libraries

libraries/ is where the universe is defined. Which wares exist and what they cost, which factions own what and how they feel about each other, which ships and stations the game creates and where, how a crew is skilled, what the player's keys do. Each of those is one XML file, and most mods that change the game rather than add behaviour to it change one of these files with a diff.

This article lists every file in the folder as version 9.00 ships it, grouped by subject, with what it holds and the root element a diff addresses. Where an article covers a file in full, the row links to it. It describes version 9.00.

Three things hold for the whole folder. A file is a collection, so an extension can add to it with a whole file of its own that is gathered with the base one, or change it with a diff; How a file joins the game covers the choice. A file whose root element carries xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation names the schema that describes it, and libraries.xsd is the one shared by the ship, station, module, room, character, god and job tables; the schema is the authoritative description of what a file may contain. And a name in {page,id} form is a text reference into t/, so adding an entry with a name of its own also means a text file.

The last column says what the expansions do with the file. diff means every expansion that touches it ships a <diff>; whole means they ship a complete file that is gathered with the base one; both means some do one and some the other, which is a sign that either form works. An empty cell means no expansion touches the file. Reading an expansion's copy is the quickest way to see a working example of either form.

Contents

• Wares, ships, stations and equipment
• Factions and people
• Populating the universe
• The map's data
• Game starts, story and progress
• Balancing and behaviour
• Input, interface and configuration
• Rendering, effects and sound
• Schemas and tool files

Wares, ships, stations and equipment

What exists in the universe and what it is made of.

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Factions and people

Who lives in the universe, and the crews that fly it.

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Populating the universe

What the game places at the start of a game and keeps in place afterwards.

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The map's data

What the universe files under maps/ refer to, and the defaults every object starts from.

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Game starts, story and progress

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Balancing and behaviour

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Input, interface and configuration

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Rendering, effects and sound

These files describe how things look and sound rather than what they are, and are mostly the domain of asset work.

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Schemas and tool files

Not data, but what describes and reads the data.

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• diplomacy.xml

  How libraries/diplomacy.xml defines the diplomacy system of 9.00 - the agent actions with their agent, costs, rewards, timing, success chance and targets, the diplomatic events with their options, the gifts, the experience and rank tables, the influence cost curve and the ship bonus curves, how the expansions add to it, the script side, and how an extension adds an action of its own.

• drops.xml

  How libraries/drops.xml defines what a destroyed ship, a mined asteroid or an opened lockbox leaves behind - the reusable ware and ammunition baskets, the droplists and their drops, how a droplist is attached to a ship, a lockbox or a mission object, how the expansions add their own, the script side, and how an extension adds a droplist.

• factions.xml

  How libraries/factions.xml defines every faction - names, race, colour and icons, the licences it grants and holds, its starting relations to the others, the signal responses and the tags - how relations are measured and shown, how the expansions add factions, the script side, and how an extension adds a faction of its own.

• gamestarts.xml

  How libraries/gamestarts.xml defines every game start - the menu entry, the cutscene and intro, the start location, the player and the universe settings - what god.xml and the MD scripts add for a start, the custom game starts and scenarios, the script side, and how an extension adds a start of its own.

• god.xml

  How libraries/god.xml places stations, factories and objects (and, in some Timelines scenarios, ships) - the entry format, quotas and locations, when the game generates from it, what an extension needs to add entries, and the script actions and properties that work with them.

• jobs.xml

  How libraries/jobs.xml keeps the universe's NPC ships in place - the job format, quotas and locations, how the job engine populates, replaces and retires job ships, what an extension needs to add jobs, and the script actions, events and properties that work with them.

• loadoutrules.xml

  How libraries/loadoutrules.xml decides which drones and deployables a ship or station is fitted with - the unit and deployable categories, the macro tables that tie a category and mark to a macro, the rulesets with their class, purpose, cargo, faction and docking filters, where the rules apply, how the expansions add their drones, the script side, and how an extension adds a rule.

• missiongroups.xml

  How libraries/missiongroups.xml names the groups mission offers are sorted into - the guild and war groups, the story groups and the game start groups - how the mission menu uses them, how the expansions add theirs, the script side, and how an extension adds a group for its own missions.

• notificationtypes.xml

  How libraries/notificationtypes.xml lists the notification types the player can switch on and off - the interactive and informational NPC events and the ticker messages - how the settings screen shows them, how a script honours the setting, and how an extension adds a type for its own messages.

• objectspawnrules.xml

  How libraries/objectspawnrules.xml decides which hidden lockbox a station gets and which crystal clusters an asteroid field grows, by owner, station type, field type, resource, object size and hazard, and how libraries/objectspawnpoints.xml fixes the positions on a station module where such an object sits - the layout and attributes of both files, the rule order, selections with weights and cooldowns, what the expansions leave out, the script side, and how an extension adds a rule and spawn points of its own.

• parameters.xml

  How libraries/parameters.xml holds the tuning values of 9.00 - one section per game system, from flight and combat to the economy, docking and the map, the scriptparams table the scripts read through the param keyword, which values the scripts fall back to, how the expansions change the file, the script side, and how an extension adds a parameter of its own and changes a vanilla one.

• people.xml

  How libraries/people.xml defines the crews of the ships the game creates - the fill percentage, the roles and the character selection per person, how a definition reaches a ship through ships.xml, a script or a game start, the player-only definitions of the Custom Game menu, how the expansions add their own, the script side, and how an extension adds a crew definition.

• quotas.xml

  How libraries/quotas.xml sets a weight and a zone limit per mission type for the whole galaxy and overrides them per cluster, sector and zone - the file's layout, the inheritance between spaces, which mission types it accepts and which of them the scripts know, how the value reaches a script through the quota keyword, how vanilla limits its offers instead, and how an extension adds a quota of its own.

• races.xml

  How libraries/races.xml defines the nine races - names and name pools, the character defaults for walking, sitting and spacesuits, icons, race relations, and the engine trail colours - what a faction takes from its race, the script side, and how an extension changes a race.

• startmenu.xml

  How libraries/startmenu.xml lists the background scenes of the X4 start menu - the default scene, each scene's cutscene, music, map, background cluster, regions and unlock - how the expansions change it, how the player picks a scene, and how an extension adds one.

• stats.xml

  How libraries/stats.xml declares the player statistics - what each counter is, its units and display, how one stat feeds another by copy, addition or mapping, the trade and fight scores and ranks, the account stats that drive the platform achievements, the Statistics menu, the script side, and how an extension adds a stat of its own, counted by its script and fed into a score and a rank.

• terraforming.xml

  How libraries/terraforming.xml defines the terraforming system of 9.00 as a catalogue - the planet stats with their states, colours and habitability, the project groups, and the projects with conditions, effects, side effects, rebates, resources, drone deliveries and the projects they remove or block; how a script turns the catalogue into a planet's project list, how the expansions extend it, the script side, and how an extension adds a project of its own.

• unlocks.xml

  How libraries/unlocks.xml defines what scanning a station can reveal - the trade discounts, the commissions and the blueprint unlocks, the conditions each needs, the amount and duration it gives, the global limits on how often, the script side, and how an extension adds an unlock of its own.