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stationgroups.xml

libraries/stationgroups.xml defines station groups — named collections of modules that make up a “shipyard of faction X” or “wharf of faction Y”. Each group lists which production / build / storage / habitation modules a station includes. Used by construction logic and as a search target for “find a shipyard for this faction”.

Vanilla stationgroups.xml is 233 lines — small compared to god.xml / parameters.xml. Modders touching faction station design diff here.

File structure

Section titled “File structure”
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<groups>
    <group name="x4ep1_playerheadquarters">
        <module
            macro="module_x4ep1_pier_buildmodule_macro"/>
        <module
            macro="module_gen_dock_m_01_macro"/>
        <!-- ... more modules ... -->
    </group>


    <group name="shipyard_arg">
        <module macro="..."/>
        <!-- ... -->
    </group>
</groups>

Each <group> has a name= and a list of <module> children. Module macros come from assets/structures/<category>/macros/.

Naming convention

Section titled “Naming convention”

Vanilla follows <role>_<faction> naming:

PatternExample
shipyard_<faction>shipyard_arg, shipyard_par, shipyard_tel
wharf_<faction>wharf_arg, wharf_tel
equipmentdock_<faction>equipmentdock_arg
tradestation_<faction>tradestation_arg
pirate_<faction>pirate_scavenger
defence_<faction>defence_arg
factory_<faction>_<ware>factory_arg_energycells

Faction-prefixed groups serve as the search target for find_station_by_true_owner + macro filters.

Common patterns

Section titled “Common patterns”

”Add a new faction’s shipyard group”

Section titled “”Add a new faction’s shipyard group””
<add sel="//groups">
    <group name="shipyard_mlog_my_faction">
        <module macro="module_x4ep1_buildmodule_macro"/>
        <module macro="module_gen_dock_m_01_macro"/>
        <!-- + habitation, storage, etc. -->
    </group>
</add>

Then your new faction’s <god> entry can reference this group via the station macro.

”Add a module to an existing group”

Section titled “”Add a module to an existing group””
<add sel="//groups/group[@name='shipyard_arg']">
    <module macro="module_mlog_my_custom_macro"/>
</add>

For an Argon-extension mod adding modules.

”Replace all modules in a group”

Section titled “”Replace all modules in a group””
<replace
    sel="//groups/group[@name='shipyard_mlog_old']">
    <group name="shipyard_mlog_old">
        <!-- new module set -->
    </group>
</replace>

For wholesale redesign.

Common gotchas

Section titled “Common gotchas”
  • ⚠ Module macros referenced in groups must exist. Mistyping module_gen_dock_m_01_macro causes silent failure to build the station.
  • ⚠ Group composition affects the .canbuildships flag. A “shipyard_X” group without a build module results in a station that looks like a shipyard but .canbuildships=false. Test in-game.
  • ⚠ Some groups are referenced by NAME from MD scripts. Renaming a group breaks scripts that look it up. Always add new groups; don’t rename vanilla ones.
  • ⚠ DLC groups exist in DLC override files. x4ep1_* is Cradle of Humanity content. Modders extending DLC content add to DLC-specific files.
  • ⚠ <group name="X"> is global. Two mods can’t define the same group name; <replace> is used to modify, <add> for new groups.

Architectural context

Section titled “Architectural context”
  • Referenced by constructionplans.xml. Construction plans build groups via stage sequences.
  • Referenced by god.xml. Initial station placements use the group’s macro composition.
  • MD-side search uses these as filters. find_station ... macro= references the resulting station macro, not the group directly.
Section titled “Related”