Turn off background nedula

In my game, editing StarboxDefs.xml and/or editing GFX show up in game. Are you using the one in ...DLC/EXP2_Crusade/Game ? It needs to go in ...My Games/GC3Crusade/Mods 

Assuming you get it to show up, an alternative to deleting it is to use one with more contrast. Go to line 82-84 in StarboxDefs.xml, <RandomNebulaTexture> (that's the textures for the default starbox). Change all 3 to "invasion03.dds" It's a blue nebula that is much more readable. You can use any texture in the GFX folder. 

I'd guess if you just delete the texture path completely, it will default to stars (if the game doesn't crash). Not tested this:

<RandomNebulaTexture></RandomNebulaTexture>

The opacity numbers in line 79, 80 can also be adjusted for more clarity. I use:

    <MinNebulaOpacity>0.2</MinNebulaOpacity>

    <MaxNebulaOpacity>0.7</MaxNebulaOpacity>

As above, I used the Min and Max Nebula values.  I found the background much too bright for proper contrast for my aged eyeballs. The flexibility of this game repeatedly amazes me.

Thanks. This gives me some hope. It seems like my edits of the StarboxDefs.xml file didn't take either because I was editing the wrong file or I put a copy of the edited file in the wrong place. I know Where do I put the .xml file? I tried putting a copy here but it didn't work when I edited it:  \Documents\My games\GC3Crusade\Mods. Thanks for the help.

My Games\GC3Crusade\Mods\<your mod name>\Game\StarboxDefs

You basically duplicate the file path from the game directory in your mod directory to tell the parser where the mod gets applied.  In this case, all you need is the Game directory.  More complex mods would have several included folders depending on how ambitious you got.

There are a couple of places in the file where the values are defined for different conditions.  Pay attention to that or else you will never see the updates.  At least, that is what happened to me at first.

I've reinstalled the game and verified integrity of the files. Then copied StarboxDef.xml file from steam's Data/Game folder and pasted it here:  \Documents\My games\GC3Crusade\Mods\NoNebula\Game. In the DefaultStarbox section I made the highlighted changes:  

 <NumRandomNebula>1</NumRandomNebula>

    <NebulaMaxMinRatio>1.0</NebulaMaxMinRatio>

    <NebulaFillRatio>8.0</NebulaFillRatio>

    <MinNebulaOpacity>.10</MinNebulaOpacity>

    <MaxNebulaOpacity>.10</MaxNebulaOpacity>

    <RandomNebulaTexture>Temp/Gfx/Space/invasion03.dds</RandomNebulaTexture>

    <RandomNebulaTexture>Temp/Gfx/Space/invasion03.dds</RandomNebulaTexture>

    <RandomNebulaTexture>Temp/Gfx/Space/invasion03.dds</RandomNebulaTexture>

Double checked that mods are enabled. Then tried starting a new game, quick start and loading a saved game. Still no changes to the background nebula. I don't know what I could be missing.

do this to completely remove nebula, you have the right file and directory structure

 <NumRandomNebula>0</NumRandomNebula>

Changed <NumRandorNebula> from 1 to 0. Still does nothing. Nothing I do the the .XML file causes any changes. Something is stopping the game from using the file with the changes. Any ideas for next steps?

Do you have Mods enabled?

Are you starting a new game? xml changes do not update in games started previously, as the xml used during game creation is stored with the save game in Stardock games.

Any chance those changes are not over-riding the default game files? Perhaps try changing the default game files just to test. Verifying files will restore them to how they should be if you mess anything up.

Mods have been enabled and I've been testing by starting a new game.

I made a backup of the .XML file and changed NumRandomNebula to 0. It worked! If anyone knows why the game is ignoring the modded file I'd still like to know. I haven't mentioned this before but I'm legally blind and wasn't able to play the game without removing the background nebula. Thanks again for the help.

If Mods are enabled, then I'd have to suggest that the mod isn't selected and/or the file path is wrong. 

Ah, I was wondering if I had to select/enable the mod. I can't find where I do this.

you don't have to select it, if it is in the crusade mod folder and your playing crusade all mods in there should activate. If your not playing w/ crusade then it should be in \Documents\my games\GalCiv3\Mods

Outside of using the mod folder if your trying to change game files, you actually have to recompile (or something similar) after changing the file, as all that stuff is pre-compiled to help speed load times. My terminology may be incorrect but either here or on steam stardock posted the specifics. I know there was also a mod that helped remove the nebulae to but I haven't tested or tried it in ages.

It is not necessary to recompile.  If your mod is very extensive, you might get a load speed boost, but it would have to be very extensive modifications of basic behaviors.  I know I have never had to recompile anything to run mods so far and that performance has been clean.  YMMV.  I suspect xml level changes are sufficient for most, if not all, reasonable mods you might want to make.

Do not need a Data folder, /Mods/My Mod/Game is sufficent. (/My Mod/ is actually the "Data" folder)

IIRC, you can not affect a saved game by changing the mods because the mods in affect at the start of a new game are saved with the saved game.

I once saved my modded file as a .txt.  Everything looked fine in the editor.  Refused to work.  Another time I was caught up in the differences between Crusade and base game.  Started with a copy of the Crusade version and redid things from there.  Worked fine from there.

Actually, my nebula mod file started as a copy of the original, just as you describe.  Didn't have the gumption to start from scratch!  Guessed at what I was doing til it worked!

I just noticed a certain gotcha in the above.  The file has a section labelled "customFactionStarbox" which fires up when you are using a custom faction.  That is where I put my mods.  There is a section at the bottom of the file for the default settings.  If you are not alert about that, it can be confusing.  The behavior may change depending on what faction you are using.