Modding

[UesugiKenshin]

For example, I spent a solid month creating an advanced save game at turn#700 by the Omega as a sandbox game against LOTS of minor alien races on a fully maxed out galactic map. And 26 people downloaded it.

You do it to be kind, not for applause, and maybe one person really enjoyed it, and it gets saved and distributed. Only one in a thousand will ever say thank you.

Imagine years of your life as a developer and yet you get thanks from 500 people. It dampens your ardor to make future releases.

A lot of people will never create a forum membership just to say thanks to the developer, nor leave a positive comment to the developer on GooglePlay. That's weird. Nearly 15,000 glanced at the modding topic. How many thanked the developer? If interested in modding, that is the least you can do.

[UesugiKenshin]

If you have some ability, and want to mod, but probably will never develop a whole mod, well upload your art and let others use it in their mod. If everyone did that, then lots of mods could be cobbled together. If you discover some trick, then share it so others get more enjoyment out of BotE.

[UesugiKenshin]

As it stands now, to mod the Android version, you need a pc and load the app and modify the text files, then archive it as an apk. Then push it through your Android port. Then load from other sources. Then the mod would work for you but most could not play it without help.

For me to do it, I have to buy a pc, buy a special fast SDcard ($20) and then patch the old tablet (calling rooting). Then I could load and edit the apk. It's expensive. It would be cheaper to buy a new tablet.

The best way to distribute a BotE mod is either.
1. Modders get permission and can distribute the BotE opensource program with text edits. And become a Google app developer. And then people could download it. This costs money.
2. A new version of BotE allows edited buildings, ships, starting major races, troops,etc as text files. Essentially what the unciv game is doing for their modders as it grows the userbase.
3. A text file or the entire repacked apk is sent to the developer and he loads it to the GooglePlay store as a mod seperate from the standard BotE apk.

[UesugiKenshin]

Option #2 would be outstanding as an endless amount of mods would be created. The changes could be loaded at moddb or even from the forum.
https://www.moddb.com/games/birth-of-the-empires

[UesugiKenshin]

If someone has a iPad, can they download BotE? I don't know anything about that OS.
https://blotunga.itch.io/birth-of-the-empires

I don't see an iPad version, just windows, linux, and android. There are linux emulators for the iPad plus Wine so they could try running Wine.

[UesugiKenshin]

It's ironic that I can mod this in about a week of text editing, but then I couldn't play it! My old tablet can't sideload as it isn't rooted and I don't have a pc.

I guess I could mod it and load it to moddb with instructions and someone could try repacking the apk on their tablet and running it. I think it would confuse the average BotE user.

The sole way I could play it is if it gets a release as an apk on GooglePlay.

Fixing sabotage requires editing one text file (the one for buildings) and 60 entries. That's it, then 24 hours to error check it.

Doing everything else would take 2-4 weeks (changes and error checking).

[UesugiKenshin]

I want to mod BotE so badly that I'm looking for ways to update my tablet as it works just fine otherwise, but if I spend money doing that, and make something great, then I want a simple method so anyone can load it.

What would be the point of creating a mod over a 1-2 month period unless it's easy to load for practically anyone?

I feel sorry for anyone in my shoes who loves BotE, but wants minor things changed.

What might happen is I get a better PC emulator and run the WindowsXP version of BotE in my updated tablet. I know that won't be great and will lag. That would run LimboPC or Wine which works on new Android tablet OS. It really depends how much it lags too. That would mean playing Rome Total War Barbarian Invasions including mods which would be awesome.

My Android OS is dated so maybe most Android tablet users can easily run a modded apk. Hardly anyone has even heard of BotE which shocks me. Distributing a modded apk seems wrong. That's abnormal as mods load into existing installations.

Allegedly there are SDcards that update the firmware for $20. That is plug and play in 30 minutes, but if it fails, the tablet is a brick.

The safer way is back up the existing Android firmware, load new firmware on an SD card from a PC. That means buying a used PC. That seems silly. Then I would run the Windows XP or Vista version that is easy to mod plus has tools like editors.

I think with some additions, BotE would be installed on millions of tablets as they have a cheesy Master of Orion clone that costs $8 and it isn't 10% of what BotE does. There are lots of similar space 4Xgames, but when you read the fine print, they actually do less than BotE...just a tiny fraction.

It's actually easier to pay $60 and get a new tablet. Weird.

Even if I go that route, and load the altered apk to moddb, it's so "off in the corner", maybe no one ever plays it.

It would be odd to become a Google Developer so the GooglePlay ap makes the mod available. See that costs money too.

[UesugiKenshin]

It's maybe $40 to upgrade my 8gb old tablet and root it.

Or it's $60 to buy a new 32 gb Kindle Fire tablet. Then I would have to root it on general principle as it's a big ad spy machine. You can rook it without a pc. You also can quasi-root it by entering developer mode and deleting all the bloatware.

If you do a full root, you void the warranty.

Then you can install from "unknown sources" from the developer blog. You don't even have to load the GooglePlay app, but it's easier.

Then I could unpack the apk, make changes, and repack the apk, and upload it.

I'm curious how many players can install from "unknown sources" ? You have to do that to run a mod under Android.

What you can do to avoid rooting is download a modded apk to your PC, connect the tablet cable, and "sideload it". You enable usb loading to allow this.

I don't have a PC as it's unnecessary anymore. So for anyone like me, you need some better tablet that's fairly new to mod BotE.

[UesugiKenshin]

See this is a big rigmarole just to mod. Ordinarily you just make some text edits and add some pictures that have similar attributes as the existing one. No big deal.

If there is a BotE2.0, there needs to be a way to add updated files to the Android version (as there already is the Windows and Linux versions of BotE)

See, it actually makes more sense to just skip it and or get an laptop and load the Vista version and mod away in minutes.

[UesugiKenshin]

The Kindle Fire 32 gb 8th generation is under $50 sometimes. You can't properly root it...yet. All you can do is disable a lot of bloatware. I'm not 100% certain you can download apks directly as it is their crippled Amazon OS. To get a genuine load from unknown sources and directly download an apk, you need it rooted. If you have a computer, you sideload via the cable connection.

Back to square one for me. With a computer, and an SD card plus card reader, you can root some low end tablets, the software is free, but it's an unofficial release and you might brick the tablet.

Alternatively they used to sell a preloaded sd card made for individual tablets...if you can find them. You put that in your sd card slot, and it's probably 8 gb and so you have a dual boot situation as it reads the sd card first. So you can take it out and it loads normally. It's pricey at $40.

Maybe the tech heads figure out a root for the Kindle Fire 8 and the prices are falling as we approach Christmas?

I saw one method but that end up turning it into a Linux device. That ain't so great.

[UesugiKenshin]

An alternatve is get a Windows tablet. There are low end $50 ones. You load the Windows BotE version. Then you can use the editor and mod that way. It seems more reliable and smarter.

[UesugiKenshin]

https://mashtips.com/install-android-ap ... ndle-fire/
It's a hassle to get the Google Play app on a Kindle Fire 8. You just about have to have it if you disable all the Amazon bloatware. Plus it makes downloading BotE easier.

[UesugiKenshin]

https://www.amazon.com/Blotunga-Birth-o ... B011477JBA
Since the Kindle Fire 8 has a little difficulty running Google Play but is designed for Amazon, here is the link to BotE.

Now I wonder if it's possible to mod BotE for android, repack the apk, and upload it to Amazon as a developer? See Google charges $25 just to become a developer.
https://developer.amazon.com/apps-and-g ... submission

If the developers allow this, then mods that are text edits only, so no copyright issues, then maybe could be hosted there which would faciltate people running the mods?

The size would be 187.2MB as it's stored differently than how GooglePlay stores their apk.

[UesugiKenshin]

I bet most players use Windows on their PC and have an Android tablet. I could experiment with running this on a Windows tablet for the first mod. And then if there is a capacity to mod and distribute it easily on the Android, then use an Android emulator on the Windows tablet. A text file is a text file. It's easier to modify on Windows because of the editor.

There is hardly any forum activity of BotE "Android" for Windows (a misleading name).

The game is great, but hardly anyone knows it exists in the USA. There is scant coverage. You would think it would be on every Windows and Android tablet. There is more buzz about FreeOrion and yet, I think it is far more elegant.

[UesugiKenshin]

https://www.androidauthority.com/best-a ... pc-655308/
Here are Android emulators and many are free.

I think for error checking, it's wiser to mod the files on Windows tablets. Then make the mod available for Android tablets, though the same players could run it on their PCs using Android emulators.

BotE doesn't have many demands because the lack of animations other than a token amount in the combat screen and for ship movement.

Maybe the advanced save games are "cross platform"?

1.If so, then you could export a save from your Windows PC to import it to your Android tablet, keep playing while at lunch. Export the save from your Android tablet back and import it to play it on your Windows PC.

2. Then it's true cross-platform.

3. Then if we can figure out a way so the mods can easily be loaded to Windows PCs, then maybe some day Android modding will be available with clear instructions.

It's funny that I enjoyed modding so much as a logical puzzle that maybe I would spend 10 hours modding and 1 hour playing.

See to have the advanced buildings, troops, ships, even sabotage takes place far later from turn #300, so when beta testing ideas, it will take a long time to see if your ideas were correct and worked .

Any mod team absolutely needs beta testers. They find bugs and flaws in your experimental mod ideas.

Far before my ideas on resource manipulation were realized with millions added to the treasury per turn, I spent hours and hours strategizing.