Assembly Kit Q&A - Documentation questions!

[CraigTW]

Hi all,

As you know, we've released mod tools, and intend to help out where we can with the most commonly asked community questions. Several questions have already been directly asked to myself or Jack, and that's fine, but we'd like to keep a handle on a process for answering the community's most important questions effectively - both for yourselves and for us.

In time, and when you have access to edit the wiki yourselves, we're hoping the community will maintain a list of burning questions listed in priority order, which we can then investigate.

However, in the meantime, we're looking for the first batch of questions that we will try to answer on the wiki. To enable that we're opening this thread for discussion.

If you'd like to suggest a question, please do so in this thread. If you'd like a particular question answering that's already been asked, please write the following: "I vote for [username]'s question about [subject]", replacing as appropriate.

I'll use this information to create the first "top five questions" list on the wiki, which we'll then strive to answer. If it's a success, I'll add another five. Eventually this whole process will be possible on the wiki itself as it'll eventually be opened up to the community.

I hope this helps. Please bear in mind that answers to difficult questions that require a significant investment of time on our part might not be possible - we have a rather pressing commitment to respect in Rome II in 2013 and we're all working flat out to make that happen, and happen well!

I'll then post the answers to these questions on the wiki. Specific URL to follow.

Over to you!

Craig.

[Biggieboy]

Hi Craig,

I don't know if this belongs here, but when Rome 2 is released, will there be modding tools at release? thanks in advance

[Primergy]

Integration of custom (= own code in dbs and no simply model replacement) buildings in TED - possible?

Well, i assume it is, but i want to know from where TED is reading the list which buildings are available - the xml's or from the Packs? If last one, are those supposed to be patch.packs or will mod. also work?

I already tired around with this but had no luck till now^^

[The Hedge Knight]

Can't help but feel a full set of info on what exactly you have given us would help before we try and ask questions about it (what for example is TCPConsole.debug and how does one run it if it is indeed some kind of warscape consolem)? What else does the databuilder do, I find it hard to believe that a 7mb dll does nothing but build and extract packs.

[PietroMicca]

something more about campaign map reprocessing

for instance a quick description of this image



we can see trade routes, but not mountains blocked_areas

apparently rivers, but not any other kind of physical information

regions colored according to RGB ID.... nodes,but not slots

in general I would appreciate any kind of information about campaign map reprocessing

[Primergy]

@Pietro

Everything is in this file, you can unhide everything using the layer manager.

Attachment 244436

Besides that, i think a lot of information of the map is stored in names of objects and materials

You can add me on steam, if you need some help with Max - Primergy211 -

[PietroMicca]

ok sorry

thank you primergy

but things like climates maps and wind maps?

[Primergy]

If it not in this file and nowhere else i don't think they are necessary or even used in shogun

[S-te-Fan]

If it not in this file and nowhere else i don't think they are necessary or even used in shogun

They're in some image files.

[PietroMicca]

They're in some image files.

So it's all together. We know how to export modification?

Any idea where to start to create a new map? Not how to do all, but just the beggining steps?

[PROMETHEUS ts]

OK so .....

CRAIG , LUSTED , or anyonelse of CA regarding modding tools and Map Editor ....

We woudl really need :


1 Importer exporter tools for 3dsmax 2011 and 2012

2 Feature to Import Custom heightmaps in map editor to load as base terrain

[PietroMicca]

@PROMETHEUS

Sorry. Maybe I didn't understand much of your problem, but if importer exporter tools for 3dsmax 2010 already exist, the only problem is download 2010 version. I have read some of your old posts. You do not download 2010 version with student licence just because it's only possible by browser. Tell me if this is the problem.

[Jinarik]

I'm with Hedge Knight on this one, all those libraries will have tons of good stuff. A full documentation API would be wonderful, but I doubt anything like that might be released, too much proprietary information. Perhaps a small starting question though, such as: is there any chance we could get some documentation on all the various command line parameters of the binary executables?

[Antalis]

A full tutorial with screenshots how to make a campaignmap. Step by step. How to add provinces and so on. That would be wonderful.

[AngryTitusPullo]

I just want to know how to change turns per year.

[daniu]

If you're not looking for specific questions but want to add some how-tos to the wiki, I think a good way to get some idea about what people are interested in is looking through the Tools/Tutorials section and check out what Tutorials are already there and popular, then show how to do that with the Assembly Kit.
This would also have the advantage that many people have already done that, and it would help getting acquainted with the new toolset while staying on familiar ground.

[CraigTW]

Cheers Daniu, I'll have a look. Full tutorials are always going to be hard to get the team's time for though.

Just to address a couple of other points:

We're not going to provide full documentation or tutorials for how to make a campaign map, so please don't expect that. That would take countless hours out of our schedule which we honestly can't afford, so it's down to the community to collaborate and share on that. We don't just have documentation sat around for this stuff, it's embedded within the team's various skill sets, so please don't expect that we're going to be able to help with anything on that scale.

Secondly, we're not going to release any new tools right now. We really busted a gut to get the set we got out to you guys already, so please don't expect that we can help out with any more exporters etc. You have all of the stuff you need to make some great content.

Obviously there's going to be a degree of co-ordination required by you guys to make stuff happen, and you'll have to share knowledge between yourselves - hopefully the wiki will provide a good place to do that.

Cheers for the other questions - they've been noted.

[PROMETHEUS ts]

@PROMETHEUS

Sorry. Maybe I didn't understand much of your problem, but if importer exporter tools for 3dsmax 2010 already exist, the only problem is download 2010 version. I have read some of your old posts. You do not download 2010 version with student licence just because it's only possible by browser. Tell me if this is the problem.

I have max 2011 and he plugin dont work .

Cheers Daniu, I'll have a look. Full tutorials are always going to be hard to get the team's time for though.

Just to address a couple of other points:

We're not going to provide full documentation or tutorials for how to make a campaign map, so please don't expect that. That would take countless hours out of our schedule which we honestly can't afford, so it's down to the community to collaborate and share on that. We don't just have documentation sat around for this stuff, it's embedded within the team's various skill sets, so please don't expect that we're going to be able to help with anything on that scale.

Secondly, we're not going to release any new tools right now. We really busted a gut to get the set we got out to you guys already, so please don't expect that we can help out with any more exporters etc. You have all of the stuff you need to make some great content.

Obviously there's going to be a degree of co-ordination required by you guys to make stuff happen, and you'll have to share knowledge between yourselves - hopefully the wiki will provide a good place to do that.

Cheers for the other questions - they've been noted.

please we ( or at least I ) need plugin for 2011 and importing heightmap ability in the editor .

[CraigTW]

please we ( or at least I ) need plugin for 2011 and importing heightmap ability in the editor .

I doubt we'd even have that plugin if that's not the version of the software we use.

[Lord Baal]

Erhh I think Erwin "Fundoshi" Rommel already changed the heightmap somehow Prometheus, why don't you ask him?