Tech HELP needed editing PREFERENCES for EB1.2

[ezopus2]

Hello, everyone, and specially EB TEAM!
I'm Ezopus from Hungary and possibly the newest registered member of this forum, so please be patient with me Thanks.

I need some help from experienced modders solving a quite interesting (for me, at least) problem.

I am trying to set the bird's eye view into Preferences.txt, under EB1.2, so I can move my camera freely under CAMPAIGN battles (not custom battle replays). I know it has to be set "DEFAULT_BATTLE_CAMERA: DEBUG" in preferences.txt under EB/preferences folder. I am using Notepad++ to edit stuff. Seems easy, but here comes the problem: even if I edit and save the file, even if I set it as "read only" in its properties, the game overwrites it all the time and makes it DEFAULT_BATTLE_CAMERA: DEFAULT. (There is no space before DEFAULT, I just put one so it doesnt turn to a grin) I've tried to track all the process, with little luck. All I could figure was that the Rome.exe overwrites the preferences.txt file only when I am trying to load a game OR starting a new campaign. So it's not the trivial script that does the overwrite, but the exe. EVERY other aspect of the preferences is working fine, every other thing I change works well, except this camera thingy. I DO NOT get a ctd or error report, it just simply overwrites (notepad++ notifies me when the exe is doing it)

Does anyone have any ideea how could I solve this issue? Am I missing something? I am really desperate to have this camera thing working. I woluld be very grateful for a nice soultion ASAP. Thank you

Oh, I am using Win XP with administrative rights, running Rometw.exe patched to 1.5 and EB 1.2.

Less important info (about me mostly): I am playing Rome TW since its release back in 2004, also playing EB since it's release a few years ago, dunno exactly, but I guess it was somewhere in 2008-9?
Ok, so i may say I am not a total noob, I am modding the game for myself since the early days of Medieval (I, not II), I've learned to mod everything from campaign map and traits and EDU to skeletons and models (yes, I've learned using 3D Studio Max for Rome, couse I love this game), my version of EB 1.2 works perfectly smooth and stabile from 2009 since its installations, but is heavily modded - so, for this please, PLEASE do not tell me to reinstall, because I wont. I never got to see the end of any campaign, always had to start over because of modding, but now I am determined to see it's endings, couse I am growing old and wish to move over from ROME

Ok, so before anyone yells at me, I spent 24 hrs to find an appropiate answer to my question before launching a new thread, but couldnt find any, so here I am, after all those years watching you guys doing the hard work and learning from you, now finally I ask for help and post my first thread

Thank you for your time and patience, I am waiting for an answer...

Oh, and one more thing... I am taking advantage of this first ever thread of mine to tell you this: EB team, you rulez. Believe me, I tried all the mods out there, but yours is the best. Honestly. And since I'm not a total stranger to modding, I can imagine how much work and time you've put into this, long hours from your short lives. All I can say is THANK YOU very much, thank you for making ROME tw THE GAME it sould have been from its release. And thank you all guys, who took the time to post everything that you've learned and know on these forums, so others can learn too. I personally learned everything about modding from you and I am very grateful for that. There were times when I wished I could join you and help you in desing stuff, but since I am grown man with family, this never happened after all... to my biggest dissapointment. So I just stick with playing and enjoying YOUR wonderful masterpiece.

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[Giurza]

eh... I dare to suggest you apply same changes to both files of preference - RTW and EB

EDIT
oh and on the OffT - I am not on EB team, and you are totally right - EB is THE ONE, is THE ONLY game mod that should be played by all. It rulez, and guys that made it - doubly so!!!!

[ezopus2]

Giurza, hi, well, yes, I've tried that too. I did the changes to vanilla preferences too, no success. I guess I'm making a syntax error, because I just GUESSED that it must be a DEBUG mode, as it is in Napoleon or Shogun II, but I never seen the exact syntax written on any forums... strange though, couse I remember myself playing in birds eye mode with vanilla Rome years ago... and now i cannot find any traces of it.

[XSamatan]

My gray cells may play me a trick, but IIRC this line was set to default by the developers to prevent misuse in multiplayer battles.

[ezopus2]

Oh NOOO!
Well, if this is true, than it must have been introduced with one of the patches, couse I remember myself fooling around with it in vanilla RTW 1.0
Is there any other way to make it happen? All I want is the camera a LITTLE lower, so the troops can walk by the cam, not under the cam. I dont need birds eye, just a little bit lower. There must be a way...

[XSamatan]

This is a command line switch:

-movie_cam This command line lets you use the movie cam, often used for getting screenshots at exclusive angles, generally below head height. Once added, play a custom battle, save the replay, then watch the replay. You should now be watching it with a lot of blue text on the screen. To move the camera about use the arrow keys:

• Up arrow key: Moves the camera forward but on a downwards slope. Watch you don't sink into the ground now!
• Down arrow key: Exact opposite of Up arrow key.
• Left and Right arrows keys: Swivels the camera left and right respectively.
• Space bar: gets rid of blue text.

It can be awkward at first, but once you get used to it you can get some prime positions for some awesome screenshots.

Also included in the Unofficial Trivial Script update.

XSamatan

[ezopus2]

Yes, thanks, Xsamatan, I know this, I already have that script update. But that goes only for CUSTOM battle REPLAYS, which I never play.
The ideea was to make it possible under campaign map battles...
Well, thanks anyway, Xsamatan, I'll keep looking for what I want. If I live long enough I will live to see the RomeTW engine go OpenSource (like Freespace 2 did), learn to program and make it myself
As I somewhere read on this forum: " Rome is not a game, but a do-it-yourself project."

[ezopus2]

I wont give it up Let me aproach it from another way: is there a valid console command which unlocks the camera height? Couse if there is one, than I could put it into generic script, something like "console_command default battle camera blabla...".
Can anyone give me a valid syntax for this, if it exists one?
Come on, I'd really like to have this thing, I made some new models for helmets and I can't watch them from proper angle in battle, only if soldiers are on the walls...