Quick modding questions

[Sudertum]

I have a few questions about terminology & elementary graphics.

2. What file(s) assign the text to those buttons? That is, which tells that the 1st button should say "Single Player" rather than "Options", etc.

I ask because I have now got my mod sufficiently muddled that, when I load, I do get "Options" in the 1st button, and wrong text in the others. Vanilla loads correctly. So, which file is doing this?

2. Its defined in text.csv file (localisation directory) with a line starting like "FE_Single_Player;".

The problem is probably caused by one missing ";;;;;;;;;;;;;;x" somewhere in the localisation files is enough to mix it up. Had this case too with the german localisation of D&T before.

[Fishman786]

2. Its defined in text.csv file (localisation directory) with a line starting like "FE_Single_Player;".

The problem is probably caused by one missing ";;;;;;;;;;;;;;x" somewhere in the localisation files is enough to mix it up. Had this case too with the german localisation of D&T before.

It can also be caused by leaving empty lines at the end of the localisation love-base. Delete them! :hitler:

[ANO1453]

Two questions:
1. Anyone here knows someone which has made a map of the Old World?

2. Is there any scope for random, not owned provinces?

[Fishman786]

Two questions:
1. Anyone here knows someone which has made a map of the Old World?

What kind of map? I can make a paintable blank one for you.

[ANO1453]

What kind of map? I can make a paintable blank one for you.

I mean a playable map. I have been trying to make one for quite some time now, but with every step I make a new error emerges.

[Fishman786]

I mean a playable map. I have been trying to make one for quite some time now, but with every step I make a new error emerges.

A map with no Americas?

[ANO1453]

A map with no Americas?

http://i45.tinypic.com/205v1vb.jpg

Hmmm.... I think I nailed the problem: there can be no references to the deleted provinces, anywhere. Running some more tests.

EDIT: Good news, my map doesn't crash Scenario Editor!

Now, where does the game go to find province 725, which I thoroughly deleted any references to?

[Sincleric]

Whenever I edit terrain.bmp I get a weird looking map, every single time. I can edit provinces.bmp with no issues at all, but when it comes to terrain, NO! No matter how I save the file, no matter what program I use, I always get horrible results. Here's some screenshots of what I get when I try to change any little detail:





Just so you know, for reference I suppose, this is what the map should look like:



I edited exactly forty (40) pixels for that map, and it ruins the whole thing. I deleted the map cache every time I launched my game. I made sure to sample colors to ensure I was not adding any new elements to the map. What am I doing wrong?

I am going to repeat my question, since I have not yet found a way to edit the terrain.bmp file, and nobody replied with any useful information.

I know that it can be done. Death & Taxes did it. Steppe Wolfe did it. Lots of people edit the map without problems, but I can't find a guide that explains it.

[ANO1453]

I am going to repeat my question, since I have not yet found a way to edit the terrain.bmp file, and nobody replied with any useful information.

I know that it can be done. Death & Taxes did it. Steppe Wolfe did it. Lots of people edit the map without problems, but I can't find a guide that explains it.

Uhhh... http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...ering-the-Map/

[Sincleric]

Uhhh... http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...ering-the-Map/

This is the guide I was referring to. I've been using it, and being so old it has some flaws. For example, the port rotations are completely wrong. And it does not explain why my terrain map is producing the above shown pictures. That guide was not for DW, and while it worked perfectly fine back in 2007, it doesn't work now.

[Fishman786]

This is the guide I was referring to. I've been using it, and being so old it has some flaws. For example, the port rotations are completely wrong. And it does not explain why my terrain map is producing the above shown pictures. That guide was not for DW, and while it worked perfectly fine back in 2007, it doesn't work now.

Basically, when editing the map you have to keep exactly the same colours, make sure you don't change the coastline (unless you change it in all the other files as well) and save the file using exactly the same specifications and formats. I don't have very detailed knowledge of it myself, but the first couple of times I tried I had your problems too. You have probably slipped up and put in an extra pixel somewhere, or used colours just one shade off.

What software are you using?




There are editors for port rotation and positions-related stuff. You don't have to do it by hand any more.

[Sincleric]

Basically, when editing the map you have to keep exactly the same colours, make sure you don't change the coastline (unless you change it in all the other files as well) and save the file using exactly the same specifications and formats. I don't have very detailed knowledge of it myself, but the first couple of times I tried I had your problems too. You have probably slipped up and put in an extra pixel somewhere, or used colours just one shade off.

What software are you using?

I used paint.net, and also tried MSpaint (two very different programs, despite similar names. PDN is like free photoshop, with slightly less options). I did edit the coasts; how will this be a problem? I really do need to alter the coasts, since this is the only part of the map I want to change. I was adding access to the Great Lakes, since my present game is reliant upon them and their ports. I've tried at least six times, every time being very careful only to change the pixels I needed to change, and only sampled colors that were already on the map. In fact, the only "color" I used was the default white used for oceans.

There are editors for port rotation and positions-related stuff. You don't have to do it by hand any more.

That would have been nice to know before I altered two dozen or so ports. But I still have hundreds more to go. Mind linking to this useful tool?

[Fishman786]

I used paint.net, and also tried MSpaint (two very different programs, despite similar names. PDN is like free photoshop, with slightly less options). I did edit the coasts; how will this be a problem? I really do need to alter the coasts, since this is the only part of the map I want to change. I was adding access to the Great Lakes, since my present game is reliant upon them and their ports. I've tried at least six times, every time being very careful only to change the pixels I needed to change, and only sampled colors that were already on the map. In fact, the only "color" I used was the default white used for oceans.

Yeah, that would probably create the effects you are talking about. Whilst changing terrains is easy, with coastlines you have to change every other file which mentions said coastlines. This includes provinces.bmp and rivers.bmp . There are possibly others, howver topology.bmp isn't used any more.


Using the default white for the great lakes is a strange choice, since there's a blue colour for inland seas like the med, the sea of Japan, the Baltic etc.

That would have been nice to know before I altered two dozen or so ports. But I still have hundreds more to go. Mind linking to this useful tool?

Sure.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...sitions-Editor

[Sincleric]

Yeah, that would probably create the effects you are talking about. Whilst changing terrains is easy, with coastlines you have to change every other file which mentions said coastlines. This includes provinces.bmp and rivers.bmp . There are possibly others, howver topology.bmp isn't used any more.

provinces.bmp has been changed, but not rivers. I will try that and report back.

Using the default white for the great lakes is a strange choice, since there's a blue colour for inland seas like the med, the sea of Japan, the Baltic etc.

I didn't know until a few moments ago that this actually effects the AI. I'll be using blue now.

Sure.

http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/...sitions-Editor

Thanks!

[17blue17]

I just cropped,

FYI

Several posts back we discussed bad pixels and you mentioned you cropped and maybe ended up with bad pixels.

I learned something yesterday that is maybe useful. I use photoshop CS2 and when I free transform (and also for crop?) the program defaults to bicubic rather than nearest neighbor which goofs up all the colors. If you open photoshop CS2 and maybe other versions and choose the edit tab then preferences then general you can set the program wide default to nearest neighbor rather than bicubic at which point free transform and hopefully crop will no longer goof the colors up.

[Sincleric]

provinces.bmp has been changed, but not rivers. I will try that and report back.

After editing rivers.bmp, the game now crashes to desktop while loading with no explanation whenever I try to launch it. Where else might coastlines be references, other than provinces.bmp, terrain.bmp, and rivers.bmp?

[Fishman786]

After editing rivers.bmp, the game now crashes to desktop while loading with no explanation whenever I try to launch it. Where else might coastlines be references, other than provinces.bmp, terrain.bmp, and rivers.bmp?

Rivers can do that if you aren't careful. Or if you are careful. I haven't changed the rivers myself because of this. Did you change any of the river pixels, or just the sea?


How are your brush tolerance settings and such? Sometimes even at 100% you can get strange results or bad colours. I remember that back in Fireworks.

[jdrou]

I have a few questions about terminology & elementary graphics.

1. What is the correct name for the 1st active screen, when starting the game. I don't mean the changing loading screens, from the merchants to Napoleon, but the next screen, which shows the Checksum, and has 6 buttons to choose, from Single Player to Exit?

2. What file(s) assign the text to those buttons? That is, which tells that the 1st button should say "Single Player" rather than "Options", etc.

I ask because I have now got my mod sufficiently muddled that, when I load, I do get "Options" in the 1st button, and wrong text in the others. Vanilla loads correctly. So, which file is doing this?

The text entries are in text.csv and the pointers to those entries are apparently in interface\temp_frontend.gui.

[Fishman786]

Since our resident modding expert jdrou is here, I have a question which relates to Sincleric's: why does the rivers.bmp file always crash?

[Sincleric]

Rivers can do that if you aren't careful. Or if you are careful. I haven't changed the rivers myself because of this. Did you change any of the river pixels, or just the sea?


How are your brush tolerance settings and such? Sometimes even at 100% you can get strange results or bad colours. I remember that back in Fireworks.

Being that I am using the St. Lawrence to connect the lakes to the Atlantic, I had to cover up an entire river. Is that bad?

I am not using a brush, I use the pencil tool. It takes the exact color I want, and adds it in on exactly the pixel I click on. I edit each pixel one at a time, to ensure no goof-ups. But the tool/program are not to blame for the issue, this I know. I have edited dozens of province shapes, with no problems whatsoever. I even changed the coastlines in provinces.bmp with no issues at all; my boats can go into the great lakes with ease. The only issue is the jagged pixel-looking coastlines. It is almost as if the ocean is drawn in squares on top of the land, and it is extremely ugly.



This is what I am trying to fix. To make it pretty. The game works fine, but the aesthetics for my custom provinces are horrible