Modding Tools

Please post here for questions and discussion about scenario, art and sound modding.

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mgarnett
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Modding Tools

Post by mgarnett »

Hi All,

I designed a series of integrated moddig tools for another Matrix game, Panzer Corps, which allows various aspects of the game to be more easily modded, such as units and attributes, various unit effects (graphics/sond) and campaign structures. I'm also in the process of creating an OOB editor for HPS's Napoleonic Campaigns series so anybody who has played these games (PzC and HPS:NC) know of the types of tools that I'm talking about.

Another forum member who has used the PzC tool asked me to post here to see if there is a need for a similar type to tool set for this game. I own Time of Fury, but I'm not a game modder but I appreciate the work that modders do, so if there is anything I can do to help their work easier, I'm more than happy to try.

If there is a need for modding toold/utilities, please post your thoughts here and I will look into designing/coding them for Time of Fury.

Cheers

Mark
Mark Garnett
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Magpius
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by Magpius »

YES!
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by Magpius »

anything that can intuitively update the .csv files in a small number of overview screens would be just brilliant.
mgarnett
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by mgarnett »

At least CSV files are easier to deal with than those mishmash text files in PzC!  I'll start going through the DATA directory looking at what's stored there and how it's all put together.

In the meantime, please feel free to put forward any ideas on what would make life easier for you.

Cheers

Mark
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by Hairog »

That would be fantastic and much appreciated.
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slaytanic
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by slaytanic »

An event editor. A nice interface to add/change events. Events are in xml. There's also event manual with all the options/effects
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doomtrader
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by doomtrader »

Hi mgarnett,

If you would have any questions, please just ask, I'll try to answer as good as possible.
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by doomtrader »

I just made this thread sticky, as it is probably in the interest of all modders
mgarnett
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by mgarnett »

Thanks heaps. It will take me a few days to get across the data files, there's certainly quite a bit of information there!

I'll be sure to post any questions and thanks again for the help.

Cheers

Mark
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Magpius
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by Magpius »

I'm very excited your onboard with this mark. Will help out anyway I can to get this running.
The Wastelands editor works fine for map creation. (although sea zone linkages escape me at the moment).
But unit modification and linking to fleets and placement is still very beta. (broken).
Focusing on the non-map areas to begin with would be most welcome.
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by doomtrader »

The hardest part of the editor is to properly linking various files.
What we are trying to avoid is the possibility to add units for countries which are not included in the game.
Another issues is that every time you are adding or deleting new country, more than one file is involved into the process.

Also, for example the land unit has got over 40 values, which must filled, and some of them are done automatically.
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Magpius
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by Magpius »

The naval units are problematic for me at the moment.
For as you say a lot of interlinked files...
Naval unit ---> Fleets
Fleets. ---->. Sea zones
Sea Zones ----> Countries
Etc etc etc.
Doom, if you could please just post screenshots of each editor panel outlining what each value range is, that would go a long way with building scenarios. Like you did for the country database page.
mgarnett
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by mgarnett »

Hi Guys,

I've been going through the ToF editor looking at what it is doing.  It seems as though this is going to be a pretty comprehensive tool with a myriad of options for editing units and other aspects of the game. 

Are you guys able to let me know what aspect the game requires the introduction of an additional tool addressing something that the current editor does not.  I want to be sure that I'm not just reproducing something that's already been done.  To date there has been a suggestion for an event editor, which seems reasonable as I couldn't find any way to modify these files in the current editor.

There has also been mention made of the naval units -> fleets -> placement editor but this looks like it already exists in the current editor.  Apologies for the dumb questions in advance!

Cheers

Mark
Mark Garnett
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Magpius
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by Magpius »

Mark, the current editor is far from fully functional. So even though you would not want to build redundancies into your work, anything would be beneficial.
mgarnett
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by mgarnett »

Is work continuing on the current editor or is it a dead project?

Cheers

Mark
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by doomtrader »

Current editor is still WIP and is going to be improved to gain full functionality.
mgarnett
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by mgarnett »

Thanks for that. I can see that the current editor is going to be pretty full featured when complete. I can't help thinking that I'll be reinventing the wheel here, it would take me some time to catch up to where the current editor is at the moment for no real gain that I can see considering that it is going through continuous improvement.

Are you able to let me know what thoughts you have on additional modding tools covering areas that aren't going to be addressed with the current editor.

As I've said, I don't mod the game so I'm sure that there are useful tools people want but it's difficult for me to guage the need when I don't have modding experience with this game.

Cheers

Mark

Mark Garnett
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gwgardner
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by gwgardner »

here's a tool that would be incredibly useful: an event 'editor' or viewer, showing event triggers, parameters, possible results, with the ability to change any of those, delete events, etc.

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Magpius
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by Magpius »

Yes, once the editor is working, as GW has said, an events editor would open the game to a much wider TOE.
So +1 from me.
mgarnett
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RE: Modding Tools

Post by mgarnett »

OK, an event editor it is then.  I'll get started on that and post my progress.

Cheers

Mark
Mark Garnett
Brisbane Australia
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