Latest patch, mods & current game

[Jon Brave]

God Emperor,

Please don't feel you have to apologise! You must understand I/we are very appreciative of your efforts, however it may sound.

But your latest post is the *opposite* of what I'm looking for, it's so detailed. I'm sure its content is very good. I'm sure you're right that simple tweaks will improve the AI, which is exactly what I am looking for.

But what I don't understand --- and nor do others --- is a *simple* explanation of how/whether, say, your mods do/don't clash with other peoples', or are up-to-date with the latest patch etc. So I end up not using yours because of this. I do realise how complex all this is to explain briefly, but that's what people who want to *use* the mod, not *understand* it, need to know. If I'm going to use, say, the latest Version of the "standard" Mod Pack I've been going on about, how does yours fit in, precisely? Does the order of applying matter (well I guess that depends on whether you mod the same files). All this is so frustrating, I'll end up not patching & not remodding because of this, which is a shame. Perhaps if I read all the read.mes with a magnifying glass I'll understand, but when I've tried I get lost between different peoples' explanations... I just want a decent opponent

[Nitram Draw]

JB,
I had the same confusion over the order and compatibility of different mods.
I decided to use the TDM mod as the base mod because they did not add anything to the game that was not already in there. The TDM Mod pack affects a lot of areas in the standard races and gives a few new races. In the readme file they explain exactly what areas they tweaked on the races.
Other mods, God Emperors racemod and Sun Devils angermod come to mind, change specialized areas of the AI. If they change an area that is unmodified by an insatlled patch then the order you install them is not important. When both mods change the same file you have to make a choice.
The ones that you really need to pay attention to are mods that add new techs, weapons, etc. You may overwrite a file that is needed to make them work if you add mods in the wrong order.
Read the readme files carefully and try them out. Most of them are great.

[God Emperor]

Jon,
My research mod essentially changes the order in which the AI researches certain techs (in order to ensure that follow on techs are researched immediately) and also fixes some ommissions. As a result, the file does not impact upon any other data files and is safe to use with any other "tweak" mods (as opposed to those mods that introduce new technology areas).

My DesignCreation mod however includes the TechAreas data file, as it requires point defence to be available at game start. Again, it is compatible with any "tweak" mods that do not have changed TechAreas or DesignCreation files.

I have reviewed the mod pack Research, DesignCreation and TechAreas files and have concluded that my files can be used to overwrite them as they are "later Versions" which go beyond mod pack.

Similarly, I believe this to be the case for Sundevils mod which tweaks the Anger and Politics files, and which again does not impact on any other files that may have been tweaked.

Sundevil, Pathfinder, Mephisto, can you comment any further?

[Mephisto]

Mmm, I can add a "compatibility file" to the TDM_MOD that list all other MODs that can be added. In this case it would be required to sent me these MODs to my email but don't forget a Version number for your Mod!

[ June 27, 2002, 09:36: Message edited by: [K126]Mephisto ]

[javaslinger]

Would it be possible to 'elect' a supreme Mod chairman that could compile all 'approved' mods into one file to allay any fears of overwriting and ensure compatibility between mods.

So that instead of getting the Modpack, God emporers mod, Sun Devils mod, the tech tree mod, the research mod, and the (take a quick breath), the sound mod, we could just get one comprehensive mod???

I realize that all modders would have to approve of their mods being included and perhaps mildly altered to ensure no overwriting.

this however seems to be the best way to do this in my mind. And I feel like it would appear that there is enough friendly brotherhood between modders that this might not be a problem.

Thoughts?

Ken

[Daynarr]

Well, at the moment the God Emperors mod conflicts with the Xi'Chung research files. Also, in the near future I will be working on 5 more default races and that will cause even more conflicts.

[Dubious]

What's really needed is a "difference engine": a tool which would take a modder's files (which would only have their mods and nothing else; i.e. only their "differences") and MERGE them with the existing files in the ModPack directory or if there is no existing file by copying the original and then merging.

A more sophisticated Version would compare the ModPack directory files with the original files first, and if the merging mods would replace something which was not in the original, prompt for which to use: the old mod or the new one.

It might be necessary to establish a format for modder difference files to be able to "designate" a component which is to be replaced or removed or simply added, but that should be fairly simple with keywords such as "REPLACE title" or "ADD title AFTER title" or "DELETE title". (I haven't gotten into modding as yet, so I don't know all the ramifications.) But with the work going on to make the modding process easier, this should be fairly easy to implement.

-Dubious-

------------------
"All sources are dubious until their reliabilty has been repeatedly proven. Even then their information should be independently verified." - The unwritten "spooks handbook"

[This message has been edited by Dubious (edited 08 March 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Dubious (edited 08 March 2001).]