Assembly Kit Guide

[Kurisu Paifuaa]

Another question about the assembly kit if anyone can answer.

I've noticed that most mods have all of the unnecessary rows of data removed, and just have the relevant data to the mod in the pack, instead of the entire table. I can see how to do this in PFM, but is there any way to do this in the assembly kit?

No, there's no support for table fragments in the Assembly Kit. I would presume that's because it isn't relevant in CA's workflow. Use PFM to cull out unmodified data and give partial tables a unique name.

Fragments are highly useful from a practical standpoint, but remember that alphabetical priority is the rule. Load order has limited influence where conflicting records from the same DB parent table are concerned. This is true even where one mod contains the whole base table. So for example, records from aaa_campaign_variables take priority over campaign_variables which takes priority over zzz_campaign_variables. This will hold true even if the mods containing those tables are deliberately loaded in some specific order. Load order priority only applies where tables have identical names.

Confusing, yes?

[Murderin]

No, there's no support for table fragments in the Assembly Kit. I would presume that's because it isn't relevant in CA's workflow. Use PFM to cull out unmodified data and give partial tables a unique name.

Fragments are highly useful from a practical standpoint, but remember that alphabetical priority is the rule. Load order has limited influence where conflicting records from the same DB parent table are concerned. This is true even where one mod contains the whole base table. So for example, records from aaa_campaign_variables take priority over campaign_variables which takes priority over zzz_campaign_variables. This will hold true even if the mods containing those tables are deliberately loaded in some specific order. Load order priority only applies where tables have identical names.

Confusing, yes?

Yes.

My only problem with cleaning up the pack file with PFM is that I'm not entirely sure what I can delete or not. Like a simple land_unit edit will create extra .loc files without telling you, and if you didn't know that they were important then you would be screwed when you delete them. I'm not sure what else it creates without telling me.

If I'm creating a custom unit I'm safe to delete every other irelevant unit info in the table in PFM, right?

I think I've learned too much in one day. I feel like I've recreated the entire Rome 2 game and all I've done is break my mod over and over until I got it working.

[crzyrndm]

If I'm creating a custom unit I'm safe to delete every other irelevant unit info in the table in PFM, right?

Anytime you are adding to or modifying a table, you can use fragments and only include the entries you made changes to.
When removing an entry from a table, you need to include the entire table

In the case of creating a new unit, yes, you can safetly fragment everything because it is all new content.

Edit: Why does my middle list in BOB have everything instead of just the Working Data or stuff I've changed like the guide says? I have a ton of unnecessary stuff in my pack file afterwards that makes the file size huge. How do I export just the lines I've added or modified, into a pack file with the assembly kit?

Because the default BoB setup is highly inefficient. You need to alter a rules.bob file somewhere (I forget where) to prevent it adding all the junk (still can't do fragments though).

http://wiki.totalwar.com/w/Rules.bob_Documentation
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-BOB-Files-101

[Kurisu Paifuaa]

Yes.

My only problem with cleaning up the pack file with PFM is that I'm not entirely sure what I can delete or not. Like a simple land_unit edit will create extra .loc files without telling you, and if you didn't know that they were important then you would be screwed when you delete them. I'm not sure what else it creates without telling me.

If I'm creating a custom unit I'm safe to delete every other irelevant unit info in the table in PFM, right?

I think I've learned too much in one day. I feel like I've recreated the entire Rome 2 game and all I've done is break my mod over and over until I got it working.

If you use the menu option Postprocess -> minimize DB files, it will compare records to vanilla and trim things for you. There's a rename option as well if you have a lot of tables.

[Murderin]

Thanks guys.

Hopefully they improve these tools to make them more mod friendly. Beta is beta I guess.


Edit: One last question hopefully. What would be the easiest way to combine two separate pack files made with the assembly kit?

[crzyrndm]

Edit: One last question hopefully. What would be the easiest way to combine two separate pack files made with the assembly kit?

If you've made both with the assembly kit, and haven't restored your raw xmls, all your changes from both mods will still exist and you can just export all the relevant tables like normal.

If for some reason you overwrote/removed changes to the raw data, you need to use PFM. In one mod: Files -> Extract -> Extract All, then import into the other: Files-> Add -> File(s)/Directory

[sgtkatharn]

Yes.

My only problem with cleaning up the pack file with PFM is that I'm not entirely sure what I can delete or not. Like a simple land_unit edit will create extra .loc files without telling you, and if you didn't know that they were important then you would be screwed when you delete them. I'm not sure what else it creates without telling me.

If I'm creating a custom unit I'm safe to delete every other irelevant unit info in the table in PFM, right?

I think I've learned too much in one day. I feel like I've recreated the entire Rome 2 game and all I've done is break my mod over and over until I got it working.

You can make your own fragmented tables by editing the .xml file directly before you export it and it creates the .loc files

eg once you have made your first unit or other change you can open the relivent .xml file and delete all the other entries apart from your changes then load the table back up in the Assembly kit and then export your table and it will only create the .loc files for your mod

I found that this was the easiest way to make a table fragment when I was working on my mod as I just wanted my changes in the relavent tables. I did this due to the error correction build into the Assembly kit as it wont let you delete some parts of a table with out deleting parts of other tables as they are referenced to each other

[Maetharin]

So to edit another mod to change it to my liking is only posible by using PFM?
Still, very easy to understand, even for nonnative readers like me^^

[Murderin]

So to edit another mod to change it to my liking is only posible by using PFM?
Still, very easy to understand, even for nonnative readers like me^^

Yeah. PFM is pretty easy to pick up. You learn a lot about the file structure from using the Assembly Kit.

[User1SVK]

Hi i have a question: i have created a couple of variant meshes for som units in rome 2. I just have no idea how to use them, or import them into a mod. Any advice?
Thankyou.

[HunterWolf]

Any advice?

Read more than one topic in this category

[Murderin]

Hi i have a question: i have created a couple of variant meshes for som units in rome 2. I just have no idea how to use them, or import them into a mod. Any advice?
Thankyou.

Read the exporting part of this guide on the first page.

[stayBlind]

I am having some problems with the Assembly Kit.

Rome 2 crashes at the splash screen when I try to edit any values from the land_units table. However, I can successfully edit values from other tables such as spotting_and_hiding_values.

I followed your example step-by-step, but even setting the Praetorian morale value crashes the game at splash screen. I would normally assume that I am doing something wrong, but changes I make to other tables work fine.

Has anyone else run into this problem?

[Murderin]

I am having some problems with the Assembly Kit.

Rome 2 crashes at the splash screen when I try to edit any values from the land_units table. However, I can successfully edit values from other tables such as spotting_and_hiding_values.

I followed your example step-by-step, but even setting the Praetorian morale value crashes the game at splash screen. I would normally assume that I am doing something wrong, but changes I make to other tables work fine.

Has anyone else run into this problem?

A crash with the tutorial in the first post indicates an error or mistake somewhere. That is a very simple change that should not cause any errors unless you have other changes in the raw data still.

If you have made any other changes to the database they are still there, unless you have replaced your raw data with a backup or ran a verify on the tools on steam.

[T-dog]

I've had some success making new units using PFM to make the changes in the DB and Variant Editor to make the variantmeshes, however I've only been able to use the pre-made equipment from other units. Now I made a new helmet in the Variant Editor and have been trying to use it in a new unit. The problem is that it doesn't show up in the list of helmets. I tried exporting them both as a mod and then using PFM to edit the variantmesh for the unit to incorporate the new helmet but it still won't work. I also tried moving the helmet file into both the raw data and working data folders for the assembly kit.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[stayBlind]

A crash with the tutorial in the first post indicates an error or mistake somewhere. That is a very simple change that should not cause any errors unless you have other changes in the raw data still.

If you have made any other changes to the database they are still there, unless you have replaced your raw data with a backup or ran a verify on the tools on steam.

I deleted the entire assemly_kit folder and reinstalled the assembly kit via Steam.

I then do the following steps:

1. Open TWeak
2. Tools -> DaVE
3. 'Yes' connect to Database
4. There are no listed changes under Connection -> Display Local Changes
5. View -> Table Launcher
6. Search for table land_units
7. Open table land_units
8. Change Morale value for Rom_Praetorians key to 99
9. Apply changes to table
10. Export -> Export Single Table(s)
11. Double-click land_units under Locally Edited Tables list
12. land_units displays uner Tables for Export list
13. Click Export
14. BOB runs and pops up a notification box that says 'Tables Exported'
15. Close TWeak
16. A dialog box appears which asks me 'You have local changes that need to be submitted before they are available to other users. Do you still wish to close DaVE?'
17. Click Yes
18. Open BOB
19. Check mod.pack under Retail
20. Press Start
21. BOB shows status Finished
22. Click Exit
23. Copy mod.pack from ../Total War Rome II/assembly_kit/retail/data
24. Paste mod.pack to ../Total War Rome II/data
25. Launch Rome II
26. Check mod.pack
27. Play
28. Crash at splash screen

I have no other mods installed besides GEM, and I even downloaded the Rome 2 mod manager to make sure no other mods were loading.

I can repeat the above process and edit the spot_and_hiding_values table successfully, and I can see the mod working in game. However, any change that I make to land_units or battle_entities crash the game at splash screen.

[Murderin]

I've had some success making new units using PFM to make the changes in the DB and Variant Editor to make the variantmeshes, however I've only been able to use the pre-made equipment from other units. Now I made a new helmet in the Variant Editor and have been trying to use it in a new unit. The problem is that it doesn't show up in the list of helmets. I tried exporting them both as a mod and then using PFM to edit the variantmesh for the unit to incorporate the new helmet but it still won't work. I also tried moving the helmet file into both the raw data and working data folders for the assembly kit.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Save the helmet as a variantmeshdefinition and then point to that helmet in your units variantmeshdefinition by editing it with notepad. Add both files to your pack.

I believe that would work.

[Murderin]

I deleted the entire assemly_kit folder and reinstalled the assembly kit via Steam.

I then do the following steps:

1. Open TWeak
2. Tools -> DaVE
3. 'Yes' connect to Database
4. There are no listed changes under Connection -> Display Local Changes
5. View -> Table Launcher
6. Search for table land_units
7. Open table land_units
8. Change Morale value for Rom_Praetorians key to 99
9. Apply changes to table
10. Export -> Export Single Table(s)
11. Double-click land_units under Locally Edited Tables list
12. land_units displays uner Tables for Export list
13. Click Export
14. BOB runs and pops up a notification box that says 'Tables Exported'
15. Close TWeak
16. A dialog box appears which asks me 'You have local changes that need to be submitted before they are available to other users. Do you still wish to close DaVE?'
17. Click Yes
18. Open BOB
19. Check mod.pack under Retail
20. Press Start
21. BOB shows status Finished
22. Click Exit
23. Copy mod.pack from ../Total War Rome II/assembly_kit/retail/data
24. Paste mod.pack to ../Total War Rome II/data
25. Launch Rome II
26. Check mod.pack
27. Play
28. Crash at splash screen

I have no other mods installed besides GEM, and I even downloaded the Rome 2 mod manager to make sure no other mods were loading.

I can repeat the above process and edit the spot_and_hiding_values table successfully, and I can see the mod working in game. However, any change that I make to land_units or battle_entities crash the game at splash screen.

Between step 18 and 19 did you check the table you edited in working data before exporting as a pack?

[stayBlind]

Between step 18 and 19 did you check the table you edited in working data before exporting as a pack?

I was not doing that previously, so I tried again.

I checked the mod.pack file under Retail, and then I navigated to db -> land_units_tables -> land_units under Working Data and I check land_units.

The Provider/Consumer action menu then pops up.

I then check the Database Export / Convert Table To Binary (../assembly_kit/working_data/db/land_units_tables/land_units from <raw> /empiredesigndata/land_units.xml) under Provider Actions.

Pack/Create Pack File (mod.pack) under Consumer Actions is already checked.

I click Start and BOB shows the status finished for both the Database Export -> Convert Table to Binary and the Pack -> Create pack file (mod.pack)

When I select the Convert Table to Binary operation this is the output:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

execute add_land_units_table "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\total war rome ii\assembly_kit\raw_data\EmpireDesignData\land_units.xml" "c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\total war rome ii\assembly_kit\working_data\db\land_units_tables\land_units"
There is no pack file to add a file to.
Added table c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\total war rome ii\assembly_kit\raw_data\EmpireDesignData\land_units.xml as c:\program files (x86)\steam\steamapps\common\total war rome ii\assembly_kit\working_data\db\land_units_tables\land_units

The Rome 2 Mod Manager is also showing that mod.pack has 0 conflicts.

[Murderin]

Can you upload the mod as a .zip file for me to look at?