Could we finally enable -strat_ed ??

[RedFox]

I've been digging around the old RTW Demo rome.exe with an HEX editor and found quite a lot of stuff, mostly related to to all sorts of editing and overview tools that are embedded in the exe.
Even though the RomeTW.exe, RomeTW-BI/ALX.exe seem to give out less information, they too contain a lot of references to strat_ed and it's features.
The main proof of that is the huge amount of strategy map editor related options (and there's a lot more than just that..); and if they are embedded in the exe then there must be a way to enable it.

Apparently it looks for files in world/maps/campaign/custom/"mycampaign"/,
specifically for descr_strat.txt and for the first "campaign" entry followed by the campaign name.
It also seems to be able to generate most of the necessary files for the whole map and allows for almost complete edit of the campaign map.

Now, the -battle_ed command line option works quite simple (-battle_ed:trebia), but I haven't still figure out how to make the -strat_ed switch work. Perhaps it has been locked somehow and needs some other command line switch, or additional files.

I'd gladly hear the opinion of the community on this and their ideas on this feature. There simply must be a way to enable it.

There are also campaign map overview and model view tools, but that goes beyond the intended boundaries of this topic.
I'd also recommend visiting SigniferOne's ancient topic with command lines from demo exe.

[RedFox]

As there don't seem to be many people interested in this, I'll just include some outtakes of code from the BI exe

cmd line switches:
sw  ne  ae  no_tnl  nm  na  force_default_hz    blank_ui_caches report_missing_images
validate_models 
unit_models 
encrypt 
sound   
animdb  
util    
fpex    
fperr   
fplog   
enable_editor   
disr    
bookmark    Can't have a name longer than 256 characters.   
imperial_campaign   .   
mod 
default_campaign    
multirun    
battle  
strat   
battle_ed     -battle_ed:Trebia
sprite_script   
show_err    
no_exit_error   
capture_video   
capture_audio   
movie_cam   
fbc 
enter_battles   
ai  
unlock_campaign 
output_con_cmds ;documentation/console_commands.txt  
sp  
engine  
custom  
engine_shadow   
rtm 
strat_ed  ??-strat_ed:campaign??  
all 
playable    
faction on  info    
speed   save    
daytime 

And some campaign options:
Rome    BI  Unknown 
defeat_text_bi_style    
ancillary_ui_bi_style   
defeat_movie_bi_style   
prebattle_night_battle_tickbox  
ai_can_win_campaign 
strip_unit_ability_text

Most of those haven't been tested and their effects are unknown.
Hopefully, someone who is interested in this will give it a shot at testing them?

[Squid]

Gotthard over at twcenter was looking into it, and the -strad_ed makes references to files and folders that don't exist in retail release meaning it won't work unless you can recreate the files/folders.

[Flying Pig]

However should you copy the Imperial Campaign into the afrorementioned directory it would work and you could then move the modded version?

[RedFox]

That didn't work the first time I tried it. I think it's disabled in the public release and one would need a dev version of the executable to make it work.

[Flying Pig]

Oh right. CA? This isn't the only thread on the subject, HELP US!

[Thor the Bassist]

As far as I remember CA's official line on this was it was something they started at the beginning of the project (along with 3d movement of flying units and some other things) and stopped half way through because they realised it had no real use and they should get on with making the awesome game. I believe the required files and entries in the RTW.exe aren't finished and are proberably disabled.

[Myrddraal]

That's what I remember too. CA won't be releasing the Strat Editor I don't think.

[Thor the Bassist]

And we most proberably cant enable it without changing the .exe. Games are actually quite often released with extra bits of old code still there but disabled as its just more work to delete it. As an example a rude mini-game was part of the original GTA San Andreas but was disabled for the release as it sent the age rating through the roof and many people would refuse to sell it. A modder has since re-enabled the mini-game but this is most likely because RockStar only realised after creation and hastily disabled the code. To do this requires editing the .exe which is illegal for RTW. Also the idea was stopped mid-process so the editor would be half finished and wouldn't work.

So anyone with the required knowledge would proberably be best creating a new editor.

[Myrddraal]

So anyone with the required knowledge would proberably be best creating a new editor.

There is a height editor isn't there? I'm pretty sure one was released.

[Thor the Bassist]

There is a height editor isn't there? I'm pretty sure one was released.

Heights? They are a simple tga aren't they so no editor is needed? Black is low ground white is high ground and shades of grey inbetween?

There are several released campaign editors but all have bugs - one crashes on my computer straight away, another has loads of bugs and one has trouble loading a file from a mod folder. I think the general problem with the idea of a campaign editor is it relies on so many different files and so has a lot to go wrong. I think when people first wanted to edit campaigns they thought they should make a campaign editor. Actually because the system is so fragmented its best to edit each file separately and this has been the approach of most mods.

This is what I believe anyway - if I'm wrong feel free to correct me.

[Myrddraal]

Heights? They are a simple tga aren't they so no editor is needed? Black is low ground white is high ground and shades of grey inbetween?

Of course but I seem to remember one editor released which allowed you to work on a 3d mesh instead of a tga.

EDIT: for the record, I made all my maps in image editors. I'm just remembering releases which I didn't use myself.

[Thor the Bassist]

Well I remember a few "whole campaign" editors but they seemed to crash unendingly.

Proberably is a heights editor as you say.

[RedFox]

Well, for what I've learned from digging around the exe, most of the stuff related to the strat editor do indeed exist in the code, even the log commands like in battle editor.
Only problem is to find the cmd_line.cpp part in the code where it says something like "strat_ed 0//false" and change it with a hex editor.

It seems that the dev were rather going to just disable access from the engine, than remove it completely and risk crashing the exe, so naturally, there must be a way to enable it.

[RedFox]

On another note, has anyone noticed that the demo.exe is approximately 900kb bigger than RomeTW release?
Maybe it would be worth investigating...

[Ramashan]

Of course but I seem to remember one editor released which allowed you to work on a 3d mesh instead of a tga.

EDIT: for the record, I made all my maps in image editors. I'm just remembering releases which I didn't use myself.

Well, the time allows you to edit on a 3D like surface, but its very crude in my opinion. There was also Earthsulpt that RedSpot had written a few tutorials for. I tied this as well but was unable to master it as well as RedSpot had. Besides, with the amount of strat editing I do, its just easier to used photoshop and a paintbrush.