"The Miner's Guild" Mod discussion thread. [Archive]

David E. Gervais

February 11th, 2004, 08:28 PM

Mods, mods, mods,.. I guess you are all sick of mods but I just had to try my hand at modding.

"The Miner's Guild" mod is a modded Version of the DevNull Mod v1.70. (which I guess makes this a Mod-Mod)

this from the modinfo file...

Name: The Miner's Guild
Version: v1.701c
Author: D. Gervais

Built on the Devnull Mod Gold v1.70 (Thanks Geoschmo, Rollo and the DevNull team.)

summary of changes in "The Miner's Guild"
* New Spelunker race added
* New Advanced Traits (positive and negative)
* New Player 'Culture' (Miners)
* New Modified Shipset (Thanks Atrocities)
* New colored Asteroids in keeping with the theme of this mod.
* New Splash Screen (Please convert the .jpg to a .bmp before running the Mod.)
* New graphics for the 128x128 robo-miners
* New "Standard Eden Class" Quadrant map (recomended for playing this mod.) Based on the 'Standard Mid-Life FQM' map. (with more asteroids)
* Gameplay balanced to make Asteroid mining a crucial (even critical) part of the game. (AI may suffer, but play with 'Computer Player Bonus' set to HIGH and it should still be a challange.)

IMPORTANT! Be sure to convert the intro.jpg to intro.bmp before running the mod. (I only provided a 1024x768 Version, if you play in 800x600 then feel free to rescale the image to fit.)

The link below is a temporary link provided by Rollo (Thanks Buddy) If you can/would like to host this mod, feel free to do so. (I thank you in advance)

The Miner's Guild Mod (http://home.tiscali.de/rollo/files/MinersGuild_Mod.zip)

Final Note: This mod Is a major departure from the standard mode of play. I cannot stress the importance of robo-mining.

Have fun, and please feel free to post your comments here. I would love to hear your feedback.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Edit: The Miner's Guild Mod now available in .rar format here..
Miner's Guild Mod (rar) (http://24.114.83.243/miscellaneous/david/MinersGuild_Mod.rar)

Smaller size too,. 4.6meg. (Thanks SJ)

[ February 13, 2004, 15:57: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]

Ragnarok

February 11th, 2004, 08:54 PM

Looks like it will be a fun mod, David. I don't have time to start a game with it now but just looking at the splash screen is amazing enough to me. Excellent work! Having you working on parts of SEV and your abilities as an artist is truely exciting!

gregebowman

February 11th, 2004, 09:47 PM

How do you go about "rescaling" the picture to 600x800? I'll be glad to check this mod out, but I'm not sure what you mean about reformatting the photo for the smaller scale.

Ragnarok

February 11th, 2004, 10:00 PM

Originally posted by gregebowman:
How do you go about "rescaling" the picture to 600x800? I'll be glad to check this mod out, but I'm not sure what you mean about reformatting the photo for the smaller scale. To scale it down to 800x600 just open the image up in your favorite photo editing program and resize the image to 800x600 pixels. Then save it as .bmp.

David E. Gervais

February 11th, 2004, 10:25 PM

Yeah, what he said, but if you have problems doing that I could be persuaded to make an 800x600 one for you.

Curious,.. is there a reason you don't play in 1024x768?

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

gregebowman

February 11th, 2004, 10:58 PM

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Yeah, what he said, but if you have problems doing that I could be persuaded to make an 800x600 one for you.

Curious,.. is there a reason you don't play in 1024x768?

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Thanks for the info. The reason I don't play in 1024x768 is that I have a 13" monitor, and while the pictures aren't too bad, I just can't read anything. The lettering is just too small for my taste at that scale. And my eyesight is bad enough as it is.

[ February 11, 2004, 20:59: Message edited by: gregebowman ]

David E. Gervais

February 11th, 2004, 11:53 PM

EDIT: Oh for woah is me, my mod appears to be getting the cold shoulder. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif

I understand, I have a 14" monitor (13" viewable) but It's a very good one .24 dot pitch and the text is very easy to read at 1024x768.

I'll be getting a new 17" in about a week or so. I can't wait.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ February 13, 2004, 13:23: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]

narf poit chez BOOM

February 14th, 2004, 09:05 PM

well, i barely play SE anymore. but i did read the thread.

Nocturnal

February 14th, 2004, 10:08 PM

Oh fine, just because you whined, I'll download the mod and if I find time before SEV comes out, I may even play it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
I liked remote mining a lot anyway. None of my trade partners are gonna get MY asteroid resources!

David E. Gervais

February 14th, 2004, 10:36 PM

Originally posted by Nocturnal:
None of my trade partners are gonna get MY asteroid resources! Aaaah, you discovered one of the main reasons for making this mod http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Nocturnal

February 14th, 2004, 10:47 PM

Pretty nifty new graphics. When I try to start a new game, it can't access the empire files by the default folder.

Atrocities

February 14th, 2004, 11:03 PM

Very nice. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

David E. Gervais

February 15th, 2004, 01:02 AM

Originally posted by Nocturnal:
Pretty nifty new graphics. When I try to start a new game, it can't access the empire files by the default folder. I'm not quite sure what you mean, but the mod should be in it's own folder. The default empire files wouldn't work with this mod anyway. there are new race traits and cultures.

Are you using the ModLauncher to run the game? It should set up the paths for you. If not, get it off the se4:Gold CD. It's worth it. (you can have several mods installed at the same time.)

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

AMF

February 15th, 2004, 11:10 PM

You know what would be just grand? If there were a way to have SEIV span multiple monitors. I've got 4 monitors hooked up to my XP machine, and I play SE on one, do email on the other, surf on the third, etc....BUT I would love to be able to span all four with SEIVG...I presume the graphics, in this regard at least, is hard coded into the SEIV code...but if anyone know of a way to do it, let me know!

thanks,

Alarik

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Yeah, what he said, but if you have problems doing that I could be persuaded to make an 800x600 one for you.

Curious,.. is there a reason you don't play in 1024x768?

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Ed Kolis

February 16th, 2004, 04:48 AM

Wow... so if I ever decide to get into a game using this mod, I'll have to stare at a loadscreen practically right out of SE5... IT'S NOT FAIR!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

atari_eric

February 16th, 2004, 07:40 AM

I like this mod - I always liked the idea of mining asteroids, and this mod really brings that concept to the fore. One quibble though - it requires that you have to research one (expensive)level of satellites before you get one large enough to put a remote miner on - was this intentional?

(hmm, I wonder what a PBW with this mod would be like...)

Also, those Guild Miners look familiar...

[ February 16, 2004, 05:41: Message edited by: atari_eric ]

Fyron

February 16th, 2004, 08:03 AM

David, I have added your mod to SE.net here (http://www.spaceempires.net/home/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=377&ttitle=Miner's_Guild#dldetails).

David E. Gervais

February 16th, 2004, 12:57 PM

Originally posted by atari_eric:
I like this mod - I always liked the idea of mining asteroids, and this mod really brings that concept to the fore. One quibble though - it requires that you have to research one (expensive)level of satellites before you get one large enough to put a remote miner on - was this intentional?

(hmm, I wonder what a PBW with this mod would be like...)
Mines for remote mining? tisc-tisc. (If you research 'Construction' you get a new tech called "Deep Space Mining" this gives you acces to some very low maintenance 'Prospector' class ships,.. and a bit later "Mining Base Ships"

Also, those Guild Miners look familiar... I'm a very Nostalgic guy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif (Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling Clementine,.. La La La.)

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
David, I have added your mod to SE.net here (http://www.spaceempires.net/home/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownloaddetails&lid=377&ttitle=Miner's_Guild#dldetails). Thanks Fyron.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

[ February 16, 2004, 11:02: Message edited by: David E. Gervais ]

Fyron

February 16th, 2004, 01:34 PM

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />
Also, those Guild Miners look familiar... I'm a very Nostalgic guy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif (Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling Clementine,.. La La La.)[/QB]<hr /></blockquote>Ok what did I miss here? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

atari_eric

February 16th, 2004, 09:31 PM

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Mines for remote mining? tisc-tisc. (If you research 'Construction' you get a new tech called "Deep Space Mining" this gives you acces to some very low maintenance 'Prospector' class ships,.. and a bit later "Mining Base Ships" I noticed these; these are what I generally use (at least until I break out the ShipYard Cruiser and build true Mining Bases - do the small Bases have less upkeep than the "Mining Base Ships"?)

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
I'm a very Nostalgic guy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif (Oh my darling, Oh my darling, Oh my darling Clementine,.. La La La.) I am as well http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif Don't step on any mutants! %<

David E. Gervais

February 16th, 2004, 10:04 PM

Both the 'Prospector' and 'Mining Base Ship' have -90% Maintenance. So you be the judge. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

David E. Gervais

February 17th, 2004, 02:22 AM

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
Ok what did I miss here? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif The Race pic for my Spelunkers is Bounty Bob. From a GREAT old game called Miner 2049'er (and Bounty Bob Strikes Back the sequel) The song "Oh my Darling Clementine" is the music that played when you started the game.

If you would like to experience the Greatness yourself, go here..
Miner 2049'er and Bounty Bob Emulator (http://www.bigfivesoftware.com/Emulator/emulator.htm)

I hope this explains everything to your satisfaction.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Puke

February 17th, 2004, 06:14 AM

wow, neat. I used to love miner 2049er.

you know, its awfully easy to make profitable ships with this thing - ones that do not even require mining. the maintenance reduction is so high for some of the hulls, a little race bonus should put you over the top.

Fyron

February 17th, 2004, 06:23 AM

I think that the racial bonus and the vehicle ability stack multiplicitively, not stack linearly. So, you can not get lower than 0% maintenance unless the ship has a reduction of greater than 100, or you alter the settings so that you can take more than 100 points in maintenance reduction.

gregebowman

February 19th, 2004, 05:43 PM

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by Nocturnal:
Pretty nifty new graphics. When I try to start a new game, it can't access the empire files by the default folder. I'm not quite sure what you mean, but the mod should be in it's own folder. The default empire files wouldn't work with this mod anyway. there are new race traits and cultures.

Are you using the ModLauncher to run the game? It should set up the paths for you. If not, get it off the se4:Gold CD. It's worth it. (you can have several mods installed at the same time.)

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif <hr /></blockquote>David, i had the same problem the other day when I finally started to play this mod. I went to the existing races button, and nothing came up. My mod is in it's own folder, but for some reason the computer can't find your races folder. I had to create my own race. What can be done to fix this?

Suicide Junkie

February 19th, 2004, 06:09 PM

Let the game generate races randomly.
Then save their .EMP files.

That's all.

I have almost never added AIs by their EMP files, myself. Unknown aliens for an unknown universe.

gregebowman

February 19th, 2004, 07:24 PM

Originally posted by Suicide Junkie:
Let the game generate races randomly.
Then save their .EMP files.

That's all.

I have almost never added AIs by their EMP files, myself. Unknown aliens for an unknown universe. Ok, thanks, SJ. I'll do that the next time I play the mod.

David E. Gervais

February 19th, 2004, 09:22 PM

Since this is a mod of the Devnull Mod, I suggest you grab the .emp files from it and copy them to the empires folder in the MinersGuild_Mod. As for the new Race, I added them to the 'Quick Start' races and you can choose their portrait/shipset in the new race selection. But never thought of creating .emp files for them, seeing that they meant to be a player race, not AI. I didn't see the point. Most if not all players prefer to create their own races anyway. I don't think I have ever played 'existing empires'. But I might be wrong.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Rollo

February 19th, 2004, 10:43 PM

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Since this is a mod of the Devnull Mod, I suggest you grab the .emp files from it and copy them to the empires folder in the MinersGuild_Mod...nonono, all wrong.

*klonks David over the head with a Shovel.

Since you added new racial traits, the old Devnull Mod Gold .emps won't work anymore.
That's why you deleted them in the first place, remember? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif

[ February 19, 2004, 20:45: Message edited by: Rollo ]

gregebowman

February 19th, 2004, 10:54 PM

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Since this is a mod of the Devnull Mod, I suggest you grab the .emp files from it and copy them to the empires folder in the MinersGuild_Mod. As for the new Race, I added them to the 'Quick Start' races and you can choose their portrait/shipset in the new race selection. But never thought of creating .emp files for them, seeing that they meant to be a player race, not AI. I didn't see the point. Most if not all players prefer to create their own races anyway. I don't think I have ever played 'existing empires'. But I might be wrong.

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif Ok. I'm just not used to that. Most mods have existing races, with the .emp files included. But if I got to create my own race, that's no problem.

atari_eric

February 20th, 2004, 03:36 AM

Wait, what Version is that again?

David E. Gervais

February 20th, 2004, 04:08 AM

Originally posted by Rollo:
<blockquote>quote:<hr />Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Since this is a mod of the Devnull Mod, I suggest you grab the .emp files from it and copy them to the empires folder in the MinersGuild_Mod...nonono, all wrong.

*klonks David over the head with a Shovel.

Since you added new racial traits, the old Devnull Mod Gold .emps won't work anymore.
That's why you deleted them in the first place, remember? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/tongue.gif <hr /></blockquote>Thanks Rollo, a good klonk always clears the head. I actually forgot about that. So yeah, create your own new .emp files, yeah, yeah that's the ticket. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

Cheers! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Suicide Junkie

February 20th, 2004, 05:21 AM

Hmm, bit of a problem.

I, naturally, played without remote mining, and I've survived to the third decade while building up an, IMO, decent economy.

Just had my first fight with fighters, and well, the AI can't shoot at my fighters...
It was a total slaughter.
The PDCs only go after missiles... and the APBs are looking at 1% accuracy at best.

Is there any hope for the AIs to develop anti-fighter weapons?

Rollo

February 20th, 2004, 09:57 AM

which AI was that?

Nocturnal

February 20th, 2004, 11:41 AM

Originally posted by Puke:
wow, neat. I used to love miner 2049er.

you know, its awfully easy to make profitable ships with this thing - ones that do not even require mining. the maintenance reduction is so high for some of the hulls, a little race bonus should put you over the top.I tried to make a Talisman fighting ship out of the "mining base" hull, but there was so little space left over for decent weapons after I'd added the Talisman, EMC and reflective and stealth armor, and it was so slow, that I thought I'd rather build a big battleship or dreadnaught and pay oodles more in upkeep than have to build an equivalently effective swarm of those converted miners. They could be useful as defense ships though.

I think that 5% or so is the least you can pay in upkeep on a ship under any conditions.

I often start with a few pre-created AI empires as well as random ones just to ensure I will play against the United Floral and the Space Monsters for example. The empires folder is empty and the devnull ones won't work as has been mentioned above. In quickstart (not that ANYONE EVER uses that,) the Spelunkers have a description identical to the Praetorians (which kind of seems to fit, but still.) I've converted the splash screen to a bitmap of the appropriate size, but can't see it (launching from modpicker.) That's probably just me doing something wrong like placing it in the wrong directory. For a mod that's nearly the size of Devnull (27Mb) I just expected more. Why don't you have someone create and playtest a few AI empires and add them to the next Version?

Also, the menu buttons are a bit too flashy for my taste. It would probably be less jarring without that "shiny gloss" effect. Asteroid images fit the theme though, and it's frightening that they can go over 300% http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif Three or four starbases can probably supply my entire empire for a while.