Anyone???

The citizen portraits seem to be 128x128. Pretty sure citizens are tied to Race (as opposed to civilization), so I would think the file would go in Gfx/<RaceName>/Citizens . I'm not sure if this is enough for them to show up however.

Quoting Wotan2a,

reply 4

Here are the files you need in the mod\gameplay folder:

ModUnitRaceDefs.xml to create your custom race and assign portraits to your advisors

In mod\text you need:

ModUnitNamesText.xml to create the names of your citizens and leaders

ModUnitPortraitsText.xml to assign and tell the game which portrait to use

ModUnitRaceText.xml to put in the description of your custom race

 

Create a folder with the name of your race(faction) and put the portraits in there they need to be 128x128 png files, call them Citizen_Portrait_RaceX.png, race being your race name and x being a number from 1 to how many you have, not absolutely necessary but following the standard naming makes copy and paste easy . 


 

 

I don't suppose you have some example xml files for this? 

The best examples are in the Epic Games\Games\GCIV\Data folder, look into the Gameplay folder for the UnitRaceDefs.xml file and in the English\text folder for the text files.

Use those as a guide and create your own by using the relevant portions (append method) to put into the mod folder. The game is very moddable and if you make  a mistake on startup it will tell you where the error is. Here is my ModUnitRaceText.xmlwhich is quite small so I can post it, as you can see it is just the "Human" part of the file extracted and modified. Same applies for all other files

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes" ?>

<StringTableList

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../Schema/Lib/StringTable.xsd">

<!-- Created with the GC4 editor -->

<!-- UnitRaceText.xml -->

 <StringTable>

    <Label>Race_Dominators_Name</Label>

    <String>Dominators</String>

  </StringTable>

  <StringTable>

    <Label>Race_Doms_Dec</Label>

    <String>Dominators are known for their cunning and intelligence. They have lower [HS=HS_Expectations]Expectations[/HS] than other species but their resolve and ability to fight off invasions is much lower as well..</String>

  </StringTable>

</StringTableList>

Honestly, I just proceeded with the assumption that xml modding would work the same as in GC3 with the caveat of different files since it is a new game. I looked into the data folder at all the files, took a while , and then made my mods as if I was using the GC3 system. The only difference are the portrait themselves, since I was not sure the "faction" folder in the "my games" directory was ready to use, I just dropped the files there and in the GFX folder. 

I also created a "Prepared" ability file with my changes and made a custom system including my own planets and asteroids and with trial and error over a couple weeks it now works like a charm.

TLDR; just assume you are modding GC3 and go from there using the file formats for GC4 

BTW, for those wanting additional factions, the Thalans, Slyne and other races from the last GC3 expansions are ready to create as custom factions, they have movies, start systems and some even have their own music and fleets. Looks like Stardock was going to include them but due to time constraints were not able to quite finish them for 1.0, just takes 10 minutes to get them in the game and they work great, if you have GC3 you can get a very close approximation of their original abilities too.

Hmm, just tried using string tables again, and it just ends up showing the label instead of pulling the text from the string table.

This was super helpful Wotan.  Maybe Rhonin_the_Wizard can put your posts on his guide list https://forums.galciv4.com/512141/community-guides-list under modding.

Here is what a ModUnitPortraits.xml file in the mod directory, text folder looks like. I have 75 entries in each but cut it down for posting. These refer to your 128x128 pngs in the citizens folder or GFX folder, not sure which works so I used both.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes" ?>

<FlavorTextDefs

xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"

xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="../../Schema/FlavorText.xsd">

<!-- Created with the GC4 editor -->

<!-- UnitPortraits.xml -->

<FlavorTextDef>

    <InternalName>PORTRAIT</InternalName>

    <FlavorTextOption>

      <Requirements>

        <CitizenRace>Race_Dominators</CitizenRace>

      </Requirements>

      <Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-01.png</Text>

      <Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-02.png</Text>

<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-55.png</Text>

<Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-56.png</Text>

      <Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-57.png</Text>

      <PreferenceWeight>1</PreferenceWeight>

    </FlavorTextOption>

   <FlavorTextOption>

      <Requirements>

        <GenderMale>0</GenderMale>

        <CitizenRace>Race_Dominators</CitizenRace>

      </Requirements>

  <Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-58.png</Text>

  <Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-59.png</Text>

  <Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-81.png</Text>

  <Text>Citizen_Portrait_Dom-82.png</Text>

      <PreferenceWeight>100</PreferenceWeight>

    </FlavorTextOption>

    </FlavorTextDef>

</FlavorTextDefs>

Check the GC3 forums, there are good modding tutorials there that still apply, the files may be slightly different in name but the basics still hold true. That is where I learned. This game has more flexibility and a much nicer presentation layer but deep down it uses the same xml structure for modding.