How will modding the game be handled?

[RyanCrierie]

I seem to recall some earlier discussions elsewhere about how the database files would largely be locked down, to prevent a repeat of the whole mess which embroiled the Harpooning community in the past.

Can we still mod the game to add in our own what-if platforms that never got done, like the 1980s Refit of USS Long Beach, CGN-9 to have AEGIS, or the notational FB-22s that used to be thrown around by LockMart advertising in the past?

[Dimitris]

Hey Shep, it's been ages! Where have you been?

To your question: To support DB modding, we have taken a great deal of editing functionality that previously required DB changes and instead moved it to the scenario editor. For example if you want to add a new weapon to an existing ship, you can now do it in the scenario editor and never touch the DB (this also means that you are no longer bound to the DB author’s update schedule). Such edits are saved with the scenario and effectively act as "DB overrides".

On your examples, modding the Long Beach for sensors & weapon changes is a snap, right from within ScenEdit. You can also arbitrarily add weapon records to any existing mounts (e.g. put SS-N-19s on the cruiser), which previously required DB editing to accomplish.

The FB-22 is a tougher proposition because you'll also need different physical properties like dimensions, air-facility properties (parking space, takeoff & landing distances, sensor signatures etc.) which are currently DB-only jobs so you're best off requesting a platform copy from the DB authors and then modifying sensors etc. in ScenEdit.

[RyanCrierie]

ORIGINAL: Sunburn

Hey Shep, it's been ages! Where have you been?

Around TEH INTERNETZ, doing random stuff.

The FB-22 is a tougher proposition because you'll also need different physical properties like dimensions, air-facility properties (parking space, takeoff & landing distances, sensor signatures etc.) which are currently DB-only jobs so you're best off requesting a platform copy from the DB authors and then modifying sensors etc. in ScenEdit.

If I may suggest something? (it may be too late for something like this to show up in version 1.0, but it could show up in version 1.2 or something).

Maybe create a "platform creation" window/box which queries you: DETAILED/LIGHT UNIT CREATION?

Selecting DETAILED means you get asked all the really specific questions like 'takeoff distance in meters', frontal RCS signature in X-Band in dbSM, etc. It would be there for very advanced scenario creators.

Selecting LIGHT would mean that you get asked for basic information which the scenario editor then uses to calculate the other detailed stuff 'black box' behind the scenes. For example: wingspan? Length? Empty Mass? takeoff mass? then uses that to calculate 'rough guesses' -- you'd probably be able to do a pretty good approximation of takeoff distances from the aircraft's thrust/weight ratio, and approximate the landing distance from the aircraft's empty weight (heavier aircraft will need more room to stop, as they're all limited effectively by the same basic landing gear brake technology and drag chutes).

This scheme would have quite a few advantages -- it would remove some of the ??? and guess work from creating your own platform into something the average person could do (look up basic information on wikipedia), and at the same time enforce uniformity in these creations so that the results in-game are not wildly out of variance with the official databases; and the end-user would still retain detailed control over these parameters if he so chose (if for example, he found a detailed 500 page report on the AFB-24 LockMartBoeing HawkRaptor with all the important stuff inside.

[hellfish6]

That unit creation idea is actually pretty nifty, but it seems it would rely on a lot of 'fudging' for the light variant's rough guesses, which could lead to some unwanted results. I'd still love to have that kind of tool for personal use.