General Category > AVWW Mods & Maps

XML files in region descriptors

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TechSY730:
I noticed that there is a good deal of logic for the region data in plain XML files (not the save files, the global region data stuff). Do these files affect generation of rooms, or behavior of region specific objects, or something else? Would they cause desyncs (whenever multiplayer comes around) if modified, even if only the stuff that affects initial room generation is touched?

x4000:
Most of this stuff just affects chunk generation, not actual gameplay once it's been generated.  Also, that sort of thing only has an effect from the server in multiplayer, since that's where everything is generated.  Kind of like how the names files in AI War only have an effect on the host, not from the clients.

In terms of what a lot of those XML files do, it's pretty much about how exteriors, interiors, and undergrounds are populated with objects.

Lastly, it's actually 100% completely impossible to get a desync in this game because of the networking model.  Same thing for any action game or FPS game or whatever -- desync has no meaning, because there is not a perfect sync to begin with, nor is a perfect sync required for play.  It's pretty much just RTS games and the like (and some puzzle games or turn-based games, probably) that have the worry of desyncs at all.

TechSY730:
Cool. Since this affects mostly spawning behavior and not object behavior or room layout generation, I'm not really that interested into fiddling with it.

However, this may be useful information for someone who does. I could see it being useful for generating things like furniture showrooms or something.

x4000:
If you want to affect room layout generation, that's in the .txt files inside the RoomMaps section -- for all except the procedural rooms.  The pure procedural aspects of the game can't be tweaked in any way via the xml, and the entity behavior isn't scriptable or anything like that, either.  But yeah, for filling in various types of entities and such in the exteriors, for instance, there's a pretty good amount of flexibility.  And there's one xml file for tweaking particle effects, too.  And others for being able to add dialogue to the game, too, actually.

zebramatt:
I might be interested in this, once there's a way to preserve changes over version upgrades!

Also, be careful digging around in all those text files - you never know what you might find out!

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