Editing schema .xsd files? And a couple other noob questions.

from GalCiv3 Forums

Hello, I realize this is a fairly basic / noob question, but I am slowly trying to get into modding GC3 a bit to make some of my custom factions more unique going forward. I have Notepad++ for editing the base .xml files, and understand the gist of doing that. But, I have seen the 'schema .xsd' files mentioned here a few times, and I am not entirely sure how I should be editing those / what program to use, and what else I need to do with them... I did note that there is an included GC3 tool that seems to be some kind of compiler for schema files?

I apologize if any of that is extremely noobish, I am not a programmer at this point, I took some really basic C++ ages ago that I have long forgotten so I at least have a tiny bit of an idea of the most basic concepts but thats bout it. To top it off I am not very familiar with how modding in GC3 works in general, my modding experience has been mainly on Bethesda games (Skyrim / Fallout 4).


I am also curious about creating & adding custom ship components... I am guessing it shouldnt be too overly difficult to create a copy of a component and adjust it to perform as I see fit, but do we (as in the modding community) have the tools necessary to create models that the game supports? As in tools to export them in the proper format (whatever that may be, not familiar with GC3's art assets at this point in time) and to set them up for usage? I have done a decent amount of modeling and some texturing, and have the tools necessary, so if that is an option at all for creating custom components, id be very interested!

Lastly, has anyone succesfully added their own custom mercenaries (Not replacement, but additional?) It's another thing I would love to mess with, but not sure where to begin on it honestly. I know I can locate the /xml relating to the ships, but I am guessing there is more I would need to do to adjust the merc purchasing screen and such...

I think this rambling mess is all I have at the moment, as always I appreciate any and all replies and assistance. On the plus side, if I ever do create anything remotely decent, I will be gladly sharing back with the community... I have many custom races I want to do, though I am waiting for Crusades to make portions of the process less time consuming. Anyway, done rambling, thanks!

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Reply #1 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

A schema file (.xsd) describes how a data file (.xml) should look like, and what values are acceptable. They also define what the program (GC3 in this case) will accept as valid input. Therefor you should not edit them -- which would be pointless anyway and possibly harmful. Their primary use for the modder is that you can check what value is appropriate at which xml entry.

Creating additional ship (cosmetic) components is done in the ship designer, where you can save a group of selected standard components as a custom component. You can however not alter behaviour (programming) of active components (like beam weapons).

Textures can be added, but i can't really advise you there.

Gauntlet has added some mercs, see his post My First Mercenaries Mod 

 

 

 

Reply #2 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Appreciate the reply. I know how to group and make cosmetic components, I was referring to creating new functional ones actually, I had hoped to add a couple unique weapons, whether they used a cloned model or my own model.

As an example, I wanted to give my UNSC faction (from the Halo series) a unique weapon -- a MAC cannon. Essentially a super-sized railgun, was hoping to make it a railgun that had high damage, lower rate of fire type of thing. Is that type of editing possible? Creating weapons that still behave as weapons do in the game, but adjusting the exact numbers of that behavior?


Thank you for the other info as well. Do .xsd files open in Notepad++ to view them, same as .xml? I coulda swore I saw someone mention actually editing them, but perhaps I was wrong.


Thanks!

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Reply #3 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

You can open and edit .xsd file in Notepad++, editing them is possible, however, 90% of the time it will cause the game to crash.

You can create weapons, any ship component tbh. Tying it to a specific faction will require said faction to have its own Tech Tree. (Take a look at my GST mod for examples)

Reply #4 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

Quoting Ser_JuJoo_Guppy, reply 2
Essentially a super-sized railgun, was hoping to make it a railgun that had high damage, lower rate of fire type of thing. Is that type of editing possible? Creating weapons that still behave as weapons do in the game, but adjusting the exact numbers of that behavior?

You can make weapons with your own damage, but modifying things like rate of fire, range and accuracy affects always all weapons of a ship (because there is no modifier like "Weapon" for the target of those effect types, only "Ship" as "smallest" entity). So giving one weapon e. g. -20% range gives all weapons of the ship -20% range. Putting two of those weapons on a ship then gives all weapons -40% range ...

At least that's my experience, if others found a way to do it differently so that only the weapon itself is modified I would be glad to hear from you ;)

Reply #5 from GalCiv3 Forums Top

My understanding of the schema files that they affect the Ai strategy. Really not where a noobe expertise should be is the schema files. My recommendation is learn what the Ai should be doing first before you worry about the schema files, but this is just an opinion.