vanilla 1.17 & entrenchment 1.03 files converted to text format.

Thanks for the upload.

Thank you Silveressa.

-Teal

ok I have been reading here on the forums trying to get ahold of how to tweak my game to my taste.  I have seen a couple things and have some questions. 

1) I created a mod folder and made a subfolder called "GameInfo" (without quotes) in there with the edited .entity files.  it did not work and gave a minidump upon trying to load the mod.  I have Sins 1.17 and entrenchment 1.03 but was only doing stuff with the sins 1.17 entities.  I got the reference entities from forge tools 3

         a) @ #1... do I need Silveressa's text reference entities in this thread?

2) How do i use the convertdata utility?  there was one in forge tools and in the game folder on install. I ran it in command line but couldn't figure out the syntax... totally stumped.  Could someone who has figured out how to use this sucker give me the scoop?

3)I have seen some oblique references to these dev exe's ... what are they? what are they for? and how do I use them?

4) According to my understanding to get a mod to work you only need the edited .entity files in your mod folder.        

         a) should there be a subfolder?  if so what should it be called?

         do I need additional folders and files from reference info (or whatever its called... slipping my mind atm)

berbinator,

question 1 the folder for mods in vanilla 1.17 is Mods-V1.17 and for vanilla you NEED all the files & folders under your mod's folder, eg GameInfo,Mesh,Particle, PipelineEffect,Sound,String,TextureAnimations,Textures AND windows, but for entrenchment you only NEED the CHANGED and added files with any added files added to the correct manifest in the mod

question 2, I created my txt bin gui to ELIMINATE this problem for modding beginners.

question 3 the dev exe is a special version of the game engine that allows the modder to make changes to files and check the changes without having to reload( at least that is what I think is it's main benefit)

question 4 YOU NEED the same folder structure as sins ie you need the gameinfo,mesh,pipline effects,particle,sound,texture animations,textures and windows folders with the respective files (for vanilla mods YOU NEED ALL the files) (for entrenchment you ONLY need the changed files),the files can be in EITHER txt OR bin so you can keep the mod in txt to make it easier to edit, OR you could convert it to BIN so that it loads faster &might also play slightly faster.

hope this helps

harpo

1.    If you are doing a mod for Entrenchment 1.03 then you will need to remember to edit the manifest lines in the entity.manifest, also change the count number at the top for however many lines additional entityName items you add.

Please dont leave any open lines or spaces between lines. It will mini-dump.

Also, if you are adding 1.17 files to the 1.03 folder, you need to be careful, some will mini-dump the game, the def files, the gameplay.constants and other data files normally are in the main game folder and Entrenchment doesn't like them in the Entrenchment gameInfo folder.

When you edit, be careful, change as little as possible, wrong entries for values, or cutting lines out of a file, or adding lines will mini-dump many good ideas. These files usually have a form to them and a line count that the game likes to see when reading them.

So, gameInfo folder with minimally changed .entity files,

String folder if you are changing names or adding cool new names or whatever. 

and the entity.manifest file,

that is it.

you can add other things, or take out other things usually, i tried running a mod without the manifest file and couldn't, but others have had just a handful of .entity files and their's ran fine, so i dont get it, but all i can say is go slow, double check yourself, change one small thing and fire up the game and give it a try.

If you want Silveressa's files, its a good idea, using converdata without proper commands might be part or all of the reason your mod isnt going.

2.   Harpo and DK soase tool are good for converting files, but why do that if you can get them already changed?

3.   Dev.exe's are modified game executables that actually allow you to add and delete and edit a game "on-the-fly" as you play it, its like having the ultimate mod, right there and you dont have to code it, or anything, just double click and start the game.    Do a search online, or in the download area, that will show you how to use them, and what the commands are to do all the cool stuff, like adding ships immediately, changing the galaxy, or switching to another player point of view, all sorts of cool stuff. 

4.   You dont need any sub-folders.

      If you want to include the sound folder, or add new meshes or textures or that sort of thing you can include them, but you dont need them if you havent. All of those folders are loaded by default anyway, so its cool. 

Have fun and happy modding, oh, also, ask some of the modders to look at your changed files, tell them what you did of course, and just give them the changed files, not everything, haha, and someone will be able to help you along the way.    Take care and keep modding!!!

-Teal

now just a couple more quick questions...

1) will forge tools 3 .entity files work for modding?  cause I can't seem to download silveressa's entity files off of filefront

2) I assume I still have to put the changed .entity files in a folder named after the name of the mod?

3) does changing the stock forge tools 3 .entity files from "read only" to be able to save changes make a difference?  should I change it back to read only after I'm done?

Anyone successfully download this?  Link seems to be broken as of 8-12-09.

well my newest update is this... i made my changes to the .entity files, left them in txt format and set them back to "read only".  I placed these entity files (I got them from forge tools 3 entrenchment 1.03 resource folder/game info) directly in the entrenchment 1.03 mods folder in a folder called enhancement mod.

bottom line.  the game doesn't crash or freeze up, buut when I play a game with the mod enabled NONE of my changes are evident... any at all... so don't know what to do about that. 

Also before this i had the entity files in a folder called "GameInfo" inside of the enhancment mod folder... any suggestions ?

berbinator,

question 1 the vanilla files from 1.15 in the forge tools can work in 1.17, BUT the entrenchment files are from 1.01 WHICH HAS CRITICAL differences to 1.03, and the differences WILL DUMP. silveressa used my txtbin gui which is in my modding utility pack at the bottom of the op in this thread

question  2 the folder structure is
mods-v#.##\mod name\  *.manifests (for entrenchment. you can create new & correct manifests with my manifest maker in the utility pack)
                                    \gameinfo\ *.entity(the actual functioning part of the items)
                                    \mesh\ *.mesh (the model of ships/structures/planets)
                                    \texture\*.dds (the textures & graphics used in game)
                                    \sound\ *.ogg (the sounds used in game)
                                    \string\ *.str (the language string files for the text that will show up and also ship/starbase/planet/star names)

                                     \Particle\*.particle (are the particles used in effects)
                                     \PipelineEffect\ *.fx ( the effects)
                                     \TextureAnimations\ *.texanim( animation for textures used in effects,planets & stars)
                                     \window\ *.brushes, *.window, *brushanimations, *.color, *.playerpictures, *.playerthemes, *.playerpicturesdef, *.playerplayerthemesdef (all used in the GUI of the game)

question 3 it is a good idea to keep the "reference" entity & other files UNALTERED so that you can go back to them if something stuffs up.

tripularity I believe that silveressa used my txtbin gui to convert a copy of their gamefiles to txt then archived them and uploaded them, so you could use the txtbin gui in my modding utility pack to do the same thing.

hope this helps

harpo

ok so to get this straight...

first off I'm just using copies of the forge tools reference files... which is probably what's killing me.  I will report back after I copy and convert the actually entity files with your txtbin tool...

Now up above their they just said to mod for entrenchment (which is what I'm doing) all you had to do was put the edited .entity files in the mod's folder, but your saying to put in other stuff... (all I'm changing is .entity files)  .... now could you clarify?

EDIT:  another thing... when the mod worked (but didn't change anything) should I be alarmed that the little number below the mod thing said 0?  isn't there supposed to be some number in there?

berbinator,

for entrenchment mods you ONLY NEED the files that you change or create,
but if you create a file then it NEEDS to be added to the relevent manifest eg add an entity file then add the entity file name to the entity.manifest in the mod, aqnd if it is OLNY the entity files that you are altering then you only NEED the mod name\gameinfo\*.entity structure with the altered entity's.

for a sins 1.17 mod you NEED all the files and alter the files you want to(by the way I have NOT made a vanilla sins mod, only entrenchment mods myself, my statements regarding vanilla modding are from looking at many vanilla mods where they do exactly this)

and DO NOT use the reference files from the forge tools for entrenchment as they will either not work OR MINIDUMP every time as the reference files for entrenchment were from the OLD 1.01 and there have been several SIGNIFICANT changes up to entrenchment 1.03 which is the current.

harpo

awesome... so let me get this straight....

for merely editing entrenchment entities I only have to

1) copy and convert my relevant gameinfo entities with your txtbin tool

2) make the modfolder with gameinfo subfolder with edited entites

correct?

yes

actually you first copy the entrenchment folder to another location,
then run the txtbin gui  and convert the copied folder to txt(and the txtbin gui will NOT allow you to convert files in the program files path to protect the game from being corrupted),
then copy the entity files you want to alter to the mod's gameinfo,
then edit in the changes you want

harpo

ok I've got all this straight and we're haulin now... so here's the big question.  I want to change the maxships and maxCapships entities... but those are vanilla 1.17 and they don't have those entities in the entrenchment folder... how can I change those for entrenchment?

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have edited them in my uber starbases mod, the hirachy for the files is the top mod then the second mod etc.. then after the mods then entrenchment then sins, BUT there are four files in vanilla that CAUSE minidumps when added to entrenchment. they are

AbilityAntiMatterRestore.entity
AbilityEvasiveManeuvers.entity
BuffAntiMatterRestore.entity
BuffEvasiveManeuvers.entity

these four entity files when included in an entrenchment manifest or mod CAUSE minidumps, so do NOT include them

harpo

hmmm... what do you mean by the hirarchy for files??  are you talking about enabling the mods ingame or something special I have to do?

Also does your statement about those 4 entities mean I can include other sins 1.17 entities in my entrenchment folder without minidumping? 

worst case scenario I'll grab your mod and see what you did

berbinator,

you will NOT find my mod as it is a personal mod.

and yes the hirarchy is the mods top to bottom, then the entrenchment files and last the sins files as the search sequence for entrenchment regarding the files from manifests eg if you have a RESEARCHSUBJECT_MAXSHIPSLOTSTECH7.entity in your mod it will be used in preference to the sins one.

if you use a sins file that has an entrenchment version, check that they ARE the same.

hope this helps

harpo