Specifically, I've found bundle-loads of useful information. This spot gives extensive information on how to create a scenario--but it's telling me how to create a scenario from scrap, a completely original scenario unique to me. While this would be what I'd need to make the Middle Earth scenario I envisioned a few days ago (I wanted to blog about that but never got around to it), that's not what I want to do right now.
This spot looks like it will be TREMENDOUSLY helpful for me...once I actually get to the modifying. It does nothing to help me actually get there though.
Similarly so for this spot. These are places detailing the various glitches and nuances of the game, and they are in fact quite useful! Except they're not what I need to get started.
I believe that the world editor, which I found out how to use thanks to here, is the tool I'll need to make use of.
But again.
I don't know what I'm doing, and I can't find a place which gives me that.
Near as I can tell, everyone talks about creating new content, rather than changing pre-existing content.
(Of course, I wouldn't want to change them in the base game; I am looking to make a mod I can play which doesn't mess with the originals thanks to how extensive the mod as I envision it will be.)
I am quite certain that this is a question someone, somewhere, would have asked, but my google-fu failed me in finding it. I've taken some initiative, in that, "If I can't find it, I'll ask it myself", in the steam forum (which looks like it has at least some activity in it, including some about modding), so we'll have to see how that goes.
Still tho.
This is something I want to do.
I want to play the games, as I am envisioning them in my head to be played.
More than that, in order to get there--if I am doing the work, that's some valuable skills I'll be delving in to.
This might not be the hardest thing to learn how to do, but it is still a skill I feel has good application for me to learn it.
I just have zero experience right now and am hilariously out of my depth.
I do know that everything I want to do (with the possible exception of removing population-based pollution because seriously screw population-based pollution I can understand my cities having pollution from improvements but population is punishing me for doing what the game desires me to do because by default cities WANT to grow to that size), is fully possible to do.
It's not like I'm actually adding anything.
I may slightly modify existing things.
Change some parameters.
But I'm not ADDING anything.
Not really, anyway.
So I know it's fully possible to do.
I just need to know how to do it, and I currently don't.