[MOD][NEW RELEASE] Sonata 7a TC

[NATOguns]

I am looking forward to playing this i have only one question. How do you install this mod? The instructions are a little unclear. You need Grognak mods, i got that. You need to put this this mod into the mod folder and rename it Sonata.ftl only problem is then that Grognak doesnt see recognise it. It says it isnt a ftl file and thus doesnt load it. However in the mod file itself there is no ftl file to find.

[Kieve]

I am looking forward to playing this i have only one question. How do you install this mod? The instructions are a little unclear. You need Grognak mods, i got that. You need to put this this mod into the mod folder and rename it Sonata.ftl only problem is then that Grognak doesnt see recognise it. It says it isnt a ftl file and thus doesnt load it. However in the mod file itself there is no ftl file to find.

Did you rename it first, then open GMM, or vice-versa? GMM should read it once it's been renamed.

[UltraMantis]

Once you download the file, rename it and replace .zip with .ftl The computer should ask you to confirm you want to make this change. Once this is done copy the file into the FTL/mods folder and run Grognak's Mod Manager. If GMM fails to load the mod, then it may be a corrupted file.

It's also possible that Windows is treating the compressed .zip file as a folder instead. Try right-clicking on the file when you download it, and select Properties. In the General tab you can rename it and select OK. Then copy it into the /mods folder and run GMM.

[thashepherd]

Once you download the file, rename it and replace .zip with .ftl The computer should ask you to confirm you want to make this change. Once this is done copy the file into the FTL/mods folder and run Grognak's Mod Manager. If GMM fails to load the mod, then it may be a corrupted file.

It's also possible that Windows is treating the compressed .zip file as a folder instead. Try right-clicking on the file when you download it, and select Properties. In the General tab you can rename it and select OK. Then copy it into the /mods folder and run GMM.

Another problem that people have run into is if "Hide common file extensions" is enabled in Folder Options in Windows. You need to make sure you're renaming Sonata.1.zip to Sonata.1.ftl, not Sonata.1.ftl.zip.

Aside: Mantis, Kieve, do you guys want to talk about a standard way to distribute .ftl files? Needless to say the distribute-as-zip-and-rename is confusing. Would distributing the .ftl and readme inside a .zip be preferable?

[Kieve]

Aside: Mantis, Kieve, do you guys want to talk about a standard way to distribute .ftl files? Needless to say the distribute-as-zip-and-rename is confusing. Would distributing the .ftl and readme inside a .zip be preferable?

I very briefly tried distributing the .FTL for the Obsidian Cruiser packed inside a .RAR file. It ended up being more trouble than it was worth trying to explain that the FTL mod-file had to be extracted.
Honestly, I've just been posting the FTL's to mediafire and haven't run into any trouble (aside from one isolated case who couldn't DL for some reason). If at all possible, I'd suggest doing the renaming thing yourself and giving people the .FTL instead of a .ZIP

[thashepherd]

I very briefly tried distributing the .FTL for the Obsidian Cruiser packed inside a .RAR file. It ended up being more trouble than it was worth trying to explain that the FTL mod-file had to be extracted.
Honestly, I've just been posting the FTL's to mediafire and haven't run into any trouble (aside from one isolated case who couldn't DL for some reason). If at all possible, I'd suggest doing the renaming thing yourself and giving people the .FTL instead of a .ZIP

ModDB doesn't take .ftl files, sadly.

[UltraMantis]

It's best to write the most detailed instructions that you possibly can. It's easy to skip steps that i'm familiar with, but it can be a pain to try and figure out things that someone thinks i know.

A zip with an .ftl and MODNAME-README.TXT sounds like a good idea. Tell folks to copy these two files to the proper place and use GMM to install. It should at least clear up the confusion with filename extensions, since it wont matter anymore. Ditto for Windows treating .zips as folders.

[DCChuckles]

Hey, just a little bug, but the default name of one of the ships is just a load of punctuation and random symbols. I think it's type 2 of the second ship, although I'm not sure. It's not even really serious, since you can just rename it in-game, but I just thought you might like to know.

[thashepherd]

It's best to write the most detailed instructions that you possibly can. It's easy to skip steps that i'm familiar with, but it can be a pain to try and figure out things that someone thinks i know.

A zip with an .ftl and MODNAME-README.TXT sounds like a good idea. Tell folks to copy these two files to the proper place and use GMM to install. It should at least clear up the confusion with filename extensions, since it wont matter anymore. Ditto for Windows treating .zips as folders.

I will do exactly that for the next version.

Hey, just a little bug, but the default name of one of the ships is just a load of punctuation and random symbols. I think it's type 2 of the second ship, although I'm not sure. It's not even really serious, since you can just rename it in-game, but I just thought you might like to know.

Hahah ah yes, the good ol' "SanGluk0x31B)". The Sower are robots - their ship doesn't get a name, it gets a pid.

On an unrelated note, I'm submitting Sonata for "Best use of Common Lisp in an indy space roguelike". There's a bit of Prolog in there too, if you want to find it. 'Course, the Sower only use Lisp for the highest-level behavior - normal stuff's written in regular old imperative languages. That would be the API that you use to order your Sower crew to perform basic tasks like "fix medbay" and "stomp fire". Imagine a Scala application that throws the hard algorithmic-y bits up into Clojure, or something.

Lisp (or whatever Lisp-like language the Sower use) can actually program itself - metaprogramming - and the thousands of tiny little routine code changes add up over time to change the Sower, just like random genetic mutations allow organic life forms to evolve. It is speculated that the Sower are on the cusp of developing constructive negation, or something similar; Sophon research seems to indicate a correlation between this development and the recent burst of Sower activity.

[GreenZanbato]

I REALLY like this mod, I think it's amazing! As for feedback, I would love to see new graphics for everything (ships, weapons, races, backgrounds, etc.) but I realize how difficult that would be. I love the new sounds and music, the only problem is sometimes I get silence during a battle. I noticed a lot of events referenced things from the old game that have been changed, for example saying Mantis instead of Hisho. Overall it's great and I can't wait for more updates!