EU3toVic2 / Vic2toHoi3 Converter Project

[Sid Meier]

This is the EU3 to V2 Converter Project. This project converts a save game from the end of EU3 into a save game at the beginning of V2, both vanilla and AHD. While there are a few features left to complete, it is completely usable.

Looking for the V2 to HOI3 Converter Project? It's now over in this thread.

Important Links
Download
Converter Mod
Sourceforge Project

How to Use
1) Download the converter and unzip it wherever.
2) Find the desired save file in "[YOUR EU3 DIRECTORY]/save games".
3) Copy the save game in to the directory of the converter, and rename it to "input.eu3"
4) Open the file "configuration.txt". In the file there is a line that reads
v2directory = "D:\Paradox Interactive\Victoria 2"
Modify it so that it points to YOUR copy of Victoria 2.
5) In "configuration.txt", there is a line that reads
EU3directory = "D:\Paradox Interactive\Europa Universalis III"
Modify it so that it points to YOUR copy of Europa Universalis III.
6) Run "EU3toV2Converter.exe". This will create a file in the converters directory called "output.v2".
7) Copy "output.v2" to "[YOUR VICTORIA DIRECTORY]/save games" and run Victoria 2
8) Load the output game and immediately save the game. Then resign, and load that game.
9) Enjoy!
10) (optional) Write an AAR so we can enjoy, too!

FAQ
Q: Which versions of EU3 and V2 does this work with?
A: This converter will convert EU3 games from as early as IN to as late as DW. It can convert to AHD (version 2.3) and vanilla V2 (1.3 and the 1.4 beta patch).

Q: Will this work with EU3 mod X or V2 mod Y?
A: Maybe. We didn't develop the converter with mods in mind (apart from our official one), so few will likely work out of the box. However, much of the raw data is pulled from the game installations or our rule files, so it could be adapted for many mods. Any of this work will be left to the creators or the fans of those mods, though we will gladly provide guidance.

Q: Why do many of the country names turn out funny?!
A: Unless you're using the converter mod, the EU3 and V2 nations don't line up one-to-one. We try to match up the one-to-one nations first, then convert to an available nation in the general region, and if we cannot do either, then we'll use an arbitrary leftover nation. However, if you use the converter mod, this problem is completely eliminated.

Q: Why are the Great Powers all messed up?!
A: Saving and reloading the game, as directed, will fix this.

Q: I'm getting odd errors, and am using a Steam installation of one of the games.
A: Sometimes various files just get messed up under Steam. Try clicking Properties, Local Files, Verify Integrity of Game Cache.

Q: The converter didn't work. What's wrong?
A: It's likely a configuration problem (though it's also possible you found a bug). Please post about it so we can help you (or fix the bug). Include a description of what did or didn't happen, the versions of EU3 and V2 you are running, the information in log.txt (copy and paste it, but wrap it in [ code ] [ /code ] tags), and if possible, a link to the save you're trying to convert. These will help us determine what happened.



Credits
Sid Meier: Coordination
Idhrendur: Programming
Dtremenak: Programming
Maksim17: Programming
DasGuntLord01: Systems Analysis, Data Files
Kalelovil: Systems Analysis
Novapaddy: Data Files
Khorney: Converter Mod
Magc8Ball: Flagpack

Special Thanks To:
Chaingun: Programmer
SegFaultx64: Programmer
Dr_V: Programmer/Contributor
Alfred Packer: Contributor
Enokmik: Contributor
King Of Men: Honorary contributor

Development Plan (that is, what we plan to include in future updates)
2.10 - Province population from EU3 data, pop wealth, pop issues (reforms), correct political party in power at start
2.11 - CBs, wars, controlled territory, rebels (some of these may prove intractable, in which case we will not include them)

Pop Weight Formula (so we don't lose it)

pop_weight = ( unmodified_base_tax + trade_value / 10 + unmodified_mp /1000 + Is_Exotic ) (*2) + Num_of_Buildings /4

OP Updated August First.

[stumason]

I can't volunteer but I am very keen that something like this should be done.

If only Paradox would release a game that started at the fall of the Roman Empire and took you all the way through to the end of the Cold War.. I'd love to raise a nation from tribal obscurity to world domination...

[Dr_V]

I would be interested in spear heading this project, I think I got a programmer willing to sign on to make the actual converter itself, but what we need is a team of people, maybe 2 guys per continent willing to make province id lists

link = { eu3 = 123 vic = 456 vic = 789 vic = 101 }

Once this is done that's literally, 95% of the work in making a converter.

Volunteers? Now that the demo is out, I can ostensibly start now.

I'm making an independent effort in this regard. For the province id matching/conversion process I intend to write a program to automate it. There is a wealth of data in the eu3 province history files (religion, city size, owner, name etc) that I suspect can be used to automatically match provinces with vic2. The only things this will definitely not work for are ocean provinces.

I will probably take a stab at this over the weekend and I can let you know if it is feasible. Failing that I am happy to contribute to a group effort to manually do the matching.

Edit: in addition if I could be so bold as to propose a simpler system of encoding the mapping to make the rest of the converter easier:

EU3ID = VIC2ID[, VIC2ID]...

which would look like in the simple case
334 = 233

in the case of single eu3 to multiple vic2:
334 = 233, 455

and in the opposite case:
334 = 233
442 = 233

I think this structure lends itself better to the reading/processing loops in a converter - but I am open to comments etc.

[takedown47]

I can't volunteer but I am very keen that something like this should be done.

If only Paradox would release a game that started at the fall of the Roman Empire and took you all the way through to the end of the Cold War.. I'd love to raise a nation from tribal obscurity to world domination...

i think prehistoric mod is planning to do that, you should check out their thread first though just to confirm.

[Romtos]

An EU3toVic2 converter would be truly amazing.

What do you plan to do with the starting date? Since EU3 ends in 1820 and Vic2 starts in 1836. Do you simply let it skip to 1836 or do you let the converter make a 1820 scenario for Vic2?

[Captain Frakas]

The ideal would be an option : either the generated save-game start in 1836 no mater what, or if the player activate the option, the generated save-game start exactly where the EU3 party have stopped (even if before 1820). The same should be available to V2 -> HOI3.
So you could convert your game exactly when you think that it make more sense to change game.

For example, one could think that as soon as the Revolution fire for one major country in EU3 (whatever the date), V2 is more adapted to what will follow. Another could wish to convert it's V2 game to the WW1 mod of HOI3 as soon as a late game Great War start (whatever the date).

[Maginor]

There is a lot more work to be done than simply converting the provinces. For instance, the pop files need to be generated in some meaningful way, and this is not straightforward given the way EU3 handles population. One would also have to create flags and national profiles for all the possible new nations.

[ravensuominen]

I know the EU3->Vic:R converter was a load of work since I participated in it. It took about 2 days to make African and South American provinces match. And that was only the beginning...

It's great if you can manage to make a converter, but be prepared to a LOT of work!

[EMT0]

I would think, the hardest part would be POPs. The way EU3 handles it, 1) There would be no Jewish POPs, 2) No cultural or religious minority POPs, and 3) all the POPs would have to start as farmers or laborers. Maybe a percentage of the population should start as something else depending on what buildings are located in which province? Like, refinery=steel plant, naval equipment manufactory/shipyard=clipper shipyard, weapons manufactory=small arms/ammunition factory, textile manufactory=fabric factory, fine arts academy=a random luxury good factory, university=a % of your POP in that province will be aristocrats/clerks, a temple= % of your POP in that province will be clergy, workshop= % of your POPs will be artisans, regimental camp=% of your POP in that province will be soldiers, market place=% of your POP in that province will be artisans, tax assessor=% of your POPs will be Bureaucrats, War College/Admiralty=% of your POP will be officers, constable=small % of your POPs will be capitalists, Customs House=% your POPs will be bureaucrats, and finally, if you have a manufactory in a province, a percentage of your POPs should be craftsmen/clerks. All the rest should be laborers or farmers. If there's more then one of a manufactory within provinces that make up a state, then an extra industrial level is added to the factory(example: Fabric Manufactory in Holland, Fabric Manufactory in Zeeland=Level 2 Fabric Factory in the state of Holland). It should provide a rough percentage of POPs in a province. Decisions that have been enacted should also affect the % of POPs in a province. If you passed the school education act in EU3, then literacy should be 20% higher, if you passed the judiciary act. Meanwhile, for revoltrisk, I'd translate every revoltrisk percentage in EU3 directly as a Militancy point in Vicky 2. If you've passed provincial decisions such as provincial courts, then the average militancy should drop.

The POPs system will definetly be the most complicated part......

[Sid Meier]

An EU3toVic2 converter would be truly amazing.

What do you plan to do with the starting date? Since EU3 ends in 1820 and Vic2 starts in 1836. Do you simply let it skip to 1836 or do you let the converter make a 1820 scenario for Vic2?

Either the players of that game will be urged to play an additional 15 years or simply have 1820 = 1836 and don't make any assumptions based on what may or may not have happened.

There is a lot more work to be done than simply converting the provinces. For instance, the pop files need to be generated in some meaningful way, and this is not straightforward given the way EU3 handles population. One would also have to create flags and national profiles for all the possible new nations.

King of Men who made a EU3->Vic:R converter before who I hope will be joining this project probably knows how to generate them, I'll see if I can dig up his source code.

Whole 50 page discussion here for EU3->VicR

[Tunch Khan]

I can help with the Middle East, Balkans, North Africa & Caucasia. Let me know when everything else is ready and you only need the province matching.

[Trovador]

I would love to see an Eu3:MMU-Vicky2 converter, as it would give much more information about the pops and a more sensible world... however, MMU is far too controversial to be in the first version of this converter, and all the extra information it has (with the chains of proto-industrialism etc) would make the converter even harder to create.

[Sid Meier]

We could probly easily adapt Magna Mundi to the converter, MUU provides flags for province things right and give more information? Simply a matter of "if MUU scan for this" and then provides more accurate information for province pop conversion.

In general though we need to start working on the linked id lists sooner rather then later, programming the converter is relatively simple and not as much repetitive or tedious as manually finding an eu3 province and a victoria province to match it.

Is there a way to easily compare provincial ids? Do we need to find a map mod to put the id name in the province name?

[tuore]

What we need is a MMtG-V2-HoI3SF converter!
E: When MMtG comes out, that is.

[Romtos]

What we need is a MMtG-V2-HoI3SF converter!
E: When MMtG comes out, that is.

Not so much as a EU3:HTTT vanilla one though, imho.

[EMT0]

Not so much as a EU3:HTTT vanilla one though, imho.

This. Magna Mundi is a spinoff game/mod. No need to go offtrack before it's even begun, or else it'll never get done.

[ThePutty]

I think the first focus should be Vic2 to HoI3, EU3 can come later.

I mean, most people don't even get to 1820 on their EU3 games anyway

[Sid Meier]

Vic2 to Hoi3 is about.... 6 times more provinces which means it would take much much longer, also there's 2 games I'm playing in that are on the CK/EU3 side of the conversion wall which means to my mind there's a higher priority to convert to Vic2 then from Vic2 to Hoi.

[Sovetskysoyuz]

As far as pops go:

The total population of the province should be proportional to the EU3 population. EU3 probably has the wrong number, but a province that has 800k in EU3 should have twice as many in V2 as a province with 400k in EU3 (or you could go logarithmic or something, to account for urbanization--as long as it makes sense).

EMT0's suggestion regarding having pops reflect the EU3 buildings in the province is sound. +1.

As far as culture goes, the culture of the EU3 province should be the one to which the majority of the pops belong. All nations that have cores on the province should also have some of their pops present, though only a minority. Finally, if the owner of the province is of a different culture and has no core, small pops of their culture should be present. Religion could be treated in the same way.

For cultures that are not present in EU3 (e.g. Ashkenazi), you could either put them in the same places that they are in V2 (assuming that whatever happened in your EU3 game wouldn't have major effects on the Jewish diaspora) or have some function to place them in provinces that meet certain conditions (though that would be prone to stereotyping).

[Sid Meier]

4.25x was the figure we worked out last time for urban vs rural pops, with weighted numbers to increase the population of higher populated areas in vickky that are lowly populated in Eu3 but have high manpower, like Russia.

Dr_V I think is aiming to look at province history to determine minority/majority caultural pops in a province, this I think could for Jews simply have it if you ever had a jewish province in EU3 then you have Jewish pops there upon conversion even if the culture changed.

The tricky part would be trying to account for Jewish migration around the world, I would say try to get accurate 1836 numbers and just keep it there.