How do I: Specify Icons and Icon Colors / Override Player Name

Map Custimization Questions

from Sins Forums

How do I do the following for the custom map I'm creating via a combination of Galaxy Forge and hand coding:

  1. Specify specific icons with specific colors for given players. I've deduced that you can use the themeIndex parameter to specify an icon. How do I set the color for that icon. I know that the icon colors are defined in the Colors.color file in the Window folder. For example, I'd like player0 to have an icon with playerColor = 6. Player0 seems to default to playerColor = 0.
  2. Override the players' names. Currently, despite having the names that I'd like defined via the inGameName parameter, the normal username is displayed. For example, what I'd like to be able to do is name a player for my custom map something like The Smurfs and have that name displayed regardless if it's controlled by a human player or the computer.

Are these things even possible to accomplish?

On a related note, I would love to see more thorough documentation on map parameters, their functions, and the ranges and effects of valid values.

modding
3,820 views 3 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

I don't think any of these are possible to force. Players pick their own colors (or you pick AI's) on game setup, and you definitely can't force a player to use a certain name. You can change the AI names in the English.str file but that will be a global change, and you certainly can't override human player nicknames.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Annatar11, reply 1
...You can change the AI names in the English.str file but that will be a global change...
End of Annatar11's quote

You don't need to edit the English.str file to accompish that. Say you want a militia on your map to have a certain name. All you have to do is define an additional player, name them what you want, and so long as isNormalPlayer, isRaidingPlayer, and isInsurgentPlayer are all set to FALSE, the player will act just like a normal militia. If you do that however, I don't think the OwnedByMilitia and OwnedByMilitiaWithChance calls will work for template. I've been using the Always condition and then setting the owner to whatever name I defined for the custom militia. However, I haven't tried using those conditional calls so I cloud be oncorrect on that point.

For Example:

player
  	designName "Smurf Militia"
  	inGameName "Smurf Militia"
  	overrideRaceName "Tech"
  	teamIndex -1
  	startingCredits 3000
  	startingMetal 800
  	startingCrystal 250
  	isNormalPlayer FALSE
  	isRaidingPlayer FALSE
  	isInsurgentPlayer FALSE
  	themeGroup "NPC"
  	themeIndex 2
  	pictureGroup "NPC"
  	pictureIndex 2

Question on a related note:

Can I rename the pirates using the method above? Could I define the following:

player
  	designName "Smurf Pirates"
  	inGameName "Smurf Pirates"
  	overrideRaceName "Pirate"
  	teamIndex -1
  	startingCredits 3000
  	startingMetal 800
  	startingCrystal 250
  	isNormalPlayer FALSE
  	isRaidingPlayer TRUE
  	isInsurgentPlayer FALSE
  	themeGroup "NPCSpecial"
    	themeIndex 2
  	pictureGroup "NPC"
  	pictureIndex 2


If I set up a pirate base on my map and assign this player as the owner, will this effectively rename the pirates?

 

I tested this today and it didn't result in active pirates. I set up a player as above then then assigned the pirate base world to the owner "Smuf Pirates". The pirates showed dead as soon as the map loaded.

Elemental: Reforged