New Mod

posted on July 9th, 2010, 10:15 pm

Can anyone give me a basic overview of how it is done for fleet ops?

What tools are available?

What language are the changes in; provided mods are not simply changing a list of variables like an ini file?

Is there any access to the source code in this, or was it accomplished by totally by redirecting the existing engine?

Thank you in advance anyone, and don't feel bad if you don't answer because you are sick of these questions.

posted on July 10th, 2010, 5:28 am

coding is done via odf files which contain variables no specific language
meshes are in sod format
textures are in tga format

to do basic modding ou just need a text editor such as notepad or notepad++ and the files are found in the main data directory of ur FO install under odf/system

posted on July 10th, 2010, 5:06 pm

Well, FleetOps itself is actually a much bigger mod than most, it would fall under the category of complete conversion. It it true that FleetOps makes use of some extra programming to enhance the existing engine, but to create basic mod you don't need to see the source code for that.

All the basic moder needs access to are the odfs as Blade said. While they are in no specific language the original engine used C/C++ style comments. So anything which follows "//" is considered comments and ignored by the engine. The original Armada II also allowed for the use of "#include " statements as in C/C++. I don't know if the FO devs chose to continue supporting comments and #include statements and just don't use them or if they stopped supporting them; you would have to get their input. If you've modded for Armada II keep in mind that many of the variable names have been changed and some things have been re-purposed. Your best bet is to look at the FO odfs and imitate them.

The other file you might be concerned with as a moder is the "Dynamic_Localized_Strings.h". Be aware though that FO uses a bunch of special characters as place holders for ship data and we haven't quite figured out which ones they are or how to get them to show up properly. I think people have had some success using notepad++. What ever you do, make a backup copy, because if screw up when you edit this file, it can be very hard to fix.

Last notes. Check out the following two topics:
Moding Guidelines
FleetOps renamed stock commands/variables

posted on July 10th, 2010, 7:04 pm

yh the #include commands still work in fo

posted on July 11th, 2010, 6:00 am

Blade's modding wiki should help as well Star Trek Armada Modding Wiki

posted on July 14th, 2010, 2:46 am

Thank you all for your responses!

I think most basic modders wish to change things like ship stats and perhaps add a ship or two. I think the ships are beautiful and well balanced already, I am mainly interested in seeing if the economic/diplomatic side of this game can be spruced up. Which unfortunately is new logic.

If #include works I should be able to inject such logic where needed.

You mentioned making a backup copy, what do you think the best way to seperate the mod from FO would be? I mean one doesn't really want to destroy the original FO installation everytime one wants to play a mod.

posted on July 14th, 2010, 5:16 am

well, you could just make a copy of the entire thing, and call it your mod version, however, a verry neat solution would be to use this.

http://armada2.filefront.com/file/generic_mod_enabler;104619

It is a generic mod enabler which will allow you to p[lace all your edited files in a folder which will overwrite existing files without having to back them up.  What it will do, is when you run it in the main a2 directory, you will select the folder that contains the files you wish to overwrite(they will have to be in folders like in the game, i.e. an odf will havew to be in the modfolder/odf/system folder)  After that, it should run your game with the new files inplace instead of you having to add them in and change your FO install.

posted on July 14th, 2010, 5:33 am

i do have a 'plugin' for the generic mod enabler that deactivates all mods upon loading, runs a2 upon closing the mod enabler and then deactivates the mods again when a2/fo has been closed this helps you not to forget to disenable the mods before you start editing again which could cause ctd

[Sulu]

posted on July 25th, 2010, 4:29 pm

Last edited by Sulu on July 25th, 2010, 4:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Is there any reason the ODFs are all in one folder ?

Has anyone experimented with very large map sizes? (about 100,000)

Does anyone know how XP was added to FO?

posted on July 25th, 2010, 5:19 pm

Is there any reason the ODFs are all in one folder ?

It speeds up loading times as this is an old game, and because the devs use automated tools to generate new odfs there is no need to subdivide folders

Has anyone experimented with very large map sizes? (about 100,000)

In Fleet Ops map sizes are roughly limited to ~50K by 50K - anything larger will become unstable. Most usable (i.e. playable) maps are between 10 and occasionally 30K in size Anything larger tends to be a tech race and rather unplayable

Does anyone know how XP was added to FO?

Since the devs can write their own code ... well... using delphi as I recall

posted on July 25th, 2010, 9:37 pm

It speeds up loading times as this is an old game, and because the devs use automated tools to generate new odfs there is no need to subdivide folders

I see, I have figured out most of the naming conventions I think. I see ODFs aren't merely composed of objects in the game but any chunk of data used.

In Fleet Ops map sizes are roughly limited to ~50K by 50K - anything larger will become unstable. Most usable (i.e. playable) maps are between 10 and occasionally 30K in size Anything larger tends to be a tech race and rather unplayable

I suppose no one knows why this is?

In any case though I am not asking just so I can have a huge map, well actually I am :p

I bet someone has already tried this but I want to add the concept of systems. I know gravity wells and warp speed already existed in A2 so this shouldn't be too hard the only hold back is that the systems must be separated by at least 2-3 minutes of impulse travel to make the gameplay change significant and harmonious. Well actually I would probably need a dual layered mini-map

So the plan would be to have compartmentalized versions of what we now think of as normal sized maps and most fighting would go on in there well because warp speed is fast.

Since the devs can write their own code ... well... using delphi as I recall

So they recompiled the whole game? (I only say this because I can't find and C++ files in the data folder I may just be blind)

posted on July 25th, 2010, 10:07 pm

Well, since no one has access to the source code (and never will), the devs 'just' write what some of us used to call a "trigger engine" - basically inserting key bits of code at certain points to cause the old A2 engine to do what they want. And yup, it's coded - though since I'm no coder I've no idea where that is contained. Perhaps in the exe as the odfs simply are storage of the information I believe? The Data folder merely contains the 'outputs' of the program - the devs don't really even use the odfs much except for bug checking, as they are simply the output of the FO engine (and of course the A2 engine). Of course, they also rewrite other parts of the engine I presume, such as the graphics engine (hence why newer ships have a metallic finish in recent patches), integration of the sound engine, etc

The 50k by 50k limitation I believe is due to no reason other than that Doca hasn't tried to make it support larger ones. In a future patch this may change due to maps becoming re-done in some respects - but I'll leave that discussion where it belongs: for a future news post .

In A2 I believe the limitation is 100k by 100k, but I think that's because of the simpler map objects and map editor. Don't quote me on that though  . In either case, 50k by 50k should prove large enough for you to make 'intersystem' maps in some regard, though I think the best way to go about creating linked but separate systems would be through the MMM feature created by Megadroid. I think that you should be able to recreate the style pioneered in that one A2 campaign where you switched maps half way through the mission (I think it was the one where you went into fluidic space with a Borg / Federation alliance).

posted on July 25th, 2010, 10:37 pm

Personally, I've always wanted to make large multiplayer games where players could join and drop out at their leisure.  Games big enough where a single map could be 50 x 50, but you could warp onto other sectors, and use wormholes to travel even greater distances.  You could have multiple maps running in the same game.  You could select, upon starting the game, the maps which would be included, and then the game could randomly generate npc's and the order at which the selected maps were set up.  You could have many different players, some could be AI controlled.  You could get ship bonuses for controlling a whole sector, the amount of possibility could be endless.  It would be soo cool   And it would allow warp to be used, but only for travel to other systems.

But that all seems a little beyond a2 to me.

posted on July 25th, 2010, 11:32 pm

Personally, I've always wanted to make large multiplayer games where players could join and drop out at their leisure.  Games big enough where a single map could be 50 x 50, but you could warp onto other sectors, and use wormholes to travel even greater distances.  You could have multiple maps running in the same game.  You could select, upon starting the game, the maps which would be included, and then the game could randomly generate npc's and the order at which the selected maps were set up.  You could have many different players, some could be AI controlled.  You could get ship bonuses for controlling a whole sector, the amount of possibility could be endless.  It would be soo cool   And it would allow warp to be used, but only for travel to other systems.

It's called STO.  Isn't it great??!!

Not exactly useful for an RTS, though.

posted on July 26th, 2010, 1:13 am

Maybe, I wouldn't know, cus I don't play STO, however I still think it would be cool for a2, and it would be free