ETW Runtime Memory Stucture Documention

[.Mitch.]

If you can, giving every patch of attrition a different colour would be the perfect solution. However if that's not possible then a different colour for every attrition type. Or if that's not possible I will make do with same colour for all.

[PietroMicca]

This is a little preview image of attrition areas



in this image point 0,0 is in the same position of the previous NTW Europe map

rgb colors used

red (192 80 77) grassland_cold_att
green (0 176 80) hilly_light_forest_cold_att
blue (79 129 189) light_forest_cold_att

[T.C.]

This is a little preview image of attrition areas



in this image point 0,0 is in the same position of the previous NTW Europe map

rgb colors used

red (192 80 77) grassland_cold_att
green (0 176 80) hilly_light_forest_cold_att
blue (79 129 189) light_forest_cold_att

What about heat attrition?

[.Mitch.]

That's awsome, exactly what is needed infact!

[Primergy]

But don't you need a map for the ETW map, not the NTW one?

[PietroMicca]

But don't you need a map for the ETW map, not the NTW one?

I suppose we need to understand how attrition system works on NTW before....

[T.C.]

I suppose we need to understand how attrition system works on NTW before....

This is exactly what we don't need. We simply need an map representing the ETW map with 5 colour types - one for cold attrition all year, one for cold attrition in winter only, one for heat attrition all year, one for heat attrition in summer only, and one for no attrition. The co-ordinates on this map need to be able to be compared logically to the co-ordinates used in game. So if I provide the program with an in-game co-ordinate it can read what type of attrition is relevant at that location (if any) based on the colour map.

After that I can easily write all the attrition code in Lua. NTW is useless as a reference as heat and cold attrition are never simultaneously experienced on the one map.

[PietroMicca]

This is exactly what we don't need. We simply need an map representing the ETW map with 5 colour types - one for cold attrition all year, one for cold attrition in winter only, one for heat attrition all year, one for heat attrition in summer only, and one for no attrition. The co-ordinates on this map need to be able to be compared logically to the co-ordinates used in game. So if I provide the program with an in-game co-ordinate it can read what type of attrition is relevant at that location (if any) based on the colour map.

After that I can easily write all the attrition code in Lua. NTW is useless as a reference as heat and cold attrition are never simultaneously experienced on the one map.

Well, I can do it as well for Empire, but it would be easier if we match each groundtype with one of those 5 attrition type.

these are groundtypes in Empire Global Map

grassland
desert - heat attrition all year
plains
hills
dense_forest
light_forest
swamp

one type of attrition is obvious, tell me where you want the other 4

[T.C.]

I'm certainly no expert of campaign systems, but imho all these kind of changes shouldn't really be programmed in Lua. Lua was embedded in TW games for scripting purposes, not for storing or "fetching" at runtime megabytes of texture data, per-unit. That's beyond its skills and I guess you'll quickly reach a dead-end street in terms of performances. There's the serious risk to waste a lot of time...
I repeat (and I'm sorry for annoying) it's quite "sad" to see many brillant modders and their ideas constrained to Lua's implementations. Unfortunately Craig didn't replied yet about my proposal for a ETW/NTW code injection "permission". Anyway I think it remains the only practicable way to improve noticeably these games and keep them alive nowadays. We should definitely put some pressure on CA to obtain one statement on the subject at least... in whatever direction.

Lua isn't doing any memory editing, that's beyond it's design and capabilities. Lua is fetching data from the campaign and passing it to a C# application. The lua side will also deal with almost all of the calculations, apart from determining if attrition should be applied or not and editing the actual memory. And as for CA, you'd do everyone a favour if you didn't pursue the matter with them. Most game companies don't acknowledge this sort of modding and quite blatantly turn a blind eye to it. If they were to make any statement on the subject I'd imagine it most likely be one discouraging it, due to the serious issues memory hooking could cause if done incorrectly. And if that were to happen we wouldn't get much support from TWC's admins. As things stand now we aren't breaking any laws or contract obligations as an end user, and CA haven't told us they don't like it. Lets try and keep it that way.

Well, I can do it as well for Empire, but it would be easier if we match each groundtype with one of those 5 attrition type.

these are groundtypes in Empire Global Map

grassland
desert - heat attrition all year
plains
hills
dense_forest
light_forest
swamp

one type of attrition is obvious, tell me where you want the other 4

Couldn't we use the campaign snow map?

[Primergy]

I suppose we need to understand how attrition system works on NTW before....

My guess... there are some maps with colours stored in the esf, which show different areas of attrition. And i also assume that, since we can't add anything new in the etw esf's it's completely uninteresting how the data is stored in NTW, since we couldn't use it in ETW anyway

Woudn't it be simpler to extract the borders of the ETW map, on a texture file with the size of the etw map (so the coordinates are 1:1) and then simply paint over some colours, which mitch tool can read (eg. red = high attrition etc)?

[T.C.]

Progress update:

We're integrating the attrition system into the memory hook tool - primarily because some things we need to do for attrition not associated with the core hook can't be done in Lua, and otherwise would require another exe in a more powerful language. Obviously we'll make a toggle for it, so hook users aren't forced to play with attrition.
Aside from that we're having a bit of an issue. I can do the attrition calculations and effects easily enough but I have so far been unable to find any way to inform players when they are about to move an army into an attrition area, or when an army is already in an attrition area. I can generate a popup saying attrition has taken place, but by that stage it's too late for the player to do much about it. Any ideas from anyone?

[ErikBerg]

This is probably impossible, but what about colour-coding the movement range? Currently, when you select an army, any place it can go is green, inaccessible areas are red. Areas with cold attrition could perhaps show as a blue area, and heat attrition with, I dunno, orange?

[Lordsith]

May be you integrate Pirate flag like enemy ship rading when army locates in attrition territory ?

[T.C.]

Thanks for the idea's. Unfortunately the overlays (trading, raiding, and damaged) are common resources assigned by a part of code - unit properties do not contain explicit references to them, so I can't really do much with them. And for the ground colouring - a brilliant idea, but one beyond the capabilities of this tool and my head

But for some good news, I think I've found a way to get the pips used in NTW to work with unit cards. So you'll at least see little skulls on unit cards when an army is suffering attrition

[Primergy]

Thanks for the idea's. Unfortunately the overlays (trading, raiding, and damaged) are common resources assigned by a part of code - unit properties do not contain explicit references to them, so I can't really do much with them. And for the ground colouring - a brilliant idea, but one beyond the capabilities of this tool and my head

Hmm, in NTW the areas with attrition have a special groundtexture (eg, those "deep" snow fields, and sand dunes), maybe an idea?

[PietroMicca]

a sort of haze in transition areas is not possible? are not avaible this kind of animations?

[Lordsith]

When this mod will ready , can't wait

[.Mitch.]

I just finished programming the main engine of the project.

We've now got to finish the LUA scripting and get the UI resolved and ETW should have attrition. We can then move on to achieving more complex things I'm sure.

[General Brewster]

Excellent.

[English Total War Gamer]

Great work!