CherryVanilla : BUG-Fixed VnV's

[Kobal2fr]

This is a simple mod of the export_desc_character_traits.txt file.

WHAT THIS MOD DOES :

- Fix all broken code (ReligionStarter, princesses, impossible to reach thresholds etc...)
- Give triggers to all traits, following the existing patterns
- Give cultural-specific birth traits to all factions (instead of half of them as in vanilla)
- Make it reasonably feasible to get good traits from governing. Not easy, but doable.

WHAT THIS MOD DOES NOT DO :

- Make it any easier to escape bad traits. That is what MediFix (https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=75326) already does, and does well. I wanted to make a closer-to-vanilla bug-fixer only.

INSTALLATION :

It's just a .txt file.
Either :
- dump it in the \data folder (make a backup of the original if you have unpacked your game), and run Medieval2.exe with an "--io.file_first" batch file.
- use with modswitch (http://totalwarcommunity.blogspot.com/2006/11/modding-medieval-ii.html)

This file should be compatible with all and every mods, as long as they don't make specific changes to the traits file themselves.

Anyway, here is the zipped file (http://www.kobal2.free.Fr/M2TW/export_descr_character_traits.zip), and here is the list of all the changes made (http://www.kobal2.Free.fr/M2TW/Changes_traits.txt).

[Kobal2fr]

repman over at TWC pointed out a few re-used trigger names. I re-uploaded the corrected file.

[Kraxis]

Actually the trigger for baddiplomat is still 100% for failed bribery...

[Kobal2fr]

:sweatdrop: Correct :sweatdrop:. Must have changed the original instead of the modded... Fixed, re-uploaded.

[Bob the Insane]

Nice, downloading now...

[Faenaris]

Are you planning on fixing the Ancillaries too, Kobal2fr? Or aren't those bugged?

[DukeKent]

Can this be applied after a campaigh is started? The mymod directory changes are taking as per Epostulary Richards instructions (got a log file). But it does not appear that these new changes are in effect.

[Jambo]

If the mod changes the order of the traits, then yes, ideally you want to start a new campaign. Otherwise your existing characters' traits won't match up with their stats.

[Ungor]

fixed spyinit4 so that it reads >= thieves guild. This should cause higher level thieves guilds to give their local bonus as well.

I thought this was done on purpose. It seems like the general guild pattern is local guild: +1, master guild: global +1, HQ: global +2. If anything it seems like it's a bug that it cumulates if the basic guild is in another city, but it does give you an incentive to have multiple guilds of the same type to really max your guys out. Not that it's a huge deal, but maybe put it under "subjective bugfixing"?


On a side note, your sig is awesome, Kobal2fr.

[ShadowStriker]

link not working

EDIT: NVM

[Reil]

Is there an easy way to have this mod work in co-existence with MediFix V1.1 whilst running on Lands to Conquer V1.21? (I'm asking this because both MediFix V1.1 and your mod have the character_traits text file.)

[brokguitar]

Hi,
I downloaded the text file and extracted it to my C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\data. It shows up as export_descr_character_traits.txt . Is there anything else i need to do to this file to make a correct install?

[alpaca]

Kobal: Just wondering, are you planning a fix for the AntiTrait problem?

[Slaists]

Hmm, something's wrong with this mod... I had a merchant with +5 finance skill (various positive traits, cannot remember what exactly he had, but Finance Genius and Capitalist were among the original traits) before I saved the game yesterday. Today, on a reload, the same merchant shows up with the following:

Daft Dealer (-1 Finance)
Slightly Crooked (-1 Finance)
Gaudy (-2 Finance)
Quite Religious (-1 Finance)

And, while displaying these traits, he still showed up with +5 Finance...

[Kobal2fr]

@Faenaris : Well, I haven't taken the time to delve deep into the ancilliary file, right now I'm only aware of 2 honest-to-goodness bugs in them. But I'll probably publish a corrected file eventually (3 in fact - in for timescale 2, 1 and 0.5 since you have to change historical ancillaries accordingly). I just didn't want to publish a "NEW AND EXCITING CHERRY VANILLA ANCILLARIES !!!" mod with just two triggers fixed :)

@alpaca : *sigh* Guess so, yes. Pains me to admit it, because i'd rather laze around, but yeah, it bugs me enough that I can't play the game as long as it's not fixed, so I'll end up fixing it eventually, if the_foz doesn't beat me to it.

@Ungor : Well, all the other guilds gave their local bonus at higher levels, so it made sense that the thieves would too. Since, like the global bonus not working properly, the "bug" comes from a forgotten > sign, I figured they were both unintended.

@Reil : both can't co-exist in the same game, obviously : they're both an overwrite of the traits file. The only way to mix-and-match our mods would be to copy the bits and pieces you like from one into the other.

@Slaists : now that *is* weird. Do you have any other mods installed ?

[Slaists]

@Slaists : now that *is* weird. Do you have any other mods installed ?

No, yours is the only one. And I even tested whether yours was the culprit. I removed it, replaced the _descr_character_traits file with the original one and reloaded the game. Character traits were displayed correctly (for the same save-game)... Once I put your _traits file back in - the same effect as before: Anti-traits instead of traits displayed. I can send you the "before" and "after" tgas.

Now, that I think of it: I also had a moorish general beseiging a castle. On the day, the castle attackers sallied his traits all of a sudden summed up to having -9 morale on my troops (utter idiot, etc.) He was quite normal before I reloaded the save game.

[Kobal2fr]

Could you rather send me both saves if you still perchance have them ?

I think I remember reading that the traits file is only checked on a new game though, but that will be easy to test of course.

I *did* notice an oddity of the sort during one of my early tests of the file, in which my king suddenly had 10 authority (started with 4) when the only thing changed was he got Insane 3 at the end of each turn, which if anything should have made his authority drop like a brick.

I don't understand what would cause these mishhaps though. Take merchants for instance : all I changed for them was add a creationtrigger (run only once, can't affect one you've used for long), lower two thresholds and add an EndTurn trigger for ExoticTastes. Nothing in this should be the cause for a major case of teh funnies :/

Might be that with the additional traits, characters hit their maximum number of traits, or too many of their traits affect the same stat. Might also be that the traits that weren't given a trigger weren't given a trigger for a good reason : they weren't properly finished yet (this is highly unlikely though, as they have proper definitions in the data\text files and all). I may also have overlooked the other traits file, the one which lists all used traits in the game - if all the traits defined in the descr_ file are not listed there, it might cause problems. I'll check ASAP.

Then again, as has been noted in another thread, the mechanics of antitraits seem to have gone pearshaped bigtime in M2TW, so they likely might be a reason for this as well. Stay tuned : next version will probably do away with them alltogether and replace them with a lot of triggers.

I'd still like to pick at your saves though :)

[Slaists]

ok, I will send you the save file. can you private-msg. me your e-mail address? i do not seem to be able to send an attachment here. note that it's actually one save file: if it is loaded with your character descr. file, it displays the awkward stats. if the same file is displayed using the original character descr file, normal stats appear.

[DukeKent]

I have the same question as Reil! It looks like both your "CherryVanilla : BUG-Fixed VnV's" and Medifix modify the file "export_descr_character_traits". Is their a version of this file with both of these mods changes in it?. Kudos on both mods.

[RussianWinter]

I'm with DukeKent. How do I get both Medifix and Cherry vanilla?

Also - If I just drop this in the /data folder will it work?? I've never messed w/ command line stuff.

[DukeKent]

RussianWinter, yes you can. I would highly recommend that you use the mod switch though.
- how to set up a mod folder using the mod switch.
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=71291
PS. Always save the original file, I copy off the data folder immediately after installing the game and each patch. That way I always have a clean slate to return to if a disaster occurs. Same reason for the mod switch. If you have not tried it yet. With the mod switch you can also use the multiplayer and windows options in an associated new config file. I am playing as both the English & Spanish. Adds some killer new twists to multiplayer in Hotseat mode :2thumbsup:

[sivlar]

Nice fixes.

These trait fixes rock, between you, Orientis, and the.seneschal I think you all have found a large amount of the errors in the traits files.

Now if we could just get a compilation of all 3 mods that would rock. I think all them have something the other doesn't in one way or another.

I've been working on piecing together all 3 trying not to duplicate triggers and such but it is a ton of work.

[BrianMHS]

Hi,

I installed the CherryVanilla mod (dumped the .txt file in the /data/ directory and made a batch file that said "medieval2.exe --io.file_first" today, along with the Shaba Wangy diplomacy mod (dumped the 2 AI xml files in their appropriate locations). I did the Shaba Wangy before starting my new Portuguese campaign, and the CV 19 turns in.

The traits have gone goofy on my priests and merchants. The diplomats seem to be fine. I just opened the campaign and my priests all have some degree of the Charming Consul / Natural Negotiator princess line of traits. While I'm thrilled that my clergymen are flirtmasters and can seduce most men with their charms, I don't know that this is the message the Catholic Chuch is trying to send these days...

The merchants have all picked up the "Daft dealer" and "crooked" and "ostentatious" lines. However, both the priests and the merchants are the same level as they were before.

Is this goofiness becuase I started using the mod in the middle of a campaign? Could it be due to interference from Shaba Wangy? Will new agents pick up those same weird traits?

Thought I'd let you know.

-Brian

[Foz]

A couple more fixes:

WifeIsFertile - The Trait definition currently has it affecting only admirals, which would explain why I never see it on any of my guys. Should be "Characters family" like WifeIsBarren already is.

A merchantinit12 trigger belongs between 11 and 13. If you look closely at the #13 and #14 triggers, you'll see that 13 somehow ended up being a weird blend of what 12 should be (for the base guild) and what 13 should be (for the m_guild). Corrected looks like this:

;------------------------------------------
Trigger merchantinit11
WhenToTest AgentCreated

Condition AgentType = merchant
and Trait ReligiousMerchant >= 1

Affects ReligiousMerchant 2 Chance 33

;------------------------------------------
Trigger merchantinit12
WhenToTest AgentCreated

Condition AgentType = merchant
and SettlementBuildingExists >= merchants_guild

Affects MerchantsGuildTrained 1 Chance 100

;------------------------------------------
Trigger merchantinit13
WhenToTest AgentCreated

Condition AgentType = merchant
and FactionBuildingExists >= m_merchants_guild

Affects MerchantsGuildMember 1 Chance 100

;------------------------------------------
Trigger merchantinit14
WhenToTest AgentCreated

Condition AgentType = merchant
and FactionBuildingExists = gm_merchants_guild

Affects MerchantsGuildMember 1 Chance 100

;------------------------------------------

This makes a problem though: MerchantsGuildMember only has 1 level defined, instead of the 2 that all the other GuildMember traits have. It would need the second now since we're allowing MerchantsGuildMember to gain 2 points if the gm building exists. Shouldn't be hard to add the second level though, even if you have to copy the descriptions from the first level temporarily.

That of course is assuming that the merchants guild is intended to function like the other ones do. With how messed up they all were in the vanilla file, I think we assume they should function the same, but anyone with a mind to argue the other side should do so of course.

[sivlar]

"Is this goofiness becuase I started using the mod in the middle of a campaign? Could it be due to interference from Shaba Wangy? Will new agents pick up those same weird traits?"

I think I might have an idea what causes this with previous save games. I still need to do some more testing but I am pretty sure I found it out.

For some reason the game does not like when you rearrange or add new triggers into the mix of the ones that are already there. On the modded file I am working with I add all the triggers to the end of the list instead of inserting them between already existing triggers. They still seem to fire off just fine.

This seems to help with the new file screwing up old save games really bad but is for some reason still messes with them a little bit. For instance with my new modded file in place suddenly after reloading 4 generals I had ended up with the uninhibited trait along with 2-3 more command stars then they had previously. Once I even had my princess loose all her charm and have nothing but bad traits. Just from switching to a modded traits file.

Starting a fresh campaign with the modded file though seems to have no problems at all and works fine.

[Slaists]

Hi,

I installed the CherryVanilla mod (dumped the .txt file in the /data/ directory and made a batch file that said "medieval2.exe --io.file_first" today, along with the Shaba Wangy diplomacy mod (dumped the 2 AI xml files in their appropriate locations). I did the Shaba Wangy before starting my new Portuguese campaign, and the CV 19 turns in.

The traits have gone goofy on my priests and merchants. The diplomats seem to be fine. I just opened the campaign and my priests all have some degree of the Charming Consul / Natural Negotiator princess line of traits. While I'm thrilled that my clergymen are flirtmasters and can seduce most men with their charms, I don't know that this is the message the Catholic Chuch is trying to send these days...

The merchants have all picked up the "Daft dealer" and "crooked" and "ostentatious" lines. However, both the priests and the merchants are the same level as they were before.

Is this goofiness becuase I started using the mod in the middle of a campaign? Could it be due to interference from Shaba Wangy? Will new agents pick up those same weird traits?

Thought I'd let you know.

-Brian

Yes, this is pretty much what I see too... I have since switched to MediFix mod: no problems so far.

[Kobal2fr]

Hey guys, sorry for the silence, comp blew a gasket...

@sivlar : hmmm of course, I hadn't thought of this, but I guess the game would be a bit screwy if you mod it midway. Which might explain why my game never had such problem : I always started new campaigns to test my stuff :/ Will add a disclaimer to the original post, and in the readme when I get my comp back into shape.

@the_foz : yeah, I knew about the WifeIsFertile admiral thing, it's in the list of fixes of the next version (actually, I noticed thanks to Sarastro :} ). The merchant guild is OK though, I don't think they are intended to work like the other ones. As you say, there's no level 2 for the trait, plus the basic merch guild already gives Merchant Militia, and a trade boost, and an ancillary too IIRC. So, I figured it was intended to be that way

@BrianHMS : if I'm not mistaken, Shaba Wangy uses modswitch and a ShabaWangy directory, right ? If so, you have to put my traits file in that rep's \data directory, and fire the game using the ShabaWangy modswitch.

And yes, as you can see here, apparently my merry deleting and shuffling triggers around messes with previously started campaigns. I daresay you shouldn't have any problems if you start over again :sweatdrop: Keep me posted about this.

@Slaists : sorry for the delay in checking your save, like I said, my comp sprung an untimely leak. sivlar might very well have found the answer to that question though.

[dopp]

Sometimes even when starting a new campaign my generals pick up impossible traits like superstitious (only attainable on random adoption). I prefer to tweak or replace existing traits rather than adding new ones.

[Zuraffo]

Hi,

Your mods are extremely helpful, thanks! I was going through your file but I notice you didn't implement the trigger you mentioned in your changelog, maybe you uploaded the wrong file? Thought I'd just mention it.

Keep up the good work!

[Wizzie]

Just thought I'd pop in and say I've been using this mod with my most recent campaign and so far it has been working very well. I actually feel my governer's and generals have character now as their trait-set evolves more logically than in vanilla. Also, I've been able to use general's purely in a governer capacity as well! Something I was sorely missing from RTW, as in all my previous M2 games any governer became...well, crap, after spending any significant time in a settlement/castle. ~:)

[Kobal2fr]

Sometimes even when starting a new campaign my generals pick up impossible traits like superstitious (only attainable on random adoption). I prefer to tweak or replace existing traits rather than adding new ones.

Hmmm, I didn't add any triggers for that :/ I did try and remove the "RandomCheck" from the disaster trigger at one point, but everybody started picking the traits from it for some reason, so I put it back in. Apart from that, nothing changed on the superstition front from vanilla.

[seneschal.the]

Hmmm, I didn't add any triggers for that :/ I did try and remove the "RandomCheck" from the disaster trigger at one point, but everybody started picking the traits from it for some reason, so I put it back in. Apart from that, nothing changed on the superstition front from vanilla.

Has anyone discovered WHY this happens? It happens to everyone, I had the default pope Gregory get 1 point of each after just a few turns. Very odd.

[Rehakles]

Just registered to say thx to all you guys spending a lot of time on fixing all the missing/bugged stuff and even better: Sharing it with us!

just grabbed this file....gonna try and see, looks very promising.

Its just a pity that you all need to do that work, I think we all deserved to !BUY! a programm that is working as intended.....:thumbsdown:

"Grüße" from Germany

[Hobart]

This looks great. I've just installed it and giving it a spin. I finished England on M/M and was unhappy with a lot of the VnVs as I got them. I'm looking forwatrd to less pagan magicians, that's for sure.