Getting rid of the giant trees

:elephant: Normal trees at last! :elephant:


What do you mean by "Normal trees at last!"?

I have edited the map_climates.tga file (which determines the vegetation of a tile in the EB main campaign) to get rid of the annoying giant California Redwood Trees. These were loaded into a battle or settlement-on-battlemap-view when the tile in question had the dark green "alpine" colour. To get rid of these, I changed every single tile with this colour to either northern European (dark orange) or lower mountainside (yellow) colour.

before:
https://img144.imageshack.us/img144/...riginalxm2.png

after:
https://img194.imageshack.us/img194/...apclimates.png

What do I have to do to make it work for me?

1. Download it from here: map_climates.tga from Axifile or from here: a mirror powered by Ferromancer

2. Make a backup of your .../EB/Data/world/maps/base/MAP_CLIMATES.TGA file and better also of your map.rwm in the same folder

3. Copy the new file you just downloaded into the above mentioned place and say "Yes" to overwrite

4. Delete your map.rwm (same folder - remember, you have just made a backup)

5. Create a shortcut "...\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" -mod:eb -nm -show_err -ne note the position of the "

6. Start EB via that shortcut, start a campaign, and quit the game

7. Go back to .../EB/Data/world/maps/base, and copy the newly generated map.rwm to .../EB/sp game edu backup and say "Yes" to overwrite again

8. Enjoy your battles now, regularly starting the game from Trivial Script.


I have an incredibly epic campaign going on at the moment, is it savegame compatible?

Yes, it is. Of course I take no responsibility for any damage that might happen to your PC / EB-install / ongoing campaign though.


Thank you Pobs for bringing this up and the work you too did on this matter.

Hi CN,

glad its working for you, and thanks for the idea of using the climates map, good collaboration I would say :2thumbsup:...


Laza,

the climates map will only work if used in conjunction with the trees folders I sent you earlier I think.. I will check the forests in the sweboz area in my game and see if I still have some trees in there too...


cheers,


Pobs

Ive got no luck with ur tree files.

I think i keep waiting for eb II and hopefully small well ordered little trees. :juggle2:

Did you try my map, Laza?

If not, try it and start an Arverni campaign and look at the battlemap-view of Gergovia, or of Mediolanum for the Aedui. I'm not sure or I don't think even that the custom battlemaps have something to do with the climates map.

Today I had a very disappointing battle in these large and dense forests. The enemy army routed, but I didn't win, because there were single units stuck in the trees and they also weren't visible on the minimap, because the unit fled already from the battlefield. So I had to search the hole map for a few single units...

My question is: are these changes savegamecomaptible? I don't want to try it, because I don't want to crash my campaign, which is running very stable at the moment. But these maps are a real pain :/

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Originally Posted by TheStranger

My question is: are these changes savegamecomaptible?

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Yes. Remember that I don't take any responsibility for the health of your campaign.

Sure ;) I'll test it when I've finished my current campaign:yes:

Centurio, if you like I can move the relevant posts from here to the unofficial mods subforum, I'm sure more people will want this. Let me know.

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Originally Posted by bovi

Centurio, if you like I can move the relevant posts from here to the unofficial mods subforum, I'm sure more people will want this. Let me know.

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I have thought of making a new thread about this in the unofficial mod place too. I think I'll make a map where I will have removed all the alpine colour, also that of Scandinavia and the mountainsides around the world. Yes do it if you like to. :smiley:

Moved it. You may want to make a tga file to make it easier for people to use it.

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Originally Posted by bovi

Moved it. You may want to make a tga file to make it easier for people to use it.

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Great bovi. I have edited map_climates.tga again to get rid of all the trees everywhere around the world and uploaded it to AxiFile.

See the first post now for download and also for a step-by-step guide how to use it.

Errrr....i don't understand how to do the shortcut part :embarassed:

Great stuff, Centurio! I'll try this ASAP:yes:

Maion

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Originally Posted by Dutchhoplite

Errrr....i don't understand how to do the shortcut part :embarassed:

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You make a shortcut to RTW.exe and add "...\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" -mod:eb -nm -show_err -ne to it. Click OK, and then start EB via that shortcut. You need to do this to get a new map.rwm file.

@Maion:
Let me know if it works.

many thanks man, great work

Thanks, this is extremely helpful! :2thumbsup: Works fine with my campaign thus far.

When i try and download the file from Axfile it says type in file ID, whats that?

Strange, the axifile link works perfectly for me.

I get the right page and the download is generated.


Great work Centurio Nixalsverdrus! I've been using your alteration for some time now, and I'm very happy with it.

Oh my God, thank you! Now once and for all I'll be able to play as Gauls without fear.

Furthermore it is my firm belief that the Hellenistic Suine must be razed from the ground and their survivors boiled alive to free us from their putrid stain on the earth once and for all.

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Originally Posted by NickTheGreek

When i try and download the file from Axfile it says type in file ID, whats that?

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I don't know, try it again later perhaps?

Also you could just save the below map in the first post, and then convert it into .TGA with Irfanview for example.

Glad it works for you others. :smiley:

Hey Centurio I finally got it working, cheers man its good to be able to actually fight forest battles :2thumbsup:

hola centurio i am playing EB with BI how do i create a shrt cut to get my new map.rwm file:help:

I don't use BI.exe, so I don't know exactly. Try this though:

\YourBI.exe" -mod:eb -nm -show_err -ne

Right click on your BI.exe, chose "create shortcut". Right click on your shortcut, chose settings (whatever the last entry is), and then make the target look like the blue line above. "YourBI.exe" is probably not the name of your real BI.exe, mind you. Hope it works, if not better ask someone who knows.

I'm not sure how to start EB via the shortcut. I managed to modify the target but after starting a new campaign in EB and replacing the map.rwm file, I still have the giant trees in my current Getai campaign.

How should I open EB with the shortcut so I get the proper map.rwm? Thanks in advance!

Can you once start an Arverni campaign and look at Gergovia or at Mediolanum with the Aedui?

I started a new Arveni campaign and viewed Gergovia on the battle map. Still the giant trees.

OK, I wanted to check if I had forgotten a tile somewhere in the Carpathians maybe, but obviously not. I would advise you to carefully repeat every step that I mentioned in post #1. Normally that must do the trick. :shrug:

OK, but I need help with #6 in your instructions. How exactly do I open EB with the shortcut that I make instead of the normal RTW.exe? I believe that the first time, I just ran EB with the regular RTW.exe and that's why I didn't get a new, proper map.rwm.

Thanks for your help so far.

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4. Delete your map.rwm (same folder - remember, you have just made a backup)

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That's important, because you need the game to generate a new one.

Quote:

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5. Create a shortcut "...\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" -mod:eb -nm -show_err -ne note the position of the "

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Right click on the normal RTW.exe, choose "create shortcut". Right click on this short cut, choose the last entry "properties" or whatever in English, then edit the target line as quoted above in blue, that means the part behind the hyphens.

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6. Start EB via that shortcut, start a campaign, and quit the game

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Yes, start it with this shortcut! Start a campaign and take a look at Mediolanum or Gergovia, you should see the small trees by then.

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7. Go back to .../EB/Data/world/maps/base, and copy the newly generated map.rwm to .../EB/sp game edu backup and say "Yes" to overwrite again

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After quitting again, you'll notice the new map.rwm in "world/maps/base". Copy it over to "sp game edu backup", so that you can start EB with trivial script.

Oh, geez, what a dunce I am.

"Start EB via that shortcut"

I never thought of actually opening the shortcut. I thought I had to modify EB's properties or whatnot. :shame:

So, thank you Centurio Nixalsverdrus! I will redo your instructions completely and then post if they work.

does this work with the trivial script? because the shortcut seems to be different there?

I'm not sure if I fully understand what you mean. The difference between the shortcut for Trivial Script and the one for starting EB without Trivial Script is, of course, on purpose. It was invented to circumvent the Trivial Script. Once you have generated your new map.rwm, use Trivial Script again.

i was asking because in the first post it says i need to change the shortcut, and start eb via that one so i wasn't sure :)

EDIT: oh i think i get it, so i make the shortcut you posted in the first post, start and generate map.rwm, then quit and i can start with trivial script again?

oh and i am also using the eb1.2 mini mod pack with RS textures which changes the map, is it compatible with that one? ( i noticed it changes only the aerial map files, so i guess it should be compatible)

sorry for all the questions, just dont want to mess something up :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mediteran

EDIT: oh i think i get it, so i make the shortcut you posted in the first post, start and generate map.rwm, then quit and i can start with trivial script again?

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Exactly. I altered point #8 of the user's guide to explicitly pointing that out.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mediteran

oh and i am also using the eb1.2 mini mod pack with RS textures which changes the map, is it compatible with that one? ( i noticed it changes only the aerial map files, so i guess it should be compatible)

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I have no idea since I don't use them. I would be highly surprised if it was incompatible though. My little modification does nothing but changing the distribution of vegetation around the world. It doesn't add anything new.

thanks, i installed and everything seems to be working fine:2thumbsup:

Superb work ! Fighting battles where you cannot get anything but a "ground level" view, is a) very annoying and b) tactically impossible...:furious3:

Great fix:)

Centurio, your dload link no longer works...Pls reup...

Thanks for the hint, fixed this - seems that the download link expire after 30 days without download.

Obviously too many people are content with the giant trees. ;)

I also updated the picture "after". Alternatively you can save it and convert it into .tga.

Question. Would this be compatible with the RS campaign map textures?

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Originally Posted by Fierro

Question. Would this be compatible with the RS campaign map textures?

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Well, make a back-up and try it, then you could post the result. :)

AFAIK it works.

I use the RS textures and your bug-fix and all giant forests seem to be gone.

I cannot get this to work. When clicking on "EB Main Campaign" i get the message "Please select an item from the list"

I am using the Rome-ALX.exe, since i cannot start the mod with Rome.exe due to various other mods installed. Is this the problem? how do i get around it?

Edit: I should probably clarify that this is in the stage where you use the custom shortcut to generate the new map.rwm file.

I don't use alex.exe, but I suggest you take a closer look at step 5 of my guide. The shortcut to EB without trivial script has to point to the .exe you use.

Edit: Tell me then if it works, than I can explicitly state that in the guide on post #1.

I also uses Alex.exe and doesn't seem to work...no new map.rwm file is created...

Damn it. Looks like I will have to battle those Gauls on the defencive and pick my battles in nice open spaces among those damned giant trees. Thankfully those trees dont cover all of modern day france, so my aggressive roman expansion won't be too affected.

Well, I'd suggest you to just try exchanging the map_climates.tga, deleting map.rwm and starting normally.

That worked fine for me, certainly. Gotta admit - I could live with the GIANT TREES, but the downscale *does* improve ergonomy quite noticeably. Kudos.

That's nice to hear from a respected member like you!

Saludos, I won't help the next two weeks (vacation). :smash:

I am including your fix into the EB for BI installer because I think this is a critical issue, and a real "showstopper" for this game. Otherwise, Sweboz are nearly unplayable. I have credited you in the thread.

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Originally Posted by Ferromancer

I am including your fix into the EB for BI installer because I think this is a critical issue, and a real "showstopper" for this game. Otherwise, Sweboz are nearly unplayable. I have credited you in the thread.

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That's great to hear, I'm humbled. :shame: :beam:

Quick question. I already have a "notrivial" shortcut for EB ( I use it when starting via trivial does unexpected stuff to my campaigns, sometimes it helps me to outmaneuver CTDs...weird, but it works), can I just start with that or do I need to make a new "notrivial" shortcut?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ferromancer

I am including your fix into the EB for BI installer because I think this is a critical issue, and a real "showstopper" for this game. Otherwise, Sweboz are nearly unplayable. I have credited you in the thread.

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Has it been included with the installer yet? :jumping:
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Originally Posted by Mouzafphaerre

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Has it been included with the installer yet? :jumping:
.

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It's been there for about a week I think. Click the link in my sig.

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Thanks sir! :bow:
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Originally Posted by MerlinusCDXX

Quick question. I already have a "notrivial" shortcut for EB ( I use it when starting via trivial does unexpected stuff to my campaigns, sometimes it helps me to outmaneuver CTDs...weird, but it works), can I just start with that or do I need to make a new "notrivial" shortcut?

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Why not try it?

The problem is that I can't download the file from AxiFile... - the DL link is not being generated

EDIT:
forget about that - I've DL-ed the latest EB for BI mod, installed in temporary folder and took the map_climates.tga file from there, then uninstalled/removed the EB for BI...

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Originally Posted by Darth Stalin

The problem is that I can't download the file from AxiFile... - the DL link is not being generated

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Centurio, would you like me to host a mirror of your file?

The Download link works fine for me.

Honestly I've got no idea what such a mirror is. Does that have something to do with torrent or so? I don't know what torrent is as well... I never use that.

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Originally Posted by Centurio Nixalsverdrus

The Download link works fine for me.

Honestly I've got no idea what such a mirror is. Does that have something to do with torrent or so? I don't know what torrent is as well... I never use that.

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Mirror is internetspeak for "backup download link". It wouldn't be a torrent, it would be hosted on my webserver, which should stay up, doesn't have ads, doesn't make you wait in line, etc.

Thanks Ferromancer, a download possiblity via your mirror has been added.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Centurio Nixalsverdrus

Thanks Ferromancer, a download possiblity via your mirror has been added.

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I'm glad I could help.

So from what Watchman said, I gather with Alex it doesn't generate a new map.rwm but it still works fine?

I can't answer this. Try it out.

If ever somebody would try my or other members' suggestions and post their experiences here afterwards, it would really help.

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Originally Posted by Rabhadh

So from what Watchman said, I gather with Alex it doesn't generate a new map.rwm but it still works fine?

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:huh: What I said ? Alex ? I play with BI.exe you know...

This mod is great, it really changed my life:laugh4:

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Originally Posted by Gustave

This mod is great, it really changed my life:laugh4:

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I ask people (people that keep on bothering me with their stupid questions that any sane person will find himself unable to answer in a decent way) to try it out and then post their experience - whether or how it works or not. Honestly, what do you think? You won't have to use your brain and I will instead do the work while you don't give a dime about getting this to work?

I won't answer those stupid questions any more, if you are too stupid to just follow my extremely detailed user guide in post #1, it's plain your problem. Retardedness such as this won't be babysat in RL, why do you think it would by me?

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Easy mate! ~:grouphug:

Your mod is a marvel. Thanks to it I feel I'm playing EB to its full potential. The silent majority do appreciate your work. Just ignore the rest, unless they state a problem, report a bug, suggest an improvement etc.

:2cents:
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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mouzafphaerre

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Easy mate! ~:grouphug:

Your mod is a marvel. Thanks to it I feel I'm playing EB to its full potential. The silent majority do appreciate your work. Just ignore the rest, unless they state a problem, report a bug, suggest an improvement etc.

:2cents:
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Thank you Mouza!

I don't use BI or Alex.exe and thus I cannot, by the nature of things, give any thoughtful counsel on how to use my tiny little mod with it. So it requires from the employer a little amount of reflexation and also insight into the structure of his EB-install.

And when I politely ask people that they - who are supposed to have done it by then - briefly comment on if it worked, how it worked, if they encountered difficulties or whatever, you get a big fat yawning nada. Which is why the comment in post #65 just made something in my head explode. Enough is enough.

So I can help you if you are computer illiterate and ask politely. Yes I will do that. But I won't nurse little parasites that expect daddy Nixalsverdrus to present them the solution to their problems on a silver tableau.

~ Centurio

Has anyone with the Alex.exe gotten this to work?

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Originally Posted by Kevin

Has anyone with the Alex.exe gotten this to work?

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o_O? Why wouldn't it work with alex.exe? To answer your question; yes me.
Also, I have no clue what Rabhadh in postnr 62 is talking about: alex.exe generates a new map.rwn just like the other .exe's.

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Originally Posted by Raygereio

o_O? Why wouldn't it work with alex.exe? To answer your question; yes me.
Also, I have no clue what Rabhadh in postnr 62 is talking about: alex.exe generates a new map.rwn just like the other .exe's.

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What did you put for your shortcut? I can't get that one part to work :dizzy2:

Edit: Nevermind I got it to work, turns out I had everything right except I had to continue a campaign instead of starting a new one.

Thank you so much for this mod.

The huge trees was starting to make me not want to play certain battles manually. I really have no idea why EB has huge trees in the first place. When you move your troops by a "birds eye" view, it makes no sense to have trees that block almost all of that view. Meaning it is hard to see or move anything without a very long "micro-managed" battle, which is such a waste a time. Add in that the trees can be buggy with troops moving around and I'm at a loss as to why EB didn't fix this.

I play with many "mini" mods, I'll list what I have installed and the order down below. I also use alex.exe. The only change to your instructions that I had to make was to change the end of the target line, of my alex.exe (RomeTW-ALX) shortcut, to the following: -mod:eb -show_err -nm -noalexander

The rest of your well written instructions I followed to the letter. It works smoothly.

Thank you,
Apple.


For installation process, I followed the following: RTW Gold > Alexander > EB 1.1 > 1.2 > Official Fixes > 1.2 Mini Mod Pack (3.1) > LZ3's Custom EB Fix Adaptation > Phalanx Mod > RS Textures > Naval Strat Map Add On > Lysander's Sihunet Formations Adaptations > EOM 4 Carthaginian Governors Edition > Atraphoenix' RS Legions Adaptation For ALEXANDER EB > Getting Rid Of The Giant Trees Mod

(I've also modded the Roman reforms to happen sooner - I roleplay that I would do things better than the Romans did, :))

-The only thing missing is a 12 turns per year mod and a better AI (which is something that can't be improved much, because of the engine).

I very much appreciate your detailed feedback. :yes:

Recently came back to EB, loving it, and now am loving it even more. Thank you for this, Sweboz was nearly unplayable. Huge forests of coast redwoods that are 2 feet apart...

thank you!

siruso

I'll try it on my next campaign, which will probably with the Sweboz. I had installed the mod and the EB quotes and got random CTD and I thought that it was caused by that mod (I use Alex.exe and I couldn't start a new campaign). But then I read that antoher user had the same problem and that it was caused by the EB quotes, which had some lines missing and so causing troubles.

I've just tried this one, and it's working fine.
Very easy to install even for a non-native english barbarian like me ^^.
Thanks a lot!
Sticky?

anyone notices that (i have the 1.2 minimod pack) and there is snow on persia? is that correct? or is there a problem with it?

Dear Centurio

This mod seems to be very great. Unfortunately a problem occurs when I want to install it. I made the shortcut ("C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" -mod:eb -nm -show_err -ne) as you said an can start the game (it will start not in Fullscreen, but in a smaller window... ist this normal? I tried several times). I start a campaign, quit and then go back to the certain folder. But there is no new map.rwm - file. In fact, there is still no map.rwm -file at all, since I deleted the old one, as you wrote. I tried again, this time activating the script in the new campaign and finishing the first turn. Still no file.

What am I doing wrong? I am not using BI or Alex.

Greetings SB

Update: I started a new campaing via the shortcut and played 7 or 8 turns with the script on. Now the game really has generated a new map.rwm file. I copied this into the .../EB/sp game edu backup folder (copy = after that it still exists in the /base folder) and started the game as I usually do. Unfortunately the game would crash whenever I try to load a savegame or start a new campaign

Well, have you followed all the steps described in post #1 meticulously? Out of the bat I have no idea what could be the problem.