how to make mods

from Sins Forums

im new to the idea of making mods for games and i was wondering how i would go about making my own ship designs and other ideas of mine to make the game more interesting if any one can give me information on how to do this and what modling programs can be used that will be great and im also will to and any ones thoughts on what should be added to my mod i will try to add it and give credit to any contrubuitons.

modding
7,027 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Glad you're interested in Sins modding. While it's far from a complete resource, the sins modding wiki might be able to help you with basic questions. Otherwise the community is pretty good at answering questions (provided we actually know the answers of course).

 

As for modeling, you should be able to do everything you need with freeware. I think Sins meshes use the .xsi format, so you'll need to find a 3d modeling program that can support it (you might need plug-ins). The documentation with the forge tools in the download section has some more detailed information about this, but keep in mind the reference data is out of date.

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Sins meshes are in binary OR text .mesh format. This format is a conversion from the proprietary .xsi format.

Siege of Centauri
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

ok thats good to know what freeware programs would be best i could only find the Autodesk Softimage programs to make ths xsi files i found that i can access the info on the enity files with note pad and edit those slowly working out the info on that and how would some one make new techs to use with pirates and fix the lables that say what it is?

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Michaelwilkins, reply 3
ok thats good to know what freeware programs would be best i could only find the Autodesk Softimage programs to make ths xsi files i found that i can access the info on the enity files with note pad and edit those slowly working out the info on that and how would some one make new techs to use with pirates and fix the lables that say what it is?

 

To make new techs, you'll need to create a new research entity file (find an existing tech that's similiar to what you want to do, copy and paste it, then edit it) and add that new entity file to the correct player entity file and (if you have entrenchment) add it to the entity.manifest file.

Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

To download mods, go to the main Sins page and selet "downloads".  Pick the mods you want and then follow the directions with each mod to install them as they may vary some and not all work with every version and expansion.

Once your mods are properly in place, go to "Options" at the starting menu screen of the game and enable the mod you wish to play.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting imortal137, reply 5
hi im way new i would love toknow how to get a mods downloaded ???

Quoting SIN-Imperium, reply 6
To download mods, go to the main Sins page and selet "downloads".  Pick the mods you want and then follow the directions with each mod to install them as they may vary some and not all work with every version and expansion.

Once your mods are properly in place, go to "Options" at the starting menu screen of the game and enable the mod you wish to play.

Or just look at the mod topics here on this forum board. Most of the ones still in active development (and thus for the most recent versions) should be on the first few pages.