Help with New Race

Hi LordSethD,

The easiest way to learn how to do this would be to look at the data files for the existing races.  Have a look at the PlayerPsi.entity file.

If you make a copy of this file called PlayerX.entity and edit it, you should be able to see it in game.  The "raceNameStringID " at the top is the name of the string (in the English.str file) which has the name of that particular race, so you'd need to add a new string to the strings file with your race name.

At the top there are lists of all the orbital modules and ships that the player can build, then all their research subjects, and a bunch of customization data.  If you want to change the ships from the standard Psi (Advent) ships, you'd replace CAPITALSHIP_PSIBATTLESHIP with the name of one of the ships you've added.

Keep in mind that when you modify groups of something there will often be a "count" variable which tells the game how many of that item to look for, ie:

aiNameData
    nameCount 10
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi0"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi1"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi2"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi3"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi4"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi5"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi6"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi7"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi8"
    name "IDSPlayerAINamePsi9"

If you add another aiName, you HAVE to make sure that the count gets updated, otherwise the game will crash when it loads.

Hope that helps!

Thank you Psugar. If I have any errors that I cannot figure out I'll be sure to PM you.

Hail LordSethD are you going to allow us non-modding mortals to sample your new race???

Would love to add more to this great game.

starbucaneer

Most likely. It's nothing gigantic like the Atlantian mod or some of the others. Basically it combines several aspects of the three different races and puts them into one. I'm not that great at modding hence the n00bish ways. It'll be out by the end of June (it's the end of May now), probably sooner if the Research trees work right.

Nice info, I am working on something as well, this might be a good thread for questions?

Psugar, is there any way to add a bonus or penalty to a race in this player.entity file? In my example I think thinking of, it would be a half dozen races with specialties in a few things, with costs of some research & ships raised or lowered, etc. One might have a across the board bonus to culture, another can go higher in laser power, and so on. But . . . where to add this? If it can somehow go in the player eintiy file it would rock

Thx

I don't think you could do something like that in the player entity file Dragonsbane.  There are a few variables you could tweak, but most of it could be done through a specialized research subject, ie Race X has a big culture bonus researchable at the first level.

Im not sure if anyones seen this but here is an all you need guide to adding a new race and new ships WWW Link

DarkStar