Hello awesome modding community!



I am playing with the modding possibilities of Endless Space but I am just in front of two annoying problems:



1) Loading a mod is quite difficult... in fact when I load one in the game menu it does not always load correctly. Sometimes I just go back to desktop and that is all, sometimes the mod is correctly load.

To launch the mod thanks to the Steam loading options work without failure, but does not solve the problem.



2) My localization file is not correctly loading. I still have address (like "%FactionNameBlablaTitle" for instance) instead of the name of my modded faction.

The output_log.txt file just told me that:



"Datatable of type LocalizationDatatableElement cannot open the file with path : C:\Users\Florent\Documents/Endless Space/Modding/Humanity/Localization\french\Localization_Locales.xml Exception : System.Xml.XmlException: 'LocalizationPair' is expected Line 5730, position 4."



But at the Line 5730, there is only "".



Someone has an idea?



Thanks.

When you are developing a mod, usually you are changing files all the time. Without changing any files in between, do you find that the game sometimes loads the files and sometimes crashes? That is odd. Do you look into output_log.txt even when the mod appears to load, and search for lines with "Modding" in the name? This may indicate problems to be fixed. When I am developing a mod, I always load it via the steam loading options, otherwise loading the game twice takes too long.



Regarding the localization file error, please check the syntax carefully. Sometimes the message, or the exact line number, may be misleading. It is probably better to put your new or changed strings into a separate file in the localization/french directory anyway, so that when the dev team releases a new version, you won't need to re-add your changes to their file. I suggest you put your changed lines into a new file, which will make it easier to find any syntax error. If you still cannot see a syntax error, please zip and attach your xml file to a post, and we can look. Even if the text is french, the syntax would still be the same.

I always look at the output_log.txt file when something is wrong but for the loading problem nothing bad is indicated in it.

Well, at least I can load my mod project via the steam loading option. I just wanted to say that there were a problem.



For my localization problem... well, thank you Davea, it was just like you said a syntax problem.

I only looked at the line indicated in the out_log.txt but the error was ten lines before. Problem solved (juste a "<" that was missing)!

Sadi wrote:
I always look at the output_log.txt file when something is wrong but for the loading problem nothing bad is indicated in it.

Well, at least I can load my mod project via the steam loading option. I just wanted to say that there were a problem.

Yes, in fact some modders have given up on the Modding directory altogether, and instruct users to install the files over top of the distributed game files. I don't like this approach so I hope the dev team can find a problem and fix it.

I've had problems with mods failing to load from the in-game menu, and it IS intermittent. The safest way seems to be to use "+mod %yourmodname% from Steam.



Glad you figured out that syntax problem! I've also run into issues where output_log.txt DOESN'T help; when it comes to syntax, about half the time it just tells you the last line of the file is off (meaning you didn't close a tag properly elsewhere) but that's still better than nothing.



I would listen to davea when it comes to your file structure setup. Right now, Minuet is running separate localization files based on category (game labels, techs, modules) and races. Inside /simulation, we have /%race%, /common, and /vanilla (with no lose .xml files in /simulation); this gives a 'clean' separation between OUR content and the vanilla content, and also lets our non-technical team members edit localisations more easily (since, for example, all of the Pilgrim technologies and modules are localized inside the same module).



In a young game like this, I think setting the groundwork for future modders is incredibly important. The infrastructure, design patterns, development strategies, and tools that we develop now will make this community far better in the months to come.



BTW, davea - if you're curious at all about process (I think I smell a bit of software engineer on you), we are using Trello and Skype for coordination, and (are attempting to move our files to) Google Drive for artifact tracking. No 'strict' version control like Git or SVN just yet.

Sadi wrote:
I always look at the output_log.txt file when something is wrong but for the loading problem nothing bad is indicated in it.

Well, at least I can load my mod project via the steam loading option. I just wanted to say that there were a problem.



For my localization problem... well, thank you Davea, it was just like you said a syntax problem.

I only looked at the line indicated in the out_log.txt but the error was ten lines before. Problem solved (juste a "<" that was missing)!

thashepherd wrote:
BTW, davea - if you're curious at all about process (I think I smell a bit of software engineer on you), we are using Trello and Skype for coordination, and (are attempting to move our files to) Google Drive for artifact tracking. No 'strict' version control like Git or SVN just yet.

But I showered this morning ...



I have not yet worked on a many-person fan (non-commercial) project. Most of my fan projects are 2-3 active developers or less, and we ship releases back and forth (I mean, full zip files with all the files, as if a player was using them). Then each person uses winzip to add/modify changed files. I have rarely worked on fan projects where multiple people wanted to change the same file at the same time.

That sounds dangerous. I generally like some sort of version control as insurance even when it's just me developing (as is generally the case here). Trello is a godsend - I'm utterly manic about it - but I've held off on adopting source control, and it makes me VERY nervous.

Do it if you can. Use it whenever you can. A developer without source control is like a car without brakes. (even alone, on little projects, etc. You have a project, you have source files, you need source control)



Tutorials : http://www.ericsink.com/scm/source_control.html



Need to choose a tool ? http://stackoverflow.com/questions/976132/what-is-a-good-free-source-control-solution

Need to choose a host ? http://www.svnhostingcomparison.com/

Ravine wrote:
Do it if you can. Use it whenever you can. A developer without source control is like a car without brakes. (even alone, on little projects, etc. You have a project, you have source files, you need source control)

+1



(davea, delete this post for being unsubstantial)

Oh, I know how to use source control, with 20+ years experience. For my own personal development, I just keep a new zipfile every few weeks, or every day if developing intensely. Using source control on a fan project makes it feel too much like work. I occasionally delete a file like anybody else, but I can get the last good one out of a zipfile just fine.

Hi guys, one again I need your help.



With the new mega-patch I had to rewrite the .xml of my mod but now the matter is that I cannot load it as a stand alone (you know this little option in index.xml that allow to load the modded files instead of the normal files). The game just stop on the main loading screen after the two classics videos (The Iceberg one and the Amplitude one). The most frustrating is that with the option "stand alone = false", it works (but my modded factions appear with the others).



I solved the problem erasing the main faction.xml file and putting "hidden=true" for every normal faction but I still cannot load the game with "stand alone = true". A bug maybe?

When you have changed many files, and the dev team has changed the same files in different ways, it is challenging to merge your changes. This is why I dropped a lot of less popular features out of my community/racial diversity mods. But, for the features I kept, I was able to load the mods with standalone=false and see the correct results. So, I don't think modding is broken in general.



Are you sure you have made all the merges correctly? Suppose the dev team has changed files A and B to add some new object, such as an automaton tech. You had previously changed A. You probably need to discard your A, and copy your changes block by block into their new file A. Otherwise, their B will refer to something which you never had in your A, and it won't work. Are there any errors in output_log.txt?

I just take the working faction.xml file, add my modded factions and put "hidden=true" for all the old factions.

It works if I erase the original faction.xml file but it doesn't if I use it in my mod directory with "stand alone = true" (it works is I use "false"). The localization.xml is working well.



(And they is nothing wrong refering to the modded files in the output_log.txt)

I don't understand. You have changed only one file, faction.xml, and you have made two changes: (a) add some factions, (b) add hidden=true to all the old factions. Then you created a directory under modding, put your file in the simulation subdirectory, put an index.xml file, and changed the index.xml file to "standalone=false" and changed the mod name. Is that right? That should work. Please zip and upload your mod directory so we can see. Also, it may be worthwhile to try a smaller change; don't add any factions and set "some but not all" of the factions to hidden. Then add *one* of your factions. If that works, add one more faction at a time till you find it stops working, and carefully review that faction.



Usually (in other games) when this type of problem occurs, there is an inconsistency between your file and one of the other game files. It would be "nice" if the game gave a message about that but maybe it just gives up. For example, if you define a building which uses descriptor "xyz" in one file, and then you define a descriptor in another file named "xzy", this "could" happen. The game would fail to find a definition of "xyz".