Questions About Simple Modding
 

I would like to create a simple mod that replaces the stock SEIV races with races of my own design, borrowing elements from existing shipsets and AI setups. I've read a number of guides at this point, but I still don't have a clear picture of how to go about doing it.

1.) There are sixteen empires that show up in the "Quick Start" screen in stock SEIV, yet there are actually twenty empires available. You can see the other four only when you start a "New Game". What determines which races will appear in the Quick Start selection menu?

2.) I've noticed that I can edit the Description, Biological Description, Society Description, and General History Description text in a race's <race>_ai_general.txt file, and that those changes will then show up in-game. Is this all one needs to do to change an empire's description, or would changes need to be made to the .emp file (or a whole new .emp file created) as well?

3.) How do I design and implement my own AI settings .txt files for an empire from scratch? I've used the "Add New" function when starting a New Game to create my own custom empire. When I check the SEIV directory, however, I notice that my custom empire only has an .emp file to represent it, whereas the stock races not only have their own .emp file, but also their own Race Pictures and AI settings.

4.) Perhaps more to the point, how can I create (from scratch) a full-fledged custom empire that will show up on the "Quick Start" screen, has its own AI settings, and has the same directory structures as a stock race? Do I need to use a combination of manual modification (messing with directories) and in-game customization?

5.) Some things confuse me. For example, I know what "Neostandard" ship graphics are, and that makes sense to me. However, in many mods (like the Star Trek mod) and even standalone shipsets meant to be used with the vanilla game, there are three .emp files for each empire: 2k, 3k, and 5k. I know that these are supposed to be for different Racial Point levels, but the stock game only has one .emp file per empire, and it too allows you to select whether you start with 2k, 3k, or 5k. So why the need for three .emp files?

***************

Is there a tutorial that shows how to create empires from scratch, from the ground up, that are functionally identical to the stock races in SEIV (so that they can go in the Quick Start menu, have their own proper AI settings and .emp files, etc.)? Or multiple tutorials?

Links or advice would be much appreciated. I've found a few tutorials already, but maybe I can't see the forest for the trees.

Re: Questions About Simple Modding
 

1) Look for Quick Start in Settings.txt.

2) The AI General file is only read when an empire is created. Loading a saved empire file will not cause any data from it to be reread.

3) Saving an empire file does not create a new race folder; it merely contains a reference to which folder the ship images and AI text files should be read from. If you want to create a whole new race folder, you have to do so in your file manager.

4) You use 100% "manual modification" to create a new race. Copy an existing race folder, name it as you like, then rename all of the files inside of it to match the folder name (just like all of the existing races). Then, you modify the files in the race folder to suit your needs. To have it show up in the quick start game, you have to edit settings.txt and replace one of the other races with the new race folder name. Best to do this in a new mod folder, naturally.

The only thing that would be done in-game would be creating a .emp file, if you really need it. The best method is to start a game with a high number of AI players and set the race to human control in the main menu > Players screen. You can then save the empire to file. This handily tests your AI_General file for any errors in the trait selection (eg: you accidentally set up too many traits for a point setting, you have some sort of typo in the trait names).

5) The stock .emp files do not cover anything more than the default 2k point setup. Selecting a higher amount and loading those .emp files causes the AI to have spent 1000 or 3000 fewer points than possible.

Re: Questions About Simple Modding
 

You don't have to replace another race; you can edit Setting.txt to allow more than 16 Quick Start races. The TDM-ModPack, for example, has 38 Quick Start options.