is sins really modable?

from Sins Forums
hi,

i looked at a lot of the files in gameinfo to see if i can change a few things which i don't like about sins.
Main thing is, i want to make the max ship count depending on the number of planets you own, but i'm starting to wonder if this is possible at all....
First question is what the .entity files really contain. From what i have tested, they just seem to hold values which are passed to ingame functions, which means you can change these values, but the parameters themselves are unchangeable. I tried to make every planet population upgrade add a certain amount to the number of capitalships you can have, but adding one line to the planetdef makes the game unable to load.

Maybe i am totally wrong, but as it looks to me right now, it's impossible to make changes to the game mechanics at all and you are limited to changing values, which i would not really call modding.
modding
7,091 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top
We have to wait until we get the full set of tools. Then we can see what is possible and if we need to make any support tools or not before any determinations can be reached. The devs have said many times they will actively support the modding community for the game so lets give them a chance before we start predicting the end of the world.
Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top
nah, this is not predicting the end of the world, it was more like telling what i have found out so far and asking if anyone maybe was able to not only change values :)

Of course i'm also a little disappointed that nothing i tried to do worked and it looked a lot like a limitation in the game. <<< Again, this may be totally wrong.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top
Well for what it is worth we were able to do a lot of modding in the beta process. So I'm optimistic about things.
Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top
Yeah, this is only a partial set. I'm hoping for the ability to mod AI, because I don't think you can really do that right now (besides those few variables for personality). I think we have to wait and see.
Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top
I've been able to make most of the changes I want using the tools out now. I'd say yes!
Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top
Is there any scripting engine visible through the editing of the files at this moment? Really this would be something you need to do what you want. Each time a planet is acquired or lost, you have a script that runs and sets the available ship count for the player.
Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top
Surely you would add to a planet bonus something like "floatBonus:AdditiveShipMaxSlots 10"And that would give you 10 more ships slots each time you colonise one of those planets. Then you simply remove the relevant research tree. However I can imagine the game not being too pleased if you lost a planet and had more ships than allowed by your fleet capacity :S.
End of quote


Posted it in another thread, it's too late for me to look into it today.
Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top
ok i exactly tried "floatBonus:..."
but: if you look at the planetbonus files, you will see, that all files have exactly the same content, only the values are different, which makes it highly likely, that the parameters of the planet bonuses are fixed and only their values can change. So of course you can make new planetbonuses, but they are limited to a variation of what is already availible and not of something new which wasn't thought of by the game developers.

I also don't see how "floatBonus:AdditiveShipMaxSlots 10" can work, unless you know that the variable "AdditiveShipMaxSlots" exists and can be called or modified. Well, i guess i have to wait until some kind of documentation on how the .entity files really work is released. It may be possible that adding the prefix "Additive" to a variable tells the game, that it should increment it by the following value, but somehow i doubt that. And well, your example was among the various things i already tried and it does not work...
Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top
I also have yet to discover how to add a new Planetary Bonus. And believe me, I should know ;)

If you do come across it, please let us know, although I've no doubt you would've anyway.
Reply #10 from Sins Forums Top
Fair enough, was worth a shot. You've got me really interested now now :P