Subscribe to download
Isolated Origin

This mod starts the player out in an isolated area of the galaxy.

Your homeworld will be in a cluster of star systems that is only accessible through wormholes, L-Gates (if you have Distant Stars), and occasionally, through hyperlane routes that are blocked off by isolationist Fallen Empires and/or Marauders. Until someone develops wormhole tech, you'll be completely isolated.

Unlike the "Extragalactic Cluster Start" mod, your starting cluster is *within* the galaxy, generated along with the rest of it, and can therefore contain any of the unique systems that can randomly spawn during galaxy generation.

Despite the name, this isn't actually implemented as an Origin at the moment. Instead, it's just something that happens any time you start a new game with the mod active. I had initially intended to implement it as an Origin, but decided that it would be better to allow people to combine it with other Origins.


COMPATIBILITY:
Should be compatible with pretty much everything, apart from other mods that rearrange the hyperlane network (see below), or otherwise conflict with the basic concept of this mod.
Mods that add new Fallen Empires, or change the behavior of the existing ones, might lead to some unintended situations. Shouldn't be anything game-breaking, though - most likely, the only consequence would be that your cluster might not be quite as isolated as it's meant to be. And it probably wouldn't be too difficult to add compatibility with those mods; let me know if you encounter any such issues, and I'll look into it.
This mod was designed for single-player mode, and hasn't been tested in multiplayer. I suspect using it in multiplayer would cause every player to start out in their own isolated cluster, but I can't be sure.


KNOWN ISSUES:
It's been brought to my attention that certain console commands can sometimes cause the game to freeze or crash if executed while this mod is active - specifically, 'effect' commands that alter planet deposits and modifiers, as well as 'run' commands (which execute externally-stored scripts).
- Recommended workaround: Save your game before executing any console commands. If a command freezes or crashes the game, deactivate the mod before reloading and trying again (or just quit, deactivate the mod, and reload before executing the command in the first place). No need to reactivate the mod afterwards - it does all its magic before control is handed to the player, and doesn't have any further effect once the game has started.


TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Here's how it works, for those who are interested:
First, it finds the midpoint of every hyperlane route between your homeworld and the homeworlds of your closest neighbors (not counting non-playable empires like Fallen Empires and Marauders).
Second, it removes all of the hyperlanes at those midpoints, apart from those with one or both ends in systems that are owned by a non-playable empire.
Third, it removes any remaining hyperlane connections between your cluster and the territories of any Fallen Empires that don't always keep their borders closed, making sure that this doesn't cut them off from the rest of the hyperlane network.
It also actively tries to preserve any hyperlane routes through non-playable empires that *do* always keep their borders closed, since, in my opinion, that can make things more interesting.
Fourth, it runs some checks and procedures to find any systems outside your cluster that have become unreachable, and reconnects them to the hyperlane network.
Last, in order to ensure that you're not completely isolated for the *entire* game, it checks whether your cluster contains at least one wormhole, at least one abandoned gateway (unless you've disabled gateways), and (if you have Distant Stars) at least one L-Gate. If not, it spawns them.

I've refined it to the point that unintended situations (such as star systems becoming unreachable, or the player's starting cluster still having open hyperlane routes to the rest of the galaxy) are very rare, but they're still theoretically possible. If you notice anything like that happening, please report it as a bug, and if possible, send me screenshots and a copy of your save file.