Modding Vanilla A2

posted on March 31st, 2012, 7:05 am

1. how do you go about modding captured constructions ships/starbases in Vanilla A2's Single Player campaign to allow you to build that races buildings/tech ?

2. failing this is there a clear cut modding tutorial that will help me learn the basics of what i need to know to figure this out?


Basicly what i'm after is this when i capture a hostile construction ship in any of the single player missions , unless it's mission specific it will not let me build any of that races buildings , same if i capture any of their production buildings i cannot build any of their tech/ships etc. again unless its mission specific.

posted on March 31st, 2012, 9:46 am

without modifying extra bits its not really possible as certain structures dont require anything (e starbase) and for missions its almost certainly impossible

posted on March 31st, 2012, 11:10 am

Each mission has its own tech tree. They control whether you can build certain items, not the mission scripts. It's very possible 

[Anonymous]

posted on March 31st, 2012, 11:57 am

Last edited by Anonymous on March 31st, 2012, 12:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

yh but for the ai to be able to build stuff like star bases and that then some requirements prob best being set as 0 or ai could get messed up but if you do that then your back with being able to build the enemy stuff (or even if u capture the required tech stuff then your still stuck there)

EIDT
you know what totally misread the thread yh all you need to do is modify the tech trees for that mission

need to back to sleep

posted on April 1st, 2012, 12:39 am

ok so what programs do i need to modify the mission tech trees? currently i have nothing to open the mission files with and and am only using Notepad to view/edit the .odf files.

posted on April 1st, 2012, 1:39 am

Notepad or Notepad++ can be used to edit the techtree files.

posted on April 1st, 2012, 5:01 am

alright got it figured out simply went and edited the tech trees for each mission like you guys suggested copying and pasting from the Tech1.tt file to each race that was included in each mission that way not only did it give me full build options for captured starbases/construction ships it also unlocked full build options for the faction i was playing ie fed klingon or borg.

just got thru play testing the first mission of each campaign and it works like a charm.

Thanks for the help gang !

[LeutianKane]

posted on April 1st, 2012, 5:04 am

Last edited by LeutianKane on April 1st, 2012, 5:23 am, edited 1 time in total.

now is there anyway to make the species 8472 ships capturable? be kinda neat to play as them along with the fed/borg in the last few missions of the single player campaign.

Also , how would i go about adding weapons to construction ships, colony ships and repair ships? ie borg and Federation since the klingons already have them, can i just copy the code for the klingon versions of each for weapons and that work?

and how can i make my construction ships warp?  figured this out just went into the smooth physics files for the construction ships and made their warp speed greater than 0

posted on April 1st, 2012, 7:52 am

yh for construction ships to get warp you should only need to increase there warp speed above 0

also capture 8472 i believe would require adding crew to the race

posted on April 1st, 2012, 10:11 am

Yep, warp is controlled by the physics files.

As for weapons, yes you can copy the Klingon construction ship weapon code, but be mindful of hardpoints etc. Also i'd change them from Disruptors to Phasers/Energy Beams of course but thats purely cosmetic.

Capturing 8472 isn't possible, not without adding crew to their ships.

posted on April 2nd, 2012, 5:57 am

Yep, warp is controlled by the physics files.

As for weapons, yes you can copy the Klingon construction ship weapon code, but be mindful of hardpoints etc. Also i'd change them from Disruptors to Phasers/Energy Beams of course but thats purely cosmetic.

Capturing 8472 isn't possible, not without adding crew to their ships.

so can i just copy the hardpoints on the klingon const ship over to the fed one?

Also how would i go about adding a cloak to a fed ship just find the cloak code on any other ship that has it and follow the file path/code back thru and copy/paste what's needed?

posted on April 3rd, 2012, 4:08 am

yep, just the code in the ship files.

weaponname...
weaponHardpoints...

put those sequentially in your odf ship you want to have the weapon.  You would do well to change the hardpoint refrences to those already listed on a weapon the ship has though, just to be safe.