Customizing Planet Names?

Where can I do this?

from GalCiv2 Forums
Hello. I would like to ask you great modders for some help. I don't know much about modding, but I want to be able to go in and change the games random planet names, and customize them for myself. So instead of getting Solaris star... with planets called Solaris 1, 2, 3, 4, 5... or whatever they're called, I want to be able to rename them to give them all unique names. Perhaps the star is called something, and each of the planets have unique and different names.

Is that possible? And the real big thing, is there a big list somewhere that contains the games database of names to use, so I can edit and replace those with my preferred names?

I want to change them all, and replace them with names from the star wars universe so that I can feel like i'm living in a far more unique and interesting galaxy. Instead of having all stars named something, and planets named the same thing... my planets and stars will automatically have different, cool names.

Thanks in advance! Also... is there a primer somewhere that instructs new people how to mod the game?
modding
12,009 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
first if you want to change planet name you need to go to the data file that is in galciv2\english\data and serch for customplanets.xml open it in WorkPad or in Text Document and you will a list of planets the first is earth then mars or something and you'll see that it like this:
planet name:Earth
display name: Earth
every planet has those lines even the custom race change those names to what ever you want like if you like star wars so coruscant yavin 4 taris endor bespin and some more. Change only the custom race because if you change Earth's name or drengi, toria you'll have to change them also in the file RaceConfing.xml but that later. you can change the names of the custom stars by first backup your STARS.txt file and then edit the file. you'll see that the first planet is premius or something I dont know because I change it but I remember Xaicsa and more of those wired names. edit the names to (again) Coruscant, Yavin, Bespin, Endor, Kashyyyk, Maygeeto, Kamino, Polis Masa, Tatooine, Taris, Mon Calamry, Fondor, Kuat, and there are alot of names in the game of Star Wars Empire at war if you have. but in the Galactic core (databank fan sites) there is a lot of mods and some of the is Star Wars univeres, you should go and check it yourself. Second there is no "database of names ". there is a modding guide that instructs new people how to mod the game you can see it right here:


https://www.galciv2.com/mods/gc2modsdoc.htm


Hope that it helps something..
- Master U
Reply #2 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
CustomPlanets.xml only works for starting homeworlds.
Stars.txt only names the stars, and all planets end up being numerical.

At present, I don't think that it's possible to mod solar systems other than the homeworlds.
Galactic Civilizations III
Reply #3 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i agree, i don't think it's possible to create custom planet names except on starting home systems.

i've wondered if customeplanets.xml would support starting systems for the minor races. i'm sick of stars named "Dark Yor" and "Scotlingas". i think it should, but i haven't tried it out yet. i've been busier skinning and naming the various major races PQ0 home-system planets. next step: custom RAW files for all the custom-skinned planets, and expanded terrain palettes to match.

man, i wish i still had photoshop.
Reply #5 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
You can, but who wants to go around and rename every single planet in a gigantic-size galaxy with abundant planets?

I used to name the worlds that I would colonize, but I stopped because it would get time-consuming; when coming up with names as you go along, you tend to want the planets around a star to have a theme in their names or something, and you end up wasting time thinking up names when you could be actually playing the game.



I suppose it would be possible, in an update, to have it so that each star in the STARS.txt file would have five planet names on the following lines. The game would choose randomly from those five planet names, unless the star happens to have the maximum of five planets.

...But, considering the file already has 1437 star names, you'd have to have 7185 planet names in there! While that's not a big deal in terms of file size (it'd most likely end up as something around 67kB, as opposed to 11.6kB), you have to consider the fact that you can't use any planet names in the list that would imply some characteristic of the planet itself, lest you end up with a PQ26 planet named "Atacama" or an uninhabitable world named "Utopia Planetia". I'd rather Stardock did something more useful with their development time than think up 7185 interesting-yet-nondescript names for planets--like, say, implementing starship construction queues for each planet and the Civilization Management Screen governors.



Lastly, the current naming convention that the game uses is not only very believeable (in regards to a naming convention that would be universally adopted by every race in an interstellar political community, much like how Latin is used by the global scientific community for naming species), but it's also beneficial to the gameplay itself: since the map is too big to just zoom out enough to see everything (like you would in Civ IV), and there really aren't many landmarks to go by (such as mountain ranges, rivers, varying terrain types, etc., again like Civ IV has), it really simplifies things to only have to remember the locations of several stars instead of the locations of several dozen planets.
Reply #6 from GalCiv2 Forums Top
i've wondered if customeplanets.xml would support starting systems for the minor races. i'm sick of stars named "Dark Yor" and "Scotlingas".


Yes it does. In your racecobfig file just rename the staring star or addd that line in (ie copy one of the majors) then change the name to one of your desired

Race Name="Predator"
DisplayName>Predator Alignment>20 Homeworld>Predator Homestar>Predator RaceLeader>Deathmaster Description>The Predator are the Galaxies greatest hunters. Their specialty is hunting weaker races and "playin" with them.
ShortEmpireName>Predator Portrait>Gfx\Race\RaceImage56.pngGfx\Race\RaceLogo21.png SmallLogo>Gfx\Race\RaceLogo21.png DefaultTradePortrait>Gfx\Race\Trade_Minor6.png CustomizationPoints>0 PoliticalParty>20,50,50 ShadowColor>128,128,128 UndefendedStarColor>72,21,7
DefendedStarColor>192,128,32
SectorColor>0,50,50
BaseColor>196,223,155
TrimColor>0,50,50
EngineColor>255,0,0
InterfaceColor>0,50,50
ShipStyle>3
ModuleStyle>0
Tech>Root
Tech>HyperDrive
Tech>Gallactic Warfare
Tech>Psyonic Shredder
ECONOMICS>100
WEAPONS>50
DEFENSE>20
SPEED>0
MORALE>20
POPULATIONGROWTH>10
SOCIALPRODUCTION>0
MILITARYPRODUCTION>30
RESEARCH>20
INFLUENCE>0
TRADE>0
DIPLOMACY>0
HITPOINTS>30
REPAIR>10
SENSORS>0
ESPIONAGE>0
SOLDIERING>20
INTERESTRATES>0
PLANETQUALITY>0
TRADEROUTES>0
CRIME>0
CABINET>0
RANGE>0
LUCK>0
COURAGE>40
CREATIVITY>0
GOVERNMENT>0
LOYALTY>0
LOGISTICS>4
MINIATURIZATION>0

Then add a new star system to customplanets:
StarSystem Name="Predator">
DisplayName>Predator
Planet Name="Predator">
DisplayName>Predator
Class>24
Texture>gfx/planets/Class_19.png
Planet>
Planet Name="Hunting Ground">
DisplayName>Predator II
Class>10
Planet>
Planet Name="Breeding Zone">
DisplayName>Predator III
Class>10
StarSystem>