Modding - Quick questions

[RedRooster81]

I like this design philosophy. Passive ambitions outside of the player's control are senseless. These are supposed to give the player something to do, not something to wait for.

And it might actually hem the god damn AI in and not have it go on a murderspree for lack of a better thing to do.

If you want character development (this being a character-driven game), then I think that's a necessary thing. "has_objective" is a fine event and decision trigger by the way. As you say, it could be a good way to direct the AI, even having events where the AI gains a particular objective, like EU-style missions.

 

[Multicast]

I think that we need more objectives, among other things of course, with events to 'make it happen'. Things like 'become a poet': a troubadour wanders in. Right now, provided you have an heir of either sex, you can plot to murder your wife or provided you are not already overly pious or prestigious become a 'paragon of virtue'.

'Have a son': Well, in vanilla you could wait around twenty years for this one. I think the required action to meet your objective could be prompted by an event or decision. :happy:

I was actually working on a mod that does exactly what you are suggesting! Some of the idea I had were to have objectives like "Make a Friend" or "Become Regent" and then have events structured around making these conditions come true.
I was also considering adding events for existing ambitions. For example, all that a character with one of the become councilor objectives can do is hope his liege picks him. I was going to add events where a character can work harder and get a stat bonus at the risk of getting stressed or depressed, or a shady, amoral character can try to poison the existing councilor to make room for them. Stuff like that.

 

[principiis]

Hey thanks for this thread.

I have been able to add some custom music to the game for the AGoT mod by adding a music folder to the mod folder and adding some .ogg music files and adding a songs.txt to change the modifiers for the songs as so

 song = {
	name = "thekingsarrival.ogg"
	
	chance = {
		modifier = {
			factor = 1
		}		
	}
}

However all of the songs from the vanilla game are still being played along with my new songs when I use the mod. I tried changing the factor for them as so

 song = {
	name = "akingisdead.ogg"
	
	chance = {
		modifier = {
			factor = 0
		}		
	}
}



song = {
	name = "asimplesongforcommoners.ogg"
	
	chance = {
		modifier = {
			factor = 0
		}		
	}
}

This didn't change anything however and the vanilla songs are still played. Does anyone know what I have to do to change it so the vanilla songs are not played and only the custom songs I want are played when using the mod???

Try this: first, go back to the mod's music folder, and delete all the vanilla songs. Then, go to songs.txt and switch your custom songs to factor = 1. Remove all the entries for the vanilla songs, making sure you get all the brackets and whatnot while also not screwing up the bracketing structure for the custom song entries.

Then, add this line to the GoT .mod file:

replace_path = "music"

The default mod behavior is extending paths, which utilizes the existing vanilla files and merges changes from the loaded mod files into the vanilla ones. replace_path, on the other hand, totally overwrites all the vanilla files in the default directory with the files in the corresponding mod directory. So, when you load the mod, it will load the mod's music folder as if it were the vanilla version, and only use that directory.

While these changes should only apply to games you play with the mod, I'd enable the .mod file's user_dir variable for added safety. (If the mod fails to launch after enabling this, you may need to add an empty folder named after whatever you assigned to user_dir in your "Paradox Interactive" folder (in My Documents [PC] or ~/Documents [Mac]. Note that this will generate a new set of default settings for this particular "profile," so you'll likely need to readjust the graphics and sound settings, etc., when you launch it for the first time.)

 

[principiis]

Also, a quick question of my own: can anyone -- dev, mod, or otherwise -- confirm whether or not mods on the Mac version require an absolute value for path, rather than the relative ones in the PC version? Is this WAD?

I only ask because I've been having the devil's own time trying to get the Mac version to actually load mods (if it doesn't crash almost immediately, it loads the game with the vanilla checksum), and this post seems to suggest that an absolute path to the moddir fixes the issue. Haven't had the time to try it myself yet, unfortunately.

 

[unmerged(460178)]

Try this: first, go back to the mod's music folder, and delete all the vanilla songs. Then, go to songs.txt and switch your custom songs to factor = 1. Remove all the entries for the vanilla songs, making sure you get all the brackets and whatnot while also not screwing up the bracketing structure for the custom song entries.

Then, add this line to the GoT .mod file:

replace_path = "music"

The default mod behavior is extending paths, which utilizes the existing vanilla files and merges changes from the loaded mod files into the vanilla ones. replace_path, on the other hand, totally overwrites all the vanilla files in the default directory with the files in the corresponding mod directory. So, when you load the mod, it will load the mod's music folder as if it were the vanilla version, and only use that directory.

While these changes should only apply to games you play with the mod, I'd enable the .mod file's user_dir variable for added safety. (If the mod fails to launch after enabling this, you may need to add an empty folder named after whatever you assigned to user_dir in your "Paradox Interactive" folder (in My Documents [PC] or ~/Documents [Mac]. Note that this will generate a new set of default settings for this particular "profile," so you'll likely need to readjust the graphics and sound settings, etc., when you launch it for the first time.)

Hey thanks a bunch this was just what I wanted. Worked a charm obviously It's now treating the mods "music" folder as default and ignoring the vanilla music.

 

[Wolfgang Pauli]

Hey thanks a bunch this was just what I wanted. Worked a charm obviously It's now treating the mods "music" folder as default and ignoring the vanilla music.

This makes me think that songs.txt doesn't do a god damn thing.

 

[principiis]

Hey thanks a bunch this was just what I wanted. Worked a charm obviously It's now treating the mods "music" folder as default and ignoring the vanilla music.

Glad I could help! (Truth be told, it wasn't long ago that I was asking much the same kind of questions myself!) While I'm nowhere near an expert modder, I try to help out where I can; it seems only right, since I owe much of my current (modest) modding ability to the help and advice of a number of experienced modders here. Call it "paying it forward," if you like. :happy:

If in the future you can't find what you're looking for with a forum search (folks have already covered an incredible amount of ground in the last 3-4 months), don't be afraid to ask! There are lots of great people around here who are happy to help out modders and mod-users of all skill levels.

This makes me think that songs.txt doesn't do a god damn thing.

No, it definitely does; it just isn't set up to do what JMLOng wanted (to the best of my knowledge, anyway). For example, there's another thread in here where someone packaged some public-domain recordings of medieval tunes and Gregorian chants, and another poster followed up with a bit of a tutorial on how to modify songs.txt so certain songs only played during peacetime. It only required an additional modifier line per track, and worked like a charm. I play all my vanilla games with those additional tracks and modifiers, and now I can't imagine them not being in the game's soundtrack.

There's probably more options you can use, but I haven't been modding long enough to be able to give you any idea of what they might be.

 

[Wolfgang Pauli]

I've had the idea in the back of my head that the music is chosen based on your character's location. So if you start in France and march to the Levant on a crusade, you hear the music change as your army marches across Europe.

 

[principiis]

I've had the idea in the back of my head that the music is chosen based on your character's location. So if you start in France and march to the Levant on a crusade, you hear the music change as your army marches across Europe.

...y'know, that's actually a pretty good idea. :laugh:

Have you tried coding this already? The syntax to do this (e.g., setting location-based triggers for certain tracks during wartime only) is definitely there -- it'd just be a question of whether or not they're applicable to songs.txt. I can't imagine why they wouldn't be, but again, I don't know for sure.

 

[Wolfgang Pauli]

It's just a matter of figuring out what the hell scope you start in. I'm not sure how to target player scope, but it'd just be

[player_scope] = {
	location = {
		culture = XXXXX
	}
}

 

[Fawr]

It's just a matter of figuring out what the hell scope you start in. I'm not sure how to target player scope, but it'd just be

[player_scope] = {
	location = {
		culture = XXXXX
	}
}

Don't you start in the player's scope to begin with?

Otherwise I don't know how the example from the music mod thread would work (the one where some music will only play when the player is at war)?

 

[CrackdToothGrin]

Quick question: Is there any way to make inheritance default to a monarch's cousins or their children? Like the Kievan Rus' rota system, but skipping succession of the monarch's brother in favor of his children?

 

[Multicast]

Inheritance laws are hard coded, but you could probably work something out with clever use of the on_death trigger in common/on_actions.txt and the abdiction or grant_title commands.

 

[Ekstrakt]

With the addition of the plot-to-kill button alongside the character portrait, is it possible to have a kind of either plot to kidnap or even as far as impregnate with X chance of success and Y chance of discovery?
I'm not trying to cross limits here, but as far as the game is supposed to develop characters, I know I'd cross kingdoms and empires in order to avenge my wife's unwanted pregnancy. And sure as hell wage war in order for my enemies to release my only son and heir.
I find family and inheritance quite intriguing, and perhaps raising an unwanted bastard in your name in order to avoid prestigious loss would add another level of immersion for me.

Please do not regard this as some freaky fantasy, as it is not, haha.

 

[principiis]

Don't you start in the player's scope to begin with?

I think so, although I believe you could specifically invoke it using ROOT = in that first line. (Don't quote me on that, though.)

Otherwise I don't know how the example from the music mod thread would work (the one where some music will only play when the player is at war)?

Here's a cobbled-together starting point. In theory, provided I have the syntax right (which is by no means assured), this should only play "warsong_france.ogg" while your character is at war and in any province currently held by France:

song = {
	name = "warsong_france.ogg"
	
	chance = {
		modifier = {
			factor = 1
			war = yes
			ROOT = {
				location = {
					controlled_by = {
						owner = {
							top_liege = k_france
						}
					}
				}
			}
		}
	}
	chance = {
		modifier = {
			factor = 0
			war = no
		}
	}	
}

I realize that the formatting of controlled_by and owner makes it look as if it's not properly tabbed-in, but the latter is indeed indented one tab in from its parent.

This is only a jumping-off point, and could rapidly get much more complex. I'll post again later with more of what I'm thinking.

 

[jezza93]

Is it possible to make some counties give more or less troops?

 

[Meneth]

Is it possible to make some counties give more or less troops?

Province modifiers can increase the number of troops either directly (E.G., 50 more archers), or by a percentage.

 

[MylesSCP]

Can you change the percentage of counties need to form a duchy? If so, where?

 

[Multicast]

I'm almost 100% certain that the percentage of counties to create a duchy is hard-coded, but you could make special creations conditions for the ducal titles that require you to hold every county in the duchy or something. It would just have to be on a per-case basis, so probably not practical to implement.

 

[RedRooster81]

JG is right. The devs hardcoded it at 50 percent for all titles (ducal and above), but you can put all kinds of criteria in for both landed and titular titles. For k_aquitaine, you could for example require the title creator to be Frankish or Occitan (or both). For duchies, you can do the same thing, and actually I don't know what criteria are valid for title creation. AFAIK traits are (trait = ambitious, for example), as well as religion and religion_group; maybe character modifiers and traits?

If you never want a title to be creatable (but want it to still exist for whatever reason), the right criteria is:

always = no

Keep in mind that removing a title from landed_titles is the main impediment to compatibility from version to version of a mod or the vanilla game.