Victory Conditions

[Fluke]

Update: Blackie42 has figured out that one needs to make the changes mentioned below to two sections of the startpos.esf, the startpos.esf. campaign_startpos\campaign_preopen_map_info and the campaign_startpos\compressed_data\campaign_preopen_map_info sections. The changes to both sections must be the same. So now that we know how to do this I hope some of you out there come up with some interesting campaigns for us to play through.

I really wanted victory conditions that were more manageable in terms of the time it took to complete a campaign. I simply don't have the time, nor the patience, to totally dominate the map, especially when playing the non-Roman factions. Here is a resource that shows where in the startpos.esf you can find the various victory conditions for the various factions. I expanded out the set for the Suebi faction as an example. As to the specific settings, some are simple, while others I haven't been able to figure out yet (which of the 6 specific provinces need to be controlled for example). So have fun using this to create your own set of unique victory conditions. Hopefully we'll see a lot of custom user-made victory conditions for us to download and play.

CAMPAIGN_STARTPOS =>
CAMPAIGN_PREOPEN_MAP_INFO =>
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS =>
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-0 => (Rome)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-1 => (Ptolemaics)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-2 => (Carthage)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-3 => (Macedon)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-4 => (Parthia)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-5 => (Arverni)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-6 => (Iceni)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-7 => (Suebi)
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BY_TYPE_BLOCK =>
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BY_TYPE_BLOCK-0 =>
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BLOCK =>
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BLOCK-0 => (Military)
CAMPAIGN_MISSION_DEFINITION =>
CAMPAIGN_MISSION_OBJECTIVES_AND_PAYLOAD =>
OBJECTIVES =>
OBJECTIVES-0 => (# of Regions Held)
OBJECTIVES-1 => (# of Regions Sacked)
OBJECTIVES-2 => (6 Specific Provinces Controlled)
OBJECTIVES-3 => (# of Deployed Units)
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BLOCK-1 => (Cultural)
CAMPAIGN_MISSION_DEFINITION =>
CAMPAIGN_MISSION_OBJECTIVES_AND_PAYLOAD =>
OBJECTIVES =>
OBJECTIVES-0 => (6 Specific Provinces Controlled)
OBJECTIVES-1 => (Construct Faction Unique Building)
OBJECTIVES-2 => (Cultural Dominance)
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BLOCK-2 => (Economic)
CAMPAIGN_MISSION_DEFINITION =>
CAMPAIGN_MISSION_OBJECTIVES_AND_PAYLOAD =>
OBJECTIVES =>
OBJECTIVES-0 => (# of Regions Held)
OBJECTIVES-1 => (# of Regions Sacked)
OBJECTIVES-2 => (6 Specific Provinces Controlled)
OBJECTIVES-3 => (# of Trade Partners)
OBJECTIVES-4 => (# of Resources)
OBJECTIVES-5 => (# of Income/Turn)
OBJECTIVES-6 => (# of Money in Bank)
OBJECTIVES-7 => (# of Deployed Units)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-8 => (Pontus)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-9 => (Epirus)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-10 => (Athens)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-11 => (Sparta)

[Dresden]

I was trying to do this awhile ago and when I changed the number of provinces required, it changed it on the faction select screen but not in the game. It seemed that anything in the pre open map info area didnt actually affect the campaign. Is that still the case or did you get it to work?

Thanks.

[Fluke]

I actually did get this to work. I am playing a Suebi campaign with very reasonable Economic campaign vctory conditions: 39 regions, 10 sacks, the original 6 controlled provinces (they seemed to make the most sense for a Suebi campaign), 20 trade partners, 9 resources, 10,000 income per turn, 500,000 in bank, 180 deployed units. I am playing this campaign right now and these victory conditions show in game. I would eventually like to be able to change the 6 provinces controlled and a few of the others, but for now I am very happy with these Suebi victory conditions.

update: Hang on you are right. For some reason the experiment actually worked last night, and now they don't show on my faction screen. I'll have to dig deeper to make sense of this discrepancy.

[PunchDrunk]

Fluke! You're the man! I've been waiting for something like this.

How do you open the startpos.esf?

Do you need an ESF editor?

[Fluke]

I used the ESF editor on the latest beta Patch 4 startpos.esf last night and got it to work. I actually have a save game file that has the Suebi economic victory set to 30 regions (not 60) and the income at 40,000 (not 80,000). But for the life of me I went back today and tried to create another one and I can't get it to work! Very frustrated.

[PunchDrunk]

Fluke, keep us posted if you figure anything out.

[Tsarsies]

Not exactly what you are after but you can alter the mission conditions in missions.txt (db/campaigns/main_rome/misions.txt).. The scripting.lua is only related to camera panning etc. I am looking into other mission related things so its only a matter of time until i come across soemthing related to actual victory conditions. I have not looked at the esf file yet...

[Fluke]

I have decided to play through my 30 region/40,000 income save game to the end to see if the modded victory conditions trip at the end.

[PunchDrunk]

Not exactly what you are after but you can alter the mission conditions in missions.txt (db/campaigns/main_rome/misions.txt).. The scripting.lua is only related to camera panning etc. I am looking into other mission related things so its only a matter of time until i come across soemthing related to actual victory conditions. I have not looked at the esf file yet...

What program do you have to use in order to edit missions.txt?

[Blackie42]

What program do you have to use in order to edit missions.txt?

The PFM. Missions.txt is located in the text folder in the db directory. However, I've scanned the entries and these all pertain to missions only. I haven't been able to find where the text is stored for the victory conditions. But I did discover that the victory condition settings are located in two different places in the startpos file: in the campaign_startpos\campaign_preopen_map_info and again under campaign_startpos\compressed_data\campaign_preopen_map_info. Why they would need to do this is beyond me. I've changed each one individually and both together, but still no affect to the victory conditions shown in game.

[Blackie42]

I have attempted to mod the victory conditions too and nothing is changed on the faction screen in game. The missions.txt file will have to be changed as well to display the correct information on the economic and cultural victory conditions. It's weird that you were able to start one game and have it work but not anymore. Please keep us updated on your progress.

[Blackie42]

Okay guys, I got it working. You don't need to change the victory conditions text at all. You have to change victory conditions for all three types of victories: military, economic, and cultural. I also changed settings in both places in the campaign_startpos\campaign_preopen_map_info and the campaign_startpos\compressed_data\campaign_preopen_map_info. I only changed Rome, but the new settings showed up in game on the victory condition screen for all three types and should change the campaign victory parameters. Apparently just setting military victory conditions causes conflicts with the other conditions. Anyway now we can set these to anything we want.

[Fluke]

Good work Blackie42. Perhaps that is what I did (changed all three a bit) with my first try and didn't realize it. I am still trying to grind through my game. Even with the economic victory conditions lowered it is still too long and tedious. I learned that the easier way to get 30 sacks is to always sack the conquered region first, and then re-assault and occupy it if it is a region you wish to hold long term. Otherwise even with the number of regions cut in half the campaign is still way too long. I probably have at least a few more hours to go on my modded Suebi campaign. It will be the first Rome II campaign that I actually finish...............

[PunchDrunk]

OK, so if you edit only ONE victory ( lets say military ) then the conditions wont show up in game? You have to change military, eco and cultural to get it to work?

[Blackie42]

OK, so if you edit only ONE victory ( lets say military ) then the conditions wont show up in game? You have to change military, eco and cultural to get it to work?

Yes, you have to change all three victory conditions. What I did was to divide all the numbers by two. So 140 regions became 70, etc. The only number I didn't change was the number of provinces controlled which I left at 6. And the victory conditions in the Compressed Data folder also have to be changed. I believe the first set of victory conditions control what's displayed on the faction setup screen, while the second set in the Compressed Data folder control what's displayed on the Faction screen in game. The numbers must match of course.

[Fluke]

That leaves me to wonder why I got mine to work the first time just by editing the startpos.esf..... Unfortunately I deleted that original startpos.esf (as I thought I had figured it all out and wanted to start fresh and do a more thorough version), but thankfully still had a save game that showed half the regions and turn income so I could play the campaign. I stll have to sack 9 more regions to win the campaign which will be difficult because I have went to war with so many factions it is hard to maintain 20 trade relationships. This shortened campaign is still way too long!

[Blackie42]

That leaves me to wonder why I got mine to work the first time just by editing the startpos.esf..... Unfortunately I deleted that original startpos.esf (as I thought I had figured it all out and wanted to start fresh and do a more thorough version), but thankfully still had a save game that showed half the regions and turn income so I could play the campaign. I stll have to sack 9 more regions to win the campaign which will be difficult because I have went to war with so many factions it is hard to maintain 20 trade relationships. This shortened campaign is still way too long!

All I changed was the startpos.esf. campaign_startpos\campaign_preopen_map_info and the campaign_startpos\compressed_data\campaign_preopen_map_info.

[Fluke]

All I changed was the startpos.esf. campaign_startpos\campaign_preopen_map_info and the campaign_startpos\compressed_data\campaign_preopen_map_info.

I created a new startpos.esf for Egypt editing both sections as you suggested and it is indeed working in game on the faction screen. I must have done this during my first experimental try at this without realizing I changed both sections. Thanks for your contributions to this effort Blackie42!

[mmarekk11]

All I changed was the startpos.esf. campaign_startpos\campaign_preopen_map_info and the campaign_startpos\compressed_data\campaign_preopen_map_info.

And did you changed just these things?

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

CAMPAIGN_STARTPOS =>
CAMPAIGN_PREOPEN_MAP_INFO =>
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS =>
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-0 => (Rome)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-1 => (Ptolemaics)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-2 => (Carthage)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-3 => (Macedon)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-4 => (Parthia)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-5 => (Arverni)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-6 => (Iceni)
VICTORY_MISSION_OPTIONS-7 => (Suebi)
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BY_TYPE_BLOCK =>
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BY_TYPE_BLOCK-0 =>
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BLOCK =>
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BLOCK-0 => (Military)
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BLOCK-1 => (Cultural)
VICTORY_MISSIONS_BLOCK-2 => (Economic)

I mean the last block 0,1,2. In each block has to be at least one conditions changed? And the same in compressed_data? Do you have to change it for all factions or just for the one you want to play? Thanks for responds.
I want to create my own conditions.

[Fluke]

Ok, I finally completed my shorter (LOL) Suebi campaign. The victory objectives triggered, I received my achievements, and I got the closing Suebi movie. Let me tell you this shorter Suebi campaign was still way too long and if we had the ability to completely mod victory conditions we could make this aspect of the gameplay so much better than vanilla. I am going to try to delve into another shorter campaign.

Blackie42, please feel free to PM me when you have a working set of shorter campaign files that I can try out.