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Can you provide a little info on how Concrete's embrasures work?

Honestly, embrasures in *any* mod work in pretty much exactly the same way. They make a tile impassable, like a regular wall, but unlike a wall, don't completely block it.

[Fertile Fields]

Fertile Fields has been updated again:

- Plowed soil now degrades to rich soil when crops are harvested, rather than as a random time-based function.

(I can't believe I missed the simple, obvious way to do this that I should have used in the first place!)

I'll take a look at what that mod does and see if I can adapt it. Obviously, the degradation is based on the idea that plowed soil that's been used needs to be replowed. I did it as a random time-based check because that was the only way I could think of to implement it, not because I necessarily thought it was the best way.

[Steam Workshop Link]

Last update: 10/09/2018

This mod adds concrete to the game. Originally designed as an add-on to "Fertile Fields," it can now be used independently, though without "Fertile Fields," your options for obtaining sand and crushed rocks will be a bit more limited.

Concrete can be made at a stonecutting table, with sand, crushed rocks and cement. Sand and crushed rocks can be made from stone chunks or blocks, also at a stonecutting table. Cement is made by "cooking" limestone in a smithy. (Note that while by default, only limestone can be used, the cement recipe can be adjusted to allow other stone types. It's less realistic, but obviously, limestone won't be readily available on all maps.)

Vanilla concrete and paved tile floors are now made with concrete instead of with steel. (Honestly, I have no idea why Tynan added concrete floors to the game without adding concrete from which to make them.)

If you're using "Fertile Fields," you'll see that the terraforming option which allows conversion of rocky dirt into rough stone now requires concrete in addition to crushed rocks.

And if you're using my "Advanced Bridges" mod, you'll find that construction of deep water bridges now requires concrete instead of steel.

Concrete can be used to make "cinder" blocks. These can be used to make walls and other items that can otherwise be made from stone blocks. Cinder block walls are weaker (and less attractive) than granite walls, but can be built quickly.

The mod adds embrasures, which can be made of any material from which regular walls can be made.

It also adds "poured concrete walls," which are as strong as standard stone walls, but easier to build in bulk, "steel-reinforced concrete walls" (and matching embrasures), which are nearly as strong as plasteel walls, and "plasteel-reinforced concrete walls," with twice the durability of plasteel walls, for those who want the ultimate security for their pawns living in bunkers.

- Rainbeau Flambe (dburgdorf)


Steam Workshop Link

Dropbox Link

Compatibility:

This mod should be compatible with most any other mods, except perhaps for other mods which add concrete. But why would you be trying to use two different mods to add concrete? Just pick one or the other!

The basic embrasures added by this mod share a defName with the embrasures added by "Combat Extended." Embrasures in your game will thus be defined by whichever of the two mods loads last. There really isn't much difference between the two. I'd recommend loading "Concrete" after "Combat Extended," though, since my embrasures provide slightly better cover and look nicer.

You should be able to add this mod to an existing saved game without trouble, but removing it from a game in progress will likely cause problems.

[Fertile Fields]

Fertile Fields has been updated:

- Plowed soil on which no plants are growing will, in time, degrade back to rich soil. The practical upshot of this change is that fields will likely need to be replowed at the beginning of each growing season.

- Basic sandbags once again have a (minimal) cloth cost.

- It is now possible to build doors, vents and the like over brick walls, just as you can over vanilla walls.

- Herringbone brick floors now require 4 bricks instead of 3, in addition to requiring more work than regular brick floors, in order to better balance their beauty advantage.

- Brick floors can no longer be built on terrain (primarily soft sand) that won't support vanilla floors.

- Converting terrain other than ice to shallow water on an ice sheet map no longer has a chance of resulting in stony soil.

Hey dburgdorf, thank you for your hard work on all your mods! I have been tinkering with your 'Tribal Names' mod and took the time to combine a list of Medieval names....

I'll definitely take a look. It's already been suggested/requested that the mod be modified to allow some tribal groups to use my tribal names but others to use the default names, and if I do that, it should be simple enough to add additional options, so a Medieval names list could be handy. 

Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you... unless you deserve it, or I'm just feeling particularly sadistic....

I will probably switch my own game in the next day or two from b19 to the "unstable" (or whatever it's being called) 1.0 version. I've got my fingers crossed that my mods will work across the transition without any issues. 

Will switching from Kiame's version to this one be problematic to a game in progress?

You shouldn't see any problems, since all the backstory defNames are the same. (The new update added a few, but didn't remove or rename any of the older ones.) I'd still make sure there's a "fallback" game save available, just in case, as that's wise *any* time you make changes to your mod list. But I really wouldn't expect trouble.

Major changes in the "Editable Backstories" update from Kiame's initial b19 release:

- Updated mod name from "Editable Backstories" to "Editable Backstories and Names."

- Fixed body type randomization, which was inadvertently broken in the initial update to b19.

- Added 17 backstories to the mod's database, based on vanilla Pirate King and "snowflake" backstories added to the game since a16.

- The mod now supports adding names to the game's database from simple text files, in addition to adding them from an XML names file. The latter is primarily useful now for defining name/backstory sets, rather than for simple name lists.

- Added the ability to define lists of "sets" of first names and nicknames, so pawns can have nicknames that actually have a connection to their given names.

- Normal mode no longer literally overwrites the vanilla database. Vanilla backstories will still be visible in (and can be selected from) "Prepare Carefully" or similar mods, but will never be given to pawns randomly.

- Switching between "lite" and normal modes no longer requires restarting the game.

- A new configuration option allows you to add a source tag to backstory titles, so you can easily tell them apart in "Prepare Carefully." This tag will also be visible in pawns' bio windows, but can easily be removed just by resetting the config option.

- Random backstory selection now has a slight bias against backstories which disable dumb labor, firefighting or violence. (This change was inspired by the "weighting" of backstories that was added to vanilla in b19.)

My updated b19 version is now available, and can be found here: https://ludeon.com/forums/index.php?topic=45556.0

The update features some pretty significant rewriting, and also some enhanced functionality, especially where names are concerned.

There's nothing wrong with sticking with Kiame's version for now if you prefer not to mess with a game in progress, though you should be able to replace his version with mine seamlessly, as all the backstory defNames are the same.

I was never able to reproduce some of the errors that were reported since the b19 update. It's possible that I just never happened upon the right combinations of mods and settings, but it's also possible I just happened to fix whatever had been causing the problems in the course of my rewrites. Obviously, I'm hoping for the latter.

[Steam Workshop Link]

Last update: 10/12/2018

Are you tired of running into characters in your game with horribly overpowered or just plain silly backstories? Are you frustrated by the number of colonists you have to feed who aren't willing to work to earn their keep because their backstories prevent them from doing manual labor? Does it annoy you when you find a backstory you like with the "Prepare Carefully" mod, only to notice that the gender pronouns or even the pawn's name don't change to fit your character? Do you just hate not being able to do anything about typos that you spot in backstories?

Well, fret no more! Your worries are over!

"Editable Backstories and Names" dramatically improves, and gives you full control over, the game's backstory and name databases. It's ready to be used "out of the box," but also allows you to change pretty much anything, in whatever way you see fit. Details are below.

- Rainbeau Flambe (dburgdorf)


Steam Workshop Link

Dropbox Link

The Backstory Database:

This mod provides you with a fully customizable database of more than 300 backstories which (by default) completely replaces RimWorld's vanilla backstory database. None of the backstories are unreasonably powerful or lore-breaking, none have hard-coded pronouns or names, and they're (mostly) free of typos. They're ready to be used as provided, but of course can be edited. (Please note, though, they can't edited from within the game itself. To edit them, you'll need to edit the mod's XML files. Instructions on how to do so can be found in its "Documentation" folder.)

It also provides much more robust filtering of backstories than does the vanilla game. You should never again see pawns whose childhood and adulthood backstories contradict each other, with one providing penalties to skills or disabling work types that the other significantly buffs. Additionally, the mod provides brand new filters, so you can define certain backstories to only be available to pawns of a particular age or gender, define some backstories to be more or less common than others, and even define "sets" of backstories which will always and only be used together. (For example, in the mod's "out of the box" database, medieval backstories are flagged so that medieval childhoods will only ever be matched with medieval adulthoods, and vice versa.)

The Names Database:

This mod provides a significantly larger pool of random first and last names for colonists than is available in the vanilla game. (It provides more than 2,000 each male and female first names, as opposed to about 300 each in vanilla, and about 10,000 last names, as opposed to just 1,000 in vanilla.) The mod's database is drawn from lists of the most common names in pretty much every country of the world, so your pawns' names will have a truly mixed- and multicultural feel. But like the mod's backstory database, its name database not only replaces the vanilla database, but is completely customizable, so you have full control over the names that can appear in your games. If you wanted to include nothing but German first and last names, for example, you could play a game of RimWorld in which literally every non-tribal pawn has a German name.

The names of colonists' pets draw from the same lists as do the names and nicknames of colonists themselves, so any changes you make to those lists will be reflected in the names colonists give their pets, as well as in the colonists' own names.

(This mod does *not* alter tribal names in any way. For that, I'd recommend my "Tribal Pawn Names" mod, with which "Editable Backstories and Names" is fully compatible.)

In addition to lists of first and last names, and of course nicknames, the mod also utilizes new lists of "sets" of first names and nicknames, allowing for randomly-named pawns to have intelligent nicknames. You might encounter a pawn named Jonathan with the nickname "Jon," for example, or perhaps a Cassandra known as "Cassie."

Not all names have to be randomly generated, of course. Just as there are defined full names in the vanilla game, some of them attached to certain specific backstories, the mod allows you to define full names for pawns who might show up in your own games, either with or without specifically-defined backstories.

Configuration Options:

"Use 'Lite Mode'": By default, "Editable Backstories" allows only its custom backstories to be selected randomly for new pawns. However, if this box is checked, the mod will instead allow new pawns to draw backstories from both its custom database and the vanilla database. (Note that vanilla backstories will always be visible and manually selectable when using a mod such as "Prepare Carefully," regardless of this option's setting.)
   
"Tag Backstories by Source": If this option is selected, backstory titles will be tagged to indicate their source, with "(Vanilla)" and "(VanillaPK)" indicating basic vanilla backstories and "Pirate King" designated backstories, respectively, "(REB)" indicating backstories added by this mod, and "(Other)" indicating backstories added by other mods. These tags can make it easy to tell what you're looking at when searching through backstories in "Prepare Carefully" or a similar mod. However, the tags will also be visible on the character bio windows within the game itself, so you probably won't want to turn the option on except when you're actually manually creating new pawns.
   
"Allow Vanilla 'Triple Names'": By default, the only predefined "triple" (or "full") names that will be available for random assignment to new pawns are the names defined in the mod's data files. If this box is checked, though, the "triple names" defined in the vanilla databases will also be available. (Note that even if you don't allow vanilla names, if you're playing in "lite" mode as defined above, the vanilla "Pirate King" pawns, whose names and bios are linked, can still show up in your games.)

Compatibility:

"Editable Backstories" can safely be added to a game in progress, and any of its configuration settings can be changed at any time, without any affect on already-generated pawns. However, it should not be removed from a game in progress, as if it is, any pawns with backstories drawn from its database will have those backstories randomly reassigned.

The mod is compatible with both "EdB Prepare Carefully" and "Verify Start."

It is also fully compatible with any mods that utilize Erdelf's "Humanoid Alien Races" framework.

Special Note:

I completely understand why backstories aren't editable by default. And I mean absolutely no disrespect to those who backed RimWorld on Kickstarter back in 2013 (or have purchased the "Name in Game Pack" since then) and got their stories written into the game as a result. But at the same time, I'm a modder. Changing things I don't like about the game is what I do. And the fact that backstories can't be edited, even though I understand it, is something that I don't like.

Credits:

Some of the C# code in "Editable Backstories" (specifically, the code that allows data to be read from XML files) derives from code in Erdelf's "Humanoid Alien Races."

The mod utilizes Pardeike's "Harmony Patch Library." (No additional download is required, as the library is included with the mod.)

Special thanks to Kiame Vivacity and Sumghai for handling the initial update of the mod from RimWorld b18 to b19 in my absence!

"We Can Handle It." But... Can we? Really? I'm not so sure....

[Wild Cultivation]

Wild Cultivation has been updated:

- Error messages should no longer be generated if other mods also patch the plant files that "Wild Cultivation" patches. (At the very least, any error messages that *do* show up shouldn't be this mod's fault.)