[Modding] Creating my first scenario

[Cablenexus]

Thank you Pavel,

- I managed to make the scenario takes an historical city name on an accurate coordinate on the map (eventually with range). I did first test and it works.

- Managed to customize war/peace standings between factions

- Managed to change amount of starting resources per player

[Cablenexus]

Reached my first goal. A custom map of Holland and at least six new nations with flag and coat of arms.

Cablenexus, it ilooks really great!

I noticed in the NEW.exe also taking screenshots with PRINTSCR works better. It capture the actual screen now instead of the older snap.

There are still some issues with the PrtSc, I will look at it once I finish the performance stuff.

Btw. Dont forget to add to map some resources map items.

I will add resource items indeed. Without it they all die very quickly, even Rome

It's nice to see the AI play the game (with one human player myself) and seeing the area's I had in mind for the tribes becomes automatically populated. Frisii, even when starting with a single town, captures major amount of the North automatically after a turn or 20.

Menapii tries different things, they even build a boat and set foot on land on the other side of the Maes (river).

I would like to be able to place the Ambient Models (the cows) on specific coordinates on the map instead of they being placed automatically. Is this eventual possible? (Not a major things, but the Frisii in the North traded Cow hides with Rome and in my map all cows are only in the South.

[pavelk]

I would like to be able to place the Ambient Models (the cows) on specific coordinates on the map instead of they being placed automatically. Is this eventual possible? (Not a major things, but the Frisii in the North traded Cow hides with Rome and in my map all cows are only in the South.

You can do it but you need to know the notation of the animals in the AG file (they are called ambientUnits).

How it currently works:

• When it is is edit mode the ambient units are not generated
• When you export the game as scenario, they are also not generated (that is also the reason why you cannot edit them in the game editor) and the scenario file does not contain it.
• Once you start scenario, the ambient units are generated IF the scenario file does not already have them specified

Long story short - if you would be able to add them directly to the scenario file, it will be taken. Unfortunately, you cant do it in the editor.

[Cablenexus]

Thanks to Pavels clear explanation about AmbientModels placement and Auto city naming (per coordinate from a fixed database) I managed to summon a cow in Frisii and the Frisians are building settlements with Frisian names

[Cablenexus]

Did only finetuning this night. Lesser the trees on grass and plain tiles for Holland map. Added water to swamp texture. Reworked some flags and CoA's so they are alligned better.
Tested some new tools and started to work with Blender to learn import/export models.

[Cablenexus]

And the last for today:

[Cablenexus]

- I need some help. Rome and Epirus that where added on the lower part of the map at start game are replaced. But when starting a new game there is still a part of the map visible for them (in grey) at the location they where positioned first. (It shows on the minimap and strategic map). Is there an easy way to get rid of those (previously) visible tiles for them?

EDIT

Found it already. Thank you anyway.

[Cablenexus]

- Is there an overview somewhere with a list of all nations ingame and the differences between them? For example do they use different AI patters? Can some tribes build things that other tribes could not? I ask this because I edit existing tribes to customize them.

- Is there a default TRIBE that can be used as an example for NEW tribes?

- How can I set the minimap in the tribe selector screen so that you see the whole map in black/white and only the selected tribe in color? (like in ancient mod)

[pavelk]

Is there an overview somewhere with a list of all nations ingame and the differences between them? For example do they use different AI patters? Can some tribes build things that other tribes could not? I ask this because I edit existing tribes to customize them.

It is configurable what unit types each player can build and have an access to but it is not possible to do so in the ingame editor. Right now I dont have in plan to add this functionality to the game editor because it a already pretty advance functionality which not every modder would use.

Anyway you can do it yourself in the scenario/save file, it is pretty straighforward:)

Every <PlayerMemento> has an element called <playerModelAvailabilities> where is a list of <PlayerModelAvailabilityMemento items. Here you can list the model ids which the player should have an access to.
defaultTechnologyAvailability="true" means that it reveals the unit type for the player.
defaultTechnologyAvailability="false"means that it disables that unit type for the player.

[Cablenexus]

Is there an overview somewhere with a list of all nations ingame and the differences between them? For example do they use different AI patters? Can some tribes build things that other tribes could not? I ask this because I edit existing tribes to customize them.

It is configurable what unit types each player can build and have an access to but it is not possible to do so in the ingame editor. Right now I dont have in plan to add this functionality to the game editor because it a already pretty advance functionality which not every modder would use.

Anyway you can do it yourself in the scenario/save file, it is pretty straighforward:)

Every <PlayerMemento> has an element called <playerModelAvailabilities> where is a list of <PlayerModelAvailabilityMemento items. Here you can list the model ids which the player should have an access to.
defaultTechnologyAvailability="true" means that it reveals the unit type for the player.
defaultTechnologyAvailability="false"means that it disables that unit type for the player.

Thank you, I understand. And what about the AI used? Or are all the nations the same for me as a scenario maker?

[pavelk]

For example do they use different AI patters?

There are no specific AI patterns but different coefficients which affects the AI behavior.

Is there a default TRIBE that can be used as an example for NEW tribes?

I am not sure what do you mean by that.

How can I set the minimap in the tribe selector screen so that you see the whole map in black/white and only the selected tribe in color? (like in ancient mod)

I am also not sure now what do you mean by that. Are you talking about the "New game window" where you select the nation and which shows the minimap where the nation is?

[pavelk]

Try to play with value aggressiveness in PlayerBasicAIDataMemento. It can be a value between 1-7.

You can also define a future relationships in the <futureRelations>.

In all the relationships you can define things like loyaltyIncrease, minLoyalty and willingnessOfSubordination but this is all pretty advance stuff so this can be fine-tuned at the end of the scenario making process (I would say)

[Cablenexus]

For example do they use different AI patters?

There are no specific AI patterns but different coefficients which affects the AI behavior.

Is there a default TRIBE that can be used as an example for NEW tribes?

I am not sure what do you mean by that.

How can I set the minimap in the tribe selector screen so that you see the whole map in black/white and only the selected tribe in color? (like in ancient mod)

I am also not sure now what do you mean by that. Are you talking about the "New game window" where you select the nation and which shows the minimap where the nation is?

I come back to the minimap revealed later. There is more in the menu I want to show, I will find it eventually.

The AI is actually my concern atm. What kind of coefficients are important to know when choosing the right tribe to customize in a custom one?

Can I simply take the German tribe as an example and copy this 10 times to create 10 different custom tribes? Or does it make sense what exisiting tribe I choose when I make my own new custom tribe?

[Cablenexus]

Try to play with value aggressiveness in PlayerBasicAIDataMemento. It can be a value between 1-7.

You can also define a future relationships in the <futureRelations>.

In all the relationships you can define things like loyaltyIncrease, minLoyalty and willingnessOfSubordination but this is all pretty advance stuff so this can be fine-tuned at the end of the scenario making process (I would say)

Thank you. Yes I see this as advanced stuff myself, but I want to do it right. If there are two minor nations that works together against Rome I want to represent this in tribe behavior somewhat.

But yes that is something I add later.

- I'm busy making 4 new tribes atm. The Chamavii, Nervii, Tungri and the Frisiavones.

- I'm using the Peutinger map to make settlement names.

- I want to know if I can add some settlement names without set coordinates. I want to give SOME names a fixed position, but not all of them Is this possible and how?

[pavelk]

But yes that is something I add later.

I would probably choose the players according to the unit type fractions you want to use. If you want to have the Roman units for player, choose Roman empire. If you want to have barbarian unit types, choose Celts, German tribes, etc.

I want to know if I can add some settlement names without set coordinates. I want to give SOME names a fixed position, but not all of them Is this possible and how?

When you dont specify the range (simply remove the attribute or set it to 0) it will work for all the positions

[Cablenexus]

Chamavii, Black forest Barbarians added to the map.

[Cablenexus]

Started ownership coloring on the map.

[pavelk]

Very nice. It is getting into shape.

It seems like we should start working on the website "endpoint" where people can exchange their scenarios and mods:-D

[Cablenexus]

- Yes I would love to share it already, but it is not ready (far from) and I give you to look at it first

Added the Nervii tribe.

[pavelk]

- Yes I would love to share it already, but it is not ready (far from) and I give you to look at it first

Added the Nervii tribe.

I really like the coat of arms symbols you created! Btw. you also changed the size of the trees in mod file, didnt you?:)