Hotseat Launcher Released

[[Celtíbero]Mencey]

Anyone interested in serious hotseating should try this, it is a big improvement in the turn playing system.

[Unspoken Knight]

Anyone interested in serious hotseating should try this, it is a big improvement in the turn playing system.

Thankyou!

I found out some of my old friends have started using the Hotseat Launcher over Dropbox. They said it works flawlessly and sounds like it might be even easier to use than Live Mesh. I will check it out.

[knicolas2]

question: when only two players play it can the other player take over the control of ai army? as in the ETW or NTW multiplayer campaign?

[Impr0ve]

Hello I wanted to ask if anybody had detailed instructions on how to get this to work through the internet I tried it with hamachi but I couldn't figure it out thanks in advance and I'm sorry if there was already good tutorials I couldn't really find one.

[Unspoken Knight]

I have finished a test game with another player over Windows Live Mesh and it ran perfectly. Sometimes we would both be online together and sometimes not, but Live Mesh enabled everything to sync perfectly.

The issues found with Windows Live Mesh include:

- Requires Windows 7 or Vista
- Requires a Windows Live ID
- Maximum of 10 players
- Sometimes Live Mesh might automatically sync to a new folder in the user profile. It is possible to make it sync to a new folder of your choice, and the launcher can run with any local synced folder.

I will write a guide in the future for other players, but it is fairly straightforward to set up.

[Ivo_Enforcer]

Howdy all,

After a few mangled attempts, and with no small amount of assistance from UK, I managed to get a setup working for the Hotseat Launcher and Broken Crescent. At UK's suggestion, I'm sticking the pertinent files and info up here for your delectation and delight!

You'll find attached the standard Hotseat Config file (modified for Broken Crescent), as well as a campaign_script file, which has been modified to allow for successful gameplay. All files are relevant only to Broken Crescent 2.3.2.1, but they'll be easy enough to modify for any later versions.

So you are aware, the attached campaign_script is currently set up to have all factions played by AI (I figured I would let you do the adjusting). To prepare the script file for your hotseat game, scroll to the "Recruitment Events" section, change the "counter ai_is_xxx" to "counter player_is_xxx," for the relevant faction, and then delete the "add_money xxx" script for that faction. For instance, if I wanted to start a game with the Khwarezmian and Ghorid factions played by humans, the first section of my script would look like this:

------------
monitor_event FactionTurnStart FactionType byzantium
add_events
event counter first_turn
event counter ai_is_ere
event counter ai_is_turk
event counter ai_is_koj
event counter ai_is_ayyubid
event counter ai_is_armenia
event counter ai_is_georgia
event counter ai_is_makuria
event counter ai_is_kyp
event counter ai_is_abbasid
event counter ai_is_oman
event counter ai_is_seljuk
event counter player_is_kwarz
event counter player_is_ghorid
event counter ai_is_ghazni
event counter ai_is_chauhan
event counter ai_is_sindh
event counter ai_is_rajput
event counter ai_is_mongol
date 0 0
end_add_events
console_command logon
console_command add_money byzantium, 35000
console_command add_money turks, 45000
console_command add_money france, 37000
console_command add_money egypt, 40000
console_command add_money poland, 37000
console_command add_money england, 36000
console_command add_money scotland, 38000
console_command add_money portugal, 41000
console_command add_money moors, 38000
console_command add_money denmark, 33000
console_command add_money russia, 35000
console_command add_money venice, 35000
console_command add_money aztecs, 38000
console_command add_money hungary, 37000
console_command add_money sicily, 38000
console_command logoff
date 0 0
end_add_events
terminate_monitor
end_monitor
------------

There may be a way to automate this determination of human and AI factions in a single turn that I am not yet aware of, but the above method allows for full recruitment functionality with the hotseat launcher (along the lines of the BC scripted recruiting), which was kind of a game-breaker up until now! Just copy the campaign_script file to your X:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\Broken_Crescent_kingdoms\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign folder (don't forget to make a backup of the original), edit the file accordingly, and you're good to go!

And don't forget to thank UK for his awesome Hotseat Tool!


I.E.

[Unspoken Knight]

No, sorry knicolas2.

[knicolas2]

ok thanks. maybe someone can mod this ? or is it really not possible?

[Unspoken Knight]

It is not really possible. It would be great but I can't see any way to mod this.

[[Celtíbero]Mencey]

Did you check about dropbox?

[Unspoken Knight]

Did you check about dropbox?

Yes! I only had a quick look at it but it seems perfect! It is very easy to use (even much easier than Live Mesh), doesn't seem to have a user limit and should work on all suitable versions of Windows.

I will have to play a proper test game sometime, but I would like to make some updates to the HS Launcher first.

[Radekk17]

Hello,
is there any guide how i can run this over windows live mesh? I really want play with my friend.
Thanks for any help

[Unspoken Knight]

No guide yet sorry, but it isn't too hard to set up. Just create a new folder on your pc, add it to be synced with Live Mesh and then share it with your friends Live ID. Once they accept, install the hotseat launcher on both pc's, run the HS launcher, ensure the M2TW install path is correct and set the transfer path to the synced folder on each pc.

If the paths are correct, You should be able to start a new game with the HS launcher and then your friend can join it.

Windows Live Mesh is fairly easy to set up, but I have since tried using Dropbox. Dropbox seems a bit easier to use, doesn't have a user limit and doesn't require Live ID accounts. The instructions for using the HS launcher over Dropbox are pretty much the same as above.

[Radekk17]

No guide yet sorry, but it isn't too hard to set up. Just create a new folder on your pc, add it to be synced with Live Mesh and then share it with your friends Live ID. Once they accept, install the hotseat launcher on both pc's, run the HS launcher, ensure the M2TW install path is correct and set the transfer path to the synced folder on each pc.

If the paths are correct, You should be able to start a new game with the HS launcher and then your friend can join it.

Windows Live Mesh is fairly easy to set up, but I have since tried using Dropbox. Dropbox seems a bit easier to use, doesn't have a user limit and doesn't require Live ID accounts. The instructions for using the HS launcher over Dropbox are pretty much the same as above.

thank you for your answer...we both did it exactly, but if i create new game, choose mod, name etc., my friend didnt see it in game name list...what's wrong? :/

[Radekk17]

Sorry for double post, i try use dropbox but it had the same result :x

[Unspoken Knight]

It might be one of the following:

1) You have to press start. Once you have set the game options, you need to press start or begin (I can't remember exactly). This will create all the required HS files and allow other people to join.

2) Sync folder issue. Please have your friend check their dropbox/mesh sync folder to ensure it says it is synced and has the same files as you. Once the game is started, the synced folder should contain a folder for the new game with some HS game xml files.

2) The HS launcher transfer path is incorrect. Please check the transfer path in the hotseat launcher, it should point directly at the synced folder. Make sure that after starting the game, the transfer path for you and your friend contains a folder for the new HS game. The transfer path should point to the base path for your hotseat games. e.g. create a synced transfer path "C:\HSTransfer\". the transfer path will contain folders for each HS game, e.g. "C:\HSTransfer\Game1\", "C:\HSTransfer\CrusadesGame\", etc.

[Radekk17]

thank you again
now it works

[Unspoken Knight]

thank you again
now it works

Sweet! Please let me know how the game goes.

[Radekk17]

Sweet! Please let me know how the game goes.

With your custom campaign 2 works definitely good, we are on turn 180

We also try play stainless steel 6.4 with hotseat launcher, but there's a strange problem.
On turn 1, everything is ok, but if we start turn 2, always the cost of all buildings decrease on 50% original cost. (brothel cost is 1000 and on turn 2 cost is 500). But this would not matter so much.
Around the turns 7-10, i cannot recruit units on everything settlement, it writes everywhere that there's 0 recruitment slots. My friend can recruit units, but he cannot conquest settlements. It writes that he dont have units which can attack on buildings. But he had infantry and siege equipment..
I try SS with one friend a we have same version of kingdoms, same version of stainless steel and the same settings (early era, savage ai, permanent arrows etc.)
Do you know what it might be?
I will be grateful for any answer

[Unspoken Knight]

Thanks I.E., great work!