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View Full Version : Creative Assembly Need Help Making Historical Battles



Bullethead
09-23-2002, 22:32
I have a number of problems here http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/frown.gif I can't even get started until I solve these problems. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

First off, here's a description of what I'm trying to do here. This whole new "battle" is simply a learning exercise for me. I'm trying to learn what all folders and files I need to play with to get a new battle to work at all. Then, once I get the battle to show up on the historical battles menu so I can select it, I'm trying to learn how to use the unit position coordinates and facing direction to get units where I want them to appear.

To this end, I have created a small map for use in this "battle". The map has the crossroad texture every 5 tiles so I can get an idea of what the coordinate numbers mean.

Problem #1: Battle Does Not Appear on Menu
All I get are the 3 historical battles that came with the game (Stirling, Hastings, and Bannockburn)--my new battle doesn't show up at all.

I have done the following things in an effort to make my battle appear:

copied the .inf and .jjm map files for the map I made from MTW/SaveMaps to MTW/Battle/Maps
Created a new subfolder in the MTW/Battle/batinit folder for my battle
put a bdf and 2 adf files in this new folder. Each army has 1 unit, which is the general's unit.
edited Loc/Eng/Historical.txt file to include the title, description, conditions, etc. specified in the above bdf file.
[/list]

Is there anything else I need to do?

Problem #2: Unit Coordinates
It would save me a lot of trouble if somebody just told me how the unit position coordinates relate to tiles on the map. For instance, if a unit has coordinates of 10000 20000, which tile will it be located in? And are the coordinates for the center man in the unit or one of its corners?

Similarly, the unit facing number.. Which side of the map does a unit facing of 180 or 270 give you?

Thanks.

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-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

Proconsul
09-24-2002, 00:57
I think the Battle must be in the Battle\batinit\Historical Battles folder (one folder deeper than you said). Also, the Battles "setup file" must have exactly the same name as the folder it's in. And it is possible that it will only be displayed, if all necessary files for the factions involved are in the folder, but i haven't tested that. Try copiying the army files from the original battles & renaming them.
I cannot help you on the coordinates http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/frown.gif

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Confuzius says: "Do not worry that people don't know you: worry that you don't know them!"

Bullethead
09-24-2002, 01:22
Thanks for the reply.

I did put the new battle's folder in /batinit/Historical Battles--sorry for not saying so correctly http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif

The subfolder for my new battle is Test. The bdf is Test.bdf. All the fields in the bdf file use "Test_xx" for the description, etc. These all match up, as far as I can tell, to the new lines I put in Loc/Eng/Historical.txt.

I found a couple of syntax errors in my bdf (no quotes around author's name and 1 set of quotes ending with a : instead of a "). When I fixed these, the title of the new battle finally appeared on the list in the historical battle menu. Unfortunately, clicking on it results in a crash to desktop. I've gone back and rechecked everything but can't find any more syntax problems, so don't know what the problem is now.

I also tried adding the ["Test_xx"] fields to the Loc/Eng/changes.txt file instead of historical.txt. I did this because this is where the 3 existing battles are and there's some comment text that says all changes need to go on that file. This gave me the same result: the new battle's title appeared on the list of historical battles, but clicking on it crashed the game.

So what causes this type of crash? Would it be something to do with what's in the adf files, such as using the wrong type or size of unit? I'm stumped.

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-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

GilJaysmith
09-24-2002, 03:36
Bullethead, zip your bdf / adfs / jjm / inf into a nice zip for me and send it to giljaysmith@hotmail.com, and I'll take a look at them, if no-one else has sorted out your problem by tomorrow.

All please note this is a special offer and I amn't normally a validate-your-mod service. But for some reason I'm interested.

Incidentally, you can set predefined to false at the top of your bdf, and then you don't have to put your strings into the loc files, they'll be used verbatim. This will make your battle more redistributable.

Each texture square is 2048 units square, with 0,0 being the bottom left corner.

Gil ~ CA

Bullethead
09-24-2002, 05:01
GilJaysmith said:
Quote Bullethead, zip your bdf / adfs / jjm / inf into a nice zip for me and send it to giljaysmith@hotmail.com[/QUOTE]

This ignorant worm is unworthy of such favor. Nevertheless, in accordance with your command, I humbly lay my detestable garbage at your feet. Hope you don't get any on your boots. Many thanks, Master http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

Quote Incidentally, you can set predefined to false at the top of your bdf, and then you don't have to put your strings into the loc files, they'll be used verbatim. This will make your battle more redistributable.[/QUOTE]

Ah, this sounds great http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif. Please tell me if I've got this right, then. Is the following example correct?

//
// Battle Description File
//

Predefined::false
Title::"The Assault on Castle Anthrax"
Author::"Bullethead"
Rating::"I made it so it has to be great!!"
Description::"Sir Galahad, reinforced by a bottle of Viagra, settles some unfinished business."
Conditions::"To win, you must spank all 6 score young blondes and brunettes."

IntroFMV::""
OutroFMV::""

MapName::"castleanthrax"
Architecture::AT_WESTERN_EUROPEAN
Terrain::LUSH
BattleType::BATTLE_TYPE_HISTORICAL
Deployment::false
Season::summer
WeatherSequenceId::3

Player::"Sir Galahad" 6 6 LOCAL "Arthurian" 0 false 10000 10000 180 CHRISTIAN_CULTURE
Player::"Zoot" 5 5 ARTIFICIAL "Anthraxian" 0 true 10000 20000 270 CHRISTIAN_CULTURE

//triggers
Trigger::1, BT_GENERAL DIED CAPTURED, factions 6, LABEL "Keep Sir Galahad alive.", INVERT_CHECKBOX
Trigger::2, BT_INCAPACITATE, factions 6, LABEL "Keep Sir Galahad's retainers functioning.", INVERT_CHECKBOX
Trigger::3, BT_INCAPACITATE, factions 5, LABEL "Spank all 6 score young blondes and brunettes"

//results
Result::1, alliances 6, style DEFEAT
Result::2, alliances 6, style VICTORY

//groups
Group::1 PRIMARY triggers 1 results_ids 1
Group::2 PRIMARY triggers 2 results_ids 1
Group::3 PRIMARY triggers 3 results_ids 2

Quote Each texture square is 2048 units square, with 0,0 being the bottom left corner.[/QUOTE]

Thanks again. But now another question. What real-world distance does 2048 MTW units correspond to?

Many thanks for the help.

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-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

GilJaysmith
09-24-2002, 05:15
Quote Originally posted by Bullethead:
Thanks again. But now another question. What real-world distance does 2048 MTW units correspond to?
[/QUOTE]

50 units is 1 metre.

Will look at files tomorrow morning...

Gil ~ CA

Bullethead
09-24-2002, 05:55
I took a fresh stab at this armed with the new info. Set up a new battle subfolder, put new adf and bdf files into it, set Predefined::false, and put the text I wanted directly into the bdf as in the above example. The adf and bdf files were copied and edited instead of being typed from scratch as they were before. Also, I used an existing map in case mine was causing the problem.

And this WORKED!!! No crash, all text correct (even the victory conditions and checkboxes), units where I wanted them, and all that http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif Then I told it to use the gridded map I tried the 1st time and it worked again, so the map wasn't the problem.

Obviously I screwed something up in the adf or bdf files in my 1st attempt.

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-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria

GilJaysmith
09-26-2002, 16:41
I just looked at this, and here are the particular mistakes you made, which you subsequently avoided by editing a working file:

The BDF parser amusingly expects the word "deployment" to be spelled "deployement". I wouldn't be at all surprised if that was our fault ;-) Also in the BDF, you need a comma after each "Group::", and you need to put "result_ids" rather than "results_ids"

In the ADFs, you need to put "GeneralRank" rather than "General Rank". Also, "LeaderHonour" and "TroopHonour" need the English spelling http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif You had "LeaderHonor" and "TroopHonor".

With those changes it works fine.

Gil ~ CA

Bullethead
09-27-2002, 05:20
Thanks muchos, Great Master. I shall now go and flog myself in repentance http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

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-Bullethead

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is strength, in water there is bacteria