Bovine M2TW Checker

**bovi** · July 30, 2021, 07:26 AM

If you post your checker log files here, perhaps others can see what may be the critical fault in your mod files. No guarantees.

Hopefully the new (yet unreleased) version will make it easier to find out what is the problem. It will output things like this, bold marked text is new from the released version.

Originally Posted by Console output

Starting the checker. This will show terse information about main stages starting.
You can see more verbose output by tailing "checker.output.log".

Initializing the tool.
Starting up the checker using configuration file "configuration.txt".
Did not find the configuration file in the root folder of the tool. Looking for it under config instead.
Configuration file found. Starting up.
Your configuration file sets the data folder to ../../../mods/EBII/dataxxx/ (resolving to canonical path C:\Spill\EB2Svn\mods\EBII\dataxxx), which does not exist. You need to fix the value you set in configuration.txt.
Your configuration file sets the strat folder to ../../../mods/EBII/dataxxx/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/ (resolving to canonical path C:\Spill\EB2Svn\mods\EBII\dataxxx\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign), which does not exist. You need to fix the value you set in configuration.txt.
Bailing from fatal fault in configuration.

(Halting the run because of the error, so you can see this message - press ENTER to dismiss it.)

**bovi** · August 01, 2021, 08:51 AM

If I may shoot some guesses your way, I would think that campaign load crashes are most likely due to something wrong in descr_strat or your map. Could you have misspelled a character type in descr_strat for instance? Or placed something in an inaccessible location (land-based stuff at sea, ships on land, anything in mountains or rivers, stuff located together with enemy stuff)? Is a region missing a settlement location pixel?

Apart from certain descr_strat errors (loose references to other files, or unparseable syntax), you will not find any of these with this tool (invalid map coordinates would be a good test to code at some point, I suppose). But you may get some information by taking a backup of your strat folder and putting in SS' files in their place temporarily. Chances are your other changes are incompatible with their strat setup, of course. It probably will still crash, but IF it loads, you'd know where to focus your search.

**Nordlaender** · August 01, 2021, 10:28 AM

You know what? That's not a bad guess. The Bovine Checker says there is a problem with "Strat_map", in that there is no slave faction, but I have that.

I remember now toggling the full map to look at Byzantium and Nicaea was halfway into a hillside and also had a lake flooding part of the town. I don't think it's supposed to look like that. I sure don't remember it looking like that. However, I don't know how to fix it. But maybe you're right. Maybe I accidently messed up a coordinate somewhere in the strat_file. I will check everything there under Byzantium to make sure nothing overlaps or is missing an x,y coordinate.

Thanks for bringing that up. I hope I can find the problem.

**bovi** · August 01, 2021, 10:37 AM

I don't think this is the cause of your crash, but as you mention it, you may have a faction called slave, but still not marked as such. You would set this line on the relevant faction in descr_sm_factions.txt:

special_faction_type slave_faction

There is also another special faction type you can set, the papal_faction. The checker will report if you do not have exactly one slave faction or more than one papal faction (none is okay for papal, but not for slave).

**Nordlaender** · August 01, 2021, 04:16 PM

Originally Posted by bovi

I don't think this is the cause of your crash, but as you mention it, you may have a faction called slave, but still not marked as such. You would set this line on the relevant faction in descr_sm_factions.txt:

special_faction_type slave_faction

There is also another special faction type you can set, the papal_faction. The checker will report if you do not have exactly one slave faction or more than one papal faction (none is okay for papal, but not for slave).

Oh wow! That's very useful information. I will check that file and see what's there.

Meanwhile, a miracle has happened! Byzantium now loads normally and Nicaea is not half swallowed by a mountain and a lake!

I have no idea how this happened, but I suspect the Bovine Checker must have fixed something. Does it automatically fix things on its own? I didn't do anything other than move the Byzantine merchant to a resource far from Byzantium because he was standing right behind a Russian princess. I also cleaned up the EDA file according to the Bovine Checker's report. I don't know how that could have fixed anything. I'm really glad it's working now so I can proceed with my modding, but I sure wish I knew what was fixed -- and what went wrong.

**bovi** · August 02, 2021, 03:00 AM

The tool does not make any kind of changes. That is, unless you specifically tell it to do something with unused files. That is the only active action it can do, the remainder is only to report on issues.

because he was standing right behind a Russian princess

I think this was your problem. Two factions cannot occupy the same tile.

EDA problems would manifest as a crash on the campaign map during turnover or possibly pre-battle / post-battle, rather than on campaign start, I think. Still, fixing those can only be a good thing.

Do take some time investigating some kind of version control. I firmly believe you will benefit from it.

**Nordlaender** · August 02, 2021, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by bovi

If you post your checker log files here, perhaps others can see what may be the critical fault in your mod files. No guarantees.

Hopefully the new (yet unreleased) version will make it easier to find out what is the problem. It will output things like this, bold marked text is new from the released version.

To follow up on one of your previous questions, here is what the Bovine checker will say after you hit the return button to continue:

Sun Jul 18 17:33:35 EDT 2021: Starting up the checker.
Sun Jul 18 17:33:35 EDT 2021: Creating output files.
Sun Jul 18 17:33:35 EDT 2021: Initializing components.
Sun Jul 18 17:33:35 EDT 2021: Constructor finished. Starting reading process.
Reading configuration files...
config/acceptedMissingFiles.txt
config/vanillaFiles.txt
config/acceptedNonReferencedFiles.txt
config/acceptedMissingMounts.txt
config/acceptedUnusedMounts.txt
config/acceptedUnusedEngines.txt
config/acceptedMissingSkeletons.txt
config/acceptedUnusedSkeletons.txt
config/acceptedUnusedBattleModels.txt
config/acceptedUnusedStratModels.txt
config/genericSounds.txt
config/unquotedDiplomacySounds.txt
Sun Jul 18 17:33:35 EDT 2021: Configuration files reading complete. Starting reading game files.
export_descr_buildings.txt
Cannot find export_descr_buildings.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the data folder?
descr_missions.txt
Unable to find culture definition file (descr_missions.txt). This will be a problem.
descr_names.txt
Cannot find the definition file for faction names (descr_names.txt). You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
text/names.txt
Cannot find the faction character names file (text/names.txt) nor its strings.bin equivalent. Cannot ensure this content matches descr_names.
descr_sm_factions.txt
Unable to find list of factions (descr_sm_factions.txt). This will be a problem.
descr_cultures.txt
Unable to find culture definition file (descr_cultures.txt). This will be a problem.
descr_strat.txt
Cannot find descr_strat.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the strat folder?
descr_religions.txt
Unable to find list of religions (descr_religions.txt). This may cause false reports.
descr_model_strat.txt
Unable to find list of strat models (descr_model_strat.txt). This may cause false reports.
descr_sm_resources.txt
Unable to find list of campaign map resources (descr_sm_resources.txt). This may cause false reports.
descr_sounds_events.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (descr_sounds_events.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
descr_sounds_units_anims.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (descr_sounds_units_anims.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
descr_event_effects.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (descr_event_effects.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
descr_structure_effects.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (descr_structure_effects.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
descr_sounds_generic.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (descr_sounds_generic.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
export_descr_sounds_stratmap_voice.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (export_descr_sounds_stratmap_voice.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
export_descr_sounds_units_voice.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (export_descr_sounds_units_voice.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
export_descr_sounds_soldier_voice.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (export_descr_sounds_soldier_voice.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
export_descr_sounds_narration.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (export_descr_sounds_narration.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
export_descr_sounds_advice.txt
Cannot find the sound linking file (export_descr_sounds_advice.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and sounds. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
descr_sounds_accents.txt
Cannot find descr_sounds_accents.txt. Checking for valid accent assignment by faction is impossible.
text/diplomacy_speech.txt
Cannot find text/diplomacy_speech.txt. Cannot check diplomacy sound integrity.
world/maps/base/descr_sounds_music_types.txt
Cannot find the music types definition file (world/maps/base/descr_sounds_music_types.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and music. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
descr_sounds_music.txt
Cannot find the music definition file (descr_sounds_music.txt)
No checks have been performed on this part of sounds integrity.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla factions and music. You may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
text/export_ancillaries.txt
Cannot find text file text/export_ancillaries.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the data folder?
text/export_vnvs.txt
Cannot find text file text/export_vnvs.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the data folder?
text/historic_events.txt (suffix filter _title)
Cannot find text file text/historic_events.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the data folder?
text/historic_events.txt (suffix filter _body)
Cannot find text file text/historic_events.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the data folder?
text/expanded.txt
Cannot find text file text/expanded.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the data folder?
text/export_units.txt
Unable to find unit description file (text/export_units.txt), this may result in a lot of false errors.
export_descr_character_traits.txt
Cannot find the EDCT file (export_descr_character_traits.txt)
No checks have been performed on the traits.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla traits, if not you may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
descr_events.txt
Cannot find descr_events.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the data folder?
Loading script campaign_script.txt
Cannot find script campaign_script.txt. Are you sure you provided the correct location for the data/strat folders?
export_descr_advice.txt
Cannot find export_descr_advice.txt. Will not be loading any scripts other than campaign_script.txt.
descr_engines.txt
Unable to find list of engine models (descr_engines.txt). This may cause false reports.
unit_models/battle_models.modeldb (syntax check)
Cannot find the model DB file (battle_models.modeldb).
No checks have been performed on the model DB.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla models, if not you may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
descr_mount.txt
Unable to find mounts (descr_mount.txt), this may cause a lot of false errors detected.
descr_skeleton.txt
Unable to find list of skeletons/animations (descr_skeleton.txt). This is okay only if you are using only vanilla models, else you may have given a wrong path to your mod's datafolder. Will use the vanilla list for references.
vanillaSkeletons.txt
descr_engine_skeleton.txt
Unable to find list of skeletons/animations (descr_engine_skeleton.txt). This is okay only if you are using only vanilla models, else you may have given a wrong path to your mod's datafolder. Will use the vanilla list for references.
vanillaSkeletons.txt
descr_character.txt
Unable to find file listing characters (descr_character.txt). You may have given a wrong path to your mod's datafolder.
export_descr_unit.txt
Cannot find export_descr_unit.txt. This will probably produce additional false errors in output.
export_descr_ancillaries.txt
Cannot find the EDA file (export_descr_ancillaries.txt)
No checks have been performed on the ancillaries.
This is okay if you are ONLY using vanilla ancillaries, if not you may have entered your mod's data folder wrong.
Sun Jul 18 17:33:35 EDT 2021: Reading finished. Starting checking process.
Sound related
Code related
Stratmap related
File references
Unit related
campaign_script.txt (for battle model usage)
Unable to find campaign_script.txt for reading custom battle models. You may have given a wrong path to your mod's strat folder.
As the vanilla skeletons are in use absent descr_skeleton.txt, whether animation files are actually in use is impossible to check. Skipping these reports.
Listing unused elements
Sun Jul 18 17:33:35 EDT 2021: Finished checking process without any crash. Yay!
There are 1 issues reported.

That is what happens if you don't put the Bovine Checker in a documents folder and then in a Tools folder. It does not matter what path you give it, it cannot follow it. Even one as simple as this: C:/users/"me"/desktop/MyMod/data

Yeah, I even tried putting it on the desktop in a folder called MyMod and it still could not find the right path. That's why I was really surprised when it suddenly worked after I created those extra folders. I have no idea why it cannot follow a simple path, but maybe it has to do with where the Bovine folder is. That was my only conclusion.

Thanks for helping me so much. I plan to give you more rep after I give someone else some. I'm locked out of yours right now.

**bovi** · August 03, 2021, 05:56 AM

Sorry, I was unclear. I was thinking about the log files containing reports of issues in your mod, not the checker output. That is, eda.error.log, edc.error.log etc. It's a bit moot now though, as you have got your mod up and running again.

About it not finding the mod folder correctly, I may be able to see what is wrong if you tell me:

* The value of DATAFOLDER in your configuration file
* The value of STRAT in your configuration file
* The location of the checker on disk (unless the path you set for DATAFOLDER is an absolute path - if so, this does not matter)
* The location of your mod on disk

Don't worry about the reputation thing. It buys me nothing

.

**Belovèse** · August 06, 2021, 04:28 PM

Originally Posted by Nordlaender

Thanks very much for that information on Git and Subversion. Boy, do I definitely need those. The system.log will only tell me that an unspecified error caused the crash, so I know it is a misspelled word or something like that somewhere. Now, its too late to go back. I hope the bovine checker will find it. I just cleaned up all the errors in the EDA file that Bovine found. I will move to the next easiest one and so forth.

I will go look for an example of how using the correct path in the config file just never worked for me. I even put my mod on the desktop and ran the checker with only C:/users/dldad/desktop/MyMod/data as the path and it still said the path was incorrect. I'm not a computer expert, but I can read a path in the toolbar.

Just my two cents here (and sorry to go for digging an old post but I'm just coming back to twcenter after a few month break): I got started on tortoiseSVN (a subversion user interface) following Bovi's advices, and it's been a blast!

**bovi** · August 07, 2021, 04:08 AM

The thread is not obsolete at all, and you respond to what is only about a week old post, so it's nothing like a necromancy. Great to hear that you're successful with SVN!

**Gigantus** · August 08, 2021, 10:08 PM

Been awhile

campaign load crashes: one of the popular reasons is having invalid entries in the win_condition file, either non existing factions or regions. Factions will need to be checked against 'in game' factions in descr_strat (not descr_sm_factions which may have unused factions) and regions against descr_regions.
The 'back to menu' crash is always a descr_strat issue but usually has a descriptive game log entry.

**Jadli** · August 09, 2021, 06:06 AM

Have been using the tool as well recently, to hopefully find sources of random crashes in my mod, the tools work pretty well

I noticed that the tool falsely flags lot of mission parameters as wrong ones in the sundry.txt. My mod is probably the most mission mechanics based mod, so I can confirm that all the ones below works correctly, i.e., they shouldnt be flagged as unrecognized mission parameter (and tbh, if you use a wrong parameter for a mission, the game will crash upon starting anyway or gets reported in the error log)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

...to be precise specific parameters work only with specific mission types (if you use wrong one for a mission, it crashes again).

In case you want to take the mission check to another step, you could check whether the mission has correct parameters. I listed the working parameters for the main mission types in this post

Also, to the tool reports lots of things obviously, lot of them are not that harmful... Is there a list of the ones, that could cause a crash? Like for example im not sure if a missing epithet txt entry could cause a crash?

**bovi** · August 09, 2021, 08:13 AM

Originally Posted by Jadli

My mod is probably the most mission mechanics based mod, so I can confirm that all the ones below works correctly

Which one is that? I'd like to have your mod files to test against when modifying the parser to recognize those, if I can.

Originally Posted by Jadli

Also, to the tool reports lots of things obviously, lot of them are not that harmful... Is there a list of the ones, that could cause a crash?

You are right, there are many reports for stuff that does not break the game (EB2 still has thousands of reports on it, and it's not depleting at a rapid pace

). But no, there is no severity associated with the reports, so you get all kinds mixed together. To be honest, in many cases I don't know which are gamebreaking, which cause undesirable behaviour and which are merely cosmetic faults. I just try to check that everything pointing from one place to another finds its target.

**bovi** · August 09, 2021, 08:16 AM

It's been a while, due to work assignments and summer it's been less activity on this. I've made some changes which I intend to release soonish, despite not having got through all the items you guys have reported yet.

**Jadli** · August 10, 2021, 02:44 AM

Originally Posted by bovi

Which one is that? I'd like to have your mod files to test against when modifying the parser to recognize those, if I can.

sure, here https://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...0th-April-2021 Also lot of guild mechanics I use....

Originally Posted by bovi

You are right, there are many reports for stuff that does not break the game (EB2 still has thousands of reports on it, and it's not depleting at a rapid pace

). But no, there is no severity associated with the reports, so you get all kinds mixed together. To be honest, in many cases I don't know which are gamebreaking, which cause undesirable behaviour and which are merely cosmetic faults. I just try to check that everything pointing from one place to another finds its target.

Yea, I will properly read through it and see whats what, once I have some time

**bovi** · August 10, 2021, 02:45 PM

Afraid I don't have enough space left on my laptop to download and unpack 8GB worth of files. I have a new one ordered though.

**bovi** · August 10, 2021, 03:47 PM

Uploaded a new version.

Originally Posted by change log

New features:
EDB building capability weapon_projectile is now recognized.
IsGeneral conditions applied to trait triggers firing on adoption or marriage proposal are now reported, as these characters are not yet alive when the test is done.
More engine classes are now recognized: rocket_launcher, culverin, serpentine, bombard, huge_bombard, grand_bombard, mortar, basilisk, ballista, trebuchet, cannon, ribault, holy_cart.
The trait effect GunpowderCommand is now recognized.
The trait triggering events GeneralAssaultsGeneral and GovernorBuildingDestroyed are now recognized.
New check for valid mission references to resources for selecting a target settlement.
New check for valid mission references to buildings for selecting a target building to construct.
When descr_mount.txt does not exist, vanilla mounts are now assumed to be present.
Factions marked "undiscovered" in descr_strat are now recognized.
Custom portraits set on characters in descr_strat and scripts are now checked for existing files under ui/custom_portraits, and unused portrait files are reported.
Now parsing additional character attributes in scripts: family, age, x, y, portrait, label, direction, battle_model, male,female. Unrecognized attribute names will be reported (let me know when you have valid attributes it does not recognize!).
Now reading armour_ug_levels in EDU and matching its number of entries with the number of armour_ug_models entries.
Now recognizing (but ignoring) disband_to_pools faction detail in descr_sm_factions.
Now recognizing watchtower locations set in descr_strat. Coordinates should be checked for valid location, but is not yet.
Now recognizing name_faction faction detail in descr_strat. The character type is not yet checked to be a valid one, but the faction reference is.
Now recognizing log_counter command as a checked location for its declared counter.

Fixes/modifications:
Failing mission references to religions are now reported on the mission, rather than the religion.
Reports for more than one character being a faction's leader or heir in descr_strat now include the names of the characters.

Technical changes:
If the DATAFOLDER and STRAT environment variables are set, the tool will now warn that this is an ancient and long abandoned way to use the tool.
If configuration file is not found or it points to a mod folder that does not exist, the tool now bails instead of trying to read all the non-existent files.
If the configuration file is not present in the root folder, the tool will now say it looks for it in the config folder instead.
If the configured mod folder is not found, the tool will now be fairly verbose about how it tried to find it.

**Gigantus** · August 10, 2021, 09:07 PM

This might be of interest, I thought your checker did a 'character name exists' check?

**bovi** · August 11, 2021, 12:09 AM

Replied to that post, but also here: The checker does an internal check between the files defining names, but does not yet check the validity of names chosen in descr_strat or script.

The most recent version expanded the parsing of characters (Now parsing additional character attributes in scripts: family, age, x, y, portrait, label, direction, battle_model, male,female. Unrecognized attribute names will be reported (let me know when you have valid attributes it does not recognize!).), so I now have a record of the names used in both places, so it should be possible to make that test now. Apparently this kind of thing causes crashes and I should get around to making that test sooner rather than later.

**bovi** · August 12, 2021, 04:01 AM

I've made a check now. It does not find any missing names in EB2 apart from in custom battles, where it apparently is not very important? To test it, I deliberately made a wrong name on a character:
character KleomenesXxxx, named character, age 35, x 236, y 96, portrait wgreek6, direction W

A later line in the script refers to the character:
console_command give_ancillary "KleomenesX" mercenary_captain

Then the checker outputs this:

CS 60803: First name kleomenesxxxx is not defined in male names for its faction slave.
CS 60814: Character name reference to "kleomenesx", which is not a starting character or scripted character.

Will upload shortly.

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