Questions about hero abilities

[Noobio]

not a "bug" report.. but since the title is also "tecnical help.."

it's about how generals "hero abilities" - bodyguard units "special formations" (if the unit had any) work

sfx / abilities buttons' sprites / and abilities themselves (of course..)
if you're familiar with any of these aspects..and in particular about "the third age" ones i could need your help

where can i find the sounds used for sfx for heroes_abilities ??

i used the bat/idx.extractor found in the forum but it only opened the sfx.data file and nothing relative came up.. i'd like to change the sfx used for denethor's (the_heart_of the_lion) ,nazgul's (nazgul) and witchking's (terfura) abilities.. are they in the third age folder or in the med 2 one ??

[Gigantus]

They will be in the TA folder - the hero's ability is a kingdoms feature and as such not in the 'vanilla' files.

[Noobio]

ok thanks..that excludes some part of searching..but could you be a bit more specific ? should they be found in what type of file exactly ?

i mean text file (like a descr_sounds_something) or in the sounds folder ?

and is there any other extractor ? cause the one in this forum seems to be a bit odd..others complain about not opening the sfx files ,others like me for opening only them..maybe the files i'm looking for are in the music events or other... i followed the instructions in tutorials and while i extraxted sfx.data/idx and went to interface subfolder, there was no battlemap sub-sub folder with the sfx used for abilities (there was a campaign map, sub folder but it still didn't contain the sfx i was looking for)..

thanks a lot anyway

[Gigantus]

I would suggest to open a thread in the Q&A forum 'miscellaneous' to follow this up as it isn't TATW specific. Ishan did some stuff with that I believe.

[Noobio]

fact is that it is semi-specific..the sfx i'm looking for should be custom for third age (at least the two of them...the "nazgul" and "terfura" used respectively for "terror of the nazgul" and "terror of the withcking" heroe abilities ...after reading some ,or maybe all : / of the tutorials i understood that

for custom sfx to work someone

- or has to add them as new from scratch
- or has to replace an original with the custom file ,yet keeping the old name.. (that's what i'm trying to do..find these two replace em with my own yet keep the old name so that i won't have to do anything else as i'm bit of a noob ..i don't know if that 'll be enough but i'd like to give it a try..)

so these two ones should be completely new..since nazgul etc sfx would only exist in the third age mod .. )

anyway--thanks again! and if you "insist" on this i'll move to the indicated subsection

[Gigantus]

Still a good idea to have a look for those 'adding sound' tutorials - knowing the basics will make your quest easier. You might then possibly end up finding out that the TATW guys simply changed only the display name of the ability and otherwise left it as it comes with the kingdom campaigns.

[Noobio]

me again

can someone explain why generals with special abilities loose their unit's special formation ? and how (if) it can be corrected.. yesterday i started trying out some custom abilities i made but starnge things happened... ..

1. faramir for example ,has an ithilien archers bodyguard (bg) unit ..during deployment he was able to deploy stakes and during battle he can use fire arrows..
after giving him an attack bonus (through descr_strat.txt) ,he couldn't deploy stakes anymore but after using the ability he could still use fire arrows

2.saruman ,on the other hand has an orthanc guard bg unit that should normally be able to do a schiltrom..yet they can't..doesn't the sciltrom count as the fire arrows count for archers ? afterall it's after deployment and after using the ability..

3. can the "banana" be used for anyone in anyway ? (i know it sounds "wierd".. ..i mean the one in the descr_hero_abilities.xml after changing it into something else.. ;D)
-how many abilities can there be ? in another thread someone told me that the limit should be the number of "sprites" implemented- used for the ui..is that true ? are there ,virtually ,no limits to this feature ?..
which leads to another ,last,question...
-how come since in the expanded.txt is made referernce to only battlepage_04.tga ,the "light of elbereth" sprite used for gandalf's ability is in battlepage_01.tga and still working ???

[Gigantus]

The abilities you described (shiltrom etc) are governed by the 'special abilities' button which can only handle one special function - in this case the hero ability. Fire arrows are handled by the arrow button.

[Noobio]

so does that count also for the "rally_units" generic (default?) ability for all generals ?
(starting or even adopted too..i can't remember now..anyway it isn't mentioned in the descr_strat.txt ,like the other abilities)

- if generals have as a bg unit one with a special formation ,governed as you say by the same button (lets say the one pointing 10.00 o'clock) then it's being disabilitated by default.. can it be "overiden" in some way, reabilitating the formation button and dissing the (useless in my opinion) rally one (or being anyway able to use the special formation ,once some other more enhanced than the simple rally,special ability is done using??) ?

-and anyway..fire arrows are in the same button as the special formations (10.00) ..the "arrow" ,fire at will or not, button is at 9.00 .. so ..can anything be done ?
what are the files regarding all these aspects ?

ps (copy-paste) from my previous post,that got left behind...
3. can the "banana" (of jerusalem something..) be used for anyone in anyway ? (i know it sounds "wierd".. ..i mean the one in the descr_hero_abilities.xml after changing it into something else.. )
-how many abilities can there be ? in another thread someone told me that the limit should be the number of "sprites" implemented- used for the ui..is that true ? are there ,virtually ,no limits to this feature ? (cause i was planing to ,maybe make some general attack,defence,morale and fatgue custom abilities for each faction..each one with its own button-sprite and sfx from the movies..and some really special like "the voice of saruman" or "for death and glory" for theoden "for gondor" for boromir etc )..
which leads to another ,last,question...
-how come since in the expanded.txt is made referernce to only battlepage_04.tga ,the "light of elbereth" sprite used for gandalf's ability is in battlepage_01.tga and still working ???

could a moderator move my short discussion starting at #674 with gigantus ,"opening" a topic "heroes abilities" in this subsection ?
(in order to not "storm" this generic topic)

[Gigantus]

- banana - works only as a cheat I believe (unless you mod it in as a regular projectile)
- the special button can only hold one special function at a time and the hero ability overrides it (might need to test that more)
- I am not even trying to think about the night mare of reassigning the 'rally' button

And the next questions better be in the general forums as I will not respond to them here.

[Noobio]

ok..thanks.. and i've already asked for our short discussion to be moved in my last ps.. so don't get "mad" ..

[Gigantus]

You got moved

[Noobio]

what does the expanded.txt.strings.bin do?

1. after adding some completely new abilities today,none of them worked anymore..ability buttons had the red-no pass-circle (while yesterday that i have only tweaked the existing ones everything worked..even though the "heart of the lion" had an ui bug,for as long as it was on, lets say that the horizontal upper frame of the ui (the box on the right)..the one from which the formations options rise when you click the corrisponding button kinna like doubled itself/translocating on the central faction symbol,the one that highlights own-enemy units)

2. after replacing my today's custom files (descr_hero_abilities.xml / descr_strat.txt / expanded txt ) with the original back-ups (unfortunatley i didn't back up my yesterday's custom ones,but anyway) the original abilities did work , but the info in the "hovering" text when selecting the ability button (the info typed ,right next to the EMT entries in the expanded.txt ) was my own custom-made (???)

a. how can this be possible ? i have reason to suspect that the expanded.txt.strings.bin file maybe has something to do with this..so could someone explain what does that do ?


b. i also tried something in order to understand how generals bg units with special formation work...
-boromir for example instead of the general's default horn has the units special formation shield wall (imrahil the triangle charge formation-wench ? how is it called? )

anyway...
(today ,after,replacing with the originals) deleting saruman's "righteousness of faith" hero ability from the descr_strat.txt ,should leave him with the bg unit's (orthanc) sciltrom special formation..insteadhe got the horn :/

how does this work ? could you provide examples or info on what reference files (or links to tutorials,if you haven't got any specific knowledge) to look that up ?

[Gigantus]

expanded.string.bin - this is for faction related tooltips like {EMT_BYZANTIUM_DIPLOMAT}Byzantine Diplomat and for faction related display text like {BYZANTIUM_STRENGTH}Good heavy cavalry and missile cavalry, capable archers. You will also find the tooltips for your hero abilities her: {EMT_BYZANTINE_POLITICS_DISABLED}Hero Special Ability: Byzantine Politic

Always keep in mind that the files in the data\text folder come in pairs: TXT and STRING.BIN
The game reads only from the STRING.BIN
You can only edit the TXT file
If you wish to make changes, it is advisable to to delete the STRING. bin file after converting it. That way you can be assured that a new STRING.BIN file gets created with your changes.

I am getting the feeling that a 'normal' special function does not work with a general, only the hero ability appears to replace the 'horn'

[Noobio]

I am getting the feeling that a 'normal' special function does not work with a general, only the hero ability appears to replace the 'horn'

funny-strange thing is that

a. boromir (with the original files) starts with his bg units special formation (shield wall) and never gets the horn...
when i added ,in descr_strat , a hero ability ,after the ability's action he got the horn..
...when i deleted it afterwards he started with the horn ,instead of re-getting his bg unit's shield wall..


b. saruman (with the original files ) starts with his hero ability and after its action he gets the horn
when i deleted ,in descr_strat the hero ability ,expecting him to get his bg units special formation (sciltrom) he just started with the horn (like any casual spawned general)

???????????????????

ps...so i should just delete the strings.bin and replace the expanded.txt ??? then it would regenerate on its own ?

[Gigantus]

a. was boromir the leading general? If not then that explains it - the leading general gets the horn, others in the stack get their special abilities
b. a leading general will get the horn unless he has hero abilities
ps. correct (if you are talking about the expanded.strings.bin)

[Noobio]

as a matter of fact i made like 10 abilities,assigned em all to gondor generals in order to try em out at once and stacked em all together..so that explains it.. ans indeed,when trying out saruman's custom ability i only used him ,so he always was the leading general..i'll try everything now after,doing the strings.bin thing

[Noobio]

deleted strings.bin...... replaced the expanded text and .......... nothing! the strings.bin didn't regenarate.. so what am i missing here ?

ps..and some other thing

a.. how come since (theoretically,according to tutorials) all "sprites" for hero buttons should be in battlepage_04 , "the light of elbereth" is in battlepage_01 ? does that mean that i can (potentialy) use whichever button i want ,as long as it's in one of the battlepage files ?
(at least until i learn how to insert new ones, for my custom abilities)

b.. can i have an "official" response on where to find the "terfura" and "nazgul" sfx used for the "terror" abilities (witchking and nazgul) ?
i tried extracting the sfx.dat file but nothing realtive came up except some war horns and elefants stomping sounds

[Gigantus]

a string.bin file doesn't generate:

1. open the txt file (file1) that failed to generate a string.bin file
2. open a txt file that has generated (file2) a string.bin file
3. delete all text in file2 (except the first line with the funny sign)
4. copy all text from file1 (except the first line with the funny sign) into file2 under the first line
5. save file2 with the name of file1
6. start the game

[Noobio]

when i try to this in the third age data/text folder i get "access denied" when i'm trying to "save as".. (and yes i did unclick the read only box by properties..)

so i did it on the desktop with copied files and then copied-pasted-replaced but still no strings.bin file...any suggestions ?

ps (irrelevant) i'm using win 7 x64 ..is notepad++ any good for me ? which version should i look for ? i'm searching for something as easy to use as the casual notepad but that can use colors in order to facilitate me with txt/xml and such.. editing