few modding notes to possibly prevent suffering

[anubhait]

----renaming things----
Generally try to not do it. For example weapon names are tied by code logic to units animations - e.g. assaultshield folder for division smgMK3 is named weapon.assaultshield.division.smgmk3. One folder for every combination of shield and every armor. You do not want to be renaming all that.
Not to mention some of those are in Vanilla/XCE. Making it undoable.

----being smart with naming----
I advise you to prepend some strings for research,manufactures,ordinary items,xenopedia etc.
So that when you have it all in strings/items you can easily locate it/replace the string without affecting everything else by using batch text manipulation.
There are some in use already:
airplaine. / airplane.alien. / AV. / ammo. / armour. / building.  / CHASSIS. / Items. / ManTech. / POWERPLANT. / Researches. / SoldierRoles. / VEHICLE. / VV. / weapon.
I use also xped. (xenopedia). For items.xml "Items." should be used only for non-linked items. Meaning not aircrafts,air weaps,armour,vehicle,vehicle weaps.

----special characters----
You can use special characters in the .xml files via their notations. Sofar seen:
 

&lt;   less then <
&gt;  greater then >
&amp;  and &
&#10; newline \n
&#8226;  bullet point 

----on LibreOffice Calc----
In Tools/Autocorrect option/options turn off automatic correction of two capitalized first letters. Otherwise it will rewrite EExtra to Eextra and it will not work.
If in country using "," as decimal separator switch it in settings. It replaced the 0.5 with 0,5 for me. The game considers that zero for aircraftweapons.xml making lightscout fire rate through the roof.

----researches.xml----
If you want research to be locked at the start of the game and it has no requirements just put "NULL" string there as in vanilla game.
To lock out researches from vanilla/XCE just put the name and empty fields there. Exception of course exists in the code - if you do that for Research.AV.SIDEWINDER(avalanche,etc.) air weapons the game complains. You have to leave those there ideally with Research.AV.SIDEWINDER/999/Weaponary/NULL

----weapons.xml----
Beware this contains some ss:Type boolean things. If you open this in LibreOffice calc the boolean values are not there. Best to remove all the ss:Type before editing.
(game does not care about those it seems).
Another Libreoffice tip - in Tools/Autocorrect option/options turn off automatic correction of two capitalized first letters. Otherwise it will rewrite EExtra to Eextra and it will not work.

If you are trying to show something in the soldier equipment tab category the name of the said thing must contain one of "grenade/explosive/shield/rocket" strings. Otherwise it will not show. And vice-versa. Weapons with names containing "grenade/explosive/shield/rocket" will not be shown under the weapons tab.
Two-handed equipment does not work. Even if you define twoHanded field as 1 it will simply not reserve both hands if it's under equipment tab.
(one such example are the current X-Division two handed melee weapons that are under equipment)

----Extra soldier equipment screen categories by Solver----
Take sequipview.lua from Xdivision 1.0.11c Charon's changes,psi,sounds to use them. There are WExtra1,WExtra2,WExtra3,WExtra4, EExtra1,EExtra2,EExtra3.
To put something into extra weapon category change both type and inventoryCategory to WExtra1 etc.
To put something into extra equipment category change inventoryCategory to EExtra1 etc. (and see above - grenade,explosive,shield,rocket in the name is a must)
Do not assign vanilla ballistic weapons to other categories! It messes up the game code logic.

It also seems that to unlock new weapon category you have to unlock manufacture for it. If it's just UnlockItem then it does not work.

----Minimal excel style xml both game and LibreOffice Calc copes with----
Looks like this:
 

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<?mso-application progid="Excel.Sheet"?>
<Workbook xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office"
 xmlns:x="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:excel"
 xmlns:ss="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:spreadsheet"
 xmlns:html="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40">
 <Worksheet ss:Name="shazam">
  <Table>
   <Row>
    <Cell><Data ss:Type="String">blah</Data></Cell>
   </Row>
  </Table>
 </Worksheet>
</Workbook>

 

Edited August 28, 2023 by anubhait