Strings

STR# (abbreviated form of string number) is a data resource type in EV Nova. In programming, a string is a sequence of characters as opposed to a number or a boolean (true or false). These strings are substituted in various places in the Escape Velocity game and are editable.

Replacing or editing this is one way to control things like the names of cargo types, the hail quotes that generic ships respond with, and even things like the name of the currency, etc. While this resource type seems boring, it can lead to flavourful changes to the game world.

The STR# resource

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EV Bible text

The following information was transcribed from the Nova Bible, ©1995-2006 by Matt Burch. The original document can be viewed here.

The STR# resource format used to store many of the strings in Nova may seem to be incompatible with the flexible nature of plugin files. For example, a plugin for a new ship would have to replace several of the built-in STR# resources to incorporate its new name into the game. The problem arises when you want to use two plugins that try to modify the same STR# resource.

The solution is not to change the STR# resources at all, but to use Nova’s handy string patching functionality by updating only select strings in a STR# resource by providing Nova with a properly-numbered 'STR ' resource. For example, to change the first cargo type from food to something else, you’d simply create a STR ' resource with the ID 9000 and type in the name of your new commodity. A chart of 'STR ' resource numbers is provided below:

String Type	Replacement 'STR ' ID range
Message buoys	1000+
përs-resource Hail quotes	5000+
Stellar types	7000-7255
Commodity names	9000-9005
Lowercase cargo names	9100-9355
Cargo abbreviations for status display	9200-9455
Base prices of commodities	9300-9305
Commodity abbreviations for status display	9400-9405
Govt-specific greetings for comm dialog	10000-12569 (first 10 for govt -1, second 10 for govt 0, third 10 for govt 1, etc.)
përs-resource CommQuotes	15000+