I can't seem to get any recruits - what's wrong?

[Dol Guldur]

I wonder if anyone out there can help me. I've been trying to get this to work for months but something isn't right:

building mod_team
{
levels mod_team half_decent_mod_team software_developers
{
mod_team requires factions { british, scandinavian, american, canadian, } and hidden_resource talent and not tavern_nearby
{
capability
{
recruit "modeller" 3 requires factions { american, } and resource 3dsmax and hidden_resource legit_copy and hidden_resource can_uv_map
recruit "texturer" 3 requires factions { canadian, } and resource photoshop and not hidden_resource paste_and_copy
recruit "coder" 2 requires factions { american, } and hidden_resource well_organized
recruit "designer" 1 requires factions { scandinavian, } and hidden_resource much_time
recruit "beta tester" 0 requires factions { american, british, } and building_present_min_level computer_office untidy_bedroom
happiness_bonus bonus 5
recruits_morale_bonus bonus 2
construction_time_bonus_beta bonus 50
}
construction 1
cost blood & tears!
settlement_min large_headache
upgrades
{
half_decent_mod_team
}

It's a right pain. I've done numerous tests and the modellers just don't show up on the recruitment queue. For some reason the construction time bonus is working in the negative, producing a 50% *increase* in the time it takes to build rather than a decrease. I was thinking of introducing a loyalty bonus too as some units keep on rebelling when the leaders are not in the settlement. One unit, a texturer, was even bribed when left alone and went over to another faction.

Does anyone have any advice?

Thx.

Dol Guldur

NOTE: In case you didn't get it, this post was thick with sarcasm & parody. Thought I'd share.

[Laridus Konivaich]

--I think that your problem is in this line:

 cost blood & tears!

, and is caused by the use of space (" ") characters instead of underscores ("_") in the string blood and tears! which should probably be blood_&_tears!

--It is also possible that either & xor ! are illegal characters for cost, which needs to be a numeric value to be parsed correctly by the game engine. Maybe try replacing it with a numeric representation of the cost (e.g. -- 1000000 or ∞ {although I am not 100% sure that ∞ will parse either.})

[Dol Guldur]

Prince,

Yes I think you are right. That was an inexcusable oversight on my part. The cost is hard to determine as a numeric value but I think your latter estimation more accurate.

Speaking of that particular block of code, the construction time of 1 (6 months) has long since passed and still there is no sign of the mod_team; I'm wondering if somehow the creation of it has triggered even though there was no talent (hr). Is that possible?

Has anyone else been having any of these problems?

Thx.

Dol Guldur.

[Epistolary Richard]

It's funny because it's true
.

[Laridus Konivaich]

I was thinking about the cost issue, and I came up with a new idea for how to solve it, you can simply take "blood_and_tears" or "blood and tears" and use the ASCII codes for each character, in decimal format. In fact, you could even use your original blood & tears! since all characters would be converted into numbers before the game engine parsed them. So, as it turns out, your cost was perfectly fine, but your character encoding was not supported; here is what I get for the characters in ASCII codes:

cost     981081111113238321161019711411533

The most likely issue for this value is that it will cause an overflow, depending on what numeric data type has been used for the 'cost' value. I suspect that it is a short integer (8 bit) and will overflow above about 32,000, but extensive testing would be required to determine this.

About the team not showing up: one thing that I would try is setting the dev_forum_visible: option in preferences.txt to true, since it starts as false, which could be related to not being able to find the mod team:

dev_forum_visible:TRUE

Have you checked to see if you have an extra 'barracks' building card in the settlement? This could be part of the issue, if you haven't made a new one, and placed it in the \data\ui\ folder.

[Dol Guldur]

The most likely issue for this value is that it will cause an overflow, depending on what numeric data type has been used for the 'cost' value. I suspect that it is a short integer (8 bit) and will overflow above about 32,000, but extensive testing would be required to determine this.

That's an interesting theory. I think we need to get someone on this right away.

About the team not showing up: one thing that I would try is setting the dev_forum_visible: option in preferences.txt to true, since it starts as false, which could be related to not being able to find the mod team:

dev_forum_visible:TRUE

I've changed that now but while I was in that file I realized I needed to change some other preferences. Here are the new settings should you need them for future reference. They seem to have improved things a little:

FATIGUE:FALSE
LIMITED_ENTHUSIASM:FALSE
VEGETATIVE_STATE:FALSE
ENABLE_MSN_SPEECH:TRUE
DEVELOPMENT_MOD_SPEED_UP:TRUE
MICROMANAGE_ALL_SUBFORUMS:TRUE
UNLIMITED_MEN_IN_DEV_TEAM:TRUE

Have you checked to see if you have an extra 'barracks' building card in the settlement? This could be part of the issue, if you haven't made a new one, and placed it in the \data\ui\ folder.

No, I wanted my mod_team to be unique and have a really great image.

Thx for all your help.

Dol Guldur

[Bwian]

I think you need a second hidden resource 'can_UV_Map' in there. It could be the first part of the process is working, but the models are invisible due to a lack of UV-mapping.

[Dol Guldur]

Thx Bwian - updated!

I'm amazed at the wealth of experience you guys have

Thx again,

Dol Guldur.
Chief Designer, "Rome: Total Parody" (aka "All Roads Lead To Rome: that are above road_level 1", "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day: the minimum is one turn which is equal to 6 months")

[Epistolary Richard]

All my team members appear with a black peasant card, how can I tell them apart?

Oh, and is this compatible with RTR?
.

[barocca]

have you considered adding the following resources?

has_coffee_machine
pizzeria_nearby
maccas_nearby

B.

--edit--
almost forgot you need to exclude this resource
tavern_nearby

[Epistolary Richard]

There's also a bug in the game within the traits, upon Event New Recruit, the game checks _twice_ for the Unexpected Absences traits, leading to a far higher occurrence within the Mod Team characters that was originally intended. player1 is working on a solution.

[Dol Guldur]

All my team members appear with a black peasant card, how can I tell them apart?

Oh, and is this compatible with RTR?
.

You'll need to work out how cultured each team_member is before you can decide what sort of image you can give them. There's a bug whereby they try to create their own image but this can be overcome by setting up a TyrannicalModTeamLeader trait.

As regards your second question the answer I'm afraid may be no (though it is untested). The problems lies in the inability to restrict recruitment from certain regions which obviously is incompatible with the ZoR system. Scandinavia seems particularly hard to discourage in this regard. Many HRs have produced no result.

My Event New Recruit causes a CTD. Any idea why?

Barroca,

Updated! Thx.

[Epistolary Richard]

Hmmm... are you using the -show_member_err command line switch? Is there an error report?

[Dol Guldur]

You won't get very far with that switch, it needs to be used in conjunction with:

show_member_err_of_his_ways


I'll check out the error.

[Epistolary Richard]

In the CA documentation, it lists a show_member_the_door command line switch but this was apparently deactivated before being released

[Dol Guldur]

That's CA for you! Never thinking about us poor modders. That one would have been really useful.

[Dol Guldur]

ER,

I am going to bump this old thread because I feel that the critical information contained herein should not be lost to the modding community. However, I am at a loss as to which category it should go under or if indeed it should classify as a tutorial at all. What are your thoughts?


Oh, and is there a tongue-in-cheek emoticon?

[Byzantine Mercenary]

do you still need a beta tester then?

[Seasoned Alcoholic]

and hidden_resource talent and not tavern_nearby

--edit--
almost forgot you need to exclude this resource
tavern_nearby

It is clearly evident that your lack of faith in the tavern resource has forced the undoing in this project...what were you guys thinking???

It just goes to show you what can happen if you don't create regular backups, testing one file at a time, and making use of Malrubius' trait and ancillary validator in between!

You must learn how to discipline yourself during modding sessions...

To complete this project, I would recommend adding in the variety of bits and pieces that CA omitted from the final retail version, modify siege tower aspects, create culture-specific battering rams (that were again omitted by CA), and last but not least to code the campaign map resources manually for 2 days solid...until you discover the availability of the show_cursorstat Romeshell command. Good luck...

[Lusted]

Hmm, i feel you may be missing a few elemnts Dol Guldur.

Have you tried adding in:

Returning_major_coder=true
Multiple_talented_modders=true

To your files, as this cured several problems i and other people were having. Also, maybe you should use the little known mani_modder trait, something which promotes lots of work by one person.

[Epistolary Richard]

Ah... a whole new generation can be exposed to the humour...


BTW I recommend you try the JSGMTE (Jonesoft Generic Mod Team Enabler) - it allows for the easy installation and removal of Mod Teams, so you can quickly swap and change mod teams several times a session as you get bored with each one while still retaining the integrity of your underlying reputation. (link in sig)

[alpaca]

Hmm wonder why I didn't see this the first time ;)

I think another problem is the hardcoded lack_of_motivation line in the RTW and BI exes that went active the day MTW2 was announced. You can work around this by increasing the modders' support cost to at least 10000 denarii which would buy enough beer for the lot.
If that doesn't help you can also try changing the UI so that it says "A total conversion for MTW2" which apparently increases your chances of the lack_of_motivation line becoming inactive at random intervals.

[Dol Guldur]

Thx ER and all,

I tried the JSGMTE but some parts of the old team denied deletion and I found a few new ones that I have no knowledge of including. Could this be an error in the way the Jonesoft Generic Mod Team Enabler works?

What about batch files for differing modding departments?

p.s. Thx Lusted ;)

[Lusted]

Hmm, JSGMTE does have problems removing old stubborn bits of code, and of course there is the ancient_relic_mod_team_member issue which has caused problems with the older mods converting. Different batch files for different departments may work, but you will have to remember that some parts of the Mod Team Enabler require parts fo the team to be in default directory for all the different departments to work correctly together instead of doing there own thing.

[Dol Guldur]

Does the ancient_relic_mod_team_member reference the duration of time spent on a "mod_team" by a mod_team_member or to the actual age of the latter?

[Lusted]

Duration of time, this can be up to several years in length. Also a factor to consider is time_contributed_to_mod which can be many hours a day or just a few or week, it depends on how involved the person is, or how crazy they are.

[Epistolary Richard]

Could this be an error in the way the Jonesoft Generic Mod Team Enabler works?

Well, Stuie would recommend that you convert your mod team to use the -modteam:mymodteam command line switch.

A bit of work to convert but it does mean than you can keep your individual modteam_member files in completely different locations - thus if one modteam_member file stops functioning and cannot be corrected it can easily be removed without affecting your core data.