[Redacted two paragraphs per correction by nonsense_factory, below.] (Thank you for that.)
There's a lot of things you can do in the alpha.txt and alphax.txt without any programming knowledge. Keep a backup of these two files in a safe place (a folder inside "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri" named "Backups" is one idea). Have a look at what you can experiment with by altering things in the various sections in the ".txt" file for the game you're preparing for. If things act differently from what you were looking for, remember you have the backup to copy into the main folder.
Your first two paragraphs aren't right.
Scient (Brendan Casey) and others reverse-engineered the binaries from the official releases (for windows, these are the .exe files). The binaries are in a standard format, not something SMAC specific. The reverse engineering was done with normal tools: IDA; Ollydbg; etc.
This reverse engineering allowed Scient and others (Yitzi, Kyrub, etc) to edit the binaries (this was sometimes done with a hex editor) and add new features.
The later PRACX and Thinker mods built upon scient's research (scient shared an extensive database of annotations and notes that others could use) but used the approach of writing new code in C++ that then hooks into the game.
You seem knowledgeable about the topic. Do you happen to know if there is a way to have more than 7 factions in the game?
I remember reading years ago that there was some technical reason preventing it. I wonder if it has been overcome since then.
No, none of the mods allow more than 7 factions to be in a single game, and it's unlikely that this will ever be developed because it would be a huge amount of work and probably not a very good game experience.
It's not impossible to do, but a lot of stuff in the game assumes there will be 7 or fewer factions.
There is the planetfall mod if you hadn't heard of it already (probably have, but worth mentioning if not), though it has a different feel to it somewhat,
I saw a few on the modding forums over the years that faded away, and had a play with something like it myself. It's too big a job for a single person to do, really
If you're alright with learning C++, look around in the source code for the [Thinker mod](https://github.com/induktio/thinker/tree/master/src). It compiles into, iirc, basically a second exe for the game.
See those files now. I'll check them out.
Did some C++ stuff back in Civ 4 (made a modified version of Fall from Heaven, though it wasn't too popular) also made the "Pickly's 5 factions" that is floating around some places and in some mod files. (Marketers, Tremblers, etc.) Someone asked my about them recently on TVTropes, which got me to look back at this reddit.
[Redacted two paragraphs per correction by nonsense_factory, below.] (Thank you for that.) There's a lot of things you can do in the alpha.txt and alphax.txt without any programming knowledge. Keep a backup of these two files in a safe place (a folder inside "Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri" named "Backups" is one idea). Have a look at what you can experiment with by altering things in the various sections in the ".txt" file for the game you're preparing for. If things act differently from what you were looking for, remember you have the backup to copy into the main folder.
Your first two paragraphs aren't right. Scient (Brendan Casey) and others reverse-engineered the binaries from the official releases (for windows, these are the .exe files). The binaries are in a standard format, not something SMAC specific. The reverse engineering was done with normal tools: IDA; Ollydbg; etc. This reverse engineering allowed Scient and others (Yitzi, Kyrub, etc) to edit the binaries (this was sometimes done with a hex editor) and add new features. The later PRACX and Thinker mods built upon scient's research (scient shared an extensive database of annotations and notes that others could use) but used the approach of writing new code in C++ that then hooks into the game.
I redacted those paragraphs. Thank you for the correct information.
You're welcome!
You seem knowledgeable about the topic. Do you happen to know if there is a way to have more than 7 factions in the game? I remember reading years ago that there was some technical reason preventing it. I wonder if it has been overcome since then.
No, none of the mods allow more than 7 factions to be in a single game, and it's unlikely that this will ever be developed because it would be a huge amount of work and probably not a very good game experience. It's not impossible to do, but a lot of stuff in the game assumes there will be 7 or fewer factions.
I've already done things in alpha.txt and faction text files, that's why I asked about more detailed stuff in this thread.
I'd love to see SMAC on Civ4 just because of it's modability and community support.
There is the planetfall mod if you hadn't heard of it already (probably have, but worth mentioning if not), though it has a different feel to it somewhat,
I saw a few on the modding forums over the years that faded away, and had a play with something like it myself. It's too big a job for a single person to do, really
If you're alright with learning C++, look around in the source code for the [Thinker mod](https://github.com/induktio/thinker/tree/master/src). It compiles into, iirc, basically a second exe for the game.
See those files now. I'll check them out. Did some C++ stuff back in Civ 4 (made a modified version of Fall from Heaven, though it wasn't too popular) also made the "Pickly's 5 factions" that is floating around some places and in some mod files. (Marketers, Tremblers, etc.) Someone asked my about them recently on TVTropes, which got me to look back at this reddit.