Mods Cause Minidump Crash

from Sins Forums

I recently got back into playing Sins after discovering that my roommate is also a fan.  After a particularly CPU-killing Us Vs 6 AIs, we got to talking about playing a mod that would reduce the number of ships empires could build, and came up with a few ideas that were a bit more interesting than "reduce the supply cap".

I decided to start things off simply by just fiddling with the Kol battleship before I started really getting my hands dirty.  I used the ConvertData_OriginalSins.exe to convert the CAPITALSHIP_TECHBATTLESHIP.entity from the Sins\GameInfo directory into a text file.  I then copied it to C:\blahblah\Sins of a Solar Empire\Mods-v1.191\Test\GameInfo, made my adjustments, then loaded up Sins, went to Mods, selected the Test mod, clicked Enable Mod, and poof! The game crashes with a Minidump error.  I think, "Silly me, I forgot to convert it back from a txt to a bin!"  So I did that, loaded up the game, and once again get a Minidump crash.

So I downloaded the ForgeTools, copied the relevant file from the ReferenceData directory, modified it, and once again got a Minidump error.  I tried as both bin and txt, and both resulted in a Minidump error.

I downloaded harpo99999's 1.191 ReferenceData, modified the Kol datafile, tried as both bin and txt, same result.

I install Entrenchment, same result.

I install Diplomacy, same result.

I try the totally unmodified CAPITALSHIP_TECHBATTLESHIP.entity from the core Sins\GameInfo folder, same result.

I downloaded the RealCapitalShips mod (last updated March 2009), same result.

I downloaded the FlagshipMiniMod (last updated September 2010), same result.

I used Harpo's bintxt GUI converter, same result.

I used the ConverData_OriginalSins.exe from Harpo's GUI converter, same result.

 

At this point, I don't know what else I can try.  I'm using Notepad++ to edit the text files, I don't know if it's known to cause any issues.  I have a few questions to help me narrow down what the issue might be (though if you know a straight-up fix, that's good too):

 

1) Does a mod directory only need to contain the .entity files that it alters, or do certain .entity files have dependencies that must be included, even if they aren't changed?

2) Does it matter whether the mod's files are in txt or bin format?

3) Related to 1), do all the .entity files need to be included in the mod directory?

4) If a file like CAPITALSHIP_TECHBATTLESHIP.entity is only found in the Core GameInfo folder, can it be copied into Entrenchment or Diplomacy's mod directory and used to mod things only when playing one of the expansions?

 

That's all I can think of, any help would be much appreciated.

 

Edit: I just tried copying the entire Core GameInfo folder into the Mod directory, and tried loading it as a mod.  It worked, but of course gameplay was still stock.  I'm next going to converting one file in the working mod directory to text, edit it, then change it back to a bin, and see if I have any success.

modding
13,768 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from Sins Forums Top

Original Sins needs the complete set of reference files for the mod to work. This is due to not having manifests introduced with entrenchment and diplomacy which allows you to only add the files changed.

Forge tools reference files are really out of date.

Mod files can be txt or bin. Bin loads faster and uses less memory but testing with txt is good.

Notepad++ is and excellent modding tool.

The core game files can be copied to the expansion mods. I have made complete sets of reference files located on the modding tools. Diplomacy is still labelled the old version but it is updated just recently to 1.2 http://soase.weebly.com/modding-tools.html

http://soase.weebly.com/ for lots of other help and tutorials.

Original Sins 1.191 Entrenchment 1.051 Diplomacy 1.2

 

Reply #2 from Sins Forums Top

Thanks for the info.  :) After my success with getting an Original mod working, I copied the same data over to the Diplomacy folder, which resulted in a return to Minidump crashing while trying to load the mod.  Since then, Sins seems to have given up the ghost and is Minidump crashing on startup now.  The last thing I tried to do was copy the core GameInfo, and all the subsequent GameInfo folders into one mod folder, which seems to have precipitated this latest round of Minidump crashing.  After my success with getting an Original mod working, I copied the same data over to the Diplomacy folder, which resulted in a return to Minidump crashing while trying to load the mod.

 

One little question, though.  You mention manifests introduced in Entrenchment/Diplomacy.  Does this mean if I'm making a mod for either of those, I only need to include the files I'm actually changing?  Further, if the file I'm changing, in this case the Kol battleship file, is only available in the OriginalSins datafiles, should I be able to copy it into the Diplomacy mod directory and have it modify the Kol from there?

 

Example: I want to play a stock version of Diplomacy, the only change being the Kol starts with 4000 health.  Should I take the CAPITALSHIP_TECHBATTLESHIP.entity file from your Original Sins reference files (since it's not in the Entrenchment or Diplomacy reference files), edit its health to 4000, save it to Sins of Solar Empire\Mods-Diplomacy v1.2\Test\GameInfo, and then load the mod from Diplomacy and expect it to work?  Or does more need to be done?

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Sins Forums Top

Mods won't work between different game versions. Reference files are way out of date. Need to convert your own files with ConvertDatas.

 

:fox:

Reply #4 from Sins Forums Top

I downloaded the FlagshipMiniMod (last updated September 2010), same result.

This is outdated for Diplomacy 1.2. It would need a new entity.manifest generated.

Reply #5 from Sins Forums Top

Some of the GameInfo files from the original sins will not work with the expansions but the Kol will.

With Ent and Dip using manifests the only file needed in your mod would be the Kol entity inside the GameInfo folder.

If you want to make your own reference files the way I did it was convert all the files to txt. This is the Vanillla set.

Then do the same for the Ent expansion files. Once done merge the 2 sets and let the Ent files overwrite the vanilla files. This is the Entrenchment  set.

For Diplomacy make a copy of the Entrenchment set, convert the diplomacy files and merge with the copy of Ent and let the diplomacy files overwrite.

This is how I made the compete sets listed above.

You are correct that if you are making a mod for Dip, check the games diplomacy folders 1st. Then Entrenchment folders, then the originals. 

 

http://soase.weebly.com/modding.html#Directory_Structure

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Reply #6 from Sins Forums Top

I wound up having to nuke the whole Local\Ironclad Games\Sins... folder to get it to stop crashing on startup, and now that things are nice & stable again, I took the CAPITALSHIP_TECHBATTLESHIP.entity from myfist0's Diplomacy 1.2 folder, and put it in Mods-Diplomacy v1.2\Test\GameInfo, made a little tweak to it, and voila!  No more crashing.  Now comes the fun stuff. :)

One last question before I wander off:  If I want to give the Kol's Gauss Cannon ability a little buff, I see that the Kol's .entity references an AbilityGaussBlast entity, but the actual damage for the ability is stored in the BuffGaussBlast entity.  If I make modifications to the BuffGaussBlast entity, do I need to include the AbilityGaussBlast in the mod folder, or is Sins smart enough to grab "missing links" in the chain from the main datafiles?

Regardless, thanks to everyone for your help, especially myfist0, since I think all your tutorials are going to keep me busy for quite a while.

Reply #7 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Tim, reply 6
One last question before I wander off: If I want to give the Kol's Gauss Cannon ability a little buff, I see that the Kol's .entity references an AbilityGaussBlast entity, but the actual damage for the ability is stored in the BuffGaussBlast entity. If I make modifications to the BuffGaussBlast entity, do I need to include the AbilityGaussBlast in the mod folder, or is Sins smart enough to grab "missing links" in the chain from the main datafiles?

Nope, you would only need to include the modified files, in this case the BuffGaussBlast.entity file. Be careful if you add new files as you will need to update the entity.manifest to include them.

Reply #8 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting ZombiesRus5, reply 7

Quoting Tim McElwain, reply 6One last question before I wander off: If I want to give the Kol's Gauss Cannon ability a little buff, I see that the Kol's .entity references an AbilityGaussBlast entity, but the actual damage for the ability is stored in the BuffGaussBlast entity. If I make modifications to the BuffGaussBlast entity, do I need to include the AbilityGaussBlast in the mod folder, or is Sins smart enough to grab "missing links" in the chain from the main datafiles?

Nope, you would only need to include the modified files, in this case the BuffGaussBlast.entity file. Be careful if you add new files as you will need to update the entity.manifest to include them.

 

Cool, thanks.  By add new files, I assume you mean if I decided to give the Kol an ability called Blook, I'd need to not only create all the Blook-related entity files, but also update entity.manifest with all the Blook information?

Reply #9 from Sins Forums Top

Quoting Tim, reply 8



Cool, thanks.  By add new files, I assume you mean if I decided to give the Kol an ability called Blook, I'd need to not only create all the Blook-related entity files, but also update entity.manifest with all the Blook information?

Yup. Editing old files like Gauss rail gun is no problem. When you add new files for "blook", you need to tell the game to load them by editing the mentioned entity.manifest.