Posted May 10, 2017
I had to do some digging for this, so I thought I'd share my limited understanding on how to mod population. I got the "500 Population Limit Mod Version 1.2" posted here (look for the tiny red "download file" button near the top):
swgb.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=2340
working with my gog galactic battlegrounds install on windows 10 64 bit.
The mod in the link above is a .mpi file. You can install that with Mod Installer Advanced available here:
swgb.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=2803&ci=e04549c63489f953cc31534a3a8955e8YToxOntpOjA7YTo yOnt pOjA7czoxNDoiU2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHMiO2k6MTtzOjUyOiJsaXN0ZXIucGhwP3N0YXJ0PTAmYW1wO3NlYXJjaD1tb2QgaW5zdGFsbGVyIGFkd mFuY2VkIjt9fQ==
Note that elsewhere there is a Mod Installer Advanced 2.0 available, which I could never get to work.
Run the setup for the Mod installer advanced above. It will put the mod installer at C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds\Game\Data. Note that is not the default directory of the gog version of the game is (my guess is that was the default directory of the original game in the early 2000s), but its fine. Go there and run mod installer advanced, click open mod, select the 500 pop mpi, and finally click the install button. It should say mod installed successfully. Launch the game and try it out.
Like the readme of the game states, the way the population mod works is by setting the initial population to -250. Therefore, your starting pop will look like -246/-245 (the command center giving +5). You can build all the way up to +250 if you set the population limit to 250 in the skirmish settings (aka 500 population max).
I was curious how this mod worked to see if I could raise the pop limit even more and also understand why they set it to an initial negative pop. I found a utility called genie that let me open up the game data:
genie intro/instructions: swgb.heavengames.com/article.php?id=29
download: swgb.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=4801
I briefly poked around the unpacked files and found the magic -250 number the mod patched. My shot in the dark guess is that there technically isn't a max population number you can set in those files...just an "initial population" number. I believe you can potentially lower the -250 whatever you want for each race on the civ_x_unknown04 line (x being 0 thru 8 representing each civ). I played a game with the AI and this didn't seem to obviously break them in any way (although I wonder if cur pop is a variable in how they act). I also tested this in multiplayer with a friend (whom also did all of the above to install the mod) and it worked great. 400 republic troopers for fun and profit :)
swgb.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=2340
working with my gog galactic battlegrounds install on windows 10 64 bit.
The mod in the link above is a .mpi file. You can install that with Mod Installer Advanced available here:
swgb.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=2803&ci=e04549c63489f953cc31534a3a8955e8YToxOntpOjA7YTo yOnt pOjA7czoxNDoiU2VhcmNoIFJlc3VsdHMiO2k6MTtzOjUyOiJsaXN0ZXIucGhwP3N0YXJ0PTAmYW1wO3NlYXJjaD1tb2QgaW5zdGFsbGVyIGFkd mFuY2VkIjt9fQ==
Note that elsewhere there is a Mod Installer Advanced 2.0 available, which I could never get to work.
Run the setup for the Mod installer advanced above. It will put the mod installer at C:\Program Files\Lucasarts\Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds\Game\Data. Note that is not the default directory of the gog version of the game is (my guess is that was the default directory of the original game in the early 2000s), but its fine. Go there and run mod installer advanced, click open mod, select the 500 pop mpi, and finally click the install button. It should say mod installed successfully. Launch the game and try it out.
Like the readme of the game states, the way the population mod works is by setting the initial population to -250. Therefore, your starting pop will look like -246/-245 (the command center giving +5). You can build all the way up to +250 if you set the population limit to 250 in the skirmish settings (aka 500 population max).
I was curious how this mod worked to see if I could raise the pop limit even more and also understand why they set it to an initial negative pop. I found a utility called genie that let me open up the game data:
genie intro/instructions: swgb.heavengames.com/article.php?id=29
download: swgb.heavengames.com/downloads/showfile.php?fileid=4801
I briefly poked around the unpacked files and found the magic -250 number the mod patched. My shot in the dark guess is that there technically isn't a max population number you can set in those files...just an "initial population" number. I believe you can potentially lower the -250 whatever you want for each race on the civ_x_unknown04 line (x being 0 thru 8 representing each civ). I played a game with the AI and this didn't seem to obviously break them in any way (although I wonder if cur pop is a variable in how they act). I also tested this in multiplayer with a friend (whom also did all of the above to install the mod) and it worked great. 400 republic troopers for fun and profit :)
Post edited May 10, 2017 by darkscaryforest