I'm writing this guide to show players how to remove the block on certain colonization technologies dependent upon the starting planetary class you choose. Since Shadow already has a mod that modifies the file that this block is in, I think the best course of action is to write a guide to show you how to remove it yourself, so it works with any mod.

What is this block? Inside the Society Technology text file, there is a special modifier that will not allow the player to get the colonization technology for the two planetary classes opposite of their starting planetary class. For example, if you choose a race who's homeworld is Continental, then the two opposite planetary classes on the wheel, Tundra and Arid, will NOT be available technologies, as the game creators seem to deem this... something, perhaps for balancing? Either way, I'm making this guide to show you how to make the planets Shadow deemed 60% plus habitable available to all planetary types, as this "block" prevents Shadow's Habilitability mod from being completely utilized, but if you want, you can also use it to remove all blocks.

STEP 1: Finding The Correct File

The file you need to edit is "00_soc_tech.txt". Now, like I said earlier, Shadow's "Shadow's Defines" mod edits this file, so if you have this mod or any other mod that modifies all technology (or even just Society technology), you will want to find the "modified" file from those mods. If you have no mods that modify technology, then you need to find the original vanilla file in the Steam folder.


If you have no technology altering mods:


If you have no technology altering mods: you must find the original vanilla file, which can be found here: steam\steamapps\common\Stellaris\common\technology. Remember, you want to find the "00_soc_tech.txt" file. When you find it, copy and paste it somewhere you'll remember where it is (like your destop).

Once you've copied the file and placed it on the desktop, you need to go to: Documents\Paradox Interactive\Stellaris\workshop\mod. You will notice a lot of .mod files with a large set of random numbers. Now follow these instructions:

1. Create a new folder inside the and name it something appropriate, but it has to be one word, like "colonizationmod" (whatever you call it, I'm going to refer to it as the "yourmod" folder). After that, create a folder inside your "yourmod" folder called "common", then inside that "common" folder create one called "technology". This tells the game where the file the mod is suppose to modify is. Remember you found the society tech file inside common\technology?
2. Place the 00_soc_tech.txt file you have on your desktop (or wherever else you placed it) inside the "technology" folder you just created.
3. Go back to the "mod" folder (not yourmod folder) and copy one of those random number .mod files and place it inside "yourmod" folder (mine is "colonizationmod"). It should be next to the "common" folder you created earlier. Rename the .mod file to yourmod.mod (so for me it would be "colonizatonmod.mod").
4. Open the .mod file with Notepad++ (or another appropriate text editor - do NOT use regular notepad), and now you are going to "edit" the .mod file to function for your mod: the first line will be "name=" then the name of the mod you copied it from. You want to rename this the name of your mod, and remember: this is the name that will appear in the "mods" screen when you start Stellaris, so for me I would put: name="Colonization Mod". Remember to put the name of your mod in quation marks. Next line will be "archive=". You want to "delete" this line, and instead put: path=mod\*nameofyourmod*. For me: path=mod\colonizationmod. For Tags, put whatever you think Habitability alters in there, leave it the same, or leave it blank, as it really doesn't matter for your own personal mod. Leave the "picture=" line alone. And finally make the final line: supported_version="1.2.*", or whatever is appropriate later on. SAVE the file.
5. Copy your newly edited .mod file and go back into the mod folder, the one with all the strange numbered .mod files and paste that file here as well, so the game knows to look for it.

NOTE: This way will allow your changes to stay no matter how many mods you download, as long as none of those mods alter the same file. If you do get one of those mods later on, you will have to delete yourmod folder and the .mod file you created and instead follow the alternative instructions below.

Now, you're ready to start editing the 00_soc_tech.txt file, so go back into yourmod folder, common, technology to your copied 00_soc_tech.txt and edit it with a good text editor like Notepad++ (don't use regular notepad). Skip down to STEP 2 below.


If you do have technology altering mods


If you do have Shadow's Shadow's Defines mod or any other tech mod (I'm assuming you have it activated and are using it, otherwise you'll have to use the above method), then you'll have to find the modified verison of the 00_soc_tech.txt file in those mods by following these instructions:

1. Launch Stellaris (to the small box screen with "News", "DLC", and "Mods" tabs)
2. Select the "Mods" tab and in the top right corner of the box, select "Mod Tools"
3. On the left side of the new box, select "Upload Mods" (don't worry, nothing happens)
4. After selecting this, a list (in alphabetical order) appears, and you need to search for the mod that you know has modifed the society technology files. For my example, Shadow's Defines mod. Once you find the mod you're looking for, select it. Details for the mod will appear in the space on the right. You want the "Mod ID" number. Write it down as you will need it later.
5. Exit Stellaris
6. You now have to find the mod you just got the Mod ID for. Go to: Documents\Paradox Interactive\Stellaris\workshop\content, OR... due to the latest updates, if it's not there, go to Program Files (x86)\Steam\Steamapps\worshop\content. At this point, depending on which location you find the folders, you will find either one or more folders, and you want the one with the following numbers: 281990. I believe this is an ID code for Stellaris that Steam uses to know which game the following mod folders are to change. You want to get into this numbered folder.
7. Now you will have (depending on the number of mods you have) a few or many folders with even larger random numbers. [These random number folders should only appear in one of the two locations I gave you above.] These are all Mod IDs of Stellaris mods you currently have. Remember the Mod ID number you found for your mod earlier and find that number, then select that folder.
8. Inside that folder will be probably a .rar or .7zip file. Open it with an appropriate program.
9. Inside you will find all the folders that the mod changes in some way. If the mod you selected does alter our 00_soc_tech.txt file, then you need to find the "common\technology" folders and then select the 00_soc_tech.txt file for editing by double clicking on it.

NOTE: This works very well if you have a mod that already edits the 00_soc_tech.txt file, but if the mod is ever updated, or you ever delete it, you will have to repeat this process or go to the first alternative explained above.


STEP 2: Editing 00_soc_tech.txt

Now, whether you have copied the original file into your own mod, or found a modified version from another mod, you are ready to edit the 00_soc_tech.txt file to remove the block on colonizing certain planetary types.

1. Open up the 00_soc_tech.txt in Notepad++ (or another suitable text editor - I wouldn't use regular notepad for various reasons - some mentioned here) and hit ctrl+f to bring up the Notepad++ search function. Type in "tech_desert" into the search bar and make sure the "Match Whole Word Only" check-box on the left is NOT checked. This should lead you to a line that states: "tech_desert_colonization = {", which will be line 719 for a vanilla file, or it could be close to their if the file has been previously modified.

Desert (for whatever reason) is the start of all 7 colonization technologies in a row, going in a clockwise circle back around to Arid. So, if you want to "unblock" all planetary classes from each other, you need to start with Desert and work your way down. If you want to follow Shadow's Habitability Formula, thus only unlocking types that are 60% and higher in habitability, you just need to find 3 planetary types: Continental, Tundra, and Arid.

2. Since I'm only going to go through the steps to show you how to make sure Shadow's habitability formula works how he intented, we will start with Continental class, which will be third in the list of planetary types, around line 867. At around 875, you will see this line: "weight_modifier = {". This modifies the chances of you "getting" the colonization technology of the planetary class you're looking at: first one just tells the game that if the player's species has Continental as it's homeworld type, that it should never get the colonization technology for Continental worlds, the second grants an increase chance of finding it if your society scientist has the "new worlds expertise" trait, the third gives a big bonus to finding said colonization technology if you have one of the two "adjacent" planetary types as your homeworld, meaning if you're species homeworld is Ocean or Tropical, you get a big boost in your chances of finding the Continental Colonization Tech.

Now, after all that, the fourth modifier is the one we want, which for a vanilla file starts on line 894. This modifier has a special note making it easy to idenify: "#deny those who are too far away in ideal planet class, except if they have a pop in the Empire that prefers that planet-type. Robots can live anywhere."

3. Looking at the line below the modifier (line 895) you see that factor = 0, which means you will have ZERO chance of getting the Continental Colonization if your homeworld is Tundra or Arid, which for Shadow's mod is not what we want, as Continental is 60% habitable to all other types. Following that "factor" line is an "add" line then an "or" line. The "or" line is the one that stops you from getting the tech.

Now, since Continental Worlds in Shadow's mod are meant to be accessed and habitable by all the planetary types, we want to completely remove the Tundra and Arid blockers. You can just delete the "or" lines, but then the coding is rather pointless. So you are going to delete the entire modifier from the file.

Go back to the "modifier = {" line at 894. Click your mouse cursor next to the "{". It should turn red if you're using Notepad++. Look down a few lines to around 912. There should be a closing curly bracket "}" that is also red. You must delete everything from the "modifier" line to that red closing curly bracket on line 912.. When you delete all those lines, you have removed the modifier for the Continental class!

WARNING: The coding in these files are extremely sensetive. If you do not delete the appropriate curly brackets, or worse, delete more than you should, you will break the coding and Stellaris will crash on startup. This is why I told you to watch for the "red" curly brackets. Delete everything in-between and including the brackets (and the "modifier =" before the opening curly bracket) and nothing more... nothing less.

4. Now that you have deleted that coding, Tundra and Arid species can now get the Continental colonization tech! BUT! Continental species still cannot get Tundra or Arid techs! That's because the Tundra and Arid techs have their own modifiers blocking Continental themselves. So you have to do the same thing to Tundra and Arid, only with a small twist.

Go down to Tundra's colonization tech (which was on line 1089 until you deleted the lines for the Continental modifier) and look at the same modifier (just look for the really long discription that starts with the "#"). Under the "or" segment of the modifier are two lines, first one to block Tropical species from getting Tundra and the second for Continental.

Shadow's mod allows Continental species to get 60% habitability on Tundra, but NOT Tropical, so this time, you don't want to delete the entire modifier. This time, just delete this line: "ideal_planet_class = pc_continental". This way, Continental species can now get Tundra, but Tropical cannnot. Follow the same instructions to find the Arid modifier (which is below the Tundra tech), and delete the exact same line. You will just notice that Ocean is the other blocked type instead of Tropical.

5. Save your work and you're done. If you copied the vanilla file and made your own mod folder like I instructed, you will need to "activate" your mod inside the "Mods" tab when you launch Stellaris. It will be listed as whatever you typed into the "name=" line. If you modified a mod's version of this file, then you're work is done unless you don't have that mod activated or the mod is every updated by the author, and then you will have to repeat your work with the new file (assuming the author changed it).

6. If you made any mistakes in your editing of the 00_sec_tech.txt, you will notice upon starting the game. If you did, delete the copied file if you copied the vanilla one and then repeat the process of coping the original and placing it in the same folder and try again. If you modified an already modded version incorrectly, you will have to unsubsribe/resubscribe and try again. If you made any mistakes on creating the mod folder for a copied vanilla file, the mod simply won't show up. Double-check all your spelling and coding grammar.

Now you can unblock just the ones I showed you (so Shadow's mod works as he intended) or you can unblock all. Enjoy!