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I haven't seen any mods for new combos, but they're definitely what I'm waiting for. So why not post our own combos (2 or 3 items) and let others guess what they might be. For starters...
Old School Jam Combo (3 items)
R.E.M. Combo (3 items)
Who knows? Maybe someday we'll be able to actualy mod the game.
Well, we CAN add combos... http://infernofans.com/comment/98385#comment-98385
As far as modding goes, I was doing my best to make it possible, but nobody seemed to be doing anything with it, so I kinda just stopped. :/
OK, thanks Daxar. I'm new around here, and to the LI toy. So where do people share their new combos they've added?
And by the way, I would love to make up new combos to make the game more replayable, but I have very little coding experience. Please keep me informed where you're at to make new combos, as I'd like to share my ideas.
People don't share new combos that they've made because nobody's made any yet. Hence me saying that nobody was modding...
Currently, adding new combos IS possible, it just requires hand-editing some XML (Which, as far as programming languages go, is a piece of cake), and running some programs from the command line (Which may or may not be easy, depending on how good you are with computers). The good news, however, is that I'm stuck without a programming project for the next couple of weeks, so I may just pick liTools back up again and run with it, or at least make some nice GUI programs to make modding a bit easier. Stay tuned...
In the meantime, the discussion I linked, while long, is a great place to start if you want to start figuring out the game file formats. Or just download https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31816885/liTools0.3.7.zip (The current latest version of liTools) and read the "Readme.md" file there (Open with Notepad if Windows complains). It should explain most everything. Post here if you're confused by any of it. I'm just away from a Windows PC at the moment, and it's quite late at night, so no long-winded explanation from me for now. XD
@Daxar Maybe we can work together on a program that would work in a similar way GooTool is working?
I kinda started, but there's still a lot of work to do.
Thanks! I've checked it out, and in my spare time I'll try to figure out how to edit the combos xml. It doesn't look too hard. So if I did edit the file, would I just share it with anyone interested, but they'd have to recompress the game using your liTools?
And BTW, thanks for your work on gooTools.
GooTool was davidc. I can't take any credit for that one. XD
Ideally, you could create your own file called "newcombos.filelist.txt", and edit that in notepad, adding the proper path to the combos xml file, and then just recompress that with "liCompress newcombos.pak" and distribute the resulting .pak file, so other people could install it with "modmanage newcombos.pak". In theory, that should work, but it's been so long for me that I may be wrong here, and there may be issues with the modmanage program preventing this from working. But I think since it's just editing a preexisting file, not adding anything new, it should work fine.
Allrighty. I don't know enough to do any of what you said, but I am working on a new combos list just by hand editing the combodb.dat.xml file. So when I'm finished, I'll share this file, and anyone who wants can recompress the game with the new combos. I'm planning to make an entire new list, starting from 1 to 99, but not to add on from 100 (although I understood you can add more combos after 100).
You've been very helpful, and if you can point me to a downloadable combo editor (instead of hand-editing the xml file), that would be cool.
Question: The jar of fireflies doesn't appear in the comboitemspics.png. Probably some other special items are missing, too. Does this mean the jar can't be used in new combos? Or would I have to edit the comboitemspics.png to include special items? (I'm thinking the thermometer, etc., too.)
Good news. I can use the thermometer (and hypothetically any other gift from Sugar Plumps) in the combos. Makes them worth holding on to for new combos. Also, I edited the comboitemspics.png to show the thermometer icon on the combos pulldown list. However, when the combo actually happens, there is no icon for the thermometer (it shows blank), just the icon for the other item bought from the catalog. Anyone know a workaround for this?
For those of you following this, new combos coming soon! If you have ideas, message me.
I actually... haven't looked at that, so I have no idea.
I'm guessing that inside some XML file (Or some .dat file we haven't managed to decompress yet!) there's some list of item images and where in the comboitemspics.png each item appears, so it shows up properly ingame. But I'm not certain where. I'll have to look into that.
EDIT: Ok, so apparently the image rectangles are in the combodb.dat.xml file as well, in the texpos and texsize fields. The texpos field is the upper left corner of the place in the comboitempics.png image where the item image starts, and the size is always 64x64 pixels. If you need the icons for other items, each one is in data/items/[itemname]/coloritemicon, which is a PNG image you can shrink down and add to the comboitempics.png image, and set the texpos and texsize fields for this item accordingly. I'm assuming you figured all this out already, just reiterating just in case.
It looks to me that combodb.dat and comboitempics.png are both in resource.pak, so after making these changes you should just be able to "liCompress resource.pak" again and have these changes show up ingame.
EDIT2: Ok, you got me curious, so fullblown tutorial time.
First up, I added the fireflies image into vdata/comboitempics.png. Not too bad; just fired up GIMP and did some minor image editing. Final image is here: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31816885/junk/li/comboitempics.png
With that done, it's time to edit combodb.dat.xml. I chose to overwrite the Bike Pirate combo because it was there. The relevant part of my combodb.dat.xml is here:
<combo id="1111828347" coinvalue="40" stampvalue="3" stridx="1">
<name strid="2022281219">
<string lang="en" data="Fire Phone|COMBO"/>
</name>
<items>
<item name="CellPhone" texpos="2, 266" texsize="64, 64"/>
<item name="JarofFireflies" texpos="200, 662" texsize="64, 64"/>
</items>
</combo>
First up was changing the name of the combo, which was simple enough. I just removed the other languages because I only know how to properly speak English (Google Translate is another alternative). It works fine English-only. I also changed the items, and set the second item's texpos to be where in the comboitempics.png image I just added the icon for the jar of fireflies. I changed the coinvalue to 40 (because free money yaay), changed the stampvalue to 3 (cause everybody loves stamps), and left the rest untouched (I think stridx was just for translation purposes, and the string ID is fine as-is). I copied the CellPhone item line from lower in the file where it was used in another combo.
The only other thing that needs explaining is the combo id. The game just stores the combos you've completed as numbers in your savefile, so just changing the combo isn't enough; people's savegames will already have them marked as complete. To fix this, I changed the combo id. What number should you use here? Well, any number that isn't already an id for another combo should work fine, so you could start numbering from 1 or something like that. The problem there is if somebody else also does the same thing; you don't want conflicting combo IDs.
What I ended up doing was running
$ util/hash.exe Daxar
from the command line. What the hash function does is take string inputs and spits out a number, which is how the original combo IDs were made, actually! The number is different depending on what you type in, so I just used my forum username to start, which is a perfect way of making sure that everybody uses different IDs for everything. So for you,
$ util/hash.exe "Beta Ninja"
spits out 2213724590. So if you start numbering from there, and I start numbering from 1111828347, the chances of conflicting combo IDs are really low!
Well, that wraps up the changes we need to make for the new combos, so let's try it out! I made a file called "firephone.pak.filelist.txt" and added the following lines to it:
vdata/combodb.dat
vdata/comboitempics.png
And done. Then I ran:
$ liCompress.exe firephone.pak
Now why am I doing this rather than just compressing resource.pak, where both files came from? Well, resource.pak is HUGE, and takes forever to compress. By compressing a smaller file, it's very easy to distribute, very fast to compress, and making changes and testing them out ingame is super quick. Overall, it's a win-win. You can just give someone else the firephone.pak and they'll be able to run it through modManage and play it ingame. That way they won't have to worry about decompressing, merging in changes by hand, and recompressing, themselves. So everybody's happy.
Now to test it out ingame:
$ modManage.exe firephone.pak
This merges in the changes directly without having to decompress or recompress anything, so it's super fast. Pretty nice! You can now just run the game, and see the changes.
Screenshots:
Before getting the combo: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31816885/junk/li/fp1.png
Time to burn some items! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31816885/junk/li/fp2.png
Yay! More stamps! And coins! https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31816885/junk/li/fp3.png
The completed combo: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31816885/junk/li/fp4.png
And last but not least, the final .pak file so you can try it for yourself: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/31816885/junk/li/firephone.pak
Let me know if you have any questions!
Wow, you explained a lot I hadn't discovered yet, especially the coloritemicon png. I had already modified the png with all the small icons to include more icons. Still have to include the One Free Hug, Bug Friend, and Delete Key. I incorporated the thermometer into a combo, but in the actual event of getting the combo, the thermometer coloritemicon is 1KB (esentially it doesn't exist). It does show up in the combos pulldown because I already added it to the small icons png. I really want to make the gifts part of combos, so I'm going to try to make a thermometer coloritemicon (others don't exist yet either). We'll see what works.
Thanks for explaining the modManage.exe to me, too. I really had no idea what it was for. I learn best with tutorials.
Since there is no messaging on this forum, I'm Scott Broughton (https://www.facebook.com/scottabroughton) on facebook if anyone wants to message me with combo ideas. For the most part, I'm going with pop culture (music, movies, books, etc.)
No worries; let me know if you have any other questions! Not much (ok, not really anything) is documented yet, but I think I probably know the most about how everything is set up just cause I've poked around with it a lot. Unless Allen comes around again, but he hasn't been here for a while.
I noticed those really small coloritemicons with non-catalog items. I guess they either didn't get around to making them, or just cut them for file size. That's also a really cool idea to use the items from Sugar Plumps to create combos; I wouldn't have thought of that. Best of luck!
Still having trouble on making the .pak file of my combos. I make the popculturecombos.pak.filelist.txt file like you explained, then ran liCompress.exe popculturecombos.pak from Run but nothing came out. Just opening liCompress doesn't do anything, because it closes as soon as it executes.
Any suggestions?
Well, you'd have to execute that from within the folder everything is in. I was assuming you were at the commandline already.
So, try this: create an empty file, name it popculturecombos.pak, and drag it into liCompress.exe . It should overwrite that file and create the .pak you want.
Alternatively, we can have a commandline crash course! Yeah, I need to make some kinda GUI tool for all this. XD
I'm a little rusty at the command line. I executed the program from Run, followed by popculturecombos.pak, which should work, right? The itemlist.txt file is in the same folder as the liCompress.exe. Anyway, I can imagine trying to troubleshoot is quite tedious for you, but I'll figure it out. A GUI tool would be awesome, not just for me, but for anyone else, too.
On the brighter side, although I didn't have much free time today, I will make all the missing icons (135x135 and 64x64) needed for all the items, including the mouse pad, and soon distribute the new combos in whatever form I figure out.
Here's another question to ponder, and I'll warn anyone who hasn't played the game through, that it includes a spoiler.
You receive the mouse pad for completing all 99 combos, so obviously any of those combos can't include the mouse pad. But does that mean that if combo 100 (or higher) includes the mouse pad as part of the combo, that you'll never receive it because of an inherent paradox? (you can't use something in a combo that you haven't received yet) Or do you just have to solve the combos up to 99, and whatever else after is irrelevant to receiving the mouse pad? (I solved all 99 combos, gimme my mouse pad, and let me continue after 100!) This is obviously something the original creators (probably) didn't consider, nor is a question that can be answered without testing it inplay. Anyone wanna find out?
HAH. I totally didn't realize I did this already.
You ought to be able to just create your .filelist.txt file, and click-and-drag that into liCompress.exe to have it spit out your .pak file for you. Barring that, you'll have to use the command line (Run won't work; it won't know the working directory). I'll write a step-by-step tutorial if you need it.
That's also an interesting question with when you get the mousepad. I tested this by cutting out all but the first two combos and playing on a new profile. Once I got both combos, I got the letter with the mousepad. So it would seem that you get the mousepad once you've gotten all the combos, thus a combo with the mousepad would be impossible to get. Though feel free to make over 99 combos and get them all to double-check. I sure don't feel like going through all that. XD
Also interestingly, you can only get the mousepad once per profile. After getting two out of two combos, I went back and added one to see if I could get it again. Nope, I couldn't.
Daxar, thanks for testing out the mouse pad. It sounds like it's impossible to include it in a combo.
What I did is copy an existing pak file, rename it to match my itemlist.txt, and now it works by drag-and-drop.
Now I need to get a better image editor to make transparent pngs for the new coloritemicon's. BTW, do you know where the png resource is for the Bug Friend Sugar Plump sends you? I can't seem to find it in items.
For image editing programs, I personally use GIMP, though it has a bit of a steep learning curve. I've had friends who swear by PAINT.NET instead.
As for the bug friend, try data/items/Extinction. ; )
Hi guys! i REALLY WANT to make mods for LI but i cant program the code
I only know HTML( + css), JS, jQuerry and stuff like that
Hi, 23boy!
You're in luck! A lot of the game's data is exported to XML, which is a whole lot like HTML. It's pretty simple to understand and modify. Is there something specific you have in mind that you want to do?
Ok! right now i'm learning to create custom combos like you did above with Beta Ninja
maybe a proper clean tutor will help
P.S Hi Ninja! welcome to InfernoFans!
Update: Coming up with 99 original combos is a little time-consuming, but I'm making progress. Often I have ideas, but one key item is missing. Any modders know how to add items to the catalogs?
Daxar, thanks for pointing me to Extinction. Hadn't checked that one yet.
23boy, others here are better at giving tutorials than I am. But if you want to make your own combos, find the vdata/combodb.dat.xml and edit whatever you want. Just change the combo name, then copy-paste the items. You'll want to make sure the name and texpos of the items is correct, or else your combo won't work.
Since several items aren't included in the combos, I've expanded the icons image file, and will soon distribute it with my new combos file. You're welcome to use it, for example, if you want to make a combo with the MusicTones.
Also, I've tried to create with Paint and GIMP the coloritemicon for a few items, such as the DeleteButton, but liCompress isn't liking my image format. The new combos still work with these items, but the images just don't show up. Anyone want to do a little advanced image editing to make these icons recognizable in the game? I could send you the image files.
Relevant post about catalog items: http://infernofans.com/comment/98462#comment-98462
The file you're looking for seems to be vdata/catalogdb.dat.xml if you want to change catalog contents. You can probably put Sugar Plumps' items into catalogs, come to think of it. Sure would make getting combos with those easier (cause having one chance per playthrough of getting a combo is pretty terrible).
Do you want to send me the images in question? I'll take a look at them and see what's up.
OK, I made a zip of four coloritemicons I've made: the Delete Button, the Thermometer, the Hug Coupon and the Portrait of Sugar Plumps (although that one might have already been there, I can't remember). I didn't include the Mouse Pad because it can't be used in combos. If you want to redo any of these to make them fit the 135x135 size, as long as they work in the game, that's fine. Here is the link.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/81019919/liIcons.zip
I do remember reading your post before about adding items. I'm sure you're right that we could add the gifts from Sugar Plumps, although IMO, they wouldn't be valuable as gifts anymore. Knowing you have only one shot to use a gift in a combo and get it right king of heightens the difficulty.
Anyway, has anyone tried creating new items, such as a turtle, or a house, to add to the catalogs?
Ok, the first thing I notice wrong here with the images is that there's no alpha channel (Which was the whole point of using GIMP or PAINT.NET), meaning that everything, when drawn in the game, will have a white box around it. I'd say start again or go back to a backup. You can tell if an image has an alpha channel in GIMP if there's a checkered grey background when you're looking at the image. The original images all do.
Secondly, the only other thing I notice wrong with the PNGs is that your coloritemicons are all 135x135, while the original game's coloritemicons are all 153x153, which may be causing issues.
If you still can't get the images working, I'll need a lot more info. What's not working? Are you getting any error messages? What have you tried? What images are you replacing, and where are they not showing up? That sorta thing, with screenshots to show how it's not working (The Prt Scrn key, then pasting in GIMP is your friend).
I'm not a huge fan of artificial difficulty like that. There's a difference between making a combo that's hard to get (though not impossible), like the originals, versus having to RESTART THE ENTIRE GAME just because you made one small mistake, or burned one item too quickly before you had a chance to get the other one in the fireplace. But hey, it's your mod, not mine.
Adding items to the game is unfortunately impossible at the current time, mostly because items are really really complicated to begin with, and liTools doesn't support it yet.
You are able to add files manually by modifying one of three filelist.txt and use licompress to recompress the whole package.
Thanks for checking out the icons. It had to be something as simple as mixing up the dimensions of the coloritemicons. I've barely used GIMP. What's the trick to make the background transparent?
BTW, there's no problem with the image that contains all the 64x64 icons. Just sent it for anyone else who wants to use the added items.
@Mygod: That's an unsupported feature and I would strongly discourage anyone from attempting to do so.
@Beta Ninja: The trick to making the background transparent is leaving it transparent, and not doing things like flattening the image or removing the alpha channel. The image that contains all the 64x64 icons has this same problem. You did something that removed transparency, and there's no real way to get it back, aside from scrapping it and starting over at this point.
Daxar, I'm using GIMP to fix the transparency, and it'll take some time, but it works. If possible, could you create an 8th catalog with the following items: paper heart, Sugar Plumps portrait, thermometer, hug coupon, delete button, and mouse pad? I would make the price of the catalog and each item quite high (500+ coins), so as to not decrease their value. And I would set the number of combos to achieve before the catalog is available at 90. This way, if someone plays through the new combos and doesn't use the gift items correctly, they can still buy them at the end after solving all the other combos.
Update for everyone: I've basically finished all the combos. I'm fixing some of the icons, and I also want to edit some of the letters to provide more clues, especially for the harder combos. Then I'll play through the game with the new combos, and if everything looks good, I'll share my combos on this forum.
P.S. Some of my combos are kind of lame, it was just too hard to think of 99 interesting combos, so now's your last chance to write me with combo ideas. I've already shared my facebook profile to write me there.
I'm not sure if adding new catalogs is even possible. I'll have to look into that.
i'm looking forward to the first ( maybe not ) combo mod!
P.S somebody fix the emoticons in this website!
My new combos pack is dragging out because new ideas keep coming. I figured out how to add a new item which can be used in a combo. I've been editing the letters, so I need to play through the game once more, hopefully bug-free, and then distribute.
Any luck creating an 8th catalog?
Beta Ninja: It's not looking good for adding new catalogs. Seems to just crash. I'm not sure if it's because of duplicated resources, or if it's just not gonna work. It may just be the latter.
23boy: davidc was trying for a while to get emoticons working. It all depended on what order plugins on the site were run or something like that. One order broke links, the other broke emoticons. So he eventually gave up and just settled for working links and broken emoticons.
New topic...
http://infernofans.com/forum/mods-and-hacks/10906-new-pop-culture-combos...