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Racial Intros

Hey y'all, I know this mod is now over five years old, but I still get messages about it here and there. This mod was a huge undertaking, and I have not had the time to keep up with it. I went to school, got a full-time job, got engaged, and have become exponentially busier. So I unfortunately have never really been able to keep up with bug-fixes or changes. Thank you all for the hubbub, and I hope you can still get some enjoyment out of what's on here! (And hopefully it still works lol)

I thought it was weird that every race used the same protectorate mission. It doesn't lend itself well to lore or roleplaying, and it makes it seem like everyone is the same.
Once I realized that it was possible to change the starting instances based on race, I set to work on creating full intros.
I aimed to keep them eventful, but not constricting. I wanted them to be open enough so that a character could be played many different ways with the same mission.

This mod adds an intro mission for all the non-human races, complete with:
New Instance Worlds
Radio Messages
Quest dialog
New NPCs
Cinematics

Every Mission includes a:
Matter Manipulator
Broken Broadsword
Salves and Bandages
Pink Flower

* It is possible to miss the Broken Broadsword. While I made sure the Manipulator was mandatory, the sword is not. It will always appear in a weapon chest and be pointed at. It is hard to miss.
* These missions are not tutorials. They will, for the most part, assume you know how to play the game.
* This mod only adds introductions. The game is otherwise unchanged. The main storyline remains the same. There are like 50 "skip the story" mods out there if you want one.

Apex: You wake up in a Miniknog holding cell, and a rebel helps you escape. As you trek through the lab, dodging soldiers, your rebel friend talks to you through an earpiece. Right before you board the ship, she's found.
Avian: You are the next Avian scheduled for Ascension, and you are beginning to have doubts. After leaping from the tower you land in a pile of hay. During the ensuing confusion, you make a dash away.
Floran: You wake up to the smell of smoke, your village is on fire. A spaceship has crashed, and your friends and family are nowhere to be found. You need to see if the ship is still functioning.
Glitch: You have a sudden epiphany. You start thinking for yourself, free from the hivemind. Once they notice you, they cart you to edge of town for excecution. You're rescued by another renegade and escape.
Hylotl: Much like the Humans', today is your graduation. There's no tentacle monster, no attacking soldiers, just a peaceful morning saying goodbye to your friends.
Novakid: I wanted to leave the Novakid's mission very open. You start in a space diner, then you go pick up your ship. That's it :)

Can you do an intro for a modded race?
I will not. These were a large undertaking, so I won't do any more than the vanilla ones. Intros for modded races fall into the hands of either you or the original creator. If you want to do it yourself, I'd be glad to give you some pointers.

What happens if I use a modded race?
If you play as a race that isn't one of the vanilla seven, you will use the Protectorate mission, just as always. It won't crash though, which is cool.

Is this Frackin Universe compatible?
It is! Rejoice!

I've found a bug! What do I do?!
Tell me. I'll fix it. If you give me the race of your character, as well as any specifics you can manage, That'd be a huge help. I'll get right on it!

My scanner is broken, I only have a magnifying glass!
This is fixed now, but if you encountered the problem before I patched it, you're not out of luck. Enter admin mode and type:
/giveessentialitem scanmode inspectiontool
That will give you the scanner back.

Can I uninstall this mod?
You sure can! It has no bearing on the game outside of the intro mission, so uninstalling won't screw with your characters regardless of when you made them.

The Glitch speech pattern is wrong!
It's an old picture. In game they speak correctly.

If you want to take my mod apart to figure out how it works, go right ahead, I'm happy to help.
Here are some links to get you started
Tiled Map Editor[www.mapeditor.org]
Tiled Mission Tutorial[starbounder.org]
Cinematic info[starbounder.org]
Modding Basics (including how to unpack your assets)[starbounder.org]
Info on the JSON patch, the holy grail of modding starbound[jsonpatch.com]
JSON Patch tester. Lets you see exactly what your patch will do[json-schema-validator.herokuapp.com]
JSON Validator. If your mod crashes on startup, it's probably a JSON error. This will tell you what's wrong with a file.[jsonlint.com]

In the end, I think the best teacher is the game itself. Nothing in this mod uses any new techniques, just applies tools already in the game. I learned it all by poking around in the assets and modifying things. If you can learn the patterns, you can mod. I'd be happy to answer any questions if you need to troubleshoot.