is there a guide for adding ships to DA?

title says it all. I want to know how to add ship models to dark avatar because it seems that what was working for dread lords is not working for dark avatar
7,465 views 10 replies
Reply #1 Top
Well i am not sure if this is the easiest/best way to do it (and i just got DA so i have no idea how it was done before) but i use the mod folder to do it...

The model goes to "Gfx/Models/" ans is called s99_Ship.x for example.

Then a file called "MyStuff.xml" (or whatever) goes to "Data/ShipComponents/" which looks like this:

Code: xml
  1. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes" ?>
  2. <GC2>
  3. <DataChecksum NoParse="1">
  4. <Ignore>DisplayName,Description,Model,Thumbnail,Animation</Ignore>
  5. </DataChecksum>
  6. <Structure Name="MyShip">
  7. <DisplayName>Executer</DisplayName>
  8. <Model>Ship</Model>
  9. <Category>Structure</Category>
  10. <Description>Big mean Ship</Description>
  11. </Structure>
  12. </GC2>


the header i have taken from some example file, so i not exactly sure what it does, but it does work.

You can add as many Structure Blocks as you like. Where Model is the name of your model witout the s99 - so it would be Ship in our example.

The ship/part will show up under "Extras->Generic" in the Ship editor and can be used with the "Blank Box" to build a ship of any Race/Class/Size (It will be even scaled according to the choosen hull size).

This is compartible with any other mods you may have installed, as long as you not use .X or .XML of the same name and could be even Metaverse compartible (not sure about this, since i not play metaverse), since it does not overwrite any game data files.

Obviously you must have the "Use Mods" box checked and the Right Mod Folder selected for this to work.


PS.: Sorry... the code feature seems to be brocken somehow, or i ma to stupid to use it... you can get the example .XML file here:
Textfile
Reply #2 Top
not sure if your way works or not, but either way it doesn't help me. I'm trying to do a mod for dark avatar and i need to know how to add ship models to a specific race that i added to game.
Reply #3 Top
It works for me. But it seems i misunderstood your question. Sorry about this.

PS.: I have tried it out and it was in deed not possible to start a metaverse Game... It still does work in single.
Reply #4 Top
not sure if your way works or not, but either way it doesn't help me. I'm trying to do a mod for dark avatar and i need to know how to add ship models to a specific race that i added to game.


Do you mean adding templates then, so the AI will use them properly as well?
Reply #5 Top
yes i did, but I know what to do now. Rav was a big help.
Reply #6 Top
Care to share? I'm working on the same thing while trying to add a race. And the ships are the only thing not working for me now.

Thanks:)
Reply #7 Top
Care to share? I'm working on the same thing while trying to add a race. And the ships are the only thing not working for me now.


What exactly are you trying to add, and what have you tried so far?
Reply #8 Top

Care to share? I'm working on the same thing while trying to add a race. And the ships are the only thing not working for me now.


What exactly are you trying to add, and what have you tried so far?


I've been reading posts here and that has solved most of my problems. I was initially trying to add the Centauri from Babylon 5 as a race, and tried simply copying over files. That went badly, of course. My only remaining trouble is creating a ship style. For whatever reason the guide on the forum isn't working for me. I can create and save the templates. But I'm missing something with "2. In AI race customization screen at game creation, pick the style you used when you made your templates, edit it, and save it under a new name." because I'm not getting an option to do this. 'Create Custom Ship Style' just remains faded and nothing happens when I push it.
Reply #9 Top
'Create Custom Ship Style' just remains faded and nothing happens when I push it.


You can only access that button and the screen it leads to when customizing an opponent, not your own race. Move on to the opponent selection screen, then edit one of them.
Reply #10 Top
Ah! I knew I was missing something simple. Thanks. Went through the steps for setting up a style. Seemed to work ok, but the ships are invisible. I think I've read a post about previously, so I'm going to do a search for that.