The MTW-hardcoded list!

[Axalon]

Hi all MTW-people,

I thought that it is about time we had a thread like this and thus making things a lot easier for all MTW-modders in listing all things that can't be changed in MTW in one single mighty list. So if you please guys, fill in the blanks and list all the hard-coded things in MTW that you can think of. This way we all can save hours and hours of wasted work and effort instead of figuring it out solo. In order to avoid all such unnecessary waste of time and for future reference I decided to set up this thread. If everything works out we all should have pretty solid and good list after a while.

I would however like to request that we all try to only deal in certainties around here (always assume that it is preferred and expected. Mistakes can happen, but do try to avoid them. If you happen to be uncertain, especially so about the hardcoded bit - don’t post it). If MTW and VI differs from each other make a clear note on that. Also, don’t be afraid to double post if you should find out about or remember something new, not listed here before. For corrections please edit your post. Lets try to keep things clear, like 1 hard-corded thing/limitation (well known or unknown, no matter) per post or at least make it clearly apart from each other so it will be easy to read and understand for everybody, ok?

Now to start things off, here is the first 2 entries;


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Number of possible faction-descriptions that do show up in the plain MTW is hard-coded. The game won’t recognize any other faction-descriptions in campaigns except for the following factions (in early):

Almohads
Byzantium
Denmark
Egypt
England
France
The Holy Roman Empire
Italy
Poland
Spain
Turkey

This is hard-coded, sad but true… It is of course possible to replace the descriptions but not to include another faction, like Aragon for instance (short of making it take the place of some of these factions mentioned above). In VI the possibilities are better and not so firmly regulated, thus additional faction descriptions can be showed in that version. The max amount possible of faction-descriptions showed in VI is about 30 (-ish, What a nice way to start! Is the correct number 32?!? ).


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The possible capabilities of agents are hard-coded (as in what they can do). Thus you can not create new abilities for them because this is hard-coded. These capabilities are limited and fixed to the existing agents and what these are able to do. All new custom made agents must be based upon one of these. And depending on which one you choose as template to create your new agent upon - will by hard-code inherit these capabilities. Thus something built upon an assassin can never bribe an army or make an alliance or peace with some other faction for instance. This is hard-coded. The existing capability templates for agents in the game are by hardcode limited to the following:

Bishop
Cardinal
Inquisitor
Grand Inquisitor
Emissary
Princess
Assassin
Spy
Orthodox bishop
Priest
Ulama
Mullah (Alim)

No differences between VI and MTW. It’s just hard-coded all the same. Technically crusades and jihads are also “agents” and essentially the same kind of rules applies to them but all that deserves a special entry dedicated for those alone….
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Oki, next! Fill in the blanks please….

[caravel]

Hmmmm... I wasn't aware of the hardcoded faction descriptions. Are you sure about that one?

[gollum]

He is taking about v1.1 Caravel.

[caravel]

Ok... does anyone still mod v1.1...? Or more to the point why would anyone mod v1.1?

[gollum]

I think that Axalon does, since he publishes version of Redux for 1.1 and VI AFAIK and in any case there is also information about VI in the final sentence - have misplaced our glasses today?

[caravel]

Gah so he does - much to his credit.

[Axalon]

Aw come on guys! I know that both you rascals are good for at least 50 solid entries each! Now, kindly go and edit in some valid entries in your previous posts, instead of all this chit-chat and start adding entries for the project instead! I know that both of you are more than able!

I’ll do the same thing myself with this post and just leaving valid entries for the hardcoded list – so we all can have a clean list instead of this nonsense (yes Caravel, I am as certain as zebras got stripes. You changed da name again! Your’e hopeless, do you know that? And yes Gollum, I also work with MTW1.1 for redux so right you are. That means another fish for you - if you edit your posts! )

After all, this list is intended to serve all - including rascals such as you two! So how about showing your true mettle here and do what both of you usually do with great skill and insight. In fact, this should be right up your alley guys. If VI is the thing that makes you more comfortable around this list - by all means stick to that, just make a clear note of it so at least I know that the information is valid for VI only, ok? Now that isn’t very hard is it? Problem solved! It will be just as useful and valuable information all the same! Come on boys and make Lassie proud!

Enough pep-talk and “wuff” on you! So, pretty pink please with sugar on top, let’s get down to biz here and fill in the blanks from this point on. After all, there are a lot of blanks to fill here and I can’t do it all alone guys….

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Other entries then….



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Happiness in a province can never be raised over 200% - it is hardcoded. MTW or VI no matter….


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Warmachines and cannons in MTW can’t move around on the tactical map – it is all hardcoded to be fixed. You can however make the warmachines turn at the point they are standing on by editing/modding the appropriate entries in the “ProjectileStats.txt” – like the catapults do for instance (or the other way around of course). Valid for all versions of MTW….


Next! Fill in the blanks….

[gollum]

Thanks for starting this informative and instructive thread Axalon, dont worry, it will fill out in time, by all the rasclas of the place . By the way i am starting to get tired with the fish business - new price is a golden coin instead

[Raz]

Great idea Axalon. Also, I highly recommend that you edit the first post with the new entires to save people from having to trudge through umpteen pages of hardcoded stuff.

I'd love to add to the list but I'm afraid I can't recite the details off the top of my head. Hmm, I'll try my best though and perhaps someone can correct me later:

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The number of units in one unit_prod.txt is capped to 256. That's not the maximum number of entries, just the number of units labeled as either: INFANTRY, CAVALRY or ARTILLERY. Agents and ships can go beyond the 256'th entry, but infantry, cavalry and artillery cannot. As far as I know, there is no maximum on the number of entries.

=================================
The number of - and - the names of the unit textures folders are hardcoded. That is, the folders in "...\textures\men\" . There are two extra folders that you can add here that weren't included in the original game for new custom unit textures but their names escape me.

=================================
The number of entries in the projectile_stats.txt is limited to those already there. You cannot add new projectiles to the game but you can heavily modify them. The corresponding graphics for each projectile are also hardcoded (that is, you cannot change it so that xbows appear as cannonballs). It is possible to change the name of the entry (say - "mtlg" to "mounted_bows") but these names aren't used by MTW, instead MTW uses internal names for projectiles. I'd only change the name if you were planning on completely re-writing the projectile_stats.txt file.

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The number of regions in one campaign is maxed to 256... I think This includes both land provinces and sea regions.

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The values at which unit info appears at is hardcoded. You know when you look at units in the campaign map, and the scroll says "Good Attack", "Poor Morale", "Armed with Bows" etc. These are all hardcoded. You can change what they say, but you can't change when they show up. I have a table that shows all of this, perhaps I'll upload it later.

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N.B:

° My additions are based on MTW-VI.

° I may stand corrected later on - please don't hesitate to suggest otherwise on the above list.

° Sorry if some of them are difficult to follow, just tell me which one and I'll best describe it and hopefully clear things up.

[gollum]

Nice list Raz. Heres a bit from me;

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The number of maximum units for the player to control in tactical battles is hardcoded (18)

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The maximum number of land regions is hardcoded (109?)

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Tha BYZANTINE faction leader gets a hardcoded bonus of +2 influence, +1 command in the early/high eras, and loses them in the late era or before that if a new emperor not of the Comnenian family line (the Angeli) takes over by civil war.

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The maximum limit of land regions a land region can be connected to is hardcoded (15)

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more to follow later (assuming you pay properly)...

[Axalon]

Excellent idea Raz! I will do just that once we got a few more entries on the list here. Silly me, I completely forgot about such brilliant solutions. I almost feel for bad for my “woof” on the poor rascals before (almost… Ok, who am I kidding? I just say that to feel a bit better about my bad and evil self… Hehehe) Anyway, I never did maintain that I am particularly smart so hopefully I can get away with that excuse….

I am a bit short of gold coins for the moment - but I did find these Gollum. They aint gold, but they are shiny, and its coins, and there is two of them you know (hopefully that will compensate for the failure on the gold-part).... Still, two is more than one!

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More hardcoded stuff…..



=======================================
The capabilities of ships are hardcoded. As in all they can do is to move around on sea-squares, establishing trading links or transport-routs and do an occasional attack here and there (and disrupt local naval superiority). You can’t assign any carrying capacity or anything like that to ships for instance. Also, the “attack” and “defense” values are all but cosmetics. They simply don’t matter, you can set a value of “47” to attack and it still won’t matter much anyhow. That ship won’t be any more dangerous or effective than a ship with attack value “3” – sad but true. Those values appear to be completely ignored by the game-program and this is hardcoded so there is little to be done about it. Valid for all versions of MTW….


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“Recruited princess” anomaly is hardcoded. In an altered game; a “recruited or paid for” princesses will start at the age 1, still they show up in the game with portrait, piece and everything. Even if they “should not” appear in the game until they have matured, which is the age of 15. All this is hardcoded and there is little one can do about it. Note that you can’t “buy or recruit” princesses in the original game. Valid for all versions of MTW - if "paid recruitment" of princesses are enabled (for Muslim factions for instance)….


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The longevity/lifespan of princesses are hardcoded. Princesses have a limited lifespan in the just like a few other “characters”/type of pieces in the game; heirs and kings for instance. Usually the lifespan of a princess is about 15-35 (in rare cases up to about 40). All this is hardcoded to the template of the “princess agent”. So there is little to be done about that as long as we deal with that template. Valid for all versions of MTW…


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The maximum of possible heirs is 6, this is hardcoded. Even if you would use the “.unfreeze.” (which spawns a new son) the game wont have anything to do with it, if you already got six heirs – nothing happens until you only have male 5 heirs. Valid for all versions of MTW….


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The effects of vices and virtues are hardcoded. You can change the names for ‘em and alter the descriptions as well but the effect will remain the same. Also the very presence of these are hardcoded so you can’t remove them if you ever like to do something like that. The file to work with in order to change names and descriptions for vices and virtues are the “changes.txt”-file located in the loc-folder. Valid for all versions of MTW….


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Smoke GFX-effects on cannons and arquebusiers are hardcoded. This means that you can’t change them to crossbows or something like that – without the additional smoke effects included – thus any such move probably get less attractive to do. Who wants a smoking bow or catapult each time it fires in the game? Valid for MTW and probably for VI also (I have not checked that out)…


Oki, nnnnnnnext....

[gollum]

(pockets money) Good Smeagal, always helps

[caravel]

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Tha BYZANTINE faction leader gets a hardcoded bonus of +2 influence in the early/high eras, and loses it in the late era or before that if a new emperor not of the Comnenian family line (the Angeli) takes over by civil war.

There is also a hardcoded +1 command star.

[gollum]

Thank you Caravel - entry corrected.

[GuitarCrazyo]

That was my thought: the 4 damage Quake fit so well for them. And Id never run the team as their figs, so why not throw them all on a dial for a fig I dont care about?

[naut]

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The number of - and - the names of the unit textures folders are hardcoded. That is, the folders in "...\textures\men\" . There are two extra folders that you can add here that weren't included in the original game for new custom unit textures but their names escape me.

MONGHKAV and PLATESURCOAT.

[cegorach]

Great idea Axalon. Also, I highly recommend that you edit the first post with the new entires to save people from having to trudge through umpteen pages of hardcoded stuff.

I'd love to add to the list but I'm afraid I can't recite the details off the top of my head. Hmm, I'll try my best though and perhaps someone can correct me later:

=================================
The number of units in one unit_prod.txt is capped to 256. That's not the maximum number of entries, just the number of units labeled as either: INFANTRY, CAVALRY or ARTILLERY. Agents and ships can go beyond the 256'th entry, but infantry, cavalry and artillery cannot. As far as I know, there is no maximum on the number of entries.

=================================

I can correct this one.

The number is limited to 256 that is true, but only of units which appear on the campaign map i.e. units which you can get when dismounting something aren't counted, same with units which are available only in custom battles.

All that means there could easily appear 512+ units, but only 256 will be recrutable on the campaign map (built, hired, or from rebellions).

[Rick]

Hey Ceg,

How's it hanging? Are you still working on Pike & Musket?

[cegorach]

See the link in my sign (first one of course).

[Raz]

How did such a very useful thread mysteriously sink away? Should be stickied perhaps...?

I can correct this one.

The number is limited to 256 that is true, but only of units which appear on the campaign map i.e. units which you can get when dismounting something aren't counted, same with units which are available only in custom battles.

All that means there could easily appear 512+ units, but only 256 will be recrutable on the campaign map (built, hired, or from rebellions).

Thanks for the correction cegorach!
I wasn't at all thinking about dismounted/re-mounted units or custom battles.

Would this mean that a Custom-Battle and Multiplayer exclusive "campaign" (that is, a startpos entry without a proper campaign) could have (theoretically) an infinite number of units available?

[cegorach]

How did such a very useful thread mysteriously sink away? Should be stickied perhaps...?



Thanks for the correction cegorach!
I wasn't at all thinking about dismounted/re-mounted units or custom battles.

Would this mean that a Custom-Battle and Multiplayer exclusive "campaign" (that is, a startpos entry without a proper campaign) could have (theoretically) an infinite number of units available?

With 500 units in file I have not encountered a limit yet. The easiest test would be to copy/paste the coding several times and rename some, random units - if they show up in custom battles we would know.

I haven't tested it yet - it would take some effort and I cannot see any practical use for a roster with 10000 units in custom battles.

I think that perhaps 600-1000 makes sense - this way there could be an entire new set for custom and MP mode with different stats, names, numbers, costs etc added after the campaign set.

There... is another trick to exceed 256 limit, quite clever I must add.

Only 256 units appear in a campaign, but it doesn't mean that units added after the number are completely lost for the campaign mode.
If you code a unit as 257th it will be available to recruit in the recruitment window, but if produced it will appear as... unit number 1 on the list.
Same with units added as 258th, 259th etc - they will show up in production window, but when recruited will become clones of units 2 and 3 etc on the list.

Those 'twins' can be useful because they could have different recruitment zones, different costs, different descriptions, different names - but only in the recruitment process. When it is over they can be mixed with the originals, they can be merged if the size of original unit allows that i.e. 3 'cloned' units 20 men each are merged giving one regiment with 60 men as long as the size of the original, of the parent unit isn't smaller.


There are numerous, numerous possibilities to use it, but I still have certain doubts:

- will the AI be willing to recruit the clones on their own, if it doesn't it could be a game breaking problem,

- is it possible to code the clone as a general's?ruler's bodyguard unit ?

- would the clones appear as mercenaries ? Same question about rebellions, faction reappearance etc.

I will eventually test it because I am back and willing to perfect the P&M TW after 1,5 break, though it is nice to know some of my tricks weren't discovered yet.

I planned to use the clones to:

- represent guard regiments - very hard/unrecruitable parent and recruitable clones which can be used as separate 'detachments' or merged or used as replacements for the main body,

- units with completely different recruitment zone, different because for example some provinces are poorer or less populated,

- units with different recruitment requirements - different buildings and if combined with the previous point it makes the idea even more attractive because provinces outside of the 'core' areas of a faction shouldn't be able to produce units as easily as the homelands,

- and my favourite - nomad units. Take a basic type of Tartar cavalry which is available in Tartar homeland, but it is obvious the nomands should be able to move, at least some of them. So why don't you just add a building or two, or three - each unique and easy to built and each giving access to the 'clone' of the basic cavalry models. This time however the 'clone' wouldn't have a recruitment zone and will be available wherever the nomadic camp is built.
This makes the nomands able to regroup even outside of their homelands and return with vengance.



Perhaps I am boasting a bit, but I think it is a brilliant idea. Maybe the best I ever had when modding this game.


Just think of it - a crusader camp which gives access to some replacements for your weary knights or attracts (buildable) mercenaries etc. Because the camp would be a unique structure there could be only one, because it could be limited to a number of factions or a religion it will be destroyed if the enemy takes a province back.
And because you are recruiting clones it shouldn't change the situation too much - just make the clone units very small, say 10 men. because every knight is priceless it could be still worth it and if there are homelands used in the mod it could prove decisive, especially if you are not cheating in some way.


In addition if you compose the file in the right way you could manipulate with the rooster really easily. Clones in certain places in relation to parent units, dismounted-only, ships, agents to fill in the gaps and even a 1000 unit file wouldn't be such an extravagant idea. If I am not wrong you can clone units more than once so triplets can still be used as well.


I think it is one of those unexpected, forgotten options which were simply not blocked because noone thought it is necessary and with relatively low hardware requirements the game should run smoothly as long as the computer runs the game at all...