Trouble with getting mods to work

[Zeke]

Let me preface this with this might be the wrong location for this thread and feel free to relocate it to where it belongs.

The other mod sections seemed more about making them instead of using them.

Another preface is this isn't about the making of personal mods, just trying to use Xelerus mods.

Based on this link: https://wiki.kronosaur.com/game/guide/install_mods you make a folder called Extentions and put it in your Transcendence file. Then you unzip the mods and place the contents in the folder. Note that some come in their own folders and some are just xml files and perhaps some images. I just dropped them right in the folder as they were given when unzipped. No, I didn't extract to the folder. I just unzipped them on to the desktop and moved them, but that should make no difference. And nothing happened when I fired up the game. There were no boxes to check to activate and the mod library only shows the official game mods I added. Nothing from Xelerus.

I noted one thing about the Wiki instruction link. The folder in the illustration had a folder called TranscendenceSource. My game folder never had that. Is that needed? Something tells me this is a naming and location problem, but I also wonder if I'm supposed to extract the source code, which I'm not eager to do. I don't plan to tinker with the game - just bolt a couple things on. I looked to see if I could just download the source code but the mirror site didn't show 1.8 version for download.

I did make a screenshot of my current Transcendence folder. I have the game itself on my desktop and it works fine. It's not in my program files or on my start menu. Just in user's desktop.

You can see it looks a lot different from the Wiki link.

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Some guidance would be appreciated. Again, if this thread needs a move then go ahead. I'll look for it if it is moved.

[NMS]

It's spelled "Extensions".

[Zeke]

It's spelled "Extensions".

OMG! How stupid of me was that? And btw, it fixed it too!

Too funny!

[Zeke]

Well, since this thread is a bust and I have a bunch of other stupid questions, I might as well go ahead with them.

So I downloaded the starlight playership mod, big mules, solar additions, dealer stations, almighty wrench, no seller limit, neo Raisu, black market addition (not the big game changer one), and all items known.

The wrench, solar, big mules, dealer stations, neoraisu, solar, and black market seemed to work. The no seller limit and all items known were a total bust and didn't work at all. The starlight playership worked except for the disable/enable screen for szots. I made due until I overloaded my reactor and couldn't reactivate anything and even dock services at most stations were of no help. Fortunately I had an earlier save I jammed back in and always made sure I had a big enough reactor going. But not being able to toggle components was a bit of a pain.

I finally gave up in Sanctuary. Went on a Lucifer missile rampage and killed the entire system.

In this Director's Cut run the only Starton was in Eridani and made the black market a total bust because corporate enclaves and black market stations never offer a profit. So to buy and get rank I just had to lose money the entire time.

Also, no Domina stations between Eridani and Sanctuary. I'd haul stuff all the way back to Eridani to donate. Tons of stuff given, coffins, cash, food, rods. Nothing moved me into having powers. 60 coffins in and still not even the first of the powers.

Noted too that drydock ship merchants wouldn't trade, no matter how rich I was and that radioactive ships refused docking like they were a station until I got orthosteel armor.

So I decided to scrap the mess. Decided to dump the Xelerus mods too.

I would ditch the mods too. Deleted the game, redownloaded, and the listing is still there. Worse is the mods are mostly just numbers as names with no way to identify what there are. Good grief, no name forever mods I cannot ditch. Mist be some kind of registry problem. Official mods are named. So is wrench and big mules.

So my questions are multiple. Is the device disable screen a function of a later game version that I must choose playership mods from? Why no startons, domina stations, and no triggering of powers? And how do I scrub out numbered no name Xelerus mods so they don't show up?

On a simple game question, is there any value at all from container stations? I don't care about them offering the odd rumor and I'm not giving them free stuff for asking. Space bums trying to mooch from murderhobos is the silliest idea ever.

All ideas are welcome here. The persistent unnamed mods is is the worst though.

[Ferdinand]

When downloading mods from xelerus you should pay attention to the version of Transcendence the mod was written for. A mod that was written for version 1.0 will most likely not work as designed in version 1.8 (or in the 1.9 alpha's). Unless it has been recently updated. Relanat is very active updating old (abandoned mods) on request.
So it is probably safe to download a mod that was designed for 1 or to versions back. But there are no guarantees. Use at your own risk. You are usually safe with mods that are still actively maintained by their creators.
A lot of those old mods can be used to create your own mod by adapting them to your needs.

Never had the numbered mods issue, so can't help with that, probably a Windows issue? (I'm using Linux and play Transcendence on Wine) When I ditch Transcendence and reinstall then everyting is clean and only the mods from the multiverse get reloaded when I log in to that.

[Zeke]

A lot of mods are outdated. But with so many releases because the creator stays working but player interest in games a frequently transient thing, this is to be expected.

I'll remember the Relenat advice.

The mod number names are mod UNIDs. Possibly updating the UNID names could help, providing the persistence problem wasn't around.

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The 5 after the official Osaka mod aren't even on my computer anymore. The game has already been deleted and reinstalled, but they still show up. Updating the mod UNID might end up putting them on the list twice. The ghost name issue is troubling. I'm hunting around in AppData for ghost with poor success right now.


Also troubling is why the game quit putting in startons and domina stations, turning off domina functions, and turning on the irradiated problem. None of those were part the mods I chose. I could see how opting for more black market and dealer stations crowd out some other station options, but that assumes a hard cap limit on total stations per star system and deprioritizing the starton domina stations. But even that doesn't explain the shutting off of domina tier progression through donations and the odd irradiated docking refusal problem on ships.

A clean install might sort these problems out, but the game keeps these ghosts around.

Somewhere when perusing the forum I saw this mentioned in a thread. But I don't remember where. Quick hunting and using the search function didn't help either, likely because the thread title wasn't clear and I clicked it for a different reason.

I'm going to need someone with Win7 experience on these mods likely to help sort all this out.

[NMS]

That's all rather odd. Mods could prevent the player from having any powers, in which case I think pressing the key results in a "No powers" message. But I don't believe they could prevent the Enable/Disable menu from working. Are you sure you were pressing the right keys for your current keyboard configuration?

The mods with UNIDs beginning with D001 belong to "TheLastBrunnenG". What happens if you try to start a game with them? I'd assume you get an error if they're not in your Extensions folder. Maybe try deleting the <Extensions> section from your Settings.xml file. If that doesn't help, let us know if you're using the Steam or non-Steam version.

[Zeke]

I've never permitted Steam into my gaming because I never wanted Steam in my computer. If it isn't freeware then I insist on owning a physical copy of every game software, not letting others hold it hostage at a server in exchange of gaining access to my gaming or other personal info. If I need an internet connection to always play a certain game then I'm not buying. Freeware, naturally gets it own rules. If they aren't asking for money and I want to play then they get to set the terms. But most freeware gaming is typically not very intrusive.

I figured out the persistence problem. I dumped my game again. Then I searched for all game and mod references and found a ton in the folder of the AppData/user/myname/Microsoft/Windows/Recent items. I scrubbed that out, rebooted the pc, got a new game copy online, and logged in the game for mods. Only the official game mods remain on the list now. It seems the leftover recent shortcuts references that the OS makes create ghosts. I find so many game problems of many games hard to fix byecause of artifacts in AppData.

I'm free to start fresh with or without Xelerus mods. I may just go with a few that both worked and didn't intrude so much. No telling how bigger mods get to changing game fundamentals.


The big point being is now I know how to scrub any new problems out. Problems that can't be fixed can at least be made to go away.


Never did get an answer on the game value to players on container habitats though. Right now they seem just as silly as finding a castaway family in a freight container floating in the middle of a star system. Seems quite implausible even in a SciFi game.

I could also use a Xelerus player ship mod suggestion. Something very recent and EI freighter sized 4-6 armor spots. I can tweak particulars in the mod if it is xml format, but I can't make an image. The game is just too stingy with device slots, imo. I suppose I might have to figure out how to make my own playership mod for something like the EI300 or EI700. Darn game is sucking me in with the modding aspect against my will. lol.

I might like to play the Osaka but I will have to learn how to port that over to an xml to tweak it. I see the Armstrong mod but I can't find out what it looks like.

[Ferdinand]

Well, the mods on the multiverse are worth a try, And if you are in to modding, there is a nice tutorial here: https://transcendence.kronosaur.com/gui ... exm?id=938

[Zeke]

Well, the mods on the multiverse are worth a try, And if you are in to modding, there is a nice tutorial here: https://transcendence.kronosaur.com/gui ... exm?id=938

I've seen all of that. Actually no, I'm not hoping to delve deep into modding this game. Modding games can end up like a crack habit. At some point you realize your are modding in a bunch of games and not really playing the games much anymore.

[PM]

Re: Habitats
If you donate items, you could get special hints and stuff like where to find items. However, money (or items worth money) is not something player can easily afford to give out like candy. And player needs to know exactly which items to give. (Thanks to early versions where it was harder to earn money, before George fixed up the economy in recent versions.) I would not say they are completely useless, but knowing how to exploit them properly requires knowing exactly what they can do (much like Teraton fabricator), which requires looking up wiki or source diving. I once made a mod that told the player what option to pick to get some benefit, but I did not want to maintain it and removed the mod.

In practice, I do not bother with habitats. The benefit they could give is frivolous for the cost. Player needs money badly when habitats show up.

There are similar traps elsewhere. One that used to be a trap was Dvalin where player needed to donate at least few level 10 Ares and/or Iocrym items to get the Ion9. Now, player can get the Ion9 early enough (before Jiang's Star) before he can find a reactor that can power it and the rest of his items. (250 mw reactor is not powerful enough.)

[relanat]

As Ferdinand says, check the game version or last updated date for the xelerus mods. The newer ones have more chance of working but sometimes the older ones will.

Startons and Sisters of Domina stations aren't guaranteed to appear in the game except in Eridani. The Sisters Cathedral will always appear. It is straight chance whether the game generates any others. As you say, adding more station mods lowers the chance of standard game stations appearing.
There is always at least one tinker station in a game but AFAIK that is the only guaranteed randomly generated station.

The 'Ship Broker not buying' glitch is usually caused by playerships not having a couple of lines of code. This stops the "Buy" action from being enabled. It is easily fixed. (For info, the "ShipClass" needs to inherit &baHumanTechShip;)
If it was the Starlight playership you mentioned, add it to the "Requests for older mods to be updated or improved" topic, https://forums.kronosaur.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8626. I should be able to update it fairly quickly.

Recent changes to the known/unknown code means most "identify" mods won't work and will need updating.

Container stations are fairly limited. The rumors have been expanded recently and can help new players. They also make handy destination stations for missions sometimes. Otherwise nothing much happens there.

Your best bet for a xelerus playership is to find a ship you like the sound of and ask for it to be updated. Most won't have the required ship broking code as mentioned above.

To tweak the Osaka you just decompile the .tdb file to .xml files. Search "decompile" on the forum for the required method.

[Zeke]

Yeah, I'll have to ditch most of the Dealer stations mod. I wanted the trader that dealt in xeno weapons, but it added that plus 3 other dealers.

Fortunately the mod is broken into 4 parts and I can ditch the EI, Nami, and ROM vendor. Dumping 3/4ths should help to restore more standard stations.

The one thing I wanted assurance to find is the trading ROM when I bought my smugglers hold, because that function dies when you take out the trading hold.


Only problem is I read the 1.7 Source download from Xelerus and in all my XML reading I can't find the UNID for the trading program ROM. It turns up randomly in the game at least once or twice, but it is a very uncommon ROM. It's not in Devices, Useful Items, or Misc. I've search a bunch of others too with no luck either.

Can anyone help with that one UNID for the trading program ROM?

[Ferdinand]

Well, the trading ROM did not exist in 1.7 that is why you can't find it there. It is a very recent addition. You will need 1.8 or newer for it. Same goes for several other items and ROM's. Unfortunately I do not mod myself, but someone here will certainly give you the right UNID.

[AssumedPseudonym]

 The UNID for the trading computer ROM is &itTradingComputerROM (or 0x00100044 if you need the hex value). It’s in UsefulItems.xml as of somewhere in the 1.8 releases.