A mod, short for modification, is any set of files made by independent users that will alter the way Spore works. Changes might include adding parts in editors, removing game limitations or altering the GUI. Spore handles mods as .package files, similar to The Sims 2 and 3. Many major mods seek to introduce massive changes to Spore, however, as new tools become available and changes continue to be made to the game, many of the major mods have become obsolete or have been otherwise crippled beyond usefulness.
Mods are different from expansion packs and patches in that they are unofficial, having been made independently by users skilled in programming and distributed for free. As such, players interested in adding mods should first take into account that neither Electronic Arts nor Maxis will provide any technical support for issues caused by them. This is especially important to consider as many mods are now obsolete or defunct, with a few exceptions.
Tools
Several tools have been made since Spore's release that allow for the creation of custom packages. Among them, a handful stand out.
SporeMaster
| Note: This tool is no longer supported or in active development, it is not advised to use it. |
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SporeMaster was, in the very early days of Spore modding, the go-to tool for the job, combining the functions of a package packer-unpacker, text file editor and model viewer. However, the tool has been rendered obsolete, and is no longer supported by the modding community, being replaced instead by the more advanced SporeModderFX.
Key features:
- You can make your own modification in it.
- Unpacking and packing of .package files, with automatic conversion of .prop files to and from .xml files. XML is no longer necessary.
- Packing of .rw4 (RenderWare 4) model and texture files (from OGRE3D XML format and DDS format respectively) with packages, making editor part creation possible for the first time.
- XML property files are more user-friendly than in previous mod tools, using names instead of hashes where possible. XML files are order-independent. Another tool that can be used for XML file editing is Notepad++.
- Full text indexing of .xml and .locale files in the unpacked package, to permit very fast incremental search. Search for keywords separated by spaces or "literal phrases".
- Side-by-side comparison of file tree in Spore and the mod under development. One-click execution of WinMerge to see and edit changes in an individual file.
- Built-in syntax highlighting editor.
- Image and model viewers.
- Tools for guessing the original names for hashes and for creating human-readable aliases for hashes that cannot be guessed (or that were randomly generated by EA).
SporeModderFX
SporeModder FX is maintained by emd4600 and is so far the most advanced tool. It includes the following features:
- An advanced text editor, with syntax highlighting, error diagnose, autocomplete...
- A modern text format to visualize most of the files used by Spore.
- A "Spore User Interface" editor, that allows you to create and edit the Spore UI.
- An image and texture viewer that can visualize common images, but also textures used by Spore.
- A model viewer that can visualize most of the models that are in the Spore format.
Compatibility issues
Modded creations can be shared through Sporepedia and downloaded even by players without any mods installed. However, modded creations will have a closed-lock sign in their card, and will be locked from being visualized or edited. Custom creatures made by the user using mods later uninstalled may instead crash the game when attempted to be visualized. Adventures with modded content can be downloaded and edited, but the game will replace modded creations with unmodded ones. Adventures that have used mods to increase complexity beyond what the standard game allows but otherwise lack modded creations can be edited and played, however, lacking the necessary mods or processing power will result in the game crashing shortly after playing it.
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