Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Discuss and distribute tools and methods for modding. Moderator - Grognak
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mr_easy_money
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby mr_easy_money » Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:12 pm

Gidoza wrote:As for the Oxygen and Evade - ... (Is there a mod somewhere yet that returns the view of everything to the old form?) - if you know where that might be located, that would help aplenty!

yes like I said, there is a very close match in sMPK. it is not exactly the same because now in FTL 1.6 that part is slightly longer and slightly narrower, but imo it looks pretty good. you can find sMPK here: viewtopic.php?t=17187

the download link is an entire rar file, but once you've extracted it, extract "Alpha - The sM Graphics Pack for 1.6.ftl" and look inside the img folder then the statusUI folder.

I took a quick screenshot of what it looks like :mrgreen:

Image
freelance chicken
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby freelance chicken » Mon Apr 23, 2018 1:37 pm

Hi, I'm attempting to mod FTL for the first time, and I'm getting an error in Slipstream that I can't seem to find a solution for on the forums anywhere (six posts with mentions, no solution stated that matches that I could find). It's an Unexpected innerPath error. I've checked and quadruple checked all of my file names, and they seem to be correct, so I don't understand why this error is cropping up. It doesn't occur with any mods I did not create, and it states every file in every folder as having the error. Here is the folder, in case that is useful https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w2sx26f8gl6f ... 6cGTa?dl=0. I really appreciate any help that y'all can give.
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mr_easy_money
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby mr_easy_money » Mon Apr 23, 2018 8:54 pm

freelance chicken wrote:I'm getting an error in Slipstream ... It's an Unexpected innerPath error.
(error log for reference)
Image

This error is not a game-breaking error, actually just a warning. It indicates that there is an unreachable path to a file in the .ftl file's archive, since at the top level, it only knows about the 5 main folder types (audio, data, fonts, img and mod-appendix) and not that extra "Weapons by Chicken" folder, which can be seen just by clicking that link you've given:

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:!:
However, it seems you have bigger problems. You'll see that above error log once you fix some errors elsewhere. Otherwise, you'll see something like this in the error log... an unexpected characters error:

Image

The problem lies within the "blueprints.xml.append" file in the 'data' folder. Here are the errors causing the issue (improper closing tags leads to improper XML, which confuses Slipstream's XML parser and therefore will cause problems with FTL's XML parser):
  • The <projectiles> tag of the "Ion_Flak" weaponBlueprint is missing its closing tag (</projectiles>)
  • The <projectiles> tag of the "Neutrino_Flak" weaponBlueprint is missing its closing tag (</projectiles>)
  • The <short> tag of the "BEAM_RAD" weaponBlueprint has an incorrect closing tag, should be </short> NOT <short/>
Also, the first line of the file has its encoding as "utf=8" -- should be "utf-8". I don't think this one really matters as it is not causing the error, and Slipstream probably infers that it is utf-8 encoding anyways.

I did notice some other likely problems. The Ion Flak weapon you've created seems like it's supposed to fire one burst of 10 ion projectiles, however, with the value of the <shots> as 10 along with the <projectile> tag's "count" as 10, that means the weapon will fire a burst of 10 projectiles, 10 times. In other words, the projectile will fire a burst of 10 projectiles multiple times instead of just once like vanilla Flak weapons. The same goes for the Neutrino Flak.

Also, the Neutrino Flak has a <sys> tag probably for system damage, but the correct name for the tag is <sysDamage>, not <sys>. Some of your weapons also have a <tip> tag with a value of tip_lasers, but that tip doesn't exist -- it should be tip_laser, otherwise when looking at the tip box it will say "Could not find: tip_lasers". You may also want to change the <tip> tag of the BEAM_RAD weapon, as tip_crew_beam talks about the Anti-Bio Beam and how it doesn't deal any hull damage.

So that's a lot of info to throw at you but I believe I've been rather thorough. There may be other errors but at least now you should be able to see the mod's effects in-game. :)

If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to ask them. :mrgreen:
freelance chicken
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby freelance chicken » Mon Apr 23, 2018 9:42 pm

Thank you so much for your help. Those errors would have killed me later on :lol: I'm actually still running into a problem however. I'll post a screenshot here, but basically it's treating my data file as if it wasn't named properly.
Image
edit:I don't know why the image isn't working (probably just me getting used to the forum), but this link should work https://www.dropbox.com/s/1dpe9kd9gw8yp ... 0.png?dl=0
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mr_easy_money
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby mr_easy_money » Tue Apr 24, 2018 3:07 am

freelance chicken wrote:I'm actually still running into a problem however. I'll post a screenshot here, but basically it's treating my data file as if it wasn't named properly. ... I don't know why the image isn't working
It looks like you have to drag the image into a new tab and get that address instead of the dropbox preview? I can't say why though :roll:

Image

A wordy explanation
anyways, following what I said about Slipstream only liking the "5 main types of folders", it looks like you're zipping the archive (sending stuff to a compressed zipped folder) incorrectly. you have to send the main folder's contents -- the 'data', 'audio', 'img', and 'mod-appendix' folders (not the 'Weapons by Chicken' folder next to data... get rid of that) -- to a zip archive, not the main folder itself.

It looks like your folder hierarchy is like this ("code" otherwise whitespace is trimmed):

Code: Select all

"Weapons by Chicken" -> "audio"
                     -> "data" -> autoBlueprints.xml.append and blueprints.xml.append
                     -> "img"
                     -> "mod-appendix" -> metadata.xml
                     -> "Weapons by Chicken" !!! DELETE THIS FOLDER !!!

A better wordy explanation..
That unexpected path thing is going on because you've selected the root "Weapons by Chicken" folder and sent it to a zip archive, making the zip archive look like "Weapons by Chicken/Weapons by Chicken/data". Instead, you have to select all 4 folders (audio, data, img, mod-appendix) and send them to a zip archive, which will make the zip archive look like "Weapons by Chicken/data".

An image explanation (showcasing my beautiful drawing skills)

Image
freelance chicken
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby freelance chicken » Tue Apr 24, 2018 4:29 am

Ah, thank you so much! I edited out that extra file and zipped up the files as you said, and that did the trick perfectly. I can now open the mod and have its contents applied to the game. Off to modding adventures!
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Kacpo
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby Kacpo » Wed May 30, 2018 10:07 am

Hey. I don't know if this was asked before (and 124 pages is quite a lot to check.) but:

Can you create new crew Races, or modify the currently existing ones?

If so, how would that be possible?

I know that some mods did it with AI or Ghost crew, but these are already in gmae files, they are just not used.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to modify the attributes of existing races I:E 150HP Engi or a Human with 2x repair speed.
Change the name of races? Their images and animations (not talking about portraits, there are already mods for that I see.)
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Jumbocarrot0
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby Jumbocarrot0 » Wed May 30, 2018 10:18 am

Kacpo wrote:Can you create new crew Races, or modify the currently existing ones?
If so, how would that be possible?[/i]


Unless you fancy diving into the actual game executable and not the .xml files, no.
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Kacpo
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby Kacpo » Wed May 30, 2018 10:43 am

I see. So it's buried deeper than other files. Right.
Thanks for clearing that up.
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mr_easy_money
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Re: Questions here: an inquiry thread! [Updated Sep 15th, 2014]

Postby mr_easy_money » Wed May 30, 2018 10:07 pm

Kacpo wrote:Change the name of races? Their images and animations

Yes this is possible. Here is a great example, Gencool's Faster Than Christmas!
Kacpo wrote:(not talking about portraits, there are already mods for that I see.)

Do note though that some of these portrait mods do indeed change the "images and their animations", as in the accessorized version of Jumbocarrot0's Tweevle's Restored Crew Portraits, where the accessories are seen in more than just the portrait:

Image

It's currently impossible to change race attributes though, as is the creation of new races. That stuff wasn't "coded" in xml. :|