mods

Introduction

Modding is a big part of Transcendence. By creating a mod you can change the game for yourself, and share those changes with others. You can make it easier or harder, you can fly different ships or create entire new universes. Transcendence mods are very flexible, having a complex xml syntax and a scripting language to create dynamic mods. On this page we will try to introduce you to using mods, show off some of the best mods made by the community and introduce you to making your own mods.

Using Mods

Manual Installation: extract the mod into your ”/trans[version#]/extensions/” directory, and you're good to go!

Also see: Wolfy's Universal Mod and Utilities Manager

Building Mods

FIXME Please note, this document is a work in progress

At its simplest level a mod consists of an text file containing XML tags with tscript functions to alter, or add, features in Transcendence. Looking at existing mods is a good way to start.

Building a mod is a big subject that cannot be covered in a tutorial. We will attempt to give an overview and mention the best resources for becoming a good modder.

The difficulty of a mod can range from very simple to extremely complex. You can make a mod in about 20 lines of xml, or one that spans several files and thousands of lines of xml and Transcendence script (tscript). There is no official documentation on building mods, so all that is known has been discovered by experimentation or by studying the extracted source.

Some good resources are available though, the best being Functions on Xelerus. This list of functions includes descriptions and examples of most functions in tscript, painstakingly compiled by community members (looking at you DigDug and Betel). There are also several mods available on Xelerus that are good to study when beginning modding and can be used for bases to start of. We have tried to list them here. Of course, all mods can be studied and picked apart, and when appropriate, reused. We try to maintain a polite atmosphere in the modding community, so if you are reusing another persons work, please give credit where it is due. Otherwise you may find yourself moderated. The Official Transcendence Forums contain a wealth of information and The Shipyards are always open for modding questions. Eventually we will try to migrate a lot of the information on the forums to the wiki in a structured format, but that will take some time. We can also be found on IRC, namely in #transcendence on Freenode. You can use your regular irc client, or use freenodes webinterface to join.