How-to: Add a background script to your mod

**Greno Zee** · December 15, 2010, 03:22 PM

Hey Bardo, great you're still interested!

AdviceThread Lotr_Script_Thread 0
I found out how it works exactly by setting the Threshold to higher numbers. I put to CharacterSelected trigger
AdviceThread Lotr_Script_Thread 0 and to SettlementSelected trigger AdviceThread Lotr_Script_Thread 1. Whenever I selected any character, I needed Threshold - 1 selected settlements to get the Advisor show up

Now I'm very interested in your comment that when you don't use
suspend_unscripted_advice true, the script stays running after loading a campaign.

I've got a very simple script, where there is one event monitor declared. Whenever I reload the game, it stops executing the monitor. So I wondered, is there anything else needed to keep it running after reloading?

According to the discussion in this very thread wait command in event monitors doesn't work:

Code:

monitor_event GameReloaded TrueCondition
    wait 5 ; won't work
    console_command trigger_advice Lotr_Script_Thread
    advance_advice_thread Lotr_Script_Thread no_dismiss
    terminate_script
end_monitor

That's why I split it as suggested in the discussion here...

**Greno Zee** · December 16, 2010, 05:34 AM

Hm, please, let me correct myself.
You never said "suspend_unscripted_advice true" would have anything to do with scripts staying in memory after reload. No idea why i interpreted your message this way

.
In any case:
In none of my tests I've been able to confirm that the background script stays active after you reload a game. I'd be very happy if anyone can prove me wrong. But if I'm not, it means:

The following event monitor has got no use:

Code:

monitor_event GameReloaded TrueCondition
    terminate_script
end_monitor

The trigger counts do keep their values after reload, so this trigger is indeed required to reset the counter and fire the script up again after the reload:
Code:
```
Trigger Reload_Script_Trigger
    WhenToTest GameReloaded

    AdviceThread Lotr_Script_Thread  0
```
There is no doubt this trigger does fire, it only seems not to be able to access the user interface and can't be used directly to fire the script, only to reset the count.

On top of that, I've been able to confirm one of the scariest behaviors I've ever seen in scripting: the scripting engine survives the application shutdown! Even if I close the game using the menus, I've been able to confirm that sometimes some AdviceThread counters keep their values between RTW sessions.
Very, very frightening!

**Bardo** · December 16, 2010, 02:59 PM

You are right about "wait" command not working inside monitors, I forgot. Altough I remember to test it with GameReloaded, just in case.

Don't be scary

, the advice counters are saved at this file:
\preferences\advice
If you remove it, the file is regenerated with counters to 0.

Once, I had the idea to use this feature to save the state of script counters, but the advice counters are affected by every campaign and every game you play, so I do not think it would be useful.

I do not think scripts can keep active after you reload a savegame, I would say they stop working when you load a different game. But sometimes when you load a savegame (always when you reload an autosave) and there is already a script running, the new script does not take effect until the next turn (as you have also verified).
Well, I'm almost sure that the event GameReloaded is detected by the script previously running (before you reload), probably it is the latest event it detects. And I have verified that I can use it with terminate_script to allow the new script (launched after you reload) to be activated just when you press end turn.
It is hard to explain. I mean, if you remove this part

Code:

monitor_event GameReloaded TrueCondition
    terminate_script
end_monitor

the new script will not work until the start of your next turn, and it will miss all the events from the first AI turn.

As you said, this is not a problem if you are using "suspend_unscripted_advice true".
I think the problem if you use "suspend_unscripted_advice true" is it prevents the advisor from being showed automatically, and you need to click on the advisor portrait to activate the script. Although I never used that method and I would need to verify the cause.

With my method, if the advice is declared as "on_display" and the script is declared as "declare_show_me", the advisor is opened automatically and so the scripts are executed automatically as soon as the player press any button.
In our mod, if you are playing a campaign and you decide to reload a savegame, you do not need to do anything to reactivate the scripts. As soon as you press any button (for example end turn):
the advisor will be launched thanks to "Gamereload" event, it will be opened automatically thanks to "declare_show_me", and the scripts will be executed automatically thanks to "on_display".

However, it does not work the first time you load a savegame when you just entered the game. The first time, you need to click the advisor portrait. And this is the only non-automatic issue that I never solved.
Then it will be automatic again with every reload, at least until another script declared as "declare_show_me" is executed.

I do not know if you understood something (sorry my english), but I think mine was an important discovery, and I didn't get anyone interested to help me researching that feature: "declare_show_me" + "on_display".
It took me many time to develop an alternative method without "suspend_unscripted_advice true", but people here considered it just a variant of HouseOfHam's method. I think I advanced one step, and we still need another step to automatize it completely.

**Greno Zee** · December 16, 2010, 05:58 PM

Thanks for the explanation! I think I perfectly understand all you say.
And it all makes sense and perfectly fits the results of my own testing.

Now the good news:
I've been playing around a bit, reloading games from the main menu, from the game, starting new campaigns, reloading again and the only time I needed to touch the Advisor to launch the script was when I exited the game and started a new campaign. Not after loading anymore

.

But before I tell you, there's one thing I need to ask you. In none of my attempts I was able to lanch the script after loading with the End Turn button. How do you manage that? Whatever I tried, the Advisor started to appear but before it could launch the script, another faction took over and the Advisor moved away.

And here goes: How did I manage that when I start the game and then load my save, I don't need to click on the advisor to launch the script? Actually, by a workaround, not a real solution.
I'm sure you provide your users with a shortcut to launch your mod, right? Well, put the -strat:... option in there. It starts a new campaign directly and then your users can either load their game, go to the main menu, whatever. I know many people will find this clumsy but it works for me

.

**Bardo** · December 16, 2010, 09:27 PM

And here goes: How did I manage that when I start the game and then load my save, I don't need to click on the advisor to launch the script? Actually, by a workaround, not a real solution.
I'm sure you provide your users with a shortcut to launch your mod, right? Well, put the -strat:... option in there. It starts a new campaign directly and then your users can either load their game, go to the main menu, whatever. I know many people will find this clumsy but it works for me

Good job! it works for me too. We can create this shortcut named "play campaign" or something similar and people who use it would not need to be worried about activation of scripts.

I've been playing around a bit, reloading games from the main menu, from the game, starting new campaigns, reloading again and the only time I needed to touch the Advisor to launch the script was when I exited the game and started a new campaign.

I guess there is a mistake in your sentence, and you wanted to say it fails when you start a new campaign without exiting the game. Doesn't it?

Else, I have good news for you, because that issue was solved long time ago. Both systems described in this topic should launch the script automatically when you start a new campaign.

These lines in the "Campaign Script" (placed in the campaign folder) makes the trick in my case:

script

declare_show_me

;...

wait 1
console_command trigger_advice Lotr_Script_Thread
advance_advice_thread Lotr_Script_Thread no_dismiss

end_script

I don't remember now, but I think I needed 2 triggers to increase the advice counter and to prepare it for the gamereloaded event.

But before I tell you, there's one thing I need to ask you. In none of my attempts I was able to lanch the script after loading with the End Turn button. How do you manage that? Whatever I tried, the Advisor started to appear but before it could launch the script, another faction took over and the Advisor moved away.

I have just tested in my new pc and you are right, the advisor does not have time to appear before the AI starts to move.
But I promiss you it worked in my old pc. I even verified if the scripts were active all along the AI turn, and the scripts didn't miss any AI faction turn.

It might depend on the speed of the pc. I already noticed my only script that used the "wait" command with a timer (a question to the player to control the fellowship of the ring) stoped working when I changed to a faster pc.
Then, I guess the "end turn" button is not a reliable way to activate the background script... it is a pitty.

**Greno Zee** · December 17, 2010, 03:04 AM