Starpoint Gemini 2

Starpoint Gemini 2

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Making of... More Banners mod
Da danijel
A step-by-step tutorial on how the More Banners mod was created and published. This tutorial covers the bare basics of modding only a few elements in the game, but also how to assemble and publish a mod through the Mod Manager.
   
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What you'll need to work with...
First it's always good to have all the necessary software installed. Here's a list of the things you'll need to assemble this mod:
  • Image editing software like Photoshop or Gimp (free) that can open *.dds texture files
    You’ll use this to open the banners texture and add your own pictures to it. You’ll probably need to download a *.dds plugin to be able to open and save *.dds textures.

  • Windows notepad, MS Excel or our advice is the Notepad++
    You’ll use this to edit the database table to add new entries so they show up in the game.

  • Some good will and enthusiasm to get it all assembled and working
Creating your mod folder
Before you start adding anything it’s always good to create your mod folder so there’s no chance of overwriting the default game files by accident.

Let’s go over this step by step:
  • 1. In the game root\Mods folder create a new folder and name it More_Banners
    DON’T USE EMPTY SPACES IN FOLDER NAMES! Using underscore “_” is also not advised (yes… I realize the irony when you see we used underscore in the showcase mod… that was dumb of us, so please learn from our mistakes :) )

  • 2. Inside the game root\Mods\More_Banners folder create the Spg2 sub-folder

  • 3. Mod folder structure has to mimic the default folder structure of the game. In the case of our More Banners mod we created the needed sub-folders Mods\More_Banners\Spg2\Base and Mods\More_Banners\Spg2\Icons

  • 4. The only thing left to do in the initial setup is to create the mod definition file which is explained further down in the guide
Adding banners to the texture
First you’ll need the logos/banners you want to add. Simple or complex images (depending on your preferences). Once you have those collected, open the Mods\More_Banners\Spg2\Icons\bannerBig.dds texture in your image editing software. Since it’s not there by default, copy the default texture from the game. You’ll edit the copy and the mod will use that copy so nothing corrupts the default game file.

A good step would be to create a grid of 128x128 pixels squares since each individual banner is of that size. That will make the next step easier.

Add your new banners onto the texture, into those 128x128 slots. Be careful to create the appropriate alpha channel too as it is used by the game’s shader that renders banners on ships.

Once you’re done with placing your new banners, don’t close up the image just yet and proceed to editing the database.
Editing the banners.wdt database
Copy the default same named (Base\Banners.wdt) database file from the game into Mods\More_Banners\Spg2\Base folder. You can now start editing it.

Open Banners.wdt either in Notepad++ or standard Windows Notepad or if you prefer in MS Excel. We advise using either Notepad++ or Excel for editing databases. You’ll notice the file looks something like this:
Colum: 6 Id FileBig X Y W H 0 Spg2\Icons\BannerBig.dds 0 128 0 128

And it has a number of entries, with each entry having a unique Id. Ids HAVE to be unique.

Let’s imagine for the sake of this tutorial that Banners.wdt has only 1 entry, with the ID of 0. Parameters of each entry are separated by tabs (each is it's own column). Adding a new entry simply means you have to add a new line with the following parameters:
1 Spg2\Icons\BannerBig.dds 128 256 0 128

Let’s explain the individual parameters in a single entry:
  • Id – Unique entry Id
  • FileBig – Path to the texture containing the banner. In case of banners, this path should always be the same due to the render system. ALL banner, old and new, MUST be on the same texture. If you need more space, expand the texture.
  • X Y – These are the horizontal coordinates. 0 128 means the starting horizontal pixel is 0 and the ending is 128
  • W H – These are the vertical coordinates. 0 128 means the starting vertical pixel is 0 and the ending is 128

When combined, the horizontal and the vertical coordinates form a square 128 pixels wide by 128 pixels high. The game then uses this square extracted from the texture to render as a banner.

The modded files are done. Let’s move on to assembling the mod and publishing it on the Workshop.
I modded the files… Now what?
What you need to do next is go to the game root\Mods folder and create a file called More_Banners.sgs. Note the extension. You can then open the file in Windows Notepad or preferably Notepad++.

The mod *.sgs file defines the mod, what it is, the picture seen when browsing the Workshop, author etc. An important thing is that the *.sgs file MUST be named identically to it’s mod folder or the mod WON’T work!

OK. Let’s have a more detailed look at the *.sgs file, on the inside:
Txt Version: 1000 Mod: { Name: More_Banners Author: LGM_Games Description: A_simple_mod_that_adds_45_more_banners_you_can… Picture: Mods\More_Banners\More_Banners.jpg }

Let’s go over the individual parameters:
  • Name – You can name your mod anyway you like. It doesn’t have to be named identically as the *.sgs file or the mod folder, but that is good practice. This name will be shown in the Workshop.

  • Author – Your esteemed name or whatever you wish to put in that place to identify the creator of the mod.

  • Description – A short description of the mod, so players can know what to expect from the mod.

  • Picture – Path to the picture that will be used on the Workshop and in the game. Use 340x191 jpeg images as they will work best in the game’s Mods section.

A few important things to mention:
  1. DO NOT use empty spaces in either Name or Description. Switch empty spaces with underscores “_”. Otherwise the mod won’t work properly!
  2. ALWAYS put an empty line after the final bracket "}" in the *.sgs file
  3. ALWAYS separate keywords and values with TAB and NOT SPACE
That’s it! How can I publish the mod?
When all of the above is done, you’re ready to publish your mod. If you only want to use it locally, you don’t have to publish it, but if you want others to try it out, you’ll naturally need to.

  • Start the Mod Manager and switch to the Publish tab.

  • Click on the Select SPG2 Mod

  • It will open up a standard Windows file selection panel

  • Go into Mods folder and select the More_Banners.sgs file we created earlier and click Open

  • Give the Mod Manager a bit of time to assemble the mod file (*.sgm). As Steam Workshop only allow single-file uploads, a mod has to be “zipped up” into a single file archive

  • When assembly is done, check the Tags you want for your mod. Filtering mods in the Workshop uses these tags, so check proper tags please.

  • When you’re ready, click the Publish button

  • Give the Mod Manager a few moments to upload and publish your mod

  • That’s it! You’re all done and you can find your mod published on Steam Workshop. Congratulations!
Final thoughts
This sums up this step-by-step tutorial. For more details on what can be modded, please refer to the modding website ( modding.starpointgemini.com ). This website will be updated over time to fill all the missing bits and pieces so check it often!

Thank you for taking the time to read this tutorial. We hope it helps. If not, let us know and we’ll update the tutorial as well.

Happy modding!


6 commenti
NepNep 13 giu 2014, ore 1:26 
It gave me no end of trouble when trying to publish my Striker Mod, it's not really published, I just wanted to know what the process was like before I got that far hehe
danijel  [autore] 12 giu 2014, ore 1:51 
Thanks for the tip Ryouchan! I'll make it so :).
NepNep 11 giu 2014, ore 3:56 
A small change you should make to this guide, 1: Put an empty line after the final bracket in the .sgs file, and 2: Separate .sgs file variables and values with a tab, neither of those shows up int he sgs portion here because I guess steam hates emptiness
danijel  [autore] 4 mag 2014, ore 7:40 
@ Slow Ninja
Aye aye cap'n!
Slow Ninja 3 mag 2014, ore 13:42 
Man. I find it hard to beleive people like you still exist in this industry.
Thanks for the guide, keep on rocking!
Clermas 25 apr 2014, ore 22:07 
Thanks for the guide.