Forcing a battle to be autoresolved

**Withwnar** · May 28, 2011, 05:19 AM

UPDATE: not possible it would seem. With disable_entire_ui, "entire" does not include UI elements on scrolls; it does not disable scrolls or their buttons, only the 'main' UI elements like turn end button and so forth. Therefore, presumably, disable_ui doesn't work on scroll buttons either.

Does anybody know how to disable the prebattle scroll's "Fight" and (optionally) "Withdraw" buttons, thus forcing the player to use autoresolve?

I have tried disable_ui commands on those buttons but nothing seems to work on that scroll. I also tried disabling the entire ui and then enabling just the autoresolve button.

Thanks in advance.

EDIT: To expand on what I have tried...

Firstly, I found that the PreBattle scroll actually opens twice. Or at least that [monitor_event ScrollOpened ScrollOpened prebattle_scroll] triggers twice when armies clash.

So my script looks like this:

Code:

set_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 0

monitor_event ScrollOpened ScrollOpened prebattle_scroll

  inc_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 1

  if I_EventCounter pb_scroll_opened_count == 2
    ;historic_event nazgul
    disable_ui prebattle_fight_button
    set_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 0
  end_if
  
end_monitor

I thought that perhaps the double-triggering was somehow interfering with disable_ui so I have added a counter such that disable_ui will only be performed on the second opening.

The historic_event is there to confirm that this part of the script is actually being reached. So yes: disable_ui is being invoked but it is doing nothing. Other buttons wouldn't disable either when I tried those instead. And the same behaviour if I remove all of my double-trigger handling code.

Turning this monitor into a PreBattlePanelOpen one instead had the exact same behaviour: double-trigger and no effect.

Oh, and I also tried simulating a click on the autoresolve instead of disabling the other buttons...

Code:

set_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 0

monitor_event ScrollOpened ScrollOpened prebattle_scroll

  inc_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 1

  if I_EventCounter pb_scroll_opened_count == 2
    select_ui_element prebattle_auto_resolve_button
    simulate_mouse_click lclick_down
    simulate_mouse_click lclick_up

    set_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 0
  end_if
  
end_monitor

That did nothing also.

This is in Kingdoms.

**Withwnar** · May 29, 2011, 08:41 AM

Aha! Some success at least... this will get that second example working:

A wait prior to the click simulation...

Code:

set_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 0

monitor_event ScrollOpened ScrollOpened prebattle_scroll

  inc_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 1

  if I_EventCounter pb_scroll_opened_count == 2
    wait 0.1
    select_ui_element prebattle_auto_resolve_button
    simulate_mouse_click lclick_down
    simulate_mouse_click lclick_up

    set_event_counter pb_scroll_opened_count 0
  end_if
  
end_monitor

...presumably to give the scroll time to open first*. No joy with using disable_ui here though, even with longer wait times.

* It seems that this monitor triggers before the scroll is ready to receive select_ui_element and simulate_mouse_click operations.

**Rat-tail** · May 30, 2011, 01:21 AM

This is an interesting idea and one I do not see that anyone has modded.

My only question ... Why would you want to do just have auto-battle?

**Withwnar** · May 30, 2011, 02:52 AM

A comrade said he thought he saw it done but couldn't remember where. The disabled Fight button I mean.

Why? A settlement is going to be attacked by a creature (no battle model) and I'm trying to reduce troop numbers to simulate some being killed in the fight. Disasters were another option but they kill too much population.

While I'm at it can anybody confirm that reduce_unit_strength doesn't work in Kingdoms battle script? I get hangs no matter what I try and some posts I have seen suggest that this is a known issue.

**Taiji** · May 30, 2011, 11:31 AM

I believe unit_label is only ever exported by battle events, so reduce_unit_strength can only be used in battles.

**Withwnar** · May 31, 2011, 04:56 AM

Thanks, yes, I was referring to battles. (Not autoresolve.)

**Taiji** · May 31, 2011, 05:42 AM

If you like you can show the script you're using and I'll tell you if I think it looks like it should work.

**Withwnar** · May 31, 2011, 08:01 AM

Thanks for the offer Taiji, good onya. I'm utterly new to battle scripting so this could be very wrong...

Code:

monitor_event BattleConflictPhaseCommenced TrueCondition

  label_unit 1 0 0 general
  label_unit 1 0 1 unit1

  reduce_unit_strength unit1 50    ;HANG!
  
end_monitor

These guys are the defenders and there are definitely two units in this army. unit1 is an infantry unit.

I saw a post mentioning wrapping the reduce_unit_strength in an I_UnitFormation IF statement...

Code:

  if I_UnitFormation unit1 = square 
    reduce_unit_strength unit1 50    ;HANG!
  end_if

... but I believe that that was to avoid calling reduce_unit_strength on a unit that does not exist, which the I_UnitFormation condition would safely catch and thus avoid. I tried it anyway but not really needed in my trial because I know that the unit exists. It didn't help.

**Taiji** · May 31, 2011, 08:27 AM

That looks OK to me, but I've never used that command. You could check the vanilla battle scripts to see if that command is used anywhere. Also maybe try sticking a little wait between the commands:

label_unit 1 0 0 general
label_unit 1 0 1 unit1
battle_wait 0.1
reduce_unit_strength unit1 50

**Withwnar** · May 31, 2011, 08:43 AM

Thanks mate, I'll try the waits and report back.

I couldn't find any use of this command anywhere, including in the unpacked M2TW.

That "known issue" I mentioned was from Alpaca's script-o-rama:

Don't try anything with reduce_unit_strength. Unfortunately it freezes the game.

The only usages I have found on the web are from RTW - presumably it worked fine there.

**Taiji** · May 31, 2011, 08:46 AM

Maybe he's right in suggesting he's already tried everything possible

... Maybe try applying the command during the deployment phase

(BattleDeploymentPhaseCommenced)

**Withwnar** · May 31, 2011, 09:37 AM

No joy. I tried [battle_wait 1.0] prior to the reduce_unit_strength call. Then I tried moving the label_unit calls into BattleDeploymentPhaseCommenced, then both label_unit and reduce_unit_strength calls into BattleDeploymentPhaseCommenced. Hangs every time.

Thanks very much Taiji, +rep sir. If this can be solved I'd love to hear it but I can do without it this time.

**Taiji** · May 31, 2011, 10:21 AM

While thrashing around I would try using the command with no unit specified, no percentage specified, and them appearing in the opposite order. But it's up to you, and you're welcome

**Withwnar** · May 31, 2011, 10:53 AM

I gave it a quick try: "parsing error" in the log straight away.

Well, while I'm speaking battle script I may as well mention some things I found along the way. They might be of use to other novice battle scripters...

terminate_battle crashes the campaign script. It took me a while to whittle down to this as being the culprit; then I found a post - and again by Alpaca! - saying the same thing. Oh well... "confirmed!".
ScrollClosed post_battle_scroll triggers BEFORE BattleConflictPhaseCommenced. ...what? ScrollOpened post_battle_scroll triggers AFTER BattleConflictPhaseCommenced, as expected.