Overview

Are you a creature of the void? Does your never-ending hunger compel you to seek out an update of Silfae's "Animated Hollow Portraits" mod? Do the eldritch powers demand up-to-date gameplay elements so that you can play the Hollow Rift as originally designed? Then this mod is for you!

There are other mods which contain these portraits, so why should you choose this one? None of the others update the custom solar system initializer, AI personality, modified Prethoryn-based shipset, custom ship type, or custom species trait, but this one does! Please enjoy my translation of Silfae's custom empire into modern Stellaris.

Changes

All gameplay features from the original mod are upgraded to be fully compatible with Stellaris 3.8 "Gemini," the latest version when this was written. Updates include:

• Fix the included Prethoryn-swap shipset horrorworm_01
  • Ensure the ship entities are blank for ship sections and instead use the ship hull as the attachment point for the modified Prethoryn graphics
  • Add missing entities and weapon locators
  • Remove duplication
  • Fallback for titans, juggernauts, and colossi is molluscoid
• Fix the included custom ship type (Hollow Form with an XL slot) - note that Leviathans is required for the ship model
  • Fix the ship class, section, and default design to work
  • Fix portrait selectors to offer fewer phenotypes with the correct multiple color options - the graphics have been there the whole time, just needed some tweaking for presentation
  • Add components for the Hollow Form ship type (reactors, computers, and thrusters) of all types included in regular Stellaris
• Adjust Eltryrad portraits based on a Pop job type - lore-wise they have a caste system
• Add a custom deposit for the Hollow starting world ancient ruins - the previous deposit type was removed from the base game
• Update the namelist to account for all built-in army types, remove obsolete entries
• Update the custom starting system initializer
  • Starting planet intentionally tiny and filled with ancient ruins blockers
  • Can have guaranteed habitable worlds nearby (based on game settings)
  • Less complex that some of Silfae's other starting systems, so it already works with newer civics and origins
• Update the AI personality to account for new game features
• Update the custom empire the Hollow Rift
  • Now uses Origin: Survivor (requires DLC: Apocalypse) to represent the Hollow's explosive arrival in this dimension
  • Update the custom trait Astral Horror to use modifiers available in current Stellaris
  • Add Repugnant trait to the Hollow - the effects of the old Repugnant trait were built-in to Astral Horror, but the new effects require the Repugnant trait to be active
• You can use the Hollow portraits and/or custom initializer for your own empire without any DLC requirements

Compatibility

Compatible with any mod that does not add the same portraits, species class, ship, ship components, or art assets.

The Launcher will tell you that some mods are outdated - that is because the dependencies are both out of date with the game's version number. This mod overwrites and replaces all incompatible code so that the portrait mod will function as originally designed. You can safely ignore the out-of-date warning for the dependency mods.

Built for Stellaris version 3.8 "Gemini." Not compatible with achievements. The shipset does not have NSC classes.

Dependencies

In order for this mod to function, you must install these two mods and load them before this one:

• Animated Hollow Portraits by Silfae
• Silfae's city sets updated by Nozeminer

When to Install

This mod should be added before the game has started. If you remove it from a game in progress, your game may have graphical problems if any species was using the custom portraits or city graphics.

Known Issues

The solar system initializer for Hollow Rift fills the planet with ancient ruins and adds enough Pops to work all open jobs. The logic does not work if there are open jobs that the main species cannot fill. In base Stellaris, this only applies to Rogue Servitors and this mod handles that case. However, other mods that can lead to this situation may break the bonus Pop mechanic.

Error Logs

This mod overwrites the corresponding species class added by "Silfae's city sets updated" so that it will not be available for use. Expect to see one line in error.log like this:

[23:27:00][game_singleobjectdatabase.h:165]: Object with key: Silfae-Horror already exists, using the one at  file: common/species_classes/zz_silfae_cities_horror_exclude.txt line: 2

Stellaris Bugs

When selecting the Eltryrad portraits and later editing a species using the "Main Hive" portrait as the Ruler, (the large one, phenotype 13) the game will appear to prevent you from accessing the other colors of the other phenotypes. Change to a different phenotype, move to another empire creation tab, and then come back to the Ruler tab. The color selection arrows will again be active.

This appears to be a bug with Stellaris where the various portrait selector arrows do not dynamically update while you are at the screen and a species offers phenotypes with differing amounts of colors (e.g. phenotype A has 3 colors but phenotype B has 5 colors). This is most noticeable when a species has a phenotype with only one color - the arrows are disabled until leaving the tab and coming back.

Graphics Issues

The graphics file horrorworm_warrior_d_body_03.dds is the wrong color - it does not match the fourth color for the other "Warrior," "Worker," or "Wise" types that each have four corresponding colors. This appears to have been an issue when the original files were created - horrorworm_warrior_d_body_03 is a duplicate of horrorworm_warrior_c_body_03 rather than having its own color.

In game terms, the fourth color of Phenotype 9 is the same as the third color.

Changelog

• 1.0.0 Initial version
• 1.0.1 Require Apocalypse for pre-scripted empire, extra names for randomisation, allow portraits as secondary species and to be randomized
• 1.0.2 Fix on_game_start on_action to fire correctly, ensure correct graphical_culture
• 2.0.0 Update for compatibility with Stellaris version 3.1 "Lem"
  • Add new localisation keys introduced in 3.1
  • Update minor code improvements from the base game (icons, spelling changes)
  • Get rid of janky switch cases and use new trigger exporting (code is more better now)
• 2.1.0 Use new feature to restrict Astral Horror trait to the Eltryrad species class
• 3.0.0 Update for compatibility with Stellaris version 3.2 "Herbert"
  • More Pop clothing selector refinements
  • Update special Dimensional Tearing technology to be unavailable for non-Horrorworm empires
  • Do not show the special Hollow Form ship in the previewer for non-Horrorworm empires
• 3.0.1 Don't break the base game diplomacy rooms - fix is to name the new file to load before the built-in file
• 3.0.2 Minor tweaks
  • Portrait selectors based on job category, not pop category - my goal is for the Pop portraits to be based on the job, not the Pop's stratum
  • No longer ignore portrait duplication for the pre-scripted empire
• 4.0.0 Update for compatibility with Stellaris version 3.3 "Libra"
  • Integrate base game script changes
  • Use a shared set of triggers for job-based portraits
• 5.0.0 Update for Stellaris version 3.4 "Cepheus"
  • Update shared triggers
  • Use memory optimization feature for effects and a trigger
  • All static text moved to localisation (name lists, species random names, prescripted empire, custom starting system)
  • Update the default Dimensional Horror ship design to be valid by default
• 5.1.0 Add a second, optional Eltryrad shipset option that falls back to the Necroid ship appearance and requires the Necroids DLC to use
• 6.0.0 Update for Stellaris version 3.6 "Orion" (and changes from version 3.5 "Fornax")
  • Minor namelist updates
  • Update hair to attachment
  • Add new roles to the Dimensional Horrorworm ship computers
  • Prevent AI from using dark matter reactors or thrusters on Dimensional Horrorworms (the game applied this change to the built-in dark matter reactors and thrusters)
• 6.0.1 Duplicate random species names for the additional species classes
• 7.0.0 Update for Stellaris version 3.7 "Canis Minor"
  • Update Eldritch Devourers personality with new features
  • Update shipset with missing critter weapons and colonizer entities
  • Update Dimensional Horrorworm shipclas (etc.) to default to artillery behavior
  • Update shared triggers for Pop portraits
  • Remove global flag
  • Add compatibility trigger has_horrorworm_portraits_revisited_active
• 7.0.1 Do not randomize the second horrorworm portrait set - causes issue due to not having corresponding namelist(s)
• 8.0.0 Update for Stellaris version 3.8 "Gemini"
  • Update prescripted empire to use the new prescripted ruler class and trait system
  • Update shared triggers

Source Code

Hosted on GitHub.

Development Notes

It is best to clone this repository into <Stellaris User's Directory>/Paradox Interactive/Stellaris/mod, and then make a connection to the mod folder via a *.mod file's path property. That will ensure the game can see the files, and also that CWTools will parse them. Also note that the README.md file exists in the mod directory but is symbolically linked in the root directory.

Special Thanks

I was inspired to extend the original mod when I saw Endugu's expansion of Silfae's Animated Xirmian Portraits. Modular mods that require downloading the original mod(s) help give credit where credit is due.

An extra special thanks to Silfae and Oskar Potocki for creating and sharing these great animated portraits with the community.