descr_geography_new.txt editing

[makanyane]

the standalone version had my .cfg preferences with it - unless you changed that, try either those preferences on your mod version or your .cfg settings in the stand alone one and see what that does

am slightly running out of ideas otherwise


other campaign map stuff that got changed for the standalone included simplifying descr_regions
(religions/rebels/hidden resources) but seems odd if that'd do anything

[FireFreak111]

Well after adding a whole bunch of crap in, the flashing has come back. I will spend the next hour isolating the problem. I will try first checking if its any of the main data txt files, and if not then its folder deletion time

Epic Update: Its one of the txt files in the data folder! I am on a hunt, adding them back in one by one until the culprit is found....

[FireFreak111]

Thats it. I can't nail it down to one file. Everytime it works after deleting a certain file, I try restoring, testing, deleting and after deleting that file again to confirm the error is back! Something is overloading the mod install.

But as always, removing the geography files fixes everything....... -_-

or I can just only remove this part:

	season winter
	{
		texture		rock			battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_rock_micro.tga
		+ z macro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_rock_macro.tga
		+ x y micro file			battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_xy_micro.tga
		+ x y macro file			battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_rock_xy.tga
		+ x y micro scale 12
		+ x y macro scale 80
		+ z macro scale 100
		+ z micro scale 12

		texture		gravel			battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_gravel_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_gravel_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 100
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		sand_caked		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_sand_caked_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_sand_caked_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 100
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		sand			battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_sand_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_sand_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 100
        + z micro scale 8

		texture		sand_blown		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_sand_blown_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_sand_blown_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 100
        + z micro scale 8

		texture		dirt			battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_dirt_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_dirt_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 100
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		mud			battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_mud_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_mud_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 100
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		swamp			battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_swamp_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_swamp_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 100
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		grass_dry		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_dry_grass_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_dry_grass_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 120
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		grass_short		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_short_grass_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_short_grass_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 120
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		grass_long		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_long_grass_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_long_grass_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 240
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		shrub_sparse		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_shrub_sparse_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_shrub_sparse_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 120
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		shrub_dense		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_shrub_dense_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_shrub_dense_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 120
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		forest_sparse		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_forest_sparse_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_forest_sparse_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 80
		+ z micro scale 4

		texture		forest_dense		battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_forest_dense_macro.tga
		+ z micro file				battlefield/temperate_deciduous_forest/summer/deciduous_forest_forest_dense_micro.tga
		+ z macro scale 80
		+ z micro scale 4

		water_height_modifier		-0.5		; water height = -0.5m

		overlay						OverlayTextures/blood_01.texture				20	20
		overlay						OverlayTextures/blood_02.texture				20	60
		overlay						OverlayTextures/blood_03.texture				20	90
		overlay						OverlayTextures/dirtnblood_01.texture			30	20
		overlay						OverlayTextures/dirtnblood_02.texture			50	60
		overlay						OverlayTextures/dirtnblood_03.texture			80	90
		overlay						OverlayTextures/dirt_01.texture					30	10
		overlay						OverlayTextures/dirt_02.texture					50	10
		overlay						OverlayTextures/dirt_03.texture					80  10

		; last three overlay textures needs to be: flaming, burning and burnt, numbers for them are not used
		overlay						OverlayTextures/flaming.texture					0 0
		overlay						OverlayTextures/burning_01.texture				0 0
		overlay						OverlayTextures/burning_02.texture				0 0

		; effect of each terrain type on overlay modification (can be any positive, negative number or 0)
		overlay_effect		grass_short		5
		overlay_effect		grass_long			10
		overlay_effect		sand				10
		overlay_effect		rock				0
		overlay_effect		forest_dense		5
		overlay_effect		scrub_dense		10
		overlay_effect		swamp				30
		overlay_effect		mud					80
		overlay_effect		mud_road			40
		overlay_effect		stone_road			0
		overlay_effect		water				-50
		overlay_effect		ice					0
		overlay_effect		snow				0
		overlay_effect		wood				0
		overlay_effect		dirt				20

		; global multiplier for terrain type effects
		overlay_effect_terrain_multiplier	0.003

		; global multiplier for health effect (positive number or 0)
		overlay_effect_health_factor			1.0

		; number of hits (damage points) for soldier to get maximum overlay factor for health
		overlay_effect_max_hits				6
	}

[FireFreak111]

descr_aerial_map_ground_types.txt has a very clear effect on stability for me. Don't have decr_cultures in right now.

The thing is, stability is 100% fine, excellent with veg, cultures, aerial_maps and vanilla ground_types. It's simply adding stuff to the file that's causing massive instability for me. I can remove all the info from the climate so it simply inherits the parent and it works fine. Duplicate the parent entry manually into the climate itself untouched and the flashing CTD issues happen..... wtf.

I am having other members of DaC test the file, if its just my PC then, well, damnit

And again, its affecting the campaign map, when its a file for textures for the battle-map. And the battle-map works fine...... where has the logic gone?

[makanyane]

I think logic departed M2TW modding some time ago.... I hate it when it does this sort of stuff and it does it quite frequently... grrrrrrr


I can see the descr_aerial maps geography.db link to an extent - I think it loads the textures, or at least slots for the textures for both on start up (the fact that it generates / checks the geography file on start up not at start of battle might indicate that)

EDIT: this is the only bit that makes any sense at all to explain the difference between it not working when you manually copy the parent entry in the text file - coz the .db will be identical!
you could try deleting only the descr_geography_new.txt file - leave the .db in there - and take the 'rebuild geography db' line out of the .cfg - see if that makes any difference (i.e. if part of the problem is a hangover from the rebuild process)

or I can just only remove this part:

makes absolutely no sense at all unfortunately if you compare a .db file generated with that part and one without it they come out identical in length and everything else except the name 'summer'/'winter' in the file path - see pic

if that's what's doing it I'll eat my M2 disc

[FireFreak111]

It worked....

WTF IT WORKED? WTFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

.....
....
..

........I feel so....... confused, like all logic just left the world.

Thankyou for all your help with this issue. Confirmed fixed in both my main install (launched and relaunched 4 times to confirm) and the standalone..... at least this part of my geography modding journey is over....

Maybe this information should be posted in tools and tutorials, about the base structure of the file, what to do and the various CTD's or risks associated with it (out of order, possible campaign map issues, using overlay information, making sure tables and textures are in sync)....

On another note, is there not anyway (hex editing, etc), anyway to get grass in winter? There has to be some way....

[makanyane]

On another note, is there not anyway (hex editing, etc), anyway to get grass in winter? There has to be some way....

I'll try and add something to the geog/veg tutorial about the stuff we found here, and about how to switch on/adjust grass generally.
There's sections in the vegetation.db which appear to be for selecting texture/distribution etc of grass in winter... unfortunately adding stuff there doesn't actually seem to have any effect. I think something about that is switched off in the .exe


I don't like the grass-less effect in winter myself - I've been working on a climate that is meant to be overgrown/swampy and the winter version looks silly 'bald'. Only partial solution I found was to add grassy looking stuff to the veg models.

The clumps of 'grass' around the bracken leaf type thing in the foreground of pic are all part of the same 'shrub' model. You could add grassy bits around the base of the tree models used for the 'winter' section. They won't sway like the real grass, and you have to make them descend below the '0' height level so they don't end above ground if the terrain slopes. (they need to be done as alpha'd out bits of texture on a few flat planes... don't actually try and model grass, the game would definitely explode!)


...bah, just remembered, I need to update the veg tutorial about model making as well - wilddog fixed some problems about the way new vege_models are lit recently (by adding facility for re-calculating the normals).

[FireFreak111]

Shame about winter grass, doesn't look too bad though:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Interesting technique with the shrub there, will keep it in mind.

Thanks for all this information, and IWTE too (used it for generating sprites with the Lorien textures and for model_strat conversion, and soon for Fornost Erain ). You saved my map