Expedition Editor

[nicklogan]

Jaggid Edje's survival run of the current expedition got me thinking again about the possibility of an Expedition Editor that would allow building your own expeditions and being able to post them for others to run. Back in the day the game Descent and it's iterations were popular enough that a game environment editor and customization tool was made available. I have no programming background so don't know if this is technically feasible for HG or even if it makes marketing/business sense. Feedback?

[Gunther Ultrabolt Novacrunch]

That's a pretty great idea.

[Jaggid Edje]

That'd be a pretty cool feature if they added it!

[King Crimson]

I'm Game!!

[Zak]

There are so many talented modders out there. This could result in some awesome content for the game.

[MarStrMind]

Count me in on that one!

[Finaryman]

good idea, except, this is huge work from hello games

as they need to prepare every for of requirements that players may want to apply as goals.

EDIT: i see, most huge work is done by now...

[Azure Fang]

This is surprisingly "easy" to do, but it's not currently feasible. All of the general mutators, expedition start and end times, as well as the basic configuration of the milestones and other structured data (like defined starting ship/pet/tool/freighter and inventory layouts), are stored in your save folder's cache subfolder as SEASON_DATA_CACHE.JSON. Here, one can define the milestones, define rewards, set locked difficulty settings, manipulate player states, define start points, and set overrides for everything from sandworm spawn times to player resource drains and every little detail in between. ScantyX keeps an ongoing record of these caches so that past expeditions can be replayed, which is effectively running custom expeditions.

After that framework is set, the strings used would need to be defined and localized. All "season missions" AKA expedition milestones are defined in SEASONALMISSIONTABLE.EXML, and the localizations of the current expedition descriptions are stored in the 8th localization tables (NMS_LOC8_<Language>.EXML). Then, any NEW rewards, such as expedition-themed posters, would need to be defined in the building part and reward unlock EXMLs and localized.

The big problem here data retention. The reason we keep unique expedition rewards is because those reward definitions have been permanently added to the core game data, specifically in UNLOCKABLESEASONREWARDS.EXML. Once you complete an expedition, that save also retains a record of the completion and its milestone badges. If one swapped out one modded expedition for another, the previous save would break if it was kept, unless only "vanilla" assets were used for badges, patches, and rewards. Any expedition phase rewards assigned to the account would be lost upon swapping out the modded expedition unless newer modded expedition definitions were constantly merged into an ongoing mod file, as the definitions that say "^COOLMODEXPSHIP" is available for redemption would be gone. Said merged mod would then need to be updated every time the game is updated, and players would have to learn how to update it themselves for their personal set of custom expeditions run or else potentially lose everything if they accidentally save once while the merged mod remains out of date.

So, while we are completely in a position to make custom expeditions, there are limitations based on how mods and saves interact that make them unfeasible or at least unrewarding to anybody but those that just want to play the modded expedition unless the modder only used assets and rewards that already exist in the game. Maybe one day, when someone creates a better mod management system than AMUMSS or if HG stops updating NMS and decides to openly support modding, but for today it's just not feasible.

[Captain Brendig]

And then there is a loud *thump* over the PA system as Azure Fang drops the mic and casually walks off the stage.

Edit: In a good mood today. The weather is finally cooperating and letting me get some yard work done, and my cat hasn't bitten me yet.

[Azure Fang]

Originally posted by Captain Brendig:

And then there is a loud *thump* over the PA system as Azure Fang drops the mic and casually walks off the stage.

Edit: In a good mood today. The weather is finally cooperating and letting me get some yard work done, and my cat hasn't bitten me yet.

LOL

Just to be clear, I'm all for custom expeditions. I'm on the side that believes users should be able to mod games however they want as long as it doesn't directly impact the fun of others and that the Micro Star v. FormGen[en.wikipedia.org] ruling was a mistake. I just wanted to highlight the fact that there are some currently inescapable hurdles preventing such a concept from being fun.

[Captain Brendig]

Originally posted by Azure Fang:

Originally posted by Captain Brendig:

And then there is a loud *thump* over the PA system as Azure Fang drops the mic and casually walks off the stage.

Edit: In a good mood today. The weather is finally cooperating and letting me get some yard work done, and my cat hasn't bitten me yet.

LOL

Just to be clear, I'm all for custom expeditions. I'm on the side that believes users should be able to mod games however they want as long as it doesn't directly impact the fun of others and that the Micro Star v. FormGen[en.wikipedia.org] ruling was a mistake. I just wanted to highlight the fact that there are some currently inescapable hurdles preventing such a concept from being fun.

Oh I'm so with the idea of custom expeditions. I would love that, as my favorite base builds are puzzle/mazes. I like the idea, but do get what you are saying about feasibility.