IWTE - World editing - (General Discussion)

[makanyane]

In Blackset/textures/variations/ southern european the byzantine walls apear. If i move them in Blcokset/textures/variations/Romanor Byzantine they don't apear. Not only i am too old to learn such sophisticated tools bgut also i have a "ice burn" in my right hand thanks to the frozen whater i wash my hand and -5c temperature in my room.

Please:
A. put your log file on trace, and when a texture you thought would appear doesn't, look in the log and find the last time that texture was 'found' - you're probably missing putting them into some of the variant folders.

B. read this: https://wiki.twcenter.net/index.php?..._M2TW#Textures
"variations/south_european" DOES NOT apply to southern_european factions or settlements, it applies when the battle is in the Mediterranean climate!

to get your byzantine texture to work everywhere you probably need it in:
mods/mod_name/data/BlockSet/Textures/faction_variations/byzantine/
mods/mod_name/data/BlockSet/Textures/faction_variations/byzantine/variations/south_european/
mods/mod_name/data/BlockSet/Textures/faction_variations/byzantine/variations/middle_eastern/

plus winter versions, plus the same again for any other faction using it...

Replace the tower roofs with rambats

Battlements?

anyway if you remove the tower roofs you'll need to remove the tower animations and just let it jump from intact to damaged.
(it is technically possible to change the animation, but I wouldn't suggest trying that to anyone not already very experienced with animations and buildings and blender...)

add balista on top of a balista tower

You do know that won't be able to have firing animations don't you? You could possibly line up a 'firing slot' so it looks vaguely like the projectiles are coming from it, but that's about it. Leaving pretend one hidden inside would probably look less silly than a non-animated version firing without troops near it.


EDIT: We've wanted to finish the settlements for our mod for the last 10 years+. From our point of view that was the whole point in developing IWTE.

[AnthoniusII]

I don't need new animations. I need easthetic intervations to create realism.
Alien_T was such an IWTE tool master but he quit modding years ago.
See what he had in early stages back then.

Alien_Ts work

Unfortunatly we don't know how to use his material. We sent it to some IWTE modders bt never answered back.
As son i have the milkshape models and know in which part of the texture they go i can make as many textures as it gets.
It may look quite off topic but milkshape is the tool i know best.
Back in years when World of tanks had models that could be modified with milkshape i made unique tanks and textures .'

My moddeling and texturing skills in other games.

When the game requite 3dxmax tool i only made realistic textures (i am a man of details a perfectionist ).

Conclusion i seak help in making minor changes for a start (re-texture same tech tree buildings will not be an issue).
But from Alen_t's work you know now what we are looking for. Simple realism.

[makanyane]

I do like the tanks...


As you're probably going to find out quite soon, adjustments to the shape of battlements / making simple square structures for towers isn't very hard. More difficult is making realistic looking broken versions for the group1 damaged version of the object.

I don't need new animations.

I'm not sure whether or not you understand me. This isn't like units, there's not a tower skeleton you can weight things to and have them move. You can remove the animations (for anything other than gates) and just let towers switch instantly from totally intact, to totally destroyed version, I personally don't mind that option, but some other modders dislike the sudden jump effect. Hence Third Age kept the wall animations in even though some of their walls change shape whilst in the transition stage between damage levels.

And again with that ballista, it will just be sitting there like a statue even if 'tower' is firing sideways at the enemy.

[AnthoniusII]

Making milkshape tower tops is easy for me.
What i need is a IWTE tool expert to put them in game. I don;t mind the instant colapse effect either and i know that balista will be like a statue (vanilla balista towers simply have three) but hanging from the widows look more unrealisting than our "statue".
I realy hope some day someone will help us...in that section too.
Realy enjoyed that you liked my modelingand texturing work in other game. Thanks for the compliment.

[makanyane]

Making milkshape tower tops is easy for me.
What i need is a IWTE tool expert to put them in game.

So to get one tower top in game - in milkshape - identify which structure it's in - write to milkshape, edit it and it's subsidiary groups, bear in mind if it was an upgradeable tower the next two objects may also be part of the tower, representing the upgrade levels. Keep the group names the same and when you replace the structure using IWTE it will keep all the original firing slots and recognise that it's a tower etc. If you've changed the shape a lot create a new collision for all of the objects using the IWTE buttons. If you've changed the positions you want the firing to come from a lot you need to change the firing slots using IWTE buttons.

That gets you one tower changed... same thing applies using Blender.

The point where blender becomes a lot more useful is, because you can load the whole world, you can easily visually identify which similar towers need changing, and do a sort of copy/paste, by duplicating your revised objects and moving/rotating them to the correct locations and deleting the existing objects. To keep the tower attributes using that method you'd need to rename your moved objects to the same as the ones they're replacing.

[AnthoniusII]

Thanks I will give it a try. Now i will focus on completing our unit rosters so players to have all peices on the chess board to play campaigns.

[nadalio]

I do like the tanks...


As you're probably going to find out quite soon, adjustments to the shape of battlements / making simple square structures for towers isn't very hard. More difficult is making realistic looking broken versions for the group1 damaged version of the object.


I'm not sure whether or not you understand me. This isn't like units, there's not a tower skeleton you can weight things to and have them move. You can remove the animations (for anything other than gates) and just let towers switch instantly from totally intact, to totally destroyed version, I personally don't mind that option, but some other modders dislike the sudden jump effect. Hence Third Age kept the wall animations in even though some of their walls change shape whilst in the transition stage between damage levels.

And again with that ballista, it will just be sitting there like a statue even if 'tower' is firing sideways at the enemy.

I don't want to bother with this topic, but still a chance to fool the engine that a "tower" is a part of the walls, so you could get on top a balista/catapult edited unit (must be smaller with a single engine).

In m2tw engine is possible to assign a unit to a specific deployment part of the settlement or something like that?
Because if you add add a terrain cilinder inside a tower model, you can put the unit on the roof.
I attached a horrid draft as example:


Put the unit directly on the top of the tower/terrain and limit the unit movement with the pathfinding so it will stuck there. Obviously with need a unit with only one engine or coluld be any other solution about this?
i belive the player can deploy the unit there before the battle, i'm not sure about the AI.
Could be something realistic or it's only my madness?

P.S
sorry for the drawing, i know it's very bad...

[wilddog]

nadalio the problem with that idea is that the world terrain is based on 8x8m squares which are split into two triangles based on a preset pattern. so you need an 8m steep incline to get you to the tower top you cannot go just vertically on top of another terrain vertex.


AnthoniusII - I like those tank models/textures they look really good. Also, hope your hand heals OK.

[Sauron puppet of Saruman]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the help so far, but I am back with a couple of quick questions.

1. How do I use the IWTE animations --> "Full world shading/effects inc anims tool"? When I press it, it will ask me to provide two directories (vanilla and modded blockset folders) - where exactly should I direct them to? The main blockset folder or a subfolder, because it asks for .anim files to be present as well? Also if I'm tidying an existing settlement where they might have their own wall/destruction animations, do I need to provide any additional .anim files in the folder directory itself (i.e. if I'm editing a settlement in a mod, would referencing the correct folder within that mod be all I need)?
ps. Is there any chance you could add this function to do shading effects for a structure, rather than individual objects or the whole set?

2. I have been trying to use the 'add bridge path' tool and I have positioned the block where I want (on top of the 3d model resemblance of the bridge) and set the height to be as close to the terrain around it. But troops still can't walk over it? If there are any general tips on the steps to make bridges that would be helpful.

3. Lastly, is there any way to remove the roads that are overlaid onto a settlement when they are built in the campaign map?

Thanks!

[makanyane]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the help so far, but I am back with a couple of quick questions.

1. How do I use the IWTE animations --> "Full world shading/effects inc anims tool"? When I press it, it will ask me to provide two directories (vanilla and modded blockset folders) - where exactly should I direct them to? The main blockset folder or a subfolder, because it asks for .anim files to be present as well? Also if I'm tidying an existing settlement where they might have their own wall/destruction animations, do I need to provide any additional .anim files in the folder directory itself (i.e. if I'm editing a settlement in a mod, would referencing the correct folder within that mod be all I need)?
ps. Is there any chance you could add this function to do shading effects for a structure, rather than individual objects or the whole set?

For the vanilla stuff you need to give it M2/data/blockset. For mod-folder M2/mods/your-mod/data/blockset, if you have any revised anims in there or cancel if not. It will search down from the blockset folder to find the anims, and use those to update the animinstances file for the .world with the revised shading/effects.

I'm not quite sure I understand the second bit, but 'referencing the correct folder within the mod' is probably the answer, anim stuff all needs to be in the same mod-folder you can't reference out to mods/other-mod/data etc.

2. I have been trying to use the 'add bridge path' tool and I have positioned the block where I want (on top of the 3d model resemblance of the bridge) and set the height to be as close to the terrain around it. But troops still can't walk over it? If there are any general tips on the steps to make bridges that would be helpful.

Troops will only use a bridge path if there is absolutely no alternative. You can sometimes micro-manage your own troops to get from edge to middle of one, but you can't make them go from A > B over it unless there is no alternative...

apart from getting the height right, make sure the 'door' positions are actually placed over solid terrain that isn't blocked in pathfinding.

3. Lastly, is there any way to remove the roads that are overlaid onto a settlement when they are built in the campaign map?

Thanks!

Under 'Gameobjects' tab there is 'view Road Marker' which will show you where any existing ones are, and you can then delete/change them... because of an odd glitch which we can't resolve if a settlement doesn't have any other 'type 4' game objects, which tends to apply to villages or things without towers, you'll need to leave at least one in, or the .world will crash

You could try just moving the markers out a long way from the settlement, the incoming road should then terminate there.

[Sauron puppet of Saruman]

Hi and thanks makanyane,

I'm getting a crash doing 1. with this error:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

executablepath = E:\Medieval II Total War\mods\dac_v2\data\settlements\elves\cas
tles\castle
Multithreading with maximum 8 threads
Choose .world File
Choose .worldcollision File
Choose .animinstances File
Choose save file name to be used for all files
Completed World File read = 0.0890
total group models 550
World File checks complete = 0.0810
collision read time = 0.6510
Animation read time = 0.0020
completed reading world file
Total Elapsed readfiles time = +0.9140
Choose Vanilla unpacked blockset directory containing .anim files
Choose mod blockset directory containing .anim files (if any)
Resetcomplex effects time = 0.0390
reading e:/medieval ii total war/mods/dac_v2/data/blockset/new_settlements/anima
tions/wall_animations/elven_stone_wall/town_small_stone_straight_animation_a.ani
m
reading e:/medieval ii total war/mods/dac_v2/data/blockset/new_settlements/anima
tions/wall_animations/elven_stone_wall/town_small_stone_straight_animation_b.ani
m
reading e:/medieval ii total war/mods/dac_v2/data/blockset/new_settlements/anima
tions/wall_animations/elven_stone_wall/town_small_stone_straight_animation_c.ani
m
reading e:/medieval ii total war/mods/dac_v2/data/blockset/new_settlements/anima
tions/wall_animations/elven_stone_wall/town_small_stone_straight_animation_d.ani
m
reading e:/medieval ii total war/mods/dac_v2/data/blockset/new_settlements/anima
tions/wall_animations/elven_stone_wall/town_small_stone_straight_animation_e.ani
m
'E:\Medieval' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "IWTE_v20_12_D.py", line 10721, in Clickedokbutton_CEP
File "IWTE_v20_12_D.py", line 15736, in resetallfullworldshadesandeffects
File "IWTE_v20_12_D.py", line 15842, in resetworldshading
File "WDWorldLibrary.py", line 22406, in resetaniminstancedata
File "WDAnimMeshObject.py", line 2656, in convertunpackedtopacked
File "WDAnimMeshObject.py", line 2644, in convertunpackedtopackedfile
File "WDAnimMeshObject.py", line 2700, in checkpackedanimfileandstats
FileNotFoundError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'E:\\Medieval II Total W
ar\\mods\\dac_v2\\data\\settlements\\elves\\castles\\castle/IWTEsave/tempanimdir
/town_small_stone_straight_animation_a_DamageTransition0.packed'

Does this mean it can't find this town_small_stone_straight... anim in the blockset directory?
I checked the mod\blockset directory and did find the files referenced to in the animations of the walls:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

2. With door positions for bridges, is the actual door position where the edge of the rectangle is or where the arrow is?

3. The funny thing is that there were no road markers on the settlement to begin with, and it didn't crash
When the AI built roads for the settlement they will sprawl all over my mountains and through the houses.
I will try add some at the edges of the map or connect them to the existing paths then.

Thanks!

[makanyane]

'E:\Medieval' is not recognized as an internal or external command,

is the clue... it's not finding either it's own folder or the other little packing .exe that ships with it due to the space in the file path.

That process (and some others) needs IWTE and the .exe's that ship with it, to be in a folder which doesn't have spaces in the file path (and also isn't on 'desktop', but in a real folder)

It'd probably be easiest to fix if you can change your existing folder name like "medieval_ii_total_war" to avoid having to move things around.

Doors - it should be the back edge of the rectangle (which also shows the width)

[nadalio]

nadalio the problem with that idea is that the world terrain is based on 8x8m squares which are split into two triangles based on a preset pattern. so you need an 8m steep incline to get you to the tower top you cannot go just vertically on top of another terrain vertex.

nadalio the problem with that idea is that the world terrain is based on 8x8m squares which are split into two triangles based on a preset pattern. so you need an 8m steep incline to get you to the tower top you cannot go just vertically on top of another terrain vertex.

Could work a trapezoid under a 8x8 tower? i made some test but i cant place any units on the top even with a correct pathfinding, is it releated to collision?
Once i some that some one was able to put cannons on the wall, if the walls has bastions, so enough space a catapult/trebucht or other artillery can be placed on top?

Nobody have ever tried to make the catapult/trabuchetunit floating at the same level of a tower?
Technically they will go only where the pathfinding allows it. so they can be placed and will stay on the top off the tower/bastion..

[wilddog]

new release mostly bug fix apart from an ability to use a task to do dds/texture directory conversions. rather than via the IWTE save directory

with version 21_02_A
1) Bug fix for modeldb. If the modeldb has the dummy record "5 blank 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0" as its first unit this was causing a crash after the file had been read due to the mount type having no mount type name. The file will now be read and then the dummy record will be removed (or any other unit called 'blank'). Please look at the error file and the write outtxt files which are generated to find exact positions of any errors.
2) Bug fix for milkshape weights used in .world model shading. milkshape uses both an index and weight 100 or all 3 other indexes set to not used but a weight of 0 to mean the same thing (ie 100% weighting to first index).
3) Bug fix Amended the unique vertex data routines as found a mirroring effect when applied to a vertex mirrored over a single point (issue in tangent routine).
4) Added simple task routines for dds_to_texture_directory and texture_to_dds_directory. Unlike the dropdown selection this enables you to use <directory_in> and <directory_out> to set the name of the directory to read from and where to write to.
5) Amendment to task file process as use of double quotes (for names with spaces) was causing an issue if no comment followed.

[kostic]

Hello,
I'm totally new to this part of modding - although I've been modifying units using Milkshape3D for a while - and would like to fix a bug in the SSHIP mod: flying castles and columnar river


It seems to me that IWTE is made for this, but with my low level of English, can I hope to solve this bug easily or is it an expert's job?

[makanyane]

mmmm, the floating city one looks like it's not loading the correct (or any) .worldterrain for the settlement if you can recreate the fight there and look at the log to find out which .world it's loading I can help explain how you'd track that through to find/fix the issue - IF IT IS THAT

the bit with the bridge/river looks stranger, unless they were trying to do something with a custom tile/bridge model... that makes me wonder if there's something a bit up with the map generally! if you look at the world/maps/base folder are there any changed file in that which are newer than the map.rwm? and/or also check the campaign folder for map_heights type files and see if there's a map.rwm in there

[kostic]

Thank you very much for your quick response !


If I find this field or another of the kind I will indeed do a search with the system.log


Otherwise, the map.rwm file is the most recent in the world / maps / base folder (March 2021)


There is no map_height in the world / maps / base / campaign folder, nor in imperial_campaign and no other map.rwm


On the other hand, we find in the data / campaign folder (what is this folder for?) A much older map.rwm file (January 9, 2011) with in the same folder a slightly newer file (January 10, 2011) named descr_regions. text


Are these old files still in use by the game?

[makanyane]

med2 vanilla doesn't have a data/campaign folder so I guess not, probably some lost/stored backups

see if you can find those battle sites again - and btw you need the log on full *trace mode to see what it's loading, not just the errors

[makanyane]

New version is out, please see OP:
Current version is IWTE_v21_04_A from April 12th 2021

IWTE now supports RTW Unit/anim editing via Blender/collada interface (not skeleton changes for that though). For queries about units/anims please use the units thread. For info about that and some other functions please see the wiki

[Warcrafthero]

Hello, sorry if it has been asked before; today i have downloaded the latest IWTE version but the antivirus i use (Avira Antivirus Free) detected the "IWTE_v21_04_A.zip" as a "HEUR/AGEN.1139522". I believe it is a false positive, right?.