How To: The Ancillary Guide

[Swagger]

hi folks


i haven't seen any tutorial about this, so im going to show you how to add new ancillaries in the game, with respective triggers, etc

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Requirements:
-Notepad

---------------------; Ancillary making ;-------------------

step 1- unpack the campaign you want to mod, or med2tw's campaign

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step 2- informations

- the best way, is to actually copy paste an already existing ancillary, to use has base

i'll use this one, wich in this case is just for base, and completly random, but you should look for a ancillary, that has a similar trigger (you'll learn about it later)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ancillary biographer
Type Court
Transferable 0
Image civil_admin.tga
ExcludeCultures mesoamerican
Description biographer_desc
EffectsDescription biographer_effects_desc
Effect Authority 1

-the first think is to learn what means every entry:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ancillary biographer - name of the ancillary
Type Court - not important, altought there are certain trigger that use this
Transferable 0 - is it transferable?
Image civil_admin.tga - image for the ancillary to appear in game
ExcludeCultures mesoamerican - cultures that can't get this ancillary
Description biographer_desc - important later
EffectsDescription biographer_effects_desc - important later
Effect Authority 1 - the bonus it gives to the character

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step 3- lets make a new one:

-open export_descr_ancillaries

-copy paste your ancillary to the top of the file (to be more simple and organized)

something like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

;This file is generated from the Spreadsheet VnV,txt
;Please modify the spreadsheet and re-export the data, rather than editing this file directly
;===============================================================
;== ANCILLARY DATA STARTS HERE ==
;===============================================================

;------------------
Ancillary biographer
Type Court
Transferable 0
Image civil_admin.tga
ExcludeCultures mesoamerican
Description biographer_desc
EffectsDescription biographer_effects_desc
Effect Authority 1

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step 4- lets make the changes now:

-change the name of your ancillary:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ancillary great_chief (there can't be spaces, use ' _ ' )
Type Court
Transferable 0
Image civil_admin.tga
ExcludeCultures mesoamerican
Description biographer_desc
EffectsDescription biographer_effects_desc
Effect Authority 1

----------

step 5- adding details

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ancillary great_chief

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Type Court
Transferable 0
Image .great_chief tga
ExcludeCultures mesoamerican
Description great_chief_desc
EffectsDescription great_chief_effects_desc
Effect Authority 1

-----------

step 6- adding bonus:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ancillary great_chief
Type Court
Transferable 0
Image .great_chief tga
ExcludeCultures mesoamerican
Description great_chief_desc
EffectsDescription great_chief_effects_desc
Effect X*

just put the bonus you want...

X*- there are multiple bonus, here's a list of the most important:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

-TroopMorale Y - gives more morale to the units in battle

-Command Y - gives more command star

-Hitpoints Y - gives more hitpoints to general & bodyguards in battle

-TaxCollection Y - gives more % of tax income

-Trading Y - gives more % of trading income

-Mining Y - gives more % of mining income


-Law Y - gives more law to settlement

-Construction Y - gives more build points when sieging (makes siege weapons faster, and more numerous)

-Squalor Y - improves public order & pop. increasement

-Unrest Y - improves public order

-Piety Y - improves piety, makes character less like to be denounced, and priests convert faster, and denouce better

-Chivalry +/- Y - gives chivalry points, giving negative chivalry gives dread points

-Fertility +/- Y - makes a character has more/less childrens, depending if it's positive or negative fertility

--------------------; Trigger Section ;-------------------

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informations:

-this is the hardest part, and the sensible part, becouse a error will most probably cause a uknown CTD

- check the attachments for the docudemons list, this has the full list of triggers, there are thousands, i can't just post them all here, or even give examples to all

--------


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step 1- adding the trigger to the ancillary you made above


-again, copy-paste a trigger, can be random..


i'll use the trigger of the ancillary i used as example:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

;------------------------------------------
Trigger biographer_vnv_trigger
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd
Condition EndedInSettlement
and RemainingMPPercentage = 100
and TimeInRegion > 3
and Attribute Command >= 5
and IsGeneral
AcquireAncillary biographer chance 5

but first, what means each entry, in my case is:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Trigger biographer_vnv_trigger - trigger name, not important..
WhenToTest CharacterTurnEnd - when a character gets it?
Condition EndedInSettlement - in what condition ?
and RemainingMPPercentage = 100 - how much movement points % remains (0- can't move, 100- hasn't move, didn't moved last turn)
and TimeInRegion > 3 - how many turns he spent in the region without moving
and Attribute Command >= 5 - how many command stars does he has? (>= - 5 or more)
and IsGeneral - if the character is a general

AcquireAncillary biographer chance 5 - how much % he has of getting the ancillary (1- almost no chance, 100- always)

i can't help you in this section, not in a tutorial, for help, post your doubts and i'll help you, there can't be a template to help you make triggers, as i said above, check the attachments


------------

here are some custom triggers (delete the red parts):

Father to Son:
(cool for making a ancillary pass over generations)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Trigger [insert trigger name here]
WhenToTest FatherDiesNatural - if the father's character died of natural cause
Condition FatherAnc X- if the father had the X ancillary
and IsGeneral - if he was general


AcquireAncillary X chance 100 - his son will have 100% of getting his father ancillary

Faction Leader:

(this one is cool for unique ancillaries, it makes that only a specific faction be able to get this, when a new leader ''comes'')

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Trigger [insert name here]
WhenToTest BecomesFactionLeader - when a character becomes faction leader
Condition and FactionType Y - Y is the faction name
and IsGeneral - if he is a general

AcquireAncillary X chance 100 - X is the ancillary name, there's 100% he'll get this ancillary (can be lowered..)

Note:

-it can be infinite triggers, for the same ancillary, in my opinion, the more triggers, and realistic they are, it makes a mod be super-cool

----------------------; Description ;--------------------

now, lets add a description to the ancillary, to be shown in game:

---------

step 1- adding the description

go to x/data/text folder, and open export_ancillaries.txt

copy paste any entry (my case:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

{zealous_disciple}Zealous Disciple
{zealous_disciple_desc}I will not leave the Prophet's side, nor let anyone harm him
{zealous_disciple_effects_desc}+1 Management, +1 to personal security (improves the chances of detecting and foiling assassination attempts)

-delete the after '}' part, and change the between '{X}' part:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

{X_disciple}
{X_desc}
{X_effects_desc}

X* - ancillary name, you've added in export_descr_ancillaries

-now just make the correct changes

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

{great_chief}Great Chief - this is where, the '_' goes away
{great_chief_desc}This man is a Great Chief, of his people, and country -description to appear when you put the mouse on the ancillary
{great_chief_effects_desc}+X, +Y - this is the bonus description, X and Y are the bonus (if the ancillary gives + command, X would be +command, etc...)

Note:

-Export_descr_enums is just stetics, you don't need it in order to add an ancillary



and i'm done, i hope this has helped you...

remember that, the more original, the more cool an ancillary is, the cooler your mod is/will be

this tutorial also applies to trait making...altought not 100%...


regards
Swagger



post your questions, feedback, doubts, and i'll try to answer them

[Swagger]

i might need this space...

[dragonsign]

Looks nice, trying it now

Edit: Question: How do you make a trigger that gives a specific title to the governor of a specific province, like in Stainless Steel?

[Swagger]

good question, altought i don't have any modding script here, i can't examplify..but when i return home, i'll see what i can do sorry..

[Swagger]

i'll update the custom trigger part...with the usual triggers, and hopefully you'll be able to see my ancillary work in Third Age Total War mod (check sigature)

[Swagger]

stop spamming, and bugguing my head...

[Nakharar]

lol great tutorial anyway if i get time i might experiment with it

[Nakharar]

dont spam here please this isnt the write place for it there are many tutorials for Mapping and adding units

[Swagger]

updated with custom triggers, check the attachments (1st post)

it's a .txt file named TRIGGERS

[dragonsign]

Thanks Swagger

[Swagger]

no problem, i'll try to keep it up-to-date with new triggers

[Alexios Komnenos]

Can I add more than one condition to a trigger? I mean, I want to make a title to pass through generations, but just inside one specific family:

Trigger counturgell
WhenToTest FatherDies
Condition FatherAnc counturgell
and IsGeneral

AcquireAncillary counturgell chance 100

Would this work?

[Swagger]

Can I add more than one condition to a trigger? I mean, I want to make a title to pass through generations, but just inside one specific family:

Trigger counturgell
WhenToTest FatherDies
Condition FatherAnc counturgell
and IsGeneral

AcquireAncillary counturgell chance 100

Would this work?

probably, and you can add more conditions to it, but that's the base


that won't make the ancillary pass over all generations

for example, with if the general dies in battle ?

then the ancillary would be lost..

[Alexios Komnenos]

probably, and you can add more conditions to it, but that's the base


that won't make the ancillary pass over all generations

for example, with if the general dies in battle ?

then the ancillary would be lost..

Then, what should I do? I thought that "FatherDies", without "natural", would serve for any reason of the father's death.

I know very little about editing, so I don't know if I must create another trigger with "WhenToTest FatherDiesBattle" or so...

Thanks, anyway. And take care!

[Swagger]

Then, what should I do? I thought that "FatherDies", without "natural", would serve for any reason of the father's death.

I know very little about editing, so I don't know if I must create another trigger with "WhenToTest FatherDiesBattle" or so...

Thanks, anyway. And take care!

sorry, i didn't noticed you removed the Natural


that condition only works if it is FatherDiesNatural

otherwise you'll most likely get a crash

[Differently Sane]

Ah, I was looking for something like this!

What should you do if your mod doesn't have an export_ancillaries.txt? The one I'm working on is based off the britannia campaign (vaguely), but neither that nor MTW seem to have an export_ancillaries.txt. They both have the .strings.bin version though.

Is it ok to just create one with your new ancillaries in it?

[Swagger]

hi


you must convert the .string.bin using a converter tool

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1006


the export_ancillary.txt is used to add the text that will appear in the game.. not the ancillary script iteself

[Differently Sane]

Cheers, Swagger!

[Amon Amarth 930]

Nice tutorial, thanks.

But also i have a question:

[How can I provide for it that a certain Ancillarie only once give? Thus that if a general get the Ancillarie the next same does not get again.]-> Resolve

(Must use a online Translator, my english is only a cruel mistake ^^ )

[Gigantus]

and not FactionwideAncillaryExists ;every faction can have one of this ancillary
and not I_WorldwideAncillaryExists ;only one faction can have one of this ancillary