========================== = = = UPLINK MOD GUIDE = = By Chris Delay = = = = Version 1.2 = = = ========================== = INTRODUCTION = One of the many new features in the Version 1.1 patch for Uplink is the ability to make new 'mods' to the game, which can be released on the web for others to download and use. There are three main areas which can now be modded. You can make new skins which change the appearance of the game, you can add new gateways, and you can add new LANs. This guide will show you how. Please note that you must have installed the 1.1 patch for all of this to work. Please do not contact Introversion Software if you are having problems. We are far too busy making the next game, and won't be replying to your email ;) It's also worth mentioning that we weren't planning on adding any MOD support to Uplink, until Icepick's website 'Modlink' went live. We had no idea there we so many people who were willing to dedicate time to making mods for Uplink, despite the fact that it was such a hack. Once we saw the amount of effort some people were making, we decided we had to help support that growing community with some new MOD features. So you wouldn't be reading this now if it wasn't for Modlink. Cheers guys. Oh yeah, here's the site URL: http://modlink.cyberkotik.com On with it! = DAT FILES = We should start by explaining DAT files. All of the data files for Uplink are stored in DAT files - eg graphics.dat, music.dat. These are simply ZIP files. You should begin by renaming them to zip files (eg graphics.zip, music.zip) and extracting them into your Uplink directory. This will create a bunch of new subdirectories - Graphics, Sound etc. This will give you access to the files you need. The exceptions are data.dat and world.dat, which are not ZIP files. Don't bother trying to unzip them because it won't work. = SKINS = It is now possible to make new skins for Uplink, which totally replace the graphics and colours used in the game. Bored of blue? Join the club. New skins go in a directory of their own, and are essentially a replacement for everything in the Graphics directory. Start by copying your graphics directory into a new folder - perhaps called 'MyNewTheme'. You can now edit each of the .TIF files inside that folder so that they match your theme. You can remove TIF files that you don't wish to edit - the default .TIF file will be used in it's replacement. In order for Uplink to recognise it as a theme, you must have a theme.txt file in the folder. The theme.txt file for the default graphics is stored in patch.dat (remember it's just a ZIP file), so you could start by copying that into place. At the very least, your theme.txt file must include these lines at the top: NAME: My New Uplink Theme AUTHOR: My Name COMMENT: A brand new theme to replace that damn boring blue thing Your theme.txt file can also override the default colours with lines that looks like this: ButtonNormalB 0.0 0.0 0.4 ButtonHighlightedA 0.5 0.5 1.0 Those values represent Red-Green-Blue triplets. A bit of experimentation should allow you to set the game colours to match your theme. Once you've finished, you can set the theme in game from the Options menu. When you're ready to go public with your new creation, you should include all the files in the new directory you created. Remember, you don't need to include graphics that you haven't changed. The graphics in the folder graphics/loading/ are particularly large, so you should remove them from your theme unless you have modified them. = GATEWAYS = It is now possible to make new Gateways and to distribute them. In order to do this you must distribute three files - a gateway definition file (text), a thumbnail image (tif) and a full size image (tif). Lets say your gateway is called 'MyGateway'. You should first create a text file in uplink/lib/data/gateways/mygateway.txt. This needs to include the text definition of your gateway. An example definition would be Gateway ALPHA 15000 1 4 0 0 1 200 200 The standard starting gateway for all new agents. No room for CPU upgrades and limited memory capacity. cpu 86 80 mem 33 142 57 142 81 142 105 142 modem 137 49 power 15 28 That definition is used for the very first gateway you get in game. The first line represents the Name of the gateway. The second line represents: Cost, MaxCPU, MaxMemory, MaxUpgrades, MaxSecurity, Bandwidth, Width, Height, Description. The next line represents the co-ordinates of all CPUs. The next line represents the co-ordinates of all Memory. The next line represents the co-ordinates of the Modem. The next line represents the co-ordinates of the Power Supply. You should now create your thumbnail image at this location: uplink/lib/graphics/gateway/MyGateway_t.tif (the size must be 200x140 pixels). Then create the full size image at this location: uplink/lib/graphics/gateway/MyGateway.tif (the size should be no larger than 400x300 pixels). Your gateway will now show up in the Gateway list in game. = LANS = It is now possible to build your own Local Area Networks and show them to other players. We recommend you look at uplink/lib/data/lans/sample.txt (after unzipping patch.dat) for a good example LAN network. = TYPES OF LAN SYSTEMS = LANSYSTEM_NONE (unused) LANSYSTEM_ROUTER LANSYSTEM_HUB LANSYSTEM_SWITCH (currently unused) LANSYSTEM_TERMINAL LANSYSTEM_MAINSERVER LANSYSTEM_MAILSERVER (currently unused) LANSYSTEM_FILESERVER LANSYSTEM_AUTHENTICATION LANSYSTEM_LOCK LANSYSTEM_ISOLATIONBRIDGE LANSYSTEM_MODEM LANSYSTEM_SESSIONKEYSERVER (currently unused) LANSYSTEM_RADIOTRANSMITTER LANSYSTEM_RADIORECEIVER LANSYSTEM_FAXPRINTER (currently unused) LANSYSTEM_LOGSERVER = USES FOR DATA VALUES = - Authentication Server Data1 : Index of a Lock system that this Authentication Server controls, Data2 : or -1 to represent "no system". Data3 : All three Data values can be used - allowing you to control three seperate locks. - Main Server Data1 : Index of a lock that must be unlocked before this sytem can be accessed. Data2 : Or -1 to represent "no system" Data3 : All three Data values can be used. - Lock Data1 : A value of 1 means "Locked" A value of 0 means "Unlocked" - Isolation Bridge Data1 : Index of first lock system Data2 : Index of second lock system - Radio Receiver Data1 : Frequency in Ghz Data2 : Frequency in Mhz eg if Data1 = 140, Data2 = 5, then frequency would be 140.5 Ghz - Modem DataX : Phone number to use