Codex and War Asset Overhaul

[Deleted]

So while working on a variety of mods, I came up with a new idea. The main idea of this mod is to replace War Asset and Codex images that I found as lore unfriendly. Here are the goals so far.

1) Shut up the codex voice. Sometimes I would just like to read in peace. I already know how to do this it just requires adding a number to the the coalesced.

2) Replace lore unfriendly codex and war asset images with the friendly ones. An example would be replacing the Prothean codex image. Here is the original.

Here is the modded image.

3) Update NPC codex images with images from Mass Effect 3 . Here is Liara's Original image

Here is the modded one

4) Restore cut content. According to the wiki, there are a number of codex entries that don't appear in game. These actually have images already dedicated to them.
masseffect.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Temporaryeditor78/ME3_cut_content_temp_repository
 

[sil]

I'll be honest, I do prefer the original Liara image, I think it looks nicer.

I do like the idea you have to tune up the codex though, I think it's a really good idea. You could look at adding other information as well, such as a codex entry for all the living lore races.

[kinkojiro]

EGM adds back over 100 of the original me1/2 codices to me3. They then fire in appropriate places.

There is a wrinkle to the codex - you cannot edit or replace individual codex items, you can only add new ones. If you create an new but modified version one that fires at the same point then both versions pop up. If an entry doesnt have a picture you cannot add a picture to it.

[giftfish]

Jan 28, 2017 23:55:17 GMT @niklausshepard said:

2) Replace lore unfriendly codex and war asset images with the friendly ones. An example would be replacing the Protean codex image. Here is the original.

I actually find the prothean ME1 image to be quite lore-friendly. It's what was originally created in ME1. It's ME3 -- and ME2's -- versions of collectors/protheans that aren't faithful to the lore established in ME1. At least if you want to interpret the statues as depicting how protheans were supposed to look.

Bad form on BW's part.

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As Kinko says below, EGM already revamps/restores all codices, war assets, and planet descriptions. The modularity of EGM also allows people to use this content without all the expanded galaxy content (uh... I think). Releasing a mod like this would be both redundant and inherently conflict with EGM due to the duplicate content (a patch wouldn't be feasible). I'm not sure it would be worth the work. If you're just doing this for yourself without intention to release that's something else, but since you've posted it here, that seems to indicate you're thinking about releasing it publicly. Obviously, it's your mod and you have the right to do as you wish. It's not as if there's a rule that says you can never duplicate another mod's content (rock mods for Skyrim, anyone?). Just providing some perspective.

Jan 29, 2017 2:16:39 GMT kinkojiro said:

EGM adds back over 100 of the original me1/2 codices to me3. They then fire in appropriate places.

There is a wrinkle to the codex - you cannot edit or replace individual codex items, you can only add new ones. If you create an new but modified version one that fires at the same point then both versions pop up. If an entry doesnt have a picture you cannot add a picture to it.

I actually disagree with Kinko a bit on this. Re-purposing is how ThaneMOD's original codex entries were added. The game does contain references that aren't used and that can be re-purposed. That said, it's definitely easier at this point to just add new ones, since we now *can*.

Kinko, any idea why adding a picture to existing secondary entries doesn't work? I'm not sure I knew that... or, I might have at one point and forgot.

[sil]

Perhaps instead of starting fresh you could add on to EGM's codex? There is a lot of lore that could be put into it.

[Deleted]

That's an option. The intention of this mod was never to compete with EGM. It was just to improve my skills.

[kinkojiro]

Jan 29, 2017 19:24:07 GMT @niklausshepard said:

That's an option. The intention of this mod was never to comprte with EGM. It was just to improve my skills.

I didn't mean to say you couldn't do this, I just wanted to warn you that it had already been done to some extent.  I can give you a list of codex items that have been added if you are interested and want to find others.

giftfish the problem is this:

Adding a new codex line doesn't remove the old one.

So for example the codex database is structured something like this:

Plot Bool ; TLK Name ; TLK Text ; Section ; Texture link;  Priority; Sound link

For Liara it would look like this:

17685  ;  Liara TSoni ; Liara blah blah ; Known Associates; Texture link; {sound link}

Lets say you wanted to change the texture link we could create a new codex entry:

17685  ;  Liara Tsoni ; Liara blah blah ; Known Associates; New texture link; {sound link}

The problem is when bool 17685 is fired 2 versions of the codex entry would show not one.  One would have the old texture and one the new.

So to change the texture you need to directly replace the file holding the texture not the DLC codex database.   The same is true of editing the text.

Now consider this entry which has no texture link:

21850  ;   AI ; AI blah blah ; Technology ; No texture link; {no sound link}

21850  ;   AI ; AI blah blah ; Technology ; New texture link; {no sound link}

In this case 2 fire one with the texture, one without.

We cannot use the same way of editing the codex texture files directly. So the only solution is a non-DLC one - to edit the main codex database in the main game plot manager directly. You can do this but if a bug happens it can corrupt savegames, plus it raises compatibility issues.  

[giftfish]

kinkojiro -- Ah, okay. That makes sense. My brain was thinking about this in the context of editing the vanilla entry in the base game SFXGameSP_SF PCC containing the original codices in order to add the image entry. Editing this file is what I did for TMv1.0 due to it being pre-DLC mods. Obviously we don't do things like that anymore and would use a DLC mod for distribution.

However, if Nik isn't intending to distribute the mod and wanted to add some images to the existing vanilla secondary entries, he should just be able to modify the base game SFXGameSP_SF PCC. My question was more in the scope of: there's nothing in the engine that *prohibits* images from being displayed with those secondary entries, correct? If the texture filed has an ID listed and that ID appears in the coalesced, it should work... as far as I know.

[Deleted]

So during my research, I found at least one mistake in the codex so far. The mistake is in the Cerberus Coup which is part of the Reaper War section of the secondary codex. Here is the codex entry.

Councilor Udina's attempted coup will no doubt be analyzed for generations to come, but a clear picture is beginning to merge. Udina had contacted Cerberus to coordinate what was intended to be a bloodless takeover of the Citadel, in which he would force the other councilors to grant him emergency powers so that he could command the Citadel Fleet. He would then direct the fleet to liberate his homeworld, Earth.



The plan fell apart early when Executor Pallin and the salarian councilor caught wind of it. In defense of the plan, the Illusive Man dispatched his top assassins, commanded by Kai Leng, to kill them. Udina had little choice but to support the assassins with an armed force sufficient to hold the Citadel. Captured confidantes have indicated that Udina and Leng's alliance was relatively fragile: Udina may have planned to turn on Cerberus once the fleet was his to command, and Leng departed when he calculated that Udina would not succeed.



Persistent rumors suggest that Udina might have been a high-functioning victim of Reaper indoctrination. His actions played right into the Reapers' plans: even if the coup failed, it would damage Citadel governance. If it succeeded, his plan to retake Earth would likely have turned into a military blunder that Council forces could ill afford. However, there is no direct evidence of his indoctrination, nor obvious opportunity. It is more likely that Udina acted out of desperation, and in doing so, cost humanity its councilor.

1)Executor Pallin is dead, There is no way he could have possibly learned about the coup. 
2) TIM would not send an assassin to kill a dead man.
3) Bailey himself mentions that he kills Pallin.
4) I could fix this via TLK editing.
Here is the revised version without any mention of Pallin.

Councilor Udina's attempted coup will no doubt be analyzed for generations to come, but a clear picture is beginning to merge. Udina had contacted Cerberus to coordinate what was intended to be a bloodless takeover of the Citadel, in which he would force the other councilors to grant him emergency powers so that he could command the Citadel Fleet. He would then direct the fleet to liberate his homeworld, Earth.



The plan fell apart early when the salarian councilor caught wind of it. In defense of the plan, the Illusive Man dispatched his top assassins, commanded by Kai Leng, to kill the councilor and anyone else who stood in their way. Udina had little choice but to support the assassins with an armed force sufficient to hold the Citadel. Captured conspirators have indicated that Udina and Leng's alliance was relatively fragile: Udina may have planned to turn on Cerberus once the fleet was his to command, and Leng departed when he calculated that Udina would not succeed.



Persistent rumors suggest that Udina might have been a high-functioning victim of Reaper indoctrination. His actions played right into the Reapers' plans: even if the coup failed, it would damage Citadel governance. If it succeeded, his plan to retake Earth would likely have turned into a military blunder that Council forces could ill afford. However, there is no direct evidence of his indoctrination, nor obvious opportunity. It is more likely that Udina acted out of desperation, and in doing so, cost humanity its councilor.

[giftfish]

Yes, the lore for Pallin, Chellick, Bailey, Udina, and the coup is completely messed up. It's actually a bit worse than you outline, b/c ME2 tells us that Pallin is dead and Chellick is executor back then. I've recently covered this on the TM forum for the convo overhaul I'm doing for Bailey.

ME3Re and TM will fix this through the following:

1. Bailey's office convos.
The entire branch called "Your Promotion" will be removed. Not only does it conflict with ME2 lore about who the executor is, it conflicts directly with Bailey's earlier conversation with Shepard immediately following Khalisah's storm out. In this convo Bailey insists that he has no idea why Udina promoted him.

2. Executor and salarian bodies.
We know from ME2 game content that Chellick was executor at that point; Pallin had been killed in the Battle of the Citadel. Yet in ME3, the executor is somehow human (as per the body in his office during the coup). I'll be removing this body and replacing it with one that looks like Chellick from ME1. The salarians in the room will also be placed in C-Sec colored armor, rather than random yellow and black armor.

3. Codex.
Edit the coup codex and any other codices with conflicting information.

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This will be in the next release of ME3Re, along with TMv3.0.

[Deleted]

Here are the first three modified image replacements that made it into the game. They replace Miranda, Garrus, and Earth.
Miranda Before

Miranda After

Earth Before

Earth After

Garrus Before

Garrus After: