XML

Notepad or Wordpad, or any of several XML editors that are downloadable.

An XML file is a text file with the .xml extension.

I try and open it with one of those and it doesn't work...I'll try it again though...thanks.

I was able to edit it with note pad, but does it have to be saved in .xml?

yes

im already familiar with editing html and programing languages such as C and fortran. is there any helpful hints i should be awair of with XML that would be nice to know as i embark on my modding adventures...?

Have you read CariElf's modding guide?
WWW Link

It is a good start.

There are others as wel, in the Modding section.

how do you save it as .xml then?

File - Save As...

In the 'Save as Type' field, select 'All Files'.

Then save the file with the .xml extension.

If you leave the 'Save as Type' as .txt the file will always have a .txt at the end, so you might end up with a file called 'GC2Types.xml.txt'.

You can save a text file with any file extension you want, just select "save file as", and type in "WHATVER.xml".

Download this:

WWW Link

It's called XML Marker and I swear by it

if you're already editing an XML file, just save over the original with "Control+S." you don't have to hit "save as" every time you want to save your file.

altho i have notepad++ and XML Notepad 2007 Not pad itself well let you edit a .XML files just be careful and always save a back up!!

I also open it after editing it in Internet Explorer to make sure there know mistakes if there is you get a error if you get one you know to go look to see what is wrong some times it is hard to see your error so take your time and try to be careful it can be a Pain @ times !! I`m not trying to talk any out of trying just pass on what i`v have done !!!

i like "text pad" best. it works really well and can edit XML with ease.


I don't know about you, but considering you only change the values and not the strings themselves, errors shouldn't be a problem. the errors are only a problem if you are actually adding new strings to the current object.

-Dsep

Yep, but a quick typo can make a mess and render the game "flawed" without you ever knowing it!

Example; While i was creating the new planets for X-Worlds, i accidently deleted a simple left-side-bracket from a trailing */rings*. (These symbols can't be posted here in this message since they would indirectly screw the text formatting)
As a result, all the planets which were defined AFTERWARDS never made it into the final interface. I yelled BUG, ERROR. And started to pump red-blood. Figuring that i was responsible for such a dumb thing.
So, fired up Mozilla which indicated to me the exact guilty line.
Went back in with EditPlus and corrected the flaw.

Lesson learned - Unless you KNOW for sure that you didn't mistype anything, the file would run smooth. But like anyone else, i am human and can certainly DO mistakes.

XML-marker (as mentioned above) does magic on typos and i often require its help for loooooong and tedious tasks. But for quicky editing (without hopefully, serious typos!) i prefer EditPlus familiarity and numerous features. Mind you, i've been coding in C++ and many other languages before. What matters is that whatever you choose, you must have thorough understanding of the options available for efficient typing.

- Zyxpsilon.