character names in xgm

[hacon]

Here is my understanding of how things work re character names

there are 3 relevant files
1) names.txt
this holds 2 names the key name which is used to link to the other 2 files
and the translated name that is used as the character name in the game e.g
"{Tho} Thoë"
if there are duplicates a ctd will occur during campaign when character is generated
2) descr_names.txt
this is broken down by faction and first names/surnames/womens names
each of these name must be found in names.txt or a ctd will occur during campaign when character is generated
e.g " Thoë"
3) descr_strat.txt
this contains the starting characters and must match a name within its faction in descr_names.txt or a ctd will occur at start of campaign

as I am running under BI descr_names_lookup.txt I assume is irrelevant.

I am also under the impression that a name can exist in names.txt without being in descr_names.txt.

Now to the point, most names in descr_names.txt have an equivalent in names.txt as the first name or key name.
However the examples I quoted above are the exception
"{Tho} Thoë" in names.txt and
" Thoë" in descr_names.txt
I would have expected "Tho" to be in descr_names.txt but it is not,
also one of the characters used is not standard roman alphabet but has an Umlaut.

Would either of these 2 cases cause a CTD to occur.

thanks for everyones patience for reading this.

[Archbaker]

It is technically not an umlaut, but that does not answer your question. I'm sorry I cannot help you.

[RedFox]

This is how that name should work:

descr_names.txt

faction: seleucid
       characters
             Tho
       surnames
             Gonatas
       women
             Thoike

descr_names_lookup.txt

Tho
Gonatas
Thoike

text\names.txt

{Tho} Thõä
{Gonatas} Koinäke
{Thoike} Thäis

world\maps\campaign\BI\descr_strat.txt

character	Tho Gonatas, named character, leader, age 48, , x 158, y 115

character_record Thoike, female, command 0, influence 0, management 0, subterfuge 0, age 29, alive, never_a_leader

relative	Tho Gonatas,	Thoike, end
(relative	character,	wife, child, child, child..., end)

If you did everything like that, then when you start the campaign, faction leader named Thõä Koinäke is married to Thäis.
When changing names, I always suggest changing stuff in text\names.txt, as it gives less chance for any mistakes and CTD's to occur.

Most of ingame character names in xgmD don't actually match the names in descr_strat.txt, though I always leave a comment line with the correct reference if I want to change it.

And yes, you can have quite a lot of unused stuff in text\names.txt, only stuff referenced in descr_names_lookup.txt gets looked up by the engine.

[hacon]

Thanks for the reply RedFox, I may have overlooked the relevance of descr_names_lookup.txt thinking that like the enum files for units and settlements it was not required in BI.

However, following your examples the mechanics of the character names seems to me to be that, on character generation in the campaign or at campaign start from descr_start.txt, the engine goes to descr_names.txt to get/match a name for the faction needing it then to descr_names_lookup.txt then to names.txt to get the actual name to be used in the campaign.

I cannot see what useful purpose descr_names_lookup.txt serves.

My examples did not come from any of my changes to the name files but from the xgm files themselves.
In descr_names.txt the name "Leucothoë"
appears in the Macedon faction womens section.
In descr_names_lookup.txt "Leucotho" is seen.
In names.txt "{Leucotho} Leukothoë"
is present.

following your example "Leucotho" should be in descr_names.txt for Macedon, but it does not.

Have I misunderstood something?

[RedFox]

It's more or less a bug in my opinion, but it doesn't crash because it's probably not listed in descr_names_lookup.txt - only names that are in there get looked up in text\names.txt, which is good because you can have a load of useless stuff there that you're not using without a CTD.

[psrz]

i'm trying to make the "give_trait" cheat work but i can't. it throws "character not found" error every time.
I have "Glaukos of Athenai" ( that's what the campaign map shows ). I found {Glaukos} Glaukos in xgm/data/text/names.txt. i also found Glaukos in xgm/data/descr_names.txt but nothing works.
¿ what am i missing ?

thx

[CaesarVincens]

Do you have Suppanut's ethnic traits? Because that can mess up the name of you generals especially for Greeks, Celts, Iberians, and Sabaeans.

[psrz]

Do you have Suppanut's ethnic traits? Because that can mess up the name of you generals especially for Greeks, Celts, Iberians, and Sabaeans.

i don't know... it's a clean installation of rome and the only mod i have is xgm...

[CaesarVincens]

Then you don't have it, it's a separate download.
Sorry, I don't know what else might be the problem.

[Unknown Soldier]

Quick Check list;

Can you give any other trait to him?

Can you give any other trait to any other Genera/Characterl?

Can you do any other cheat with him e.g. move his location?

Can you do any other cheat with any other General/Character?

Is the trait valid for his type of character? (it mat be spy/diplomat/assasssin specific).

Once you have answered all of these as yes, then it beats the hell out of me.

Only other thing would be a corrupt install or RTW/BI/ALEX origional bug

Regards

[psrz]

uff...
i trained a general in one of my cities and took him out of the settlement. "Enkelados of Korkyra" is the name in the campaign map and all he had was "Confident Commander" and "Western civilised"

in xgm\data\text\names.txt :
{Ennychus} Enkelados

in descr_names_lookup.txt:
Ennychus

in xgm\data\descr_names.txt
Enkelados

i did a search in the entire "rome" folder ( txt files) and what i couldn't find is "Korkyra". does it have to do with this ? with surnames ?

i've tried everything. ( i've found two versions of the cheat : 1) give_trait "character" "trait" number; 2) give_trait "character" "trait" number )

give_trait "GoodAdministrator" "Enkelados of Korkyra" 1
give_trait "GoodAdministrator" "Enkelados" 1
give_trait "GoodAdministrator" "Ennychus of Korkyra" 1
give_trait "GoodAdministrator" "Ennychus" 1

give_trait "Enkelados of Korkyra" "GoodAdministrator" 1
give_trait "Enkelados" "GoodAdministrator" 1
give_trait "Ennychus of Korkyra" "GoodAdministrator" 1
give_trait "Ennychus" "GoodAdministrator" 1

i did the same with "GoodAttacker". nothing seems to work: "character not found" all the time.

i also tried "invulnerable_general" and "kill_character". these two throw "command not recognised"

any ideas ?

[RedFox]

Try moving the character out of a settlement, maybe that will help...

[Unknown Soldier]

Do you need the quotes around the names?

[Unknown Soldier]

Show us the error message as displayed, please.

[RedFox]

Try this:

give_trait "GoodAdministrator" "Ennychus of_Corcyra" 3

or

give_trait "Ennychus of_Corcyra" "GoodAdministrator" 3

Also try entering this:

?give_trait

It should provide you with the proper syntax

If nothing else works, use the name you see in the game, but with a minor change:

"Enkelados of_Korkyra"

Also, most of the stuff is case sensitive, so make sure you are using upper case where needed.

[psrz]

Try this:

give_trait "Ennychus of_Corcyra" "GoodAdministrator" 3

that worked!!
thanks

[Warmaster]

OH MY GOD!

I wish I knew that years ago. It would have saved me to much time trying things out in all the campaigns I've played.

Thanks Redfox!