This is the place to ask and recieve specific modding (mod making) questions and answers. If you have a mod making question, post it here.
If your question involves long snippets of entity files and the like, please don't paste the entire file contents here but put them at the incredibly easy to use http://pastebin.com and then provide the link to your paste in your question posted here.
Please do limit "just comments" here to brief posts please. If you don't know the answer or can't point to help--don't post. Please note that a random, uninformed guess isn't an actual answer.
You can refer people to another source--IF it actually helps answer their question. This could be in the form of links, outside sites, specific modding-useful programs, direction towards another post or poster, etc., etc.
Remember--specific questions, specific answers. Only respond to the ones you can help solve. Also, feel free to amplify, clarify, suggest alternatives to or correct answers seen here if such actions are merited and help provide a real solution. No flaming, insults or put downs here in the answers or other posts please.
Thanks in advance for your help and cooperation. The reason for the rigid rules here is those this thread becomes a usable resource in the future to new people looking for answers.
NOTE: If an answer resolves your issue, please share it here. These answers will help others coming along later too. Karma is a great way to respond to people providing help without clogging the thread or bombing their forum mailbox here. Thanks!
OTHER SINS HELPFUL MODDING LINKS*
*Links are updated when requested.
The Soase Idiot's Guide
Confused? No idea where to even start?
Determined to work at it?
This is the place!
Sins Modding Wiki
ZombieRus's Eclipse Wizardry
Tutorials
MyFist0's full modding site.
Emphasis on modeling and
texturing.
REBELLION MODDING TOPICS
Rebellion Modding Q & A
Mesh Editing
Changing Diplomacy Files to Rebellion
IT REALLY HURTS MY BRAIN--HOW TO START
An Idiot's Guide To Getting Started
MyFist0's Modding Megasite!
MOD DOWNLOADS
ZombieRus5's Mod Yard
Directory of Planet Mods
STEAM
STEAM Sins Forums
DEVELOPERS
Sins Developer Journals Forum 2007 to Present
REFERENCE FILES
Research Modifier List
MyFist0's Exported Models & Files
Modifier List
Harpo's Converted Sins Reference Files 2011
THIRD PARTY TOOLS
3dS Texturing Toool & Tips
Ship Fleet Calculator
SoaSE Eclipse Plugin Project
Mesh Resizing Tool--courtesy of the Reqiuem team.
Harpo's Sins Utility Package -- Dropbox
The Sins Optimization Project (TSOP)
Artificial Unintelligence (Mod and AI info)
Sins Data Converter by BCXtreme
EXPLANATIONS & DISCUSSIONS
Rebellion Updates by Blair Frazier
How to Add a Fourth Race
User-updatable Ship Reference Chart
Sins Modding Dictionary
Adding phase Effects to other weapon types
Culture, Explanation/Discussion
Weapons, Explanation/Discusion
Shield Mitigation & Armor, Explanation/Discussion-1
Shield Mitigation & Armor, Explanation/Discussion -2
Graphic Chart of Sin's Counters
Annotated Guide to the Developer.exe
In-Game Map Creator
Weapons Banks & DPS
Combat Mechanics
Rebellion Shield Mitigation & Focus Fire testing
PARTICLE FORGE
Particle Forge Help Thread
GALAXY FORGE
Adding Artifacts
Working Template Examples
SemazRalan's Template Guide
Pirates Base Start Template
SOUND RESOURCES
[SFX] Black Sun SFX/Music Resource for Modders
MODELING & TEXTURING--SOFTIMAGE XSI, 3DS MAX
XSI Texturing, Tutorial
3dS Model Exporter
3DS Max Rigging, Texturing & Exporting, Guide
Modding/Modelling/Texturing/Converting, Tutorials
WIKI'S
Sins of a Solar Empire Official Wiki
I think its a condition built into the engine of how the computer player plays. Not sure.
NO. Use notepad++ compare feature to see the many differences.
Not sure on whether it affects the AI or not, but it does allow a constraint to be used for psionic abilities.
http://code.google.com/p/soaseplugin/wiki/constraint
See isPsi.
@MyFist0...yeah--I figured. I'm just wondering how to detach the Yggdrasil from active Diplomacy without glitching the game.
@Zombie...I see it but what does it do? I seem to remember something about beam weapons and unique to Psi but do you know any abilities or buffs that use that parameter?
I also noticed in the Player entities a reference for it to fall back to Tech as a pre-completion state. I imagine that's a placeholder for when they were developing the game but I have no idea how either of them effect anything.
It's a target constraint. It constrains what is targetted
Haha--undead humor. Have some gum.
Hey guys, I am working on playing around with the icons.tga(s) and .brushes files this week. I have been having trouble opening some of the .bruhes files in the original sins directory, such as HUDIcon-ship .brushes.
I get this view of a string of words with Notepad++
NUL'NUL NUL NUL NUL RS NUL NUL NULH NULU NULD NULI
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
and this view with regular notepad
BIN ’ H U D I C O N _ C A P I T A L S H I P _ T E C H C O L O N Y S t a t e s U n i t _ H u d _ D i s a b l e d à 5 U n i t _ H u d _ P r e s s e d à 5 U n i t _ H u d _ C u r s o r O v e r à 5 U n i t _ H u d _ N o r m a l à 5 U n i t _ H u d _ N o r m a l à 5 H U D I C O N _ C A P I T A L S H I P _ T E C H C A R R I E R S t a t e s U n i t _ H u d _ D i s a b l e d h
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
When I open the custom .brushes file made from a mod I can view the files fine
brush name "HUDICONSMALL_REFINERYSHIP_RACE1" content "Simple" fileName "Races_Unit_Main" pixelBox [ 301 , 181 , 28 , 28 ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just wondering to what I am doing wrong, Thank You!
You need to convert brush files to text just like with entity files.
Ok, I think I am in trouble because the mod that I was playing around with has all of the entity/brushes files already converted. do I need to use the convertdata.exe that comes with the forgetools package? If so I am in even more trouble because when I click on "run" it opens the commandprompt then closes down without actually opening?
First of all, never use the forge tools for anything except the galaxy/particle forge and the documentation. Everything else is out of date. The up to date convertdata is in your Sins of a Solar Empire directory.
Normally, I'd point you to the Myfists weebly so you can teach yourself the basics of modding, but that seems to be offline at the moment. So instead look in the OP and see if you can't find a data converter or a set of reference (already converted) files you can use. You know, that big list of helpful modding links.
harpo
Thanks guys! sorry that I am so slow at catching on, Karma For yah both!
Oh and I got it working using the "Sins of a Solar Empire Data Converter V1.2!" One small step for Hartwich one giant leap for modding kind!!!
Hi again guys! I have made a ton of icons now and I am looking to figure out how to have these icons always viewable no matter what distance the camera is at. I have found that to do this I need to edit the gameplay.constaints file in the Gameinfo directory. I need to edit this information:
VisibilityDistanceData capitalShipRadiusMultiplier 100 entryVehicleRadiusMultiplier 50000 frigateRadiusMultiplier 180 planetRadiusMultiplier 130 asteroidRadiusMultiplier 200 resourceAsteroidRadiusMultiplier 200 debrisRadiusMultiplier 600 cannonShellRadiusMultiplier 600 starRadiusMultiplier 60 planetModuleRadiusMultiplier 60 starBaseRadiusMultiplier 60 spaceMineRadiusMultiplier 60 fighterRadiusMultiplier 1000 maxFighterMeshDistanceToCamera 4000 mainViewIconChildrenPlanetRadiusMultiplier 130 mainViewIconChildrenAsteroidRadiusMultiplier 200 mainViewIconChildrenStarRadiusMultiplier 60 veryDistantIconFadeNearThresholdDistance 100000 veryDistantIconFadeFarThresholdDistance 10000000
Any ideas what to change? I tried to play around with the Verydistanticonfadenearthresholddistance selection but have not had much luck changhing anything at all. Thank you in advance!
Is it possible to make capital ships rotate constantly like it is for planet modules? I don't see such a line in their entity file, but I'm curious nonetheless.
If you have too, leave the Diplomacy values in but set them up to make relations worse, or, better yet, have their 'envoys' do negative things to planets.
That way they could be, 'sharing friendship' in a not so friendly way.
I just made the planets 3 times bigger, and it seems to me that they rotate a little too fast (like a day passes in 5 seconds)...is there a value somewhere that I can lower so the planets rotate a little slower ?
If you make part of the ship (or even all the visible) part of it as a particle effect, then yes. Just remember the particle effect part doesn't collide. You can place a slightly smaller mesh inside to compensate for this or have solid elements that your effect attaches to to give it "bumpers".
The Babylon 5 mod has this with the Omega-class Destroyer mesh and in particle effects its the Omega R & Omega M. Will give you a clue anyway.
KrrdaxDrkrun can give you a pointer or two if you can get him to post.
My Yggdrasil model has two rotating sections and I am about to add a third one.
Thanks. That's kind of what I want them to do--but I never want a player or AI "allying" with the Yggdrasil. The negative envoy effects are something I had considered.
Somehow I got sucked into all sorts of things I never intended to touch. Life isn't fair. It's been a week since I have had time to work on it--just getting back to it today.
Meant the thing as a whole. Thanks, figured it would be a particle effect, even that doesn't work in this case.
Okay, got an odd issue here. I started using some vanilla structure models as frigates, and it seems the icon point of some of them gets thrown off for some reason. Normally this wouldn't matter, but if you have an ability that needs to face target, it seems the ability goes based on a straight line from the icon, not the actual center defined in the mesh. So how does one move where the icon appears (basically I want it to appear in the middle of the gap)?
Let's see the picture. I had the same thing happen with a flair and particle effect for my Yggdrasil mesh so I took the flair from another ship mesh and jiggled the coordinates to get it right and it solved the problem.
Before that, the particle effect had a fixed position--no matter what way the model faced the particle effect always faced in only a single direction--so the model looked as if it were rotating around it.
Got it. Basically what happens is that the novalith shell clips through the mesh in its frigate form because even though its facing it from the icon, the actual point is firing from isn't aligned.
So you mean the icon is slanted and just needed to be redone?
The icon and mesh are unchanged. The icon is just now appearing in the wrong place. I need this to face its target head on. As you seen in the picture, the player icon is off from the center of the mesh (as well as the mesh center point), Thus it stops turning when the icon is facing the target, not the mesh point the projectile fires from, causing clipping.
Yep--I get it.
So you are using a novalith as a ship there yes?
Yup, its not an orbital structure.
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