Easiest game ever to mod/tweak?

Yes? Or HECK YES!

from Sins Forums
I was extremely surprised how easy it was to add things to this game. I have very little modding experience. Just a little C++ knowledge and past experience with Paradox games. But I added some new stages to the upgrade tree for my planets to make it feel more epic and I had no problem with it. Just copy/paste a bit and replace a few lines and VOILA! I'm VERY impressed by this and it adds IMMENSE replay value to the game.
6,161 views 19 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
I wouldn't call it the "easiest" game to mod, but it is pretty easy. Granted there is much you can do with notepad in Sins. Model, and FX editing will be the biggest challenges. Model importing is in its infancy, and there is much we still do not know about how to properly import a model into the game. Code herder is busting his @ss on his model importer, but there are issues with it that i dont think can be solved without help from the Dev's. We are hoping that the Forge Tools will fill the gaps that the 3rd party tools cant.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
Well anyway. Its obvious they have gone the extra step to make this game easily modifiable to suit specific tastes
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Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Indeed ;)
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Which they earn bonus points for.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
Yup
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
There are other changes to the game that will make customization even easier for the non programmer ;)
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Well, I'm in the process of slowing designing an application that will be a sort of Notepad++ (Yes, I know there is an actual application called that) for Sins. It will take a file (currently testing on .entity files) and dynamically generate a gui to easily modify that file. I have the basic gui up and, of course, the file parsing, but I still need to figure out a good algorithm for dynamically generating a gui.

I'll have an alpha out in a while that will mess with entity files (I'll limit it to Ability*.entity files for the moment) that I'll let people who ask me test out and give their opinions.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
Yep and I cant wait for the tool set to be released to boot!
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

There are other changes to the game that will make customization even easier for the non programmer
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I hope that includes, oh, I don't know... something other than basic "add this per level" increases? I'd love the ability to do diminishing returns using a asymptotic equation, for example -- e. g. 50 - (50 / (x+1)) as a range increase technology equation -- 50% maximum increase in range, but every tech level you research gives you a smaller boost. That is not an equation I'd use, though -- I need to spend some time thinking about how to get the right equation to work. I'd need a horizontal asymptote, but also a reasonably small starting decrease -- that one jumps from 0%, to 25%, and thats too big an initial jump! A "brute force" approach would just be to just change that +1 to +100 and then adjust the 50 its dividing appropriately... but thats exactly what it would be, brute force :D

A piecewise equation utilzing nested "if" statements wouldn't hurt either -- look at what Space Empires V did with a lot of its equations. (My biggest problem, and what made me quit, is that A) a lot of places where I wanted equations they wouldn't work, and B) a lot of what I wanted to do should have been doable, but bugs in the engine made it impossible -- e. g. drone ramming damage was wonky beyond belief, and point defense didn't work at all).
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top


There are other changes to the game that will make customization even easier for the non programmer


I hope that includes, oh, I don't know... something other than basic "add this per level" increases? I'd love the ability to do diminishing returns using a asymptotic equation, for example -- e. g. 50 - (50 / (x+1)) as a range increase technology equation -- 50% maximum increase in range, but every tech level you research gives you a smaller boost. That is not an equation I'd use, though -- I need to spend some time thinking about how to get the right equation to work. I'd need a horizontal asymptote, but also a reasonably small starting decrease -- that one jumps from 0%, to 25%, and thats too big an initial jump! A "brute force" approach would just be to just change that +1 to +100 and then adjust the 50 its dividing appropriately... but thats exactly what it would be, brute force

A piecewise equation utilzing nested "if" statements wouldn't hurt either -- look at what Space Empires V did with a lot of its equations. (My biggest problem, and what made me quit, is that A) a lot of places where I wanted equations they wouldn't work, and B) a lot of what I wanted to do should have been doable, but bugs in the engine made it impossible -- e. g. drone ramming damage was wonky beyond belief, and point defense didn't work at all).
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Huh? What?
Reply #11 from Sins Forums Top

Huh? What?
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./sigh

OK, let me rephrase: If I can put equations in, instead of simply telling it to add a given value per level, that lets me do fun stuff. If those equations can be further modified using conditionals (If X is true, then Y, else Z) even better!
Reply #12 from Sins Forums Top
I wouldn't be too hopeful about having equations doing the work for you. It's not too much work to program that in; however, it does require some more time and since the main focus of the dev team is getting the game finished, not adding somewhat complex toolset features, I would believe you'd see a more value-editing/string-editing type scheme.
Reply #13 from Sins Forums Top
I really don't care if they use some other approach, so long as I'm not stuck with a simple linear progression, as we are now. It doesn't work very well for a *very* large number of things.
Reply #14 from Sins Forums Top
lol, just do it on a calculator and enter hundreds of integers manually <3
Reply #15 from Sins Forums Top
I wouldn't describe it as easiest (That's be Space Empires IV), but it's very nicely customiseable.

As for a linear approach, I'm happy working with it - there are far more important things like a 3d model format which looks achieveably by the average artist-modder, compared to the insanely complex formats used by certain games today.

This is the first game where I can seriously consider a sequel for my .big TC on anything except paper
Reply #16 from Sins Forums Top
I wouldn't describe it as easiest (That's be Space Empires IV), but it's very nicely customiseable.
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Hehe, thats what I've been saying! :D

lol, just do it on a calculator and enter hundreds of integers manually <3
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Um, what? If it came down to it, I could write a program to enter hundreds of integers into a text document for me, but that doesn't do any good -- I get two values: base, and per level increase.

As for a linear approach, I'm happy working with it - there are far more important things like a 3d model format which looks achieveably by the average artist-modder, compared to the insanely complex formats used by certain games today.
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I'm willing to work with it, but I'd really like the ability to put in something else, if possible.
Reply #17 from Sins Forums Top

lol, just do it on a calculator and enter hundreds of integers manually <3
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It doesn't work like that. The equations require a number from the program. Say he wanted to mod in inflation at a certain percentage based the amount of money one has in the bank. There would be X the amount of money that the person had, and Y the inflation rate and Z the time in the game. If he wanted to put in an equation with a variable interest rate and all that, it would just simply be impossible with the current set up.
Reply #18 from Sins Forums Top
Lol, thats not something we could touch anyway, really wheres. Fact is, predetermined numbers would work fine, if we could do it at all -- we're stuck with a linear progression, however.
Reply #19 from Sins Forums Top
Well I think stuff like that would be fun. I was just using it as an example not really speaking on something you would want to do.