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GalCiv Writer
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The new version is going to be primarily 'clean up' work.
Here's the list:
1) FIX include UP Issues file names in StandardFiles() array.
2) ADD instructions file for Options screen.
3) ADD instructions file for DFM screen.
4) ADD function to randomize tech tree costs (I guess no one's really interested in this, but I am and I've got veto power).
5) ADD function to verify all the various files in a given directory.
6) CHANGE Improvements + English.str released for public consumption.
The other thing I'm working on is currently giving me fits. I'll post a screenie once I'm happy with where I'm going with it.
        
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I have posted version 1.2.3 on the website:
 Link
This version releases to the public the last two editing screens, Improvements and English.str, along with a few more enhancements. I finished the list I detailed one post up.
Sorry for the delay, real life intruded pretty heavily into my GalCiv time the past two weeks. Thanks for your patience and I hope you like this latest update!
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AHHH HawaiiiFive-O you are the man! Gotta say your program is REALLY REALLY slick!!!!
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Thanks. I'm just hoping Stardock gives me more work to do with the X-Pack. 
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Just thought I'd drop by from Apolyton and offer some advice obout modswapping...
| Well, as there are a lot of different little "mods" in the library I built it that way One advantage is that you can do both "total conversion" and "single event/ship/etc" with this approach.It will have to take into account 'priority'. The first mod in the installed mod list should take precedence over the following (that part is not in the UI yet). |
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It would seem to make more sense to do it the other way around - you might well end up with mods which depended on other mods, and I would think you'd add the main mod first, and then the other alterations to it after that, so you'd want items lower on the list to take priority over items higher on it.
| Another problem will be consistency: how to revert back to the original state ? |
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I'd recommend keeping a complete backup of all default data files in some other directory which is 'sacrosanct', however, as you say...
| What if the user update the game via SDC with mods installed ? |
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...updates screw up this method. CTP2 will never be patched again, so I didn't have this problem.
Well, just a slight variation on the second one - don't bother to remember what original game files were altered, just backup and restore them all - this makes things slightly slower, but somewhat safer.
| A word on the way the program works:Each Mod has it's own directory under %Galciv%/Mods. There should be a "mod.xml" file at the root of %Galciv%/Mods/%ModName% containing mod info(name, version, author, description, compatibility, library, category, email, site). I plan to add multi-language support. |
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You might also want to consider compatibility with other mods. In CTP2, we have several minor mods which alter major mods, and if you try and use the former without the latter strange things will happen.
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| don't bother to remember what original game files were altered, just backup and restore them all - this makes things slightly slower, but somewhat safer. |
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I didn't really express this very well - the way I did it in ModManager was as follows:
Each mod specified a bunch of file copies which were pperformed on application (it's better to just allocate each mod a copy of the data file directory structure, as you're doing, but that wasn't possible for backwards-compatibility reasons).
Whenever a copy is performed it tries to backup the file being copied into, there's a standard way to save such backups. If the backup already exists, it just leaves it, otherwise it creates it.
When unapplying a mod, all the backups corresponding to files it applied are restored, but the backup files are not deleted.
I also provided a seperate option to go through and find all the backups that existed, and restore them, sothat should revert the data files to their original state regardless of what disastrous events had occured in the mean time (such as crashes, power cuts, etc.).
I don't know how appropriate this method is to you, but it seemed the safest one I could come up with. If you rely on the fact that whenever the program is started up, all the files are in their default state, then you run the risk of problems in the event of a crash.
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All that makes sense. The big issue I see is who defines what files comprise a mod- the modder or the moddee?
If it is the modder, then the program would only work for mods where the maker invested the time to build this list. The program would support creating this list to make it easy as possible, but they would still have to a) take the time, and b) know the modswapper exists.
If it is the moddee, then it behooves the user to open the program, point it at the mod files (in a separate directory) and tell the program "This is Thrull's Red Drengin Ships mod, remember it!". I'm not convinced people will take the time. It'll be like a CD playing piece of software I had on my computer in the early 90s- I took the time to type in the artist/album/tracks the first couple of times and then just gave it up as too tedious.
So, who controls the list making in CTP2? How did you tackle this issue?
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Well, actually noone uses my ModManager for their mods yet - primarily because no mods have been released since I wrote it - so they all still use ModSwapper (the older utility). This came about because one prestigious modder (WesW, who wrote the MedMod) asked someone to write a program to swap in the files for the MedMod. Everyone saw the sense of this, and it became pretty much mandatory to take the time to make the file ModSwapper uses (which required only writing 3 lines - so it was no hardship) if you wanted your mod to be played. Because the CTP2 community is so small (basically confined to Apolyton) this all more or less happened by mutual consent and common sense. Whether people will now change to using my utility is an open question, it will likely happen only if they require the new features I have provided.
Certainly the burden should lie on the modder as far as possible, since they are usually the kind of person who is prepared to take the time to do this kind of thing (it's hardly any work compared to the making of the mod) and they want to motivate people to play as easily as possible. Also, they are the one who controls the mod versioning, and if you want mods to talk about each other (for compatibility reasons, etc) then they need unique names, so you don't want players making spelling errors, etc.
As I said, if you allocate one directory to each mod then you don't need to list the files, it is implicit that all the files in that directory will be used. Of course, you can make it more complex by allowing mods to specify partial mods which only use some of the files, but I doubt that would be very useful.
It's certainly worth giving due thought to this kind of thing now, while you have the chance, because for CTP2 we have problems as a result of the ModSwapper method, the main one being that the main data directory contains hundreds of files (Mine has 419 - and it could be more if I'd installed all the mods I could) from all the different mods, and it's difficult to find what you're looking for.
In summary, I would predict that if you make a practical utility and release it on this forum, preferably soon, then modmakers will use it, because players will use it, because it will save them a lot of headache.
Another thing that has come to mind is that you should allow it to be run entirely from the command line, and that way other utilities (like GalCiv Writer) can swap mods easily, and users can make shortcuts that start up GalCiv with given mods at the press of a button (Indeed, you might try using some COM stuff to make such shortcuts yourself).
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@Parable: Rustyblade dug up a good freeware program about 2 months ago. Here's the link:
Link
Give that a swing, I hope it does what you need it to do.
@JByTheWay: As always, all very good points. The key would be adoption by the modders, of course. Some of the dynamics of the GalCiv modding community vs CTP2 are a little different- smaller, more numerous mods, less centralized, and still growing. The central thrust of your arguments hold true, however.
What happened to LittleBoy? Are you still working on your mod-swapper? Hello?
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You're welcome, glad to be of service. 
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Oy! I need that link a couple of weeks ago. That looks great, I wonder why that site didn't pop on the search engines?
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#190
by Veteran Dark Rain - 6/21/2003 12:23:37 AM
Hard to say, when I coded in VB I didnt find it either. I only found out about it via GameDev.net or maybe it was Flipcode a couple of years later.
  
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A little bump to keep this thread shown in SDC.
Development is not done, I'm working on 1.2.4 which will be compatible with all the new changes in the Expansion pack.
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Another shameless bump to keep this in SDC.
Is no one actively modding this game anymore?
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#194
by Veteran Dark Rain - 8/3/2003 10:39:31 AM
I'm working on my own game project right now but mostly I'm waiting for the expansion, I'm afraid some format might change.
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Hi hawaiiFive-0, are you posting any new mods? Any links?
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| But does anyone know what makes an event/tech/etc "legal" so far as getting your score into the metaverse? |
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The only known gotcha is a PQ mod above +40 (presumably outside the base GC files, since the Life Crystal Artifact event has a potential +50 PQ evil choice).
Presumably other high mods will cause anomolous scores, but the thresholds for the other attributes are still unknown.
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| Hi hawaiiFive-0, are you posting any new mods? Any links? |
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No, not at this time. I'm taking a sabbatical from GalCiv.
| The only known gotcha is a PQ mod above +40 (presumably outside the base GC files, since the Life Crystal Artifact event has a potential +50 PQ evil choice). |
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Hey, Arturus, I read where Cari mentioned the 40% PQ ceiling. My theory is she was talking about your Civ-Wide PQ ability, not a specific planet's PQ bonus. What do you think?
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