62 replies to this topic

[Ghostrider]

Preogress is GOOD. We are about to run another round of internal tests on our latest set of developments.

 

PR's gonna write some more news soon and I'll have some news after that.

Edited by Ghostrider, 17 February 2014 - 08:12 AM.

[johnchm.10]

i sense i'll have to do another round of sub-modding in my future. not that I don't like what you guys do, i just like tweaking things a wee bit, personal preference and all.

 

oh, just out of curiosity, when going from the different builds, (1.1 --> 1.2 --> 1.3), do a majority to all the files get touched or do you only modify a small number of files?

[evilbobthebob]

In this particular case, definitely the majority.

[a.fake.name]

i sense i'll have to do another round of sub-modding in my future. not that I don't like what you guys do, i just like tweaking things a wee bit, personal preference and all.

 

oh, just out of curiosity, when going from the different builds, (1.1 --> 1.2 --> 1.3), do a majority to all the files get touched or do you only modify a small number of files?

 

Just a thought, but prehaps the PR people could poll the community and come up with several balance versions to install, thus making the mod more tweakable for the end user.
 

[johnchm.10]

i have to disagree there fake. the system in place now is pretty good where they release the mod and the community does their own modding. 1, its less work for the modding team to do, and 2, it allows for more innovation, IMO, as you have a larger group of people who might have different ideas about how to go about solving a problem or creating a scenario, etc., who can then upload and/or share their ideas with the rest of the community, where the new mods might be modified even further

[skie9173]

I agree with John. The new version is already delayed enough, and I am sure the team already has some very basic overview of goals for the next version. They should focus on that while the community works on submods.

I just wish I had more time to contribute/learn in that regard

[a.fake.name]

Keep in mind, all that involves is changing values in a text file.
Admitedly a lot of text files, but it would be easy to just mark those files as needing to (in essence) be saved seprately that number of times with the necessary changes added.

While I've yet to come across a good written guide to modding EAW, I've done enough modding in the past from Fallout 1/2 to Armada 2 to realize something that it seems not everyone else does: The majority of these balance things are just entries and values in a text file, and half of the modding skill is just understanding the template and how to properly fill it out.

Unless I'm totally missing the mark (in which case, please poke fun. I believe in laughing at ones fuckups) the .xml files controlling the stats of the ships conform to a standard format which consists of three relevent types of data.
-stats. A numerical value that adjusts something such as speed.
-links. A refrence to other files
-text. A block of words visable ingame, infocards, ship names, unit names, stuff like that.

So once you get a 'finished' version of the mod, it isn't exactly that hard to make changes as long as it is all pre-documented, and the modder only has to go to the proper file(s) and change the values.

Also, has there ever been any consideration towards getting some automated program to compile the .xml files ?
The whole 'overly complicated' system some of you had said is not feasable is based on seeing other old RTS games that had similar solutions. In those cases the pre-compiled files (also text files) made it much easier for the mod team as all they had to do was plug numbers for everything into their program, and set it to compile all of the files (.odf in this case).

 

[skie9173]

Exactly it is mainly tedious stuff that takes patience. Let the community work on "balance" while the team focuses on working new things.

From what I've worked with in the XMLs it is easy to change just values but adding new things/changing say upgrade paths can lead to exceptions or strange glitches quick.

Also text boxes and descriptions are in a .dat file somewhere. There is an editor for it somewhere in the overall EaW community. It is easy, but time consuming, the XML values done link at all, so each change in an upgrade needs its own .dat entry. Lot of copy past lol

[Kitkun]

The simple changes are indeed quite easy to do. It's the amount that's difficult. Something as simple as halving or doubling hull and shield would require going through a thousand or more entries. The larger files are well into the tens of thousands of lines long.

 

At best they could be batch changed through something like a script or Python, but if you aren't applying the same changes to each unit, that goes out the window.

Edited by Kitkun, 20 February 2014 - 01:33 AM.

[skie9173]

Will mechanics like this and planetary advantages be summarized in the new edition of the manual? I'm almost as excited about the manual as for the new mod version

[a.fake.name]

I have to agree, a manual will change things.

[Ghostrider]

Yes, I did start a manual for V2, but I need to rewrite chunks of it for Version 3! (Have not started yet).

[a.fake.name]

Yes, I did start a manual for V2, but I need to rewrite chunks of it for Version 3! (Have not started yet).

nice

Also, in before obligitory Jonny Cash refrence to your name.


 

 

[evilbobthebob]

I wouldn't say nearing but it's certainly closer than it was

[Aizen Teppa]

Judging by the jumps between 1.0 >1.1 > 1.2 ....> 1.3 I would estimate v 2.0 release circa 2025.

[moddinman]

Thanks. Forgot to log in when I made that post. What version is going to make up the next release. 

[evilbobthebob]

We're not sure yet. We ended up with some rather big feature creep and changed a lot of core systems a large amount, so we may even go as far as calling it v2.0. We'll see.

[a.fake.name]

We're not sure yet. We ended up with some rather big feature creep and changed a lot of core systems a large amount, so we may even go as far as calling it v2.0. We'll see.

Sounds like a good thing, we get a 2.0 lite, and 2.0 will be that much better.