[TUTORIAL] How to create Mods

[daud.fr]

Hey guys,

First of all let me thank you all, who participated in the creation of the tool...it's just awesome!
I have been following the other tutorial, about adding custom units.
Decided to finish things up by using this tool to create my own mod.
But got a problem...
Once i add the files in,
i get the nice structure too:
Mymod...
...[+]db
.......etc.
However when i try to open the files using the manager, say for editing or whatever,
an error comes up,
for exmaple:
1.Object reference not set to an instance of an object
another one:
2.Unable to read beyond the stream

Same errors come up, when i try to use even the original files...
Am i doing smth wrong?
Any help would be most appreciated!

Just some info:
All the files i did in notepad, unicode, billion times checked, used excel too, everything seems fine.
Followed the tutorials to the letter.
System is Vista..

[daud.fr]

P.S. I can still make the pack file, but it causes ctdss...
Just in case, i've attached it to the post

[MrThib]

There're two possibilities:
-Make sure you've unchecked "use online definition" in the options of the editor (sometime that's the cause).
-When exporting to exel, you cannot delete rows under exel or that will corrupt the file (you can add some through). So the best way is to delete them in the editor.

[joedreck]

For all with CTD's. My tipp.

I make the most errors here:

For example: the name is standard_hussar

standard_hussars
standart_hussars
standard_husars

Sometime I read again and again between the many letters and can't see whats wrong for a while, so look concentrated or copy and past only from one file.

[tarloch]

why dont u post a picture of the original file structure so people can see how u changed it , then there will be no more confusion on the different names

also i have edited some sound files am i correct in guessing you cannot rename those? current structure is:

z_my_mod_pack/sfx/hud/campaign...then files
emp_lib_button_endofturn_01_v1.00_gme.wav
etc

if i change that name how will game know wot to play for event?
forgot to mention that for the sounds to change i have to save file as a patch file, saving as type "mod" doesnt have any effect

[daud.fr]

There're two possibilities:
-Make sure you've unchecked "use online definition" in the options of the editor (sometime that's the cause).
-When exporting to exel, you cannot delete rows under exel or that will corrupt the file (you can add some through). So the best way is to delete them in the editor.

For all with CTD's. My tipp.

I make the most errors here:

For example: the name is standard_hussar

standard_hussars
standart_hussars
standard_husars

Sometime I read again and again between the many letters and can't see whats wrong for a while, so look concentrated or copy and past only from one file.

thanks for the replies, it seems that everything i did was just fine, perhaps a crazy glitch withing my versions, which prevent me from doing it right...
So, i just took the patch pak, and deleted, all the unwanted files except for those i am gonna edit...That seems to work fine...Strange...
Will try it in a bit, will post back with the results.

[Reiver]

So I created a mod which edited the building_effects_junction and made all building s give double the amount of region wealth. It worked but in in tidying up and deleting all the unnecsessary entries it seems i removed their effects. So, for example, the winery doesn't give any effects other than increasing region wealth.
So what's left in the mod pack is just the GDP alterations but, rather than the mod just override those, it overrides the whole file. Any ideas where i went wrong or is there more info I can provide?

[MrThib]

Are you sure you've changed the name of the db?
Else your file overwrite the whole default db not just the modded entries.
That's expained in the tutorial with quotes from CA

[tarloch]

also i have edited some sound files am i correct in guessing you cannot rename those? current structure is:

z_my_mod_pack/sfx/hud/campaign...then files
emp_lib_button_endofturn_01_v1.00_gme.wav
etc

if i change that name how will game know wot to play for event?

ok i missed the unicode part so got mod working as "mod" type. any answer on the name change question please?

[Bladerunner]

there are many questions about how to add units and permissions and this might really go with the idea of having new and renamed file that are added to the database, but how do i i.e. remove a grouping permission? i can't see this working with the idea of adding lines by introducing a new file. I also had some trouble while try to change from replacing faction table to just have a table with the altered informations.

[Ragnorr]

Sorry in advance for asking a question that has probably been answered in a different thread (but one that I cannot find in my searches).


But.. is there any way to extract a single row instead of the whole table e.i. so I don't have to delete all the extra unchanged rows when I import it to a new pack?
(can't get copy+paste to work when opening a new pack..and cannot make new tables so guess that wouldn't help anyway)

[erasmus777]

Sorry in advance for asking a question that has probably been answered in a different thread (but one that I cannot find in my searches).


But.. is there any way to extract a single row instead of the whole table e.i. so I don't have to delete all the extra unchanged rows when I import it to a new pack?
(can't get copy+paste to work when opening a new pack..and cannot make new tables so guess that wouldn't help anyway)

Export to .tsv. Make your changes, delete the rest. Then import to the new table.

[Ragnorr]

Ah of course. Well still have to delete manually but does take a lot less time thank you.


Edit: Been fiddling with grouping permissions as well and haven't found any solution other than including the whole table and altering it (e.i. no table name change).

[erasmus777]

Ah of course. Well still have to delete manually but does take a lot less time thank you.


Edit: Been fiddling with grouping permissions as well and haven't found any solution other than including the whole table and altering it (e.i. no table name change).

You might be able to delete most of the file by including the complete list for the faction you're editing (even if changing only one cell). I had that happen with another table.