Trying to affect which events player is notified of

I have figured out (I think) some information about how notifications to the player work (i.e. the messages that drop down the left hand side of the screen at the start of your turn or during the turn). We have several files in play:

descr_event_enums.txt: basically a list of everything the player could potentially be notified of.

descr_event_images.txt: describes the layout and appearance of the notification scroll, the icon that is dropped down the left of the screen and the priority of the message

descr_sounds_events: dictates the sound to be played when the notification scroll is viewed

message_text_lookup.txt: a list of all the pieces of body text that get assembled into the notifications

event_titles.txt: the titles that appear at the top of the notification scrolls for each event

event_strings.txt: the body text for the notification scroll.


So, the question is: why are there some events that appear in all these files, but do not result in notifications? Take the "naval blockade" event. We have an entry in descr_event_enums:

Code:

---

naval_blockade

---

We have a description of the notification scroll and icon in descr_event_images:

Code:

---

naval_blockade
        icon        settlement
        format
        {
                title        center verdana                black       
                string                center verdana_med        black
                string                center verdana_med        black
                title_image        center                                       
                spacer                8
                bodystring  left verdana_sml khaki left
        }

---

We have a sound assigned to it in descr_sounds_events:

Code:

---

type naval_blockade
                event
                        folder data/sounds/SFX/Campaign_Map
                                naval_blockade.mp3
                        end
                arrived
                        event
                                folder data/sounds/SFX/Campaign_Map
                               
                        end

---

We have a series of entries in message_text_lookup:

Code:

---

naval_blockade_body_roman
naval_blockade_body_barbarian
naval_blockade_body_carthaginian
naval_blockade_body_greek
naval_blockade_body_egyptian
naval_blockade_body_eastern

---

And we have the corresponding entries in event_titles.txt:

Code:

---

{naval_blockade}          Settlement Blockaded

---

and event_strings.txt:

Code:

---

{naval_blockade_body_roman}                                The settlement is blockaded. The merchants are concerned that trade is suffering. Merchants are always concerned about something.
{naval_blockade_body_barbarian}                                This settlement has been blockaded. Traders are bleating - as they always do - that they cannot move their goods or make a profit.
{naval_blockade_body_carthaginian}                                The settlement is under a blockade. Our merchants right demand that the seaways are opened once more, for trade is the lifeblood of an empire!
{naval_blockade_body_greek}                                The settlement is blockaded, a direct challenge to the fine traditions of Greek mastery of the seas!
{naval_blockade_body_egyptian}                                The merchants of the settlement are rightly aggrieved, and cannot afford their proper sacrifices, thanks to this terrible blockade.
{naval_blockade_body_eastern}                                The merchants bleat that their goods are stolen and their ships taken, thanks to the blockade on this settlement.

---

So why doesn't the player receive a notification when his port is blockaded? There is even a pic for it in ui_1.pak. There are other events that fall into the same category whereby they have been completely prepared but do not actually happen. Is it hardcoded which events produce notifications? Or is there a file that can be fiddled with?

Bumpage. Any modders been able to figure out whether these can be activated, or if there's something hardcoded that's stopping them?

Event messages are to me one of the biggest mysteries of RTW 1.5. I started a thread on the subject here, but I'm afraid I haven't made much progress since then.

Thanks for pointing me towards that thread, BozosLiveHere. I hadn't tried it with earlier versions of RTW but it sounds like they could be made to work under 1.2? Also very weird that they are culture dependent.

Whilst I know little of programming, I presume the .exe must be using similar event names to those in descr_event_enums in its internal logic to cause the effects of these things. But there must be something separate telling it only to display a message in certain circumstances. Weird, and another example of something inexplicably changed in 1.5 without apparent reason.

looks like a "descr_events.txt" exist hardcoded but is not ingame :(