[TUTORIAL] Using the DC Attribute Editor for SS with default LUAs

**Kresjah** · 24th Jul 09 4:40 AM

Using the DC Attribute Editor for SS with default LUAs

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PREFACE
After some research into the Soulstorm LUAs for the Soulstorm Unofficial Mod Tools Project (link here), I accidentally stumbled upon the solution to finally getting the Attribute Editor from the Dark Crusade Mod Tools working with the Soulstorm LUAs (without having to modify the LUAs to make them work).

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WHY USE THE DARK CRUSADE ATTRIBUTE EDITOR INSTEAD OF THE WINTER ASSAULT ONE?
A few people might ask now, why should we use the Winter Assault Attribute Editor? Octopus Rex posted a mighty fine tutorial on how to get it working (link here), and with there already being a tutorial for that and now a tutorial for this, there must be a reason, right?

Well, if you are working on small-medium sized mods, it's probably much easier and quicker to use Octopus Rex's solution. However, once you get in the big-big league you might be unlucky enough to have the Winter Assault one still die on you. Heck, I'd say the Dark Crusade one is beneficial also for those with slow computers. What the Dark Crusade Attribute Editor has that the Winter Assault one doesn't is selective loading. You can prevent it from loading certain folders, removing the memory strain, chances of crash and decreasing the loading times tenfold simply by ignoring certain folder.

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THE PROBLEM
First of all to explain the problem. It's really quite simple; the Attribute Editor tries to go beyond the limits of memory that is delegated to it. Basically, all applications have a set limit of memory it can use, either based on your systems memory, a memory limit per application set by your operating system (usually 2GB per application in 32-bit versions of Windows XP and Vista), or a combination of both. So what we need is a way to circumvent this.

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THE SOLUTION
The solution is (again) really quite simple. Create empty folders for sections you want to be able to disable. Have you seen those checkboxes that pop up when you load a mod? This allows you to disable loading of that folder, not only in your current mod, but also in all parent mods.

A parent mod means a mod that another mod relies on, inherits from. Most Dark Crusade and Soulstorm mods inherit from DXP2. DXP2 inherits from W40k. W40k inherits from Engine.

So, if you load DXP2 and uncheck the checkbox for EBPs, it will not load any LUAs from inside the EBPs folder of DXP2. It will also avoid loading from W40k and Engine too, because they are the parent mods of DXP2. This way, we reduce the amount of memory that the Attribute Editor uses, and as such we can circumvent the main problem with the Attribute Editor.

The strange thing about the Dark Crusade Attribute Editor that it builds the list of folders you can disable only based on the actual mod you load. If your mod doesn't have an EBPs folder, then you don't get the option to disable it, and it will still force load it from parent mods.

The solution is simply to create empty folders to represent the rather hefty folders of DXP2. Even if your mod only edits abilities, create folders for EBPs. This allows you to disable the loading of EBPs from parent mods. Creating a new race? Create the subfolders for the other races you want to be able to disable. You can disable specific subfolders too from the Dark Crusade Attribute Editor loading interface.

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THE DEFAULT SETUP I USE
Whilst I usually don't use the Attribute Editor, the few times I do I have these folders set up to help ease the loading: