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Thread: Editing Character Names

  1. #1

    Default Editing Character Names

    Modding Resource Header

    Title: Editing Character Names
    Posted by: Aradan
    Modding area: Text (character names)
    Required programs: Notepad (or other text editor)
    Summary: An explanation of the descr_names.txt and names.txt files, which are used to modify the names of characters.






    Editing Character Names for Rome: Total War:



    Understanding & Coding the descr_names.txt and names.txt files

    by Aradan



    Intro

    Seeing as many people like to play around with their character names and that that aspect of modding can create some irritating errorless CTDs, here's a simple tutorial that covers that stuff. I tried to make it fool-proof, but some things might have escaped me, so if you have any comments, suggestions, corrections or additions, feel free to contribute.
    Here goes:


    Contents:
    1. Necessary Files
    2. Know the files
    3. Add a name
    4. Change a name
    5. Remove a name

    ==================================================================================

    1. Necessary Files:
    • data/descr_names.txt
    • data/text/names.txt

    * The data/descr_names_lookup.txt file is no longer needed in 1.5/1.6 versions.

    ==================================================================================

    2. Know the files


    • descr_names.txt

    Open descr_names.txt. An example of what you will be looking at is:

    Code:
    faction: romans_senate
    
        characters
            Amulius
            Augustus
            Aulus
            ...
            Marcellus
            Asinius
    
        surnames
            Acilius 
            Aelius
            Aemilius 
            ...
            Volesus
            Vulso
    
        women
            Metella
            Domitia
            Gratidia
            ...
            Vipsania
            Vistilia
    As you can see the names are listed per faction and then each faction's names are sorted into 3 categories: male names, surnames and female names. If a name/surname exists in multiple factions then it must be listed in each faction's list.

    Important notes: The entries in descr_names are the internal character names, the ones the game's engine and all text files use, not what you will be seeing on screen. So you can have no spaces, tabs or special characters in an internal name, use underscores to connect multiple-word entries.


    • names.txt

    Open names.txt. An example of what you will be looking at is:

    Code:
    {Amulius}            Amulius
    {Augustus}        Augustus
    {Aulus}            Aulus
    {...}            ...
    {Marcellus}        Marcellus
    {Asinius}            Asinius
    
    {Acilius}            Acilius
    {Aelius}            Aelius
    {Aemilius}        Aemilius
    {...}            ...
    {Volesus}            Volesus
    {Vulso}            Vulso
    
    {Metella}            Metella
    {Domitia}            Domitia
    {Gratidia}        Gratidia
    {...}            ...
    {Vipsania}        Vipsania
    {Vistilia}        Vistilia
    On the left side you see the internal character names inside brackets (they must of course correspond and be identical to the entries that exist in descr_names.txt) and on the right side you can see the corresponding on-screen name of each internal name. The internal name may be identical to the on-screen name or it can be totally different. For example
    Code:
    {Vibius}        Gerrard
    {of_Rome}        of London
    is a perfectly fine entry. The engine will be seeing the name as "Vibius" but what will appear on screen is the name Gerrard. Likewise, a general (let's say Julius) might have the "of_Rome" surname, but what you'll be seeing is "Julius of London".

    Important notes: Even if an entry/internal name appears in multiple factions' lists in descr_names.txt, it must only appear once in names.txt. Also, there is no need to organise entries here into factions, forenames, surnames etc.

    ==================================================================================

    3. Add a name/surname

    If you want to add a new name to the game you have to:
    • Add a new internal-name entry in descr_names.txt in the appropriate faction(s) list, like this:

    Code:
    faction: romans_senate
        characters
            Amulius
            Augustus
            Aulus
            ...
            Marcellus
            Asinius
            John_R
    
         surnames
            Acilius 
            Aelius
    • Add a new line in names.txt for the new internal entry, like this:

    Code:
    {Amulius}            Amulius
    {Augustus}        Augustus
    {Aulus}            Aulus
    {...}            ...
    {Marcellus}        Marcellus
    {Asinius}            Asinius
    {John_R}            John R.
    {Acilius}            Acilius
    {Aelius}            Aelius
    Done - now the Senate will be able to have characters named "John R." (on screen). If you add the internal name to other factions' lists in descr_names they will have that name available as well. Of course, you must only have 1 entry in names.txt, regardless of the number of entries in descr_names. Note that the name in brackets must be exactly the same as the internal name I defined and that the external name can have spaces and special characters in it.

    ==================================================================================

    4. Change a name/surname

    If you only want to change how a name appears on screen, then simply open names.txt and change the right side entry of a name to whatever you want, like this:
    Code:
    {John_R}        Jonathan Rick
    Now all 'John_R' characters will now appear on screen under the name "Jonathan Rick" instead of "John R." that we had set it earlier.

    ==================================================================================

    5. Remove a name/surname

    If you want to remove a name from the game you have to:
    • Remove ALL instances (ie from all factions' lists where it is available) of the name from descr_names.txt

    Code:
     faction: romans_senate
         characters
             Amulius
             Augustus
             Aulus
             ...
             Marcellus
             Asinius
             John_R
             ;John_R    ; The ";" symbol makes whatever follows after it invisible to the game. You can alternatively just delete the whole line as I did right above.
    
          surnames
             Acilius 
             Aelius
    • Remove/replace ALL references of that name in descr_strat.txt (and any other files that may contain one, like campaign_script or other scripts). If you do not, the game will CTD with no messsge.

    *You don't have to remove the name's entry from names.txt

    ==================================================================================

    Always make sure that the names you are using in various text files are properly defined in descr_names.txt and names.txt.


    Last edited by Aradan; November 19, 2015 at 04:31 AM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    can i say very helpfull or i cant post here?



  3. #3

    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    Feel free to post. As long as it is not spam, it's welcome.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    well this one is certaintly spam but very helfull guide i never managet to get a working family member names:@ thats because i have to edit 2 files not just the one in data directory so thanks for the guide



  5. #5
    HouseOfHam's Avatar Primicerius
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    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    I wonder why/how this works (using BI v1.6)

    descr_names.txt:

    Code:
    faction: epirus
      characters
         Pyrrhus
    
      surnames
        of Epirus     ; note - no underscore here
    names.txt:
    Code:
    {Pyrrhus} Pyrrhus
    {of_Epirus} of Epirus
    descr_strat.txt:
    Code:
    ; and no underscore here, either
    character    Pyrrhus of Epirus, named character, leader, age 40, , x 283, y 131
    army
    unit        rtr epirote hetairoi            exp 2 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
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  6. #6
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    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    My guess would be how the parser works for those files, it splits the name into two parts at the first space it finds, as for the names.txt entry, those probably have to be single "words" so any spaces in a name are replaced by underscores. It also means that creating a proper validator would be a pain the arse.
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  7. #7
    HouseOfHam's Avatar Primicerius
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    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    So, you're going to make one then, right?
    RTR website/SVN admin

    - Settlement coordinate locator -for RTW/M2TW
    - EDB Validator v1.2.8 (Oct 16, 2012) - for RTW/M2TW
    - RTW scripting tutorials
    - n-turns per year script generator

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    I still haven't finished with my trait validator!!!
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  9. #9

    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    When you make one, please make it parse DS as well. (parsing the historical battles is entirely optional )

  10. #10

    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    Quote Originally Posted by Aradan View Post
    When you make one, please make it parse DS as well. (parsing the historical battles is entirely optional )
    The historical battles too?! Sweet! tornight`s tool doesn`t have that option.

    EDIT: I think many people aren`t aware of this, but Batu33 has made a name generator creating the names.txt from descr_names.txt:
    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...78#post3565878
    Haven`t tried it because by the time it was uploaded I had finished my lists, but I think it`s appropriate to mention it in this thread along with tornnight`s name validator(for m2tw but generally working for rtw too):
    http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=85734
    Last edited by florin80; February 06, 2009 at 05:54 PM.

  11. #11
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    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    Batu's tool works like a charm, but is unfortunetly not noticed as of yet.

    The creation of the tool was initiated by me, as i worked with Batu on 3Kingdoms mod fixes, and we tried to solve some of the character bugs in that mod.
    I then asked him (as i got aware that he is a capable programmer) to create a reliable working name generator - also to fix all for once some name issues in ChivTW.
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  12. #12
    Squid's Avatar Opifex
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    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    How does it work for extended characters that can be used in the names.txt file (i.e. accents and stuff) but aren't supposed to be used in descr_names.txt?
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  13. #13

    Default Re: Tutorial: Editing Character Names

    Great tuto , i was just planning on writing the exact same tuto but looks like mine's worthelss comapred to yours

  14. #14
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    Default Re: Editing Character Names

    So, here's an interesting find using Red Fox's desc_strat validator.

    I ran it and it found that several names were not assigned to the particular factions I'm using them in. However, the game still loads and the the names appear normally on the screen, for some of them.

    These are all names with two parts to them.

    Ome Tochtli and Yohl Iknal.

    In descr_names I have both of these as two words. In all the other name files, descr_names_lookup and names I have an underscore.

    In descr_strat I code them both in with underscores.

    Ome_Tochtli works fine and loads fine. Yohl_Iknal does not. I've double and triple checked my files. Even copying the name from descr_names_lookup and pasting it into all relivant areas. Any idea what's going on here?

    PS: Very odd. I just added the underscore to Yohl_Iknal in descr_names and it loads fine. But its still odd that this seems to be random. I have at least two names that load fine without them being underscored in descr_names and now one that does not. Any idea why their would be exceptions in this case?
    Last edited by Ramashan; July 26, 2009 at 01:23 PM.
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  15. #15

    Default Re: Editing Character Names

    I have the explanation : Another one of RTW's oddities

  16. #16

    Default Re: Editing Character Names

    Is there any way to have characters' surnames eliminated? What i mean is that I want a character that has just the name, not the surname (cause names and surnames get mixed in some unpredictable way...). For example, I want King Henry VII (used as a name) not having a surname (no King Henry V Canterbury). Thnx in advance

    EDIT:
    I forgot to mention that I want to apply this character to a Historical Battle. I don't know how to do it using the named character command, so it says Captain King Henry V instead of King Henry V... Where can i find that info?
    Last edited by Mataputas; October 22, 2009 at 07:15 AM.

  17. #17

    Default Re: Editing Character Names

    A faction may simply have its surnames section removed in descr_names.txt, which will result in no surnames for that faction.

    When you define that character in descr_battle.txt of the historical battle, simply code it like that:

    Code:
    character    Henry_V, named character, leader, age [age], , x [coord], y [coord]
    with the names.txt entry like this:

    Code:
    {Henry_V}            Henry V

  18. #18

    Default Re: Editing Character Names

    Ty! I'll try it in some hours...

    EDIT:

    It worked perfectly! May I ask you another favor? Instead of the command leader, what other commands may i use? Cause for other hb i'll not using the faction's king. Thank you in advance
    Last edited by Mataputas; October 23, 2009 at 09:35 AM.

  19. #19

    Default Re: Editing Character Names

    Great Tutorial!!!!! It helped me a lot!

  20. #20
    lolIsuck's Avatar WE HAVE NO CAKE!
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    Default Re: Editing Character Names

    I don't get something, I replaced Julii names for Etruscan and some more (for Sonny Constanzo's 310 bc mod) but I get an error saying the son of Caile Tarquin (Caile Tarquin is the youngest son of the faction leader) who is also named Caile Tarquin (not true, Caile Tarquin's son is named Cai Tarquin) has to be younger as the game says he's 29 and his dad (the real Caile Tarquin) is 28. Caile TArquin's real son is 10 so I don't get it

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