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Join Date 04/2008
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New to Sins, but not to modding

May 1, 2008 12:19:45 AM from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Hello All

I'm new to Sins, I was pointed towards Sins after working on a few games like Homeworld, Homeworld 2 and Total Annihilation.
HW and HW2 I mainly modelled for, but TA I did a lot of work scripting, creating units, maps and also made a full total conversion.
My forum can be found here http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=103 and the website here http://taiw.tauniverse.com/
Recently I suffered a hardware failure and lost my latest file version. Should of back up my work, but what do I say live and learn!

I now have a brand new PC, Q6600, 2GB, 8800GT, 3x 250GB so I'm more than capable of running Sins. Also I have access to 3D programs - Rhino 3D http://www.rhino3d.com/ theres a evaluation version available on the site. I have the full version 3 and also I own 3D Studio.
I have downloaded the Galaxy Forge and Forge Tools SDK kits and will also be getting myself the DEMO to play and learn Sins first before going the full hog and buying it.
I've read a few reviews, latest was in Atomic magazine http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/index.asp which gave Sins 9/10 which aint bad. And I'm looking for a new 4x game.

What other tools do I need before jumping into this game and modding, I current have:

Sins Demo
Galaxy Forge - (appreciate these are beta)
Forge Tools - (appreciate these are beta)
Scripting knowlege, texturing, uv mapping and meshing (whats the 3D mesh types)
Rhino 3D v3.0
3D Studio
Adobe CS3
A powerful PC
time spare on weekends and some evenings...lol

And how is my work compiled and put into the game, I understand the MODs part in Sins in-game browsing the folders.

Thanks
modding
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Kodiak888
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #1 May 1, 2008 1:03:06 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
you need interest in babylon 5 and helping that mod come out, but perhaps I'm a bit biased...
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raxiv
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #2 May 1, 2008 6:53:16 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Or perhaps You would like to hook up with the Wing Commander ModTeam? We always could use another proved coder!
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Jeebus89
Join Date 02/2008
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Reply #3 May 1, 2008 6:55:17 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Does Star Trek tickle your fancy, perhaps you could help Major Stress and his team
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CanadaMan777
Join Date 03/2008
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Reply #4 May 1, 2008 9:50:44 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Halo mod, most definately
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hydrocarbn
Join Date 09/2007
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Reply #5 May 1, 2008 11:48:11 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
He didn't ask what teams he could join. He asked what tools he would need. Thanks for reading the OP.

You have pretty much all you need. A text editor, Forge, 3DS, Photoshop, and some experience. You can convert 3DS models to the game's model format, .mesh, with the converter in the mod tools pack. PM me or make a thread if you can't find something - everything's pretty easy to figure out but there's some weird stuff like entitytypes linked to shipyards that aren't the norm in RTS games.
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raxiv
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #6 May 2, 2008 5:20:13 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
He didn't ask what teams he could join. He asked what tools he would need. Thanks for reading the OP. You have pretty much all you need. A text editor, Forge, 3DS, Photoshop, and some experience. You can convert 3DS models to the game's model format, .mesh, with the converter in the mod tools pack. PM me or make a thread if you can't find something - everything's pretty easy to figure out but there's some weird stuff like entitytypes linked to shipyards that aren't the norm in RTS games.


Yes, indeed
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CanadaMan777
Join Date 03/2008
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Reply #7 May 2, 2008 12:22:59 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Carbon016 it was a running gag, chillax.
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hydrocarbn
Join Date 09/2007
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Reply #8 May 2, 2008 9:06:28 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Carbon016 it was a running gag, chillax.


It doesn't help this community to act like a bunch of bums desperate for someone with modding talent.
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Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #9 May 3, 2008 8:35:08 PM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Carbon016 it was a running gag, chillax.It doesn't help this community to act like a bunch of bums desperate for someone with modding talent.


When a modder comes along (not saying I have talent) with some talent, this is the usual response. HELP with my mod! lol.

I will gladly help with mods after I've picked up some gaming experience with sins and made make a few ships to add into the game. What I currently feeling is:

Trader Emergency Coalition - Sounds and reads like a high industrial style of space ships with big blasting weapons and slow chugging engines, might is right with big spaces with heavy weapons and armor.

The Vasari - Sounds and reads like a skirmish fleet, moves very quickly, strikes hard and then moves one. From the pictures there ships look almost organic with rounder hulls then the TEC and probably general faster with advanced weapons.

The Advent - These guys and girls read and sound like the homeworld Kushan displaced from their homeworld but also religious like the Kadesh. From the pictures there ships look almost organic with rounder hulls then the TEC and probably general faster with advanced weapons, almost in line with the Vasari but possibly weaker slightly?
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Halofreakk
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #10 May 4, 2008 3:55:14 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
lol carbon is right u all need to read the first post. i think 3ds max is the best modeling tool, because rhino uses curves to model i think?
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Kodiak888
Join Date 10/2006
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Reply #11 May 6, 2008 1:04:43 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
It was a light hearted joke, not meant to be taken seriously at all, which I believe was carried on by the next few posters. But jokes and sarcasm are hard to convey over this series of tubes. (<--also a joke for the hard headed, comically undeveloped, or very literal among us.)


To OP, are you looking to add new ship types to the game? There are some limitations to that as of right now. There are also some other unfortunate limitations to what mods can accomplish.

Play the game, fix the things that annoy you, and add the things you want to see. We'll be here with whispers and suggestions if you can't think of things. The question (for B5 nerds), is What do you want?
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FourAcesII
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #12 May 16, 2008 11:25:02 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
I realize that by now you have probably figured this all out, but someone else may find this useful.

Depending on what you want to mod exactly in the game determines your tools.
For basic tweaking you need to get the 1.04 reference data so that you will have text versions of the game's binary encoded files. With those in hand, find the "modifiers, buffs, abilities" post that is stickied at the top of the first page. It will help with the internal structure of various files. Then you can just start moving values to suit your experimental tastes.

From there use google to search (the forum's engine is bad) for tutorials, guides, and other posts dealing with specific issues, like getting a textured mesh to work in-game properly (if you are having problems).

Cheers All!

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FourAcesII
Join Date 04/2008
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Reply #13 May 16, 2008 11:31:41 AM
from Sins of a Solar Empire ForumsSins of a Solar Empire Forums
Sorry for the Dbl Post.

I cannot bend the site with my mind, clearly that's impossible. I simply must realize that there is no edit.

I was intending to replace the above "modifiers, buffs, abilities" with the real title of the post which is "Modifier List - Add constraint, AI define,Triger Type". I was also going to add that the Particle Editor GUI is soon to be released, so keep your eyes open for it too.


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