Petrified

[Sir Althfons]

Persistent windows7 files modification ignorance

No changes made in Tweak.release tool show up in game. I modified the look of some units, but when running the game,
the change isn't there. Why?
Neither Empire TW. takes any of the modifications I made.
The same problem happens with medieval II TW, where changes in export.descr.units and other files are systematically ignored,
while previously, my former Xp device did it pretty well, so what windows7 feature causes this and how can you toggle it off?

I've also tried to make changes with PackFileManager and same results; the changes just aren't there.


I am the administrator and I have all permissions to modify and all that.

I´m puzzled. I mean; if the files are not being read as I saved them, then, what is it being read?
And were are those files?
I know windows 7 keeps copies from the original files for stability purposes; which is nightmarish for modding.

I'm modding my standard files in C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\total war shogun 2\data

I think there's a number of us having this issue, so the answer to this could help many.
There is currently no resolved thread on this because the ones who hasn't experienced it don't even know of it, and the ones who have suffered from it haven't seemingly found a solution.



I also have an special interest in answers from this forum moderators due to to their wide knowledge.

(Most +rep for anyone who can provide this thread with a working solution)

[Sir Althfons]

Those of you who also have had this kind of issue, please post a reply saying it.
Thanks.
My goal is to make here some reference people can draw upon when facing this issue.

[Sir Althfons]

About TweakRelease (or DAVE):
I made changes in units appearance and saved them successfully. I considered this alone should change it in-game, but it doesn't.
I know the TweakRelease tool is meant to use with Bob tool after it to get all changed into a PACK file the game can load.
However, I found the 3rd window of Bob was no longer there after my first attempt of use ( in which I was only browsing it to familiarise with it), so currently I can't made PACKs until I solve this problem.

About PackFikeManager files edition.
-Yes, inconsistent rows are to be ignored by Shogun II's engine.
I tried and wrote a senseless row into a parts file and the game run not taking it into any account...
Any word incorrectly written, out of format or referring to non-existing items will cause the hole row to be ignored.
And the game runs despite these inconsistencies instead of crashing like Medieval II would.
---EDIT: however, mayor contradictions can do cause an actual freezing upon loading. You can write down a bad row in unit parts names for the soldiers (variantmodel directory), but not a bad unit.variant reference in unit_tables or uniform tables and the likes of them in database directory. END EDIT---
-It's possible if you are editing a unit which is both in a mod and in Data (vanilla) PACK, that your changes are not to take any effect for the loaded unit is actually the one in the PACK you didn't edit.
...Which is why my previous changes didn't load.
-Data PACK seems hard to mod.

1. I finally could mod some units of RadiousUnitPack2:
   
   
2. 
3. 
   
   I felt it was necessary a thread on changes not implemented since I couldn't find specific information about the matter.
   From the perspective of an amateur modder beginning with Shogun II modding, your first impressions may be of disconcert about the fact of not seeing your aimed modifications over the game, so I feel it's good to have an specific thread on it.
   
   
   (About Empire, I don't have the answer yet. Medieval II could suffer from a problem of incompatibility of the files I copy-pasted from my former win xp device).
4. 
   So now this thread will remain as a reference for anyone stuck with this matters from now on.
   
   Best regards