Which edits DO NOT corrupt saved campaigns?

[EatYerGreens]

I've long believed that almost *any* modifications to the text files will cause ongoing campaigns to become unplayable but, recently, I've seen posts where someone asked about changing even fundamental items, like unit stats and an answer was forthcoming but (for simple changes) no warnings were given that their ongoing campaign might become unplayable, which puzzled me.

So I'm wondering if anyone would be prepared to name any items which are 'safe' to edit in mid-campaign.

In order that I don't end up feeling that I've 'cheated' to win (and it's far from a done deal at the moment), I have no intention to adjust the unit stats, building/training requirements or stuff like that but please mention it anyway, if you think it's applicable to this thread, as others might be interested to know.

For now, I'm thinking of relatively trivial items, like augmenting the forenames/sunames lists, just to add a little interest.

[R'as al Ghul]

The game is actually very tolerant to most changes. You can even change the unit animations "on the fly" with a custom battle running.

Concerning the text files, I think the most important thing for a campaign savegame is the startpos file. Any changes to that and you most likely corrupt your savegame.
The heroes file should be save to edit unless you don't delete entries that are already used by the savegame. Deleting a character from the heroes file while the hero's already placed in your savegame should result in an error/crash. Adding new ones should be fine, though.
I also think that all files in the "FormationData" and "Loc" folders should be safe to edit without affecting the savegames.
Some others that I consider safe:
WEATHER.TXT, MODELDAMAGE.TXT, everything in Models, everything beneath Textures.
There isn't much left now, only unit and build prod.
I guess if you don't change the filename of the prod files then you're safe to edit them, too.

Hope this helps. I have nothing to back this up beside my experience.

:bow:

R'as

[caravel]

Concerning the text files, I think the most important thing for a campaign savegame is the startpos file. Any changes to that and you most likely corrupt your savegame.
I had always assumed the that the relevant startpos file was read only when starting a new campaign. When loading a savegame I was under the impression that the startpos wasn't used at all? ~:confused:

[macsen rufus]

I've recently made a few changes and had saved games still work, including:

* building requirements in the unit_prod (I even changed this on a unit that was queued for training in the save game - it reloaded ok, the unit was still in the queue even though it was no longer available on the parchment. I cancelled training to be on the safe side after that...)
* unit stats can be changed, but it's a good idea to quit and restart/reload the game to reload the data
* ADDING names is okay, but don't delete any
* changing names of units etc SHOULD be okay, so long as it's only the right-hand entry in names.txt (ie ["Soldier_Singular"] {"Soldier"} can be changed to ["Soldier_Singular"] {"Warrior"} (But this is included in what R'as said about the "Loc" folder...)
* review panel graphics and info pics can be changed
* you can ADD units to the prod file, and they'll become available in the saved game if the tech is in place

:2thumbsup:

[R'as al Ghul]

I had always assumed the that the relevant startpos file was read only when starting a new campaign. When loading a savegame I was under the impression that the startpos wasn't used at all? ~:confused:

To be honest, I've not completely figured this out yet. It seems that some parameters are saved in the savegame and not referenced from the startpos again, yes.
But you can for example change the faction colours in the startpos, without corrupting your savegame and with immediate effect. So these clour values are definitly read from the startpos even when you run a savegame.

Personally I have several installs and edit everything all the time. I don't care much about savegames. An experienced modder will always have backups of the last working version. :wink:

[EatYerGreens]

Thanks to you all.

I think I have enough information to proceed with what I'd planned but by all means continue posting any further suggestions.


Two things I still need to be cautious of:-

1) CHANGES.TXT contains numerous examples, particularly in the forenames and surnames sections, of where the original square-bracket text label was retained but the string translation was replaced by a totally different name. It might be safer to make my additions in here. Somehow, I have to still ensure that I don't have two occurences of the same text label (a name I think is new but isn't).

2) Any additions will work their way into my savegames so if, for any reason, the game needs to be uninstalled/reinstalled I have to remember to also overwrite the game's originals from my backups - assuming they are still intact!



One thing other people need to be cautious of:-

Changing unit stats on your one-and-only copy of MTW(+/- VI) *will* lock you out of multiplayer battles - possibly even if the altered unit isn't actually participating in the current battle (checksum validation, instead of detailed examination, multiplied by 'n' players).

[macsen rufus]

In the course of my current mod I discovered the following: if you add new buildings to the build_prod file they MUST go at the end to avoid corrupting save games. It seems the save game must index building types rather than have any "real" info about them. The reason I concluded this is that I added some extra buildings, but halfway down the list. New campaign was fine everything worked wonderfully (he said, modestly ~D) but when I tried a save game, all the buildings had altered, including things like spearmaker and spearmaker's workshop both appearing in the same province (I was trying out metalsmiths being divided into two separate building lines for bronze and iron technology) and it seems like the spearmaker got transposed into the metalsmith slot. ie the save games probably record something like "Building one, level two" rather than "Spearmaker's workshop". It's a wonder it didn't crash completely, but I reckon it's another little insight that may come in handy...