Sotris

Join Date 07/2006

Aquatic Homeworld?

I was toying around with the conglomerate mod, and I wanted to see if I could start with a fully aquatic race (able to colonize and exploit aquatic worlds completely from the start). For some reason, however, it won't work when I try to create an aquatic homeworld for my race's entry in the custom planets file... Do I have to tweak something other than the gfx files, or do all homeworlds have to be earthlike? If so, can the planet at least look like an aquatic one?

Sorry if this has been asked before, I'm new into this mod using business.

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First, consult this thread... https://forums.galciv2.com/170646

Secondly;

Do I have to tweak something other than the gfx files,

Yes -- possibly Surface Raws, certainly TerrainColorSchemes.xml(TCS) & PlanetDescriptions.xml(PD) files.

or do all homeworlds have to be earthlike?

Sadly alllllmost yes... but i refuse to submit to this incode obstacle created by SD, if anything i'd break the PQ sequencing limits applied to HW (10), secondary planet (4) and all the rest at Zero. As such, indirectly, it is possible to mod some of the Earthlike 'context' and use alternate text & graphics to change them (Scanning properly for Queries between planets & matching description with the real text strings isn't fixed yet, but that's a different issue). The term CustomPlanets has to mean something or at least be much more controllable than it already is. In fact, once they make their own map Editor truly compatible with the CP file (of both DA & TA, btw), then i'll consider adding more diversity to surfaces.

If so, can the planet at least look like an aquatic one?

Yes. The OceanLike TCS is indeed a tricky set of colors for such surfaces.

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Quoting Zyxpsilon,

reply 1

First, consult this thread... https://forums.galciv2.com/170646

Secondly;

Do I have to tweak something other than the gfx files,

Yes -- possibly Surface Raws, certainly TerrainColorSchemes.xml(TCS) & PlanetDescriptions.xml(PD) files.

Oh, I did that- Changed the RAWterrain tag to PlanetOceanic_1.raw from the hightsmap file, and also changed the terrain pallete tag to "Oceanplanets1" as seen in Planetary Descriptions. That's why I asked whether that was the problem, and I should have left it as earthlike or "testing123" or whatever. If I just leave terrain palette tag out? It seems to work for other custom planets. Or should I perhaps copy and rename the .raw file from "PlanetOceanic_1" to my homeworld's custom name?
EDIT: So I took out the "Aquatic" tag, and used the earthlike planet description for terrain palette. The game still crashes. Apparently the problem's with the homeworld RawTerrain and TerrainPalette tags, since they're essentially the only ones I change (besides giving new names for the star and planets).

or do all homeworlds have to be earthlike?
Sadly alllllmost yes... but i refuse to submit to this incode obstacle created by SD, if anything i'd break the PQ sequencing limits applied to HW (10), secondary planet (4) and all the rest at Zero. As such, indirectly, it is possible to mod some of the Earthlike 'context' and use alternate text & graphics to change them (Scanning properly for Queries between planets & matching description with the real text strings isn't fixed yet, but that's a different issue). The term CustomPlanets has to mean something or at least be much more controllable than it already is. In fact, once they make their own map Editor truly compatible with the CP file (of both DA & TA, btw), then i'll consider adding more diversity to surfaces.

If so, can the planet at least look like an aquatic one?

Yes. The OceanLike TCS is indeed a tricky set of colors for such surfaces.

But what do I have to do to even make it look aquatic superficially? The terrain control scheme is determined by your choice of planetary description for the TerrainPallette tag, right? Or have I got this all wrong?

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious- I don't have much experience with this, since any general tweaking with games I've done until now was restricted to old SE4 shipsets and races. There's great potential in ToA that I've been missing, and perhaps I'm diving in too fast.

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Yeah, I finaly figured it out... If all I can do is make my homeworld look like it's oceanic, I shouldn't have messed with the terrain and planet description at all, just use the default custom and only replace the .png image. Otherwise it messes the descriptions (probably), and the game crashes.

I hope you'll find the time and patience to create a fully moddable homeworld, when and if it's possible. The display in the other thread was great. Looking forward to having coral reefs to farm and underwater volcanic ridges to exploit!

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The terrain control scheme is determined by your choice of planetary description for the TerrainPallette tag, right?

Yes, but in the case of TA it's a bit different than in DA; the raw surface file becomes a simple on/off grey scale that puts either ocean or ground tiles on corresponding pure black or non-black pixels.

Even the PD & TCS files have some of their earlier features discarded since the UV image of planets is ALSO used to produce the surface tiles for the ColonyManager screen - generally speaking, enhance potential & range for distribution still remain effective while pixelization of height map colors isn't valid anymore.

AFAIC, png (32b) & raw (384x192, GS, Interleave-RGB) files for planet tags in the CP listings must match their names while not re-using any of the defaults descriptions.

I'd suggest using a mod folder too if you haven't done this already since any defaults of the installation structure still may interfere with custom files when they aren't initialized from alternate but proper MOD locations.

But what do I have to do to even make it look aquatic superficially?

After reading my response above, i'm sure you know what the main surface png file should be for it to LOOK like Aquatic.

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Looking forward to having coral reefs to farm and underwater volcanic ridges to exploit!

Knowing the next version of X-Worlds (06-A) has a new terraforming and extremes colonization system with plenty of extra features and specific tiles... i had to essentially re-design the whole TCS & PD principles to create these alternate (and very complex, btw) surfaces while still hoping that SD coders would, one day, consider providing us with more enhancing levels than the default three & break down the 50% gaps for Extremes to at least some integer values (i've implied 4 more already within the temporary schema for 06-A) rather than the current 1 or 0 toggle tags.

Here's an excerpt of the new tiles strings to give you an idea of the upcoming variety...

[TerrainTypeHabitable] Habitable by all
[TerrainTypeForest] Forest
[TerrainTypeArctic] Arctic
[TerrainTypePrimal] Primal
[TerrainTypeAquatic] Aquatic
[TerrainTypeCoast] Coast
[TerrainTypeBeach] Beach
[TerrainTypeReef] Reef
[TerrainTypeShelf] Shelf
[TerrainTypeCoral] Coral
[TerrainTypeAbyss] Abyss
[TerrainTypeToxic] Toxic
[TerrainTypePollution] Pollution
[TerrainTypeSpill] Spill
[TerrainTypeVolcano] Volcano
[TerrainTypeBarren] Barren
[TerrainTypeSeismic] Seismic Fault
[TerrainTypeQuick] Quick Sand
[TerrainTypeCrater] Impact Crater
[TerrainTypeRadioActive] Radio Active
[TerrainTypeElectric] Electricity
[TerrainTypeReactor] Reactor
[TerrainTypeNuked] Nuked
[TerrainTypeHeavyGravity] Heavy Gravity
[TerrainTypeThunder] Thunder
[TerrainTypeTornado] Tornado
[TerrainTypeVortex] Vortex

...many of which get to be deployed on specific PD surfaces & Extremes. Let's just say that HabitablebyAll is the all new Prairies in X-Worlds and that the improvables just got a whole lot of choices to make.

Only for DA for now -- but, i'll get to a full TA porting eventually.

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OMG!!!! TWO posts w/o plugging X-worlds! You must be slipping!

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Quoting Scoutdog,

reply 6

OMG!!!! TWO posts w/o plugging X-worlds! You must be slipping!

Or going BFI (Bat F*ck Insane).

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[TerrainTypeVortex] Vortex

That sounds intresting....what is it? A whrilpool, a bite-size black hole, or something else entirely?

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Vortex violet tile is normally found exclusively on HeavyGravity worlds and can only be turned into an HabitablebyAll tile through the terraforming tech "Anti-Gravity Compensation" or (as of now) also with the usual red-terraforming tech.

The task condition "Cydonia or Bust" has to be resolved by sending an Avenger XU ship (Invasion and/or Colony capable) to such an extreme planet and by building the CoreBrain super-project on THAT tile once terraformed -- only. No way yet for me to encode such a situation, but the principles or feature IS designed as such.

I have a knack for diversity too -- four more have a similar effect on gameplay.

The new "CityofGrowth" giga costly SP can also be dropped on such Vortex for (i hope in the future!) extra bonuses applied to the ability 'values'. Plus, four more again tied with the Extremes framework.

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