It all seems so simple, but it doesn't end that way. This project has long gone past the point where I feel the effort would be worth the result, but I just wanna' know what I've done.
I'm trying to mod in a few more raider types to build an arcade style mission which where you fight a tonne of fighters until you die and get scored on how well you've done. I figure I can change texture hues with GIMP to colour code them. Give or take a few more HP, switch textures and switch AIs with FRED. But to change the speed of a fighter, and to ensure difficulty doesn't matter I'll need to table. Here's what I've done.
I created a folder in my Diaspora directory called CylonsRevenge, in it is a plain text file called "mod.ini"
[launcher]
modname = Cylons Revenge;
infotext = Some kid thinks he's awesome at flying a Viper, show him who's boss.;
[multimod]
primarylist = ;
secondarylist = Diaspora;In the CylonsRevenge folder is another folder called "data", and inside that are two folders called "missions" and "tables". The missions folder contains a virtually empty FRED mission (as in, not empty, but there's very little in it). The tables folder contains 3 text files called "ai.tbl", "Ai_profiles.tbl" and "ships.tbl".
ai.tbl contains a bunch of ai classes I thought would help to give different raider powers, and then I chucked the stock classes in for compatability:
http://pastebin.com/Jys20Ea0ai_profiles.tbl has everything set to insane (I think):
http://pastebin.com/tHTWkxbsships.tbl contains two copy past entries of the stock raider appended to the end, but with their movement speeds a little different, no "player_ship" nor "in tech database" flags, and different name and short names:
http://pastebin.com/ZtfxamQiAs far as I can work out, changing the ships table is all I need to add a new ship. But whatever I'm doing isn't working, for when I activate CylonsRevenge from the mod tab of the Diaspora launcher and access the F3 lab, all I see is the stock ships. No extra entry for Red and White Raiders.
Log with mod active:
http://pastebin.com/MKqrApZULog with Diaspora active:
http://pastebin.com/ZEf3idiiA line in the log tables caught my attention: "Ships.tbl is : INVALID!!!!, Weapons.tbl is : INVALID!!!!", but the infuriating bit is that the line is common to both the mod log file, and diaspora's log file.
So, what do I need to do to add two more Raider variants to the game?
Edit:
Fixed!! New problem now, see a few posts below
There's a single too many values in one of the ai classes (white), fixed it. Found the likely source of my error:
http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=82329.0, downloaded new launcher, but now crashing due to an error telling me "ships.tbl(line 9983): Error: Required token = [#End], [$Subsystem:], [$Name], or [$Template], found [$end_multi_text ]." But line 9983 isn't anything about tech entries, rather it ensures that the first of new raiders don't have lightning arcs on their debris... Oh wait, Notepad doesn't find lines the same way as Pastebin, apparently "$end_multi_text" is meant to be on the same line as the tech entry. And, oh it works now.
'kay guys, um, I suppose this message was kind of pointless now, but maybe I might just finish that mission now that I know I'm not an idiot.
