Extended Abilities Mod

Any word on the undates? I put it in yesterday and the abilities didn't show up on my list.. paths changed probably or something like that. Thanks

Kyle

Since stardock didn't fully implement the modding stuff announced for 1.1, there will be no update untill 1.2 will be released.
Despite of this, the mod is working fine though. Did you patch the game before/after adding the mod? if b4, try to add it again.
I've just checked the abilitybonuses.xml, it got overridden by 1.11. As I said above, just put the mod in again

Since I'm working on an da-update, I'd like to know which relation exists between the set BonusValue und the BonusUnit... eg...

[Ability Name="ColonizeRadioactiveWorlds"]
[AbilityIndex]35[/AbilityIndex]
[AvailableOptions]1[/AvailableOptions]
[Option0Text]Skilled[/Option0Text]
[Option0Bonus]100[/Option0Bonus]
[Option0Cost]2[/Option0Cost]
[BonusUnits]%[/BonusUnits]
[/Ability]

Does it mean Bonus=100 --> ability is set to true?
Are there any other BonusUnits besides %,pc,rts,sct?

I need to play since I got DA 1h ago, but already modding

I've not tried it myself, but I'd guess that *if* the game handles Colonization properly as a starting ability pick, the bonus would be the amount of planetary production you have access to on those worlds.

Bonus Units is just a display matter, telling the game what to append to the bonus values displayed on the ability pick screen.

Are you sure about that? BonusUnit is just a lets say string var?
I haven't compared outcome vals for eg. pc/%

If so, then all is fine

Yes. All the actual ability values are kept in the game as plain integers, regardless what you set there.

MrKorx,

I wanted to contact you, but you're profile won't accept e-mails. I've been working on an update of your mod, and I need your permission to post it. Ok, actually, I already posted it, and Kryo pointed out how big a no-no that was, so I took it down. Sorry about that!

The new version also implements the colonizing abilities, Government, and Interest Rates, has the latest new english.str and abilitiesbonus.xml files (your current version uses older version), and incorporates tweaked altered costs.

Anyway, if you'd like, I can just give you what I have, and if you like it, YOU can post it. I don't care, really. I wanted to make the mod available.

Let me know...

General Pants

@General Pants
I saw your mod in the library, and noticed you do not use the modsfolder. It works as well, if you put the two files into a modfolder\Data directory. You would have to reinstall the mod, since experience shows, that any update replaced the files. You don't have to care when using the modsfolder

Mr. Korx,

Good point!

I'll play around with it. Updates are a problem regardless, because if English.str gets changed, we've saddled the user with an obsolete version. Do you think there's a chance I could just alter the relevant parts of English.str, and just put THAT in the mods folder?

Thanks!

Jon

Well, thats also a good question
My guess would be no, you can't put just the altered part of english.str into mod\Data-dir, since I think the file gets only once read into a fileobject on start of the game, which might not be the case for xml. I tink it's due to the nature of the string file. But one could just try it out Maybe I'll find some time...
Basically I think, one shouldn't bother too much about english.str and updates, because it shouldn't get altered drastically without any future expansion, just maybe some misspellings etc. get corrected. Though it would be nice if it was working the mentioned way.

do you mind releasing a variant of this mod that only includes the Miniaturization and Logistics and doesn't alter the point/percentage values for the other abilities?

Already done, see library--this time it is an update

Actually, you only need to include the table that you've changed in a .str file in the mods folder. So in this case, your mod .str file only needs to include the section of the file from [TABLEALIAS AbilityOptions] to the next [TABLEEND] tag. The game will then take just that table and use it instead of the default one, and everything else will come from the default file. I don't see the ability options section changing much in patches so you should be pretty future-proof that way too.

Ok, I've made the changes, and I am reposting the mod. For some reason, it doesn't work if you put the AbilitiesBonus.xml in the English folder of your mod. If you just put both in the Data folder and not in a subfolder, it works. Thanks for the suggestion MrKorx, and for the input Kryo.



Jon

Thanks Kryo,
as usual you brighten things up
So it works by similar "parsing mechanics" as the xmls

thanks!

Not that it makes too much difference or anything, but the next release of my version of "my" abilities mod (MrKorx + the rest of the abilities) has the government ability removed, because it doesn't do anything, according to CariElf's modding guide. D'oh!

Jon

Last time I checked, all ability bonuses in the Civ Manager and the Civ Creation screens were displayed as %s, regardless of what the xml sets them to be.

sorry, double post