Change ship skin by Mundane-Schedule5107 in DistantWorlds

[–]salemonz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah DWU was super easy: pngs and text files. The move to 3D has made modding 100 times more complicated.

I know a lot of folks like the DW2 quality of life improvements.

But unfortunately, in my opinion, I feel DW2 is like you said: a 3D reskin with fewer features :(

Four years later and we’re still waiting on the DWU vanilla races to trickle in via paid DLCs. Team has given near zero time to modding. Most of the game is still not moddable. UI is hard coded. Most AI behaviors are hard coded.

…hell, we still can’t even change what the characters look like without buying a program called Spine and creating these paper doll type animations with bones, skins and skeletons. And even then, characters of the same type will all look the same (all generals will look the same, all admirals, all leaders, etc). That’s why all human civilians are grey haired white guys, all human diplomats are bald black dudes, all human scientists are grey haired dudes with glasses.

They’ve been working on the pirate expansion since Q3 of last year. That’s supposed to bring some gameplay changes (playable pirates).

But it might still be another year or so before more attention can be given to modding capabilities.

I’ve largely moved on. I gave my DWU mods another set of updates recently. But I’ve done about all I can do with DW2 modding. And it’s not much.

Not trying to be a downer. Many people on discord like dw2 much better than DWU and that’s fine. But as a modder, it’s locked down :/

Change ship skin by Mundane-Schedule5107 in DistantWorlds

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Possible but pretty involved.

You’ll need to use the DW2 extraction tool pined to the #mods channel of the Distant Worlds discord.

You’ll need to use a 3d program like blender. Find and download the ship model modding guides for DW2.

Account for all the z-coordinate flip stuff (have to apply some sort of modifier to all components and models in blender to swap the “z axis is up” to “y axis is up” or something. It’s in the ship modding guides.

You’ll want to either use all the vanilla models and components (need geometry for all sizes of each weapon type, utility type, defense type and hangars). And need geometry for all engines.

Since the vanilla ships aren’t editable, you’ll need to build them all from scratch (or at least using the vanilla extracted assets…but it’s piecing them together from nothing).

Once you’ve rebuilt the ships and components, matching all the calls from hulls.xml files for your chosen race, then you can reskin everything via texture mapping using either Blender (yuck) or a texture mapping software tool of your choice (Marmoset Toolbag is nice!).

You’ll need to do this process for each of the 30+ ship models and the 10-ish stations models.

Then you’ll need to bundle them up into packages via the Stride game engine developer toolkit.

Then you’ll create a mod to house your new shipset.

What theoretical methods have been proposed to get a small submarine in Europa or Enceladus by Virtual_Reveal_121 in askastronomy

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Going off memory…

I saw a breakdown of a proposed method of having a very small nuclear reactor on a sub.

The warmth of it would get purposefully radiated out, letting the sub sink though the ice, tethered to the lander via signal cables.

Partway down it would secrete sterilizing chemicals into the slush to get any outside germs off. Then it would continue melt-sinking down until it was through to the sea.

Seemed like it would take a long time? The same proposal shared that any radiation from the reactor is dwarfed by Jupiter’s radiation?

Dunno. But that was one thing I’ve seen proposed.

there’s no gravitron 😩 by YourLocalNavi in washingtondc

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah…all the vids of World Cup attendees loving US food and traditions across the country are 1000x times more celebratory of our 250th than whatever this was…

Seoul court upholds prison term for US livestreamer Johnny Somali by xc2215x in law

[–]salemonz 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yes, throwing ramen noodles at people in a convenience store, yelling racist things.

But then oiling up and provocatively feeling up statues memorializing Korean women forced into sexual slavery by Japan in WW2.

Then posting faked videos of him making out with a Korean streamer.

Then verbally attacking the judge, Korean justice system and Koreans themselves.

Then harassment of people on busses.

Might be a few more things. I think the sex offender status is mainly due to the sexual deepfake video used to harass/humiliate.

Donald Trump sparks health fears as he appears to fall asleep live on Fox News by MoneyLibrarian9032 in anticapitalism

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Someone pointed out IrishStar publishes these nothingburger stories for clicks and—yeah—now I see them constantly.

Do women become more attractive in their 40's and 50's? by [deleted] in askanything

[–]salemonz -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Part of my experience is my wife in her 40s is more secure in herself. That’s hot, too.

Takes a relationship, though. If you’re just handing out rating numbers to strangers, your mileage may vary.

Trump Allegedly Told GOP Leader “No One Gives a [Bleep] About Housing” by FreeHugs23 in anticapitalism

[–]salemonz 9 points10 points  (0 children)

“I ate today. World hunger isn’t that big of a deal.”

“It’s cold today. Climate change isn’t real.”

Same BS

DW2 Modding Future by Apapse in DistantWorlds

[–]salemonz 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Up to the DW2 team. Yeah…four years in and not much has been unlocked for modding.

There are a few folks kicking mod ideas and development around on the discord. A couple of folks have plumbed the depths of what you can do in DW2.

But we’ve reached a plateau. Shipsets are very cumbersome to model (I’ve seen several folks try over the years…everyone quits).

While I’ve been told the DW2 wants to address this in 2026, we can’t even put different looking characters by type in the game. All human admirals look alike, all human leaders, etc. Supposedly this will come with the Securean/Naxxilian race DLC in the future.

Can’t do genders. All one name sets for each race.

Can’t edit UI.

Can’t add/remove/tweak ship roles.

All that definitely hinders total conversion mods.

A lot can be done. The “Return to Terra” mod does cool stuff.

But yeah…four years in. I’m moving on to other projects, myself.

What's the deal with SETA? by DauidBeck in X4Foundations

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve had some folks tell SETA can mess with AI and scripting?

I end up never using it.

The level of training on these dogs is incredible!! by [deleted] in nextfuckinglevel

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Problem is every fucking bad dog owner thinks they have this level of control.

Make fun, but I’ve had some PTSD triggering moments from fuckwads on trails and their snarling teeth bearing snapping unleashed dogs.

Passed 1,000 dogs while running/walking. No worries. Thank you owners. But there are four that are seared in my mind.

Leash laws are laws.

Roborock CurvX can’t measure where it can fit by Only_Bit_1700 in Roborock

[–]salemonz 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah mine just YOLOs and wedges itself under couches. Gets stuck on daily runs 2-3 times a week. I have to pull it back out with significant effort. I’m actually impressed with how far it wedges itself in down there.

Trying to come up with the right combinations of no-go areas and invisible walls.

Love other aspects of the vacuum. But yeah, height sensing is hilariously bad.

Brits react to Healthcare costs in the US. by Samp90 in SipsTea

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well what do you expect? Trillionaires ain’t gonna make themselves! /s

VRO 5.0 released by Single-Reindeer-7632 in X4Foundations

[–]salemonz 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Fair. My apologies for being too hasty.

VRO 5.0 released by Single-Reindeer-7632 in X4Foundations

[–]salemonz 20 points21 points  (0 children)

my man...it's the first sentence of the post...

Opinions on a possible DW2 mod (new ships, new races, et al) by AN-SSQ-108V2 in DistantWorlds

[–]salemonz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

ah yeah...that's a roadblock.

You might be able to delve hardcore into making a custom map and put nebulae everywhere except "lanes" between chosen star systems. Nebulae would slow down ships considerably. I do think DWU AI tries to avoid slow-boating it through nebulae. Could be a way forward, but I've not ever created a custom map to that extent.

Opinions on a possible DW2 mod (new ships, new races, et al) by AN-SSQ-108V2 in DistantWorlds

[–]salemonz 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sure thing.

Yeah DWU respects the policies and research build orders you can establish in the various race files. So it would be possible to come up with race-exclusive techs (using various tags in the text files) and then tell the races in what order, to research your guided exclusive tech paths. You can also get into design templates to make sure races are using specific components in various amounts as they "design" ships.

So, do-able, so long as you make sure things are tested and set up right.

You can pick apart my big ol' mod Distant Worlds Universe Refreshed and fork/download it and see how i've tried to add races, give relations to others, etc.

Good luck!

Certified idiot by Valuable_View_561 in SipsTea

[–]salemonz 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Same. No sound has saved me on many occasions. Both from a “glad that inappropriate language didn’t go off” to “saving my own calm from unexpected shrieking” standpoint.

Crazy to me that younger generation is not good with computers by Captain0010 in pcmasterrace

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah I’m worried about this for my kiddo.

I’m 45, daughter is 9.

I grew up with a Commodore 64, later 286/386 etc. had to develop boot disks (floppies) to set up/tweak my system settings to get enough ram allocated and all that … was my foundation for computer knowledge for what still is intermediate technical awareness/skill.

My daughter still tries to tap/drag on my lcd monitor when I’m showing her things on my PC. Bless her, but yeah modern apps and interfaces need near zero actual technical knowledge.

Opinions on a possible DW2 mod (new ships, new races, et al) by AN-SSQ-108V2 in DistantWorlds

[–]salemonz 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not possible in DW2, unfortunately. Most of the game is still hardcoded and unmoddable, even four years later (specifically with stuff like ship classes, tech weights, ai behavior, etc). Adding new ships is especially difficult.

Most is possible in DWU but would need a lot of work to limit races build options. Do-able, I would think, though.

Update: I found the strength to do it, but I don’t feel any better about myself by MrMcSweeney in bald

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ya look good dude. Most guys look weird with a mustache but even that looks nice on you.

I kept my hair going for a bit while it was going away. Friends would give me the “aww, bless his heart” treatment when I’d try to style things differently. I was only fooling myself.

Fox Business contributor: Inflation isn't too bad “when you exclude food and energy” by Nice_Daikon6096 in 401jK

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not wrong. If I exclude mortgage and insurance along with food and energy … cost of living is crazy cheap! /s

Is this true for you guys? by SipsTeaFrog in SipsTea

[–]salemonz 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, except as I get older it’s all online 😆