Hi there, I am trying to mod my game by an incredibly small amount.  I am simply extending the range of detect mines on the scout ships.  I made a new folder, tossed it into the mods folder for Rebellion and it won't work.  I don't know what I'm doing wrong and any help would be greatly appreciated.  Here is an example file:

TXT
entityType "Buff"
onReapplyDuplicateType "PrioritizeOldBuffs"
buffStackingLimitType "ForAllPlayers"
stackingLimit 1
allowFirstSpawnerToStack FALSE
buffExclusivityForAIType "ExclusiveForAllPlayers"
isInterruptable FALSE
isChannelling FALSE
numInstantActions 0
numPeriodicActions 1
periodicAction
    actionCountType "Infinite"
    actionIntervalTime
        Level:0 2.500000
        Level:1 2.500000
        Level:2 2.500000
        Level:3 2.500000
    buffInstantActionType "ApplyBuffToTargetsInRadius"
    instantActionTriggerType "AlwaysPerform"
    buffType "BuffDetectMinesPhaseTarget"
    targetFilter
        numOwnerships 1
        ownership "Enemy"
        numObjects 1
        object "SpaceMine"
        numSpaces 1
        space "Phase"
        numConstraints 0
    range
        Level:0 12000.000000
        Level:1 0.000000
        Level:2 0.000000
        Level:3 0.000000
    maxTargetCount
        Level:0 -1.000000
        Level:1 -1.000000
        Level:2 -1.000000
        Level:3 -1.000000
    effectInfo
        effectAttachInfo
            attachType "Invalid"
        smallEffectName ""
        mediumEffectName ""
        largeEffectName ""
        soundID ""
numOverTimeActions 0
numEntityModifiers 0
numEntityBoolModifiers 0
numFinishConditions 1
finishCondition
    finishConditionType "OwnerChanged"

Under range I increased it from 6000.000000 to 12000.000000 on the BuffDetectMinesPhaseSelf.entity (also on tech and psi) just so I would lose fewer scouts while I am clearing homing mines from the field.  If I didn't provide enough info I will gladly add it as requested.  Thank you in advance!

The address should look something like this...

C:\Users\<your name>\Documents\My Games\Ironclad Games\Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion\Mods-Rebellion v1.02\<mod name>\GameInfo\<scout buff file>

Thanks for the earlier answer. I have another question now:

I'm trying to mod capital planets so they have bonuses at start. I've changed the PlanetHomeTerran.entity by adding this: 

requiredPlanetBonusesCount 2
bonus "PlanetBonusHugeGlaciers"
bonus "PlanetBonusSurplusFoodstuffs"
possibleRandomPlanetBonusesCount 5
bonus "PlanetBonusMedicinalPlants"
bonus "PlanetBonusLowGravity"
bonus "PlanetBonusHighGravity"
bonus "PlanetBonusSpiceTrade"
bonus "PlanetBonusStrictSecurity"

Except, every time I start a game, there's no resources at my capital planet. 

My question is whether this is because the capitals are already 100% explored, and how can I modify that so they are completely unexplored at the beginning of the game?

I've looked through PlanetHomeTerran and GalaxyScenarioDef.galaxyScenarioDef files, and found nothing I could use (except the tech tree for the improvements).

Is there a free, (and I do emphasize free) program that can convert .pov/.cob 3d files into .obj files so imagesoft can import them? I have an old truespace model I want to use but all I can find are programs that want money.

Planet bonuses aren't something I'm familiar with, but I know a lot of other modders mess with them a ton.  I do mainly abilities and research. 

What does this mean???  No resource extractors?  No planet bonus stuff?

normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Population 3

normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:CivilianModules 1

normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:TacticalModules 0

normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Home 1

normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:ArtifactLevel 10

normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Infrastructure 2

quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Population 4

quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:CivilianModules 1

quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:TacticalModules 0

quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Home 1

quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:ArtifactLevel 10

quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Infrastructure 2

See all these lines?  Each galaxy file has these lines at the beginning...these files are in a folder called Galaxy and you'd be most interested in the 7 random galaxies...in your case, you'd be concerned with the :ArtifactLevel stuff...changing it to 0 would be worth a try...

Thank you, I'll try that now.

EDIT:

I have set the research level for artifacts search at 0 (and it works) for capitals now. Despite that I still can't get bonuses to spawn at the capital. I have no idea why.

I have homeworld planet bonuses on my Enhanced 4X Mod, but I did it my spawning them in the starting template, not changing the planet.entity file. I don't know whats wrong with doing it that way exactly though.

Are you using modded versions of the glacier and foodstuff planet bonuses?

Regardless, these lines may be of interest to you...

minUpgradeLevelNeeded 0

maxUpgradeLevelNeeded 1

You can put whatever numbers you want there (well, within reason)...the number indicates how many upgrade levels you need to "see" the bonus...0 obviously means none while 1 means you need the first artifact level upgrade...you can put 2, or 3, or 4, or whatever if you planned on modding planets to have many levels of the artifact level path....there may be a hardcoded limit but I don't know what it is...

Also, you can put -1 which means you can "see" the planet bonus without having to even colonize the planet...for example, things that change the size of the gravity well should probably be -1...

Well my way doesn't seem to work (though it's puzzling me why exactly). How do you spawn them using the starting template? Do I need to create my own custom template or can I modify the existing one?

No, I haven't modded the bonuses yet. The problem I'm having is those bonuses refusing to appear at the capital. I've modded the planet entity to include them like this:

requiredPlanetBonusesCount 2
bonus "PlanetBonusHugeGlaciers"
bonus "PlanetBonusLowGravity"
possibleRandomPlanetBonusesCount 5
bonus "PlanetBonusSurplusFoodstuffs"
bonus "PlanetBonusMedicinalPlants"
bonus "PlanetBonusHighGravity"
bonus "PlanetBonusSpiceTrade"
bonus "PlanetBonusStrictSecurity"

 and the galaxy file for huge multi random maps like this:

planetArtifactDensity .20
planetBonusDensity .60
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Population 3
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:CivilianModules 1
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:TacticalModules 0
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Home 1
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:ArtifactLevel 0
normalStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Infrastructure 2
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Population 4
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:CivilianModules 1
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:TacticalModules 0
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Home 1
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:ArtifactLevel 0
quickStartHomePlanetUpgradeLevel:Infrastructure 2

No checksum errors, no minidumps, everything loads and plays well, except for the fact that there aren't any bonuses at the home planets.

To test, I'm starting a new game on huge multi and immediately researching both levels of artifact search at the planet's improvements menu. There's always nothing found.

The home planets are different entities, did you add them to PlanetTerranHome or just PlanetTerran, etc.

As I specified in my above reply, I added them in the PlanetTerranHome. 

DJ, the problem is the way the bonus is set up.  Some, like molten core, appear by default as soon as you scout the area, others, like subterranean caverns have to be explored for.  To get your bonuses to appear on your home planet, you need to have the lines:

minUpgradeLevelNeeded -1
maxUpgradeLevelNeeded -1

If either is a 0, 1, or 2, it will not show up since you cannot explore your starting planet.  Required just means they will be there every time.  Random means it can choose from those or it may not pick any.

Here is how to do it through the GSD...

Open up your GalaxyScenarioDef and search for this phrase:  Template:DefaultHomePlanetSetup

You should be looking at a planetItemsTemplate named "Template:DefaultHomePlanetSetup"...under it should be 12 groups (a normal start and a quickstart for each of the 6 factions)...

Guess what you're going to have to do??  For each group you will need to add an item for each planet bonus you want to start on their HW...for example, you could add

item "Bonus:CrystalMiners"

Make sure to update the items count (which is probably either 3 or 9)...but we aren't done yet....

You also need to add the "item"...search for this line:  planetItemTypeCount

Currently the count is 145 (don't forget to update it if you add stuff)...you need to add a planetItemType for any planet bonus you want to spawn at the HWs...I used "Bonus:CrystalMiners" because it is the only one that is already added...

If this doesn't make sense or you'd like more details, let me know...hope this helps...

Stant, as far as I can tell this will not work for the HW...as an example, I tried to get Toxic Fallout (which has only -1) to spawn at the HW, but it doesn't work, no bonus whatsoever independent of how many artifact level upgrades it starts with via the galaxy file...

That would be the method Goa stated.

Amusing, worked for me in my 2 tests before I posted.

He asked for an explanation on how to do it, so I gave him one....

Then Stant you are doing something else that we are not...simply adding a required planet bonus to the PlanetTerranHome.entity does not work, even if the min and maxUpgradeLevelNeeded are both set to -1...I've tried it numerous times, and the most clear cut test (which uses a pre-existing planet bonus, Toxic Fallout) does not end up being successful...

Normal .exe or dev.exe doesn't make a difference...the issue is not a checksum thing or not putting the mod in the right place...it simply does not work...

If you have a mod that actually makes this work simply by changing the required planet bonuses and/or the min/maxUpgradeLevelNeeded then post it....

I'm aware, I was making the notation that that is in fact the method that was mentioned, not some other way.

Excellent. Thanks for the replies, guys.

So yeah, the method through editing PlanetTerranHome does not work indeed, that's what I've been trying till last night.

I'm going to try Seleuceia's method now, and let you know how it goes.

Actually, for testing purposes, I only need to add lines to ONE group. That is, whichever race I'm feeling like playing next and on normal start (never play quick start :P).

EDIT:

It works! Really appreciate all the help +Karma for all of you.

If you're modifying TerranHome, why not put these under requiredPlanetBonusesCount? That is, assuming you want every TerranHome to have them.

@Lavo_2

That's exactly the way I used to do it. Except they never showed up ingame. That's why I had to go the alternative route.

Request for link or steps on how too.

Hello fellow Modders, I am not very expierenced on using Gimp and am trying to introduce new Planet Icons into the Icons Planets DDS, could anyone explain how you would do this? Or even copy Icons from the stock version of the Icons Planets DDS, insert them into a new modified one and change there colour? <- This would be even better.

Any help is much appriciated.

Personally I do not use Gimp, but I assume it has the same features I'll tell you to use somewhere. But if you know how to use an image editor, just open planet icons.dds, put a selection around the icon you want to copy, copy it, then paste it into a master file where you'll do all the editting work. Here you'll keep every new icon you do in a different layer for easy manipulation. Then when you have all the icons you need for now you'll save it as New_Icons_Planet.dds or whatever. To change the color the basic tool is just changing the "Hue". Should be very simple.

Now if you're having trouble opening the DDS file, Gimp might need a .dds plug in to open them. I'm sure its an extremely popular download to find on google.

Gimp does not come with the .dds plug-in, you can download it here...the download should include a readme that will tell you where to place it...

The plugin seems to work for the latest set of versions (2.8.x) even though the plugin says its for 2.6.x, so I wouldn't worry about it...

I use Gimp for my graphics stuff and am happy with it so you shouldn't have any problem getting done what you need to get done...

Thanks you two, I can open the dds files fine and some what experiment with it, but still not very clear on the different "layers", is there a video tutorial for sins like the creating a mesh video?