sman1975
Emperor
Thanks, @YINGCHENG , for that excellent test report. You could do this for a living!
I'm updating my "Master TODO (to-do)" list, which is a huge MS Word document that I use to keep track of all my mods (I pronounce it like Toto, the dog in the "Wizard of Oz"). It contains lists of known errors, suspected errors to research, suggestions, good ideas, and previously attempted/now abandoned efforts - for every mod in my Workshop, even the mods not on Steam, but only on Civfanatics. When there are critical errors, or enough non-critical errors and I have enough time, that's when I decided to work on fixing a specific mod. Not much of a system, but it's OK for me.
So, when you report a problem with a non-AWAW mod, it's still important to me, so that I can upgrade the TODO list. I have no idea what MTI would impact the tech tree, but this is one of the most frustrating things about Civ5 modding: very, very often, when you see an error, you go to that part of the code, thoroughly examine it, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the code - I call them "impossible errors." You have to start looking at other aspects of the mod, and after hours and hours (sometimes more), you'll see some slightly improperly configured line of code that has absolutely nothing to do with the error. A quick change, and rebuild, then voila! the mod works perfectly... I believe these improperly configured items create some kind of unstable state in the mod environment that manifests itself in the original error. But, since almost everything you do impacts the mod's environment, it's a challenge to see what was the original offending line of code. It's ridiculously frustrating and very, very time-consuming, but I'm usually so f'ing glad to have the fix done and out of my way, that I'm often more happy than mad.
Anyways, I got all the 5 of the "End at ... Era" published yesterday, and am working on the "Soldiers of Fortune" mod now. It's finished except for one of those "impossible errors" that I'm trying to cause the unrelated area of code that causes the error. Spend 3 hours on it so far, without a hint of success. After I finally do publish SoF, the Slavery mod is next. Like SoF, the code was 100% completed/tested/working when it was part of the main AWAW mod. I took these features out, in case players wanted to play a "pristine" version of AWAW (or would be offended by the concept of slavery, which I can definitely understand. I almost didn't include it at all in the main AWAW, but one can't deny it is a relevant aspect of early diplomacy - wars of conquest were often fought to capture booty and slaves. So, I think the concept is problematic, but historically relevant. I put much thought into the Civilopedia entry for Slavery, so players would understand why it's included in the game: fidelity to history, and not celebrating owning another human being.
OK, off my soap box....
The third mod on my AWAW TODO is finishing "The Black Swan" companion mod. It adds 30+ "events" that can occur during the AWAW time-frame. The mod was also part of the main AWAW before the great divestiture that stripped out SoF, Slavery, and BS as well. It was "unit tested" - meaning every single event was thoroughly tested and perform acceptable in all test cases (every possible outcome in the code logic). I even started gathering data on the higher order of test requirements - how all the different events impact the game, trying to determine does the mod impact too much or too little, and are the events "balanced" in the overall game design. I believe I was about 25% completed with that when I pulled the BS out of AWAW. So, it will take a day or so to complete the code, but another half day or so to complete testing.
All of this is provided to let you know, in about 2-3 days, I'm hoping to go back to TODO, and look at both the WAW-MTI and WAW-Irregular Units, and update those to make sure they don't break the appearance of the tech tree. Hopefully by the end of the week.
But, when a huge mod like AWAW is published, I try not to change too many legacy mods that have problems like these. I usually try to wait a couple of weeks or more, in case we find more problems with those mods that need changing. I try not to have too many updates to mods on the periphery, in case it breaks something for other players who aren't playing AWAW at all.
Sorry for the "book" this morning. I generally don't try to start any modding until I'm on my second cup of coffee. On the first cup, I try to catch up on posting. So, thanks for letting me waste a bit of your time while I catch up on caffeine...
I'm updating my "Master TODO (to-do)" list, which is a huge MS Word document that I use to keep track of all my mods (I pronounce it like Toto, the dog in the "Wizard of Oz"). It contains lists of known errors, suspected errors to research, suggestions, good ideas, and previously attempted/now abandoned efforts - for every mod in my Workshop, even the mods not on Steam, but only on Civfanatics. When there are critical errors, or enough non-critical errors and I have enough time, that's when I decided to work on fixing a specific mod. Not much of a system, but it's OK for me.
So, when you report a problem with a non-AWAW mod, it's still important to me, so that I can upgrade the TODO list. I have no idea what MTI would impact the tech tree, but this is one of the most frustrating things about Civ5 modding: very, very often, when you see an error, you go to that part of the code, thoroughly examine it, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with the code - I call them "impossible errors." You have to start looking at other aspects of the mod, and after hours and hours (sometimes more), you'll see some slightly improperly configured line of code that has absolutely nothing to do with the error. A quick change, and rebuild, then voila! the mod works perfectly... I believe these improperly configured items create some kind of unstable state in the mod environment that manifests itself in the original error. But, since almost everything you do impacts the mod's environment, it's a challenge to see what was the original offending line of code. It's ridiculously frustrating and very, very time-consuming, but I'm usually so f'ing glad to have the fix done and out of my way, that I'm often more happy than mad.
Anyways, I got all the 5 of the "End at ... Era" published yesterday, and am working on the "Soldiers of Fortune" mod now. It's finished except for one of those "impossible errors" that I'm trying to cause the unrelated area of code that causes the error. Spend 3 hours on it so far, without a hint of success. After I finally do publish SoF, the Slavery mod is next. Like SoF, the code was 100% completed/tested/working when it was part of the main AWAW mod. I took these features out, in case players wanted to play a "pristine" version of AWAW (or would be offended by the concept of slavery, which I can definitely understand. I almost didn't include it at all in the main AWAW, but one can't deny it is a relevant aspect of early diplomacy - wars of conquest were often fought to capture booty and slaves. So, I think the concept is problematic, but historically relevant. I put much thought into the Civilopedia entry for Slavery, so players would understand why it's included in the game: fidelity to history, and not celebrating owning another human being.
OK, off my soap box....
The third mod on my AWAW TODO is finishing "The Black Swan" companion mod. It adds 30+ "events" that can occur during the AWAW time-frame. The mod was also part of the main AWAW before the great divestiture that stripped out SoF, Slavery, and BS as well. It was "unit tested" - meaning every single event was thoroughly tested and perform acceptable in all test cases (every possible outcome in the code logic). I even started gathering data on the higher order of test requirements - how all the different events impact the game, trying to determine does the mod impact too much or too little, and are the events "balanced" in the overall game design. I believe I was about 25% completed with that when I pulled the BS out of AWAW. So, it will take a day or so to complete the code, but another half day or so to complete testing.
All of this is provided to let you know, in about 2-3 days, I'm hoping to go back to TODO, and look at both the WAW-MTI and WAW-Irregular Units, and update those to make sure they don't break the appearance of the tech tree. Hopefully by the end of the week.
But, when a huge mod like AWAW is published, I try not to change too many legacy mods that have problems like these. I usually try to wait a couple of weeks or more, in case we find more problems with those mods that need changing. I try not to have too many updates to mods on the periphery, in case it breaks something for other players who aren't playing AWAW at all.
Sorry for the "book" this morning. I generally don't try to start any modding until I'm on my second cup of coffee. On the first cup, I try to catch up on posting. So, thanks for letting me waste a bit of your time while I catch up on caffeine...