Editing the new startpos.esf Files

[darkmatter86]

I'm a noob i don't know where to extract the startpos.esf file. Can you tell me?

[Outlawstar15a2]

If we don't follow this process will it keep the game from recognizing the changes we make to startpos.esf?

I attempted to modify startpos.esf with the latest version of Pack File Manager. I was able to change the file and everything, I saved the changes, confirmed the file was not reverted, went into Shogun 2 and it ignored the changes.

[Fra70]

Thank you for this tutorial ..it was like being abused by a gorilla but it did work !!

[MacVega]

Ack, I'm incredibly sorry about that not really sure how a double post showed up, only posted once. And the second post is rather weird I know I didn't type it with repeats within it. I knew one got lost in cyberspace because of validation and an odd error message and I was told to go ahead and try posting again by an admin, I think they found it. *facepalm*

Thank you Anton, Yes, I was having crashing errors trying to make all of those changes. But it might have been because of the fact I had been trying to use the data pack from the first fots file as opposed to the second one as you mentioned. I found a way to do what I wanted with the tech tree without any repercussions, it was actually much easier than I was making it.

I will try my go at it again tomorrow, now that I have a bit of a better sense of some of the changes they have made from the stuff before the fall of the samurai.

[kwbgjh2]

I am very firm in "hacking" savegames or startpos.esf in ETW.
BUT.......................
I've never played NTW, Shogun 2 , or Rise of the Samurai, even though i bought all of these game just to give SEGA no reason to stop the deployment of the game.
The Reason: When Shogun 2 came out, i started a game, made a savegame and tried to "improve" my treasury with the help of esf editor, as i was used to do in ETW.
Only reasult was constant CTD.

2 days ago i came to this thread and i learned very much about the "New way of SEGA" for Shogun 2.
After i readed here everything my theory was easy:
What is the difference between a startpos.esf and a savegame ?
Just the ending of the file. One is .esf, the other is .save in shogun 2 Fall of the Samurai.

So you can use this really great tutorial for "hacking" any save game. Just take a savegame from your your savegame folder, copy it into your ........\esfxml and rename it from "mysavegame.save" to "mysavegame.esf".
After you have done this, use exactly the steps of this tutorial from Anton to hack your savegame.
When you are ready, just rename your "mysavegame.esf" to "mysavegame.save" and copy it back to your savegame folder.

[Condottiere SOG]

none of the current esf files work.

[HuskyTW]

will this all tutorials help me in doing minor clans playable?

[Akaie]

Just use EditSF. The tool is well-written, is pretty similar to the old ESFEditor and is far less stressful for smaller mod making .

If you're either into xml or alternate victory conditions & alternate diplomacy details, taw's tools is for you. Otherwise, it's just easier to stick with EditSF.

[Outlawstar15a2]

Okay, I attempted to edit the startpos in fots2.pack in order to lengthen the campaign (changed end year). EditSF saved the changes, the game loads fine and everything with the change made, but when I get to the FOTS campaign faction select screen the end year is unchanged for the modified factions. Yet EditSF successfully changed the file so what else do I need to do?

[zowrath]

Okay, I attempted to edit the startpos in fots2.pack in order to lengthen the campaign (changed end year). EditSF saved the changes, the game loads fine and everything with the change made, but when I get to the FOTS campaign faction select screen the end year is unchanged for the modified factions. Yet EditSF successfully changed the file so what else do I need to do?

Just double check that you've changed the year in the tree separate parts of the .esf. I can't remember exactly where, but there are three places that references this.

[kugkings]

I've also had problems editing the startpos.esf. I've made countless changes (changing special resources, end date, turns per year, what ever you can find a tut for basically) and even though the changes are saved, none of them take affect in game.

[Moonhoplite]

Anton, when I go through your process twice (because I decide to make more changes for example to diplomacy relationships), the esf seems to be "corrupted". When I use it in a mod, it causes CTDS after 1-4 turns.

I've also noticed that the file size gets smaller.

Is there something that we should know about decompiling these (bugs)? thanks

[Akaie]

Just be careful with diplomacy arrays; you can very easily mess them up. Try decompiling the esf for ROTS or FOTS and use their diplomacy arrays as a base, as removing or entering values may result in improper information in the i2_ary .

[Moonhoplite]

Thanks for the quick reply.

I followed your advice, I only made one small change, eg, from 0 0 0 30 0 .... to 0 0 0 50 0 ....

The file still gets smaller. Even after the first decompile, it's smaller than the original esf. Game usually crashes

I guess I ll be more careful and only decompile the original esf once, then use editSF, etc. Great tutorial!

[Akaie]

I've noticed the file shrink too, alas I haven't had any major CTD problems (know that the vanilla esf has been noted to cause CTDs often too). Perhaps try it from scratch, if you've touched something else in the decompiled xmls .

[Fire-dweller]

How do you edit agent movement points?

[Moonhoplite]

Offtopic:

It's in DB,

go to patch21,
DB -> Agent Tables you can modify movement points universally for agents.

[Fire-dweller]

Why can't you use ESF?

[Moonhoplite]

In ESF, there is CAMPAIGN_MODEL -> WORLD -> FACTION_ARRAY -> (find the faction) -> CHARACTER_ARRAY

You can edit specific existing characters/agents from the start of the campaign's locamotiles. Im not sure which entry is for replenishing movement points there, sorry.

[Fire-dweller]

In ESF, there is CAMPAIGN_MODEL -> WORLD -> FACTION_ARRAY -> (find the faction) -> CHARACTER_ARRAY

You can edit specific existing characters/agents from the start of the campaign's locamotiles. Im not sure which entry is for replenishing movement points there, sorry.

Thank you very much. Tell me if you find more info.