CTD on "End Turn" (descr_strat.txt)

[Sir_Lysander]

I have version 1.5 (from the Total War: Eras package). Using plain vanilla files, RTW runs fine.

I've added names to descr_names and text/names and units to EDU and EDB as appropriate; again, everything runs fine. When I test these mods with the plain-vanilla descr_strat file, no CTDs, no problems. When I change descr_strat to reflect the new names (from descr_names) and new units (in EDU), the game starts fine, but CTD's when hitting "end turn". I have been putting the edits into the Armenia faction (which is unlocked, even in "plain vanilla").

Every time I change names (changed both in character or character_record as appropriate with changes in the relative section) the game loads normally and allows the first turn. When I hit "end turn," I get an immediate CTD. If I bring back the plain-vanilla descr_strat.txt, everything works fine - including the "end turn." None of the CTDs cause error messages even when using the -show_err switch.

In attempting to debug this myself, I've found that any modifications to Armenia gives the CTD on end turn - changing initial units created, adding a Captain with units, or switching the unit for the general's guard. No matter what change I make, the plain-vanilla file ALWAYS works, and does not crash on end turn. Only the modified file fails.

It's not solely the name change that appears to cause the CTD - if I change the "east generals cavalry early" to "roman generals guard cavalry early" and make the appropriate modification to EDU to allow armenia to also use that roman unit, just that change appears to cause CTD on end-turn. Likewise, adding a captain-controlled stack (using character - general) with no other modification appears to cause CTD on end-turn. However, using the Plain-vanilla file, and "Create_unit" from the shell causes no problems.

Has anyone else run into this, and if so, what's the fix?

[HouseOfHam]

How about smaller changes, like giving one of the starting units an extra point of exp?

Do you get any errors if you look at the family tree before hitting end turn? Have you added any adult male family members declared as dead?

Have you tried moving one of the existing family member's armies to the coordinates where you're trying to add a new army?

Adding character, character_record, and relative entries can be a bit tricky because in some places you must use spaces and in others tabs.

ps: It's much easier to diagnose problems if there is some code to look at.

[Sir_Lysander]

How about smaller changes, like giving one of the starting units an extra point of exp?

Do you get any errors if you look at the family tree before hitting end turn? Have you added any adult male family members declared as dead?

Have you tried moving one of the existing family member's armies to the coordinates where you're trying to add a new army?

Adding character, character_record, and relative entries can be a bit tricky because in some places you must use spaces and in others tabs.

ps: It's much easier to diagnose problems if there is some code to look at.

Haven't tried moving ancillaries, traits, or experience. I will shortly, however.

The family tree looks OK when I open it. No CTD solely on that.

As for the last two...

character	Artaxias, named character, leader, age 60, , x 227, y 87 
traits GoodCommander 2 , PublicFaith 2 , Intelligent 1 , Bloodthirsty 1 
ancillaries chief_eunuch
army
unit		east generals cavalry early				exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east heavy cataphract				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east horse archer				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east horse archer				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east peltast				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east peltast				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

character	Rusa, named character, heir, age 35, , x 216, y 91 
traits GoodCommander 1 , PublicFaith 1 , Intelligent 2 
ancillaries galloper
army
unit		east generals cavalry early				exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east peltast				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east peltast				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east archer				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east horse archer				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0

character	Aramu, named character, age 30, , x 220, y 87 
traits Intelligent 2 , MathematicsSkill 1 , Drink 1 
ancillaries freeman_clerk, drinking_companion
army
unit		east generals cavalry early				exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east horse archer				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east horse archer				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east horse archer				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0


character	Prusias, spy, age 20, , x 221, y 74 
traits GoodSpy 4 
ancillaries courtesan

character	Menua, diplomat, age 20, , x 216, y 89 
traits GoodDiplomat 3 

character	Dov, general, age 20, , x 216, y 86
army
unit		east heavy cataphract				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		east heavy cataphract				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		judaean zealot infantry				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0



character_record		Zipoetes, 	male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 14, alive, never_a_leader
character_record		Aram, 	male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 10, alive, never_a_leader
character_record		Eminos, 	male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 7, alive, never_a_leader
character_record		Sarduri, 	male, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 2, alive, never_a_leader
character_record		Erato, 	female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 51, alive, never_a_leader
character_record		Karo, 	female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 34, alive, never_a_leader
character_record		Pao, 	female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 26, alive, never_a_leader
character_record		Arao, 	female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 11, alive, never_a_leader
character_record		Hurriya, 	female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 6, alive, never_a_leader

relative 	Artaxias, 	Erato,		Rusa,	Aramu,	Zipoetes,	end
relative 	Rusa, 	Karo,		Arao,	Aram,	Sarduri,	end
relative 	Aramu, 	Pao,		Eminos,	Hurriya,	end

Everything quoted here is "stock" except Captain Dov's army. The judaean zealot infantry are copies of the rebel judaean zealots. Other than unlocking Armenia, everything else should be stock.

(I have tested the units as separate entities not listed in descr_strat; the mods to EDU and EDB to make them buildable work. The CTD problem appears to be only when dealing with descr_strat.)


Here's a thought: I just re-checked text/names.txt, to make sure I was spelling the names right. However, since some of the names I wanted added were already there, I simply added the rest of them at that point in the file. Later in the file are other headers that I didn't think do much of anything other than designer notes. Was that a safe assumption, or should I move the names around in the text/names file? The last three headers are:

¬****************************************************************************************
¬****************************************************************************************
¬*
¬*			THIS FILE GONE FOR LOCALISATION!!!
¬*		ALL CHANGES & ADDITIONS MADE POST THE DATE SPECIFIED 
¬*			BELOW MUST GO UNDERNEATH THIS DIVIDER!!!
¬*
¬*
¬***** Changes made after 01/09/2004 09:00:00
¬*
¬****************************************************************************************
¬****************************************************************************************

¬****************************************************************************************
¬****************************************************************************************
¬*
¬*			THIS FILE GONE FOR LOCALISATION!!!
¬*		ALL CHANGES & ADDITIONS MADE POST THE DATE SPECIFIED 
¬*			BELOW MUST GO UNDERNEATH THIS DIVIDER!!!
¬*
¬*
¬***** Changes made after 03/09/2004 09:00:00
¬*
¬****************************************************************************************
¬****************************************************************************************

¬+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
¬*******************************************************************************************************
¬*******************************************************************************************************
¬*
¬*			EXPANSION PACK TEXT BEGINS HERE!!!
¬*		ALL TEXT BELOW THIS LINE SHOULD BE EXPANSION ADDITIONS/CHANGES ONLY!!!
¬*
¬*¬***** Changes made after 05/01/2005 15:18:00
¬*
¬*******************************************************************************************************
¬*******************************************************************************************************
¬+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

[Sir_Lysander]

(Hmm, can't seem to edit my own posts..ah well.)

Adding character, character_record, and relative entries can be a bit tricky because in some places you must use spaces and in others tabs.

This might explain much - but I hadn't yet run across anything that laid out where to put a space, a tab, multiple tabs, etc. What I'd been doing was simply highlighting text I wanted changed, and making that limited change, or cutting and pasting from something that already existed, then making the change.

[Thor the Bassist]

(Hmm, can't seem to edit my own posts..ah well.)

For some reason you have to make at least 20 or so posts before you can edit current posts.

[Sir_Lysander]

For some reason you have to make at least 20 or so posts before you can edit current posts.

At least that is understandable; what is driving me up the wall is why changing "Artaxias" to "Abraham" causes the CTD!

[Aradan]

Was Artaxias -> Abraham the last line of the file? Because you need to leave the last line blank, otherwise the game doesn't parse it and it's like it doesn't exist.

[Sir_Lysander]

Was Artaxias -> Abraham the last line of the file? Because you need to leave the last line blank, otherwise the game doesn't parse it and it's like it doesn't exist.

No; I was editing the "Armenia" section and Unlocked factions sections only of descr_strat. No other parts of descr_strat were modified.

Update;
On going back to a plain vanilla descr_strat (i.e. no modifications), now getting CTD on AI turns (4+ attempts, remember only that it was Parthia, Spain, and Thrace. Don't remember any others - happened too fast,). When I ran with FOW off (map revealed), no CTD on any AI turn. When I turned FOW back on (no reveal), CTD on AI turn. I made no moves with any Armenian unit.

Copies all of the Data folder to a Mymod Folder (so it's in mymod/data), and reset all of the original data folder to plain vanilla unmodified files. Ran to games (+/- 10 turns) with no CTD, using only plain vanilla files. When running games using -mod:mymod, CTD on AI turns as above in this post.

[Red Spot]

Have you tried using the 'show_err' command?

see this topic, it mentions a couple of things you may want to try before 'giving up': https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=85902

[Squid]

Copies all of the Data folder to a Mymod Folder (so it's in mymod/data), and reset all of the original data folder to plain vanilla unmodified files. Ran to games (+/- 10 turns) with no CTD, using only plain vanilla files. When running games using -mod:mymod, CTD on AI turns as above in this post.

You do realize that using a mod folder is not as simple as just copying all the files into the mod folder directory right?

[Aradan]

To elaborate on the above, there are text files that contain paths to models, textures and whatnot, which should be changed.

[Sir_Lysander]

You do realize that using a mod folder is not as simple as just copying all the files into the mod folder directory right?

To elaborate on the above, there are text files that contain paths to models, textures and whatnot, which should be changed.

(Note: I gave up on the mymod attempts shortly after my last posts; I'm trying to remember exactly all the problems I was having then. I presently am using the main DATA folder; backups of the original text files were made. I have not attempted to mod descr_strat as I want to get my other changes in and "passed" first.)

I didn't think it would be that easy; when I tried simply viewing one of the cities the player faction controlled in the battle map, I got a CTD for missing building files. However, I didn't modify any of them - and my understanding was that if the mod didn't find the file in the mymod folder, it would look in the DATA folder.

I have no further info (and show_err did not display any error message) for the CTD on AI turn; since I was getting multiple CTDs brought on by changing folders, I went back to the vanilla folder, vanilla files, and started from scratch there.

Thus far, all of my unit (and building) mods seem to be working (absent any changes to descr_strat or using a MOD folder) with the exception that I have been unable to "vocalize" any of the units in the battle map. I have stuck with using vanilla sound files, at first adding ", my unit name" to an existing unit, then copying the entire sound code for an existing unit and replacing the name with my new unit. Neither method has worked. Right now, I'm not particular which sound comes out so long as one does; if I have a vanilla Hastati unit, selecting on the unit plays a "Hastati!" wav (or thereabouts); yet if I copy the code (for light, medium, and heavy) of the Hastati and substitute my unit name, no wav plays.