Questions (trying to make "Iron Man" mod)

Hi,

I am trying to make a mod that is : a. harder to complete b. faster and 'juiced up' building.

I finished editing the buildings file, looks ok and working.

Having problems with the descr_strat.txt file. Just tried to eliminate Julii and transfer their 2 provinces to Brutii. Cut-paste the settlement descriptions to under Brutii faction, delete 'faction romans_julii' and their characters and armies description. Tabs looks ok. Removed Julii from the 'playable' list. The menu reaches "My_Campain", but won't proceed to launch the game.

Maybe experience modders can post examples of files with minor changes that work, to help beginners with the first steps ?

Other questions :
Where can I find details of World Wonders effects ?
What is the effect of phalanx formation, in numbers ?
What is the difference between "named character" and "general" ? I didn't see a consistent attachment of general-cavalry unit to any of them.
On some text files, there is a comment not to edit them manually but with a spreadsheet - which spreadsheet ?

Thanks and sorry for newbness :)

Charon.

I am nor an experienced modder, so my answers are not certain . But here goes:

Removing a faction: I think you have to keep the faction entry in the descr_strat file. Just remove all their settlements. On turn 1, the game engine detects the faction has no settlements and declares it dead. So you get an announcement of faction eliminated. At least, this is the way it was done in Unified Rome mod

World Wonder effects: The bonuses of the wonders (landmarks) are hard-coded. I tried to play with them myself. You can definitely move the landmarks, even have 2 of the same type (but only one will give the permanent bonus). You cannot have 2 wonders in the same province. All this is based on my own testing.

Effect of phalanx: can't help you on that one

Difference between named character and general: I think in the descr_strat file, named characters are really generals, and generals are really captains.

Spreadsheet question: The txt files were generated from a spreadsheet that the developers/designers at CA have . We (players and modders) do not have that spreadsheet, and we have to edit them directly. However, there are some nice editors out there (look for Hadrian and Caligula in the tools subforum).

Hope that helped.

Hi :)

I managed to transfer one settlement from Julii to Brutii, but when I try to remove the second (and last) Julii settlement, the game crashes.

Where can I find the Unified Rome mod you mentioned ? or any working mod, just to get some samples of working files.

I was asking what the effects of the wonders are, in numbers :) any idea where to find that info ?

Hadrian and Kaligula are unit and building modding tools, I don't really wand to change units, just the initial setup of the strat map. I downloaded such an editor, TIMEv0_35, but can't run it.

another question : How do I program triggers ? The post by blitz576 is helpful, but how to compose the file and where to place it ? What I am looking for is a way to give the player additional resources (spawn_army, or money) on certain conditions. This requires denoting the faction the player chose with some variable (say, add_to player_faction 5000 or some such)

Thanks :)
Charon.