HELP WANTED: Modder to Help Improve Major Mod Compatibility

[sman1975]

Greetings!

I'm looking for an experienced modder who can assist me in getting my mods more compatible with the major mods most players like. Primarily mods like:
- Vox Populi / CBP
- EUI
- EE
- YnAEMP
- Barbarians Evolved

etc.

Due to a variety of problems, I'm not able to work through many of these issues, but hate to leave players with mods they want to play together but can't.

Salary negotiable, co-credit possible. Please IM me if you are interesting in helping.

Thanks!

P.S. - I'm serious about this...

 

[Enginseer]

I can help with CBP, but what seems to be the issue?

 

[sman1975]

Thanks, @Enginseer! Appreciate your offer - any time one of the "Godfathers" of Civ V modding makes an offer, one simply cannot refuse.....

There are a couple of areas concerning the CBP/VP compatibility of several of my mods. As I've slowly released several mods now, I'm starting to see (based on player comments/questions) how important it is to make sure these mods are as VP compatible as possible. The large problem is I don't play the VP mod, so I'm not sure how effective I could test such compatibility. This is why I was reaching out to find a partner to help me find the problems and move the code to a better degree of compatibility. Someone who knew VP well enough to recognize errant behavior.

The specific problem that initiated the original post is in one of my mods (Fantasy Army, https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=974922021). The mod started out as a response to a post in the "Request Mods" forum. A user wanted a "wizard" unit added. After a few iterations, the mod's scope grew considerably. However, it is primarily "database-centric" mod, adding units/models/promotions, etc., but not a lot of LUA or complicated interactions in the tables.

When a player has Fantasy Army and VP enabled, during gameplay - whenever a Great General is spawned - a large number of very advanced units also spawn with the GG. You can imagine how in the Classical Era, suddenly 5-6 Information Era units appear, how that might impact the gaming experience...

I've looked over the XML/SQL files in all the VP libraries, but haven't found any smoking gun. Both mods adjust the schema of the Units table, but I haven't seen anything that could account for the behavior. This probably leaves the custom DLL, but I'm barely literate in XML/SQL/LUA, so trying to make headway in the DLL arena seems well beyond my capabilities - now or ever...

It was at this point, I realized that I needed help to make my mods more accessible. And am perfectly willing to chip in for the support. I have problems with reviewing other people's code, due to a severe case of dyslexia. Developing my own code is a time consuming effort of displaying blocks in 3 different environments using color-coding and line and block charts. Using a similar approach for others' code would be nearly impossible, and not a very good use of time.

Soooooo….. I was hoping I could find a testing partner who could help find problems and recommend solutions to my mods and how they interact with VP, EE, EUI, YnAEMP, etc.

Appreciate any suggestions - and thanks for your time!

 

[Enginseer]

But Information Era units don't spawn around the Great Generals when the CBP is activated without your mod anyway...?

What's the problem exactly?

 

[sman1975]

Correct. My mod doesn’t deal with GG’s at all. But for some reason, when both mods are active and a GG spawns, several different types of very late Era units spawn.

I don’t think there are more than 1 of each type, though, and all of the new units are from my mod.

Does VP spawn units when a GG spawns? If so, then nvm, there isn’t a problem.

If VP isn’t supposed to spawn units when a GG spawns, then something isn’t right.

 

[Enginseer]

What units are exactly being spawned from your mod?

Are you replicating this or is this from a user's comment?

Also, are these units the same type or are they different everytime?

 

[bc1]

Hello,

took a brief look at your mod files, and would not expect any incompatibility issues with EUI

Cheers

 

[sman1975]

@Enginseer - I don't have VP installed, but when testing the mod alone (or in combination with a few other of my mods), I was not able to recreate the error. The types of units look to be from the latter Eras - and appear quite early in the game.

Since I can't recreate it, I can only go by what has been reported to me in the Discussions tab on Steam. Here are some quotes I've received:

"Well there's a bug involiving Vox Populi. When you've got enough Great General points for one, a lot of units will spawn near your capital. There's some late game units from this game such as the Sentai. I think this bug has something to do with Vox Populi but I can't tell as I don't know too much about Vox. Cheers. "


"Every time I (Or any player really) Spawns a Great General, a Psychonist, a Overlord, a Sentai, a Thaumist, a Wizard, a Templar and an Arcane Warrior as well as several other units spawn with the general ready to obliderate their enemies. "


"So I was just playing this mod and went to war with greece in the classical era at king level difficulty...and he came at me with a paladin, a sentai, and a psionist. "


"I have a problem with this... For some reason, upon Great General spawn, in the Classical there are thurmaturgists sentai's etc... The ai gets it too..."


"not sure if it's this mod alone but after getting enough GG points both me and the abbassids suddenly got a whole slew of fantasy units, including a sentai each. This is particularrly jarring considering that we're not even in the classical era. "


Appreciate any suggestions - thanks!

 

[sman1975]

@bc1 - thanks for the feedback!

If you have some time, I'd really appreciate it if you could perform a similar check against these two mods:

After the Revolution: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1473449974

Covert Ops: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1293662755


I'm working on a rather large family of mods (Twentieth Century Warfare, et al) - and these two will become a part of that family. Getting them to work with EUI would probably make a lot of players happy.

Anything you can do is greatly appreciated!

P.s. I'm serious about the payoff. U can send me a PM with a PayPal link if u like. Thanks!

 

[Enginseer]

Unfortunately, I can't replicate the issue, so I have no idea what's happening... besides mod conflict with something that isn't yours and ours.

 

[sman1975]

Thanks, @Enginseer for taking a look at this. I know how much time it takes. Perhaps the issue is with a different mod altogether.

Having said that, can you think of any game setting/dynamic, data table entry, or LUA method that might cause this spontaneous spawning of units when a GG appears? Appreciate if you have any theories or suggestions on what I should look for inside those other mods.

Thanks again for the help - it is sincerely appreciated!

 

[Enginseer]

Thanks, @Enginseer for taking a look at this. I know how much time it takes. Perhaps the issue is with a different mod altogether.

Having said that, can you think of any game setting/dynamic, data table entry, or LUA method that might cause this spontaneous spawning of units when a GG appears? Appreciate if you have any theories or suggestions on what I should look for inside those other mods.

Thanks again for the help - it is sincerely appreciated!

Perhaps a custom civilization? I'm unsure. There are spontaneous spawning of units from Events (separate from GG appearance) and units from vassals levy(activated upon a new era not from a GG) in the VP, so I can't recall. You may have to ask the person who presented you the problem their list of mods.

 

[LeeS]

The spawning issue is likely related to the use of

<GreatGeneral>true</GreatGeneral>

in various of your custom promotions.

Regardless of what is specified as a Unit that belongs to the Great General class of units, the standard DLL is coded to use the PROMOTION_GREAT_GENERAL (which has column GreatGeneral set to true) to identify units that are to be considered "Great Generals". But the issue is even more complex in that the game tracks this by the first promotion found in the database with the GreatGeneral column set to true. Vox Populi (not sure about just the CP DLL mod) does oddball stuff to the system, not the least of which is re-writing the order in which promotions appear in the UnitPromotions table such that units from some mods that ought to be treated as Great Generals (and are treated so by the game's standard DLL) are not always so treated in Vox Populi.

 

[sman1975]

@LeeS - as usual, this is a great catch. So - if a unit has a promotion where the <GreatGeneral> is set to true/1, then it is possible for that unit to be spawned by the game engine whenever a GG is called for? This makes sense, actually.

And whatever layers of complexity the VP DLL adds somehow creates a condition where multiple "Great General" types of units are spawned simultaneously, whenever the initial spawn condition is set?

It begs the obvious solution to this problem, which is to remove the GG part of the promotion, then these units will no longer be considered for spawning whenever a GG has been earned. But they will also no longer "inspire" nearby units.

Question: Having removed the GG from the promotion, is there any "database only" technique that can be employed as a surrogate - i.e. to improve combat performance of adjacent units?

 

[LeeS]

You might try the code used by the Polynesian Haka War Dance promotion:

<GameData>
	<UnitPromotions>
		<Row>
			<Type>PROMOTION_HAKA_WAR_DANCE</Type>
			<Description>TXT_KEY_PROMOTION_HAKA_WAR_DANCE</Description>
			<Help>TXT_KEY_PROMOTION_HAKA_WAR_DANCE_HELP</Help>
			<Sound>AS2D_IF_LEVELUP</Sound>
			<CannotBeChosen>true</CannotBeChosen>
			<NearbyEnemyCombatMod>-10</NearbyEnemyCombatMod>
			<NearbyEnemyCombatRange>1</NearbyEnemyCombatRange>
			<PortraitIndex>59</PortraitIndex>
			<IconAtlas>ABILITY_ATLAS</IconAtlas>
			<PediaType>PEDIA_ATTRIBUTES</PediaType>
			<PediaEntry>TXT_KEY_PROMOTION_HAKA_WAR_DANCE</PediaEntry>
		</Row>
	</UnitPromotions>
</GameData>

Although it does not "inspire" the units that are near to a given unit, it merely gives a penalty to enemy units that are near that unit.

 

[LeeS]

So - if a unit has a promotion where the <GreatGeneral> is set to true/1, then it is possible for that unit to be spawned by the game engine whenever a GG is called for?

With the standard DLL it will only start spawning non-great-general-class units if some mod alters the UnitPromotions table so that the PROMOTION_GREAT_GENERAL is no longer the first listed in the table with GreatGeneral = true. Any other promotion (and the units that have it) is ignored past the first found in the table. Also, as I recall, the promotion has to be one that is given to the Unit under the Unit_FreePromotions table.

William Howard figured out this behavior issue with the standard DLL when my Proconsul Units were not being spawned when appropriate, even though they were defined as belonging to the Great General Unit-Class. The issue was I was not using the PROMOTION_GREAT_GENERAL, but rather a custom promotion where I had stated GreatGeneral = true as part of that custom promotion to give the Proconsul Unit the combat ability affects of Great Generals. In all other ways the Proconsul functioned properly as a Great General -- it just did not spawn from the accumulated combat XP system. It did spawn properly from Policies and Wonders because that portion of the standard DLL looks to Unit-Class and Unique Units within the Unit-Class rather than to whether the unit has a particular promotion or not.

With CP / Vox Populi ? shrug. But my guess would be this is the root of the issue with multiple units spawning when VP is running.

 

[sman1975]

Although it does not "inspire" the units that are near to a given unit, it merely gives a penalty to enemy units that are near that unit.

In absolute combat effectiveness terms, I suppose this is exactly the same as the GG benefit, no? It just applies to enemies (in a negative sense), as opposed to friendlies (in a positive sense). Good tip!

Your second posting will take me a bit more time to digest - due to the differing interactions between the various game dynamics. At this point, I believe dropping the GG part of the promotion, and adding a Haka War Dance type impact, will provide the distance-based combat benefit I was originally looking for. This will allow me to declare victory over the problem, and move on...

Really appreciate your help! Send me a Paypal link in messenger!!!