Modding P&S to halve missile ranges & move distances

[JocaRamiro]

Hello RBS,

Thank you for the quick response.

My response is going to come in two parts. Part 1 will be creating a game.

So:
I have downloaded the three limited move/range variants.
I create a skirmish, choosing the 30yw reduced ... campaign.
Combatants are German Protestants versus the Catholic league.
The challenge was created.

I did go back, and yes, I can hover over it and see that the 30yw reduced.... campaign is in effect.

now we will wait.

Note, the last times around, the challenges got picked up, but when it was my turn I got a message to the effect (I didn't record the actual text) that our scripts did not correspond, and I should cancel the game.

Let me see if this happens again.

Joca Ramiro.

PS: thanks again for your quick attention.

[rbodleyscott]

See

viewtopic.php?f=318&t=63106&p=537677#p537677

Are you sure that neither of you have Modded the mod at all?

[JocaRamiro]

Hi,

I will take a look.

But first, an update.

Note, I have not modified anything I downloaded. I do not know about my opponent.

As noted, I put up a challenge. It was accepted, and we went to move 1, which required me to choose my forces. This went without exception. (I am reminded that it maybe at the next stage that I see something. I will keep the forum posted.

[JocaRamiro]

Ok,

and my latest challenge came back. It is now deployment phase. Before deploying I get the following message: "The scripts or other data being used by your opponent do not match yours. You should contact the other player to ask why their data is different."

I am not aware of having changed any scripts or other data. How would I have?

I think that the person who picked up this game was not aware that P&S had been modded. So, it seems to me that someone who did not download this mod can accept the challenge.

[rbodleyscott]

I think that the person who picked up this game was not aware that P&S had been modded. So, it seems to me that someone who did not download this mod can accept the challenge.

That should not be possible. However, it is in the hands of tech support who will look into the matter after the weekend.

[Doyley50]

I have suddenly started getting these messages on MP, along with my opponents, any idea yet what is going on?

[rbodleyscott]

I have suddenly started getting these messages on MP, along with my opponents, any idea yet what is going on?

Is this in reduced movement and ranges games or in vanilla games? If the latter, have you downloaded the reduced movement and ranges mod? Has your opponent?

[Doyley50]

I downloaded the mod when it first came out and used it for a number of SP games and carried on playing MP vanilla games with everything behaving normally. Two or three days ago I accepted a challenge for a reduced movement/range skirmish game on MP and since then it seems all my new MP games, which have been vanilla, have had this message coming up at the beginning of the game. I will have to check whether my opponents have alsodownloaded the mod.

[rbodleyscott]

I downloaded the mod when it first came out and used it for a number of SP games and carried on playing MP vanilla games with everything behaving normally. Two or three days ago I accepted a challenge for a reduced movement/range skirmish game on MP and since then it seems all my new MP games, which have been vanilla, have had this message coming up at the beginning of the game. I will have to check whether my opponents have also downloaded the mod.

Thanks for this info, which will hopefully help us to track down the problem. Have the movement distances and ranges been normal on your vanilla MP games since you have been getting the messages?

[JocaRamiro]

A follow on note.

One of my opponents both assures me he is on halves, and tells me he is getting the abandon ship messages.

[rbodleyscott]

A follow on note.

One of my opponents both assures me he is on halves, and tells me he is getting the abandon ship messages.

To clarify - you are both playing the game with half moves and ranges? It isn't that one of you is using normal ranges and the other is using half ranges? (Which should not be possible).

[Doyley50]

"Thanks for this info, which will hopefully help us to track down the problem. Have the movement distances and ranges been normal on your vanilla MP games since you have been getting the messages?"

They have been normal.

[rbodleyscott]

We have identified the cause of the "Script Change" message with these mods, and unfortunately it means that the reduced ranges and movement mods will not work correctly with the current version of the program.

We are working on making them work with the next update, although the deadline for that is very close, and we may or may not be able to get the fix up and running in time. If not, we will get it working for the following update.

In the meantime, you need to delete the reduced ranges/movement mods from your system to get rid of the errors entirely. None of the other downloadable user content is affected.

You can delete the SP versions in the Historical menu.

Unfortunately, because the mods have no scenarios, the normal method of deleting the MP versions doesn't work. You therefore have to delete them manually. On the PC you will find their folders in
/My Documents/My Games/PIKEANDSHOT/MULTIPLAYER

Once again, because the normal method of deleting custom MP campaigns does not work (as this mod has no scenarios), on the iPad it isn't possible to delete them except by deleting the program and reinstalling it from the Cloud using the App Store. (Which fortunately is a fairly painless process). You will then need to re-download any other user content that you want on your iPad.

[Interlocutor]

Richard, could you elaborate on the reason(s) for this problem?

For those of us who do not care to play MP games, will the mod work okay for SP skirmish battles? I've never encountered a glitch in my own SP games.

[JocaRamiro]

For my part, I have several 1/2 games going. It seems most sensible to first end these and then remove the mods.

My current guess is that the modes work properly, and that I am getting modded opponents. However, I - and my opponents are also getting the irritating abandon game messages. Is that an accurate summary?

[rbodleyscott]

Richard, could you elaborate on the reason(s) for this problem?

For those of us who do not care to play MP games, will the mod work okay for SP skirmish battles? I've never encountered a glitch in my own SP games.

When you switch from vanilla to reduced range mod games or vice versa, the program switches CombatTools.BSF to the appropriate version, because there is a modded version of CombatTools.BSF in the modded campaign. However, CombatTools.BSF is included in several other scripts as an include file. These scripts are not currently swapped when you switch to the modded campaign, because the campaign does not include them. However, when the MP system does a checksum on those other scripts e.g. UnitList.BSF, Slitherine_RandomMap2.BSF and Core.BSF the checksum includes whichever version of CombatTools.BSF was used last. If one computer has read in those scripts including the modded version of CombatTool.BSF, and the other computer has read in those scripts using the unmodded version (or vice versa), a script change message will be reported.

As far as I can see, this should not affect SP games at all for those who don't play MP, but use of the SP version might affect MP games for those that do. If you do switch between modded and unmodded SP and find that there is any oddness - a good place to look would be to see whether the movement distances are reported wrongly in the UnitList window - you may be able prevent the issue by restarting the program before switching to the other set of rules. This will certainly work when switching from modded games to unmodded games, but might not work the other way round if the program loads in the unmodded ones at startup.

In short, if it seems to work for SP games, then it probably does, and there is no reason why you cannot go on using it. Whatever else, it won't break your computer.

[rbodleyscott]

For my part, I have several 1/2 games going. It seems most sensible to first end these and then remove the mods.

Agreed.

My current guess is that the modes work properly, and that I am getting modded opponents. However, I - and my opponents are also getting the irritating abandon game messages. Is that an accurate summary?

See my answer in the post above. Whether the mods are working 100% correctly in MP games and only the scripts changed message is wrong, or whether there may possibly be some actual anomalies in the games I cannot say. I guess if you have never seen any units allowed their normal ranges and movement distances in a reduced range/distance mod game, or vice versa, then it is probably only the script changed message that is wrong.

In any case we intend to put the mods back as soon as the internal engine issues causing the anomalies are resolved. Whether we can get this done in time for the forthcoming update remains to be seen, if not we will do it for the next one.

[Interlocutor]

When you switch from vanilla to reduced range mod games or vice versa, the program switches CombatTools.BSF to the appropriate version, because there is a modded version of CombatTools.BSF in the modded campaign. However, CombatTools.BSF is included in several other scripts as an include file. These scripts are not currently swapped when you switch to the modded campaign, because the campaign does not include them. However, when the MP system does a checksum on those other scripts e.g. UnitList.BSF, Slitherine_RandomMap2.BSF and Core.BSF the checksum includes whichever version of CombatTools.BSF was used last. If one computer has read in those scripts including the modded version of CombatTool.BSF, and the other computer has read in those scripts using the unmodded version (or vice versa), a script change message will be reported.

Thank you for the explanation, Richard.

Are there any script files other than CombatTools.BSF which are called by other scripts in this way? If there are, then I assume that any mods to such scripts would experience this same problem? I ask because I've been considering doing some other mods to other script files. I suppose I could look through all the script files and see for myself which others make such calls.

Would it be possible for players to fix this problem on an interim basis, i.e., until you've made the remedial changes in the next update, by moving "vanilla" copies of those script files which make calls to modified scripts from the game's install folders into the mod's script folder? For example, by moving copies of those vanilla script files which call CombatTools.BSF as you've listed above into the mod?

Alternatively, could players go in to the game's "Pike and Shot/Data/Scripts" install folder, rename CombatTools.BSF itself to something like "VanillaCombatTools.BSF" to keep it safe, and place a copy of the modded CombatTools.BSF file into that folder? I know you strongly advise against making any changes to the game's base installation folders, but I'm still curious to hear if you think this might work. Players would have to switch back and forth if they wished to play both vanilla and "reduced ranges and move distances" games, depending on which CombatTools script they needed.

[rbodleyscott]

When you switch from vanilla to reduced range mod games or vice versa, the program switches CombatTools.BSF to the appropriate version, because there is a modded version of CombatTools.BSF in the modded campaign. However, CombatTools.BSF is included in several other scripts as an include file. These scripts are not currently swapped when you switch to the modded campaign, because the campaign does not include them. However, when the MP system does a checksum on those other scripts e.g. UnitList.BSF, Slitherine_RandomMap2.BSF and Core.BSF the checksum includes whichever version of CombatTools.BSF was used last. If one computer has read in those scripts including the modded version of CombatTool.BSF, and the other computer has read in those scripts using the unmodded version (or vice versa), a script change message will be reported.

Thank you for the explanation, Richard.

Are there any script files other than CombatTools.BSF which are called by other scripts in this way? If there are, then I assume that any mods to such scripts would experience this same problem? I ask because I've been considering doing some other mods to other script files. I suppose I could look through all the script files and see for myself which others make such calls.

Modding any scripts that are in the include list in Tools.BSF would presumably cause this issue.

Would it be possible for players to fix this problem on an interim basis, i.e., until you've made the remedial changes in the next update, by moving "vanilla" copies of those script files which make calls to modified scripts from the game's install folders into the mod's script folder? For example, by moving copies of those vanilla script files which call CombatTools.BSF as you've listed above into the mod?

I have not tried this, but I would expect it to work. You would need to copy all non-scenario scripts that have the line "include Tools.BSF".

Alternatively, could players go in to the game's "Pike and Shot/Data/Scripts" install folder, rename CombatTools.BSF itself to something like "VanillaCombatTools.BSF" to keep it safe, and place a copy of the modded CombatTools.BSF file into that folder? I know you strongly advise against making any changes to the game's base installation folders, but I'm still curious to hear if you think this might work. Players would have to switch back and forth if they wished to play both vanilla and "reduced ranges and move distances" games, depending on which CombatTools script they needed.

Policy dictates that I recommend against doing this.

[Interlocutor]

Thank you, Richard. I understand.