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

[TheVastComplex]

Yeah, macOS users don't exactly inspire confidence in those who Know What They're Doing.

?

macOS is the best OS. Only ArchLinux matches it, and archlinux takes a while to set up.

[Mackchee]

Hi, I want to make a mod with enemy ships that the player can use it will be all main enemy ships. Anyway what would be a good and safe way of making and distributing this mod?
Thanks!

[TheVastComplex]

Hi, I want to make a mod with enemy ships that the player can use it will be all main enemy ships. Anyway what would be a good and safe way of making and distributing this mod?
Thanks!

Well, if you look on this forum, you can see how people distribute their mods. As for making, I think Superluminal would be best for this, and it would make creating this mod very easy.

[Zenith]

Alrighty then.

I have no clue as to what I'm doing, I've used slipstream to get the audio, data, fonts and img folders, but have no clue what to use where to get to the xml (i think?) files where the coding actually takes place.

EDIT: I opened up the Beginning Scrap Advantage Mod in internet explorer apparently, and it told me to use the Universal Starting Beacons Mod as a better framework.

So I turned the .ftl files into .zips and they contain a data folder and a mod-appendix folder.
The mod-appendix folder seems to contain a metadata.xml file that opens text in internet explorer (or microsoft edge or whatever they want to call it now).
The data folder has two .xml.append folders

What do I use to open what?

(Sorry for all of the incredibly "noob" [haha2012termyay] questions, this is my first time trying anything like this.)

Thanks!

[mr_easy_money]

So I turned the .ftl files into .zips and they contain a data folder and a mod-appendix folder.
The mod-appendix folder seems to contain a metadata.xml file that opens text in internet explorer (or microsoft edge or whatever they want to call it now).
The data folder has two .xml.append folders

What do I use to open what?

first of all, .xml and .xml.append are text type files. you can open them in notepad, but then you don't get any different colors for the various tags. you can use something like notepad++ or gedit (both of which are free software) to see the tags in different colors. here is a side-by-side comparison of notepad and notepad++: http://www.ftlgame.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 485#p92485 .

.xml and .xml.append are the same thing basically. the ".append" suffix just makes you able to add and overwrite stuff without overwriting the entire file. for example, I want to add 1 weapon and change the stats of another. if I set the file as blueprints.xml I'd run into trouble because if you look in the data folder you extracted with Slipstream you'll know that blueprints.xml has lots of stuff in it like all the augments, races, weapons etc. in the vanilla game. using blueprints.xml.append on the other hand will let me add just that 1 weapon and change/overwrite that other weapon. note that in some cases you'll want to replace the entire file and not use .xml.append

if you're using notepad++, it doesn't recognize .xml.append by default, but as meklozz pointed out in some previous post, "You could just add the extension to be recognized as xml. http://superuser.com/a/40878 "

the metadata.xml file details the description of a mod in Slipstream. it's formatted for titles, version number, description, author, etc. which is displayed when you select/highlight a mod in slipstream. if you want tips for a description if I recall correctly when I looked into the sM Polish Kit's metadata.xml files they had a description for every detail and what it does as well as notes for a good description.

(Sorry for all of the incredibly "noob" [haha2012termyay] questions, this is my first time trying anything like this.)

don't worry dude. you're new to all this as we all once were (well maybe not all of us, especially the devs, and probably the people that have braced the frontier to make modding easier). questions, questions, ask away.

to be honest, there isn't much activity here usually, but I'm constantly browsing the forums nearly everyday as are the handful (well maybe, a bit more) that still browse frequently.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:edit: I hope I was informative enough. I try to be comprehensive, but sometimes I write too many details (aka, not brief/concise) or I skip ahead of myself and confusion is abound. any follow-up questions? please do ask.

[Zenith]

Would anyone happen to know if there's a list of ids for weapons and augments?
Also, how do I make a folder into a .ftl file?

[mr_easy_money]

Would anyone happen to know if there's a list of ids for weapons and augments?

when you unpacked the data.dat file, you got a folder containing a bunch of .xml files. the blueprints.xml file and the dlcBlueprints.xml file should have what you're looking for, just gotta look through them (they're not at the beginning).

actually wait that's where you'd find them. if you want to see all the ids really quickly, if you go into superluminal and try to like add a weapon, it'll give you a list sorted with all categories, referred to by id, lists its description and stats.
It's true for vanilla at least, but if you go into Superluminal with a modded game (superluminal looks directly into the data.dat and resource.dat I think) I don't see why it wouldn't list all the mod's weapons (or if multiple of them add weapons, then all the weapons combined)

Also, how do I make a folder into a .ftl file?

a .ftl file is just a renamed compressed zip folder. simply change the file extension from ".zip" to ".ftl". there's also some option in Slipstream to identify .zip files as .ftl files, but not everyone will check that option. also, I'm not sure if Superluminal can see .zip files

also be sure that you don't have extra folders in your folder hierarchy. if you send stuff to a compressed zipped folder, make sure it goes <name of folder> directly to <data> and not have some in-between folder

[Zenith]

Alright, I *think* I know what I'm doing, but the mod won't work, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm coding it wrong, or if I'm making the .ftl wrong.

Code: Select all

<!-- Weapon Advantage mod -->

<event name="START_GAME">
	<text>The data you carry is vital to the remaining Federation fleet. You'll need supplies for the journey, so make sure to explore each sector before moving on to the next. But get to the exit before the pursuing Rebel fleet can catch up!</text>
</event>

<event name="START_BEACON">
	<text>Welcome to a new sector! Get to the exit beacon and jump to the next sector before the pursuing Rebels catch you!</text>
	<choice hidden="true">
		<text>Continue...</text>
		<event/>
	</choice>
	<choice req="engines" lvl="1" hidden="true">
		<text>(Mod) Investigate a nearby asteroid.</text>
		<event>
			<text>You take a shuttle and find a weapon on it!</text>
			<autoReward level="HIGH">weapon</autoReward>
		</event>
	</choice>
</event>

The code is a modified version of the Scrap Advantage Mode that comes by default with Slipstream.

The way I made my .ftl file was that I have a folder called "Weapon Advantage" that contains two folders: data (which contains events.xml.append) and mod appendix (which contains metadata.xml). I convert the Weapon Advantage mod to a .zip, then rename it to a .ftl, stick it in mods, enable it (with nothing else enabled), the launch the game via Slipstream (like how you would launch a mod).

Either way, the mod isn't doing anything.

(This is, of course, just a mod to see if I can see how things work, not one that's super useful.)

[TheVastComplex]

Alright, I *think* I know what I'm doing, but the mod won't work, and I'm not sure if it's because I'm coding it wrong, or if I'm making the .ftl wrong.

Code: Select all

<!-- Weapon Advantage mod -->

<event name="START_GAME">
	<text>The data you carry is vital to the remaining Federation fleet. You'll need supplies for the journey, so make sure to explore each sector before moving on to the next. But get to the exit before the pursuing Rebel fleet can catch up!</text>
</event>

<event name="START_BEACON">
	<text>Welcome to a new sector! Get to the exit beacon and jump to the next sector before the pursuing Rebels catch you!</text>
	<choice hidden="true">
		<text>Continue...</text>
		<event/>
	</choice>
	<choice req="engines" lvl="1" hidden="true">
		<text>(Mod) Investigate a nearby asteroid.</text>
		<event>
			<text>You take a shuttle and find a weapon on it!</text>
			<autoReward level="HIGH">weapon</autoReward>
		</event>
	</choice>
</event>

The code is a modified version of the Scrap Advantage Mode that comes by default with Slipstream.

The way I made my .ftl file was that I have a folder called "Weapon Advantage" that contains two folders: data (which contains events.xml.append) and mod appendix (which contains metadata.xml). I convert the Weapon Advantage mod to a .zip, then rename it to a .ftl, stick it in mods, enable it (with nothing else enabled), the launch the game via Slipstream (like how you would launch a mod).

Either way, the mod isn't doing anything.

(This is, of course, just a mod to see if I can see how things work, not one that's super useful.)

Would it be too much to ask for an explicit download link? I'd like to see how it's being packaged.
A common newbie mistake is compressing a folder CONTAINING the folders inside it, rather than compressing the folders raw. Try selecting your mod in Slipstream and clicking "Validate".

[Zenith]

Would it be too much to ask for an explicit download link? I'd like to see how it's being packaged.
A common newbie mistake is compressing a folder CONTAINING the folders inside it, rather than compressing the folders raw. Try selecting your mod in Slipstream and clicking "Validate".

I assume I have it wrong, I'll try out the Slipstream Validate.

This is how I had it: http://www.mediafire.com/file/ul9pe5d25 ... antage.zip