Galactic Conquest Scenario Editor

[Corey]

Hey all, been a while since we've done a news post. The demo is well on its way (the reason for the short delay is explained here), and then we'll be back to finishing our previews of the upcoming 2.2 content. I'm also about to start the Eriadu Authority preview playthrough on my channel after I finish up with the Pentastar Alignment, which should coincide with the release of the demo. But for now, I wanted to talk about a new mod tool.

One of the most tedious parts of modding Empire at War has always been creating the Galactic Conquest scenarios. Setting up all the planets, deciding on andmaking all the new traderoutes (especially in Thrawn's Revenge), putting in starting forces. This has always been a huge timesink for ourselves with twentyish scenarios in TR to maintain, and I'm sure many other mod teams as well. It's also something of a barrier to entry for players who just want to set up something custom. Pox and Corey (but mostly Pox) have decided to address this painful tedium by creating an Empire at War Galactic Conquest editor.  Here's a quick look at what we've got so far.


She may not look like much, but she's got it where it counts.

Currently, we have it set up to load files from whatever mod you may want by plugging in that mod's XML folder to the program (eventually, we hope to do a more regular loading function), allow you to select whichever planets you want, load traderoutes from the mod based on what planets are currently selected, and create additional traderoutes, along with some basic parameters (scenario name, campaign set, etc).



It currently just exports the basic form of the GC (selected planets and selected traderoutes) as well as all the XML entries for your new created traderoutes, which alone saves hours and hours of development time (enough to shave months off of a potential release date). We're still working on adding in the other functionality necessary for creating a fully-functional GC scenario without requiring too much outside modding, and minimal modding knowledge to allow the general community to create whatever scenarios they like, in whichever mods they want, although some stuff like editing the game's text files for the name and description will still be required. Starting forces are next up on our hit list. Pox would also eventually like to include some story scripting support in the editor itself, along with various other functions. Once we have a more feature-complete version ready and tested, we'll be doing a first release for the program. The initial releases will likely require a bit more legwork outside the program, but should still be a huge help at least for other mod teams and let them focus on the more important content rather than the tedious bits of modding, and a good source of feedback for us to improve the program.

[DarthRevansRevenge]

so, this will make so GC making is much easier. thanks, because i'm hopeless right now when it comes to modding.
so this is IN the mod, but we will be able to post them elsewhere for the community?

[Corey]

It's a standalone program that will be downloadable on its own, and it works with not just Thrawn's Revenge but any mod (or the base game if that's what you're into). A copy will almost certainly come with the mod as well. We will have a place for people to post theirs.

[Octavian Krieger]

This is awesome! I'm gonna be able to make all my dream campaigns happen.

[Mr.Puerto]

Nice! Here comes all the GCs where the IR has over 700 SSDs. Joking aside I plan to have some fun with this, can't wait to have my hands on it.

[Illidan Stormrage]

   * grins*
Corey next drink is on me

[StarBornMichaelh165]

Wow I would like to try this out some time. And I know a few people (Andrew Hester and other YouTubers like him) that would all so love to try this out for Content for their Channel and some friends of my to use this for great Gaming night Thanks Corey.

[hesterj]

Wow!!!  I'll give this a try

[DarthRevansRevenge]

this is, hands down, probably one of your best ideas ever

[Kad_Venku]

This looks like an awesome tool which will speed up GC creation a lot.
I don't know how far you are in the development process and how confident you are are about talking details, but I'll ask anyways:

• How are you handling loading files (aka planets)? Is the path being read from the GameObjectFiles.xml or is it handled statically?
• Does the tool support planet placement as well, or does this still have to be done manually?
• Are there any plans to open source the tool, so interested third-parties (me mostly) could contribute to it?

[Corey]

How are you handling loading files (aka planets)? Is the path being read from the GameObjectFiles.xml or is it handled statically?

The Parser searched the XML files provided and loads all relevant objects into the proper categories (right now, that means factions, planets and traderoutes; in the future, when we get to starting forces, that'll also be how it tracks units and whatnot). We have our planet entries and traderoute entries spread across 3-4 separate files each, the builder doesn't care.

Does the tool support planet placement as well, or does this still have to be done manually?

After we're done with the GC creation itself, planet creation is one of the things we want to do.

Are there any plans to open source the tool, so interested third-parties (me mostly) could contribute to it?

Pox and I haven't discussed this yet.

[Kad_Venku]

[...] the builder doesn't care.
After we're done with the GC creation itself, planet creation is one of the things we want to do.

So to sum it up, the parser is running through the mod's xml directory and reading all xml files, populating the editor with all appropriately tagged game objects. That and the future plans are great to hear.

Really looking forward to further updates on this.

[Darth Red]

You guy... rock!

Fantastic update!

[Ordinarygamer96]

Probably my first GC once it's fully developed will be a gc where each  faction starts with a strong outlying base with paths leading into a central war zone around the core. Will be mayhem  with as many factions as possible

[DarthRevansRevenge]

could you sticky this and just edit it whenever more stuff for the editor is ready, instead of making a new thread

[Kor Heskon]

this is awesome, i can't wait!

[DarthRevansRevenge]

i think the first one i'm going to do is an everything in Era 2 campaign, where it is PA vs. Zsinj vs. Maldrood(already with Kosh for balance) vs. IR(with thrawn, outer territory + cuitric hegemony) vs. NR(starts with Hapes but never gets IR/star destroyers.) should be lots of fun



the next one will be a scripted deep core GC where Delvardus, Teradoc, Harrsk, and 2-3 minors face off. I'll severely hamper everyone though. more later

[Director Krennic]

Thank you Corey For sharing this with us! I loved your map but would like to make my own to Challenge me.

[DarthRevansRevenge]

that will be the best part about this

[Deep Thought]

So, just checking, but is this Galactic Conquest Scenario Editor going to still be a thing?

I love what you've done with this, and you've worked so hard. I actually bumped into this while trying to do some research for a star wars fan-fic writing forum I joined, but now with the new movies and things, it seems all fan made projects hit a wall. I'd hate for that to happen here, especially given how truly abysmal the last jedi movie was (frankly I like what you folks have made here better).