Help; Mod Merge DLV with Aragon + Americas Removed

[Live2sculpt]

DLV6.2 custom
merging with Aragon/Aztec swap
and Geomod removal of Americas (rename american regions and locate in europe)

I'm coming down to the debugging and getting bummed with the latest trace log, as it's giving me only one remaining ERROR tag at the bottom that I can't understand. Just assorted WARNINGS otherwise.

I feel that this is a scripting issue now, but not sure.

People accustomed to reading trace log reports are welcome to post if they notice anything specific they understand.

This is the only ERROR

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

23:43:00.540 [bink] [debug] [data/fmv/faction/france_lose.bik]Pause on
23:43:00.541 [bink] [debug] [data/fmv/faction/france_lose.bik]Pause on
23:43:04.426 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.

This is the full log
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...t=down&id=3084

THANKS in advance for any timely tips.

[Gigantus]

Seems to be somewhere here:

23:36:38.971 [system.io] [info] exists: missing mods/DLV_ext/data/ui/captain banners/dead/captain_card_slave.tga
23:36:39.024 [data.transgression] [info] Applied transgression TC_INVADED_SETTLEMENT from transgressor faction 2BC0E43E against faction 2BC0E43E

The first line moans about a missing tga file which should have been pulled from the vanilla pack (but isn't)
The second line repeats about 200 times and seems to indicate that the AI script is running in a loop.

A rebel settlement has been occupied and that's where the problem starts. Not sure how to fix that. If it was you that took the settlement, try the same on autosolve.

[irishron]

If you gave the settlement to a faction in the descr_strat, did you remove the rebel army in it?

[Live2sculpt]

If you gave the settlement to a faction in the descr_strat, did you remove the rebel army in it?

No I did not. I mistakenly did the opposite. All new rebel settlements have rebel leaders installed in them. So rebel settlements are left empty to be auto-filled at the start of the game eh?

[Gigantus]

All new rebel settlements have rebel leaders installed in them

I hope you don't mean faction leaders.
To avoid such a situation (army of the wrong faction in a settlement) simply activate the 'character' and 'cities and ports' option in Geomod. When you mouse over the details of the character it will be shown at the bottom - see attached pic.

.

[Live2sculpt]

Nope. I did as I said: Inserted Rebel Leaders into Rebel Settlements.
If what I'm being told is that Rebel Settlements must start the game empty, then I am emptying them.

*edit*
So I took the Rebel Generals OUT of the Rebel Settlements,
Save.
Crash.
Now most of the Rebel Generals have been erased.

Obviously there is an underlying principle of applying Rebel Generals in Geomod that I don't understand.

[Gigantus]

I haven't gotten around to that chapter in my manual yet.

A rebel character must be created like a regular character (correct name from the faction list, eg from Egypt). You then change him to 'rebel' in the faction slot dropdown and choose the correct subfaction in the next dropdown (Egypt in this case). Add an army and then place him, validate.
Rebels can be placed in their faction's settlement like any other character.
Don't refer to armies led by captains or generals as 'leaders' - it will be confusing. Refer to them as armies, if necessary remark whether they are led by a captain or general (named character).

[Live2sculpt]

I haven't gotten around to that chapter in my manual yet.

A rebel character must be created like a regular character (correct name from the faction list, eg from Egypt). You then change him to 'rebel' in the faction slot dropdown and choose the correct subfaction in the next dropdown (Egypt in this case). Add an army and then place him, validate.
Rebels can be placed in their faction's settlement like any other character.
Don't refer to armies led by captains or generals as 'leaders' - it will be confusing. Refer to them as armies, if necessary remark whether they are led by a captain or general (named character).

Okay.
Hmmmmm.. Well that puts me back at square 1. Because that is all that I was doing.
I'll have to poke around to see if I accidentally placed any incorrect faction unit in a different factions region. I'm dealing with no more than 24 variables though.

[Live2sculpt]

Well all I can say now is that I'm pretty lost.
And as I can't trace the reason why entries that I saved gets erased later in Geomod, I might just finish the last of this using the old fashioned method of hunt n peck....

[Gigantus]

The thing is, even if you put an army of a wrong faction in a settlement, it will not cause a crash.
If it is one of your faction's armies you will notice that you have a very small movement range due to the ZoC of the settlement. That's all to it.
And I don't think the game will allow you to place two armies in the same co-ordinates.

[Ishan]

And I don't think the game will allow you to place two armies in the same co-ordinates.

Yes
It doesn't allow, push back to main menu error if someone does it in descr_strat.txt.

[Live2sculpt]

Spent several hours remaking the descr_strat.txt file without the use of Geomod.
Progressed very well.

But in the end am not seeing the map (never saw it last time either).
It is CTD during campaign load screen.
And the trace log has no clear errors again, only assorted warnings that confuse me.
Warnings about missing files that are never called for in the original DLV6.2 modfolder.
File comparisons show me that Geomod rewrites the descr_strat.txt file considerably, removing any functional (Repman) script that doesn't conform to Geomod standards.
I'm guessing any other files might be mangled in the same fashion, and that this is the cause for the warnings.
My next step, barring any better suggestions, will be to salvage descr_strat.txt, the maps and image files, the names files, and insert them into a fresh copy of DLV6.2 and start again, WITHOUT using Geomod at all.
Any help here is welcome.
I might take this over to DLV forum...

Thanks for reading my post.

My trace log,
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=3093

[Eothese]

Might be worth you giving it a go with just an error log running, a lot easier to sift through and sometimes more info is provided.

[Live2sculpt]

Might be worth you giving it a go with just an error log running, a lot easier to sift through and sometimes more info is provided.

I wouldn't expect any errors to read on the error log that didn't also show on the trace log.
When I did that it came out as I expected.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

09:35:48.856 [system.rpt] [always] CPU: SSE2
09:35:48.857 [system.rpt] [always] ==== system log start, build date: Feb 25 2008 version development ===
09:35:48.874 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_0.pack
09:35:48.876 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_1.pack
09:35:48.879 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_2.pack
09:35:48.882 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_3.pack
09:35:48.884 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_4.pack
09:35:48.885 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/localized.pack
09:55:00.089 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.

I'm telling ya, I cleaned this thing up very much.
At this stage I would expect it to run, so whatever is holding it back is the sort of thing that doesn't get reported.

Now, here's a question: Can missing Traits or Ancillaries, listed on starting characters, prevent a map from launching?
TBOMK missing Traits and Ancillaries only cause a CTD when the affected character is clicked on.

Can units listed on that characters roster, but not included in the EDU yet, cause an unreported error that can prevent a map from launching?

The point is, I was in the process of seeing such errors and addressing them as they come up, but they are not coming up.

Is it usual for the very last of a substantial mod to be ironed out blind, without the aid of an error report? If so, I'm not interested.

[Eothese]

I wouldn't have though you'd get an unreported error with the things you've suggested, but descr_strat is a bad one for not flagging up errors. I'd go with re-modding the original descr_strat file as a last resort, which is where it sounds like your upto.

[Live2sculpt]

I wouldn't have though you'd get an unreported error with the things you've suggested, but descr_strat is a bad one for not flagging up errors. I'd go with re-modding the original descr_strat file as a last resort, which is where it sounds like your upto.

Exactly. Just passed that hurdle the other day.
With almost the same result.
Now instead of CTD before campaign map load, it just kicks back to menu. All menu changes have taken affect just fine too. Simply no map load. The load bar tops off, waits for 3-4 minutes, then politely drops me back into menu.

Does this tell us where my problem might reside?

[Gigantus]

- A drop back to menu usually means descr_strat and an error message is provided in most cases. Strange.
- Geomod is known to mess up things if there are entries that it cannot handle. Stuff like 'garisoned_army' comes to mind. Not sure what repman's entries are in the descr_strat.

[Live2sculpt]

- A drop back to menu usually means descr_strat and an error message is provided in most cases. Strange.
- Geomod is known to mess up things if there are entries that it cannot handle. Stuff like 'garisoned_army' comes to mind. Not sure what repman's entries are in the descr_strat.

Oh, just a buttload of permanant forts and 'garisoned armies'.

If I shared the descr_strat.txt, do you think a diagnosis can come from that?

[Gigantus]

Permanent forts are ok, as long as they are not custom. Try running the debugger (make a copy of the descr_strat and map_heights first) and see if it indicates stuff other then double placement of resources or custom forts. DON'T save after that!!! Simply have a follow up by way of looking at the Geomod log after the debug.

[Live2sculpt]

I started over by taking the time to integrate Taiji's BB mod with Biess' Xenophonia.
So far so good.
That allows me to use Aragon swap as it was intended, leaving only Mesoamerican Rebels in the Americas.

And now I will proceed more slowly, moving one region at a time. Starting with Renaming Greenland Iceland, and reshaping its map features.
Then I will carefully shift over and rename other Americas territories one by one until only the Atlantic Ocean is left.

I discovered that Geomod is NOT useful to me as I am making changes to already fairly custommed mods. Geomods progress saves mangle and redact out important custom scripts that I need. I can still use it to view information more easily, but not to edit.

I have a question however: In mapping, I've understood that there are finicky issues relating to contiguous territories and over-sized regions causing CTDs. For example, I've noticed the map I am modifying has single pixel connections drawn between some otherwise isolated regions that are not indicated in the heights or terrain files. And on the second point regarding over sized regions, I am wondering whether or not to consider changing one of the Americas regions into a Sea region positioned to the far left and name it Atlantic Ocean. That way making the sea region not as vast and less likely to cause a CTD.

Does anyone have anything to contribute to these concerns of mine?
Thanks in advance for any help.