hardcore_gamer

Join Date 05/2015

Some questions about custom race editing

First of all this is my first post, so hi everybody!

Anyway, I am making my own custom race and I have a few questions regarding some of the definitions/lines in the xml file.

1. for RaceTraits, when I write the ability plus 1 (example: Traders1) in-game the bonus gives +2 instead! How exactly do you control how big the bonus or minus is?

2. What does this mean:

<PersonalityTraits>Neutral</PersonalityTraits>

Is this about the "good vs pragmatic vs evil" thing?

3. I assume these affect the colors somehow but how?

<MapColorDef>TerranMapColors</MapColorDef>
<UIColorDef>TerranUIColors</UIColorDef>

What colors do they control and how can I control them?

4. And finally, what do these do?

<ConquestMovie>MilVic_TERRAN.bk2</ConquestMovie>

<FactionMoviesFGDef>TerranMoviesFG</FactionMoviesFGDef>
<FactionMoviesBGDef>TerranMoviesBG</FactionMoviesBGDef>

EDIT: And a couple of more questions while I am at it:

This part here:

<WarEnduranceInit>90</WarEnduranceInit>
<DefaultResistance>0.4</DefaultResistance>
<InfluenceTallyInit>10</InfluenceTallyInit>

What do these control? Do they merely influence how a race can fight of an enemy attack?

And this thing:

<AICategoryWeight>
          <Military>15</Military>
          <Growth>10</Growth>
          <Tech>20</Tech>
          <Diplomacy>15</Diplomacy>
          <Expansion>20</Expansion>
          <Wealth>10</Wealth>
          <Influence>5</Influence>
          <Fortification>5</Fortification>
        </AICategoryWeight>

I assume this control AI priorities, but why are there these numbers that you don't see when making a race in-game?

Locked Post +1 Karma

Advanced Search

Watch this post

Do not email me updates for this post Email me updates for this post

Successfully updated karma reason!

LordMaydar

Quoting ,

quoting post

1. for RaceTraits, when I write the ability plus 1 (example: Traders1) in-game the bonus gives +2 instead! How exactly do you control how big the bonus or minus is?

The number at the end doesn't actually have anything to do with what bonus gets applied, it's simply the identifier. You'll want to look at RaceTraitDefs.xml for more info on that, but the general rule is that traits with a 1 at the end are the max bonus, 2 = the +1 bonus, 3 = the -1 bonus, and 4 = the -2 bonus.

Quoting ,

quoting post

2. What does this mean:

<PersonalityTraits>Neutral</PersonalityTraits>

Is this about the "good vs pragmatic vs evil" thing?

Yes. Benevolent is the same, but Neutral = pragmatic, and Malicious = Malevolent.

Quoting ,

quoting post

3. I assume these affect the colors somehow but how?

<MapColorDef>TerranMapColors</MapColorDef>
<UIColorDef>TerranUIColors</UIColorDef>

What colors do they control and how can I control them?

The map colors are the colors that the faction's assets and influence appear as on the map, and the UI colors are the user interface colors you see while playing as that faction.

Quoting ,

quoting post

4. And finally, what do these do?

<ConquestMovie>MilVic_TERRAN.bk2</ConquestMovie>

<FactionMoviesFGDef>TerranMoviesFG</FactionMoviesFGDef>
<FactionMoviesBGDef>TerranMoviesBG</FactionMoviesBGDef>

Honestly I don't know what the conquest movie is, but the last two controls the foreground (leader portrait) and background animations for the race.

Quoting ,

quoting post

This part here:

<WarEnduranceInit>90</WarEnduranceInit>
<DefaultResistance>0.4</DefaultResistance>
<InfluenceTallyInit>10</InfluenceTallyInit>

What do these control? Do they merely influence how a race can fight of an enemy attack?

Resistance is how much of the population is capable of fighting back against invaders. Not 100% solid what war endurance is. I think it's some AI helper that determines when it asks for peace or something, maybe. Influence tally I think is the starting influence for your homeworld, but again I'm not 100% certain.

Quoting ,

quoting post

And this thing:

<AICategoryWeight>
          <Military>15</Military>
          <Growth>10</Growth>
          <Tech>20</Tech>
          <Diplomacy>15</Diplomacy>
          <Expansion>20</Expansion>
          <Wealth>10</Wealth>
          <Influence>5</Influence>
          <Fortification>5</Fortification>
        </AICategoryWeight>

I assume this control AI priorities, but why are there these numbers that you don't see when making a race in-game?

Higher numbers = higher priority for something. The game just automatically adjusts the number based on the order in the faction creator.

Successfully updated karma reason!

I made my first post a few days ago - and I'm just getting to grips with modding as well - welcome to the club!

Thanks for asking these questions - this is exactly the kind of thing I'm going to be bugging the more experienced guys about in a few weeks when I get my PC build done - you've saved me some typing so +1 Karma for you old boy!

Successfully updated karma reason!

I have a problem. When making my custom race I I removed these 2 lines (I am using the Terrans as a base):

<FactionMoviesFGDef>TerranMoviesFG</FactionMoviesFGDef>
<FactionMoviesBGDef>TerranMoviesBG</FactionMoviesBGDef>

Because I am going to use static images instead of videos, and then added these 2 lines instead:

<LeaderImageFG>Gurk_FG.png</LeaderImageFG>
<LeaderImageBG>Twins_BG.png</LeaderImageBG>

But now I get this error:

C:\Users\Sveinn\Documents\My Games\GalCiv3\Mods\PP\Game\FactionDefs_pp.xml(72,15): error:
element 'LeaderImageFG' is not allowed for content model '(InternalName,DisplayName,DisplayNameShort,LeaderName,Description,LeaderDescription?,RaceType,PersonalityTraits*,RaceTraits*,RequiresHomeworld?,HomeStarSystem,HomePlanetName?,StartingShips*,TechTree,StartingTechs*,HatedFaction*,ShipCallsign,LogoImage,LeaderThumbnail,LeaderImageFG?,LeaderImageBG?,NewsRobotMovie_Approach,NewsRobotMovie_Idle,StartupImage?,StartupTitle?,StartupDescription?,StartupTraitsDescription?,ConquestMovie?,MapColorDef,UIColorDef?,FactionMoviesFGDef?,FactionMoviesBGDef?,FactionMusicDef?,Material1,Material2,Surface1,Surface2,Appearance,ShipStyleSet,CreditsInit,WarEnduranceInit,DefaultResistance,ManufacturingSliderInit?,MilitarySliderInit?,ResearchSliderInit?,WealthSliderInit?,InfluenceTallyInit?,TradeRouteInit?,StartingColonyPopulation?,AICategoryWeight?)'

I don't get it. What is wrong?

Successfully updated karma reason!