isn't there a map like that?

Which map did you choose? Some maps start you off with basic fleets and/or structures. Sins Plus didn't touch starting fleet stuff.

thanks man! dlng now!

i went in and changed the star and planet textures myself from the original textures, to max teals. then i enabled your mod from the in game menu. this meshed both mods together, oceanic works but so far i'm getting black orbs up close for the others, and a window of them when zoomed out.

yep. now it does this for me too. i've been working on installing this thing for many hours now. there's ironclad folder, theres stardock folder, theres this texture folder and that texture folder. i think i need to sleep on this one and get back to it tomorrow.  :NOTSURE: 

Ah, some good feedback today people, nice. Right...

@ Lungorthin
It won't be compatible straight off, but if you ask Max, or someone else with modding skills they may be able to merge them. However, it is a time consuming process without a tool.

@ Shadowdrak
Firstly, its a relief that some else is stumped. I thought I was just losing the plot, having checked, double checked, and triple checked everything. I like the way you mixed up the list order, and played around with the Ice and Volcanic researches. I have been removing and adding the different researches, but it revealed nothing to me, VERY nice work. Although it does seem to be a little limiting, and a big shame, at least we know what it is. I also like the idea of putting the planets that need research into one category, at least then you still need research to colonise them. I will look into that today, thank you very much for your feedback.

@ Aequitas
Yes, it has been a long and grueling process just to find out that in fact we can't do it. But at least we know eh?

@ Tikipiki
Now thats the kind of "out-of-the-box" thinking I like. The tactical and civilian slots I don't think can be researched for a specific planet, but your second point is a very good one. Although this could become very costly if there were a lot of these planets, I could also bump up the asteroid resources around the planet, making them a valuable but costly addition to your Empire. I'll look into both your points, and see what I come out with.

@ Tyberias
One thing I pride myself with this mod, is that it "changes" nothing. As my subtitle says, "A mod that adds, not alters". Everything is new, and I've keep the core gameplay changes to an absolute minimum. And yes, it sounds like the map, rather than my mod.

@ MEGADETH9mm
This sounds strange, but I think you may have replaced a wrong texture file. Some of those files have added sections to make enough space to add additional pictures and icons. One of two things have happened, you have simply replaced the wrong files, or, when you merged some of the texture files, you did not take into account the alpha channels.

You should be in the 'Sins of a Solar Empire' folder, and the folder you need to copy is the "Textures" folder. It should be, by default, 1.07Gb. Get back to me if you still have problems.

Once again, thank you all so much for you feedback (especially Shadowdrak(for his will to help, and expert problem solving skills), Aequitas(for his continuing help), and Tikipiki(for some very good ideas)), and I will be spending most of today working on this.

hmm if i got this correctly u can only have 1 custom colonize research? if its like that give that research more then 1 lvl of research and each lvl a different planet type, i hope this helps, just got that idea....

A nice thought, but it won't work I'm afraid. The levels in a research HAVE to be the same as their previous levels, and only increase or decrease in value. Thanks for the thought though.

Looks very niiice, indeed!

Does the AI know how to handle these new features?

Yes, all research in any mod the AI will use. However this version has no research, I am presently re-working it back into the mod (complications arose, see rest of thread). The new version will have the Gas Giant colonisation research, and population increase, which the AI should use. They also colonise all the new planets.

Hi there,

I have tried to keep up-to-date on the new suggestions people have been giving you, so I am about to give you mine (I hope they are not repeats):

1. Make 2 kinds of gas giants - ones that can and cannot be colonized. That way, if you want your gas giants the way they are in vanilla (I personally like the idea that they are not ideal for any major colonization), you can do so in galaxy forge.

2. Reduce the potency of barren/rock worlds. They are really nice, but they are also very potent - you are able to field a lot of stuff in orbit. With such a low population, shouldn't they only field a limited number of logistic/tactical slots because they don't have the personnel to keep them going?

3. Create a 'venus' type world. A heavily gassed-up atmosphere, but one that supposedly is not volcanic. The population bonus would be dismal (I would not want to live on venus, even if there was tech to let me do so), and orbital structures would suffer from the lack of population. Consider the venus type world the richer cousin of the dead asteroid (you could provide a couple of slots, but otherwise, it would stay fairly stagnant). Much like the dead asteroid, the advantages of having the venus-type world is more strategic than tactical or economical.

4. Create an 'ice' moon. It would be similar to the ice world that is used now, but the assumption is that because the space surrounding it is so cold, the moon is comprised entirely of ice (much like some of the jovian moons). These ice moons/planets would have ample water, but lack a lot of resources (little or no on-planet resources, but maybe only 1 crystal asteroid orbiting it). Again, this distinguishes fromt the ice worlds, because they are (I assume) comprised of a rocky core with a thick, nearly impenatrable ice sheet.

5. I have tried a quick and nasty game with the new planets, and it looks as though the city-world does not get the same benefits of the tech upgrades for terran worlds with regards to population increases. I did not see a population increase for the city-worlds, and their population, although initially impressive, are not so impressive once terran worlds get all of their bonuses.

Great mod, I love it and it allows me to create a more realistic solar system for Sol (complete with the major jovian moons, and some major asteroids).

Cheers,
Gaultesian

@Uzii, is it possible to make all of the "new" planets researchable from a single research.

ie allowing oceanic/barren/forrest researchable from a single research.

A nice feedback post gaultesian, Ok...

1. I like this idea, and may yet incorporate it, however, the bonuses available on Gas Giants can nearly give the same impression (Breathable Atmo, Traces of O2, and Corrosive Atmo). But I will look into it for a possible future update.

2. I can see your point here, but if I do that, they are another Asteroid. I was always under the impression that the size of the planet would effect how far out the 'orbit' would be, and thus effect the number of stations possible. Personnel can be drafted from all around the Galaxy, so I never used that as a factor. I'll keep it in mind though.

3. This kind of planet is probably going in for the next update (after the fix, which should be released today, all going well). From other ideas, I think it will be a 'Toxic' planet, with similar traits to the ones you described.

4. Interesting. Once I get everything into this mod I want, I will try my hand at basic 3D modeling, starting off by scaling things. This would be a good one to start on.

5. This is a good point. At the moment (testing as we speak), I have put in with Asteroids and Barren worlds where the research is Underground Tunneling, improving population with Subterranean cities. The reason I will stick to this, is mainly the exclusivity of Terran population upgrades to the TEC. They have 3 levels, whereas the other two races only have 1. At present I want everything to be as balanced as possible. Then, once the mod is stable and evolved somewhat, I will branch out into race specific research subjects. I will keep it in mind though. Also, I always went on the assumption that the Urban planet was heavily developed anyway, but I will keep in mind the population number, I may double that and see what feedback I get.

Thank you sir, for your in depth feedback, it will not go unused.

Edit: @ TommyFats
It has been mentioned, but I'm going to stay clear of generalising all the new planets in one research for now. I am going to adopt Tikipiki's idea of making the development of Barren worlds expensive. Thanks anyway though.

Just played a quick game to see if I did everything right and the mod looks great. But I do have to say my total folder size is 1.32gig when done, not the 1.14gig. Not that I am lacking for space, but make me ponderous.

Ah, no, the 'Texture' Folder should be 1.14Gb, the total folder size would be.... about what you said.

once again, it helps if people (me) could learn to read before they are allowed to bang away at a keyboard and post their psychotic rantings on the interweb.

I now understand your reasoning for the barrent planet slots. Good rationale. Your reply tells me that you are really, really putting some thought and depth into this mod. Changing and adding ships is one thing (lots of modders are out there, and in a little while, we will bask in their glory), but creating a universe of planets and asteroids and other fantastic phenomenon is where the real meat and potatoes lies    .

Thanks Uzi, and btw, your mod gives Sins a real sense of depth and strategic-minded thinking.

Cheers, and I can't wait to see the new update.

Gaultesian

@ OrangeJumpSuits
Good to hear you know the error of your ways

@ gaultesian
Ah, thats good to hear. Next update should be soon, just some testing left (thought I better thoroughly test it this time ;)). It will include:

- Research for upgrading the population capacity on Barren and Urban planets, as well as asteroids. Level-4
- Research to allow colonisation of Gas Giants. Level-6
- Research for upgrading the population capacity of Gas Giants, only available after Gas Giant Colonistation. Level-7
- All new research now is on one new line on the research screen, which makes for easier viewing.
- Ice Colonisation research is required for Oceanic planet to be taken, due to the fact their only land mass is at the poles.
- Terran planet research subjects also effect Forest worlds.

- Barren and Oceanic planets have generally lower population capacity, but have a high count of Metal and Crystal asteroids(respectfully), and a higher capacity for orbital structures.
- Gas Giants are even more vulnerable to planetary attack, but have an even higher orbital structure capacity.
- Urban planets now have a maximum population of 1000 (after upgrades), which would translate into a lot more after the research mentioned above.
- Forest worlds are generally pretty normal, although they can have some good planetary bonuses.

Hmm, how about Gas giants have no population upgrades and are expensive to maintain (actually cost money rather than make it), but have lots of resources, eg 2 metal, 2 crystal? This would make gaining a Gas giant a risky proposition early on, but they could be very useful later.

I like your thinking verybad, and I have already implemented what you have suggested. Barren planets and Gas Giants even when fully upgraded will cost you money, due to the fact that keeping platforms operating in a Gas Giant would be very maintenance heavy, and Barren colonies would require oxygen and supplies constantly. The starting under-development tax for both of these is crippling early on (I actually hit 0 Credits when testing, I just expanded too quickly), but the payoffs can be very worth it.

I was able to colonize all the new planets in the first version, it said I needed Oceanic Colonization, but I really needed Gas Giant colonization. Once I researched that I was able to colonize all the new planets.

Also, for my own personal use, I merged Sins Plus with The Mars effect just fine, I just had to lose the second gun platform is all. Just go to the 'Game Info' folder for Mars Effect and copy the ships, (frigates & cap ships) as well as the 'PlayerPirate', Fighters, quests and squad files & paste them in the sins plus game info folder. You basically want to copy everything except the players (except pirates) & planet files for the mars effect into the same folder in sins plus. I am currently playing with both mods just fine.

Let me say that this mod rocks & will make a great addition to your sins experiance. A note to the maker of the mod, you should give full permission for others to use this mod (with credit to you of course) so that it will appear in the new mods & not require ppl to try & merge this mod with another of their fav.s. Just a suggestion.... =P

My only worry on this is AI implementation. While we can understand that grabbing this new planet might not be a good idea right away, will the AI know to upgrade it immediately and only get it if they can it?

About my weird issue with starting fleets - yea it was the map. Forget the name of it already, but it starts the player off with a whole bunch of stuff which just surprised me since you always start with a frig factory, a Terran planet and two construction ships.

>.>

Quick question, i havent tried the mod yet, if i use this mod with the Mars mod, do i need to combine them? Or just load them up individually and activate them individually under options?

@ Admiral_Cobbs
Yep, that was the problem, the research was just generally f*cked. And I have received a lot of PM's about people who are going to include my mod with theirs. So future mods should be good to go. The only problem with that is, when I release an update, things could get complicated, authors would have to re-merge.

@ Zyxx
Interesting, I hadn't thought of that. Also, one Urban planet alone could counter the money drain from 3 undeveloped planets. However, feedback will reveal all.

@ Tyberias
Good to hear.

Thanks to all for your feedback and ideas.

Edit: Kreyson, you will have to merge them, but from what I've heard, it shouldn't be too difficult.

Uzii... don't caring about the merging... we know how to do that. If someone don't know, just search a bit in the forum.
Again... Thanks for this great addon. i mean... GREAT ADDON