expanded_bi.txt question

[pdemon]

How exactly does the BI engine decide which factions to use?

In this file the BI factions and the vanilla factions are both listed and I know that a BI mod may use the vanilla factions or the BI factions but I am unsure as to how it decides which set to use. Is it strictly one set or the other, and if not how is the overlap decided?

Any clarification on this would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

(I hope there isn't already something about this in the scriptorium, I looked but what can I say, I fail at searching)

[HouseOfHam]

That file is just a string lookup table and may contain unused entries. The factions themselves are configured in descr_sm_factions.txt, which can have up to 20 factions + one for slaves.

[pdemon]

Ah, that would explain it. Thanks for the help.