Confessions of a GSB modder.

I have been very busy lately and have not had much time to mod GSB. And it is hell to update GSB and get my mod back the way it was.(I am currently at 1.30!)

But honestly, without some sort of tools to supplement the modding community, it won’t be too lively around here. Thus, I must temporarily suspend my mod until such a time as the tools are released.

Here are reasons why I am doing this:

  1. Updating the game to keep up with the current game version is HELL. (Engine glows really sucked me dry, so I just stopped updating the mod. Those of you who have with Sins of a Solar Empire will know what I am getting at.
  2. There are no real tools other than text-file editing, and after hours of working on this mod, it gets extremely redundant.
  3. Well, if I had more time to spend around here, I would be at least trying to get stuff working.

As to your point about SOSE, I COMPLETELY understand where you’re getting at. Its incredibly annoying that the mods I play are invalidated EVER SINGLY F***ING time they update.

Thank you for letting me rant.

Yeah, I mod SoSE and even though I haven’t released it yet, It’s still very bothersome when a patch breaks your mod everytime.

Oh come on guys stop the whining… the engine glows where the only incident (up until now) where you had to fix something cause of a patch… and this could be really easy fixed due to the superior functions of notepad, named “replace”.
But alimarin, I can understand you when you say that writing lot’s of module txt’s sucks. I did like 20 weapon and 30 standart modules, and yeah, this was alot of work, and I will not do this again. Hail to the standart modules / weapons! :wink:

i agree, when i did my realspace 3 mod a while back i didn’t bother with new modules, (although i probably should’ve added a superlaser like in the real realspace 3) i just did new .dds files for the turrets. but the ships had their own .dds files and .txt files. and you can imagine how long it took me getting the sprites from the game, switching them to .dds, making correct size, blah blah blah and more blah :frowning:

BTW Eich, although this may be off-topic, It’s good that you added a “Victima Frigate” into your mod. The weapon actually can be used now XD

I can’t wait for the GSB toolset to be released though, if that happens, almost everything can be made with little hassle. I could even try to get some gametypes added if the toolset allows such.

Cliff will release an official toolset? Or are you hoping that this dream could come true? ^^

well, it won’t actually be a toolset, it will be an integrated GSB option that he says is already available but not user friendly, so he locked the public out of it.

I am hoping that cliff enables you to change the priority of your mod when the game loads.
Currently, if the game has a choice between the original file and one that you modded, it will load the original

Therefore any changes your mod makes to the original game, will not appear.
However, new content is not a problem.

wait, what are you talking about?

If you are trying to run the game via the installs method.

make sure that you go to the installs folder in data, make a text file called:
enhance.txt

then in that file put
[config]
path = enhance

make a folder in the main directory called:
enhance

then put the data folder in there.

Yeah, my mod uses the install method where i have placed all the mod files into a folder called MyMod (better name pending) and i have a text file in the data\installs directory that tells GSB where the mod is found

What i tried (and failed) to explain was that GSB will use its own files instead of your mod files when it has the choice

For Example:
Lets say i mod the “Federation Buffalo Cruiser.txt” and place it in “MyMod\data\hulls\federation” - and give it better bonus
When you play GSB the new stats are not loaded

Now instead of replacing the original and instead we make a new hull “Federation Super Buffalo Cruiser.txt” and place it in “MyMod\data\hulls\federation”
there will be a new hull called super buffalo cruiser which will have the new stats and the original one will still be there as well.

Therefore, (as far as i understand) the only way you can mod the vanilla content is to replace the files located in GSB\Data
The only problem with that approach is that when the next patch is released your modded files are overwritten . .

so darkstar, hence your suggestion two posts up as to a mod loader!

if you tell the game to load its vanilla files first, and “mymod” second, you can get the mymod data to appear over the vanilla stats without having to corrupt the vanilla files. The only fault is, if a mymod txt file overwrites the vanilla file in its priority load, then any updated content in the vanilla file will also be overridden. so on the one hand, updates are harder. on the other, compatibility isn’t as much of an issue. Also, since vanilla and modded files would be separate, any updates applied to the vanilla files can be merged with the mymod files at the modder’s leisure so the updated and modded content can appear. all without corrupting the other.

Example: the mod manager for Elder Scrolls Oblivion!

JoneSoft Generic Mod Enabler ought to work just fine.

users.on.net/~jscones/softwa … jsgme.html

  1. Install to your GSB directory.
  2. Create a MODS folder when prompted.

Your directory structure ought to look something like this (-: directory is expanded, +: directory is not expanded), supposing you’re modding cruiser_alliance_beamlaser:

- Gratuitous Space Battles
    - data
        ...
        - modules
             ...
             cruiser_alliance_beamlaser.txt
             ...
        ...
    - MODS
        - Fishbreath's Uber-Awesome Beam Laser Mod        <--- your mod name
            - data                                        <--- directory structure mirroring the structure the game uses
                - modules                                 <--- likewise
                    cruiser_alliance_beamlaser.txt        <--- your version of cruiser_alliance_beamlaser.txt

If you fire up JSGME, then “Fishbreath’s Uber-Awesome Beam Laser Mod” ought to show up as something enable-able. Enabling it will back up the original file and replace it with yours. Disabling it will restore the original.

It’s not as nice as an in-game solution, but it certainly makes mod management much easier than it is now (and takes less of Cliffski’s time).

I did know about that tool! It slipped my mind at post time though.

@ Drewoid13

Oblivion is a perfect example of the pros and cons of a stacked mod loader :slight_smile:
It is up to the modder to make sure that as cliffski updates GSB, their mod also reflects those changes.

@ Fishbreath
As for the JoneSoft Generic Mod Enabler, i am sorry to say i did not even consider using a generic mod enabler
Thankyou for highlighting a better way on mod managing

and that is exactly the reason, Darkstar, why I am discontinuing the mod for the time being. It is too hard because when the game updates, the mod gets broken, so I not only have to FIX the mod, I have to modify it to show the new changes.

Its a shame that your discontinuing your mod as it was something to look forward too, but i can understand your reasoning.
I guess the good thing of your break from modding is that you can help noobs out like me as we muddle our way though modding :stuck_out_tongue:

At the moment i am slowly working on my mod. My biggest hassel is getting some free time to code since i work full time
But during my lunch break i was able to create some more turrets that will be in my mod :slight_smile:
image

Neat indeed Darkstar, say did you also have problems with the alpha channel of the alliance turrets? When I tried to exctract the turrets via the alpha channel they were somehow very pixilated (The borders). To implement your turrets you would also have to fiddle with the alpha channel am I right?
But are you aware of the fact that you must also create double laserbeam dds files for double barrel weapons? ^^

  • No, no problems with the alpha channel, I just have to adjust it manually
  • Yes the file that contains all the turrets is very pixilated . . the barrel is about 12-14 pixels across.
  • Yeah, i have to match the alpha channel when i alter the turret. Took me awhile to work that one out ^^;
  • Yeap, I already have some double beam, double bullet AND double blast textures in use.
    If you have a look at the first ship i created awhile back you can see the double barrel weapons in use :wink:

i actually had trouble with turrets and ships when i first made my realspace 3 mod. took me a while to figure out that i gotta do the steps in a certain order, if i don’t, then they end up being pixellated. don’t know why. i haven’t really modded in a while, so i forget the steps actually. it sucks >.<