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Author Topic: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance  (Read 1048 times)

nathan67003

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Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« on: July 13, 2021, 06:31:09 PM »

Hello!

I want to create a (probably small?) mod. The mod would allow the player, at the (temporary) cost of one Alpha Core, a Special Item and a cycle (365 days) to reverse-engineer a blueprint for said Special Item at one of his colonies that has Heavy Industry.

Is this even possible? How would I get around to it? Where do I even start? (I checked the modding resources and some linked tutorials, but they basically all focus on ships, so I'm still at a loss...)

Thank you for your time!
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Jaghaimo

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Re: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« Reply #1 on: July 13, 2021, 11:36:53 PM »

It's trivial for weapons and ships. For the special items (like colony items) it becomes more involved: you will need to track what you have learned and provide methods to produce it.


As a starting point, I'd add a contact in Comms Directory and through that person (dialog) implement "learning" and "production" aspects.
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Deshara

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Re: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« Reply #2 on: July 14, 2021, 12:02:24 AM »

Is this even possible?

it definitely is as theres a mod called industrial evolution that adds an industry that lets you dismantle ships for progress towards generating a blueprint for it
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nathan67003

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Re: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« Reply #3 on: July 14, 2021, 08:23:49 AM »

Would it be possible to add it as a main "landing menu" option? Kind of how when you want to modify a star's hyperfield or repair your ships at a dockyard, except the conditions would be 1) is player's colony 2) has heavy industry 3) has unresearched Special Item 4) has Alpha Core in cargo or local storage.

The production aspect, if possible, would be to use custom production like one usually does for ships and weapons.

EDIT: I cannot for the life of me figure out how to add single-blueprint items. The only tutorials I found add blueprint packages.
« Last Edit: July 14, 2021, 09:23:51 AM by nathan67003 »
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I have some ideas but can't sprite worth a damn and the ideas imply really involved stuff which I've no clue how to even tackle.

Deshara

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Re: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« Reply #4 on: July 14, 2021, 09:55:48 AM »

nex doesnt seem to have a problem adding menu items to the landing menu, and theres already a menu used to give AI cores to npcs at markets, so its evidently quite possible.
But, and im sorry for repeatedly going back to this one but it sets an incredible amount of precedent, the ship reverse engineering industry in I.E. uses a tab in the fleet management, and that seems to work best since it integrates smoothly with the method the player already uses to acquire & get rid of ships. It is clearly not hard to add tabs to the market screen for items, it'd probably be the most elegant to do that for any system for reverse engineering rare items (I assume thats what ur talking about -- stuff like nanoforges), if only bc the API for markets seems to be much more robust & less prone to bugs (& most of the work is already done for u) than hard-coding a text-based interface into the landing menu, and again, thats the UI players already use to move around & get rid of items.
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nathan67003

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Re: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« Reply #5 on: July 14, 2021, 10:02:50 AM »

Yeah, that's what I wanna do, make you able to produce nanoforges at the usual credits/month limit of your heavy industry.
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I have some ideas but can't sprite worth a damn and the ideas imply really involved stuff which I've no clue how to even tackle.

Deshara

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Re: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« Reply #6 on: July 14, 2021, 10:40:16 AM »

okay, so that answers this thread's question of whether it's possible & should give you an idea of what your goals are. (when asking for help learning how to mod "I want to make _ mod how do I do that" can look like ur asking someone to effectively make the mod for you, which you'd have to pay them for)
So now you should break down the mod you want to make into a series of broad systems or goals ("learn how to add a new option to the landing menu") & if you need help learning how to do the goal ur working on post asking for help on that goal into its own threads, trying not to do more than one at a time.
What this does is A) it allows people who know how to do the thing ur looking to make & are confident in their ability to help you the ability to commit to helping you with that part without feeling like they're gonna be expected to help you with the whole mod (which might have parts they dont know how to make) and B) gives people a clean break-away point to step away once the thread they were helping you in is concluded when you figure out how to do that thing, & if/when you post the next thread for the next goal asking for resources/direction they can decide again whether they want to get involved or not.

And on top of being polite, it also just makes it easier for other people looking for similar advice later on to find that thread, or get pointed to that thread.
Just a touch of advice.
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I cant be blamed for what I said 5 minutes ago. I was a different person back then

nathan67003

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Re: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« Reply #7 on: July 14, 2021, 01:57:36 PM »

Sure hope I didn't come off as impolite, certainly wasn't my intention.

Duly noted everything, though. Thanks a lot!
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I have some ideas but can't sprite worth a damn and the ideas imply really involved stuff which I've no clue how to even tackle.

Deshara

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Re: Modding idea: utter luddite needs some guidance
« Reply #8 on: July 14, 2021, 03:39:33 PM »

no, you didnt come off as impolite, just giving some advice on how to get more responses from ppl when u ask for help. Narrowing it down = more replies
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Quote from: Deshara
I cant be blamed for what I said 5 minutes ago. I was a different person back then