Matrix Games Forums

I expect this question has already been answered somewhere, and I apologize for the repeat, but I've been unable to find a definitive answer to it in my searching. Anyway, onto the question, I've been trying to create a few custom race, but I'm apparently not grasping how exactly to go about this. I think I've set up the text files right according to the modding guide, and everything seems to load fine when I switch the theme, but when I go to create a galaxy the game just sits there spinning for hours. Anyone know why it might do this? I know this is a bit vague, but I really have no idea as to what the problem is, I'll happily give additional details as needed.

I made a comprehensive post on creating a new race from scratch a while ago, guide is a few posts down from the top, Guide to add new Races From your post I can not tell if your running Shadows or not but that should be enough to get you going, if you are running Shadows just check the modding manual for the required directories. If your still stuck after that then I will be surprised but ask away and someone will help [:)]

As for the galaxy spinning, that is quite often a missing comma in the biases.txt.

This is the checklist I use at present for Shadows.

checklist:

biases file
race file
policy file
pirate policy file
race image
ship image
troop image
design templates

Darkspire

ORIGINAL: Darkspire

I made a comprehensive post on creating a new race from scratch a while ago, guide is a few posts down from the top, Guide to add new Races From your post I can not tell if your running Shadows or not but that should be enough to get you going, if you are running Shadows just check the modding manual for the required directories. If your still stuck after that then I will be surprised but ask away and someone will help [:)]

As for the galaxy spinning, that is quite often a missing comma in the biases.txt.

This is the checklist I use at present for Shadows.

checklist:

biases file
race file
policy file
pirate policy file
race image
ship image
troop image
design templates

Darkspire

And for shadows don't forget the character file, even if all you do is use randomly generated characters, it needs to be in there with at least the first leader defined. Just look at the ones in the default theme and copy/paste one into your theme folder and rename it to your race(s). I suggest just copying the whole character folder into your theme as well.

That has been my experience with it at least.

And for shadows don't forget the character file, even if all you do is use randomly generated characters, it needs to be in there with at least the first leader defined. Just look at the ones in the default theme and copy/paste one into your theme folder and rename it to your race(s). I suggest just copying the whole character folder into your theme as well.

There are no characters in the default theme. The default theme in the customization folder has three folders, policy, races and shipimages, two text files, about.txt and biases.txt and a .PNG about image. If you recall I did point this out before release, the default theme should have been updated for Shadows so that folks would have a default template to work from.

From the Shadows modding guide:

optionally, a set of predefined characters in a file in the characters folder

I am present writing a guide for putting a new race in, should have it posted later tonight, have some really good albums to listen to from Ayreon so I can sort / tag those at the same time.

Darkspire

checklist:

biases file
race file
policy file
pirate policy file
race image
ship image
troop image
design templates

pirate policy file

Thought I'd checked everything, I don't have a pirate policy file for the race, I'll go fix that and see if it helps. I also have been using the Shadows modding manual, and am running Shadows, and I can't see any missing commas in the bias file, but I may just be overlooking them.

Nope, no change. Though come to think of it, I've been using the Distant Worlds Extended mod as a sort of example to work from, and it doesn't have a races text file, just the text files for each of the individual races, is this something that is required? Or does the game have defaults that it works from?

ORIGINAL: WB20

Nope, no change. Though come to think of it, I've been using the Distant Worlds Extended mod as a sort of example to work from, and it doesn't have a races text file, just the text files for each of the individual races, is this something that is required? Or does the game have defaults that it works from?

I am halfway through writing this guide but if you zip your theme and PM me with the data file I will go through it and hopefully tell you where you have gone wrong. If you backup your current theme and follow and understand what I wrote in that post then you would have a better idea of what has gone wrong, it is very easy to get carried away with changes regarding a custom theme, hence I wrote that is better to make very small changes, test them, backup the theme and continue, DW is a very fragile creature, one tiny mistake and the whole lot bombs, trust me, that's how I learned, by the ah-ha and oops method [:D]

Darkspire

Just a few problems.

As I said regarding the spinning galaxy, missing a comma after the race name in the biases.txt

Yours:
22, Alareen 0, 0,-10,-10, 10, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,-10, 0, 0, 10,-10, 10, 0,-10, 0, 10

Should be:

22, Alareen, 0, 0,-10,-10, 10, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,-10, 0, 0, 10,-10, 10, 0,-10, 0, 10

Missing two comma's in the character file.

Yours:

0, Evara Senal, 1, , Alareen 10, 15, 6, 30, 11, 20, 0, 0 9, 39, 4

Should be:

0, Evara Senal, 1, , Alareen, 10, 15, 6, 30, 11, 20, 0, 0, 9, 39, 4

Missing the pirate folder (and the pirate policy files that should be in that folder) in the policy folder

Troop images are incorrectly numbered, there marked as 38 and should be 22

Race image incorrectly numbered, marked as 38 in the race file and raceimages folder and should be 22

Troop and race images should be numbered with the same number as the race is setup with in the biases.txt file.

You have used 43 for the shipimages folder, I would suggest changing that to 27 as that is the first slot open to a custom race for ship images, by having a logical order to things you will cut down on mistakes and confusion.

I am sure others have different views on this but these are things I know that work, like the policy folder and its pirate sub folder, it may not be needed but it makes good sense to put it in there along with the races pirate policy file, hence my checklist, it just ensures that you are just covering all the bases and providing all the basic / default files used by a race. Also following a logical numbering system for the new race, IE using the race number defined in the biases.txt for race and troop image.

I have not checked for changes in the Alareen.txt race file (except for the race image number and ship image folder) or Alareen.txt policy file and would suggest until you really understand the structure of a theme to remove the dialog file and its folder, you need to learn and get running a basic theme first, back it up and add sections in as and when you have a better grasp of how a theme is put together, the dialog file is full of potential landmines with all the variables it has in it.

Right, these are not war words so do not blow a gasket but you should have followed what I wrote in the post I provided the link to, that is, backed up your current folder and started from scratch following the examples I gave, DW is a great game but as I pointed out, very fragile, once you have learned the basics of putting a theme together you will find these are mistakes that could have been avoided, I know all you want to do is get your own custom race all fired up and running but I can speak from experience that once you have added a new race and it is working you will want to add others, if you have no grasp of how to do that then you will forever be stuck in the problem stage.

Once you have the basic knowledge you will find DW has a real diversity regarding all the options you have for creating races and it can be really enjoyable to create new races with unique features to challenge not only yourself but the default ones that Elliot has created.

On the minus side I have given up for the moment on the idea of posting a guide, I may do later but all I can see at present is my blood pressure going through the roof and face palming myself off my chair [:D]

Darkspire

I second everything Darkspire said; excellent advice and he is spot on about everything. Good luck getting your race working!

Gah, completely forgot to check in front of the name, and I didn't think to check for missing commas in the character file, changing those, putting in the pirate folder and policies, and fixing the numbering issues all fixed it right up immediately, although it still works even with the numbering issues, but going to change it anyway just for simplicity's sake later. Thanks for your help.

ORIGINAL: WB20

Gah, completely forgot to check in front of the name, and I didn't think to check for missing commas in the character file, changing those, putting in the pirate folder and policies, and fixing the numbering issues all fixed it right up immediately, although it still works even with the numbering issues, but going to change it anyway just for simplicity's sake later. Thanks for your help.

Glad you got it working [:)]

I am sorry I never welcomed you to the forums, never noticed it was your first post, so welcome to the DW forums WB20.

Take one small step, check it is working, back up your theme folder and keep experimenting, and if you get stuck ask away [:D]

Darkspire

This is a wonderful thread, thanks to Darkspire's excellent advice. It helped me a lot today!