Very flexible demo mod allowing notepad editing

[Azmogeddon]

ok seems to be rather a lack of interest. To clarify: this mod allows you to create any battle you want with a few minutes work, and very VERY easily do things like change valour, unit sizes, which faction is playable, etc. All using only notepad.


The readme:

HOW TO INSTALL:

Extract the archive to the folder where you installed the demo, NOT to your packs folder like other mods. It should go in the same folder as the Rome executable with the red icon. The install modifies the rome.exe file, you MUST uninstall this mod if you want to use any previous mod (ie one that doesn't use this mod to make its battles).


TECHNO-BABBLE, you can skip this if you aren't looking to further develop the field...
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Basically the .pak files are clearly an archive of many files, such as graphics, scripts and sounds. The pak files have a directory structure much like DOS/Windows, and the files are all placed in directories within the pak. For example, the script which sets up the units for the Trebia battle are located at /world/maps/battle/custom/trebia/descr_battle.txt

Unfortunately it seems that RTW reads files in the paks in preference to files outside, hence you can't just create this descr_battle.txt in the right location outside the pack,
(eg C:\games\Rome Demo\Data\world\maps\battle\custom\trebia\descr_battle.txt)
as RTW will use the one inside the pak in preference. So what I did was edit rome.exe to look at newmap instead of trebia, obviously this isn't inside the pak so it looks outside... and hey presto RTW is reading a simple text file editable in Notepad. Now the problem with this is that descr_battle.txt isn't the only file needed for a battle, there is a script file descr_script.txt and it seems there must be another one for terrain features like trees, bridges and I assume buildings. As this mod stands, I have only included descr_battle.txt so you will have no scripts and no trees or bridges, making the maps a bit bare. Still perfectly playable as a battle though.
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Ok, to get down to business, look in the new world/maps/battle/custom directory in your demo Data folder, you will find newmap and newmap_tutorial folders, for Trebia and the Tutorial respectively.

The descr_battle.txt in each folder contains all the scripting for the units in each battle. Do note that RTW script is very picky and doesn't always give useful error messages (these appear when you exit RTW after trying them), so go carefully.

I'll leave it up to forum discussion to iron out the scripting format, but it's fairly easy to understand as long as you take your time. For real beginners, stick to just changing names of units, their numbers and skills. If you want to add a new unit for an army, MAKE SURE you also add a corresponding line for the location, formation etc of that unit further down.

The location/formation lines are thus:
unit #, location-x, location-y, facing, formation, width
# is determined simply by the order the units are written in the first half, coordinates just look at other units in the army for reference, facing is -180 to 180.

There are 8kb and ~60kb/~100kb versions, the 8kb just has the basic unit information, the larger also contains a whole lot of information which I blieve must make up the script files etc, only look through this if you are planning on doing real work, as it does not belong in descr_battle.txt and editing it will probably not make any difference.

Good luck, and take it one step at a time - don't change several things at once or you won't know what you did wrong to make the game crash.

You will always get an error on exiting RTW with this mod saying couldn't find the script file. This is normal, and will always happen until some genius works out all the battle script files.

Just like to add all credit to CA for making a great game, and having the dedication to allow the modding community (with a bit of work!) to thrive even before the full game is out. So no criticisms of them please guys!

Cheers,
Suchoop

[Steppe Merc]

Wow. That's... sweet. Thanks, and how the heck did you get this to work?

[Steppe Merc]

Hmmm.. it says it can't find xdelta.exe...

[Aelwyn]

Yeah its an exe that came with the Roman mod (the first one that allowed you to play as the romans at trebia). Put it in your paks folder.

[Azmogeddon]

xdelta.exe is a commonly used patching tool, if you're concerned over it's trustworthiness do a quick google search.

[CBR]

So far only changed number of men and valor in units but its very easy


CBR

[Red Harvest]

Nice utility. It would help new users if there were some clear install instructions. I'll take a stab at it from memory:

1. Download the .zip file for the utility into the folder of your RTW demo install--into the same folder as the .exe.
2. Extract the files into this same folder.
3. Download the xdelta.exe file. It is not included and you will need it!
4. Make sure xdelta.exe is in the same folder as rome.exe is originally in.
5. Run the "Install easymods.bat" This will back up the rome.exe, and use the xdelta.exe to modify rome.exe.
6. To do a mod/change mods replace or edit the descr_battle.txt file in the data\world\battle\custom\newmap folder.

It took me awhile to figure out all of these steps I'm ashamed to say...