One Settlement Type

[Meneth]

This is a tutorial on how to make the game use only one type of settlement, cities.
By having only one settlement, settlements will seldom run out of things to construct, and each settlement can be specialized in a different way.

Files affected

EDB descr_strat.txt descr_campaign_db.xml

Part 1 - descr_campaign_db.xml

Find this line: "<show_building_browser_castles bool="true"/>" Change it to this: "<show_building_browser_castles bool="false"/>" If that line isn't in there, just add <show_building_browser_castles bool="false"/> in the display section. This will make castles not show up in the building browser

Part 2 - EDB

Remove or comment out all convert_to lines Delete the convert buildings This makes it so people cannot convert from cities to castles

Part 3 - EDB

Make all castle-only buildings (that don't have a city equivalent) city-only by changing the requirements of each building-level to "city" instead of "castle" Move all units from castle buildings that still remain, to their city equivalent Remove any duplicates (shouldn't be a lot) This way, all units are recruitable from cities. I also recommend moving any units recruitable from the castle building itself, to the barracks/stables (depending on what kind of unit it is)

Part 4 - descr_strat

Search for "settlement castle", replace with "settlement" (can't check atm exactly what the white-space is like) Search and replace: core_castle_building -> core_builing " c_" -> " " castle_ -> _castle -> fortress -> stone_wall wooden_castle -> wooden_pallisade castle -> wooden_wall Now most/all buildings should be the town version.

Part 5 - Debugging (what everone loves :P)

Try to launch the game Check the log if it crashes, go to step 5 if it doesn't Fix the issue mentioned in the log, should be EDB issues only Go back to step 1, Try to launch a campaign Check the log if it crashes, if it doesn't you're done Fix the issue mentioned, should be descr_strat issues only (the search and replace eating a bit too much, usually) Go back to step 5

[Gorrrrrn]

Meneth
when you finish examining the RozMod alltowns mod files, you'll discover some other files need to be changed apart from the ones you have listed.

[Meneth]

This guide is to how I did it, which seems to be working fine. What other files did you edit to implement this kind of functionality?

[Polycarpe]

Descr_mission, Descr_faction_Standing, descr_character, and descr_ancillaries files may be also affected (if you remove buildings). The last two won't really causes CTD since the trigger source is gone.

[stevehoos]

Maybe someone could explain parts of this in further detail, very hard to figure out if you are unfamiliar with certain aspects? Especially convert to lines, there are some of these left in Roz's 6.3 all towns file which is causing me to be confused.

[King William the Conqueror]

How can you make certain cultures have 1 settlement type, but others have more?

[Meneth]

How can you make certain cultures have 1 settlement type, but others have more?

You could probably limit the castle buildings to certain cultures/factions only.

[King William the Conqueror]

thanks but how?

[Savoyard]

Why differentiate between cities and castles? Never understood Vanilla because the size of all regions had at least a dozen cities and castles in them.

[AKDeath]

so basically he's teaching how to apply the cities only Mod that he has on his compilation...
now my problem is i want to have things back to normal on my game (only thing i dislike on his compilation)
does anyone know how it can be done?

[MIKE GOLF]

I wish I had seen this before I had made my own Broken Crescent "cities only" mod. To add to the list of files changed or potentially changed, (depending on the mod you are changing) make sure to check the export_descr_guilds and the export_descr_character_traits as many triggers for both guilds and traits are tied into castle buildings ie: swordsmith guild also uses a castle smith as a trigger. Character traits can also be tied into various castle buildings.

An added benefit of using only one settlement type is that after removing all the castle buildings additional building slots are opened up allowing for even more gaming possibilities.

One other file that is changed after removing castle buildings, is the export_descr_advice file.

[Gigantus]

I usually advise modders not to remove entries from the EDB due to those files linked to it (traits, advice, missions etc). If you are not hitting the limit of 128 building trees simply remove the faction entries in the requirements of the building levels. That way you save yourself chasing a multitude of error messages in numerous files.

In fact that is easiest to way remove castles from the game - simply remove the factions in the core_castle_building tree. Disable the two convert_to trees to be on the safe side. Nothing else is necessary, not even the disabling of other castle buildings. To remove the display of the castle buildings in the building browser simply change this line in the descr_campaign_db to read like this and you are done:

<show_building_browser_castles bool="false"/>

[MIKE GOLF]

I usually advise modders not to remove entries from the EDB due to those files linked to it (traits, advice, missions etc). If you are not hitting the limit of 128 building trees simply remove the faction entries in the requirements of the building levels. That way you save yourself chasing a multitude of error messages in numerous files.

In fact that is easiest to way remove castles from the game - simply remove the factions in the core_castle_building tree. Disable the two convert_to trees to be on the safe side. Nothing else is necessary, not even the disabling of other castle buildings. To remove the display of the castle buildings in the building browser simply change this line in the descr_campaign_db to read like this and you are done:

<show_building_browser_castles bool="false"/>

I think it will be easier to add everything back in and do what you suggested, because the amount of errors that show up is rather large, thanks again for this info. +Rep

[Gigantus]

One is glad to be of service

Edit: just as a note - removing any of the port trees is not possible as they are a core building as well, it will cause a crash.