Basic rundown on how to use the Developer for basic changes.

from Sins Forums
Can someone please give me a rundown on how to use the Developer to make basic changes to the game.

Things like increasing the number of cap ships and the fleet size, upping the range of repair and jump inhibitor, giving the gauss gun for TEC some hitting power and range, and little tweaks like that.

I've got the Developer program running, but it just looks like the game running.

What am I missing ?
modding
4,367 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
As far as I know, the Developer Exe is the game with debug options enabled.

The other stuff would need to be done by editing the .entity files in the GameInfo folder. The text versions of which also come in the Forge Tools download.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Uggg. That wasnt what I wanted to hear. But at least it makes a bit of sense.

Thanks.
Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Well, as long as you have the text versions of the files, they're real simple to understand and edit.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
I've edited some of them.

Select mod, instant crash. :(

In lack of any other documentation, I put the text versions in a mod gameinfo directory where specified, edited the values I wanted, saved and then tried to run it.

What I dont get is why the game versions are in binary, and we can edit the text versions ? Do the text versions need to be converted back into binary and if so, how ?

Needless to say, the minidump the program spits out as the game crashes, would make more sense if it was in Klingon.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
In lack of any other documentation, I put the text versions in a mod gameinfo directory where specified, edited the values I wanted, saved and then tried to run it.

What version are you running? The Forge Tools haven't been updated for 1.09 (1.1 Beta) yet.

What I dont get is why the game versions are in binary, and we can edit the text versions ? Do the text versions need to be converted back into binary and if so, how ?

Faster loading. You don't have to convert them back.
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
1.09 ? Mine is showing 1.05, and that is the highest patch I've found. If there is a 1.09 patch, where do I get it ?

I'm a little hazy about these tools. None of them appear to do anything.

I've text edited the text version files. Guessing a bit on the right feilds to change but they seemed logical.

Ah, good, they dont need to be converted. I'm more used to using xml these days, which X3 is scripted in.

Any idea what the maximum number of capital ships is ? I added 19 in the last step, and I suspect thats a tad too many :) Likewise added 3320 to ship value in the last step, and it might be falling over that too.

Much appreciated you replying, btw. :)
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Ok, progress :)

You need to copy the entire gameinfo directory to the mod directory first, then copy the text changes over the top.

Something I read gave me the impression you only needed the files you changed, but apparently not.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
1.09 ? Mine is showing 1.05, and that is the highest patch I've found. If there is a 1.09 patch, where do I get it ?

Download Impulse from ImpulseDriven.com, click the Stardock icon in the corner and check "show pre-release versions", update.
Again, note that the Forge Tools haven't been updated for 1.09 yet.

Any idea what the maximum number of capital ships is ? I added 19 in the last step, and I suspect thats a tad too many Likewise added 3320 to ship value in the last step, and it might be falling over that too.

Probably as many as your computer can handle. (Be careful that you don't get late game lag.)
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
Definitely got game lag :)

But its because of other changes I think.

Well I've figured out I dont actually need the Forge tools.

All one needs for modding the basic level of the game is the developer version of GameInfo with the text versions of the files. The tools are for other stuff.