiMatter"

antiMatterCost

Level:0 0.000000

Level:1 0.000000

Level:2 0.000000

cooldownTime

Level:0 1.000000

Level:1 0.000000

Level:2 0.000000

orderAcknowledgementType "ONGENERALORDERISSUED"

researchPrerequisites

NumResearchPrerequisites 0

nameStringID "IDS_ABILITY_FARSIGHT_NAME"

descStringID "IDS_ABILITY_FARSIGHT_DESCRIPTION"

hudIcon "HUDICON_ABILITY_FARSIGHT"

smallHudIcon "HUDICON_ABILITY_FARSIGHT"

infoCardIcon ""

buffScoutPlanet:

TXT

entityType "Buff"

onReapplyDuplicateType "StackNewBuff"

buffStackingLimitType "ForAllPlayers"

stackingLimit 1

allowFirstSpawnerToStack FALSE

buffExclusivityForAIType "ExclusivePerPlayer"

isInterruptable FALSE

isChannelling FALSE

numInstantActions 1

instantAction

buffInstantActionType "PlayPersistantAttachedEffect"

instantActionTriggerType "OnDelay"

delayTime 0.000000

effectInfo

effectAttachInfo

attachType "Above"

smallEffectName "CapitalBuff_Farsight"

largeEffectName "CapitalBuff_Farsight"

soundID ""

numPeriodicActions 0

numOverTimeActions 0

numEntityModifiers 0

numEntityBoolModifiers 1

entityBoolModifier "ProxySensor"

numFinishConditions 0

Everything seem to be in order? I just went through and double checked and it seems valid. I'm still new at this, so I just want to be sure.

Have you ever come across a file that lets you modify how powerful the neutral colonies are? (Specifically how to make more ships show up at neutral planets at the beginning of the game) Or is that a hardcoded feature? Thanks for the help, by the way.

Channeling basically means the unit using the ability can't do other things otherwise the effect ends prematurely.

Ultimate Abilities are the most powerful abilities capital ships possess, they only have one level, and they can only acquired at level 6 or higher.

Here is a little something i did up and tested on diplomacy. its the PSI frigate i changed to use the ability but you can just copy the ability name into another unit of your choice.

Note, i did not redo the duration to be infinite and the CD to be near instant. also if i were you i would leave the finish condition in, if anything make it a bit longer.