LotR-TW Last Bugs List

[CapnDan]

So I've spent quite a bit of time (probably far too much) lately doing small bug fixes and polishing for LotR-TW. I've released my work all packed together into the Campaigns Addon ( http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...gns-Addon-V2-6 ) but there are a few problems that I lack either software or technical know-how (or just motivation at this point) to tackle.

So, figured I'd start a public thread here in the hopes that maybe someone out there might have the necessary to take a crack at some of these.

<<<<<<<<<< 3.02 Last Bugs List >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

-Dol Amroth settlement back gate (next to the water) not accessible by rams (but the AI focuses on trying to get a ram to that gate anyway)
Possible Solutions: close the gate permanently and/or make it just cosmetic? Alternately make it always open? via script perhaps? Make the ramp approach a bit wider so a ram can pass?

-some buildings (elven especially) are missing a texture for their footprint when part of non-elf culture settlements (ground around the building seems to mirror the sky texture?), is this an 'underlay' problem maybe?

-Barad-Dur walls and gateway apparently are not connected (troops cannot cross over the top)

-At Minas Morgul (and I think Barad-Dur too to an extent) the defending AI tends to place troops on the walls that are inside the mountains, which actually is kind of cool for the uncertainty it adds for an attacking player, maybe add something that looks like a door though so they're not just clipping through the solid rock?

-Moria bugs - There are invisible walls all over the place that block missiles (can this even be fixed do these serve some purpose?) and units occasionally still try to climb the outside walls near the main door I think?

The above items with pics are in the first post on this page:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...v3-0%29/page13

-there are still problems with some walls not joining properly until after the battle starts (ie. troops placed on the joint sections will fall through and die when you click to start the battle)

<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

The below list appear to still be problems but the forums seem to indicate some of them may have already been addressed but possibly never packaged for release??

7) AI pathfinding problems at Lake town, Erebor, Dol Guldur and generic Dwarven city
3) Units die on top of gondor walls (Minas Tirith for sure)
8) missing model of destroyed towers for Cair Andros wall (gondor stone wall)
-Cair Andros map crashes when there are auto reinforcements from the side opposide the attackers (is this even possible to fix?)
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...les-%28v2-1%29


Dwarf Settlements:
-pathfinding in dwarf settlements remains kind of buggy due mostly to the four corner towers/mountains. Even player controlled units tend to disperse and get lost crossing those paths (also in the fields surrounding the settlements apparently). I was thinking maybe just make two of the four corner towers simply cosmetic and impassable, then flatten out the tops of the other two to make an open area large enough for a few units to stand and/or battle it out - with clearly defined and simplified ramps up and down.

-Also remarked that the game pauses (nearly crash?) on dwarf settlement maps while a defending AI army deploys (similar but not as severe problem as was encountered a few versions ago at Osgiliath).

-On that note Osgiliath still does lead to significant slowdowns and seems to lock up and crash if there is a reinforcement army coming in from Mordor side

-Dwarven forts (not settlements, but forts) stone walls, while awesome looking, are very buggy (both in appearance and in that the game can't quite figure out what to do with them), which is a shame, because they're awesome looking.

-Looks like the Barad Dur tower has replaced any other large+settlements in the distance on battle map (I've noticed specifically that Dol Guldur seems to have been replaced).

-Custom Umbar settlement is available but never added into the Campaigns? Oversight? or hardcoded limit?

<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Other (maybe wishlist) items:

-Videos related to wonders are vanilla RTW (I've heard rumours that the other videos may be floating around out there somewhere...)
-Campaign sounds still vanilla for some factions (ditto for the rest of the sounds...)

-Dunleding (Rohan Axe) and Dunleding (Rohan Spear) both are missing a texture for their thrown weapon while they are holding it but before it's thrown (just gets a straight black texture in that instance)

-Gondor Fountain Guards, Citadel Guards, Dol Amroth Men at Arms, serveral numenor units (and possibly others?) are missing (wood) textures for the back of their shields (currently just using a copy of the front texture)

-Fellbeasts try to attack settlement gates but can't actually do any damage to the gate -This is related to the Fellbeast attack animation and possibly can't be fixed, anyone know if it's maybe possible to add a big attack bonus for an elephant type unit against doors specifically?

[Bardo]

Thank you very much for this topic.
Unfortunately, there are many bugs related to cities and buildings that I can not fix, and I'm afraid it'd be hard to fix even for Seth Krnell (who made them).
I do know how to redo the pathfindings of the cities, but it is a very time consuming task that I'm not sure if I will be able to do someday. It requires lots of testing to be sure that changes are actually an improvement (one single node wrongly placed may break the whole path).

Bugs I might be able to fix:
-AI pathfinding problems at Lake town, Erebor, Dol Guldur and generic Dwarven city
-Dol Amroth settlement back gate
It is possible to remove this gate with "simple" editing of the settlement plan.
-Cair Andros map crashes when there are auto reinforcements from the side opposide the attackers (is this even possible to fix?)
It would require to modify the campaign map heights around the city to try to alter the automatic city placement.
-Custom Umbar settlement is available but never added into the Campaigns? Oversight? or hardcoded limit?
It happened something similar to Cair Andros and we never fixed it.
-Videos related to wonders are vanilla RTW (I've heard rumours that the other videos may be floating around out there somewhere...)
It should be possible to replace the videos by plain images.

[CapnDan]

Bardo! Wow you really are diving into the ancient history of the forums! Glad to see you here!

I seem to remember trying to look into AI pathfinding around when I made this post but, if I remember correctly, it seemed like A LOT of work, and very many new things to learn. It also requires being able to extract and manipulate the 3D models for the settlements, does it not?

-Cair Andros map crashes when there are auto reinforcements from the side opposite the attackers (is this even possible to fix?)
It would require to modify the campaign map heights around the city to try to alter the automatic city placement.

Interesting, does this mean the engine automatically alters the facing of the city depending on campaign map heights? Overriding the the facing set in descr_strat? Or something else?

-Videos related to wonders are vanilla RTW (I've heard rumours that the other videos may be floating around out there somewhere...)
It should be possible to replace the videos by plain images.

Ah, you know, I probably should have know that.. but yea, solid idea.

[Bardo]

I seem to remember trying to look into AI pathfinding around when I made this post but, if I remember correctly, it seemed like A LOT of work, and very many new things to learn. It also requires being able to extract and manipulate the 3D models for the settlements, does it not?

I should have made a tutorial about pathfindings when I was working on it, but at the end Seth made the pathfindings for all the cities, and I had no time to help him, nor to write the tutorial.
It was not hard to make pathfindings, even for someone who never used 3dsmax as me. But it required lots of tests and readjustments to make good pathfindings. Taking into account the amount of files that Seth modded at that time, I think he made an incredible job. And now that the hard work is done, adjusting them should be relatively easy, even if very time consuming.
The main problem with some paths is that they were designed for older versions of the cities, and they were not updated when new obstacles were added. I'll see if I can fix some of them, and write a mini-tutorial for anyone interested.

Interesting, does this mean the engine automatically alters the facing of the city depending on campaign map heights? Overriding the the facing set in descr_strat? Or something else?

Not the facing, but the location (coordinates) where the city is placed on the battle map. If you alter the pixel of the campaign map where the city is placed (or adjacent pixels), the battle map generated will change, and the city will be relocated.
The problem with Cair Andros is that I changed the heights so it looked as similar to an island as possible. I remember a version where it was completely surrounded by water, and every battle crashed because there was no room to place any attacking army. Current version is linked by land to one side, but it is seems to crash if attacked at same time from both sides. I guess the fix would be to increase a bit the height until there is room in land for both armies.
The facing/positioning set in descr_strat does not use to work with most cities, but you are right that it is better to test it before having to modify the campaign map.

Another city that caused crashes in previous versions was Esgaroth (Laketown). Do you know if still problematic (other than the pathfinding)?

[CapnDan]

Interesting about the complex way the city battle maps are generated. Another one of those things that looks like it ought to be simple but then just gets more and more complicated as you try to get it to work... hah.

Can't recall any particular crashes at Laketown off the top of my head, but I also seem to remember pathfinding issues which were troublesome enough to warrant autoresolving most battles where that settlement was concerned.

[Shield]

Bardo, can you replace the buggy bridges with roads?

[Bardo]

I do not know how. But I remember that we did not like battles on bridges either, and that was the main reason to limit the construction of roads so much.
But now that I have played long campaigns with orcs, I'm missing the roads so much, that I'm not sure if it was a good idea to remove the roads.

[Aexodus]

I think the Fourth Age mod found a way to remove Bridges IIRC

[Shield]

Feast your eyes <3 http://www.filedropper.com/newbitmapimage_1


The ingenuity of elven wall. Why do attackers even need rams?!

[Bardo]

Elven walls were designed this way (no need of rams) on purpose, because elven archers are already very powerful while defending their cities.

[Shield]

ONLY if you defend with full army. But what you gonna do when enemy is stronger than you? Can you fix it, please?

I wish you ... spoke between yourself (you + team) and with the testers too before taking such a (bad , very bad in my opinion) decision.

[Bardo]

I do not agree you, nor the creator of the walls (Seth), nor the betatesters that tested the mod for months before the release. Feel free to change it in your own version of the mod.

Btw, there is a thread for suggestions here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-Issues-(v3-0)

You may gather all your suggestions together in ONE single post and place it there. Then wait for a response before you post again, else you are spamming the topic.

[Shield]

How is "Elven wall" without walls lore-friendly in any way, shape or form?

[CapnDan]

ONLY if you defend with full army. But what you gonna do when enemy is stronger than you? Can you fix it, please?

I wish you ... spoke between yourself (you + team) and with the testers too before taking such a (bad , very bad in my opinion) decision.

hmm.. you know I was going to be dragged in and discuss but then I realized this is completely off-topic (again), maybe should be moved to a 'suggestions' or 'off-topic' thread?

[Shield]

CapnDan, can you tell me how I could replace the elvish "walls" with a palisade? I have no idea how to do that.

[Bardo]

The first idea was to make elven cities without walls, but that caused crashes when they conquered cities with walls already built.
Seth made some tutorials about building editing (placed in the workshop), you may find there how to restore the walls.

I think the Fourth Age mod found a way to remove Bridges IIRC

Thanks for pointing it, I'll take a look.

[Shield]

Bardo if you fix the path-finding issues, you're my hero

Regard elven towns, they have chokepoints anyway so no biggie