Post your "must-know" modding questions here!

[Red Harvest]

Jerome,

Thanks for the answer. I look forward to seeing what changes happen with future patches to address areas that are confusing or frustrating us at the moment.

I hope you guys are remaining thick skinned about all of the comments. We can be pretty biting at times, but most of us mean well. I wouldn't bother getting so involved, except that I've seen CA fix serious problems in the past. I also know that if we don't figure out what seems a bit off early (now), we will run out of time on patches. So strike while the iron is HOT! (and there is still money to pay the developers to work on patches...)

[Darkmoor_Dragon]

If the campaign Ai settings are changed part-way through a campaign (descr_stats.txt) will the changed (new) AI settings be utilised in that continued game, or are they only applied (applicable) from the start of the game and then used *for ever after*? (Hence to use the new AI settings you have to start a new game).

If the new AI settings are utilised is there anyway to trigger a change in the AI upon a certain event? (e.g faction takes Rome and then changes AI policy)/?

[adonys]

For JeromeGrasdyke, a big thanks for taking time to answer our questions.

And a few more questions, of course :P

in the export_descr_unit.txt file, the header of the file states that

;Details of unit's primary weapon. If the unit has a missile weapon it must be the primary
; stat_pri From left to right
; attack factor
; attack bonus factor if charging
; missile type fired (no if not a missile weapon type)
; range of missile
; amount of missile ammunition per man
; Weapon type = melee, thrown, missile, or siege_missile
; Tech type = simple, other, blade, archery or siege
; Damage type = piercing, blunt, slashing or fire. (I don't think this is used anymore)
; Sound type when weapon hits = none, knife, mace, axe, sword, or spear
; Min delay between attacks (in 1/10th of a second)"

but the actual units descriptions (the following line is just a random example from one of the units):

stat_pri 1, 0, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, knife, 25 ,1

shows there's another term in the end which isn't defined. our researches points to the fact that both the last term and the one before the last one are both implied in the computing of the actual damage that specific unit will do per a RTW standard time interval (gamne tick).

the term before the last one seems to be in fact the last term from the header (the Min delay between attacks (in 1/10th of a second)"[/quote] one), while the last one seems to be a sort of probability which shows if that unit's damage is beeing considered or not for that RTW game tick (the lower the term, the lower the probability for that unit to do its damage during the actual game tick).

if all of the above are true, wouldn't be much more indicated to use this last term (and eventually the one before it) for the slower killing speed mod than to use any kind of modification to units' HP, AF, damage which seems to trigger a unpredicatble chain of subtle propagated effects?!!

that would be all for the moment, thanks for your time!

[SigniferOne]

A few questions from me:

Is there currently any other way to Mod the Senate works other than the descr_senate.txt file (which is *highly* limited in what it contains)?

Can we mod things like the Zoom ranges; we really need to be allowed to zoom out more, for those battles where really large numbers of troops are involved.

Will it be possible to externalize into a .txt files two essential features: "hidden_resource" feature to allow us to create regional units similar to the Spartan Hoplite; the trigger for Marian Reforms?

[JeromeGrasdyke]

If all of the above are true, wouldn't it be much more indicated to use this last term (and the one before it) for the slower killing speed mod than to use any kind of modification to units' HP, AF, damage which seems to trigger an unpredictable chain of subtle propagated effects?

It would certainly be a good avenue to explore, although it will also have its side-effects. For example, it will raise the value of precursor attacks relative to a period of hand-to-hand melee, as they are fairly strong one-volley missile attacks before combat starts, and it may weaken phalanxes more than other units as they rely on killing soldiers in front in order to prevent them getting through the spears and breaking up the formation. It will also increase the relative value of charges, which are represented as a temporary boost to combat stats, and so it may be necessary to bring charge bonusses down somewhat. Changing the combat rate in this way will also have some visual impact in making the battles look considerably less dynamic and impressive (as soldiers would be playing their attack anims less frequently).

As you can see, the system is quite subtle and many-sided. I think whichever way you go you will need to rebalance a few of the other factors to fit, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Nobody has said that everything else about the game *has* to stay the same when you make a kill-rate mod; the advice I would give is to experiment, then test it until you're sure it's still fun to play and hasn't introduced any game-killers. That's part of the joy of making games...

[Akka]

Thanks for answering questions, you can't imagine how good it is to see official people actually giving explanation of the inner work of the game ^^

I have a question that is quite important for me : actually, my main gripe with the game is the excess in rebellion. I would like to make some modifications to tone down slightly the negative loyalty effect of distance and squalor. Is this possible to do something like that ? Or are squalor and distance rates and effects totally harcoded ?
Additionnally, is it possible to alter the effect of garrison in the same way, toning up or down how much one unit improve the public order ?

[adonys]

Thanks JeromeGrasdyke!

Well, our tests showed up that by modifying the last one the visual speed of the animations isn't modified at all, but only the computed damage effect. So please be kind and explain us what exactly the last two terms from the export_descr_unit.txt's stat_pri line mean.

And of course, yet another questions:

1) Will CA ever consider a unit orderly retreat function, as this seems to be a big miss from the actual game? This function should allow an in shock combat engaged unit to slowly draw back WITHOUT turning their back to the enemy or disengaging from the combat, very usefull to lure a portion of the enemy line an open up some of their flanks.

2) Would CA be so kind and move as many as they can (all would be the best!) actually hardcoded values/constants from the RTW exe file into an editable text file, to allow us to modify them if we really need/want to?

3) We want to know if CA and Activision will release the Unit Editor, Terrain Editor, Battle Editor and Strategic Editor in the upcoming patches/addons... or not!

4) RTW community asks CA to take in consideration Alexander The Great's campaign as a possible setup for a future RTW expansion (and remember CA will much more doing such a thing because of the free advertising they'll get from the Alexander The Great movie's launch too!!!).

Thanks!

Thanks again!

[Dagoster]

Hello


In the effect files I noticed that the naming conventions of the effects
are somehow linked to events..

For example

effect_set flaming_man_effect
{
lod 10000
{
burning_man_halo
burning_man_smoke
burning_pig_skeleton_fire
}
}

My assumption is the effect_set is the trigger.. flaming_man
is this tied to an animation event named flaming_man.

can you explain the naming conventions used in the effect files and what they
are attached to?

also can you explain
type blood
in descr_particle.txt

[vladthewallachian]

How can I get rid of the blasted time limit on the battles without using that infernal Time Negator Mod? By the way which crashed my game.

[Sjakihata]

before you start a campaign, go to the historical battle menu, then exit and start a campaign = no timer for that campaign.

[Duke John]

Colourpalette in interface?
I've been altering the interface, importing M:TW parchments into R:TW, but there is going something wrong with the colours. Does the interface use a limited selection of colours which might cause the weird colours? If so how can I figure out which colours are safe?

This is how it looks in my PSP:


And this is blown up piece of a ingame screenshot:

It goes especially wrong on the sides. The middle colour is also way off.

Any hints are greatly appreciated,
Duke John

[Scorpion]

1. (This was asked before, but unfortunately, ignored) Can we edit the battle AI difficulty levels and their effects? I´d want to play with the best AI tactics possible with the current AI, but without any combat bonuses to them.

If the answer is no, could you please tell us exactly what boni the AI gets on Hard and V.Hard, so that we could mod our own units to have the same boni (or perhaps the counter-boni)?

2. How should we go about making the AI handle its generals better, and not lead them in suicide charges? What governs the way a unit act - classification seems to do nothing. Or are you planning to improve this in a patch?

3. Would it be possible to modify the game so that the AI would always use the "attacking" posture in battles, instead of the passive "defensive" one it uses when you initiate the battle (ie. most of the time). Of course, siege defenses might be an exception. The defensive AI is far too passive and does not even make use of the terrain very well.

[Silver Rusher]

I'm not sure if this has been answered already, but will it be possible to allow a starting faction to be a protectorate of another faction, or, like in the sons of mars campaign at the beginning, have factions with no lands but simply having armies marching around to create an RPG element before they gain lands?

[AFM984]

I'm sorry if my quistion is not important but, I read that the max no. for unit scale is 256, my quistion is: Can the number of units a player controls in a battle be increased, & if so How? because 20 units is a bit small & the ai commands your troops for you, which is very frustrating.

Again, I thank you & appologize if my Question has been asked.

[Vercingetorix]

I don't have a question but I must say 3 cheers for Jerome, our diplomat to CA

[Red Harvest]

Is there a way to influence what factions should "naturally" want to ally with one another? We've got some threads going about how the game approaches building, and subjugation, but not interfaction relations. I'm thinking primarily of Numidia + Carthage that always seem to be at war, making for a Roman walkover of Carthage.

[Nerouin]

Is it possible to make units available to factions to which they were not originally allotted? I.e. I've been trying to give the Greeks some more cavalry options, but adjusting the export_desc_buildings file causes an immediate CTD before the Activision video.

[adonys]

Is it possible to make units available to factions to which they were not originally allotted? I.e. I've been trying to give the Greeks some more cavalry options, but adjusting the export_desc_buildings file causes an immediate CTD before the Activision video.

already done!!!

please take a look in here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/index...howtopic=11296
and in here:
http://p223.ezboard.com/fshoguntotal...cID=1273.topic

:P

[Kaiser of Arabia]

are guns possible?

[Silver Rusher]

Some more questions:

1. In my Citadel mod, I want the papacy to have the same sort of relation with the catholics as the senate does with rome. Is this possible?

2. If and when an expansion pack comes out, how easy/hard would it be to upgrade your mod from the regular to the expansion? Will there be a lot of changes necessary, or would the mod be compatible anyway?

3. This has probably been already answered, but can we make new unit skeletons?

4. Can we use existing siege equipment (I'm thinking more 'onagers and ballistae' than 'rams and belfries') and change their models, so that we can have new thingies, like trebuchets and mangonels?

[davidky5]

Is there a way to change the names of regions and cities?

That city name, domus dolcis domus (literally means "home sweet home") is really bugging me.

[Midnight]

I have a few questions:

1) Will it be possible mod structures which are separate from cities, eg a structure which appears in a province and grants bonuses, but has these bonuses taken away if it is 'blockaded'?

2) Will it be possible to mod different city sizes? eg, can I mod a city which is smaller than a town (and, inventively, call it a Small Town)? Modding the whole tech tree would be necessary after this...

3) Will it be possible to mod in flying units?

4) Will it be possible to mod faction leader's 'death ages'? eg, if I want a faction leader who can only die in battle, can I set his 'death age' to something ridiculously high?

5) Will it be possible to mod in female generals or faction leaders?

6) Will it be possible to mod in MTW-style 'glory goals', or at least (heavily) mod the victory conditions of Rome?

Thanks.

[Midnight]

Damn, only remebered this as I clicked 'submit' (and I'd checked the post, as well )

Similar to Silver Rusher's question: is it possible to include a Senate-like faction, which cannot be assailed without popular support and which makes requests or demands of various factions?

Is it also possible to have a number of factions at war with each other and yet (forcibly) allied to this Senate-like faction?

Thanks again.

[buujin]

I have quite a simple question to ask, not neccersarily for jerome but to anyone who has some modding knoledge of the game.

Can i make some units more widley available to the factions?, for example, can i give the people of pontus the ability to train camel and elephant units ?

Is it possable like in mtw to make all units available to all factions and just dependant on owning a specific region .

[adonys]

I have quite a simple question to ask, not neccersarily for jerome but to anyone who has some modding knoledge of the game.

Can i make some units more widley available to the factions?, for example, can i give the people of pontus the ability to train camel and elephant units ?

Is it possable like in mtw to make all units available to all factions and just dependant on owning a specific region .

that's already possible!

[buujin]

hi adonys, im sure it is... so let me rephrase my question .


HOW ? do i , ect.

Yesterday i got my hands on the export_unit_descr file and had a tinkle, i was sure it wouldnt be as easy as simply adding other faction names to the bottem line of the unit description, and i was right, i get a ctd when i run the game.

Can you tell me what other changes i need to make in the data files to allow me to build for example, camel units with pontus.

I appologise if this has been covered before, if anyone can help me a little it would be much appreciated, thanks ! .

buu

[buujin]

Ok so. i got the game running by editing both the unit and building files, but theres some spooky goings on, maybe someone can shed some light on this:

I added armenian legionaries to pontus but when i went to test it out, they show up as peasants in the recruitment options unit picture, and then in battle they looked exactly like the roman legionary cohorts, rather than the bluey green legionaries that armenia have.

I looked again in the export_unit_descr file and theres nothing in there that i can see referring to they're colour or the picture for the unit training options,
Afterall it was just a copy of the armenian legionnaires text, so why have they turned out red instead of green ?!

I apologize once again for my lack of knowledge, can anyone help ?

[Basileios]

@buujin
The Peasants-pic shows up when there is no Unit-pic for the specific faction.
You can read more about that in @adonys link from 10-10-2004 03:14.

For the texture in battle the descr_model_battle.txt must be edited as well.
You can chose the textures for the units for each faction there. That´s in general not necessary for factions of the same culture backgrond, since there are normaly already textures of the proper colour...

In your case I´m affraid it might be necessary to make the right texture yourself...


By the way... I edited Mace. & Comp. Cav. as previously described, so that the greek cities were able to build both units. Worked fine. Giving them a good picture was easy as well ( at least after reading how...).
My problem is that this doesn´t work with edited pictures! It matters not if just renamed or edited an saved... RTW just takes the original picture! What´s wrong and what can I do to change that?

[Psyco]

Is there any way to edit mercenaries, especially recruition location and availability?

[itkotw]

Psyco, yes you can edit mercenaries. Look in - Data\world\campaign\Imperial_campaign\descr_mercenaries

It refers to merc location,type, starting exp, cost, replenish rate, max number, and the initial number.

I have not edited it much, though I am tempted to edit the maximum number, but I am afraid the AI will recuit more than I want them to .