Extract the content to your GSB game folder, next to the GSB.exe.
Read the GG_readme.txt.
Launch the exe and generate the galaxy you want.
Then launch GSB and conquer the galaxy.
Randomization and fine game balance rarely meet up.
Anyway, I decided to add the customization features this way:
Starting money, crew, pilots
Factory probability on planets (0-100%) + chance of small/large factory
Academy probability on planets (0-100%) + chance of small/large academy
Production probability on planets (0-100%) + chance of A Shipyard/B Shipyard/Repair facility
Enemy fleet value From-To
Icon size scale to fleet value
Probability of fighter/frigat/cruiser inhibition (0-100%) a planet like that will most likely come with a shipyard to make sure you don’t end up with an unaccessable area.
Probability of various hostile planetary effects (0-100%)
number of long range wormholes: create a few pathways between very distant planets
Finally, save settings as and save campaign as feature.
And just for fun, a little app that may introduce galaxy changes. Like pop a factory here, scrap a shipyard there, clear up radiation here, prohibit cruiser movement there. The only problem is that GSB has to be restarted to have the changes take effect.
I wish there was a command or button in GSB to “Reload assets”.
Updated/Fixed the app. The advanced customization and the save/load doesn’t work yet, but the Generate works OK now.
Added a new facility, called Spaceport, to test the random facility placement feature.
Also the stars.txt holds star names. If the file is next the the app, then the line from the file will be used to name the planets.
That works quite well. Definitely a neat add-on for the Campaign game. I’ll be interested to see some of the functions you were talking about adding, like moving the nodes about and such. Great job for a “few hours” of fiddling.
I’ve been breathing some new life into the game with mods for a little while now but when I read about it on the LRR webpage I registered specifically to thank you for this, random galaxy maps is something that this game really needed and a feature I was really disappointed was not in the original conquest DLC.
I do have to ask though is there any chance of the return of the customization features? Even if it were in the form of editing some settings file or something along the lines and at the risk of creating an unplayable galaxy with the wrong setting composition I would love to have the option to fiddle for more specific scenarios, like no cruisers map, no shields map or very scarce shipyards. I know those can be set up by hand by editing the campaign files but that often defeats the purpose of randomness. Also, would it be possible to implement the generation of even larger, like Atellian expanse size, maps?
Even if those features are not in the cards this is still a wonderful thing that I’m sure will make me invest many more hours into the game, I wish I hadn’t missed it the first time it was released, makes me wonder what else I might have missed…
I’m happy you like it! I put the customization back, but in a less intimidating and crappy looking manner. With the advanced settings, you can generate a galaxy of up 175 stars. You can also control the frequency of inhibitions and facilities.
It happens if the All folder is not in the correct place, under the Campaing\Data\Encounters. I replaced the ZIP because I zipped one extra folder into it and that may cause an error like this.
When I generate a map the background is replaced with a white screen. Error in image file locations? The image folder in the right spot. When I hit “New Background” I see a brief flash before it turn to white. And by brief flash I mean the seizure-level type.
The generator is just a it bigger than my screen, so the bottom’s cut off. Same thing even in fullscreen mode.
It’s been going unresponsive a lot, can’t really say when because it’s been doing it for most maps without normal/default layout settings.
If it has any relevance for #3, my processor is a 1 GHz dual-core. (Yes, I know it’s slow to be doing this kind of stuff.)
1: I noticed that as well. It happens when GSB is running. I have to get a better component because the one I use is pretty hacky.
2:1024x768?
3:The calculation is running in the main thread that is the reason the app going unresponsive. However the calculation is pretty fast using the basic settings. On my 5 years old Core2duo I get results under a sec. If you go dvanced and play around with the number of planetsand join weights things can slow down considerably.
Thanks for the customization options, now I not only get random maps but I can also finetune them to whatever I feel like playing at the time. Personally I’d be okay with it even if it took the generator an hour to process the whole thing. This should really be some kind of featured mod on the game frontpage.
Edit: As a bit of a followup to that last sentence, the game’s page in Steam library now links to the RPS article on the mod.
