Tutorial: get the bonuses you want

Part one: the tools
you only need Hexplorer for this, if you don't have it, get it at:
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/hexplorer.html

Part two: what we're modding
you need a save file to mod first, can be found in my documents\games\galciv2 usualy
also, you'd like to edit the save at the very beginning of the game, before anything is buildt. this is because buildings kinda mess things up a bit, you can still mod it though.

Part three: how
when you open the first save file for the first time you'll notice the numbers are small, to fix: go to view, select options, and try a different font, I'm using default GUI font
also see how many colums you prefer, I found 5 colums of 4 pairs fitting

first the order of tiles, you'd like to know where the tiles are located
6-12-18-etc.
5-11-17-etc.
4-10-16-etc.
3-09-15-etc.
2-08-14-etc.
1-07-13-etc.
nr.1 is the first tile u see, nr.2 the second

now you need to find your planet in there, its not too hard actualy.. I edited a planet named Spectre (to be neutral), next to the wall of numbers there is a decrypted version telling you what it says, the name of your planet should show up there.
Also remember that your star may have more planets with the same name, only with more I's behind (spectre II, spectre III)

scroll down from your planet there until you get to the lots of FF's, they are the tiles..
here's a sample of two unbuildable tiles followed by some buildable:

I marked two tiles there, blue and red is identical as you see, an empty tile has this length, with a collumn with 0's between, these 0's could be part of tile, but the game crashed when I tried it out.

beginning to look closer, you probably noticed the pairs of F's, they make the tile unbuildable, the 09 right behind it is what terrain the tile is, on the buildable tiles the F's are simply replaced with 0's, that's how easily you make a tile buildable
last, the line with "80 3F" is somewhere in the middle of the tile and seems to mean: absolutely nothing at all.. but it's a good thing to use to count to the tile you want.

the bonus
because of upload trouble I can't directly show you, but the 803F is again the place to look, see a tile with a bonus will look a bit like this:
00 09 00 00 00 00 00 00 41 00 00 00
the 09 is the location that gives the bonus icon, description and effect
the 0041 I lined gives you the bonus amount, the 0041 is acually located where the 803F used to be, so now you know where to do the change.
all you need to do to give a tile this bonus is to change these locations, remember how many 0's away the 09 is from the 803F-place, location means all

Part Four the values
icon location:
+700% production : 0A
+700% research : 09
+300% production : 08
+300% food : 07
+300% research : 06
+100% Influence : 05
+100% approval : 04

effect amount
+700% : 00 41
+300% : 80 40
+100% : 00 40
-50% : 00 3F

(it is possible to add a bonus to a tile with a building, but it's harder to know where to edit, again, 803F is the way to search, then just try, you can even add a bonus to your capital)

thanks to FROOKIE and Moosetek13 for a starting boost in my research



I should also notice that modifying save games will trip the cheater flag.

btw, I'm only having DL, so could a DA modder whos in for it grab the first one below for the DA codes.
5,377 views 11 replies
Reply #1 Top
Hi!
You just left the ghost out of the bottle. Cheaters unite!

Seems Stardock will have to include some checksums into savegame files, if they want the Metaverse to keep any sort of credibility.

EDIT: I appologize, you're not the original one releaser.

BR, Iztok
Reply #2 Top
Modifying save games will trip the cheater flag.
Reply #3 Top
Hi!
Modifying save games will trip the cheater flag.

  

BR, Iztok
Reply #4 Top
Yeah, and reinstalling will trip them, too. So make sure you finish your game before you crash your PC or reinstalll windows.

WakZy, it's nice to see that some people still look for such things in games. Next step: Go and write a programm for all those people who still don't know how to do this ...


Diviator

P.S.: Don't get it wrong I think that this is cheating, too. But as long as players only use it in a single player game I will never care ...
Reply #5 Top
Thats some decent work there WakZy! Glad you volunteered - my output in such an endeavour would have bummed bigtime

yes, yes we know its cheating Cari, but its fun to see a world with two mines, two libraries, a hell of a lot of people thanks to the yellow food bonus all paying high taxes and all happy thanks to those wonderful approval bonuses. BTW this is just the beginning.

Reply #6 Top
For me, it's the challenge of figuring it out, like a puzzle.

I have no intention of playing any games with changes I make besides, of course, pulling out the PQ26 with 20+ precursor mines when things get rough.

I have no problem with other folks using them though since finding and decoding the checksum is a bit more of a challenge than interpreting tile definitions.
Reply #7 Top
I'd be careful how many 700% tiles you place. They can get extremely expensive.
Reply #8 Top

Yeah, and reinstalling will trip them, too. So make sure you finish your game before you crash your PC or reinstalll windows.

something here I didn't get...


WakZy, it's nice to see that some people still look for such things in games. Next step: Go and write a programm for all those people who still don't know how to do this ...

I think it was pretty well explained, did I miss anything?



I'd be careful how many 700% tiles you place. They can get extremely expensive.

how?


For me, it's the challenge of figuring it out, like a puzzle.

same for me, I just love to mod games, and after all those boringly simple ini's and xml's this was nice and new, to explore.
Reply #9 Top
The bonus tiles increase production (and production = $$$ spent). And while they are not as expensive as 8 regular tiles (either to build or maintain), they are still expensive.

8 NLC's are expensive, period. So are 5, which is about what you pay for the 700% bonus tile once it is built.

If you were to put a dozen or so 700% reaearch tiles on a planet and outfit them all with NLC's, you would have a very hard time financing them. It might just break the bank, and send you plummeting into a non-recoverable economic downfall.

Moderation, in all things...
Reply #10 Top
Hi!
8 NLC's are expensive, period. So are 5, which is about what you pay for the 700% bonus tile once it is built.

Not correct. Bonus production from tile-bonuses is paid in full price. In your case a player would save only on the maintenace costs on 7 non-built NLCs.

A short rule of thumb: building/tiles that boosts production on a single planet need full payment.

BR, Iztok