How to find errors in my mod?

Hi!

My original game (MTW VI v2.01) runs rather fine on my win7 system. There are some minor crashes (about 1 in an hour), but reload and continue is ok.

I have a copy of the game to experiment with my mod. And that is where the problems start. What i have done so far:

* small changes to the map: added sahara, added rivers for some countries, added ressources and trade goods. The map shouldnt be the problem, because without any other modding the map works.
* added some units, changed prerequisites, and unit stats. All self created units are tested and work on quick battle and campaign (except some corpses)
* played around with the hero-file. I dont like heroes with bad v&v. The stand-alone heroes work fine.

I havent changed any graphics or sounds.

But when I play my mod with all three changes the game will crash between the years 1100 and 1110. Unavoidable. When ending the turn, the game will crash to desktop. Save and reload does not work. Is there any method how to find out what the problem is?


Max

Well unless you've modded the eras, 1100 to 1110 don't fit that kind of crash scenario...

I would guess it's the mods you've done to the default heroes file which are causing this. Probably a syntax error somewhere. Heroes are available at specific dates, and then appear when a suitable unit (A good "general candidate" - see the unit prod file) is trained. This also ties in with it not happening on one specific year.

Try temporarily restoring the original heroes file and run the game to 1110 and see if it still crashes?

I know it's time consuming, but when modding, save regular backups of known working files. Also use comments where possible to indicate where you've changed something and comment out the original line (don't remove). This will save you a lot of headache (take it from me).

Also when creating units, testing in battle is just one part of the test - incorrectly converted/rendered lbms or bif files can crash the campaign map. Make sure your own content is working correctly - i.e. review panel icons, info pics and unit icons. Missing portraits are not fatal, but will show an error message which you might need to alt tab to see.

Thank you for your advice.

I took existing graphics for the infopics, reviewpanel and so on (unfortunatley I'm not an artist) and testing was fine. So I will try it with the heroes-file. It seems to be plausible.

Max

Bear in mind that you can't just add names to the default heroes file - they have to be references to values in (if I recall correctly) names.txt or one of the other localisation files (in /loc/english).

Ok replaycing the heroes-file with the original one causes the game to crash earlier; around 1095.

some more questions:

The startpos-files... is it possible that errors occur during the game? My experience is, that if there are any mistakes, the mod will not show up in the startup menu.

Self created units... all of them are tested for one or two turns on the campaign map and on the battlefield. All of them seem to work. Besides no faction should have those units at that early stage of game, is it necessary to test all of them separatly (one by one)?

If it's not the heroes, then maybe a building or unit is produced that has an issue with it's related files. If you have a save of the year prior to the CTD, I would suggest using the -ian mode to look in the build queues of all the factions to see what is being built that might cause a problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by drone

-ian mode

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???

Ah ok. Found the "-ian mode"

Switching through all nations I couldnt find anything negativ. In the early game the most requisites for my units arent built so far.

Did some testing the last days.

Start-pos file works; testing till 1120. Restarted the game with my heroes, also working.

edit: restarted the game with some minor changes to original unit-file (prerequisites, availability...): no problems

At 1125 I added a selfmade cav, produced some new units, also working.

At 1130 I added naphta-catapults from an other mod. built a unit and moved the to the front, working. At 1134 the game crashed, when clicking on a certain province. After some tests the save game dindnt load anymore. crash during loading screen.

Any hints?

Max

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mad_Max

At 1134 the game crashed, when clicking on a certain province. After some tests the save game dindnt load anymore. crash during loading screen.

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The good news is that this probably has nothing to do with dates or indeed any modding you are doing to game files.

It looks like the usual campaign map CTD problem. It may happen when you click on a province because that province has enough buildings to turn on the scroll arrows for the review panel. These arrows are known to cause the campaign map game to CTD on certain hardware. Luckily there is a known solution:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...igh-End-Cards)

Thank you caravel!

While I have intalled this patch on my original game, I didnt install it to my testing-modding-copy. :wall:

Save game loaded properly.
I continue with my work.

Max