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Author Topic: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners  (Read 49348 times)

Neuromute

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #45 on: April 20, 2020, 12:03:13 AM »

Editing rebalanced pilums worked! I still have no idea what I was doing wrong, but it works now so I guess it doesn't matter.

Thanks!
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BanjoJohn

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #46 on: November 13, 2020, 11:11:46 AM »

EDIT: Okay I figured it out, lol so silly.  I had my folder named "varients"  instead of "variants"
« Last Edit: November 15, 2020, 12:24:58 PM by BanjoJohn »
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Melanoc3tus II

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #47 on: March 15, 2021, 04:40:47 AM »

Is there any way to do this on a Mac? Because Wine hasn't worked for several versions, and the Ship and Weapon Editor is evidently necessary.
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bananana

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #48 on: March 15, 2021, 08:54:10 PM »

Is there any way to do this on a Mac? Because Wine hasn't worked for several versions, and the Ship and Weapon Editor is evidently necessary.
it is not necessary by any stretch
anything that it can do you can just as well do manually with any notepad equivalent. all data files that the game uses are human readable.
that being said, editor does simplify the process quite a lot, setting up collision bounds and weapon locations is a nightmare to do manually
that, and you'd be learning all that on your own, editor holds one's hand quite a lot, and game's error messages are most unhelpful.
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Any and ALL sprites i ever posted on this forum are FREE to use. even if i'm using them myself. Don't ever, EVER ask for permission, or i will come to your home and EAT YOUR DOG!!!
i do NOT want to see my name appear in the credits section of any published mod and will consider it a personal insult.

Thaago

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #49 on: December 29, 2021, 04:43:26 PM »

Split off a post to a better spot.
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AdmiralRem

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #50 on: January 06, 2022, 05:27:35 AM »

Hey all! Looking for some input. Disclaimer I’m super new to this. I’m decent at spriting and really enjoy that but am having a lot of trouble with the data side of things.

So I can’t get a ship to load in game, I tried adding my ship to an existing mod to circumvent the “creating a faction” part. But no luck. I think I’m having trouble with the .data sheets. So I got the free spreadsheet program it suggested (even though it seems confusing compared to others I’ve used) now in the tutorial it’s saying to open an existing similar ship to compare numbers and edit. But I though you could create a new set of .data through the ship editor? So if I open the ship editor set bounds, shields, ship data etc. Then save it, should that be the ship data I need for in game?

When I go to load a mod like I’m the tutorial none of the ships show up. I can only see “skins” in the folder and that’s for variants right? Speaking of variants do I NEED a variant for it to show up in game? Or if I do the base ship can I just summon it with console commands?

So to summarize I think I’m having issues with whatever the spreadsheet program is called. Any different recommendations? And any suggestions for editing and saving the ship data would be amazing because it’s frustrating and if I screw something up and the game won’t load (this has happened) I can’t fix it because I know nothing of code. I just have to reinstall the mod haha….. ohhh sad face.

Thanks y’all!
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IonDragonX

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #51 on: January 06, 2022, 07:09:06 AM »

Spoiler
So I can’t get a ship to load in game, I tried adding my ship to an existing mod to circumvent the “creating a faction” part. But no luck. I think I’m having trouble with the .data sheets. So I got the free spreadsheet program it suggested (even though it seems confusing compared to others I’ve used) now in the tutorial it’s saying to open an existing similar ship to compare numbers and edit. But I though you could create a new set of .data through the ship editor? So if I open the ship editor set bounds, shields, ship data etc. Then save it, should that be the ship data I need for in game?
When I go to load a mod like I’m the tutorial none of the ships show up. I can only see “skins” in the folder and that’s for variants right? Speaking of variants do I NEED a variant for it to show up in game? Or if I do the base ship can I just summon it with console commands?
So to summarize I think I’m having issues with whatever the spreadsheet program is called. Any different recommendations? And any suggestions for editing and saving the ship data would be amazing because it’s frustrating and if I screw something up and the game won’t load (this has happened) I can’t fix it because I know nothing of code. I just have to reinstall the mod haha….. ohhh sad face.
Thanks y’all!
[close]
I feel like a school teacher. All the stuff that I marked in red are areas that you need to learn more.
  • There are at minimum 4 files required to define what a ship is: ship_data.csv , shipnameplaceholder.ship , variantnameplaceholder.variant , and pngnameplaceholder.png . They are found in /data/hulls , /data/variants and /graphics/ships folders respectively.
  • There is 1 file required to define to the AI what to expect from a ship in context to fleet composition: default_ship_roles.json . It is found in /data/world/factions .
  • There is 1 file per faction required to add the ship to that faction: factionplaceholdername.faction . It is found in /data/world/factions as well.
now in the tutorial it’s saying to open an existing similar ship to compare numbers and edit
This line makes me worried that you opened a ship that already existed, made your changes and saved it. If true, you modified an existing ship instead of created a new one.
But I though you could create a new set of .data through the ship editor?
I don't know. Never tried to change .csv through that tool. I had thought the tool was supposed to create a .ship and .variant file only.
I can only see “skins” in the folder and that’s for variants right?
No, a skin is a separate hull that bases itself on another hull, then defines its own changes from its base. Like XIV is based on normal ships but with bonuses and different png. The variants are in a different folder.
When the tool is trying to Load a Mod, it only needs a pointer to the parent folder of that mod. I.E. a folder that, at minimum, includes mod_info.json file, data folder and graphics folder.
Speaking of variants do I NEED a variant for it to show up in game?
Absolutely. The .csv entry line is the first part of a ship, the .ship file is a part, the .png is a part but a ship is not complete until it has at least one .variant file.
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AdmiralRem

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #52 on: January 06, 2022, 08:34:23 AM »

Spoiler
So I can’t get a ship to load in game, I tried adding my ship to an existing mod to circumvent the “creating a faction” part. But no luck. I think I’m having trouble with the .data sheets. So I got the free spreadsheet program it suggested (even though it seems confusing compared to others I’ve used) now in the tutorial it’s saying to open an existing similar ship to compare numbers and edit. But I though you could create a new set of .data through the ship editor? So if I open the ship editor set bounds, shields, ship data etc. Then save it, should that be the ship data I need for in game?
When I go to load a mod like I’m the tutorial none of the ships show up. I can only see “skins” in the folder and that’s for variants right? Speaking of variants do I NEED a variant for it to show up in game? Or if I do the base ship can I just summon it with console commands?
So to summarize I think I’m having issues with whatever the spreadsheet program is called. Any different recommendations? And any suggestions for editing and saving the ship data would be amazing because it’s frustrating and if I screw something up and the game won’t load (this has happened) I can’t fix it because I know nothing of code. I just have to reinstall the mod haha….. ohhh sad face.
Thanks y’all!
[close]
I feel like a school teacher. All the stuff that I marked in red are areas that you need to learn more.
  • There are at minimum 4 files required to define what a ship is: ship_data.csv , shipnameplaceholder.ship , variantnameplaceholder.variant , and pngnameplaceholder.png . They are found in /data/hulls , /data/variants and /graphics/ships folders respectively.
  • There is 1 file required to define to the AI what to expect from a ship in context to fleet composition: default_ship_roles.json . It is found in /data/world/factions .
  • There is 1 file per faction required to add the ship to that faction: factionplaceholdername.faction . It is found in /data/world/factions as well.
now in the tutorial it’s saying to open an existing similar ship to compare numbers and edit
This line makes me worried that you opened a ship that already existed, made your changes and saved it. If true, you modified an existing ship instead of created a new one.
But I though you could create a new set of .data through the ship editor?
I don't know. Never tried to change .csv through that tool. I had thought the tool was supposed to create a .ship and .variant file only.
I can only see “skins” in the folder and that’s for variants right?
No, a skin is a separate hull that bases itself on another hull, then defines its own changes from its base. Like XIV is based on normal ships but with bonuses and different png. The variants are in a different folder.
When the tool is trying to Load a Mod, it only needs a pointer to the parent folder of that mod. I.E. a folder that, at minimum, includes mod_info.json file, data folder and graphics folder.
Speaking of variants do I NEED a variant for it to show up in game?
Absolutely. The .csv entry line is the first part of a ship, the .ship file is a part, the .png is a part but a ship is not complete until it has at least one .variant file.

Thank you so much! This is really helpful. I was apparently WAY off and now realizing there is a lot more to it than I thought. I’ll have to just start from scratch I guess. Man I wish I just had someone who knew what they were doing over my should for just one ship! Anyways I appreciate it. Oh and when I opened the data file I’m always sure to return it as normal and not alter and save. It’s just what the tutorial suggest…. I think.
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IonDragonX

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #53 on: January 06, 2022, 10:08:49 AM »

Thank you so much! This is really helpful. I was apparently WAY off and now realizing there is a lot more to it than I thought. I’ll have to just start from scratch I guess. Man I wish I just had someone who knew what they were doing over my should for just one ship! Anyways I appreciate it. Oh and when I opened the data file I’m always sure to return it as normal and not alter and save. It’s just what the tutorial suggest…. I think.
Do you Discord? From this page: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=11488.0 there is a link https://discord.gg/a8AWVcPCPr which adds you to the unofficial discord. From there, hang out in the modding channel and ask your questions conversationally.

Go to this mod : Starseeker Enclave - Baby's first mod edition and save a copy https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HdY0QQQYnwumEX9Z9_XdBwox90cd7mfh/view?usp=sharing. That mod describes itself as 'Baby's first mod' because it only adds 3 ships and does nothing else. It removes all the excess of other mods so there is much less confusion.
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AdmiralRem

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Re: [TUTORIAL] Intro to modding for complete beginners
« Reply #54 on: January 07, 2022, 11:06:59 AM »

Thank you so much! This is really helpful. I was apparently WAY off and now realizing there is a lot more to it than I thought. I’ll have to just start from scratch I guess. Man I wish I just had someone who knew what they were doing over my should for just one ship! Anyways I appreciate it. Oh and when I opened the data file I’m always sure to return it as normal and not alter and save. It’s just what the tutorial suggest…. I think.
Do you Discord? From this page: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=11488.0 there is a link https://discord.gg/a8AWVcPCPr which adds you to the unofficial discord. From there, hang out in the modding channel and ask your questions conversationally.

Go to this mod : Starseeker Enclave - Baby's first mod edition and save a copy https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HdY0QQQYnwumEX9Z9_XdBwox90cd7mfh/view?usp=sharing. That mod describes itself as 'Baby's first mod' because it only adds 3 ships and does nothing else. It removes all the excess of other mods so there is much less confusion.

Thanks for the resources! I hopped on Discord  :D
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