More than two turns a year - release

[Myrddraal]

Download

Many thanks to all the people who helped me work out this script.

Follow the instructions in the readme below which includes instructions or how to run and use the script.

Thx Myrddraal

README

The following is a method for increasing the number of

turns in one year.

CONTENTS
- HOW TO INSTALL
- HOW TO USE
- NOTES


--------------------------HOW TO INSTALL--------------------------

1.
First, download the script generator and use it to generate a script called descr_script in the show me folder. This is where you set the start and end dates and the number of turns you want per year NOTE: There will only be one turn for winter or else aging is affected, so if you mod is in cold climates, I would recommend you have about 4 turns a year max (one 'season' for winter). Note if you are using a mod you have to change the start date to the appropriate date for the mod

2.
Open the file export_descr_advice.txt in the Data
folder.
Search for

AdviceThread
Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Thread

Select the entire section (from ;--------- to Text)
and replace it with:

;------------------------------------------
AdviceThread Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Thread
	GameArea Campaign
 
	Item Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Text_01
		Uninhibitable
		Verbosity 0 
		Threshold 1 
		Attitude Normal
		Presentation Default
		Title four_turns_Title
		Script scripts\show_me\descr_script.txt
		Text four_turns_Text1

3.
Open export_descr_advice_enums.txt in the Data folder.
Add to the bottom of this file the following text:

four_turns_Title
four_turns_Text1

4.
Open export_advice.txt in Data\text
Add to the bottom of this file the following text:

;-------------------
 
{four_turns_Title} Four turns a year
 
{four_turns_Text1}
To finish loading the four turns a year script, click
on the 'Show me how' button. Remember, you must do
this every time you load a saved game.

5.
Now go to Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign
(or whichever campaign you want to apply the script
to)
Create a new text file called descr_script.txt
containing the following text:

script
advance_advice_thread
Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Thread
select_ui_element advisor_show_me_button
simulate_mouse_click lclick_down
simulate_mouse_click lclick_up
end_script

7.
Now open descr_strat.txt in the same folder and add
the following lines to the bottom of the file

script
descr_script.txt


Installation complete.

--------------------------HOW TO USE--------------------------

When starting a new campaign, the script should
automatically run after about one second. You must
relaunch the script each time you load the game. To
run the script, when starting a new campaign, or when
loading a saved game, press F1.
A panel will appear with a list of shortcuts. In the
top right hand corner, click on the question mark.
The advisor will appear and ask you to click on the
'show me how' button. Once this is done, play as
usual.
Remember that this must be done not only at the start
of the campaign, but also each time you load the saved
game.

--------------------------Notes--------------------------

Many thanks go to those at the www.totalwar.org forums
who helped me develop the ideas used in this script.
If you wish to officially use this script in a mod,
you are very welcome to, but please inform me as I
like to know how my work is put to use.

Myrddraal

[Stuie]

Nice - this should make the four-turns-per-year people happy. Although build times/income/etc should probably be adjusted.

Have you found any other uses for the scripting in RTW? Specifically, I'm trying to force the Civil War to start earlier for a mod I'm working on. Is there a way to script it in?

[lt1956]

Yes but doesnt the use of Scripts ingame cause NO saves to be possible? Was that fixed in the 1.2 patch? Because I know that was a problem before where you could not save a game whiile running the script?

Thanks,

Lt

[Myrddraal]

No lt, it wasn't fixed in the patch, thats only the use of campaign scripts, to get around this, I have used a show me script which allows saved games. I only use the campaign script to launch the show me script. I assure it does work

By the way, any feedback would be good, I want to make sure it works on another pc...

[lt1956]

Thats right I forgot about the advice section. I think CA should have went 4 turns anyway, its a shame they didnt and also if you look at no Sea battles its sad, I know they wanted to add them.

I hope they fix the problems with the battlefield AI from the 1.2 patch because the AI is technically worse for battles now than before, but the campaign AI is better. lol But also LESS aggressive I noticed. In the First SPQR without the 1.2patch the player was attacked alot, now the AI seems more passive and there is nothing you can do about it.

Lt

Good show on the script!

[khelvan]

Myrddraal, since I haven't been following the development: Were you able to solve the problem of the script not automatically running?

[Sundjata Keita]

Thanks Myrddraal, is this easily changable to a script with 12 turns per year?

[Myrddraal]

@ khelvan: The script runs automatically the first time you play, but needs to be relaunced manually on loading a saved game...

@ Sundjata: Yes it is, just follow the instructions, but there can only be one winter turn...

[Myrddraal]

I have written a standalone version of the script generator, I will upload it when I get home...

[Myrddraal]

Standalone exe made, original download updated

[LucaviX]

Yes but doesnt the use of Scripts ingame cause NO saves to be possible? Was that fixed in the 1.2 patch? Because I know that was a problem before where you could not save a game whiile running the script?

Thanks,

Lt

Yeah, but really, did it take two seasons to build a basic barracks? Consider each turn a season, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter. If it takes 4 turns to build, that's an entire year your peasants could be hard at work. If it should take more, you can edit the turns in
C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\export_descr_buildings.txt

I've been poking around the scripts and editing them myself :)

[Myrddraal]

Well if you like you can have 12 turns a year, but remember the limitation, you can only have one winter turn per year or ageing gets screwed. I guess CA weren't expecting us to do this when they linked aging to winter...

[Myrddraal]

If anyone downloaded this before I updated the script generator, I included a readme with instructions which I have now lost... Could someone send it to mad_toad@hotmail.com?

[Epistolary Richard]

If you're having no joy getting the script to run automatically when a game is loaded, could a new trigger be defined to automatically bring the advisor up in the first turn when a game is reloaded?

Something like:

Trigger 3000_Multiple_Turns_Trigger
    WhenToTest FactionTurnStart

    Condition FactionType slave

    AdviceThread Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Thread  0

And include in the AdviceThread a maximum number of times it can appear
MaxRepeats 0

Of course, this would only work if the save game doesn't make a note of advice already received. If it does then you'll only get it the first time you start a campaign.

[Myrddraal]

I've tried this, but why faction slave?

I tried with the it as the faction I was playing as, but apparently it doesn't count the loading the game as the start of the factions turn...

BTW, I've got the readme as you can tell by the first post.

[SwordsMaster]

I've tried this, but why faction slave?

I tried with the it as the faction I was playing as, but apparently it doesn't count the loading the game as the start of the factions turn...

BTW, I've got the readme as you can tell by the first post.

If I may answer that, this is only an assumption: when you save the game, your faction´s turn is already launched, and thus it can´t trigger anything, as once you´ve loaded the game, it starts at the same point where you saved it,in the middle of the turn.

I think that the slave faction is a nice pick, as it is the only factio that can never be wiped out, thus allowing to run the script even if you erase from the map all the other potential "triggers".

[Myrddraal]

Yes but you need to end the turn to get that advice, which means its too late to run the script

It has to be run as soon as the game is loaded...

[SwordsMaster]

Yes but you need to end the turn to get that advice, which means its too late to run the script

It has to be run as soon as the game is loaded...

well, technically yes. But IMHO the script has to be run before NEXT turn starts rather than before the current one ends. Altho I dont really know how the engine loads the turns, I mean, does it load them as they happen?
Because that way, you could do the thing with the slave faction. If it loads the next turn as the current turn is happening, for instance, then you cannot do that.

[Epistolary Richard]

Yes but you need to end the turn to get that advice, which means its too late to run the script

It has to be run as soon as the game is loaded...

If you have to run the script before you hit the end turn button then my suggestion wouldn't work. I assumed that the script had to be run at any time before the year change, but perhaps that's not the case. I picked slave because its (almost always) at the end of the faction list and so it will always occur before the year change and after everyone else. All these are just ideas as to how to make it more obvious to players to run the script, the existing method works perfectly well so long as they remember to relaunch it each time.

There are some more possibilities, but I'd prefer to come back with something that I know works rather than talking off the top of my head. Hopefully I'll have a chance to get my hands dirty over the weekend.

[Myrddraal]

Your quite right about the script needing to be run before the end of the year not the turn, but I don't know that an advice thread pauses the AI sequence...

I thought that the advice would come up, and the turn would continue on, right up until the year changes, effectively meaning that the advice would appear at the start of the next turn....

If it does pause the AI sequence then thats ideal...

Can I ask, I didn't use that extra bit of script which is supposed to make it run automatically when you start a campaign, and as nobody mentioned it, I get the impression it doesn't work.... Does it?

[Epistolary Richard]

I've had a chance to test this out now. First I got CTDs on startup with an error about unrecognised property in the eda, but then I realised that I had copied blind:

AdviceThread
Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Thread
	GameArea Campaign

	Item
Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Text_01

When I think it should have read.

AdviceThread Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Thread
	GameArea Campaign

	Item Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Text_01

That let me into the game.

When I went into the campaigns, the script didn't start up. When I started it manually, here's what happened...

Trial 1
Turn 1 Summer 270 BC
Turn 2 Winter 270 BC
Turn 3 Summer 269 BC
activate script on activation year jumps to 866 AD
Turn 4 Summer 867 AD

Trial 2
Turn 1 Summer 270 BC
activate script icon turns to winter, but no changes to map
Turn 2 Winter 269 BC
Turn 3 Winter 268 BC
Turn 4 Winter 267 BC

Trial 3
as trial 2

Trial 4
Turn 1 Summer 270 BC
activate script icon turns to winter, year jumps to 866 AD
Turn 2 Summer 867 AD
Turn 3 Winter 867 AD
Turn 4 Summer 868 AD

At this point I exited the game and saw the error message:
campaign\descr_script.txt line 3 column 1, don't recognise this token Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Thread

Trial conditions:
m/m/Briton
Used default 4 turn a script from generator
Script activation by F1, ?, click on show_me_how, click on tick sign to get rid of shortcuts
No other actions apart from hitting end turn button

I'm going to poke around and see if I can tell what's going wrong. The significance of the 866AD is that this is the year that the generated script ends (which seems a bit strange as the end date was supposed to be 14AD).

	console_command date 866
	console_command season summer
	console_command season winter
	while I_TurnNumber = 1136
	end_while

end_script

I'll try using replacing it with one of the ones you did manually and see if that's make a difference.

[Epistolary Richard]

That sorted it. I used this script you wrote in the Scripting thread:

script

	suspend_unscripted_advice true
	suspend_during_battle on

	console_command date -50
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 0
	end_while

	disable_shortcuts options_button true
	console_command date -50
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 1
	end_while

	console_command date -50
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 2
	end_while

	console_command date -50
	console_command season winter

	while I_TurnNumber = 3
	end_while

	disable_shortcuts options_button false
	console_command date -51
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 4
	end_while

	disable_shortcuts options_button true
	console_command date -51
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 5
	end_while

	console_command date -51
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 6
	end_while

	console_command date -51
	console_command season winter

	while I_TurnNumber = 7
	end_while

	disable_shortcuts options_button false
	console_command date -52
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 8
	end_while

	disable_shortcuts options_button true
	console_command date -52
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 9
	end_while

	console_command date -52
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 10
	end_while

	console_command date -52
	console_command season winter

	while I_TurnNumber = 11
	end_while

	disable_shortcuts options_button false
	console_command date -53
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 12
	end_while

	disable_shortcuts options_button true
	console_command date -53
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 13
	end_while

	console_command date -53
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 14
	end_while

	console_command date -54
	console_command season summer

	while I_TurnNumber = 15
	end_while


end_script

And it worked (well, the years started going backwards but that's just how it's written), though I got the same error message as before. So it would seem that auto-start at the beginning of a campaign isn't working and there's maybe something not quite right with the Script Generator.

------------

On the subject of triggers, the idea for the trigger before the slave faction didn't work. As you thought, the AI doesn't stop and so the new turn rolls over before the script can be run.

Instead I tried out this:

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

Trigger 2150_Multiple_Turns_Trigger
    WhenToTest ButtonPressed

    AdviceThread Help_Campaign_Keyboard_Shortcuts_Scroll_Thread  0

When you start a new campaign, this triggers the advisor the first time you press the faction, recruitment or building buttons on the UI (and the end turn as well). If you dismiss the advice without running the script, she will appear again, however if you accept it then she doesn't return again.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for a loaded game. In that case she appears when you push any of the above buttons. But even if you run the script she reappears every time you push one of those buttons.

[Myrddraal]

This is what worries me:

	console_command date 866
	console_command season summer
	console_command season winter
	while I_TurnNumber = 1136

I'll have a look at the script gen. Thx ER

[Myrddraal]

I've fixed the ScriptGenerator, but I can't upload it yet. I will ASAP.

[MajorFreak]

oh bugger, dead link. *cries*

[[cF]HanBaal]

When you start a new campaign, this triggers the advisor the first time you press the faction, recruitment or building buttons on the UI (and the end turn as well). If you dismiss the advice without running the script, she will appear again, however if you accept it then she doesn't return again.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said for a loaded game. In that case she appears when you push any of the above buttons. But even if you run the script she reappears every time you push one of those buttons.

That's good (and some bad) news if I follow correctly. The good ones is that we finally have something to ALWAYS remind us to press F1 after each load, and before the end of that turn correct? And the bad ones is that the "reminder"/advisor appears every time we press any of those UI buttons you mentioned, even after we put the script up and running correct?

Suggestion (I'm n00b in modding stuff so this may sound crazy): can you make your trigger make the advisor appear only when we push the 'end button', instead of all those UI buttons? That way the 'reappearing' problem wouldn't be a problem coz we only press the end button once (in the end of each turn and before the next turn starts, as we need). The question would be: When you press the 'end button' does the advisor/ stalls the action 'end of turn' and let's you do anything? In other words, does it gives us time to still press F1 before the new turn begins as we need?

[Epistolary Richard]

The UI buttons would replace the F1 - so you reload the game and click any button and the advisor will pop up and ask you to press the showmehow button which will then run the script. But on a reload (not on an initial start-up) he then keeps appearing when you subsequently press the UI buttons.

Unfortunately using the endturn button wouldn't work because the game would then start going into the AI factions - giving only a limited amount of time to press the showmehow button. And the advisor would still pop up when you pressed endturn subsequently.

There should be a way of ensuring that it only appears once, which I thought was already inherent in the advice thread but evidently not. The effect of the advice thread variables - though they appear obvious - haven't been properly documented so finding a solution for this approach is a matter of trial and error.

[MajorFreak]

hellooooooooo...dead link from the forum specific thread. help

[Epistolary Richard]

If you're referring to the Download link at the top of this thread, then Myrddraal already said that he took it down to fix the ScriptGenerator and it will go back up again shortly.

[Myrddraal]

Sorry guys. I've actually got the working script gen here. I'm having trouble uploading it....