Family members/tree editing tutorial

Yep. That's what I need is a family members/tree editing tutorial. ~D

I've resisted replying to the "seeking new tutorials" thread since I don't think I'd call myself "one of the better modders", but I've been really trying to find something that gives precise rules on what you can and cannot do (or should and should not do) when trying to alter the family trees and family members' information. I keep getting CTD's even though I *think* I am following rules I've seen posted here and there on this topic. They seem awfully touchy and I've gone over my edits over and over again without finding what's wrong.

So a *good* tutorial on family tree editing would be much appreciated by myself. Or even just pointing me towards a good one would help. I've used some of what Burberista has done, and it did help me, but it was pretty brief.

the that needs editing is the descr_strat.txt in the data/world/maps/imperial_campaign folder. or substitute any provincial campaign folder.

once you find that file open it and youll se something like this

Quote:

---

campaign imperial_campaign
playable
romans_julii
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
end
unlockable
egypt
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities

---

next scroll down till you see the faction you want to edit. something like this

Quote:

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faction romans_julii, comfortable caesar
denari 5000
settlement
{
level large_town
region Etruria

year_founded 0
population 4000
settlement_tax 51
plan_set default_set
faction_creator romans_julii

---

next you will scroll down to this

Quote:

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character_record Amulius Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 13, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Manius Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 10, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Decius Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 7, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Marcus Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 3, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Faustina, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 48, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Poppaea, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 29, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Alypia, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 29, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Claudia, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 28, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Fadia, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 13, alive, never_a_leader

relative Flavius Julius, Faustina, Lucius Julius, Quintus Julius, Vibius Julius, end
relative Lucius Julius, Poppaea, Fadia, Decius Julius, Marcus Julius, end
relative Quintus Julius, Alypia, Amulius Julius, end
relative Vibius Julius, Claudia, Manius Julius, end

---

this is the text we need to edit to change the family tree. lets assume you want to add a new son. first check the descr_names.txt in the data folder to see what names can be used for the julii. then pick a name from there.
i have chosen Sextus Julius as my new son. so i first add him to the character record like this

Quote:

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character_record Sextus Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 1, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Amulius Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 13, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Manius Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 10, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Decius Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 7, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Marcus Julius, male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 3, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Faustina, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 48, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Poppaea, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 29, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Alypia, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 29, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Claudia, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 28, alive, never_a_leader
character_record Fadia, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 13, alive, never_a_leader

---

next we need to assign his parents here

Quote:

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relative Flavius Julius, Faustina, Lucius Julius, Quintus Julius, Vibius Julius, end
relative Lucius Julius, Poppaea, Fadia, Decius Julius, Marcus Julius, end
relative Quintus Julius, Alypia, Amulius Julius, end
relative Vibius Julius, Claudia, Manius Julius, Sextus Julius, end

---

then just start the game as normal. also one more note. you need to follow the space and tab pattern already in the file. its not exact in this thing but its close so you can get the idea. i hope this is what you are lookin for. ~:cheers:

make sure you use the -show_err command on your shortcut. so it will tell you what you are doing wrong.

Only one more detail.
The game considers that the order the relatives appear is:
husband, wife, son1, son2....

But it is important: the sons (and daughters, here there is no difference) are in age order: example son1=14, son2=12, son3=6, son4=2.
If the ages stated above do not fit with this order the game will crash.
Cheers.

The exact spacing and making the age of the children sequential have been great tips.

Let me make sure I understand one thing:
husband 53, wife 45, son 22, son 18, daughter 17, son 8
would this be ok, mixing the son/daughteers like that?

husband 53, wife 45, son 22, son 18, son 8, daughter 17
Then would this be incorrect, to give sons first, then daughters?

I think from what you said the first one is the right one, but I just want to be 100% sure. Thanks again guys! keep 'em coming!

Yeah TA, make sure all the children are in age order, regardless of sex.

So... husband 53, wife 45, son 22, son 18, son 8, daughter 17 ...would be incorrect.

Hmm. Taking the surname off the kids on the last listed family (the bottom line of families in the .txt) and then removing those same children's surnames from the character description lines seems to have fixed at least one of the problems. No misspellings or anything like that, but maybe it just didn't like their last name ;-) Anyway, I'm thrilled to get this family working now. Playtesting and a decade in they are still doing well. Though Numidia is a crappy place to playtest.

Anyone feel like doing a 'how to' on this? ~;)

Another question on this:

Does it hurt to have extra names in the descr_names_lookup.txt or the names.txt files?

For example, if I want to enter new names in for a faction, I first start off in the descr_names.txt file. I delete the old (let's say for an example, Seleukid) men's names, surnames, and women's names, and then I enter my new ones carefully in there.

*But* when it comes time for me to put those new names in those other two files (descr_names_lookup.txt and names.txt), it would be foolish for me to delete the names that I deleted from descr_names.txt, because another faction might be using that name too (especially with all the overlap in greek and such). So that would cause immediate CTD's. So instead I leave all the old names and put my new ones in there. So, what I'm asking is that there will be leftover names in the descr_names_lookup.txt and names.txt files, but will it hurt anything? I would think the answer would be no, since the game seems to take new names from your descr_names.txt file. And then it uses the data in the other two, but doesn't ever start with the other two. Any thoughts on this?

Teleklos Archelaou,

Man you beat me to the punch, because I was going to ask the exact same question! ~:cheers: Btw, for the sake of less experienced modders would you let us know if this works? :inquisitive:

Well, i've made a number of changes, and I'm still having CTDs at faction selection. I may have entered something in wrong, but if i find an answer i'll put it here.

I've never worked with the names-related files, but after seeing how it works with other files with the same structure I can guess that the names included in descr_names.txt must fit exactly with those in descr_names_lookup.txt. I mean, all the names that appear in one file must be included in the other one.
Moreover, all those names must be "translated" in Data\text\names.txt.
Did you check the exact correspondence between the three files?

Because of that it would be advisable to start by adding only one name in the three files. When it works, deleting one name and advancing in such a slow but secure way.

Good luck!

Can you add traits to characters not yet of age so that when they do become of age they'll have the traits you specified? or will it just CTD?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aronnov

Can you add traits to characters not yet of age so that when they do become of age they'll have the traits you specified? or will it just CTD?

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You could have just asked at the other site. ~:)

First note that this will effect ALL male children who come of age for a given father - so make him infertile or give him three daughters or other sons already of age if you want only one son to get the traits. Unfortunately CharacterName does not work as a trait condition (at least not in my testing).

I'll use Marcus Octavius and his son Gaius Octavius for my example.

1. Define and give the father a unique trait (ex. UniqueDad 1)
2. Use that trait when the character comes of age as a condition in the trigger. Like so:

Quote:

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;------------------------------------------
Trigger coming_of_age_octavius
WhenToTest CharacterComesOfAge

Condition FatherTrait UniqueDad > 0

Affects NaturalMilitarySkill 1 Chance 100
Affects TouchedByTheGods 1 Chance 100

---

Then put Condition FatherTrait UniqueDad = 0 in all the other ComesOfAge triggers (so you don't get any random traits).

That should do it.