In the mods area to add logos, Bg's and foregrounds there is a folder named "Citizens/Portraits"
I would love to add more/new citizens. What size is their .png to be? Plus, I am assuming you need to have separate folders in this folder for each different citizen type... How to name them? All help would be much appreciated.
Anyone???
Not sure, remember the Devs talking about adding this feature at some point. Try asking on Discord. The hardcore players tend to flock to there & love to answer questions like this.
The citizen portraits seem to be 128x128. Pretty sure citizens are tied to Race (as opposed to civilization), so I would think the file would go in Gfx/<RaceName>/Citizens . I'm not sure if this is enough for them to show up however.
Here are the files you need in the mod\gameplay folder:
ModUnitRaceDefs.xml to create your custom race and assign portraits to your advisors
In mod\text you need:
ModUnitNamesText.xml to create the names of your citizens and leaders
ModUnitPortraitsText.xml to assign and tell the game which portrait to use
ModUnitRaceText.xml to put in the description of your custom race
Create a folder with the name of your race(faction) and put the portraits in there they need to be 128x128 png files, call them Citizen_Portrait_RaceX.png, race being your race name and x being a number from 1 to how many you have, not absolutely necessary but following the standard naming makes copy and paste easy .
As an easy template just check out the human entries in the same files in the data folder. Now, I was not sure if the mod faction citizen folder was ready to use so I copied my images into both that one and the Gfx folder stated by the previous poster above.
You can also create your custom starting system with planets and asteroids and all. I just copied the Sol system and created a Terra system with new names for the planets and new sizes and characteristics.
Works fine, I have my GC3 custom faction set up with custom citizens, leaders, custom abilities, descriptions and starting system as well as starting homeworld and planets. If you can mod GC3 you can mod GC4
Hope this helps
I don't suppose you have some example xml files for this?
I am working on a mod tools package now, which for now just includes a race editor. I'll make a post on here in the next few days announcing it, as I'm still working on it, and need to start getting some feedback.
The best examples are in the Epic Games\Games\GCIV\Data folder, look into the Gameplay folder for the UnitRaceDefs.xml file and in the English\text folder for the text files.
Use those as a guide and create your own by using the relevant portions (append method) to put into the mod folder. The game is very moddable and if you make a mistake on startup it will tell you where the error is. Here is my ModUnitRaceText.xmlwhich is quite small so I can post it, as you can see it is just the "Human" part of the file extracted and modified. Same applies for all other files
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes" ?>
<StringTableList
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../Schema/Lib/StringTable.xsd">
<!-- Created with the GC4 editor -->
<!-- UnitRaceText.xml -->
<StringTable>
<Label>Race_Dominators_Name</Label>
<String>Dominators</String>
</StringTable>
<Label>Race_Doms_Dec</Label>
<String>Dominators are known for their cunning and intelligence. They have lower [HS=HS_Expectations]Expectations[/HS] than other species but their resolve and ability to fight off invasions is much lower as well..</String>
</StringTableList>
You got string tables to work? When I tried to use it, it didn't work for me. I had to just embed the names in the UnitRaceDef file
Honestly, I just proceeded with the assumption that xml modding would work the same as in GC3 with the caveat of different files since it is a new game. I looked into the data folder at all the files, took a while , and then made my mods as if I was using the GC3 system. The only difference are the portrait themselves, since I was not sure the "faction" folder in the "my games" directory was ready to use, I just dropped the files there and in the GFX folder.
I also created a "Prepared" ability file with my changes and made a custom system including my own planets and asteroids and with trial and error over a couple weeks it now works like a charm.
TLDR; just assume you are modding GC3 and go from there using the file formats for GC4
BTW, for those wanting additional factions, the Thalans, Slyne and other races from the last GC3 expansions are ready to create as custom factions, they have movies, start systems and some even have their own music and fleets. Looks like Stardock was going to include them but due to time constraints were not able to quite finish them for 1.0, just takes 10 minutes to get them in the game and they work great, if you have GC3 you can get a very close approximation of their original abilities too.
Here are my mod folders
Portraits are 512x512 and png.
If you want to live dangerously then put them in C:\Users\"UserName"\Documents\My Games\GalCiv4\
Hmm, just tried using string tables again, and it just ends up showing the label instead of pulling the text from the string table.
impinc, I am not sure why it is not working, my first tries were hit and miss too and I just decided to cut out the “human” entries of the relevant files and use those as my template. For my custom system I used the “SolSystem” files and modded those entries to my “Terra” system including a precursor capital where Artemis is, I like to even the odds a bit on godlike LOL What kept tripping me up is the entry for “earth” specifies a specific graphic so it kept giving me a class 29 terrestrial world “Terra” instead of my class 30 paradise world I wanted, once I got rid of the graphic entry it all came together.
ForesterSOF, citizens and faction portraits are 128x128 png files in my system same as GC3 and all works flawlessly after 3 full games. Leader FG and BG are 1920 x 1080 png files or brk format movies. The movies and the files from the GC3 folders work if you want to recreate some of the GC3 factions missing in GC4 for personal use.
This was super helpful Wotan. Maybe Rhonin_the_Wizard can put your posts on his guide list https://forums.galciv4.com/512141/community-guides-list under modding.
XCOM2 can be a great source for citizen images.
Here is what a ModUnitPortraits.xml file in the mod directory, text folder looks like. I have 75 entries in each but cut it down for posting. These refer to your 128x128 pngs in the citizens folder or GFX folder, not sure which works so I used both.
<FlavorTextDefs
xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../Schema/FlavorText.xsd">
<!-- UnitPortraits.xml -->
<FlavorTextDef>
<InternalName>PORTRAIT</InternalName>
<FlavorTextOption>
<Requirements>
<CitizenRace>Race_Dominators</CitizenRace>
</Requirements>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-01.png</Text>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-02.png</Text>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-55.png</Text>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-56.png</Text>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-57.png</Text>
<PreferenceWeight>1</PreferenceWeight>
</FlavorTextOption>
<GenderMale>0</GenderMale>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-58.png</Text>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-59.png</Text>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-81.png</Text>
<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-82.png</Text>
<PreferenceWeight>100</PreferenceWeight>
</FlavorTextDef>
</FlavorTextDefs>
Man I wish I could figure this out or that someone (like STARDOCK) would make a UI program for us non-experienced in modding fans. I love my custom civs.
Check the GC3 forums, there are good modding tutorials there that still apply, the files may be slightly different in name but the basics still hold true. That is where I learned. This game has more flexibility and a much nicer presentation layer but deep down it uses the same xml structure for modding.
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