[Warlords] Battle of Hastings

[AlanH]

- What does this have to do with the Battle of Hastings issues?
- I'm not clear whether you are saying the AoD mod does or doesn't work on the Mac?
- What's the issue with the PublicMaps folder? Why create a new one inside the mod?
- That Python code adds an event every 20 turns, giving a 20% probability that five AI races will get additional units. If you are suggesting using it as a way to get Battle of Hastings working, I don't think it's relevant.

 

[Flintlock1415]

Python has nothing to do with startup; its the scripting language used to create custom events etc. through it. DCM may use Python to handle some of the components, but I thought that it used mainly a custom dll file, therefore not being able to work on Macs.

This won't really have anything to do with my mod; I don't even have any Python in to affect the mod.

 

[iggymnrr]

My thinking is that the AoD "mac compatible" version was designed to run on Windows but does run on Mac. There were different instructions for the Mac that came with the download. I've been running Hastings on my Mac the same way I ran AoD: drag the public map to the Warlords PublicMaps folder and when loading Hastings I choose "Custom Scenario" not "Scenario." This has worked ... I just tested AoD on the Mac without the Python folder and it launched successfully. Makes me wonder if I try doing this on Windows (following those instructions but without the Python folder) if I won't get the same problem I've had with Hastings. But I have to get to work now.

 

[Flintlock1415]

Sorry, for some reason I mixed up DCM and AoD. (Same creator.)

I still say Python has nothing to do with it; you could delete the one in my mod since its empty.

 

[AlanH]

On my system, I never get as far as the main menu when loading Battle of Hastings, it crashes in Windows during the mod load sequence. So there's no point in playing with the locations of the WB file.

 

[iggymnrr]

Okay. I guess the only mod I've tried on my mac placed the WB file elsewhere. So, in the absence of any install instructions I did the same with Hastings. Never knew there was another way. FWIW I struck out trying to get AoD to crash on Windows even without the Python folder. Which at least leaves me with a mod that works on both platforms. My crashes on Windows with Hastings is at the init Engine window. It gets no further. Wish I knew what the game does right after checking the xml.

 

[iggymnrr]

Currently, I've gone through and removed files from the mod that had dates equal or prior to the final Warlords patch. The mod is still working on the Mac. But I stumbled across the following regarding BTS:

P.S WB saves are crosscompatible between 3.13 and 3.17 if they don't have No Espionage ticked. No problem with the patches here And as WB saves are no more than text files and Vanilla and Warlords WB are almost equal, you can play this if you exchange the non-Vanilla ( or non-warlords ) stuff ( in here it will be only leaders and civs eventually )

There may be some work in the WB file yet to be done. But for now, I am going to attempt to reconstruct the mod using the final patched version of Warlords as a guide and the pruned version of the mod as the target. Might as well jump into the deep end, if I drown, I drown.

 

[Flintlock1415]

Have you got the mod to load to the main screen? If not, I wouldn't mess with the WB save file just yet.

 

[iggymnrr]

Great News!!! I finally got Battle of Hastings to load in Windows. I recreated the mod with all the civs and leaders and it loaded perfectly. I left the Art directory empty letting art paths go to game defaults. This will make it easier to find graphics problems -- and can be done on the Windows side. Now I will go on to add techs and civs then units. One note to be aware of: the default leaderinfo file has some sublte nuances (you will notice different numbers of lines for each civ.) Some civs may define, for instance, war attitudes for annoyed, cautious, pleased, friendly while others may omit 1 or more of these (like annoyed.) I recreated this file precisely as is, but you may wish to examine the options available

 

[Flintlock1415]

Alright, sweet! Just one thing I'm curious about (I'm not too confident this is it) is whether there are problems with the artdefines for the terrain. I just stuck the file from the Viking scenario that gave the terrain a darker color, but now I'm curious to if the file could be messing with something.

Just a suggestion to see if that is the bad art.

 

[iggymnrr]

Mixed Results!!! After apparently finding a way to crash on Windows I finally got a workflow down to aide things -- THANKS BBEdit!! -- So I attacked with units got them done except for art defines. Some 1 xml error on the Mac side, a bunch on the Windows side but NO CRASHES. It at least got me to the Civilopedia where I could see my nice text handywork -- cough, cough -- I'll finish routing the art defines to known working game graphics and try to figure out why Windows doesn't like the unit class infos -- loathes is the better word. And then --- sleep.

 

[Flintlock1415]

Keep plugging away man! You're doing some great work!

 

[iggymnrr]

Graphics for civs and leaders are online! So far 2 leaderheads cause a crash and have been replaced with in game ones. Got units error messages down to 1 on both mac/win. (Some wierd one about Confucion whatever.) Not going to start a game with things when I'm done since I figure that will most certainly not work. Aiming for a visual confirmation in the Civilopedia for now.

 

[iggymnrr]

Actually managed to start a couple of games of the mod in windows despite a few xml errors. Managed to recycle my work on buildings that I had to rip out before I decided to go after units instead. I had techs and civics done then too but it seems now that this may be where the loading crashes may lie. Will work on recycling them soon. FWIW Windows couldn't use the diplomacy file and it was pretty much beyond repair so I redid that file from the ground up (a 90-minute workflow that worked like a charm) and seems to be working great. Uh, it is rather simple when you think about it -- just another way to present text. I can sense a relationship between that file and some of the subtle nuances in the civilizations file I mentioned above. Mental note to self -- work on this file in conjunction with civs and leaders when setting up a new mod. (But you don't have use it right away. It can sit for awhile. Just do it while thinking about those nuances.)

 

[iggymnrr]

Success! I've managed to get the bulk of the mod rebuilt. There are a few things yet to be done but you should be able to load it and start a game in single player mode. It's in a state of "deep sleep" right now which means you can do things like switch civics at will or use the WB to test out units. No UBs or UUs have been activated along with some other things. My plan is to use BBEdit's file comparison feature to wake things up slowly. Graphics have been added as is with the original links from the artdefines. An alternate set of artdefines (_old) have been included which link up with in game graphics if there are any problems there. It is time to get feedback and for me to get some rest. I have tested the current mod in Windows XP and Mac Leopard with no issues to so far. Below is a link from which you can download . It will be accessible for a couple of days.
Removed Link:4-22-09

 

[Flintlock1415]

Cool.
I'll check it out tonight.

 

[Flintlock1415]

Just curious, could anyone else confirm that this works? iggy and I are working out the kinks, but it should load no problem. Also I'd like to see if the map loads for Windows users; just make sure you delete the CL part of the folder's name.

 

[AlanH]

Downloading now

 

[AlanH]

Yes, it loads up in Windows Warlords, and I can start a game.

There's a *very* long pause during loading, while the graphics are loaded up.

 

[Flintlock1415]

Cool! Can you play the included scenario, though? (named BoH)