CA's Modding FAQ

[wlesmana]

How do you mod gate houses' arrows and boiling oil?

[Dol Guldur]

Could a list be provided of the exact areas and/or specifics (where feasible) of the hardcoded elements in BI? This would save modders wasting time on impossible pursuits.

[SigniferOne]

Question1:

Is it now possible to use descr_skeleton.txt, and does the game parse it?


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Question 2:

Can any scripting functions take counters as parameters, instead of requiring explicitly defined numbers? For example, is it possible to do a script where you do a for() loop, replicated by the game's while command, which browses through each tile on the campaign map, and if it finds a general of one's faction there, to place another general in that spot? Speaking in pseudo-code, this would work like:

define counter x
define counter y

for (x from 0 to map's known width) {
   for (y from 0 to map's known height) {
      if (character X is at tile x,y) // possible to do using CharacterNearTile
         spawn_army at x, y
         ...
         end
   }
}

There the x and y are not specifically defined, but are whatever the counter values may be at that time.

Right now it might seem that all commands require explicit specification of the location, so that if we wanted to replicate the code above using RTW's scripting code, we'd have to explicitly unravel those two for() loops (i.e. the two "while" loops) and explicitly say,

if (General X is present at 1,1)
spawn_army at 1,1

if (General X is present at 1,2)
spawn_army at 1,2

which, considering the size of maps in the game (with both dimensions spanning hundreds of pixels), means that there theoretically will be 10,000 such if loops in order for the script to be able to find General X and place a new army wherever General X might be on the map. And if you have more than one general...

Now granted, optimization is possible and we can use a binary search instead of a linear search (using hidden virtues to divide the map into quadrants, and then search only in that quadrant:

if General X has trait xLocationUnder 50 
   and General X has trait yLocationOver50 
   and has trait yLocationUnder100)

   search x from 0 to 50
     search y from 50 to 100

Still, however, this optimization improves only the actual performance of the script, and still requires a whole lot of coding from the scripter, compared to how easy it could be if counters can be variables.

I have tried this use of counters as variables for two commands: "reposition_character", and "console_command move" command, and for both of them, if I use an expression such as "x, 120" to specify a location, the engine will place the character at 0, 120, regardless of the value x currently holds.

[PROMETHEUS]

could we have a blanck version of files just to be filled in of units , factions buildings etc?

[Centurion Cato]

There was talk of CA releasing a Campaign Editor, any progress on this?

[Simetrical]

Could a list be provided of the exact areas and/or specifics (where feasible) of the hardcoded elements in BI? This would save modders wasting time on impossible pursuits.

This is asking a heck of a lot. More specific questions would probably be more productive.

[PSYCHO V]

This is asking a heck of a lot. More specific questions would probably be more productive.

Yes, please. Try and ask specific questions rather than generalities akin to "how do you mod RTW?". Your more likely to get an answer to specifics.

[Myrddraal]

stickied

[waitcu]

can we edit the seasons easily in BI 1.41 patch ? if the BI have four seasons seletion without any active tool , that would be great !!!!!!!!!!

what's more there are some events like

{dominant_religion} A Powerful Faith
{huns_hording} A Storm from the East!
{new_barbarian_horde} A People in Flight

can i stop them happen ?

[SomeNick]

How do you save Single Player Campaign Battle Replays please ?...


Or do I have to wait for a mod...even though this should be a feature of the game anyway... or possibly>

[Dromikaites]

A way to improve the behavior of AI in battle is to use scripts active during battle time.

The problem is this scripting doesn't work in campaigns because there is no known way we can "read" the army stacks that enter a battle during campaigns (except for the battles we can script at the very beginning of a campaign, when we know the stacks' composition). Being able to read the army stacks is also useful for many other modding purposes.

So my questions for CA regarding scripting are:
1. Is there any hidden command or condition that can be used to read an army stack (or the troops inside a city/fort)?
2. Will such command or condition become available with the next update/patch?

A second group of questions are about the maps. I've discovered by accident that the map_trade_routes.tga is actually used by the game engine. Here's how I've discovered it: I made a very simple map, with only the sea and a plain field, leaving the original map_trade_routes.tga in the directory. The result was the "trade routes" became visible in the radar screen.

So here are my questions about the maps:
3. Is there any way to generate map_heights.hgt file using a command line similar to the one used for the sprites?
4. Is map_trade_routes.tga of any use for modding?

[Jambo]

How do you mod gate houses' arrows and boiling oil?

Second this question!