[Modding Question] sector_data.xml.

[All4n]

I would just append it like this:

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<sectorDescription name="NEBULA_SECTOR" minSector="0" unique="false">
   <nameList>
      <name>Uncharted Nebula</name>
   </nameList>
   <trackList>
      <track>deepspace</track>
      <track>void</track>
   </trackList>
   <rarityList>
      <blueprint name="engi" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="mantis" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="energy" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="slug" rarity="3"/>
      <blueprint name="rock" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="human" rarity="1"/>
   </rarityList>
   <startEvent>START_BEACON_NEBULA</startEvent>
   <event name="STORE" min="0" max="1"/>
   <event name="ITEMS" min="1" max="3"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_STORE" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_EMPTY" min="4" max="4"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_HOSTILE" min="5" max="6"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_NEUTRAL" min="7" max="8"/>
   <event name="DISTRESS_BEACON" min="1" max="3"/>

<event name="YOUR_EVENT" min="1" max="1"/>
</sectorDescrption>

[Hax]

Alright so for my event mod I am currently in the works of. I would like to know how I WOULD append it, without making a new sector entirely just for my events. Like adding them to certain sectors.

@PvtVain - if you havent read this thread and the document it links to already then I heartily recommend it. It covers exactly what you're asking about:
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=2533


Also, unless your events are reliant on something within the Nebula, you might well be able to simply add the event to the STANDARD_SPACE sector to test it in the first sector quickly.

-Hax

[All4n]

That said it would be better if you added it to one of the following event lists I think:

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   <event name="NEBULA_STORE" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_EMPTY" min="4" max="4"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_HOSTILE" min="5" max="6"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_NEUTRAL" min="7" max="8"/>

[Alblaka]

I would just append this:

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<sectorDescription name="NEBULA_SECTOR" minSector="0" unique="false">
   <event name="YOUR_EVENT" min="1" max="1"/>
</sectorDescrption>


This should work as it is added to this:

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<sectorDescription name="NEBULA_SECTOR" minSector="0" unique="false">
   <nameList>
      <name>Uncharted Nebula</name>
   </nameList>
   <trackList>
      <track>deepspace</track>
      <track>void</track>
   </trackList>
   <rarityList>
      <blueprint name="engi" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="mantis" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="energy" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="slug" rarity="3"/>
      <blueprint name="rock" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="human" rarity="1"/>
   </rarityList>
   <startEvent>START_BEACON_NEBULA</startEvent>
   <event name="STORE" min="0" max="1"/>
   <event name="ITEMS" min="1" max="3"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_STORE" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_EMPTY" min="4" max="4"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_HOSTILE" min="5" max="6"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_NEUTRAL" min="7" max="8"/>
   <event name="DISTRESS_BEACON" min="1" max="3"/>
</sectorDescrption>

Or am I missing something completely?

This should NOT work.
'Append' merely refers to adding the content of your file after the original ones. FTL's parser will override previous tags with repeating ones.
With that code, you will replace the entire content of the nebula sector with your defined event.

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<sectorDescription name="NEBULA_SECTOR" minSector="0" unique="false">
   ...
   <startEvent>START_BEACON_NEBULA</startEvent>
   <event name="STORE" min="0" max="1"/>
   <event name="ITEMS" min="1" max="3"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_STORE" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_EMPTY" min="4" max="4"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_HOSTILE" min="5" max="6"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_NEUTRAL" min="7" max="8"/>
   <event name="DISTRESS_BEACON" min="1" max="3"/>
       
        <event name="YOUR_EVENT" min="1" max="1"/>
</sectorDescrption>

This is how you would want to do it.
OR you could adress the eventlist hidden behind those names. They're stored in the events_xyz.xml's.

[All4n]

This should NOT work.
'Append' merely refers to adding the content of your file after the original ones. FTL's parser will override previous tags with repeating ones.
With that code, you will replace the entire content of the nebula sector with your defined event.

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<sectorDescription name="NEBULA_SECTOR" minSector="0" unique="false">
   ...
   <startEvent>START_BEACON_NEBULA</startEvent>
   <event name="STORE" min="0" max="1"/>
   <event name="ITEMS" min="1" max="3"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_STORE" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_EMPTY" min="4" max="4"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_HOSTILE" min="5" max="6"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_NEUTRAL" min="7" max="8"/>
   <event name="DISTRESS_BEACON" min="1" max="3"/>
       
        <event name="YOUR_EVENT" min="1" max="1"/>
</sectorDescrption>

This is how you would want to do it.
OR you could adress the eventlist hidden behind those names. They're stored in the events_xyz.xml's.

Ahh. Thanks!

That's a shame, event mods will overwrite each other easily then.

We really need a .merge file/function then.

[All4n]

*bla bla bla*

And so on and so fourth. Of course this would require everyone who wanted to make their mods compatible with each other to share their event/upcoming event coding. Which of course would be no problem once you release the mod and stuff.

But none the less, that was just a idea that was pulled out in a second.

I see that, but it is not very user/mod friendly.

[Icehawk78]

Ahh. Thanks!

That's a shame, event mods will overwrite each other easily then.

We really need a .merge file/function then.

Yes, this is correct. Anything that modifies two of the same events/root tags will end up overwriting each other until we work out a valid means of "merging" mods.

One idea I'm working with is adding a "mergeChildren" attribute that mod authors can add to .xml.merge files (actually, I dislike that convention and if I implement it will more likely set them as '.merge.xml' files, so that people with syntax highlighting editors don't need to manually set the language).

In this case, you'd set particular attributes to be set to "MERGE_NAME", "MERGE_TAG", "MERGE_ALL", "APPEND_ALL", "REMOVE_ALL", "OVERWRITE_ALL", "OVERWRITE_NAME", or "OVERWRITE_TAG".

So, given the following source XML:

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<!-- Source -->
<event name="FINISH_BEACON">
   <text>You've arrived at the Long-Range Beacon. When the FTL Drive is charged you can jump to the next Sector.</text>
   <choice hidden="true">
      <text>Continue...</text>
      <event load="NON_HOSTILE"/>
   </choice>
</event>


This mod would replace the entire event with itself:

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<!-- Mod -->
<event name="FINISH_BEACON" mergeChildren="OVERWRITE_ALL">
   <text>This is the end. Prepare yourself!</text>
   <choice hidden="true">
      <text>Continue...</text>
      <event />
   </choice>
   <choice hidden="true">
      <text>Pick a fight!</text>
      <event load="HOSTILE1"/>
   </choice>
   <choice hidden="true">
      <text>Go shopping!</text>
      <store />
   </choice>
</event>


This mod would simply add another choice to the event without changing anything else:

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<event name="FINISH_BEACON" mergeChildren="APPEND_ALL">
   <choice hidden="true">
      <text>Go shopping!</text>
      <store />
   </choice>
</event>


This mod would make the event completely empty (note: I have no clue what this would do to the game):

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<event name="FINISH_BEACON" mergeChildren="REMOVE_ALL" />

To demonstrate the "MERGE" attributes, I'll instead use the following source example:

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<shipBlueprint name="PLAYER_SHIP_HARD" layout="kestral" img="kestral">
   <class>Kestrel Cruiser</class>
   <name>The Kestrel</name>
   <desc>This class of ship was decommissioned from Federation service years ago.  After a number of refits and updating this classic ship is ready for battle.</desc>
   <systemList>
      <pilot power="1" room="0" start="true" img="room_pilot">
         <slot>
            <direction>right</direction>
            <number>0</number>
         </slot>
      </pilot>
      <doors power="1" room="2" start="true" img="room_doors"/>
      <sensors power="1" room="3" start="true" img="room_sensors"/>
      <medbay power="1" room="4" start="true" img="room_medbay">
         <slot>
            <number>1</number>
         </slot>
      </medbay>
      <oxygen power="1"  room="13" start="true" img="room_oxygen"/>
      <shields power="2" room="5" start="true" img="room_shields"/>
      <engines power="2" room="14" start="true" img="room_engines"/>
      <weapons power="3" room="10" start="true" img="room_weapons"/>
      <drones power="2" room="1" start="false"/>
      <teleporter power="1" room="15"   start="false"/>
      <cloaking power="1" room="8" start="false"/>
   </systemList>
   <weaponSlots>4</weaponSlots>
   <droneSlots>2</droneSlots>
   <weaponList count="2" missiles="8">
      <weapon name="MISSILES_2_PLAYER"/>
      <weapon name="LASER_BURST_3"/>
   </weaponList>
   <health amount="30"/>
   <maxPower amount ="8"/>
   <crewCount amount = "3" class="human"/>
</shipBlueprint>


The following mod would alter the existing ship to start with L2 cloaking:

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<shipBlueprint name="PLAYER_SHIP_HARD" mergeChildren="MERGE_TAG">
   <systemList mergeChildren="OVERWRITE_TAG">
      <cloaking power="2" room="8" start="true"/>
   </systemList>
</shipBlueprint>


Open issues which I don't know how to handle yet:

If I want to add L2 cloaking and change the number of crewmembers to 2, rather than 3, how would I do that?

This mod wouldn't modify the crew:

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<shipBlueprint name="PLAYER_SHIP_HARD" mergeChildren="MERGE_TAG">
   <systemList mergeChildren="OVERWRITE_TAG">
      <cloaking power="2" room="8" start="true"/>
   </systemList>
   <crewCount amount="2" class="human" />
</shipBlueprint>


This mod would remove every system other than the Cloaking room:

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<shipBlueprint name="PLAYER_SHIP_HARD" mergeChildren="OVERWRITE_TAG">
   <systemList mergeChildren="OVERWRITE_TAG">
      <cloaking power="2" room="8" start="true"/>
   </systemList>
   <crewCount amount="2" class="human" />
</shipBlueprint>


I could possibly add a second tag (ie allow both a "mergeSelf" and a "mergeChildren") but I'm trying to keep it simple.

Any ideas?