modding campaign map

[Fraser]

Good work! Keep going.

[Carmichael]

Any chance to see a Hokkaido or Korea map soon? How much harder is it to make a map from scratch compared to add regions?

[wilddog]

Hi I'm new to Shogun 2 (actually only opened the game once to have a quick look) and then realised steam had blown most of my download size doing updates...

Anyway the bit I was interested in is the modding tools required particularly for maps or buildings. Can any of the modding be done without 3DS max? Main reason for asking is that although there are various posts here saying you can use 3dsmax if you are not a student (and I'm not) the reality seems to be their license agreement is pretty specific that you do have to be and they have no 'contact' you can contact to confirm as far as I could see from the autocad website.

Any info would be appreciated.

[AngryTitusPullo]

Only if you're editing the campaign map you need 3dsmax. For battlefield map you can simply use TEd. The Assembly Kit is enough for various type of mods except that since it was released before the last patch/update for Shogun 2 the raw files provided are a bit outdated.

[wangrin]

You can use 3ds max for free through Autodesk Education Community program.
This program is not limited to students but to non-commercial activities (such as modding).

You will need 3ds max to mod campaign map and buildings because :

• CA provide raw material using .max file format
• Converters provided work only with 3ds max 2009 and 2010

Of course, it is possible to export raw material to an other file format (for example : .fbx) to use them with an other software.
You can also create models, particularly buildings and units, using an other software, such as blender, but you will have necessarily to use 3ds max to use converters as they are the only ones available.

[wilddog]

@LestaT - Thanks for the info.

You can use 3ds max for free through Autodesk Education Community program.
This program is not limited to students but to non-commercial activities (such as modding).

Can you point me to anything that actually says that officially? If you check that same site and read the eligibility part (quoted below) it doesn't say anything remotely like what you are saying and has been quoted in this thread. That's the problem the eligibility says it is limited

EDUCATION COMMUNITY

TERMS OF USE LAST UPDATED: November 19, 2012
Autodesk further reserves the right to seek all remedies available by law and in equity for any violation of these Terms. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved by Autodesk.

1. Eligibility. You acknowledge that you are 13 years of age or older, and, if under the age of 18, are using this Site under the active supervision of a parent, legal guardian, or other responsible adult who has read and agreed to these Terms on your behalf. Individuals who are under the age of majority in their jurisdiction are not allowed to use this Site or transmit or otherwise submit personally identifiable information to Autodesk. To access and participate in the Site, you must be one of the following: (a) a faculty member; (b) a student; or (c) an Autodesk-sponsored design competition mentor or participant.

a. A faculty member is an employee at a primary or secondary educational institution or any degree-granting or certificate-granting educational institution or any learning, teaching or training facilities, and upon request by Autodesk, is able to provide proof of such status.

b. A student is an individual who is enrolled at a recognized degree-granting or certificate-granting educational institution for three (3) or more credit hours, or in a nine (9) month or longer certificate program, and upon request by Autodesk is able to provide proof of such enrollment.

c. An Autodesk-sponsored competition mentor is an individual who provides guidance, advice, coaching, or instruction to competitors engaged in competing in an Autodesk-sponsored design competition, and upon request by Autodesk is able to provide proof of such status. A .competitor. is a student or other individual, as defined herein, who is registered and accepted or otherwise approved by a design competition organizer as a competition participant and who, upon request by Autodesk, is able to provide proof of such status.

[wangrin]

You're right :

Who is eligible to join the Autodesk Education Community?

Scenario

You want to find out whether you're eligible to participate in the Autodesk Education Community.

Solution

The Autodesk Education Community is a password-protected website that provides access to discussion forums and free student versions of Autodesk software and cloud services.

To join the Education Community, you must be one of the following:

• Faculty Member - an employee at a primary or secondary educational institution or any degree-granting or certificate-granting educational institution or any learning, teaching or training facilities whose role is to provide instruction to students.
• Student - individual enrolled at a recognized degree-granting or certificate-granting educational institution for three (3) or more credit hours in a degree-granting or certificate granting education program or in a nine (9) month or longer certificate program.
• Autodesk-sponsored competition mentor or competitor - a competition mentor is an individual who provides guidance, advice, coaching, or instruction to competitors in an Autodesk-sponsored design competition. A competitor is a student or other individual, approved by an Autodesk-sponsored design competition organizer as a valid participant

But, it seems that Autodesk is not that strict.
I'm not a student, nor a teacher, nor an Autodesk-sponsored competition mentor or competitor but the registration process was successful.

So, it's your choice, try to register in Autodesk Education Community to be able to use 3ds max or not.
But you will need 3ds max, 2010 version to use converters and a newer version (2012 or later) to open .max files provided by CA.


Good luck.

[wilddog]

Hi Wangrin, Thanks for the update. Yes the registration is n.t restricted. It is down to the individual if he has registered but not really eligible. That's why the rest of the b clause has

and upon request by Autodesk is able to provide proof of such enrollment.

Sure wish they (autodesk) had a contact to query them but every means they have requires you to have the product in the first place. Guess I may wait for now as I mostly wanted just to get an idea on likely structure ahead of Rome 2.

[GeneralWolfe]

Here is where I currently stand: I can create regions and factions. I chose the Toyotomi because they already have banners.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[Solanum]

When I trying to build the regions.esf files , bob shows following error message:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

ERROR: Edges detected which overlap but are not opposite orientation (3 total): Edge 0:
Found in triangle (test -1.756292):
AT VERT: x=215.997467, y=-27.934441
AT VERT: x=216.324158, y=-28.799994
AT VERT: x=212.027893, y=-22.793234
Found in triangle (test 1.844655):
AT VERT: x=215.307159, y=-27.505085
AT VERT: x=215.997467, y=-27.934441
AT VERT: x=212.027893, y=-22.793234
Edge 1:
Found in triangle (test 1.844655):
AT VERT: x=215.307159, y=-27.505085
AT VERT: x=215.997467, y=-27.934441
AT VERT: x=212.027893, y=-22.793234
Found in triangle (test -3.416178):
AT VERT: x=214.472626, y=-25.264225
AT VERT: x=215.307159, y=-27.505085
AT VERT: x=212.027893, y=-22.793234
Edge 2:
Found in triangle (test -1.008644):
AT VERT: x=215.997467, y=-27.934441
AT VERT: x=215.307159, y=-27.505085
AT VERT: x=215.380493, y=-26.089546
Found in triangle (test 1.844655):
AT VERT: x=215.307159, y=-27.505085
AT VERT: x=215.997467, y=-27.934441
AT VERT: x=212.027893, y=-22.793234
Failed to read and convert fileFailed.

I can't figure out how to solve this problem, please help me

[Solanum]

Problem solved, it seems like the tools can't handle three obtuse triangles joined on the coast line.

[GeneralWolfe]

I have managed to add the Nanbu clan, but I'm having some problems with diplomacy in game. The clan acts weird, and it says that it is trading with an unidentified clan. The clan is also too willing to become my vassal (they only want 550 gold for it). How many rows do I need in startpos diplomacy? Do I need to add neighboring regions only?

Please don't laugh at my ugly banners.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[uanime5]

For your new faction you need to create diplomatic relationships for ever other faction so this faction have have different relationships with them. You also need to create an entry so that every other factions can have relationships with this clan.

Basically in the startpos_diplomacy in the faction1 and faction2 columns your new faction needs an entry for every other faction if you want the diplomacy to work correctly.

Also there seems to be a limit on how many buildings you can add to the vanilla map. The maximum seems to be 230 settlement buildings and as the vanilla version starts with 219 buildings you can't add many more regions.

[GeneralWolfe]

For your new faction you need to create diplomatic relationships for ever other faction so this faction have have different relationships with them. You also need to create an entry so that every other factions can have relationships with this clan.

Basically in the startpos_diplomacy in the faction1 and faction2 columns your new faction needs an entry for every other faction if you want the diplomacy to work correctly.

Also there seems to be a limit on how many buildings you can add to the vanilla map. The maximum seems to be 230 settlement buildings and as the vanilla version starts with 219 buildings you can't add many more regions.

What's the limit then 2 or 3 regions?

Is there a way to make a faction playable from the menu screen without clan swapping?

[uanime5]

Since a region needs the minimum of a settlement and a farm the maximum is 5. However I would recommend checking how many buildings you can add as it's possible that the problem I'm having is due to another cause (I'm trying to split Fukushima into Aizu, Date, Iwaki, and Hamadori but for some reason enabling the buildings in any of the 3 new regions causes a crash). At present a limit on the number of buildings is the most likely cause but it could be some other type of error.

I don't know if it's possible to make a new faction playable without clan swapping. None of the Tweak files control how files appear on the menu and I don't know which file controls the number of factions on the campaign menus.

[GeneralWolfe]

Update: I have added two clans to the campaign map; the Nanbu in Aomori and the Soma clan in Iwaki. All the Nanbu banners were created by Anton (as such I do not plan to release anything without his permission). I also plan to add Chikugo province (if it is possible without hitting the building limit) and the Tachibana clan.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

[uanime5]

Regarding adding new buildings it seems the limit may not be as low as I previously thought. So far I've been able to add more than 230 buildings without a problem (though my attempts to split Fukushima and add new buildings to the new regions still isn't working).

Matsumae now control Oshima.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Oura controls Sannohe (I'm planning to give Iwate to Nambu as soon as I can get the Date region to work).

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ando controls Ugo.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I plan to add the Soma clan to the Hamadori region and the Iwaki clan to the Iwaki region it I can ever get them to work.

[Carmichael]

Great job you two! =)

[Flikitos]

I would have a question, does the supertexture (I mean the Campaign map so) has a maximum size?

[spartan_warrior]

I would have a question, does the supertexture (I mean the Campaign map so) has a maximum size?

The supertexture can be made different sizes, but the tool used to make the superextures is not the best, and can cause problems at different sizes. The heightmap on the other hand does has a maximum size, but it is not exactly tied to the size of the campaign map, it can be 'stretched' over a larger map but of course the more you do so the less detailed it will become.