How do you add firm layouts?

[Brutus]

I added a new intermediate process for aluminum ... why it's not represented is hilarious and is beyond me since it is much more process and capital intensive than steel production and that is somewhat realistically portrayed here but I digress.

Due to this change there is no standard layout for the production of aluminum so I was wondering how do I add one to the library so if I was to export my mod, a player could easily use that layout? I can't find the file where I need to edit it

Does not having a proper layout effect the AI
Or will it adapt and make its own layouts?
How to add layouts?

[Hyronymus77]

Are you playing with a mod enabled because in the base game aluminium is available from aluminium mines.

[Brutus]

Yes I am playing with a mod, I kinda thought the first sentence of my post made that clear where I emphasized the idea of my mod adding an intermediate process for the production of aluminum.

That means there's no standard layout to make aluminum available in the layout plans. Which is why I want to add one.

[David]

Please see: https://www.capitalismlab.com/improveme ... n-library/

and https://www.capitalismlab.com/improveme ... roduction/

[Brutus]

Thanks David,

I guess that gets close enough but wasn't quite what I had hoped for. I was actually hoping to be able to add my new semi-product to the actual pre-defined layout library out of the box on installation of the mod so that the greyed out ''aluminum'' would become black and offer the player instantly a functional layout that was easily accessible without having to go through the rest of the library itself to find something useful to set it up with. It would be really useful if modders could add/export pre-defined product layout libraries for the added products that they modded in for user accessibility and ease.

[David]

Have you tried this function https://www.capitalismlab.com/improveme ... roduction/ which sets up a factory layout automatically for you, including semi products, without needing to use the layout plan library?

[saffgee]

I think Brutus is right, it would be nice for the modder to be able to offer the full package. Having said that, its now pretty much a non-problem for industry because of the manufacturing tool David suggested. Where I think its a real issue though is with farm and raw materials - basically every time I have to reinstall a new version of the game, I need to repopulate my whole library of crops & livestock and then re-define the 3 raw material setups I like. If this were somehow loaded with my Mod, I wouldn't have to do that each time.

Actually on that note, is there a chance we will ever get auto-crops ? That would also make most of this particular problem go away of course.....ie auto-fill all crop/livestock slots when you select one. No need for layouts really then.

[saferain]

I think so too. If we add the corresponding planning library when making the mod, I think it is very good.

[David]

There is a concern about having a separate layout plan library for each mod though. Let's say that a user may just make some slight modifications to a mod, like adding his own portrait. But since the mod will be under a different name, the game will assume that it is a completely new mod and assign a new empty layout plan library to it, which is obviously not what the user would want.

It seems to me that using the Manufacturer's Guide to set up factories is a more straightforward method.

As for setting up farm layouts, I have forwarded Saffgee's suggestion to the dev team.

[saffgee]

Thanks David, whilst we are at it, could we maybe have the layout plans sorted in alphabetical order as well please ? Might make things a bit easier to find in a big mod....