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Avenoct
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NC, USA
Apr 2001
time: 00:15
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As I'm letting the last scenario ideas ferment a bit for Aldebaran (which is essentially done), I thought I'd start on the (a?) Mod-Makers Manual for Alpha Centauri.
I'd like anyone to add chapter ideas here to this thread, and as this is essentially a collaborative effort, if anyone would like to write any of the chapters in their areas of expertise, that'd be great!
Here are the chapters I've thought of so far, in no particular order:
1. How to Create Custom Factions
a. The text files
b. The graphics
c. Playtesting
d. Posting and Publishing
2. Patching the Game
a. What is a Patch?
b. Understanding the various components of alphatext
c. Things to be wary about.
d. Existing Patches and what they do.
e. Playtesting
3. Creating a Whole New Game
a. What is a Mod / Variant?
b. Things to think about before you start.
c. Mastering the Alphatext
d. Things you can and can't do.
e. The Tech Tree, a tangled web.
f. Facilities
g. Secret Projects
h. The Units List: Power of Custom Units
i. Weapons/ Chassis/ etc.
j. Graphics: Limits and applications.
k. Everything Else: The Worldbuilder, special rules.
l. Social Engineering: Putting it all Together
m. Playtesting
n. Limits of SMAC mods.
o. Breaking the limits: Superfactions, Scenarios.
p. Scenarios in Detail
q. Posting and Publishing
Ok, that's enough for now. Again, if anyone wants to pick up and write a chapter, go ahead! Also, let me know what things I forgot here..I'm sure there are a few. Looking at it again, I think it won't be too hard to write.
Happy Crawlering,
-Smack
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Cybergod
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Wünderland
Feb 2001
time: 05:15
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Oh fine, since no one wishes to post, and Smack presumes that I should be posting (or else  )... Although I will not necesserily follow the guidelines.
Mod Makers Manual (MMM)
Chapter 1: Starting Up
Part A: Getting Ideas
So, tired fof your old SMAC? Wanna try something new? Got a great idea in you head but don't know how to harness it? No worries, read on... 
First of all, have a deep thinking seance with yourself and figure out what is it exactly you want to do? A Mod? A Scenario? Or just make a Faction and post it at the Network Node ( )? Some good thinking music might help (definetly NOT Marylin Manson , but tastes differ  ) or maybe silence would clear your mind?
Maybe you don't wanna talk to yourself like a lunnatic, but watch some TV or get involved with many forms of media. Browse the Apolyton posts, see what people are missing out on (eg. bad AI? - look up Smack's excellent Aldeb mod). Or continue pursuing your own scrupulous ideas...
Now what is the main feature of you Mod going to be? Is it going to be an alternative story, not having any conections with the SMAC world (if so, you better come up with an explanation for that red fungus everywhere), a continuation on to the standard story, WW2 scen/mod or even a Star Wars Mod (found at the NetNode)? Think of the main characteristics for the mod, graphics, factions, maps, scenarios and modified rules that you are going to implement.
Think about what are you gonna need - pictures, 3D tools, literature (for the blurbs), etc. Get some of that from the web, but "ask for permission from whoever pays the bill"  .
Done that? Good. Now lets get to the real work in the next part of the chapter...
PS. Happy now ?
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Avenoct
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NC, USA
Apr 2001
time: 00:15
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Chapter One Continues: Getting Started
As Cybergod has shown, the first chapter really needs to be about making changes in general...why would you want to? should you think through everything first, or just start making small alterations? If you have a great idea, is it possible to implement? So I'll try my hand at answering some of these questions here.
1. Why Changes?
This is really a personal preference. There is no inherent reason to change anything about Smac or Smax as they are fully functional and quite enjoyable as they are. Some of us can't resist, and the best reason to make changes to the game comes down to "Because we can."
But this is a good point to make a general warning: Once you've started making changes to the mechanics of the game, your experience is never going to be quite the same. You might find yourself endlessly looking for faults or qualities of the AI during your games, or find it hard to enjoy the original game in the same way once you've seen it 'naked.' You might find yourself playing at God rather than playing the game, and that's fine, it's just different.
It's also important to realize that any mechanical changes you might make will take time to test and perfect. You might dream up the perfect faction, but find that it's not really that great to play. You might rearrange the tech-tree, but find that your changes also impact some other unexpected aspect of game play. Finally, though I hate to admit it, tinkering with the text files can give your computer a headache...some code will barf if you don't enter it in exactly. Some changes you might make are going to be very difficult to test and perfect.
All that said, it's still worth it, but it is a committment. Changing the textfiles is not the same as deciding to order large or extra large fries..you're going to have to work a bit. But rarely do we get to play God with such a fine game, and if you want to explore, create, see how far you can go, or realize an idea or story in a game format, Smac is a great place to work.
2. Should you dream up your changes first, or just start tinkering?
Because there are definately some things you can and cannot change about Alpha Centauri, I recommend tinkering first. The main files to fool around with are the faction files (ie: gaians.txt) and the alpha.txt (the main rules for the game that ARE accessable for change). Also, you might want to experiment with the Scenario Editor. You certainly can take an idea you have already and then try to implement it, but any knowledge you have at the outset about making changes will help define you idea in terms of the possibilities.
3. You have a great idea, can you implement it?
This should almost be a chapter in itself because I so often see people come up with great ideas and then face the question of whether or not they are implementable. I think a list is in order:
Things You Can Change
Factions: Their SE bonuses, Faction Abilities, Starting Techs, Political and Social orientations, Quotes, Graphics, Leader movies, Base Names, and...
Alpha Text: Um, this is huge! The answer is the alpha.txt itself. Take a gander at it and you'll know the basics.
Alpha.txt Nutshell:
The Techtree, names, order, abilities of techs.
Facilities and SP's: Costs, but not functions (with a few exceptions).
Terraforming Costs and names for each kind of terraforming, when it becomes available, etc.
Terrain production...ie, how much does an ocean square produce?
Chassis/Weapon/Armor/Reactor: Name, speed, cost, prerequisites, air/land/sea, restrictions. You can't add additional ones, only alter existing.
Unit Secial Abilities: As above.
Standard Units: As many as you like! Can come with multiple special abilities..IE, a Chaos Hovertank with Deeprader, Non-lethal Methods, Clean Reactor and Drop abilitity. VERY handy.
Specialists: Names, abilities, tech-to-get, tech-to-obsolete, graphics.
Social Engineering: All of it! You can totally change the Social Engineering table as long as you have the same number of choices (4 rows of 4 choices).
Plantary Council Proposals: Names, Prerequisites
Landmarks: Names
Worldbuilder: quite a few parameters, from # of rivers, to default sizes.
Ecodamage: how often it occurs
Terrain/Positional bonuses to Combat: Quite a few
Artillery damage ratios and total damages (and range..sortof)
Many more, but those are the 'biggies'.
Graphics: Faction Bases, Leader Graphics, Faction Symbol, etc.. and, a few units, but not any normal combat unit. Also, menu's, the look of the interface, possibly the look of the terrain (I've not tried to edit that file yet), and basically any other non-special effect (sprite-gif type graphic) graphic.
Other textfiles: Basically, if you see it in letters in Smac, you can change it, including the menus, but especially important are script.txt (highly particular..you've been warned), blurbs.txt, interlude.txt, techlongs.txt, techshorts.txt, and help.txt. Many of these are sensitive to format, but we'll get to that later.
Enough for now,
Smack
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Avenoct
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NC, USA
Apr 2001
time: 00:15
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Chapter Two: Creating Custom Factions
This is a very short chapter because Firaxis included a special file to help you do this. It's called 'faction.txt' and not only lists all the special abilities possible, but gives you the example of the Gaians. Open that file now so that the rest of the chapter makes some sense to you.
Things to keep in mind:
1. Only Nine total abilities can be listed for a faction. Any extras are ignored.
2. The AI-fight, AI-power, etc. lines are very powerful. AI-fight ranges from -1 to 1 and the rest must be either 0 or 1. '1' obviously means more interested in that dimension of research-building.
3. You MUST rename the line #FACTIONNAME to the name of your faction for it to load properly. IE, to load gaians.txt the line reads #GAIANS.
4. Faction Graphics files include: factionname.pcx, factionname2.pcx, and factionname3.pcx, for each faction. See the graphics chapter to edit them. If you don't have these files for a custom faction, the game refers to the default faction.pcx files (which look like the Gaians).
5. In general, be sure to use ALL CAPS when replacing an all caps, and keep a close eye on your commas and punctuation.
More soon.
-Smack
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22-08-2001 00:26
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