ignoring changes to xml documents

[vindex246]

I've been editing some of the xml documents, including "shared.sd", "strategy.sd", and "descr_campaign_db". The problem is, none of my changes show up in-game, regardless of whether I put the modded files in the mod folder or the original data folder. FYI, I'm using the Kingdoms engine with full patches.

Now I've seen people make changes to at least the first two, which designate which shield graphics etc. to show on the strat map interface, because those changes are reflected in their mods. And it looks like those two xml files are used to generate .sd files, although I read somewhere that if the .sd file is missing it will generate much like the string files will from txt files. But if that's supposed to happen automatically it certainly doesn't happen for me.

With the last file (descr_campaign_db), it doesn't look like any other file is generated, or at least I can't find one. But when I try to change the number of children allowed, the game ignores it. Once again, though, it seems to me like people have been able to mod type of files -- the AI file is exactly the same, and many people have modded that. So what do you need to do for the changes to take effect? Or is this just a particular problem with the variable I'm trying to change?

[Harry Lime]

Moved to Text Editing and Scripting. Please only tutorials, modding tools etc. in the Tutorial section.

[Lonck]

you mean you haven't heard of

[io]
file_first = 1

?

[vindex246]

Thank you for assuming that I am a total idiot.

Yes, I tried something like that ... actually I put "[io] file_first = true" in the config file, like always used to work in original M2TW, but it didn't seem to have an effect.

It appears that some things have changed from M2TW to Kingdoms in terms of when and what files override from the mod folder. Also, a number of mods I downloaded for Kingdoms didn't seem to use the file_first command, so I was unclear whether the new engine still required it when drawing from the mod folder.

I will try "file_first = 1" instead. Also, does the batch file need a file_first instruction as well? Once again, mods for M2TW seemed to always use one (e.g., "medieval2.exe --io.file_first @mymod.cfg") but the mods I've used for Kingdoms don't seem to have it -- including ones that appear to utilize the modded files I referred to.

[vindex246]

I have just run tests and can confirm that neither the "file_first = true" or "file_first = 1" commands solve the problems I described.

The engine seems to ignore the modded descr_campaign_db file and does not display any children on the family tree beyond the unmodded 4.

The engine does not generate a new .sd file for the shared.sd or strategy.sd xml files, nor does it draw on the xml files themselves for data to override. It appears to ignore them and draw on the packed files.

I am NOT having any problems overriding other types of files from the mod folder, with or WITHOUT the file_first command. I do have modded sd files that I grabbed from other mods and they (not the base xml files) DO have an override effect when placed in the mod folder. But obviously I have no way to further mod them.

Any thoughts? Surely people who have successfully modded the AI xml files or created new db files for faction shields know what to do, or what I am doing wrong.

[Gigantus]

Children: seems to be hardcoded - nothing beyond 4 is possible.
CFG file: you might have to use one for your mod, don't rely on the default one to work, it gets modified by the game all the time.

Batch file in mod root folder:

cd ..\..
kingdoms.exe @mods\MyMod\Configuration.cfg

Configuration.cfg in mod root folder:

[features]
editor = true
mod = mods/MyMod

[io]
file_first = true

Replace MyMod with your mod's name.

[vindex246]

Thanks for the feedback on the children hardcode ... I was suspecting something like that.

I do use a separate cfg, but didn't know about the "mod = mods/[mod name]" command. Oddly enough, my mod has always worked for without that, but I'll give it a whirl.

[Gigantus]

Without that line it will ignore modded files in your mod folder and search first in the root folder and then in the packs. Guess that's where your problem was.

[vindex246]

Actually I had it, I just didn't know it.

[Pope_Fred_I]

Along this line, I've been trying to mod descr_campaign_db so that coming of age occurs at 12 instead of 14 or 16, but the game seems to have totally ignored that I changed <age_of_manhood uint="16"/> to 12. Help?