Getting started- Making a mod: "Improved logistics"

BaudolinoX

Join Date 10/2008

Getting started- Making a mod: "Improved logistics"

Presentation of my project goals

I`m trying to change the way logistics work and make both cultural and logistical warfare a more interesting feature.

AS A REWRITE OF LOGISTICAL FUNCTIONS IS NOT POSSIBLE WITHIN CURRENT HARDCODE LIMITS I WON`T BE MAKING A LOGISTICS MOD.

I`ll stick to the basic stuff of doing abilities, buff and maybe try to design a unit or two.

UPDATE

I will make 2 versions of the mod:

1. Improved logistics - entrenchment non-requiem mod

2. Improved logistics - entrenchment requiem patch

BASIC LOGISTICS

A ) Capital ship slots remain the same

B ) Max Ship Slots have been slightly altered for the later levels

Level 5 gives 1150 Supply

Level 6 gives 1500 Supply

Level 7 gives 2000 Supply

Level 8 gives 3000 Supply

CANCELLED: ADVANCED LOGISTICS (At the moment this seems to be impossible with current hardcode limits)

Starbase construction is currently unlocked with "Just in time logistics". I might move it further down the line though- maybe from lvl 3 to lvl 5.

Starbases will provide

A ) 200 supply

B ) 1 cap ship slot

*I still haven`t tried but if i can make it work, actually constructing a starbase will demand 300 supply for the duration

of the construction

Deploying a chain of starbases will provide an alternative to research the full capacity for supply and cap ships. However if a starbase is lost you also loose the benefits it provides. In the midrange of the game it can provide and important choice of whether to decentralize logistics and postpone the negative sideeffects of completing the supply research.

3.REQUIEM CHANGES

This is unique to the requiem mod and so far really far outside my level of skill.

I would make changes to the SSD and introduce a buildable "Death Star"

Currently i`ve updated the requiem diplomacy so that the Super Star Destroyer can be used on all maps.

I`m also going to make changes to it`s abilities and some other tweaks.

The other abilities and ships i`m working on will be introduced to this mod when i`ve got them working.

modding

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good tip..

This brought me back to a problem i had before i started having the conversion issue..

ok so here`s what happened.

the mod loads fine and the game starts fine. I build the base constructor frigate but the actual construction icon is NOT there..

when i move the cursor to where the hudicon should be located i can see "string not found" in red text and below i can see the production cost.

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string not found usually means that the string count is off OR the identifier name IS NOT ThE SaMe CaSe in ALL characters between the entity and string file. regarding the missing icon it is probably looking at a blank spot in the icon picture(ie wrong index position(i think this is the term, but as I have not done the deeper digging in modding I am unsure))

harpo

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Yeah i figured that bit out.

I had been accessing the wrong string file. I updated the string properly and i made a new ability and updated the manifest file.

Everyone worked fine- except i didn`t get the logistics bonus i had added to the ability file.

Gonna look more into it..

UPDATE:

I`ve reconfigured the Resupply ability for the starbase. I can prob make this into a passive ability for the starbase that provide 200 additional supply and 1 extra cap ship slot.

It`s not really what i wanted though.

I`ve got everything working except that the game seems to skip the lines in the "abilitydeploystarbaselog.entity" that indicate there`s supposed to be a logistics bonus. Gonna look more into. If it can`t be done I`ll opt for the passive starbase ability.

*The above update is a gross mistake i was working in 15 documents simultaneously and going way to fast for my own good. A passive ability solution is almost certainly impossible.

UPDATE 2

I`ve made some miscalculation.

This is the situation

I have My "abilitydeploystarbaselog.entity"

This is activated By "FrigateTechStarBaseConstructor"

The ability activates the Starbase "StarBaseLog".

STRINGS AND MANIFEST SHOULS HAVE BEEN SORTED BY NOW.

My constructor still spawns without a visible "construct StarBase" hud icon. It Says "String Not Found" in Large white and "Not Researched" in red underneath.

Research prerequisites are met and the strings are all there- i just don`t understand. The hudicon should be there..

UPDATE 3

I`ve managed to reduce it to an instance of "String Not Found". I have no earthly idea what that string is not found though.

And it`s only for the construction hud icon the string is not found.

UPDATE 4

I`ve manged to shuffle things around and i now have the hudicon where i want it. Still a "string not found" error right of the icon where it`s supposed to say "Construct Forward StarBase"

Still can`t deploy the base. If i remove all the research stuff in the ability file i can make it work, but it would be better to have the supply modifiers located in the actual deployment file. It`s still supposedly impossible and i have a backup solution, but since i`ve made som progress i`d like to see what i can get away with.

UPDATE 5

ALMOST THERE

I now have the option to build two different starbases with my constructor. The Argonev and my own forward starbase with logistical benefits.

The only problem is- when i click to build the unit moves to the build location then doesn`t do anyting.

He`ll build the regular base, but he won`t build the logistics base. Only moves to the designated build location.

Any ideas?

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in my on experimenting, I found that the construction frigate can only build ONE type of starbase(frustrating), but if you make a second starbase construction frigate and give it the sole construction of the second type of starbase it does seem to work.

harpo

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I can produce as many starbases as i want actually.. That`s not the problem.

When it comes to my "AbilityDeployStarbaseLog.entity" the construction command is accepted and the unit moves to construction location but doesn`t build anything- goes staright to "cooldown" and that`s it..

I suspect this is because of the researchmodifications in my starbasefiles. Hardcoding just doesn`t want to allow for the building of starbases imbued for bonuses for maxshipslots and maxcapshipslots.

I almost thought i had it working though- when the hud icon was sorted and the constructor accepted the build command i really though it was gonna work.. Alas..

I`ve moved on to writing new abilities and i`m again running in to some obstacles.

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it is not the number of starbases able to be built , but the number of starbases per frigate type that stuffed me up(found the ai will only work with ONE type, and even minidumps when trying to build the second type even with name changed copies of the ability & buff files with ONLY the name changes of the entitys in them.

harpo

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I`m not entirely sure what you mean here.

I set the constructor up to be able to build all races starbases and it seemed to work fine.

Although i didn`t bother changing the researchrequirements for the other races starbases so i never actually clicked the construct button.

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