why so few mods?

[MarkG]

ignorant question: we barely have seen alterations in the rules of smac? why?

[AlexanderIII]

That is the very reason I've tried so hard to research the .pcx and .mpg issues. In my humble opinion, the reason we hav not seen too many mods, not nearly as much as expected given the modular nature of the game, could be that,
a) modifying stats and nothing else becomes a bit boring after a very short period of time (e.g.new factions using old graphics);

b) It requires a LOT of work creating an all-encompasing modpack that completely remaps the tech tree, has updated help files, new factions, new graphics and sounds. There are just so many files, text and graphics to coordinate, that, from experience I can tell you that for me what started out as a way of improving on the game as I saw it became a major project (good thing I'm stubborn!);

c) .pcx and .mpg files are soooo difficult to create due to proprietary formats. I don't know if I agree with this or not. For one it protects (somewhat) intellectual property, and making it difficult to change graphics and sounds does in a way ensure a certain imposed standard of quality alterable only by those truly dedicated souls who want to make the effort. On the other hand I believe that this is the single greatest factor undermining the success of this game. I would not be surprised if Firaxis sales of SMAC-X are way below projected expectations for the christmas season for this reason.

THE SOLUTION: Read my threads, and others' on the topic, about .pcx creation and .mpg creation in this forum, bridging the difficulty gap inherent in modifying the game. It is my hope that with this knowledge out there, that the SMAC community will eventually begin surpassing even Firaxis' modules, and that there will be more modpacks out there instead of merely new maps, factions and scenarios, not to take anything away from the wonderful work that has already been created.

Maybe some really dedicated gamer(s) with good programming skills and a lot of time on their hands will eventually come out with an editor to automate, or pull together all the elements of creating a complete modpack, such as a gui-based tech tree editor, complete with all the weapons, units, facilities, everything, and a gui-based alpha.txt editor that when you make a change it searches all the other files the editor querries you to alter another related file (e.g.help file) or makes an automatic update. That is my hope, anyway.

[mikejohnson1]

Well, I sure do wish that there were more mods online (espescially factions with new base icons.) But on the bright side my own mod pack is finished. The SMAC2 modpack!!!
There is almost certainly some bugs in it but I will get those fixed later on when I find them. The mod includes 10 new factions (some more innovative than others) The faction leaders are all based on my high school friends. Some of the factions I created unique ideologies a few others are less unique and are similar to the usual SMAC factions. But all are different from the originals in some way. The mod also replaces Eudaimonia and Fundamentalism with two new social choices, Cultism and Utopian. Other social choices were tweaked as well. All of the new factions are balanced with each other, but may not be so with the original factions. Plus since Fudamentalism is removed the Believers wont function right. This mod also includes a scenario, the Armageddon scenario. It's a big scenario similar to the big Civ2 scenarios like WWII. This mod was made for the original SMAC. So anyonw with patch4 can play it. It is also playable with SMACX classic version. I'm working on a SMACx version of the mod, with even more new factions and features.

The url of my site is

http://www.geocities.com/mikejohnson...ire/Alpha.html

from there you can download the mod.

post your feedback on my discussion forum.

Enjoy!!!
[This message has been edited by mikejohnson1 (edited November 18, 1999).]
[This message has been edited by mikejohnson1 (edited November 30, 1999).]

[MarkG]

Alexander, true it can take a LOT of work to make a very good mod. but you can also make small and some times usefull mods. example? the color.txt mods in ctp. these are just mods which change the colors of the map "thumbnail". we dont see such "small" mods|(example chaging only some of the rules) for smac....

Mike, checking out your mod....

[heardie]

Mike, sounds sweet but the address doesn't work!
Help me

[SEE]

Originally posted by heardie on 11-19-1999 01:07 AM
Mike, sounds sweet but the address doesn't work!
Help me

The address in his anchor tags is missing the first "i" in geocities. Type in the address instead of clicking on the link and it'll work.

[mikejohnson1]

Sorry it took so long to respond,


I fixed the link so it should work now. SEE thanks for telling me what the problem was.

[heardie]

Alright I will work on a small mod, which will eventuall go into Unity 2]
Instead of in the Help when you click on a weapon and it sayas' A wapons strenght, blah, blah," I will change this to more relevant things

[WesW]

I just dropped over to see how the other half lives, so to speak.

I am surprised that there would be a dearth of mods for SMAC. The way everyone raves about it, I figured this forum would be the busiest game section at Apolyton.

Is this because people think the game is so good, it doesn't need much tinkering with, or because, as A3 said, it is too complicated to fool with? I know CTP is a *****-and-a-half to alter compared to civ 2.

I also wish that game companies would put their graphics in standard formats, so casual designers could alter them. I know this has hurt the development of CTP mods. It's really odd, since so much internet success involves giving stuff away so that as many people as possible become accustomed to using a product.

Markos, maybe you could write to some of the people you know, and get their answers to this question.

[Jasonian]

I made a whole Star Wars mod... if had seven factions (Empire-Believers, Trade Federation-Hive, Naboo-Gaians, Republic-Peacekeepers, Jedi Council-University & Freelance-Morgan, all with new abilites of course), plus a whole slew of interesting pictures, but most of it got erased when I installed patch 4... all I have left are the factions. Ah well.

[AlexanderIII]

Backup, backup, backup!! Now let that be a lesson to you.

[AlexanderIII]

I've been thinking about small mods recently, and so I've just come up with one. Basically it is an alternate texture.pcx file (which has the terrain pics), and modifies the red fungus to look bluish-white. This is great for anyone wanting to make an ice/snow planet/scenario, as it looks quite convincing in-game. Also for scenario designers, polar ice caps are now possible.

I'm not posting this anywhere as of yet because in the new year I'll be comming out with a medium size mod called "Alpha Centauri: Ice Age".

So for any wanting the .pcx file described, just e-mail me by clicking on the e-mail button, or request to: , and I'll send you a copy.

[AlexanderIII]

Originally posted by Jasonian on 12-07-1999 08:55 PM
I made a whole Star Wars mod... if had seven factions (Empire-Believers, Trade Federation-Hive, Naboo-Gaians, Republic-Peacekeepers, Jedi Council-University & Freelance-Morgan, all with new abilites of course), plus a whole slew of interesting pictures, but most of it got erased when I installed patch 4... all I have left are the factions. Ah well.

You forgot the Spartans as the Bad Guys (whatever they're called -- the sith or something).

I've seen a Star Trek conversion mod, which was fairly uniteresting after a few plays, but I would really pay to see a complete Star Wars conversion mod. Here's some suggestions of what it might include:

1) factions modified (as specified above) as per Star Wars factions. I like your above ideas is this area! Use the SMAC-X new faction features too.

2) ter1.pcx file modified to make terraforming features more distinctively star-wars-ish (use of photoshop or other quality image-renderer, and a bit of artistic tallent required)

3) modification in #UNITS section of alpha.txt and new unit graphics in units.pcx: generate unique star-wars looking units like that suggested in the "New Units..." thread.

4) update help.txt and concepts.txt files to inform on Star Wars specific features

5) modify weapons, armor and chassis names in alpha.txt to reflect Star Wars-type unit design

6) create scenarios which may specifically reflect a certain movie planet in the trillogy (that swamp planet with Yoda in Empire Strikes Back, that Jungle planet with the Ewoks in Return of The Jedi, the icy barren planet the rebels had their base in ESB, etc.)

7) good sources of info for weapons names, bases, planets, etc: various fan books and the Star Wars RPG game are great places to fill in the cracks of your knowledge.

Hope that inspires you to take on this project! It's one I'd really like to sea out there, but i don't know enough about SW to do something like that. And if you don't think you can take it all on, collaborate with a few people!

[ProvostB]

markg, to put it in only 3 words:

we're too lazy.

[Jasonian]

Maybe YOU'RE too lazy Provost! But this whole mod thing is a lot of fun.

With that said, I announce the beginning of my "Star Wars" mod.

The 7 factions will be the 6 above, plus the Rebels as the Spartans. I'll make it in SMACX, so I can take advantage of the new faction features.

I'm also experimenting with a new starting tech idea. Each faction will start with an "ethics" tech that lets them build their specific special units. For example, the Empire starts with "Empire Ethics", which lets them build AT-AT Walkers (4-4-1, Deep Radar, Non-Lethal Methods, SAM, graphics of an AT-AT of course) All sevel "ethics" techs will have the same prerequisite tech, so getting that tech lets you reaserach the other "ethics" techs. Also, you can trade for "ethics" techs to and from other factions like normal.

I'll reserach some Star Wars weapons and shielding etc and see what I can come up with for that.

Base graphics will be tough, since there aren't very many of them out there. If anyone knows where I could get some, that would be very useful. Otherwise, they stay normal until I attempt to draw them.

Of course, scenarios will be fun! The best idea will be Rebels vs Imperials on Hoth. Basic idea: Rebels have three bases: "Echo Base", "Escape Spot" and "Power Generator". "Power Generator" and "Escape Spot" can't do anything except stockpile energy. "Echo Base" can't build new colony pods, but can do anything else. The Imperials have one base "Landing Site" and can't build any new units, but start with a large army. The rebel objective: Move everyone from "Echo Base" to "Escape Spot" using Unity Foils. (Medium Transports) The Imperial objective: occupy "Power Generator" and "Echo Base"

Any other scenario ideas are welcome!