Archaon's Modification Files: Player restrictions on attacking aliies [M2TW & M2TW-K] - PLUS ALL OTHER MODS! **Now with some scripts available for added realism and AI assistance**

[Eneru112]

sweet mod lol!! 9/10 makes the game way better

[allthedamnnamesweretaken]

wait is there a flemish empire in the game?

[Archaon]

wait is there a flemish empire in the game?

DVL 6.2 my friend :-D

Good idea to test that, Gracul. So far it looks to me like this mod probably does not work. I thought this might be the case since the AI doesn't use a mouse...

I hadn't noticed any change in AI behaviour in DLV with regard to allies attacking one another. DLV's diplomacy works very well most of the time. And new players are still reporting attacks by allies. But no change would be seen for experienced players because it doesn't happen anyway if you know how to play the game... or at least I assume some other people know how to play the diplomacy side of DLV, it can't just be me...

First - DLV has scripts which will effect alliances regardless of this modification. The scripted breaking of alliances can only be stopped by removing that script itself (which my mod does not do).
Further, if you read the OP you would have read this;

For the AI and player alike, there are many other ways the Alliance can break. For instance, an allied factions diplomat receives a terrible proposal, they inform you an alliance is no longer necessary! happens all the time!
Other ways the alliance can break, is if two factions are allied, but one goes to war with a faction the other ally is allied to, then the original 2 factions will break their alliance.

Then the cold war tactics could also break to alliance, (AS IT SHOULD), Assassins, spies, merchant, any of these fail a mission or acquisition, it is highly possible your ally will find out an not be too pleased.

That is what DLV is all about, so this Mod simply stops the AI from attacking WHILE in an alliance, but if that alliance is broken by any of the above mentioned things at the begining of a turn then the proceeding decision the AI make are not restricted by this mod.

Regarding Gracul's file, when i use it i and the AI are motionless, i tested for 10 turns, there were no movements, are you sure you use FILE_FIRST in the .cfg file? Or maybe there is another underlying on your setup that is different from mine and the users of this mod.

Please post your experiment, the findings, and proof with more information in future.

Taiji, perhaps you could try and do the same test i did and report your findings?

[Taiji]

I really think that you should be making the effort to prove your own work, Archaon. I haven't seen any indication at all that you have made this effort. Please link a post where you show you have proven it, if you've made one.

edit:

Actually you needn't bother; I've done you a favor and confirmed that your claim about the cursors is false, and beyond any reasonable doubt. I set the default action for army vs enemy army to na, and as a consequence the player cannot attack an enemy army. But the AI is expanding exactly the same as before, because it is not affected by restrictions applied to a mouse pointer, as I think we really should expect.

So I (again) conclude that this cursor modding does absolutely nothing to the AI. And that the people giving you positive feedback have been deluding themselves.

And in future I recommend that you do not rely on feedback from others. You certainly have not set a precedent by being mislead by feedback. There are modders in this community who have won awards for their 'delusional' work.


BTW I like that players are prevented from backstabbing the AI, but that being it's only feature - I think maybe you should change what you call it.

[Cheator]

Great mod

[Archaon]

Taiji, i appreciate your honesty.

So i have a solution.

Extract the attached and use the file descr_campaign_ai_db.xml in a M2TW Kingdoms installation, any of the vanilla or any mod, place it in the "data" directory.

Go to the descr_strat.txt file and change all factions to either;

• slave_faction --> only for slave faction
• papal_faction --> only for papal_states faction (if there is one).
• default --> for ALL other faction.

So each faction in descr_strat will look like this;

faction    milan, balanced smith
ai_label         default
denari    10000

Delete your map.rwm file
Start a new game.


!!! ALLIES DO NOT ATTACK THEIR ALLIES !!!


If you approve, i shall inform all mods who use my mod to update their installations.

[Taiji]

What I'd recommend considering is simply telling those mods that use your cursor mod that it only affects the player.

Personally, in my own mod, I have no such problem to solve. I use GrandViz's version 2.0 CAI from BC which I've modified to suit DLV, and to encourage a lot more assistance from allies. Currently DLV+BB's AI is working fine in this regard without removing labels. To be honest, it seems to me that you are suggesting breaking the AI. Vanilla's default label isn't meant to be used by factions normally as far as I am aware, and the distinctions made by the labels are serving some function beyond appearing to make allies attack each other. You can't help but lose something other than allied aggression by losing the label function.

If you're intent on finding a solution to the problem, for some mod where it is actually an issue, then you can be confident of achieving success just via proper coding of the descr_campaign_ai_db.xml. Faction standings only plays a part in invasion issues if the ai_db is programmed to let it, for example.

A tip for dealing with the AI log: It only gives results, it explains nothing about the process. But the result is everything scripted that applies to the circumstance.

Tip for the AI stances: The 'invade_none', etc., type stances are decided by which one is acceptable last. If you have a load of them which apply then the bottom one is chosen.

So if you want to make a faction extremely unlikely to attack another faction then you make sure that it lands on 'invade_none', and also that there is no way it will have a higher invade priority than a neutral or enemy faction. Probably best to ensure that it has a much much lower priority assigned to allies, somewhere deep in the minuses.

Taiji, i appreciate your honesty.

I don't want to offend you, and I'm sure you'd want to know about it if you were making a mistake which could cost you hours of work or testing.

But I do tend to be 'brutally' honest, delivering my opinion without much tact. So apologees if I appear to have overstepped the rational criticism mark at any point.

[Archaon]

That is precisely what i have changed in the descr_campaign_ai_db.xml, allies are always invade_none & the invade priority is always -99999.

Regarding 'breaking the AI' i agree that this is a possibility, though i would never supply the same instruction to any mod/s. The changes made would be supplied thus the descr_campaign_ai_db.xml file for each mod would be in tact.

For instance, i am working on Divide and Conquer as you are aware, and each faction has their own AI_Label, none use default.
This is due to each factions preset alliance preference and aggressiveness toward hated foe.

The AI log over a series of 100 turn test shows that allied factions did not engage, the only times allied nations broke their alliances were through diplomacy, i.e. a faction goes to war with an allies ally and that ally must choose to break an alliance with one of the two factions.

[Taiji]

I still don't get the impression you've admitted your mistake with the cursor file. And I get the uncomfortable impression that you aren't going to. I really don't understand that at all. Mistakes are for admitting and learning from. Mistakes other people make are the same, if they admit them, or are there to be repeated, if they fail to do so.

If it were me being shown I'd made a mistake, I'd be grateful and I'd make efforts to show it, and at the very least I'd acknowledge my error. I certainly would not be trying to push the burden of proof for your claim onto Gracul and myself, I'd call that 'cheeky'. For example you still have not adjusted your OP since you were told it was a deception on 22/10/09! So I really don't see much point in trying to help you further, you just seem to ignore it.

And to top it off this latest post actually looks to me like you are competing with me, trying to show that you already know what I have told you. I told you that stuff because you made a suggestion which implies that you don't appreciate the value of labels, breaking it was a certainty not a 'possibility'. And I doubt you realised it at the time. So I'm just getting more annoyed, as by now it feels like you are deliberately miscommunicating with me, which is very difficult not to take personally.

Either way, do as you wish, I won't try helping again because I'm finding your response unpleasant.

[Archaon]

I have not been online for almost a year, so your statement id VERY unfair.

Secondly, i have admitted the fault of the files in this thread, and started posting elsewhere that same admittance.
I provide this link as proof;
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?p=7773903

You should not be posting your last post, it is not constructive, helpful, nor is it a post that makes you appear as informed as you claim you are!

My admittance is not in the OP true, and that will be rectified as soon as i have to time to 're-word' every single peice of information in that post, and also have the materials to post additional stuff.
With work taking up 10-14 hours of each of my days this week i doubt it will be done until the weekend, so lay off.

If you are going to post, read up on your claims so you at least can post a constructive comment.

Or perhaps you shouldnt post in this thread.

[kgangsta]

whre do we put the optional scripts? :S

[amadee]

hi, i have been trying to use this mod on vanilla but when i have selected a faction and start the loading screen goes about halfway and then ctd

[ZealotsACH]

just installed this mod and works great. couple questions though;

1. when i mouse over an ally settlement/castle with my army selected, instead of it saying i can't attack allies, it says something to the effect of "no action available" i had to create the text file in the data folder (one did not exist already). i made sure i had all the admin stuff taken care of thanks to the guide listed in one of the links in a post here, but there was no text file in the data folder so i had to create one. did i do that correctly? Edit: found the answer to this one a couple posts up

2. for the optional mods listed below, i'm a little confused on do i replace the FactionA and FactionB and so on with the faction names and repeat with every faction? if so does anyone have this already done and could post it so i could copy/paste it instead of manually going through and doing it?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Optional script options to enhance AI realism using this mod:

1. If the player breaks an alliance, all his other allies might choose to break their alliance with the player too!

monitor_event FactionBreakAlliance FactionType FactionA
    and not IsFactionAIControlled
     if not I_LocalFaction FactionB
    and DiplomaticStanceFromFaction FactionB = Allied
    and RandomPercent < 25
    console_command diplomatic_stance FactionA FactionB neutral
    end_if
     if not I_LocalFaction FactionC
    and DiplomaticStanceFromFaction FactionC = Allied
    and RandomPercent < 25
    console_command diplomatic_stance FactionA FactionC neutral
    end_if
ect
… continue for each faction ...
 end_monitor

2. A new leader, means new views. If the leader has low Authority it is likely he holds less respect for the legacy he has behind him, so it likely that he may choose not to keep the alliances once forged by the old leader, or the allies might see this leader in a different light and not keep to their vowels.

monitor_event BecomesFactionLeader FactionType FactionA
    and DiplomaticStanceFromFaction FactionB = Allied
    and I_FactionLeaderAttribute FactionA Authority <= 2
    and RandomPercent < 10
    console_command diplomatic_stance FactionA FactionB neutral
end_monitor

3. Any leader spying on an ally is bound to be found out, do you think the alliance will hold after such transgression?

monitor_event LeaderOrderedSpyingMission FactionType FactionA
    and TargetFactionType FactionB
     and DiplomaticStanceFromFaction FactionB = Allied
    and RandomPercent < 25
    console_command diplomatic_stance FactionA FactionB neutral
end_monitor

4. Any leader who is found assassinating allies is bound to be caught, do you think the alliance will hold after such transgression?

monitor_event LeaderOrderedAssassination FactionType FactionA
    and TargetFactionType FactionB
     and DiplomaticStanceFromFaction FactionB = Allied
    and RandomPercent < 25
    console_command diplomatic_stance FactionA FactionB neutral
end_monitor

5. Get caught sabotaging and ally, pay the price!

monitor_event LeaderOrderedSabotage FactionType FactionA
    and TargetFactionType FactionB
     and DiplomaticStanceFromFaction FactionB = Allied
    and RandomPercent < 25
    console_command diplomatic_stance FactionA FactionB neutral
end_monitor

Thanks to Vegas_bear for support and the below;

3. i plan on getting Kingdoms soon. can i just install Kingdoms without worry of messing anything up, or should i delete this mod, install kingdoms, install any other mod that this works with, then re-install this mod? (hope that makes sense!)

thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

[ZealotsACH]

so... can no one help me on this?

[Vegas_Bear]

Too complicated tbh. How do I unpack?

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...ghlight=unpack

VB

[Vegas_Bear]

Ref post #70 -

2) Yes FactionA = England, FactionB = France, FactionC = HRE. It is a very long script. I had it at one time, but I don't know what I did w/ it, sorry.

3) Before you install Kingdoms, just make a copy of the files that you edited. Once Kingdoms is installed you can look back and see if the install changed any of the files you modified. I don't think it will.
This mod was made for vanilla, so it might not be as easy as drop in a mod and play. Once you install a mod, look to see if the mod contains the files in the data folder. If they are not there then drop and play, if they are there you might need to look through the files and integrate to the two files together.

VB

[Arkadius]

Can someone please re-upload the files:

*descr_cursor_actions.txt
*descr_cursor_tooltips_lookup.txt
*cursor_action_tooltips.txt

There were links to direct download of those files in this topic but now are missing/deleted.

[gabinike]

where are the files to download? I do not see the download link.

[Arkadius]

This mod is not working correctly as there is one essencial file missing: descr_campaign_ai_db.xml. So, is anyone by a chance has this mod stored somewhere and can upload the descr_campaign_ai_db.xml?

Without that file, all these mod can do is to prevent player to attack their allies - and do NOT prevent the AI controlled factions from attacking player faction when they are allies.

[Australis]

I can't find the link to download the mod