Modding

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UesugiKenshin
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Re: Modding

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viewtopic.php?f=109&t=7755
This is the link to the BotE for Android Balancer mod.

A LOT of created content became available today. It seems likely that sabotage and minor issues can be addressed before Christmas with a minor 1.0 version of the Balancer mod.

However, it may be possible to do a beta version of Balancer 2.0 by Christmas too! That would have lots of new research, ships, troops, buildings and with minor text changes using content created over the years. It probably only needs some minor adjustment.

Frankly it looks delicous and amazing. Players might have 6 new major aliens and many new minor aliens. In a later revision, even mediors (which are space faring minor races) who colonize and get into mischief as they compete with major aliens empires.

If you are interested in helping on a mod team, sign up for membership. Visit the Balancer Mod link. Maybe you have some gifts at translating German to English, writing documentation, helping new players install the mod, have your own ship or troop or building art, have ideas, or would be a beta tester.

I also need people who can make advanced save games too. You would play as beta testers to turn #400, with settings I need, on a giant map. Then upload the turn#400 save games with maps (the exported png files plus the sav files).

Then players over Christmas break would get a present and get to beta test as well.

But first, you need to sign up and quit lurking. This is your golden opportunity to be on a mod team.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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A long time ago, one of my jobs was in programming in an industrial environment doing automation which ran production lines and in doing processing of raw materials into products. I would get trouble calls and load new patches.

Sometimes I would be doing the work of electrical engineers and other times was a troubleshooter. The whole system was down and many workers were standing idle and first foremen, then managers, then the heads of departments, and engineers, and programmers would come down. And it was me fixing the work. No pressure...just thousands of dollars being lost ever few minutes under the baleful eyes and worried glances and nervous workers....waiting for me to produce a miracle.

No pressure...yeah right!

It wasn't me that caused the issue. I was the one who identified if it was a hardware or software issue. I would make suggestions on the software issue, and if hardware related, start disassembling and send a tech to get parts, and replace it....as fast as possible. Time is money.

So as a modder, when you make a change, you don't see that all the players have problems. "You measure twice and cut once" as a craftsman ie you don't just impulsively make program changes as they can halt the program from running.

You always have a back up "known working copy". Ideally you make a few changes. Test it thoroughly. Then make a few changes and test it thoroughly. Rinse repeating in a very methodical conservative way.

When you make many changes, and it doesn't work, you aren't sure what is the error causing a fault. In BotE a change causing an error may not be seen for hundreds of turn at the advanced level.

Actually what was worse was you run a program change and nothing seems amiss. See that never happens. Nobody is that lucky as it's easy to "fatfinger" a typo which causes an error in programming. Try as you might, it almost never works the first time during a beta test.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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Look through the new modding section that rainer built for us.
viewforum.php?f=108
I went through and populated the most useful information from the German wiki for modders. It's the everyday attributes and values. There is LOTS more, but that is vital but less common to access.

It took me months to scratch the surface, pulling together seperate information from all of these. I think this will benefit you so it's in a logical fashion and aimed at what modders most need.
Zuletzt geändert von UesugiKenshin am Donnerstag 24. September 2020, 16:14, insgesamt 1-mal geändert.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: Modding

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Later once it is more organized, then I will transpose the English translation, and put it all in the English wiki. It will be way better.

Then do BotE documentation by making a concise English manual.

I suggets you use that and add mod concepts from your own mods to it. That should accelerate your own documentation.

Then making mod FAQs should be short and sweet and have a wiki link to clarify further questions.

Later have a mod tutorial to say edit a building, add a building, edit a ship, add a ship,.edit a tech, add a tech, edit a troop, add a troop.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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blotunga hat geschrieben: Freitag 19. April 2019, 04:56 Neue Beta (mit Französischem usw.):
Android: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1bWFcL ... 21k-GVWilI
Windows: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VIivk ... 1-8IkfU70t
In a general commenting topic on BotE for Android, blotunga posted the beta multiplayer edition.

Now combing through hundreds of comments, it looks like the AI bombards, but not necessarily invades sectors.

I can't run this apk as I have an older Nook tablet, but you might be able to either sideload from a pc to your Android tablet, or you may be able to load "from unknown sources".

So here is something modders could do to help beta test this.

Play as all six empires and never attack, but build up a gigantic military force for each empire and on a medium level of difficulty or higher. Balance the economy and maximize resource building and research. Build up a robust treasury.

Now build up troops and transports and strong fleets. Load up transports with experienced troops. Save this about turn#650-700.

Save this as many major races.

Now if the beta multiplayer version can save as a single player, then save those and export them as a zipped up file of many such save games.

Then at some point, play and see if when the ai has troops and ones on transports, if they invade properly.

I bet they do once they have the right units and ships. It may be the AI thinks it can't properly invade, so doesn't try.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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If modding just for yourself, to tweek the system so BotE appeals to you more, then it doesn't matter if you have no plans to release it so it helps everyone.

But most then want others to enjoy the changes. So the issue in modding is a protocol so it's turnkey for people to run the mod. Honestly as this is open source, and if it's original content, then the easiest way is making changes and running the whole program as a new installation so it doesn't interfere with the users' original installation.

If your mod changes their working orginal installation, you will get lots of technical questions. I've been modding for 20 years. I've seen this over and over. Some people have 4 mods and the original install. Unless the program facilitates mod loading (which BotE does not), then seperate installation is standard.

As a modder, you want to answer mod content questions, not technical installation questions.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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viewtopic.php?f=107&t=7065&start=75
This kind of premature arms race by the absorbtion of minor alien race's fleets is why the ai self-sabotages their ecomomies. They have far too many ships than they could plausibly afford, and that high upkeep limits reinvestment back into the economy to produce a profit.

It's why a human being...a modder...builds every empire, and then has created a campaign in BotE for advanced turn numbers, so then when a strong economy exists, then the ai can take over and probably do fine attacking and defending. I don't think you want war before turn# 600 as honestly by conventional methodology, each empire would compromise their economic growth.

It takes full bodied powerful economies to have large military standing armies and fleets to wage war.Look at the Spanish empire during the Renaissance.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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https://www.fossmint.com/userland-run-l ... n-android/
https://github.com/CypherpunkArmory/UserLAnd
I haven't tried it yet, but UserLAnd is supposed to allow Android users to load Linux apps. If so, then you could load BotE for Android (Linux) and make your modifications and run BotE (Linux) mods.

It gives you more options. It would let you load FreeOrion and try similat ideas in BotE.
https://www.freeorion.org/index.php/Main_Page
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
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Re: Modding

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Modding happens as mod teams work furiously over a year, argue, and get a release...sometimes never finishing it but producing a beta. It's often good enough to play, with the biggest problem being no map exists but using a randomly generated one. The map and assignment of the various species is balanced and so that empire is stable and able to fend off attacks.

This is why somehow you have to beta test it and build some stable map, by playing cooperatively for many hundred turns, save it, turn the empires over to one single player and save it again. So someone could play, say as the Terrans, and it would be fun as the other five empires would be stable and strong enough to fight the human player and the AI.

Without a map, it will play randomly as the AI has to build up a treasury so it can afford to wage war. What a shame to never finish a mod...completely.

You would save 6 versions as advanced save games...and they would be scenarios...and they would be stable....and so it's not a beta but a tested campaign.

But then later, the mod is forgotten as newer machines come out, and so people play something different. Like GalCiv 2 players bought a better faster machine and GalCiv 3 came out, so no one plays the GalCiv 2 mod the mod team made.

Yet this changes. As Android users started using ExaGear, they realized they could run GalCiv 2.
"Hey, where is that great GalCiv 2 mod stored? I want to play it!" And then nobody has a copy and the place it was uploaded to has a broken link! Rats!

A huge amount of energy over a year was invested and nobody thought to archive it. ARGH! Don't let that happen to your projects. You need a stable site so that a decade later, someone can still down load it, because people remember back when that mod was available. That is nostalgia and it makes the players feel ten years younger.

I suggest you back up your mods here. There are several gaming links there. It would be a smart place to keep mods.
https://archive.org
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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Civfanatics used to have lots of great civ3 mods and campaigns. Some were historical recreations and some were total conversion mods. Sites can't keep total conversions mods as that causes copyright issues as people are indiscreet. And the file sizes are huge. So what ends up happening is the mod is stored off-site.

Every gaming fansite has forum leaders who make posts and links and they try to keep all that current, but it works based on volunteers. And people change jobs and move and get married amd then don't have the time..or just get bored doing it for free.

So links go bad as some infrequently used older file is not maintained, and there isn't anyone to check, and next thing you know there are dead links and the mod is lost. And all that work evaporates.

It hurts my stomach when content disappears. Some took remarkable work by amateur historians to create a balance between units. Some was mapping that took a LOT of time. Some was clever writing creating a story. Some was wonderful art recreating from canon over decades. And all of it is gone.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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A long time ago, a mod team created a GalCiv2 Star Trek vs Star Wars mod. And the file size was huge at one 1 gb and this was maybe in 2008? Anyway, they were smart as the easiest way to play it was by seeding a torrent from the modteam directly. Which worked...until no one was seeding it anymore.

Whole mods disappeared. Autumn Twilight was a mod that came about as zealous programmer sought to fix what wasn't broken in GalCiv 2, so in response, a mod community patch fixed it back and the Autumn Twilight mod made it even better. But is hard to find and download. You have to join nexus mod to even acquire it.

It's smarter not to do that, but put it up on some archive site so the mod is available. Why be exclusive?

Some Civ 3 mod team took a barebones Star Trek mod and made this superior mod, but only made a beta release. And this is back in 2010. But the links to download it are gone. Players still wax nostaligic about it, but how can you play it?

You have to have a hosting plan for your mod for the long term, not some site that goes belly up 2-3 years later.

That is a terrible loss as Civ3 has a superior campaign editor for 31 "nations" so you could make a huge galactic map and set relationships, all infrastructure, ownership of sectors, research, ships, units, everything. You could alter how each expands and how much money they have. And it's kaput now despite having quite a following.

The maximum Civ3 map is 106x66 so it would have been glorious to load it and create a galactic map with all new major and minor races. And there would have been empty space time as you can only have 512 of those as "cities" so those would have displayed genuine sectors with multiple planets. Not just a single star.

Civ 3 uses a designated grid for each city, thus a sector would look like this.

OOXXXOO
XXXXXXX
XXXCXXX
XXXXXXX
OOXXXOO
Where the Os are empty space time and the Xs would be the region under the control of the homesector indicated by the C. Thus it's an interesting system as it uses resources from these X and C regions over an area. A modder would create say 20 of these for all six empires and then there's a race for colonies...(6x20 declared so 120 at the start with a total max of 512). That causes WAR as the opponents can't colonize any more,so they come after yours.

[Yet BotE for Android can do 1450 sectors. If only it had a map and campaign editor.)
Zuletzt geändert von UesugiKenshin am Dienstag 29. September 2020, 23:17, insgesamt 4-mal geändert.
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Re: Modding

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https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4vSnBPLqgkg
Distant World Universe looks perfect for modding, and I'm surprised I've never heard of it as it originally was released in 2010 (maybe as alpha to gamers). It's terribly expensive versus what I'm prepared to spend on an Android tablet, and no one has reported being able to run it on a tablet under emulation...yet.

It does offer every feature a modder would generally want and includes a RTS element. That video link shows a Star Trek mod.

I wish I just had time to play a space 4x strategy game. The reason I used to mod was to improve an existing game that was almost what I wanted. Other than some outstanding R1TW and M2TWK and some Civ3 mods, most strategy games (other than BotE) just don't interest me.

I used to play the GalCiv2 Star trek mod every week but that was years ago.

BotE has a HUGE potential to be more than it currently is.

MMO's generally stink, not because they aren't good games but because playing them is like wanting a gambling addiction as it's pay to win.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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Unless it's possible or plausible for every major alien species to win, the mod is not balanced. Every alien species should be able to win, and if not then unconsciously there is bias against one Empire another. Every major alien species and frankly all minor alien species should have positives and negative aspects about their culture. I'm the last person to be politically correct. I don't believe all cultures are equal; that's just foolishness. But every people in history have displayed remarkable technology. Usually what happens is exploitation as result of War. It causes sabotage of their own nation and there is sabotage by the conquerors. The goal of the balancer mod it's partially to reflect this concept. I don't like the Heyoun, and so I will probably would not play them, so am I m of the opinion that means not enough positives were made to their culture to properly reflect a rationale for playing them.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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What is the scale of the conflict you are creating? Is it a war or is it a battle?

A battle takes place on a small map in which assembled military forces from multiple enemies have gathered and they're maneuvering to find a spot which is ideal upon which to wage war.

A war is a series of battles in which mistakes are made due to the rash decisions made in gambits where risk is rewarded with either terrible losses or remarkable victories.

So the first thig you have to do is figure out your map. How large is it? Who is fighting? How many opponents? Where are the stellar anomalies? Will you have to pass through neutral territory and will diplomatic relations be strained because they are involved because your troops are passing through their territory?

Wars are complex as they happen in stages as units are not ready to fight but must be planned for, infrastructure built, created, trained, and redeployed where they're needed.

The enemy or enemies are having the same issues. So it's a race to see who gets there first as whoever gets there first can dictate the terms of the battle. Unless you decide you don't want to fight there as it's not an opportune place for your units to fight.

"My papa didn't raise no fool. I sure as hell ain't fighting there! That is is suicidal and boneheaded. Let's manuever and delay and lead them on a merry chase toward out late friends who are several sectors away. Then ambush them!"

In modding is always about the map first; there's no getting around it as the map sets the tone of the entire mod.
Minor Race Database http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... r_(Minors)
Minor Race Ships http://birth-of-the-empires.de/wiki/ind ... nen_Völker
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Re: Modding

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In World War II, fantastic gambits were made in the early days, and so many unprepared startled Nations had no ability to fight back. In some cases, the Germans were completely prepared and were fighting against soldiers who are on bicycles. It was that much of a difference in unit strength.

So terrible mistakes are sometimes made because some nations think war cannot possibly happen, everything's fine. That kind of assumption gets soldiers killed. That kind of stupidity is unrecoverable.

Then some other nation has to come in and try to clean up the mess. And that is much different as the soldiers are ready who invaded and the ones coming in are going to be wiped out in the first and second wave as it's difficult even get your soldiers in place. It's carnage.

In the early days of World War II, the entire naval fleet was wiped out in the Pacific along with so many lost lives and airplanes. It was a devastating defeat but it galvanized the United States. It was tactically brilliant and strategically stupid. They woke a sleeping giant that was unprepared to be a world leader but forced the United States so they had to become a world leader.

And it wasn't unexpected as FDR had been waging a secret guerrilla war in Manchuria while simultaneously causing an embargo of natural resources. That is what caused the War to begin.

Terrible errors in the beginning sets the tone for the war. So many battles have to be fought to recover. It's bloody and brute force and dangerous and the attrition rate is very high. If you want to read some history read about the Coral Seas engagements that was some of the most difficult fighting ever. The stakes were incredibly High and fought on tiny little Islands. So who would have ever thought that's such minor territories would have any consequence in world history, but they do.

Assumptions are ruinous to your soldiers. The Japanese were so hardcore and so seemingly fearless and willing to throw themselves in giant waves to overwhelm Defenders, that this kind of commitment was unlike standard warfare. But then, they assumed they were superior soldiers when they were quite limited in terms of physical attributes. And the same thing happened to them in the Philippines against their guerrilla fighters. The Filipino guerilla fighter was the ultimate badass of World War II.

The Russians would do insane things to protect each other, like willingly walk through minefields so their buddies would not get harmed. You know, how many soldiers would do such a thing? When you have that level of commitment, and you have a high level of morale, and you have extraordinary military Commanders, even with terrible weaponry that's unsuitable for waging battles much less wars, your soldiers can still win.

You do not win Wars based on numbers. Only a civilian thinks that. You don't win Wars based on physical attributes either. You win Wars based on guts, backbone and total resolve. And those battle-hardened soldiers have to make up for terrible mistakes made in the early days of the war. And they pay with the loss of limbs, blindness, head injuries and brain damage, being burned, and dying in agony.
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