[Aborted] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Please post here for questions and discussion about data, event, art and sound modding and the game editor for Distant Worlds.

Moderator: MOD_DW2

User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:31 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 7:35 am Look, as far as I understand the game events now, an event in an event group can have a TriggerEvent entry under the TriggerActions. The subsequent event is then named there (in Generated Item Name or Generated Event Item Name). So if the name of an event changes in a group, these changes must also be made there.
No, that's not always the case ! There are several events that belong to the same event-group, but don't have those TriggerEvent-names/-entries (like e.g. if there are several choices). :|
But, anyway - since my edited XML is only for your internal use with your tool (or that's at least what I thought), to be able to link the right events in the right order to their event-groups, there can't be anything broken, I think. - Or in other words: You should only use the edited XML in order to do the above (for yout tool) and then use the results to display the un-edited events in the un-edited XML of the game in your tool. If you do it like this, there can't be ANYTHING broken. ;)

In general, this would be all that's needed:

1. search the edited XML for the indicators for Main Story-, Special- and Race-specific-events and list the events for each of those categories (and add a category for Undefined Events, if you like)

2. search inside those categories for the events that have the same group-name and list the events for each of those goups

3. search inside those groups for the indicators for the stages of the events and sort them accordingly

4. create a tree-view of the events in the un-edited (!) XML according to the results from above

Then there would be the right connections / categories of the events and a clear view of the whole original (!) XML for the user - and nothing could be broken. ;)
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 8:35 am And i thought i would just replace the game file with your modified file. But of course it works the way you describe it.
No, you can't/shouldn't do this in any way, since the fixes in the (edited) file are, too, only for internal use (since they would be overwritten with any further patch of the XML, as long as the DEVs don't fix it, too) - they are only there to find and to display the right orders, grooups and categories in your tool. ;)

But I'm, too, glad that we've come to a final agreement, now. :mrgreen:
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 10:14 am A new Wiki is borned, small, sweet and growing every day!
https://distant-worlds-2-mod-maker.fand ... Maker_Wiki
Check it out, the Wiki needs your help to grow up!
Wow - not bad, Andree 8-) - thanks a lot (to all who have contributed to this) ;)

But how could I help you with this ? (I don't know your tool very well and I'm not a very active or reliable person when it comes to lengthy projects that need a continuous involvement - except for my own, but even with those I have my problems, normally :roll: )

If anything, you could ask me for some specific help (on some specific subjects, like e.g. the structure of some XMLs) or for some knowledge maybe, but you can't expect more than that from me, I'm affraid. :|

Nevertheless, I found a little dissonance in one of the entries of the site:
On the "Game Data Explanations"-page you wrote in the section for "Media integration":

"Modifying media (animations, music, images, etc.) are done with external tools and can then be integrated into your mod."

Well, but at least for the GameEvents.xml this isn't completely right, because each event has also a <MusicFilepath />-entry, so that at least the music for those events could also be integrated/edited via the XML / your tool (if you add the regarding lines/enties). ;)
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:32 am, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 12:12 pm However, it was not about paths here, but about the media content itself. These cannot be created by the Mod Maker, however, be used.
Hm, ok, but you still have to add the regarding lines in your tool (please). ;)

(And it's not only the path you could edit with these entries, it's also the music-files themeselves (since you can use any file/format you like), if you'd offer an option to add/copy files in the regarding folders. ;) )

But, sadly I've come to another problem with the event-chains :( ... and have sent you another PM (since it's only important for internal calculations) ;)
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 12:41 pm Of course, the paths and names can be changed in case you haven't noticed. See the MISC tab of each part in the Mod Maker.
Yes, I've overlooked that - sorry. :oops:
Eventure wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 12:41 pm
frankycl wrote: Sat May 28, 2022 12:33 pm (And it's not only the path you could edit with these entries, it's also the music-files themeselves (since you can use any file/format you like), if you'd offer an option to add/copy files in the regarding folders. ;) )
An information, that should be put into the Wiki. I and probably other users didn't know that.
Yes, you can use this, I've tested it several times - only .ogg files and some platform-related file-formats seem to cause some problems / aren't played at all. ;)
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:32 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 4:05 pm (...)
[*]Added an updated referrence file for Game Events (thanks to frankycl) for regrouping events.
(..)
Many thanks for the credits (although I haven't asked for them), but what do you mean by this exactly ? Where have you added that file ?
(And did you forget that I had told you, that this was NOT the final version of my files ?)

Also: You have again mixed race-specific events and NON-race-specific events - that's nonsense ! (and I have told you this before in detail; - see above. - like the NON-Boskara events in the same groups as the Boskara-events for the Boskara-race. :roll: )

... still many things to fix/change, I'm affraid (and please wait for my FINAL-version before releasing another update on this. ;) )
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 12:20 pm
frankycl wrote: Wed Jun 15, 2022 9:16 pm Also: You have again mixed race-specific events and NON-race-specific events - that's nonsense !
It's not, I haven't the time to discuss, but when you go through the event chain, you will hopefully see, that it's a direct follow up of a Boskara event.
Don't know what you're talking about, but in my mod-maker there are several NON-race-specific events in the event-groups of a race that DON'T trigger those events or are otherwise connected to the race:

Race-Mix.png
Race-Mix.png (248.35 KiB) Viewed 764 times

In this example you can easily see that in the event-chain "Former Boskara Slave Worlds" or in "Secret Boskara Research Facility" from/for the Boskara-Race there are several events with a "...(Non-Boskara) addition (like e.g. "Acquire Slave World 1 (Non Boskara)", or "Encounter Guardians (Non-Boskara)").
But since those events only have a "NonTriggerRaceId" they are only triggered by / connected to all other races, but NOT the Boskara ! :?
Therefore there should be NO connections with Boskara-events shown in your tree-view for those events ! (except maybe in some very rare cases when an event is disabled by another event from another race - but that's not the case here in these examples !) - See what I mean ? ;)

... there's nothing to discuss - it's just obvious ! :|
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 5:04 pm (...)
I want to show the event links that trigger events AND show what events affect other events!
Eventure wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 5:04 pm Let's take the example from above: "Acquire Slave World 1 (Non Boskara)"

This event is only integrated into the game through the event "Former Boskara Slave World 1 (Boskara)" (see PlacementAction > Generate Independent Colony).
No, it is not ! - It (or more specific: its objects that trigger the event when they are discovered in game) is integrated in the game from the very beginning, since the "Former Boskara Slave World 1 (Boskara)"-event has the <PlacementAtGameStart>true-tag ! - But - and that's most important here - whether the "... (Non Boskara)"- event or the "... (Boskara)"-event is triggered depends only on the race that discovers the above objects in game - and that is - as you had realized correctly - the generated Independent Colony on a planet named "Belarion", according to the <PlacementActions> in the Former Boskara Slave World 1-event.
So, what you really mean is that the PlacementActions-part in the "Former Boskara Slave World 1 (Boskara)"-event is needed to also start the "Acquire Slave World 1 (Non Boskara)"-event, right ? So far, this would be correct, I think, and the game really needs this entries in the XML for BOTH race-possibilities. But there is a difference between <PlacementActions>-tags and <TriggerActions>-tags, because the latter is connected to the race(s) that trigger them, but the former isn't - at least not necessarily (like in the example from above, where the objects are generated/placed for ALL races from the start of the game).
So, the game needs this "Former Boskara Slave World 1 (Boskara)"-event in the XML from the start, but at this time it is NOT defined if the <TriggerActions>-tags of this event (= the BOSKARA-race) or the <TriggerActions>-tags of the event for the OTHER races will be played out / activated in game. This is only defined through the discovery of EITHER the Boskara OR (one of) the other races (which is also the reason why the event of the Boskara needs to be disabled, when those other races discover the planet / trigger their event BEFORE the Boskara do this (= <Type>DisableEvent "Former Boskara Slave World 1 (Boskara)").
And right here those event-chains that you want to display would start: Either the Boskara-event-chain (starting with the "Former Boskara Slave World 1 (Boskara)"-event) OR the event-chain regarding the built planet/independent colony of the other NON-Boskara-races (starting with "Acquire Slave World 1 (Non Boskara)"). - And therefore - simple put - those "...NON-races"-events don't need and should NOT be part of the event-chains of the race-specific-events - or vice-versa, since they are NOT triggered by them or really connected in any way in the game ! - Or why do you think that the DEVs have named them accordingly ?

You see what I mean in general ? - Always when the objects for the events are generated placed by the <PlacementActions>-tags of an event from the beginning of the game, the event is NOT necessarily needed (in game) for the event-chain of the other NON-races (and therefore should NOT be part in the event-chain of the latter) :!:
(and I think that's also the reason why the DEVS haven't generated an additional similar event for the NON-races - because (this way) they didn't need to. ;) )

But to summarize once again: All events with "...NON-race"-additions should only be part (and displayed accordingly) of the races that are NOT mentioned in the additions in the brackets :!:

Eventure wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 5:04 pm I hope again that you understand that it can be only presented in this way and not otherwise.
No, it's the other way around ! When you do it this way, you mix the event-chains of different races that can only be played EITHER/OR (for each race) in game - and therefore don't show the the right chain for each race (or the NON-races). :|
User avatar
Eventure
Posts: 105
Joined: Wed Apr 20, 2022 12:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by Eventure »

development aborted
Last edited by Eventure on Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
frankycl
Posts: 401
Joined: Mon Mar 01, 2021 5:16 pm

Re: [Release] Distant Worlds 2 Mod Maker

Post by frankycl »

Eventure wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:34 am Each non-racial event is tied into a racial event. There is no non-racial event on its own.
The structure is always the same for events that include both:
(...)
Hm, I guess you mean the right thing, but you named it wrong:
This is not the case for each "event", but for the "event-chains". ;)
However, even when you mean the chains you'd have to distinguish between the placement-parts of the events (since there is also a <PlacementRaceId>-tag) and the trigger-parts, which belong to the <TriggerRaceId>-tags OR the <NonTriggerRaceId>-tags.

Eventure wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:34 am > Race Event (Creation Event) <<< It's the container
So, your "Race Event (Creation Event)" should be the "placement-part" of the general needed starting-event (of one particular race that was chosen at the start of a new game), because those "Events" often also have the race-specific trigger-parts, which mean that ONLY the race of the <TriggerRaceId>-tag can trigger the actions in this section of the event.
And what you call "container" I would call the objects that are needed in game, to trigger the event-chain, either for <TriggerRaceId>-race OR the <NonTriggerRaceId>-races. But this "contains" nothing but the possibility to start either the race-specific event-chain (= the race named in the <TriggerRaceId>-tag), or the event-chain for all the other races (= the races NOT named in the <NonTriggerRaceId>-tag).
But the following events of these chains can only be triggered by EITHER the race of the <TriggerRaceId>-tags OR the races that are not named in the <NonTriggerRaceId>-tags :!:

Take the event-chain of the "Ancient Boskara Military Base" for example - which exists for both, the Boskara and the Non-Boskara races:

The "Creation Event" would be here "<Name>Ancient Boskara Military Base (Boskara)", since it has the <PlacementActions> to create the needed base at the game-start (=<Type>BuildFacility -> <GeneratedItemName>Ancient Boskara Military Base + <PlacementAtGameStart>true).
But this event has NO <TriggerRaceId>-tag and also NO <NonTriggerRaceId>-tag - which simply means that neither the Boskara nor the other races are needed to trigger anything.
But, instead, the event has a "<PlacementRaceId>6"-tag, which means that the Boskara-race is needed in game to create the things in the placement-parts of the event - or, in other words that the player has to either chose to play the Boskara-race or (at least) to let them be played by the AI. Otherwise all the following Boskara- AND Non-Boskara-events of this event-chain wouldn't be possible/triggered in Game.

But the next event(s) in this chain "Investigate Ancient Boskara Military Base" has the same name for the Boskara- as also for the Non-Boskara-races - BUT they have very different trigger-parts with very different results, too (only 1 following result-event for the Non-Boskara-races, but 5 following result-events for the Boskara-race (with an important choice, etc.)). So here it would be where the two different event-chains begin respectively can only be triggered by EITHER the Boskara- OR the Non-Boskara-races (because of the <TriggerRaceId>-tags OR the <NonTriggerRaceId>-tags).

Therefore from this events forward there should be NO Non-Boskara-events in the Boskara-event-chain, and vice versa, because those events can only be triggered either/or by these races in game (and that's always the case - not only when the other race-events are disabled (this can only occur/be played out additionally)) :!:
(unlike e.g. the events "Acquire Slave World 1 (Non Boskara)", or "Encounter Guardians (Non-Boskara)" in the Boskara (!) event chains "Former Boskara Slave Worlds" or in "Secret Boskara Research Facility" in my screen from above !)

Eventure wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:34 am Therefore, the creation event must always come first. After that, the creation event splits into race and non-race.
Yes, that's right - but not the "creation event splits into race and non-race" (because its trigger-parts are either for 1 specific race with the given <TriggerRaceId>-tag, or its placement-parts are for all races, like in my example from above (although these two can also be in one and the same event), but the following events (!) split "into race and non-race", according to their <TriggerRaceId>-tags or their <NonTriggerRaceId>-tags !

Eventure wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:34 am Nevertheless, both belong to the creation event. Listing the non-racial events anywhere other than under the creation event would be very confusing. If you want to change or create the branch of non-race events and race events, you must constantly switch back and forth between the creation race and other races. That would be very impractical.
Ok, I can understand this - and I think that you are right that it would be less confusing when you show/list the above named creation event always in both chains - the race-specific and the non-race-specific.
But nevertheless you would have to distinguish between the placement-functions of those events and the trigger-functions, because if such an event has additionally a <TriggerRaceId>-tag and <TriggerActions> (which often is the case) those would ONLY belong to/be triggered by the race named in the <TriggerRaceId>-tag - and that is NOT one of the NON-races !
But if you list such events (undistinguished) in your tree at the top of the NON-race event-chains it would look like if the race named in the <TriggerRaceId>-tag would be needed to trigger the TriggerActions in the trigger-parts of the event to start the chain - and that's NOT the case !

Therefore I would suggest to indicate those events in the event-chains of the races that are NOT named in the <TriggerRaceId>-tag of the event as "only for placement" (since this would belong to all races) or the included <TriggerActions>-tags as "not for this race" (since they would only belong to the race of the <TriggerRaceId>-tag) - additionally to your color-code. ;)

But most importantly, you should NOT list any of the following events (in that event-chain) that belong to the race(s) that are not named in their <TriggerRaceId>-tags or that are named in their <NonTriggerRaceId>-tags :!:

Eventure wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 11:34 am I will introduce color code for Creation Event, TriggerAction and PlacementAction in the next version. So you can see immediately from which area the event is coming. Second, I will customize the icons to clearly identify the action type (e.g. TriggerEvent, DisableEvent, EnableEvent, NavCoords, etc.). So you don't have to constantly click through all actions to see where an event name is mentioned.
That sounds like some nice ideas, but please don't release another update before you've got the final correlations for the main- (and/or sub-) groups of the events. ;)
Post Reply

Return to “Design and Modding”