Some suggestions about mod's

from Stardock Forums
Currenlty Galciv will pick up any changes to the data files and any new data files in the data folder, this can make applying and removing mod's a challenge. If however there was a mod folder under the data folder that either had a folder for each mod or a mod description file that listed the mod files.
You could then choose on the game setup screen what mod's where in effect. This I think will greatly help in managing the mods.
This seems about the right time to start think about these things with beta 3 coming out soon.
Also it would be nice to be able to add new ship graphics, sound effects etc. Has it been sorted out how this could be done, what tools are going to be made available.
217 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top
Right now, GalCiv doesn't recognize new Techs in a saved game from before they were added, or it didn't with the stuff I'm (very slowly) working on, at least.
Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top
Something Cari said makes me think the modifiable files used at the start of a game are registered in the save game files, so that adding a new file will not disrupt the game or challange the scoring algorithm (perhaps explaining why your new files are not recognized). There was also some talk of trying to prevent the cheating that spoiled Stellar Frontier, and this may be part of that.
Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top
From what I can tell, only techs do this. The improvements that are part of this project popped up fine mid-game (and without requirements for the ones that were dependant on new techs), and changes I made to some other files came up mid-game too.

The already researched techs are logged, but everything else is fluid as far as I can tell.

A built ship doesn't change its stats, but new ones do get the altered stats if you change them mid-game. Changes to event files and improvement files take effect as soon as they are appropriate.
Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top
Cari,

If what Arturus Maqi says is true, doesn't that allow cheating? And don't we wish to suppress cheating? Perhaps a saved game (the first save after starting the game) should register the size and modification dates of the mod files and issue a warning that a game won't be registered with the metaverse if a file is detected as altered when a game is reloaded? Or perhaps during the Beta more is being allowed to facilitate testing?
Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top
Sometimes messing with game files (or "cheating"), is a way to explore how the game works or to experiment with different sets of conditions.

As it is, the metaverse doesn't keep track of things like how smart your aliens are or how hard or how many bonus points you are using. If it were to do that in the future, I could see at least marking games that are using altered files could have a purpose but mods could also become an important part of the game.

-Robert
Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top
We will have anti-cheating code in eventually.

The data files are read in at the beginning of a game, either new or loaded, and lists of the ship types, techs, etc, are made. So if you add stuff mid game and don't re-load it, I don't think that the new stuff will show up until the next game.

I think that we are going to allow registered mods, ie approved mods, to count towards the final score. So you can play with whatever mods you want, but if it detects unregistered mods, your score won't count.

The mod management screen sounds like a good idea, though.