Adding new sectors

[Metzelmax]

Hi,
I have had repeated occurrences of crashes when ever someone entered a custom sector that I made. I on the other hand didnt have such problems, but then again some people did get black rectangles instead of ships if you missed to add the floor png.
So in order to avoid such problems I am searching the cause of the crash. So first of all:

What does a sector exactly need to function?

-> I was thinking that maybe it needs a separate .xml file. But if so then how should it be called?

here is the sector btw:

Code: Select all


<sectorDescription name="ANT_SECTOR" minSector="2" unique="false">
   <nameList>
      <name>Anterian Nebula</name>
   </nameList>
   <trackList>
      <track>debris</track>
      <track>wasteland</track>
      <track>deepspace</track>
      <track>colonial</track>
   </trackList>
   <rarityList>
      <blueprint name="engi" rarity="1"/>
      <blueprint name="mantis" rarity="4"/>
      <blueprint name="energy" rarity="1"/>
      <blueprint name="slug" rarity="0"/>
      <blueprint name="rock" rarity="0"/>
      <blueprint name="human" rarity="0"/>
   </rarityList>
   <startEvent>START_BEACON_ANT</startEvent>
   <event name="ANT_COL_ROCK" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="ANT_PATROL2" min="0" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_ANT_PATROL" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="ANT_STORE" min="0" max="1"/>
   <event name="QUOSATY_CONTACT" min="1" max="2"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_ANT_UNSEEN" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_ANT_PRISON" min="1" max="2"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_ANT_MINE" min="1" max="3"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_ANT_FREIGHT_CONV" min="1" max="3"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_STORM_DEF_ANT" min="1" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_ANT_STORE_NEB" min="1" max="3"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_STD_ANT" min="5" max="8"/>
   <event name="GLOBAL_UZ" min="0" max="1"/>
   <event name="NEBULA_UZ_STD3" min="1" max="1"/>
   <!--Normal stuff -->
   <event name="NEBULA_EMPTY" min="2" max="4"/>
</sectorDescrption>


[kartoFlane]

Just tested it. Apparently you have to append your sector's events to existing files -- creating new files doesn't work, and causes the game to crash.
For the record, new sector entries have to be appended to sector_data.xml.

[speedoflight]

Just tested it. Apparently you have to append your sector's events to existing files -- creating new files doesn't work, and causes the game to crash.
For the record, new sector entries have to be appended to sector_data.xml.

Err... i use a completely sector.xml new file, i dont use append mode in the sector file (maybe because i still didnt try to add a new sector), in fact, its supossed sector.xml file should be modded separately and replacing the original one, not in append mode. But since i really dunno, it will be helpful for me as well, since i want to add a new sector as well.

And no, the game is not crashing for that, (since i mod since time ago using sector.xml in no append mode and i never got crashes for that).

But maybe you are not talking about the sector.xml file, events.xml yes, they need to be in append mode always, but i dont think thats the cause of the crashs as well.

Some users using my mods have those sort of problems as well, mostly bad texturing in some weapons and some weird crashes for not really a good reason while i dont have any problem at all (and other users as well). I think it is just the FTL engine that has really limited the quantity of stuff that can handle.

[kartoFlane]

@speedoflight
Adding a new sector.xml file containing new events for the new sector - game crashes when you enter that sector
Appending new events for that sector to events.xml - game doesn't crash when you enter that sector

[speedoflight]

I see. So, in the end, the new events for the new sector are added just like all others?

[Sleeper Service]

New xmls for custom sectors did not work out for me as well. But you can just add your new events and eventLists to any other event file.

Also the sector description posted in the OP is missing an i in the </sectorDescription> end tag (like most vanilla sector descriptions, strangely). That might cause crashes as well.

[kartoFlane]

Also the sector description posted in the OP is missing an i in the </sectorDescription> end tag (like most vanilla sector descriptions, strangely). That might cause crashes as well.

I doubt that this is the problem -- FTL pretty much ignores the closing tags in all other files.

[Metzelmax]

My sector is just copytasted from other sectors. Cant help that the FTL makers cant spell correctly

[speedoflight]

Also the sector description posted in the OP is missing an i in the </sectorDescription> end tag (like most vanilla sector descriptions, strangely). That might cause crashes as well.

I doubt that this is the problem -- FTL pretty much ignores the closing tags in all other files.

Im not sure about that.. lol, i had a lot of troubles with mistakes exactly like that... (forgetting closing some tags or missing the closing tag..). But maybe in tags that are only informative this rule applies.

[kartoFlane]

If the closing tag is completely missing, then yes, it will throw an error.
But a single typo in the closing tag will not produce any errors.