Geomod Tool for Mapping

[Bresco07]

hi , im having real troubels to use the tool for third age 3.1 MOS mod , no way to do anything wothout a crash ( is the first time i use this tool , i always mod manually directlly on the files so for sure is my fault , im doing something wrong ) , i read a couple of guides for this tool and troubleshooting post , indeed i dont solve nothing ( thas wy i post xD ) , the point is that im looking for a tools like this , able to modify map regions settlement location resources etc .. so here wwe go And the first run have some messages asking for watchtowers in same location as resources , wrong fortress names , units etc ( bad start ) i read some guides as i say try to solve as i could and i run the mod , load well and when enetering in to a new campain load and hit start nuclear explosion ocurs ( the game dont launch the intro video and hold in the window facction selection ) any solution in sight ? if not any could suggest me a program like this but proven for idiots ? thx all I edit i ust see this ... xD im gonna try * ++data\text\historic_events.txt.strings.bin data\text\strat.txt data\descr_cultures.txt data\descr_names.txt data\descr_sm_resources.txt * data\descr_sm_factions.txt data\descr_rebel_factions.txt data\descr_religions.txt data\export_descr_ancillaries.txt data\export_descr_buildings.txt data\export_descr_character_traits.txt data\export_descr_unit.txt ++ Special note:The map.rwm file gets deleted on saving; this forces the game to create a new map from the modified files. ++ Special note: This file is not properly generated by Geomod and will cause a long delay at game start if not rectified. To fix this matter you should download the StringBin Converter (requires Python 2.6) and extract the converter into the data\text folder of your mod. Double click\run 'convert_all.bat' to get updated txt files, which in turn will generate new string.bin files, solving the problem. The string.bin converter is already included in my ‘Bare Geomod’ installation.

[Mititelu]

Greetings everyone,

I'm a newbie in moding, deciding to enhace a bit the experience of one of my old favorite teenagehood games, MTW2. Is nice to see there are so many fans here, and the information and the lore provided in this forum is outstanding, and allow me to say a big thank you to all of you, contribuitors!

Of course, I've ran into some issues with moding, whic are as follows:

1) I wanted to make a mod on the grand campaign map, with several new factions. At first I installed Gigantus's Bare Geomod (great tool !!!) and New_Faction tutorial, but when i run Copy_UnitFiles.bat, it says that MSVCP71.dll is missing. But it's NOT missing, it's in the game, I tried to copy it into the new faction folder, in system32 folder... Also, the unpacker in the "tools" folder results in the same error. Any ideas anyone?

2) I tried making some changes to the kingdoms grand campaign mod 3.0, since it is very similar to what I want, but it doesn't works with Geomod. At first, it asked for some missing files, which I have simply copied them from the Bare Geomod folder but then I got some other errors, as follows:

[CONTENTBOX]

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Error, Geomod v0.6.18 2014-03-04 16:29:01

The following labels do not correspond to any name:

of Riga
of Livonia
[...]
of Ukmerge
of Aquitaine

****************************************************************************************************
Error, Geomod v0.6.18 2014-03-04 16:29:23

The descr_strat.txt file seems corrupted ('nonplayable') !
Geomod will try to recover the data.

****************************************************************************************************
Error, Geomod v0.6.18 2014-03-04 16:29:36

The family tree of the faction 'The Byzantine Empire' refers to a character ('Alexios Komnenos') untraceable in the list of the characters!

END

[/CONTENTBOX]

It seems to me that Geomod cannot work on mods other than Bare Geomod, because the info (names, characters etc.) inside the mod's files ndo not match to those "inside"Geomod tool

My question is, is it possible to use Geomod on other mods, and how? (well..of course after I will reinstall KGC 'coz I messed it up tring to do things manually )

Thanks in advance for reading this!

[Gigantus]

MSVCP71.dll - is present in the main folder, but sometimes a tool calls it form the tool sub folder. Simply copy the file there.

Geomod errors
** The following labels do not correspond to any name - those entries are not present in descr_names and\or data\names
** The descr_strat.txt file seems corrupted ('nonplayable') ! - most likely it hasn't got the unlockable\end section or because of the family tree problem underneath.
** The family tree... - the name in the 'relative' section (descr_strat) does not appear as character or character_record entry

Please have a look at my manual, it gives some introduction on how to proceed when using it on a new mod. The Bare Geomod mod folder is a Geomod dedicated installation as the name suggests, errors and problems of the original game have been removed.

[Mititelu]

Hello, Gigantus!

Thank you for your answer!
I'll look closely into the matter about the geomod errors.

About the dll, i'm not sure i understand, the dll file has to be in the tools folder, next to the unpacker? I'll give it a try.

[Gigantus]

DLL file - it is a common error when using the unpacker. Simply fixed by copying the 'missing' file from the main directory into the 'tools' directory.

Check this tutorial before unpacking: Creating a World - Unpacking the Game

[Pwnstar1337]

Not bad

[Gigantus]

Read my manual to see which folder to select.

[Pwnstar1337]

[Pwnstar1337]

Fixed! I had to change the character name in the family tree too.

[Gigantus]

There is an error section in my manual.

[Colos1987]

Hello!

I have a problem. I have been trying to mod Ancient Conquest with Geomod, but it doesn't seem to work. Everytime I change something (like renaming a settlement or reassigning a province to another faction), the game CTDs when I select a faction and start a new game. Further more, Geomod cannot open AC any more after the CTD, due to a problem with "imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names.txt.strings.bin". Even if I replace the damaged file with the original file from my backup folder, the mod seems permanently crippled.

I have validated everything that I needed to, and checked with the errors section in the manual, with no luck. I also tried utilising the bin converter, but it wouldn't work either. I have a feeling that this has something to with the mod itself...

Any input is welcome

Colos

[Gigantus]

That could be a formatting problem from the original files: do a clean install of your mod, then open it in Geomod and save it without any changes. Then try if it still crashes.
If it crashes then you will have to validate every aspect of the game in Geomod, most notably regions, family trees and win conditions.
The problem with the string.bin file could be related to custom characters (åÝ@$őĎ\*) in the left side of the region\settlement names.

[Colos1987]

Will try that, thank you!

[wilddog]

Hi Gigantus
A quick question. I finally downloaded geomod to see the rivers thing you mentioned on the map imperative thread. Unfortunately I wasn't able to install and use it so no real idea about what you had mentioned. Anyway my question was whether a mod folder for geomod to use needed to be within the the parent tree structure that the tool was installed in. My mod folders aren't, so I was hitting the situation that the install only ever goes to the directory it finds (containing the packed version) but if I run it and point to the mod folder which is under a different directory structure (as I unpacked it ages ago and have lots of mod folders) it seems to be completely lost and can't find any of the files in the data section of that mod folder.

[Gigantus]

The tool installs into the tools sub folder (provided your registry keys can be read). When installed there it will open the medieval ii total war folder tree.
It does not matter where the mod (or the tool) is installed, as long as you choose the root of the mod then you will be OK. My manual describes the folder selection with pics as well.

I just moved the Geomod (tool) folder and Bare Geomod (mod) to the desktop and had no problem opening it.
Reported missing files are just that: missing in the mod's folder structure because the mod uses the packed\unpacked vanilla files. Simply use the ones provided in the ...\Medieval II Total War\tools\Geomod\M2TW_files sub folders.

[wilddog]

Hi, thanks for the response. It was objecting to a missing file and crashing straight away so I tried on another testing mod directory but then it was objecting as not all units were set up correct. I think I'll leave it at the moment as its a bit too pedantic on the bits I don't really need it to be (for what I wanted to look at).

[Gigantus]

The tool is a grammar nazi and needs a bit of practice, that's for sure. Once you have made a mod compatible for it, it can be a tremendous help.

Missing files will always crash it, if you want I can make your mod compatible. It would have to wait a couple of days, though - I'll be off line until coming Sunday.

Unit's not correctly set up - is that the 'can't find description' error? If you post the log of Geomod (in the mod's folder) then I could give some pointers.

[wilddog]

Hi, its alright I was only looking at it to see what you were saying it could do to help convert a river line to an actual river (I ws curious if you set it to check map_heights or readjust map heights afterwards). Its not that relevant to me and its likely there are some issues with the mod info as they were all at various degrees of completeness but used mostly for testing against IWTE. It did point out an issue with a family tree which may be a name or may not be an issue but I'll look at that separately. In the meantime I am just getting on with my own tool for mapping as its just a new map I wanted to put together but prefer to just set up the base map first and tidy that up.

[Gigantus]

You may have misunderstood me. The tool displays the information from various files, in the case of rivers it takes it from map_features. Because you can vary the overlays it enables you to draw\correct the river while having map_heights active. This enables you to easily adapt the flow of the river to the contours of the map, or adapt the contours to the river given the 'double' size of the river pixels.
Works like a charm for placing cliffs as well on the same principle.

With regards to identifying battlefields: you can easily determine the coordinates of a river crossing and then by removing the 'features 'overlay will get an impression what kind of terrain (vegetation, elevation) to expect.

[wilddog]

The tool displays the information from various files, in the case of rivers it takes it from map_features. Because you can vary the overlays it enables you to draw\correct the river while having map_heights active. This enables you to easily adapt the flow of the river to the contours of the map, or adapt the contours to the river given the 'double' size of the river pixels.

Thanks that's what I figured it was going to do. Not an issue for me as I never really had any problems with that. This time around I was after something a little different to save some time.