Uzii, I noticed that your mod allows us to research from each category (military, civilian, fleet logistics, ect) separately, or rather, concurrently. What made you decide you implement that? Or is that something you didn't even do and it's a patch 1.03 thing?

Hey there,

downloaded Sins via Stardock, updated via SdCentral (1.3). When trying to enable the mod (url from #1 post), i get kicked out and im told that a log has been saved. I tried opening the dump file with notebad but had no luck. Any idea whats wrong ?

@ SliderFury
No, I don't think thats doable through modding. It must have been in 1.03, but I can't confirm that as I haven't played much with 1.03.

@ sdfsdsdf
You've installed it wrong. Make sure you do everything in the Readme, although, there isn't much that can be done wrong now. Can you post some screenshots of your mod folder, with address bar visible, and another inside the Sins Plus folder. Thank you.

Uzii...about the Old Naval Base. I definately agree with changing the texture, and in your post you highlighted "Old Naval Base" in something like THIS. Perhaps you shouldn't make a new model, but instead make a planet with the "tone", "mood", or "feel" of this colour. So, dark and dreary sort of. And to make the planet more unique, input this mood into a colour pallet of ocean, marsh, and inner-city sort of urban zones.

Uhhhh, i downloaded this mod but when i turn it on, i cant use any other mods with it, is that normal

Uzii:


http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc76/AncientSion/122-1.jpg



Regarding research, yes, thats in 1.03 (being able to research military and civil techs simultan).

@ Sabre
Perhaps.... But at the moment I'm a little preoccupied with 1.3, and retexturing isn't on my 'todo' list. I am going to probably stick to my original thoughts and use the other planet textures slightly altered. I like the idea of an Asteroid Base, like the Pirate Base, as mentioned earlier by DroneFragger, but at present I really can't do this. Try texturing for me if you have a vivid image of what you'd like to see, or, if texturing is not a viable option, try some concept art. Just on Paint with your rough idea.

@ gamerking345
Yes, all mods are like this, apart from the odd mod that replaces or adds to the main game directory, like texture replacement mods, which I don't advise doing with my mod.

@ sdfsdsdf
Strange, it looks OK from here. Couple of questions:
- You have followed the readme religiously and have everything where it should be?
- You have 1.03 Sins installed?
- Can you give me the number of files in each folder? eg: 900 or whatever in GameInfo, etc...
- You have no other mods installed, such as texture replacement mods?
- You haven't touched any of the files included with my mod?

thank you, is there any way to make it so that they are both one mod and i can use them both at once?

@ gamerking345
Yes. But it can be complicated and I won't advise it if you don't have a good understanding of how mods work. However, you are in luck, there are a few guides dotted about the forum on how to 'Merge Mods'. Use the search function, search for that, and you should find some info. Which mods are you trying to merge? Some can be easy to merge, other, simply cannot be done if they use the same files in certain ways.

Well, i want to be able to use both silvesseras empowerment mod and your mod at the same time, which right now i cannot do

I've tried that as well gamerking345, I don't think it can work because Uzii's mod (version 1.2b anyway) is for Sins version 1.03, and Silveressa's is for Sins 1.02, so the files don't merge correctly. You'd either have to somehow integrate it manually, or wait for silveressa to update her mod.

Probably best to wait for Silver to update.

Uzii:

Is there any way i can make use out of the error dump ?



- You have followed the readme religiously and have everything where it should be?
Basicly i just copied the content of the 7zip into the mods folder, nothing else.


- You have 1.03 Sins installed?
Purchased sins, installed and updated via stardock central, it reads 1.03.021


- Can you give me the number of files in each folder?
Mods: 1 Subfolder, 2 files
Sins Plus: 5 Subfolders
Gameinfo 973 files
Mesh 331
String 1
Textures 36
Window 106


- You have no other mods installed, such as texture replacement mods?
Nope, just yours


- You haven't touched any of the files included with my mod?
Right !

Well, I'm sorry to say; you got me stumped, and thats a first for anyone having problems with my mod. I really don't know where you've gone wrong. I just checked my Folders, all correct, except Textures, I have 35, but I don't think that would cause any problems.

I can suggest the usually BS that everyone says, uninstall the entire game, then reinstall, etc... but I don't think it'll work. I notice you have your folders in another language, and I'm sure once again, that this won't affect it, but check the 'Mod Path' in-game when you click once on my mod, make sure it is the right location. You could also try uninstalling the game and downloading the update here, rather than through StarDock Central.

But other than that, I'm sorry to say, I can't help you. I wish, in circumstances like these, I was at your computer so I could check everything myself, I might be able to find the error, but thats just not possible (:(

Once again, I'm really sorry, and if anyone else is having this problem, please make a post. And if anyone out there can help this good man, please do. Good luck.

---

On a slightly brighter note, I've added a few ships now to what will make up the Ship Graveyard in 1.3, where they will all be capturable, albeit in a crappy state. Here is a screenshot mix of the 3 Capital ships you might find there. Basic texturing, but cutting the lights and putting a few decals around the places changes their 'feel' completely. Enjoy:


I've have, and will continue to on a daily basis, updated the First Post Progress Report on 1.3.

Hmm. That ship graveyard sounds like a good idea. I'll add my two bits.

Yes, I'm bringing it back to the Old Naval Base. Perhaps leave these lying around the planet, because it is an "old naval base". That is, if by "old" you mean abandoned.

If by "old" you mean still somewhat in use, perhaps you could make degraded versions of capital ships (like you were discribing) that the AI pilots around the planet, while making the planet itself have a much greater reward for colonizing it. Maybe a mix of abandoned and piloted?

Or, for the setting of a ship graveyard, you could put these abandoned ships in the "space junk" gravity well. But, I think the space junk gravity well doesn't have much in it, so use that or an asteroid belt (or both combined, better yet!) to get a good atmosphere.

'Course, we could also talk about Pirates having capital ships like this as well, but it seems as though you're more into the looks of the game. Unless, of course, you could do that, in which case, fantastic! Not that Pirates aren't already overpowered. (Since when do we have an army of smugglers bigger than an alien empire? around a small fortress? in the same gravity well?)

But of course, reducing Pirate raid attacks is on your 1.4 list, right? Right?

This is brilliant  :CONGRAT:

I'm just starting to use it, but very nice so far. I'd like to see what you have planned next. One nitpick--the credits in-game for textures is a bit distracting and a bit of overkill. I'd leave that sort of thing strictly in the text file.

If you aren't working on it already, I'll be eventually adding techs for colonizing toxic and oceanic planets, and possibly some race specific techs.

While making this, did you look at all into making new research fields? I want to expand the techs quite a bit, but it looks like I may have to scrunch up the existing fields to do so. The player entity files hint at being able to adjust the number of fields, but looking at the window files, it seems the game expects the four defined ones only. Just wondering if you had any insight on this.

@ Sabre
These ships will be abandoned by the TEC. I was thinking of a background for it, and have come up with this:
The TEC have been at war with the Vasari for some time now, I think it was 10 years in the Lore, and over that time, improvements would have been made to the ships, whereas others would have become obsolete. Dismantling these ships would be expensive, and why waste explosives when you can just leave them to drift? So they would dump these old and battered models out in the middle of nowhere. And now, as the war continues, and resources and money become increasingly scarce, it has become a viable option to take these ships and throw them back into active service. This is why, for 1.3 anyway, you will only find abandoned TEC ships.
Quick rundown on there stats:
- Typically weaker in all aspects; Slower, less armoured, less shields, poor Anti-matter restore rate.
- No special Abilities.
- No Levels (experience)
- Strikecraft must be built with Anti-matter reserves.
- Less resources to build, making them less valuable if and when you decide to scuttle them.
- Only take up 5 Supply

They won't be in other Gravity Wells, just the Graveyards. Pirates may adopt these ships, but not in 1.3. Continuing on from a problem with 1.1, Pirates with capital ships cause random crashes. However, I've got around this by making these ships 'Frigates' and changing their files to match those of a Frigate. Also, Pirate raid times is not a feature which will be included, that would be altering and not adding.

@ Bailknight
Thank you, always good to hear from a fellow modder.

@ Jack Iris
The way credits are shown may be changed in 1.3, or 1.4, to the tips you see on the loading screens to make them less intrusive. However, I haven't found a way to 'add' to this list, only alter existing ones. If you have information on this, please let me know.

Custom Research types for new planets is out of the question. This is another problem found in 1.1, you can only have one. One day I may look into it again, but it has become easier and simpler to include the new planets in already existing research categories.

Research fields. The 4 different screens I have not tried to add to, however, I did try to add a research block to the Non-Combat page. I failed, even when everything I did was double, triple, and quadruple checked, and all was where it should be. I ended up overcoming this by expanding one block to include Sins Plus research, and expand the icon to include the Sins Plus logo.

very good idea for the graveyard, well done.

That's really odd. My toxic and ocean planets both said they needed the toxic tech, but the ocean tech actually allowed colonization. I'm hoping that's something the devs can fix.



This is the only thing I have been able do also. I got 4 blocks to be enabled without crashing, but the 4th block didn't show up. I was able to remove blocks though...I guess three extra rows isn't terrible, but it would be nicer to be able to create whole new sections. I'll give it another try later.

Exactly the 'symptoms' I experienced. I, very stupidly, released Sins Plus without full testing, and this was the problem. Hence 1.0 is rarely mentioned here

Yep, once again, exactly the same as my efforts. I got it all together, but it just didn't show up in-game. I came to the conclusion that we simply can't do it with these tools, and it must be something deeper in the game files we can't touch yet.

Good luck with all your testing, and I'll try and lend my services where I can.

@uzii

thank for you listening to my thoughts with regards to the urban planets (too much trade bonus) sorry for the late reply.. because i forgot my password and the LOST LOGIN page is not workign for some reason. I just have a question. If my friends and I want to play online with your mod. Do we just both have to enable your mod in order to play it?

Also i am just wondering how are we going to capture these new ships?

Thanks:

PS: The graveyard looks great!

2 quick things

First I'm wondering if I could perhaps use your mod in as a base with mine located here
https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/305484

And second, I noticed that you have planetary bonuses called moon or moons and yet I see no actual moons. No surprised as its only a bonus but do you think for 1.3 you could add it so that there is a large asteroid like model or even a new moon type model for planets that are discovered to have a moon or moons? Would be a nice little effect to have ^^

@ Auggie
Hey thats no problem, I think I will down it to 60% trade bonus for 1.3.

To your online question; You just need to have exactly the same mod checksum, which if you both install it correctly, you should have.

There will be a new ability only given to Colony ships which will allow the capture of these derelict ships. This is for two reasons, one being gameplay, the other being realism.
1. Colony ships are expensive for what they can do in combat (pretty much nothing) and are relatively weak. This should stop early rushes as getting through militia defended planets to get to a Graveyard will be difficult. Also, they are primary targets for the any militia and so will have to be escorted.
2. Colony ships are probably the only ships with enough spare personnel to effectively man the derelict ships. Admittedly they we be running on a skeleton crew, but will still be worth having in your fleet early on.

@ Maico
Firstly, yes, go right ahead. Any problems you encounter while merging, don't hesitate to ask.
Right, your next point is interesting. Adding moons is a complex task on its own, but making it so they would randomly appear above any planet, and making them give a bonus similar to the ones we have now, would be nion impossible, and a mod in itself. If someone provided me with a model, as well as a basic texture, I would give it a shot, but the work involved would be ridiculous.

Thank you both for the feedback and input, always appreciated.

Would it be possible to get this mod and Real Capital ships mod to work together, Currently even though I have both checked to load, its one or the other.

Thanks