Noob modder
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James G
- Posts: 1
- Joined: Sun, 10. Jan 21, 21:51
Noob modder
How difficult is it for someone with zero mod experience to modify values like weapon range, tracking, projectile speed, ship engine speed, shield values, and ship armor values?
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jan12342203
- Posts: 65
- Joined: Sat, 14. May 16, 22:13
Re: Noob modder
you should first take a look at this forum posts...
viewtopic.php?f=181&t=402382
and if you know how to unpack the game files.. the rest is simple..
OK.. it's still a bit of work...
viewtopic.php?f=181&t=402382
and if you know how to unpack the game files.. the rest is simple..
OK.. it's still a bit of work...
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BaronVerde
- Posts: 477
- Joined: Wed, 16. Dec 20, 21:26
Re: Noob modder
Yep,l I had the same question a few weeks ago and comprehensive info is sparse and scattered. Also look at how X3 was/is modded, even if you have no X3, but the principles are described there.
But you do NOT need to unpack the game files to mod the game. You unpack them from the packed format in .cat files to plain text only to have a reference where certain parameters are, in which part, file, with which name, value and ranges. That structure is somewhat nested if not convoluted. But I would encourage you to do so and have a look how it is laid out.
What you need is XML knowledge, and that's one (for a C and C++ tinkerer like me) sickness of a ... language. Anyway, you could look for a tutorial on XML if you want to go on foot.
You mod the game by placing changes to the XML structure that describes the elements of the game in a subdirectory of your installation. These changes can (and I say should for a beginner) also be made by programs that generate the XML files for you. If you're just into modding the values you mentioned, the 'X4 Customizer' tool is extremely helpful. It wraps a graphical interface around the game parameters and lets you apply changes. It also generates the resulting XML files and puts them in the right places in the directory structure, thus taking away the tedious task of learning XML.
Markup languages come and go, e- and devolve, some games have reasonable APIs, and then there's all kinds of scripting languages and changes over versions and whatnot. It is actually more simple to just write an own little game engine than to mod an existing game
. But not the point here ...
But you do NOT need to unpack the game files to mod the game. You unpack them from the packed format in .cat files to plain text only to have a reference where certain parameters are, in which part, file, with which name, value and ranges. That structure is somewhat nested if not convoluted. But I would encourage you to do so and have a look how it is laid out.
What you need is XML knowledge, and that's one (for a C and C++ tinkerer like me) sickness of a ... language. Anyway, you could look for a tutorial on XML if you want to go on foot.
You mod the game by placing changes to the XML structure that describes the elements of the game in a subdirectory of your installation. These changes can (and I say should for a beginner) also be made by programs that generate the XML files for you. If you're just into modding the values you mentioned, the 'X4 Customizer' tool is extremely helpful. It wraps a graphical interface around the game parameters and lets you apply changes. It also generates the resulting XML files and puts them in the right places in the directory structure, thus taking away the tedious task of learning XML.
Markup languages come and go, e- and devolve, some games have reasonable APIs, and then there's all kinds of scripting languages and changes over versions and whatnot. It is actually more simple to just write an own little game engine than to mod an existing game
. But not the point here ...Code: Select all
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Realspace
- Posts: 1638
- Joined: Wed, 15. Nov 06, 10:21