[MODCOMP] - XML Cleanup & Expansion

[MagisterCultuum]

I've found CtDs to be intermittent recently, usually either within the first couple turns or a couple hundred turns in.

Then I added Marnok's mod on top of the (minor xml, even smaller python) changes I'd made to the modcomp, and I found that CtDs became far more common. I've made it about 30 turns in once, but it usually crashes within 5.

 

[Ploeperpengel]

Just a guess but Marnoks mod is about improvements and Xienwolf and me face some endless turns in WH in very specific situations with forts atm. So maybe it's related and something about the improvementcode isn't right.
Do you ctd or have endless loops actually?

 

[MagisterCultuum]

No endless loops, just lots of CtDs.

Most of them are when I end a turn. I was also occasionally getting CtDs from my FoL Priests' Summon Animal spell (I replaced summon tiger with this, but I think it is too strong so it may become a druid spell), but I think I fixed that. (This spell randomly selects one from a list of animal units; I had forgotten that the index is 1 less than the length, so it never summoned a wolf and it crashed when it was supposed o summon a gorilla)

For a moment I thought I'd forgotten to include his new improvements, but then I realized that I was looking in the unmodded version. The file looks correct when I'm in the right folder.

I wonder if adding Creation, Dimensional, Force, and Ice Nodes and resources could have something to do with it? (For now they all look like Air mana/nodes, and I haven't added their spells. Dimensional does pass on duration-boosting promotions to summons though, and seems to be working fine.) I also made most unique features provide mana, and made citadels and enclaves act as cities.

Edit: Now I've made it 97 turns without a CtD (the furthest I've gotten since including marnok mod, about as long as I often made it before incorperating this), but seem to be having a WoC instead. Maybe going down to a tiny map helps. (With my changes, Charadon of the Sheaim is a very good combo.) Edit: When I left and reloaded a save from the turn before the WoC it still WoCed. When I went back to a save 6 turns sooner and made a few different decisions (researching infernal pact instead of arcane lore, building the Stigmata instead of an Academy, training a ritualist instead of a pyre zombie, not attacking a hippus city and losing Rosier and a succubus, ect) I got no WoC, but did get a CtD at tune 99.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

So, how long do you think it will be until you update this to patch e?

 

[xienwolf]

Not sure, looks like I will be busy in the yard all day tomorrow, so I may not have a chance to touch modding until Wednesday.

 

[Kasdar]

Xienwolf I was wondering if it would be possible for you to add a tag to the buildinginfos file to allow me to modify the yields on the various terains like the one for the seatiles yield. I was thinking along these lines.

<TerrainYieldChange>
	<TerrainYields>
	<TERRAIN>TERRAIN_DESERT</TERRAIN>
		<iYield>2</iYield>
		<iYield>0</iYield>
		<iYield>0</iYield>
	</TerrainYields>
</TerrainYieldChange>

 

[xienwolf]

Should be possible. I'll add it to the requests list.

 

[xienwolf]

New version up with Patch E incorporated. AIAutoPlay currently on turn 200 without any problems noted.

EDIT: Ran some more AI Auto Play games and got a WoC, removed the lines which prevented HN units from attacking/being attacked in cities and the WoC cleared. So until I can teach the AI not to try doing that I'll have to allow HN units to continue harassing cities Re-uploaded 1.06 with this change.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

Any chance you could be convinced to release a version that includes Broader Alignments? I'm having a hard time merging this mod with Broader Alignments (Fall Further version), and I need things from both for many of my modmod ideas. I think I got the DLL merged ok, but none of my changes to schema files work.

I was also thinking that it would really cool if Broader Alignments was a game option, so you could turn it on and off without needing to drastically mod and unmod the game.

 

[xienwolf]

Not much of a chance of that anytime too soon. I've been running a lot of AIAutoPlays and finally have convinced myself that there is a bug in the MODCOMP somewhere, rather than my system just being too weak for things.

I was running AutoPlays quite a bit, and found that I wasn't really able to make it past turn 600 without a CtD. Since it was INCREDIBLY varied for when it would occur, I wrote it off initially as a hardware issue. But after a while of being annoyed by it I ran base FfH for a solid 1000 turns reliably. So at that point I was finally certain that something in the code was wrong.

I have finally managed to get a save that will crash every time I load it. So I am busy trying to find ways to remove most of the MODCOMPS and personal work without breaking the save, but hoping that in the process I can solve the Crash.


Till I get this crash cleared and run my MODCOMP for a full 1000 turns, work is pretty much at a standstill.

 

[xienwolf]

So far not much luck with isolating the intermittent crash, so I am going to re-write the code from the ground up. I'll be dropping the MODCOMPs which I am not personally planning to use as well, so if you want the code for those, save it somewhere.

Keeping:
Dom Pedro's Food from Animals
Bhruic's Trade Fix

Ditching:
Dom Pedro's Dynamic Unique Units
xednix's Technology Affected Buildings
TheLopez's Resources from Civics
Jean Elcard's Obsolete Buildings


Main thing I will be doing while re-writing the code is making certain that WinMerge will actually acknowledge the added code AS added code. The commenting system I use now does this fairly well for most things, but there are some areas where it doesn't work so well. This means I will be changing the format of the code to be slightly different in how you read it (no lines with just a start or end bracket)

 

[Elm]

I am 293 turns in a current game that is at patch e + Worker Mod for 232e, and even though I have optics, and roads to another player, the foreign adviser reports "not connected by trade network" for all other players. I have "no technology trading" and "no technology brokering" turned on though. With the resource trading changes added into this mod, was any new tech restriction added for trading? I am running the agriculture civic, and haven't researched mercantilism yet.

 

[xienwolf]

Nothing should be changed for how to trade, just that the AI will be unwilling to trade for any resources it already has. You should still wind up being connected normally.

Do you have open borders with the other player? Maybe the Trade network is only meant to indicate if your cities are able to have traderoutes to the other players?

 

[Elm]

I have open boarders with one player. And am at war with two. Unfortunately, I cannot trade any resources, nor can I offer to end a war for resources. I am playing Sidar, so am ahead a bit in tech. But I built roads between civs, and have bridge building.

I will start up another game later and see what happens. I have a sample size of 1 now, so it could just be something to do with the map. I removed everything (including old saves) before installing this last round, so I have nothing to compare with.

 

[xienwolf]

If I get some time later today I'll run some tests as well to ensure that I can trade at all, then to see if I can trade with the Tech options you had set. Not too likely that I'll get the time, but ideally I ought to.

 

[MagisterCultuum]

So, any ETA on a patch g compatible version?

Also, any change I con convince you to release a version that includes Grey Fox's Broader Alignment changes? (It would be even better if you made broader alignments be a game option, so we could turn it on or off and you'd only need to release/keep up with one version)

Edit: Oh...I guess I hadn't checked the modders guide yet. Hopefully he'll release it soon (or go ahead and release the one for patch h if that comes out soon)

 

[xienwolf]

I'm actually going to re-write the whole thing from scratch when I get back from my trip, and I will only be including my new Tags and 1 or 2 of the MODCOMPs I had before. I need to get the intermittent crash cleared, so it is time to cut things back and re-draw it all so that I can use WINMERGE easier to update and review my work.

No progress will be made at all though until I return from my trip on the 7th of July. And probably not for quite some time after that as I have a LOT of work to do in the lab and getting ready for teaching next year.

 

[xienwolf]

Oh yeah... and a :bonk: for even ASKING such a thing before Kael posts the SDK for patch G...

 

[MagisterCultuum]

So.....have you started your new version yet? Any ETA?


I'm hoping that Vehem can include this modmod soon (so I can borrow his SDK/schema), but that won't happen until you get your new version out and stable.

 

[xienwolf]

Haven't started yet, and no ETA. Got home and saw our house from the perspective of people who haven't been living there every day and decided that we need to redo spring cleaning. Between that and work I'll be fairly busy for at least today.