Howto: Night Battles for RTW

How to add night battles to the Imperial Campaign

It is a while since I did this so I might have missed some stuff. Also I am using RTW:BI 1.6. Your mileage may vary if you don't have BI installed and patched. Let me know how it goes if you use this howto. There are five steps to adding night battles to the Imperial Campaign.

1. Activate night battles in the campaign.
2. Add night battle character traits.
3. Add torches to units etc. (optional)
4. Add lighting for night time. (optional)
5. Add prebattle UI images. (optional)
6. Add window lighting to city buildings. (optional)

1. Activate night battles in the campaign.

To do this you need to add two lines to data\world\maps\campaign\[campaign_name]\descr_strat.txt. You need to add "options bi" just below the campaign name (required for 1.5/1.6, but skip this step if you are using 1.3/1.4), and "night_battles_enabled" just above the brigand spawn line (might be optional). The top of your descr_strat.txt should look something like this:

Code:

---

campaign                imperial_campaign
options bi
playable
        romans_julii
        romans_brutii
        romans_scipii
        parthia
        egypt
        seleucid
        carthage
        gauls
        germans
        britons
        greek_cities
        macedon
        pontus
        armenia
        dacia
        scythia
        spain
        thrace
        numidia
end
unlockable
end
nonplayable
        romans_senate
        slave
end


start_date        -270 summer
end_date        14 summer

night_battles_enabled
brigand_spawn_value 15
pirate_spawn_value 32

---

Note: The "options bi" line changes a few other things apart from night battles. (1) If you have BI installed you might get the sparckle effect when units gain rank (you can switch this off in preferences.txt). (2) Everything in the unit descriptions will be displayed including the now obsolete unit capabilities and "code fix" stuff. (3) Faction death videos will stop working, so you will just get a text message when factions are destroyed. Other videos will continue to work fine. If anyone manages to fix this, let me know.

2. Add night battle character traits.

To activate the chacter traits you need to add the NightBattleCapable trait and triggers to data\export_descr_character_traits.txt, along with suitable entries in data\export_descr_unit_enums.txt and data\text\export_VnVs.txt.

Here is the trait entry:

Code:

---

;------------------------------------------
Trait NightBattleCapable
    Characters family
    NoGoingBackLevel  1
    AntiTraits Noctophobia

    Level Night_Fighter
        Description Night_Fighter_desc
        EffectsDescription Night_Fighter_effects_desc
        Threshold  6

        Effect NightBattle  1

---

The tiggers look like this (I think the Noctophobia and Noctophila traits are already there, the triggers will make them active):

Code:

---

;------------------------------------------
Trigger diet_of_carrots_1
    WhenToTest CharacterTurnStart

    Condition Trait NightBattleCapable = 0
          and IsGeneral
          and Attribute Command >= 5

    Affects NightBattleCapable  6  Chance  100

;------------------------------------------
Trigger diet_of_carrots_2
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition IsGeneral
          and Attribute Command >= 1
          and IsNightBattle
          and Trait NightBattleCapable = 0
          and WonBattle

    Affects NightBattleCapable  6  Chance  100

;------------------------------------------
Trigger night_battle_crushing_victory_attacker
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition WasAttacker
          and IsGeneral
          and WonBattle
          and BattleSuccess >= clear
          and BattleOdds >= 0.5
          and BattleOdds < 2
          and IsNightBattle

    Affects Noctophilia  1  Chance  100

;------------------------------------------
Trigger night_battle_crushing_victory_defender
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition not WasAttacker
          and IsGeneral
          and WonBattle
          and BattleSuccess >= clear
          and BattleOdds >= 0.5
          and BattleOdds < 2
          and IsNightBattle

    Affects Noctophilia  1  Chance  100

;------------------------------------------
Trigger night_battle_crushing_loss_attacker
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition WasAttacker
          and IsGeneral
          and not WonBattle
          and BattleSuccess >= clear
          and BattleOdds >= 0.5
          and BattleOdds < 1.5
          and IsNightBattle

    Affects Noctophobia  1  Chance  66

;------------------------------------------
Trigger night_battle_crushing_loss_defender
    WhenToTest PostBattle

    Condition not WasAttacker
          and IsGeneral
          and not WonBattle
          and BattleSuccess >= clear
          and BattleOdds >= 0.5
          and BattleOdds < 1.5
          and IsNightBattle

    Affects Noctophobia  1  Chance  66

---

Add this to data/export_descr_VnVs_enums.txt:

Code:

---

Night_Fighter
Night_Fighter_desc
Night_Fighter_effects_desc

---

Add this to data\text\export_VnVs.txt

Code:

---

¬--------------------

{Night_Fighter}        Night Fighter

{Night_Fighter_desc}
This trait allows a general to fight a battle at night.

{Night_Fighter_effects_desc}
+1 Command when fighting at night

---

If you want starting family members to have these traits you can add them to the descriptions in descr_strat.txt like this:

Code:

---

character        Lucius Julius, named character, heir, age 31, , x 91, y 80
traits GoodCommander 1 , PoliticsSkill 2 , GoodAdministrator 3 , Energetic 2 , NightBattleCapable 1 , Noctophilia 1
ancillaries freeman_clerk
army
unit                roman generals guard cavalry early                                exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit                roman hastati                                exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit                roman hastati                                exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

---

3. Add torches to units etc. (optional)

For this you need to have BI installed. Copy the following stuff from bi/data/ to data/

Everything in bi\data\models_unit\attachments\
Everything in bi\data\models_engine\
Everything in bi\data\models_effects\
bi\data\descr_effects.txt
bi\data\descr_effects_engine_torch.txt
bi\data\descr_effects_torch_fire.txt

Note: You can also get these files from XGM or from Archer's SkyMod.

4. Add lighting for night time. (optional)

The BI weather and lighting settings look better for night battles than the vanilla RTW stuff. Copy the following files from bi\data to data\.

bi\data\descr_battle_map_lighting_and_fog_control.txt
bi\data\descr_daytypes.txt
bi\data\descr_skydome.txt

The weather and lighting settings from Archer's SkyMod look better still. Copy the following files from SKYMOD_BI\data for Bi only\Data to data\

the models folder
descr_battle_map_lighting_and_fog_control.txt
descr_daytypes.txt
descr_skydome.txt

5. Add prebattle UI images. (optional)

If you skip this step the engine will use a default image that looks weird. All you need to do is put a suitable .TGA image called prebattle_night.tga in every data/UI/[culturetype]/eventpics/ folder. A good image to use is bi/data/UI/roman/eventpics/prebattle_night.tga.

6. Add window lighting to city buildings. (optional)

For this you need to have BI installed. Copy the folder bi\data\models_building\textures\glowing to data\models_building\textures.

Great!
This is the tutorial I was waiting for.

Thanks mate.:2thumbsup:

Does this work for you? I worjked the procedures you just laid out and royally screwed up my system. I had to repair my OS and I cannot load RTW up right at the moment. I want to know if this worked for the both of you. I had a great game going!

diBorgia

Cesare diBorja: There's no way that doing anything in this guide could mess up your OS, but it certainly could mess up your RTW install if you copy files into the wrong locations, or make mistakes adding the traits and so on.

This method certainly worked for me. You can see the results in XGM.

Fortunately for you, you are not sitting where I am sitting or else you would not have that opinion. Smell my frustration?..............maybe its the 71.84 driver I used for my nvidia video card. I just found out they are very unstable, which explains all the times my game crashed for no reason. Something happen when I started the game which up 'til that moment worked reasonably well. No fault to you. Its probably the ******* driver. If people took the time to make sure their crap worked, it would save people alot of trouble(extra hint to CA). It makes me want to go into programming so I can fix the things that I have to download or even buy.

diBorgia

My computer is in the shop for a few days as I could not find the problem. $85 later, I will be trying this feature again. Maybe I am hard-headed. It's a great feature.

I have added a couple of minor changes to the howto (marked in red). The first is to note that the "options bi" should only be added for RTW/BI 1.5/1.6. For version 1.3/1.4 you should skip this step. The second is an explanation of how to add the night fighting traits to traits starting family members.

Will this work if I don't have BI?

I think it works, but I have not tested it with RTW only, and obviosly you need some files from BI to do some things, like adding torches.

This will work without BI, Lt1956 is adding this into the latest version fo SPQR. The skymod includes all the files needed to implement torches into RTW.

How can we test quickly if night battles work in RTW 1.5?
Is it necessary to play a campaign until one general gets the corresponding trait?

well lt1956 has tested it, he only has RTW 1.5, at it works.

Good to know that it works. If you want to test it out for yourself, change the diet_of_carrots_1 trigger to command >= 0, or just give the NightBattleCapable trait to a starting general.

I simply added it by uploading your version of XGM, DBH. I would like it if you just released a executable version so one does not have go through the process of screwing it up or not. That is a more applicable solution, I think.
My system works better than it did before now. XGM battles with the CM formations rock. The AI is responsive nad aggressive enough and the skirmishers actually skirmish. Good generals actually know when to attack or hang back, what units to hold in reserve and when to cut loose and win the fight. I win some and lose some. My game is set on Campaign Map-Very Hard, Battle Map, Normal. I wanted battles to be won based on generals merits as I mostly let them fight their own battles. Making the AI have bonuses just kills the fun of the game as it is not just based on units that have made themselves elite but the AI has an unfair advantage. The Normal Battle Map seeting is the best for tactical and strategic experience.

Thanks for the mod, DBH

diBorgia

Cesare diBorja: I'm glad you like XGM. I thought about doing a night battles mini-mod, but I doubt if many people would want to play a mod that did nothing but add night battles, and because it requires changes to some fundamental files like descr_strat.txt and the character traits, it wouldn't mix well with other mods.

Great tutroial , this is what I was waiting too ....Thankyou...

This is perhaps more a question of technical help than modding, but it becomes apparent when I implement night battles in my mod.

This happens to me:
https://img160.imageshack.us/img160/...rno29lx.th.jpghttps://img138.imageshack.us/img138/...rno38ov.th.jpghttps://img214.imageshack.us/img214/...rno18mf.th.jpg

This problem depends on the camera distance and angle, as can be seen in this comparison:
https://img160.imageshack.us/img160/...rno15zs.th.jpghttps://img160.imageshack.us/img160/...rno25wh.th.jpg

What can I do? (apart from buying a new computer, or at least a new video card):shame:

Ditto, monk. A reason for not playing BI yet.

Monkwarrior & Tiberius: You could try updating your video driver. I had a similar problem (not quite so bad though) a while back which disappeared with an updated driver.

Great tutorial DBH! :medievalcheers:

I was thinking about implementing night battles into RTG, but tbh, I'm in a similar situation to Monkwarrior and Tiberius - my system is very old. Also, my graphics card is well outdated, Nvidia GeForce 2 MX 64 MB (anybody remember them? ~D). They stopped releasing patches / drivers for these gfx cards a LONG time ago...~D

As in the case of Monkwarrior's screenshots, I had similar experiences when playing BI night battles after it had been released. The 'hall of mirrors' effect blurred the screen so much that I just gave up with night battles all together.

I've seen this appear frequently in other games such as Unreal Tournament and the various Half-Life games and mods. I think its to do with poor optimisation or something along these lines, think I read this in various tutorials when using Unreal Editor to design levels.

With Unreal, it was best to use zone portals throughout a level to improve optimization. Whenever a player did not look at a zone portal, I think whatever was contained within the zone wasn't completely rendered. As a result, this improved framerates (frames per second, fps), and allowed for a smoother gameplay experience.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Seasoned Alcoholic

I was thinking about implementing night battles into RTG, but tbh, I'm in a similar situation to Monkwarrior and Tiberius - my system is very old. Also, my graphics card is well outdated, Nvidia GeForce 2 MX 64 MB (anybody remember them? ~D). They stopped releasing patches / drivers for these gfx cards a LONG time ago...~D

---

Well, problem solved.
I have also a Nvidia GeForce2 MX 100/200 graphic card (as old as 4.5 years :juggle2: ), but I have installed the ForceWare driver: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.98.html

I've tried the same battle and it works perfectly, I can see the units, with the torches, lights, etc, etc...:2thumbsup:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Monkwarrior

Well, problem solved.
I have also a Nvidia GeForce2 MX 100/200 graphic card (as old as 4.5 years :juggle2: ), but I have installed the ForceWare driver: http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.98.html

I've tried the same battle and it works perfectly, I can see the units, with the torches, lights, etc, etc...:2thumbsup:

---

This sounds interesting, I might check it out sometime soon! Thanks for the link MW :thumbsup:

I've added instructions for adding lighting to city windows at night.

Can't get it to work. I follow the instruction. I added the trait. However, when I attack. It is still day. I don't see the option of letting me select night attack.

EDIT: Nvm, forgot option BI