Here's how!
Open the Transcendence game folder. This is the folder that contains Transcendence.exe and Transcendence.tdb. Create a new folder and rename it as "Extensions" (without the quotes).
Download the file BasicModOutline.xml which is attached to the end of this post. Copy this file into the Extensions folder.
Next you will need a text editing program. You can use Notepad but I would recommend you try NotePad++, jEdit or Sublime Text. These are upgraded text editing programs that make modding easier.
Open the BasicModOutline.xml file with the text editing program.
The image below shows what will appear.
The first line
Code: Select all
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
The next 4 lines
Code: Select all
<!DOCTYPE TranscendenceExtension
[
<!ENTITY unidShortModDescription "0xD7890000">
]>
'unidShortModDescription' is called a UNID, which I think is a short form of UNique IDentifier. The game uses UNIDs for pretty much everything. When the game sees this it will remember the code in this mod by using this UNID.
The number part "0xD7890000" is the same UNID as 'unidShortModDescription' but in a hexadecimal format. The game sees both of these as exactly the same.
Numbers starting with '0xD789' have been allocated to me for creating mods. All my mod UNIDs are prefixed with '0xD789' but I'm not using this one so we'll use it here. If you want to create more mods go to the forum and you can ask for a number to be allocated to you.
The next section sets out basic information for the mod.
The first line is the 'UNID'. This is exactly the same as the UNID in the ENTITY section above and it must be the same or we will get an error. Note that in this section it has '&' before it and ';' after it. All UNIDs in this section of the mod must have these as we will see later.
'apiVersion' determines a couple of things but mainly which versions of Transcendence the mod will work in. API 39 means this mod will work in all game versions from 1.8a4a and higher. The Centauri station code changed in version 1.8a4a so this mod won't work in version 1.8a3 or lower.
'name' is fairly obvious. It is the name of the mod which appears in the game start screen.
'version' can be used as you update your mods to keep up with changes in the game or when you add more features. It helps players know when to redownload your mod because it has been improved.
'release' isn't important here and it can be left as '1.00' in all of your mods.
'credits' let's everyone know who created the mod. Put your username in here.
Note that all of these values start and end with double quotes. This is necessary and if a quote is missing we will probably get an error.
Also notice that this block of code starts with '<TranscendenceExtension' and ends with '>'. This is the opening section of the mod.
The last line of code is '</TranscendenceExtension>'. Note the backslash '/' second in the line of code. This makes it the closing line of the mod and this must be the bottom line of code in the mod or we will get an error.
That is the basics of a mod. We can start a game and we will be able to select the mod called "Mod Name" and play a game. But the mod doesn't do anything yet so now we'll add some code to change something.