A few questions and suggestions I would like answers too

[Dutchgamer1982]

First the questions :

-I want all icons (minimap unit buttons etc) to be bigger.
(I have a 2560x1440 monitor and while I love playing on that resolution, in make icons a bit to small for comfort sometimes)
the game by default has 3 size settings for icons, the biggest one on this resolution is still tiny.
Is there a way to further increase them?

-in creature stage I find the minimap lacking detail, is there a way to increase it's size or at least move it independant from your location (so you can look on the map without having to walk all the way there?)

-In civilization stage some city's I conquer have only 5 building spots, with some spots never activating, while others have 11, why is this and is there a way to ensure you get the larger city's

-in civilization stage some city's get 8 turrets while others get only 5 or 6, why is this and what can be done to get the higher number?

-In space stage I want to conquer the entire universe, but space pirates and disasters keeps happening to often so much so that after I own like 100 planets all I am doing is policing the systems I already own.
I want either 10000x less disasters or a way for planets to automate defences and autorepair any damage done is there a setting/mod I can use to allow for this?

====================================================================

Next the suggestions :
(these are game improvement idea's I wonder if mods exist that do something alonge these lines if they do, please say so)

-In creature stage and tribal stage it would be nice if the stats of the creature were not linked to the bodyparts, but rather leveled up along with your HP as you progressed.
(not fun to have to pick between good performance and good looks, creatures tend to look the same as they use the same parts for best stats)

-In tribal stage I always thought it lacked depth, I imagined an overhaul.
*link it to creature stage, the only nests visable are of the nests you left alive in your own creature stage
*instead of having just 5 tribes pop up, have nests over time become tribes
*the social standing of the nest in creature stage with you will influence their starting standing in tribal stage with you.
-allied becomes friendly
-friendly becomes neutral
-neutral stays neutral
-warned becomes neutral
-angry becomes warned
*any member of a different nest that was in your team in creature stage will send you a requist to be your ally in this stage too, as soon as the enter tribal stage
*extra function to your annimal pen, the 3 annimals in it will become the 3 annimals that populate your world in the civilization and space stage of the game, and will be unable to progress to the tribal stage.
*it becomes possible to relocate your tribe to the spot of a destroyed tribe, or to eat from the foodstorage of allied tribes to facilitate movement.
*the goal of the game still is to befriend or kill at least 5 tribes to progess, but you can keep on playing and kill and/or destroy more tribes.
*you can use your shaman to ask an allied shaman for support (socialising with him)
he will order 1 of their warriors (spear, fire or axe, randomly chooicen from what they have available) to follow your shaman , and it will do whatever your shaman it doing.
-you have no direct control over it, but you can send it back home just as you disband a team member in creature stage.
-You can have 1 per allied tribe, with a maximum of 3 following your shaman.
-if you you ask an allied shaman for support while already having support you will not getting a second of that same tribe, but the type of the warrior following you may chance if they have other types available.
+special note : if less than 8 nests survived creature stage, at random more will be added (imported from the other continents)
+special note : if you have less than 3 annimals in your annimal pen when entering civilization stage, the other annimals on your planet will be added randomised


For space stage it would be nice to be able to be able to set planets on automated income, or set automated trade routes, so that they will generate income without you having to do that tedious job yourself all the time.
Likewise It would be nice if T3 planets could have 10 city's just as your homeworld has.

[nitrocoba]

Good suggestions, but now that EA have swallowed up Maxis I don't think any new content will be added to the game. (Maxis have been inactive with this game for quite a long time, actually).

[MinionJoe]

Last update was 2010. There will be no further updates to the software.

The majority of your issues is because Spore was released over 8 years ago and was not designed to support today's higher resolutions. Spore graphics are also oddly tied to a PC's desktop resolution. If you want things legible, reduce your desktop resolution.

[Dutchgamer1982]

I full well know this is an older game.
Actually it is a game from 2008, it is only the last expation pack for it that arrived in 2010.
I have the original retail copy from back in the days laying somewhere around (dated 2009, after the sh*tstorm regarding only being allowed to install on 3 different pc's forced them to chance that VERY dislikable buisnuiss model)

I too expect no chance to the game from EA what so ever.
But surely mods or tweaks must exist I can install or perform to chance things to my likings as said above. I am looking for tips if any such mods exist and/or if any such tweaks can be made and if so how.

Regarding that lower setting.. thats something I plainly refuse, surely there must be grafic overhaul mods or a simple tweak to solve such issues.

[MinionJoe]

EA made Spore as unmoddable as possible. They wanted to sell expansion packs and they couldn't do that if people were making their own. So, no, there are no graphics upgrade mods. The only mods you will find adjust game number balancing or unlock unfinished content that was already in the game. Most of the mods that exist for Spore are over on Davo's site.

[GhostXGaming]

Jw can i play this. On w10 ive never played been really wanting to but i heard it eont work on w10

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by GhostXGaming:

Jw can i play this. On w10 ive never played been really wanting to but i heard it eont work on w10

Some swear it works on Win10.
Some swear it doesn't work on Win10.

Regardless, EA will not support Spore on Windows 10.
So, if it doesn't work, you're screwed.

[Dutchgamer1982]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

EA made Spore as unmoddable as possible. They wanted to sell expansion packs and they couldn't do that if people were making their own. So, no, there are no graphics upgrade mods. The only mods you will find adjust game number balancing or unlock unfinished content that was already in the game. Most of the mods that exist for Spore are over on Davo's site.

EA didn't make the game, maxis did. (though I do not have high esteem of them with their 3 installs only creap at launch)

As for wanting to sell expantion packs :

-there was to be an aquatic stage, it was cut because "had to make release date"
-there was to be more depth to the different stages of the game, especially the space age, but "had to make release date"

-it was promised for an expantion pack -> it never came.

what did came was
*a few more parts (meh)
*adeventure mode (meh)

it's not like the sims, where you had like a gazillion expantion packs for each edition.

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by Dutchgamer1982:

EA didn't make the game, maxis did. (though I do not have high esteem of them with their 3 installs only creap at launch)

Electronic Arts bought Maxis in 1997. Maxis ceased being their own corporate entity and became an EA brand name at that time. ie, Electronic Arts made Spore under the Maxis name.

-there was to be an aquatic stage, it was cut because "had to make release date"

Aquatic stage was cut because EA didn't think kids could figure out the 3d control scheme required for underwater movement.

-there was to be more depth to the different stages of the game, especially the space age, but "had to make release date"

Will Wright denied, on several occasions, that there was no pressure from EA to meet a specified deadline.

-it was promised for an expantion pack -> it never came.

Citation needed. EA was not in the habit of pre-announcing future DLC plans when Spore was released. Mostly because DLC schemes were still in their infancy (as evidenced by Spore, C&C, and GA all being shown as separate "games" in the Steam library) and the practice hasn't been established yet.

it's not like the sims, where you had like a gazillion expantion packs for each edition.

That didn't stop EA from planning to make Spore the next "Sims in Space". But poor sales, inflated development costs, and SecuROM DRM backlash killed the title pretty quick.

[Meteor]

Sadly most mods that are currently available require a very specific version of normal spore, or Galactic adventures to run. Although with how much fun I have had with platinum spore. It can be very worthwhile.

[MinionJoe]

Originally posted by THEMeteor:

Sadly most mods that are currently available require a very specific version of normal spore, or Galactic adventures to run. Although with how much fun I have had with platinum spore. It can be very worthwhile.

Yes, the version requirements for any given mod are very specific.

The reason is that EA broke all existing mods with each update.

A lot of modders stopped updating their mods, so those mods could require Spore 1.01 through 1.04; versions which are not available on Steam.

A few require 1.05, which is what Steam updates to, but a lot of Davo's require 1.06 (the Dr. Pepper/Robot Parts mod) or, as you noted, Galactic Adventures (in addition to 1.05/1.06).

Pretty much any mod that requires < 1.05 won't work with Steam. Mods for 1.05 should work normally once you install for a Steam version of Spore. Mods that require 1.06 will work if you can find the 1.06 patch from a trusted third-party site and follow the instructions on a YouTube video.

Good luck though!

[Dutchgamer1982]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Originally posted by THEMeteor:

Sadly most mods that are currently available require a very specific version of normal spore, or Galactic adventures to run. Although with how much fun I have had with platinum spore. It can be very worthwhile.

Yes, the version requirements for any given mod are very specific.

The reason is that EA broke all existing mods with each update.

A lot of modders stopped updating their mods, so those mods could require Spore 1.01 through 1.04; versions which are not available on Steam.

A few require 1.05, which is what Steam updates to, but a lot of Davo's require 1.06 (the Dr. Pepper/Robot Parts mod) or, as you noted, Galactic Adventures (in addition to 1.05/1.06).

Pretty much any mod that requires < 1.05 won't work with Steam. Mods for 1.05 should work normally once you install for a Steam version of Spore. Mods that require 1.06 will work if you can find the 1.06 patch from a trusted third-party site and follow the instructions on a YouTube video.

Good luck though!

I see, though that practice of new updates breaking mods, happend for a lot of games, but I figure it's about the popularity of the game, the duration of that popularity and the amount of work that needs to be put into it to make it work.


-I can also see ho for spore with it's short lived hype, few mods will be made let alone updated. Who stays loyal to a game that had sold millions of copy's at launch but went almost extinct less than a few months layer.
-sure it can be than it's a lot of work to mod for this game, but it boils essentially always near to is somebody willing to mod in the first place.

-as somebody who mods sometime i can say, modding takes time, and generally after the hype of a game is over no new modders will be added, while the old ones will leave going to mod something else or getting real jobs quit doing free programming alltogether.
Why do I still mod for morrowind? because it's simply the best RTS ever made (well perhaps than neverwindwinter nights and a few other titles give it a run for it's money) but it's one of the best. But new generations regardless of it being better are much more likely to mod for oblivion or skyrim than for morrowind, usually one does not start modding on an old title, so the few that hang around are all there is left.

-A large part of modding is vanity, while old school modders like me not care for having my mods metionion in youtube broadcasts or getting 1000 likes, having a couple hundred comments and a few million download of your mod does help in stimulating you to keep doing the work. Nothing is as depressing as putting months of work in something and seeing "3 downloads" you pretty much abandon such projects.

-a second part is fandom, and for most people the game they fall in love with they will meet when they are between 16 and 18, and will be released around that date.
And it's much more likely to become an enduring fan of something that was considerd "the spirity of that age" than just a one day fly, so something that was not hyped shortly but populair for a couple years, aka spanning your entirely 16-18th lives period, is much more likely to becoming "the one" for you.
(take music for example, find me a new young fan of 16 for an artist from the classical era, or '20s, or even '50's 70's or 90s?" you will be hard pressed to find many, most simply like what is "in" as they are young, and it is very likely for those likings to stick a lifetime.
And people are far more likely to be fan of an artist that has been populair for a decade, than one that is "in" for a summer and forgotten a fe months later.
"this years boybands" tend not to leave as long an impression as the bon jovi's and tiesto's of this planet (not that I like their personal art, or don't see the merit in some of the boybands just as example)

(no it's not nostalgica goggles, it's generational goggles, I know that when i say games of the 90s where the best and quality has going down, perhaps it's true, perhaps not, But regardless, it's unlikely for teens to try out old stuff before they know the new stuff, perhaps some of the new minecraft sandbox players will try the older RTS, TBS and RPG genres than nowdays have less popularity, and perhaps some modern players of skyrim and civ 6 will try older installments like morroind and call to power and do find those better, but the likelyhood of that is about as much as the average 16yo liking playing cello and listening classical music over listening whats "in" now and going out with his friends to a electronic music festifal or whatever kids these days go to.)

Did games get "to simple" "to causualised" "lacking innovation, good writing, immerging" "rely to much on eyecandy" for my generation, perhaps, but perhaps if I am fair I hoped of "more of the same games as I played as a kid, but ever increasing in depth and complexity as I grow older and more experienced" while they simply moved on to apeasing to a new generation of youngsters that may demand totally other things from their gaming.

Finally as a modder and an artist I can tell it is MUCH more fun to work on something fresh, than to keep fixing existing things, especially if others keep trashing them.
I like wrting songs and poems, and occationally I will adapt an existing poem or song if so asked, but if I was forced to keep chancing all my excisting songs and poems, because the size of the font and books they were printed on keeps being chanced by the publisher..
I will eventually leave and find a new publisher, it's not what i want to do as an artist.
-
In morrowind i still mod after more than a decade, but thats because i keep adding more and more NEW stuf, if i was forced to make the same stuff work again every month, I would have left that game too very quickly.
-
So for that reason ANY updating of ANY mod, is pure courtesy of an artist, like cleaning your house or washing an elderly persons behind, its not enjoyable work, it's an act of love to those near you. If the game is only shortly hyped, and the playerbase has dried out, it won't be near you, and you won't have the love to keep doing that courtesy.

So yes Spore had a short hype, not good for enduring fandom.
Few modders to start with, and over the times since it as released, very few games still have ANY modders left at all.
basicly it's "new versions curve" went on much longer than it's populatirity and "modding" timeframe. People just stopped making mods long before the dev stopped updating the game.

[Dutchgamer1982]

Originally posted by MinionJoe:

Originally posted by THEMeteor:

Sadly most mods that are currently available require a very specific version of normal spore, or Galactic adventures to run. Although with how much fun I have had with platinum spore. It can be very worthwhile.

Yes, the version requirements for any given mod are very specific.

The reason is that EA broke all existing mods with each update.

A lot of modders stopped updating their mods, so those mods could require Spore 1.01 through 1.04; versions which are not available on Steam.

A few require 1.05, which is what Steam updates to, but a lot of Davo's require 1.06 (the Dr. Pepper/Robot Parts mod) or, as you noted, Galactic Adventures (in addition to 1.05/1.06).

Pretty much any mod that requires < 1.05 won't work with Steam. Mods for 1.05 should work normally once you install for a Steam version of Spore. Mods that require 1.06 will work if you can find the 1.06 patch from a trusted third-party site and follow the instructions on a YouTube video.

Good luck though!

I wonder if I have acces to any older versions?
And know of any still working mod links?

I still have my retaildisk for spore laying around somewhere (original, no steam on it, only basic game no expantion, 1st edition, perhaps with the crappy 3 instals only on it intact, though I bought it after the eu law made that practice illigal, but perhaps I still need to download something they made available to facilitate the removal of that crap.

I also have registerd this game (steam licence) to orion and hence COULD delite this install and install it from orion directly.

-> I am also not against downloading an ISO with an older version (if you have a link?) after all I OWN multiple legal licences, it would by law nothing but a home copy that I am allowed to make by local law.


I have found there are at least a couple of interesting mods around (but finding any download link for them still working has proven in vain, let alone finding a WORKING version after I downloaded it)

*turning number part limit off : possible, but you won't be able to upload your creations.
(will unable achievements as you won't be able to contact the servers with this installed)

*unlocking all parts
-in creature stage, allow full acces to all cell bodyparts even after entering it, as well as all mounths, regardless of your preferd food as well as already acces to all costume parts from both tribal, and space age.
-in tribal and space age allow full acces to all costume parts of all ages
(this mod does NOT unable achievements)

*play as an epic
(supposingly also NOT unable achievements)

*BEFRIEND epics mod
either makes epics have a regulair rogue of the same type folloing them, or turn their disposition to just "anoyed" rather than default of "angry"
(may unable achievements, may not, unknown)

*aquatic stage overhaul (beta?) a replacement for the creature-> spaceage where everything is belo the water and you will be placing city's in water in spaceage, not on land.
(will unable achievements)

*various body part mods, like the jurasic mod, humans mod, real life annimals etc than chance the look of the ingame body parts to design your own stuff.
-can upload stuff, however it will upload the parts as they originally are not redesigned and the uploades designs will look very different to players using the default parts.
(will in most cases not unable achievements, but may in some)

Plant life editor (beta)
-a basic editor that lets you design your own plants and trees in planet creation mode, and save them.
(does unable achievements)

Extended cell stage
-unlocks the "secret" cell parts that were originally ment to be in the game, and hidden in game files can be seen on some enemy cells but are not available to you by default
(does unable achievements)

Play as the grox
-you start in the center of the universe, the grow are allies, all others are enemies, and T3 worlds now are the worse for you and you must terraform them to be T0.
(yes this would unable achievements)

And for me the 3 most important mods I look after :

*remove/reduce pirates and natural disasters mods
Allow to set you to make these events happen a lot less, one mod allowed you to set it from 100% (as normally in game) to 1%, some allow you to go as far as 0.00001%
I look for that last kind of numbers, colonising ALL of the universe is only possible with a mod like this.
(rumours say this does NOT unable achievements, but it makes some very hard to get, how are you to get enough pirates killed or than achievement if there are no more around eh?)

*automate trade mod
(saves you the trouble of trafficing spice, by alowing a simple button to set a planet on automaticly sell it's produce, while it will not yield the same income as shipping it to some other planet, it is essential for managing large empires.

*unlimited staff of life
gives the staff of life unlimited number of uses, rather than the 20 or 50 (cant remember) it normally has.

If you know links for any of these mods that work i would be gratefull
as I would love to give these mods a chance.