Randomly generated scenarios for Medieval 2 (Concentrated Vanilla mod)

I have nearly fully automated installer ready for retail version. For Steam there are still a few manual steps. I'll upload it after I fix a few minor issues.

Here's a new version.

Instructions:

• Install Jruby. This is installer you want.
• Unpack attached 7z archive. (get 7zip if you don't have it installed)
• Run start.bat
• A second window will also pop up with any error messages. If it managed to detect your game installation, it will list it there too.
• Select any options you want. Random scenario only has on/off and random seed selection for now. Just go crazy, it's testing time.
• Select "Build" option from menu. It should take a few seconds to finish.
• Select "Install" option from menu. (It might require administrator privileges or something, errors might happen).
• If you have retail (or cracked, just not Steam) version, select "Run game" from menu. You can also go to your Medieval 2 directory and double click on concentrated_vanilla.bat if you don't want to got through this GUI every time. This should get mod running.
• If you have Steam version, "Install" command copies all files to your installation directory, but it doesn't configure launcher to see the mod. You'll need to configure launcher manually, or follow instructions in this post. I'll try to add launcher support later.

That's it.

You can use "File > Open" to load one of two presets: default.txt contains Concentrated Vanilla presets (without random scenarios), minimal.txt disables most of the features so you'll get vanilla with some bug fixes (a bunch of things are not disabled - you'll get new map with extra regions and updated BAI/CAI code for example - I'll add switches later).

You can also use "File > Save" to save your configuration, but there's no guarantee it will still work when I update the builder, especially so early.

Here's screenshot:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/attac...1&d=1354049012

Here's a new release. Now with exposed faction sizes control for random scenario builder.

Remember to tick "enable random scenario", otherwise all the random scenario settings will be ignored.

Screenshot:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/attac...1&d=1354120692

And full release is ready!

Looks very interesting! If someone has luck porting this to a mod, I would be even keener! I know there is a Westeros hotseat at the moment trying to get a similar result, but they are doing it manually, which sounds like a nightmare!

:whistling Forgot to test the earlier release. I will test this out after I finish my homework:thumbsup2

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Badger-dude

Looks very interesting! If someone has luck porting this to a mod, I would be even keener! I know there is a Westeros hotseat at the moment trying to get a similar result, but they are doing it manually, which sounds like a nightmare!

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If any mod wants similar treatment, they can contact me and we'll figure out the best way.

Is there a specific directory the cv_builder folder needs to be?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by complete noob:(

Is there a specific directory the cv_builder folder needs to be?

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No, unpack it anywhere you want. It finds location of Medieval 2 installation by asking Windows registry (or at least gives it a good try).

Do you have any problems with it?

I may have installed something wrong, but nothing happens when I click start.bat

I am hopeless with technology, so it is probably something on my end

If you have installed JRuby (and didn't untick "configure PATHs" during its installation), then double clicking start.bat should start the GUI.

If reinstalling JRuby doesn't help, could you edit start.bat adding second line saying "pause" (so it doesn't quit immediately), and then screenshot any error message you see?

Here. It looks like something is up with java

This JRuby download should include Java as well. If not, you can try installing Java separately.

Would the replacement of files in the 'mod_skeleton' and 'vanilla' folders (with files form a working mod) generate a mod\map that can be used?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gigantus

Would the replacement of files in the 'mod_skeleton' and 'vanilla' folders (with files form a working mod) generate a mod\map that can be used?

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That would be ideal, but in practice it won't work all that great due to various limitations of mod builder.

For stuff like textures and models dropping files into mod_skeleton would work.

(stuff in mod_skeleton gets copied without any changes, only selected files from vanilla/ are used, the rest is ignored - this is fairly messy setup)

For map currently it's heavily preprocessed. map_information.rb contains preprocessed information about map. That will change in the future. (that's like item 1 on my list)

For various text files, some of them will work, others won't easily. (most cases of things not working are limitations of the mod builders that should hopefully one day go away)

For anything that changes list of regions, factions, faction->unit assignment, faction->religion assignment, buildings etc. - these are hardcoded in mod builder currently. You should be able to add units and buildings without confusing the mod builder, mostly, removing them might be more confusing.

And one big limitation that it expects Medieval 2 file formats, Kingdoms are slightly different, so that would need to be changed too.

If you want to give it a try on some minimod, I'd love to help, and we should be able to get it working after a few tries. For big mods, it's probably too early, but eventually yes.

If I would just change the map (and the connected files in the world folder) that should be a start. They have the same format in Med2 and Kingdoms. Like one of my maps here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gigantus

If I would just change the map (and the connected files in the world folder) that should be a start. They have the same format in Med2 and Kingdoms. Like one of my maps here.

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Support for other maps is definitely coming, and real soon now.

It would be better if you had map that can work with Medieval 2 - with working desc_strat.txt etc.

Mod builder doesn't currently do things like generating family trees etc., it takes them from desc_strat.txt even in random scenario builder.

By the way just send me any maps you'd like to see supported (and possibly included in the mod if you want), I'll make sure there are no problems.

The difference between med2 and kingdoms are a small number of files - check my Bare Kingdoms set up for that. The files in the 'world' folder are not affected by it.