How to add buildings/slots to Cities - COMPLETED

**demis14** · May 11, 2009, 04:13 PM

This tutorial will show you how to add building slots to a city, so that the city will get larger and enable the building of an additional type of building (e.g. admiralty). This will require quite a lot of steps, so be patient and follow step by step.

NOTE: The following Tutorial is based on changing a City into having 5 buildings in it. To change the city into having any other building number, will require almost the same steps, except the change of coordinates, as the process differs from number to number.

First you will need the latest Esf Editor

In this tutorial I will add an admiralty to Athens (I tried this for my mod purposes with Greece ETW Playable & Retexture mod)

So let's begin:

1) First backup the following files that we are going to edit:
· startpos.esf (C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\empire total war\data\campaigns\main)
· regions.esf (C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\empire total war\data\campaign_maps\global_map)

2) Now open startpos.esf with esf editor. First, we need to clone an existing REGION_SLOT_ARRAY of any settlement building (i.e. located inside the city).

This will be found under this path:
CAMPAIGN_STARTPOS\CAMPAIGN_ENV\CAMPAIGN_MODEL\WORLD\REGION_MANAGER\REGIONS_ARRAY\REGIONS_ARRAY\REGION(Greece)\REGION_SLOT_MANAGER\REGION_SLOT_ARRAY right click on an existing settlement building slot and click CLONE.

3) After cloning, a new higlighted green REGION_SLOT_ARRAY should appear. Now we need to click on the green REGION_SLOT, and change the 1st entry on the right (the Building ID, type Uint), and rewrite a random one, but be sure to keep it a 9-digit number! (the chance of rewriting an existing ID, is extremely small)

4) Next, we need to change the 2nd entry, to a new one reflecting the building type we want to add.
In this example it’s "settlement:greece:athens:settlement_navy-admin". Change the bold text respectively.

ID references of other building types can be found here main.pack/db/building_chains_to_slots_tables\building_chains_to_slots under the data folder that needs the PackFileManager to be opened
The 5th and 6th entries are the campaign map coordinates, and we will change them accordingly later on, in the process explained further down. Also for the 8th entry it decideds what type of small buildings will surround the city. I would leave it as it is, the same with all the REGION_SLOTs of the specific region. (This number should actually match with the 1st entry when you have SETTLEMENT field highlighted i.e. in my example it should be no. 3).
We aren’t going to bother with the rest entries of this field.

5) Now, highlight SIEGABLE_GARISSON_RESIDENCE and change the 1st entry here to be exactly the same with the Building ID of REGION_SLOT you have just randomly edited.
Then, under the SIEGABLE_GARISSON_RESIDENCE, click on GARISSON_RESIDENCE and change the entry on the right, to the ID of the faction that owns the City. (in this example Greece) You can simply copy the entry from the other existing GARISSON_RESIDENCEs of the other existing REGION_SLOT_ARRAYs in that region.

6) This will decide if the building slot will have a building already built in it or if it will be an empty slot

a) For empty slot:

Simply right click on the BUILDING field (if there is one) under BUILDING_MANAGER and click DELETE (it should turn red).

After doing this, click on the BUILDING_MANAGER and change the 1st Boolean to “False”.

b) For built-in slot:

Click on the BUILDING_MANAGER and be sure the 1st Boolean is set to “True”.

There should also be a BUILDING field present under BUILDING_MANAGER. (If there isn’t one, then simply right-click copy one from another slot). With BUILDING being highlighted, change the 3rd entry to the owner faction (i.e. in this case from “portugal” to “greece”) and the 4th entry to the owner faction government type (i.e. in this case from “gov_constitutional_monarchy” to “gov_absolute_monarchy”)
The 2nd entry will determine the building level,so enter the appropriate text (in this example “admiralty”)

Building IDs of other building levels can be found here main.pack/db/building_levels_tables/building_levels under the data folder that needs the PackFileManager to be opened

7) Now, we have to add the building slot in the AI entries as well, so that the game won't crash when the building upgrades. We will follow the method of HusserlTW to do this.

a) Go to startpos.esf\CAMPAIGN_STARTPOS\CAMPAIGN_ENV\CAMPAIGN_MODEL\CAI_INTERFACE\CAI_WORLD\CAI_WORLD_BUILDING_SLOTS and right-click on anyoneof the CAI_WORLD_BUILDING_SLOTS and click CLONE. A new highlighted-green CAI_WORLD_BUILDING_SLOTS field should appear. Click on it.

b) Change the 1st entry on the right, which is the slot's ID, to a 4-digit random number, but this number shouldnt conflict with any other ID, so to be on the safe-side, change this to lets say "9999". (this was one of my mistakes:whistling)

c) Then click on the CAI_BUILDING_SLOT field under CAI_WORLD_BUILDING_SLOTS we cloned. From here change the 1st entry on the right, to match exactly with our randomly created REGION_SLOT ID we created in Step 3 above. The 2nd entry should be 0, that probably indicates that the building is inside the city.

d) The last step, is to change the 3rd entry on the right, to our Settlement's AI ID (i.e. in our example Athens' AI ID is 1681). To find this for other settlements, check out the list I prepared for all Settlements AI IDs, to save you from having to find it yourself...

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

After this, we are finished editing the startpos.esf, so now SAVE the file and open regions.esf with esf editor

8) Go to global_map\regions.esf\root\region_data\regions\ and find the region that you will add a building/slot to. (in my example greece). Under regions, go to settlement_and_slots/slot_descriptions and right-click on an existing field and click CLONE.

9) Click on the cloned green slot_descriptions, and change the 1st and 2nd entries on the right, to reflect your new building accordingly, like previously done in the startpos.esf. (i.e. in my example I will change the 1st entry to "settlement:greece:athens:settlement_navy-admin" and the 2nd entry to "settlement_navy-admin")
The 3rd and 4th entries are probably the battle map coordinates, and we will change them accordingly later on, in the process explained further down.

After this, SAVE changes

To Place Building Slots correctly so that the buildings fit properly in the newly enlarged city (both campaign and battle map), use this excellent spreadsheet made by erasmus777 and follow the steps described in the spreadsheet and the additional steps below.

a) When editing startpos.esf, go to your REGION_SLOT_ARRAY and click on your first slot. The 5th and 6th entries are X and Y coordinates respectively. Check the building type and enter the appropriate value. Do this for all the settlement slots.

Save. Your buildings will now appear in the correct position on the campaign map!

b) When editing regions.esf, go to slot_descriptions, under settlement_and_slots, and click on your first slot. The 3rd and 4th entries are both the coordinates X and Y separated by a “ ; ”. Check the building type and enter the appropriate value. Do this for all the settlement slots.

Save. Your buildings will now also appear in the correct position on the battle map!

For a full-detailed explanation of this method, check out the spoiler below

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

NOW YOU HAVE SUCCESSFULY COMPLETED THIS TUTORIAL. see the result below

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

I hope this was useful and easy to follow, even though it was a quite long process. I would like to thank erasmus777 and husserlTW for their help to complete this tutorial and their teamwork, that I really like in TWC community!

**erasmus777** · May 11, 2009, 04:27 PM

Wonderful! This is awesome.

Do you think adding a building with the Line of Sight boolean value of "True" to a minor nation would fix the Fog of War bug?

**demis14** · May 12, 2009, 01:16 AM

it might do the trick, but I never had a problem of fog of war when unlocking Greece... but of course Greece is an emergent but Denmark just a minor faction....
I'm willing to have a look at your startpos.esf and maybe I can find the problem if you want!

EDIT: Did you try to add a building slot to a city? I really want to know if it worked for you as well!

**Irmo** · May 12, 2009, 01:59 PM

This is a brilliant tutoiral +rep.

However, I am trying to make native American cities from minor into major cities, with more than one building slot. As the native American building chains are different, would you know how to change it into a major city (all the minor cities have settlement:blank:blank:settlement_minor)? I have tried this a few times now, and it crashes each time

.

**alpaca** · May 12, 2009, 02:16 PM

The float point is probably the building coordinates so don't change it to something random (the slots are actually rendered in the main city if you look closely)

**demis14** · May 12, 2009, 02:39 PM

Originally Posted by alpaca

The float point is probably the building coordinates so don't change it to something random (the slots are actually rendered in the main city if you look closely)

You are right, actually if you click on regions field, you can see two FloatPoint entries, that i believe are the Low and High boundaries for coordinates that you can set...

As i had recomended in the tutorial, to leave the first 3 digits the same (that in fact are those that matter) , it would have worked ... But i will change it anyway to clarify!

**demis14** · May 12, 2009, 02:47 PM

Originally Posted by Irmo

This is a brilliant tutoiral +rep.

However, I am trying to make native American cities from minor into major cities, with more than one building slot. As the native American building chains are different, would you know how to change it into a major city (all the minor cities have settlement:blank:blank:settlement_minor)? I have tried this a few times now, and it crashes each time

.

EDIT: see the above posts that might be the problem..

**Irmo** · May 13, 2009, 01:40 PM

Woo! I got it working. My problem wasn't the float points, but in:

main\startpos.esf\CAMPAIGN_STARTPOS\CAMPAIGN_ENV\CAMPAIGN_MODEL\WORLD\REGION_MANAGER\REGIONS_ARRAY\REGIONS_ARRAY\REGION\REGION_SLOT_MANAGER\REGION_SLOT_ARRAY\REGION_SLOT_ARRAY\REGION_SLOT (for your region and slot)

If you want to change the level of the building (which I did), you have to change the 8th row to the level of the building according to the building_levels_tables\building_levels in the main.pack. Also, annoyingly, the first level building is 0, not 1, which is where my problem was. It is also 0 for no building. Also, quite a helpful file in the db building_chains_to_slots_tables\building_chains_to_slots, showing what you have to put after settlement:blank:blank: for your building chain.

You may want to add this in, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to change building levels.

Once again, thank you very much for this tutorial, and here is the result:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

**demis14** · May 13, 2009, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by Irmo

Woo! I got it working. My problem wasn't the float points, but in:

main\startpos.esf\CAMPAIGN_STARTPOS\CAMPAIGN_ENV\CAMPAIGN_MODEL\WORLD\REGION_MANAGER\REGIONS_ARRAY\REGIONS_ARRAY\REGION\REGION_SLOT_MANAGER\REGION_SLOT_ARRAY\REGION_SLOT_ARRAY\REGION_SLOT (for your region and slot)

If you want to change the level of the building (which I did), you have to change the 8th row to the level of the building according to the building_levels_tables\building_levels in the main.pack. Also, annoyingly, the first level building is 0, not 1, which is where my problem was. It is also 0 for no building. Also, quite a helpful file in the db building_chains_to_slots_tables\building_chains_to_slots, showing what you have to put after settlement:blank:blank: for your building chain.

You may want to add this in, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who wants to change building levels.

Once again, thank you very much for this tutorial, and here is the result:

thank you very much for the feedback m8, and I will add that useful info as soon as i find some spare time!

Im glad it worked for you as well!

**demis14** · May 16, 2009, 12:37 PM

i have found how to edit the coordinates so that the buildings will fit properly in the newly enlarged city, and i will add this on the tutorial soon, as it's a long process

**erasmus777** · May 20, 2009, 04:35 PM

Attachment 42598

Originally Posted by demis14

i have found how to edit the coordinates so that the buildings will fit properly in the newly enlarged city, and i will add this on the tutorial soon, as it's a long process

Some other people and I are getting CTDs when upgrading the new admiralty. Have you found anyway around this?

I thought maybe it was the misplacement of the slots, so I went ahead and figured out how to place them properly. They look fine, but I'm still getting CTDs. I'm curious to hear how you did it to see if I missed something. Here's my method:

How to Place City Slots:

1) Go to CAMPAIGN_STARTPOS\CAMPAIGN_ENV\CAMPAIGN_MODEL\WORLD\REGION_MANAGER\REGIONS_ARRAY\REGIONS_ARRAY\[Your Region] and click on SETTLEMENT\SIEGEABLE_GARRISON_RESIDENCE

2) You'll see Int values in lines 10 and 11; these are X (line 10),Y (line 11) coordinates. Write them down. All our calculations will be relative to these numbers.

3) Convert them into map coordinates by dividing each number by 1,000,000 (this is American notation: in other words, assign 6 decimal places, starting from the right and counting left). For example, 17328740/1,000,000 = 17.328740

[Note: you can achieve the same results by leaving the Garrison coordinates unchanged and instead multiplying the offset numbers I provide by 1,000,000. If all this math makes your head hurt, ignore this note and follow the tutorial or, better yet, download the spreadsheet

]

4) We're going to offset the Garrison coordinates for each building type. This will tell us where to place the buildings. For each building, simply add the respective values below to the Garrison coordinates. Here are the offsets:

Building X; Y
Army -0.798581; 0.792384
Government 0.003188; -0.009376
Culture 0.815036; -0.821216
Navy -0.808820; -0.821376
Ordinance 0.819688; 0.807104

5) After you have gotten the coordinates for all your buildings, convert them back in game format by multiplying by 1,000,000

Example:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

6) Go to your REGION_SLOT_ARRAY and click on your first slot. Lines 5 and 6 are X and Y coordinates. Note the building type and enter the appropriate value. Do this for all the city slots.

Save. You buildings will now appear in the correct position in game.

I've attached a spreadsheet that does all the math for you. All you need to do is enter the values from SIEGEABLE_GARRISON_RESIDENCE. It's password protected against careless changes, but I've written the password on the document so you have full control. Edit: Spreadsheet removed for updating.

**demis14** · May 21, 2009, 03:11 AM

well you did it in a similar way with me, but the only differences on how i did it are:
1. Also follow these steps for ROAD_SLOT and FORTIFICATIONS_SLOT. I followed the following offsets:
ROAD +0.040256 -1.39504
FORTIFICATION +0.040256 +1.390304

2. I did not divide the number by 1,000,000, as its not that necessary
3. The offset values for each building, differ slightly from building to building, so mine that I used are only maybe an integer down or up... (I believe it doesnt matter)
4. I followed a similar method, to edit this time the regions.esf, as it has coordinates as well. Go to: \regions.esf\root\region_data\regions\regions\settlement_and_slots and there are the X and Y coordinates in the first line seperated by a ' ; ', that we are going to use to calculate the other building coordinates (like done in the above post in startpos.esf)

To change the coordinates with the new offsets we locate the building slots under this path global_map\regions.esf\root\region_data\regions\regions\settlement_and_slots\slot_descriptions and change the 3rd and 4th lines, that are identical and both contain the X and Y coordinates seperated by a ' ; '

The offsets for regions.esf are:

army -0.7616 +0.7557
govern +0.003 -0.0089
culture +0.7773 -0.7831
navy -0.7714 -0.7833
ordnance +0.7817 +0.7698
road +0.0384 -1.3304
fortification +0.0384 +1.3259

The above steps for regions.esf, I believe are the coordinates of the buildings in battle map.... not sure though, just guessing. Also as husserlTW pointed out to me through a PM, that the 8th entry in the REGION_SLOT_ARRAY of startpos.esf, doesnt seem to be the number of building level, but a number that matches with the rest REGION_SLOT_ARRAYS and it doesnt seem to have any definite pattern, as cities with 5 buildings, all range from 3 to 5, so propably, here there might be something, but for the moment not known.

Also, when I messed about the CAI entries in startpos, i found that each building slot in game, has an AI entry tied to it, so for any new building, a new AI entry might be needed. I tried to add one new with the relevant AI IDs, but the crashed wasnt fixed...

I will keep trying here and there, and Im glad that it seems other people like you are trying

, because this means a solution might be found earlier!

Keep up the gd work man and anything new you find, post it here pls or even PM me for any ideas!

EDIT: also, you might want to add the steps that I noted, in the excellent spreadsheet you prepared. I even ask if i could use it in my tutorial (of course i will credit you for that one)

**demis14** · May 21, 2009, 03:12 AM

I will also update the tutorial soon, now that I have two posts actually explaining the steps!

**erasmus777** · May 21, 2009, 09:23 AM

Originally Posted by demis14

well i did it in a similar way with me, but the only differences on how i did it are:
1. Also follow these steps for ROAD_SLOT and FORTIFICATIONS_SLOT. I followed the following offsets:
ROAD +0.040256 -1.39504
FORTIFICATION +0.040256 +1.390304

2. I did not divide the number by 1,000,000, as its not that necessary
3. The offset values for each building, differ slightly from building to building, so mine that I used are only maybe an integer down or up... (I believe it doesnt matter)
4. I followed a similar method, to edit this time the regions.esf, as it has coordinates as well. Go to: \regions.esf\root\region_data\regions\regions\settlement_and_slots and there are the X and Y coordinates in the first line seperated by a ' ; ', that we are going to use to calculate the other building coordinates (like done in the above post in startpos.esf)

To change the coordinates with the new offsets we locate the building slots under this path global_map\regions.esf\root\region_data\regions\regions\settlement_and_slots\slot_descriptions and change the 3rd and 4th lines, that are identical and both contain the X and Y coordinates seperated by a ' ; '

The offsets for regions.esf are:

army -0.7616 +0.7557
govern +0.003 -0.0089
culture +0.7773 -0.7831
navy -0.7714 -0.7833
ordnance +0.7817 +0.7698
road +0.0384 -1.3304
fortification +0.0384 +1.3259

The above steps for regions.esf, I believe are the coordinates of the buildings in battle map.... not sure though, just guessing. Also as husserlTW pointed out to me through a PM, that the 8th entry in the REGION_SLOT_ARRAY of startpos.esf, doesnt seem to be the number of building level, but a number that matches with the rest REGION_SLOT_ARRAYS and it doesnt seem to have any definite pattern, as cities with 5 buildings, all range from 3 to 5, so propably, here there might be something, but for the moment not known.

Also, when I messed about the CAI entries in startpos, i found that each building slot in game, has an AI entry tied to it, so for any new building, a new AI entry might be needed. I tried to add one new with the relevant AI IDs, but the crashed wasnt fixed...

I will keep trying here and there, and Im glad that it seems other people like you are trying

, because this means a solution might be found earlier!

Keep up the gd work man and anything new you find, post it here pls or even PM me for any ideas!

EDIT: also, you might want to add the steps that I noted, in the excellent spreadsheet you prepared. I even ask if i could use it in my tutorial (of course i will credit you for that one)

Question: Do you have any idea why the building slot coordinates in regions.esf are different from those in startpos? I haven't done all the calculations yet, but it looks like the regions.esf/startpos differences follow regular offsets as well. Edit: I just reread your battle map comment.

The I reason I include dividing and multiplying by 1,000,000 is that it is the easiest way to explain editing coordinates regardless of the integer's length. For example, London's X coordinate is very small; it shows in startpos as something like 34567. Moving the decimal before offsetting avoids any confusion, especially for the mathematically challenged. [I've tutored basic math skills before, so perhaps I'm overly sensitive to people who are otherwise brilliant, but fall to pieces when making simple calculations.]

Apparently great minds think alike,

because I also started going through the AI entries, but haven't had much time so far.

The first version of the spreadsheet I made was for regions.esf and has the exact offsets you posted

When that failed to fix the problem, I made the other one. I'll integrate them and add the additional calculations for roads and fortifications. And of course you can use the spreadsheet in the OP or wherever else you like

Feel free to make any changes.

Thanks for all the help! I hope we can figure this out. I think this is important work not only because we're learning more about the .esf files, but also because it's becoming apparent that there are many changes that can be made to the map without need of a model converter. Perhaps it will be possible soon to make a rudimentary map editor.

**demis14** · May 21, 2009, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by erasmus777

Question: Do you have any idea why the building slot coordinates in regions.esf are different from those in startpos? I haven't done all the calculations yet, but it looks like the regions.esf/startpos differences follow regular offsets as well. Edit: I just reread your battle map comment.

The I reason I include dividing and multiplying by 1,000,000 is that it is the easiest way to explain editing coordinates regardless of the integer's length. For example, London's X coordinate is very small; it shows in startpos as something like 34567. Moving the decimal before offsetting avoids any confusion, especially for the mathematically challenged. [I've tutored basic math skills before, so perhaps I'm overly sensitive to people who are otherwise brilliant, but fall to pieces when making simple calculations.]

Apparently great minds think alike,

because I also started going through the AI entries, but haven't had much time so far.

The first version of the spreadsheet I made was for regions.esf and has the exact offsets you posted

When that failed to fix the problem, I made the other one. I'll integrate them and add the additional calculations for roads and fortifications. And of course you can use the spreadsheet in the OP or wherever else you like

Feel free to make any changes.

Thanks for all the help! I hope we can figure this out. I think this is important work not only because we're learning more about the .esf files, but also because it's becoming apparent that there are many changes that can be made to the map without need of a model converter. Perhaps it will be possible soon to make a rudimentary map editor.

great, so we have a mathematician in our ranks!

As for the AI entries, I was sure you would had thought about it, as it seems you got the idea of startpos

Watch out for a PM from me, explaining what i have already figured out about the AI, as I like the team spirit (and i certainly need it

) Thnx for letting me use the spreadsheet and im expecting your upload so that I can add it to the tutorial...

yeah, i believe when I complete the tutorial (i.e. fix the crash as well), we could link this page to the World Map Community Project, because it might be useful for their work, that of course interests me. (if they havent already figured this out)

**Burnoutfigs** · May 21, 2009, 12:02 PM

can you do this with minor citys, like Dublin?

**demis14** · May 21, 2009, 12:07 PM

Originally Posted by Burnoutfigs

can you do this with minor citys, like Dublin?

yeah, it doesnt make any difference... but note that for the moment we can add a building properly at the right place, but we still have a problem when upgrading the added building, the game crashes... so until we find the solution, I suggest to avoid adding a new building

**erasmus777** · May 21, 2009, 12:20 PM

demis,

Here's the updated spreadsheet. It was created in OpenOffice, but saved as an .xls. I hope all the formatting shows up for MS Office users. As I wrote above, feel free to make any changes you like.

And so I don't raise false expectations, I'm definitely no math wizard: note I said that I've tutored "basic" math skills

**demis14** · May 21, 2009, 01:27 PM

Originally Posted by erasmus777

demis,

Here's the updated spreadsheet. It was created in OpenOffice, but saved as an .xls. I hope all the formatting shows up for MS Office users. As I wrote above, feel free to make any changes you like.

And so I don't raise false expectations, I'm definitely no math wizard: note I said that I've tutored "basic" math skills

+rep man, simply brilliant presentation!!