[WIP/testing needed] Linux settlement fix

[SunShadow]

Hello everyone,
as every Linux EB2 player knows, EB2 on Linux crashes as soon as a siege battle in certain settlements starts, unless the "data/settlements" folder is deleted (as advised in the installation instructions).
Doing so, however, reverts the settlements back to vanilla, which look a little too... medieval (or even Aztec). Not very fitting, and a huge let down for any EB2 fan turned to Linux, like myself.

However, I stumbled on this tutorial by Socrates1984 explaining how to solve this very issue: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...buntu)-and-Mac

I thus decided to try and use IWTE to "fix" EB2 settlements and... it works!

Please note that while preventing the game from crashing, this "fix" removes some animations, specifically crumbling walls and towers during sieges

I'm releasing an incomplete patch asking every EB2 Linux user who'd like to help if they can test the patch and look for any unexpected behaviour. Also, as my testing is done through custom battles, I might miss some custom settlements that only appear in the campaign. I'd greatly appreciate any help, including:

• testing the "working" settlements to check that they do in fact work;
• destroying walls and towers in siege battles to ensure the game doesn't crash (animations should be missing, however);
• informing me about any custom settlement I might miss (for example settlements that cannot appear in custom battles, but still cause a crash).

With the latest update, all settlements available in custom battles should work. There is only one set of settlements which seems not to be available in custom battles: Gandhara settlements. At the moment, not having an easy way to test them, I've not included a modified version of them in the patch. I believe that Gandhara villages should work out of the box (all villages do; I didn't edit them), while towns and bigger settlements likely need to be edited. At the moment, though, I'm not sure of this.

If you can test the Gandhara settlements please report to me if they work. Also, if you find any non-working settlement please tell me and I'll have a look at it.

I will upload updated files as my work goes on.

Here is the download link

It should be sufficient to:

1. install EB2 without deleting the settlements folder (however, be sure to copy no_banner.mesh from share/data/mods/ebii/data/banners to share/data/data/banners);
2. copy the settlement folder (share/data/mods/ebii/data/settlements) and rename the copy to something like settlements.backup (to keep a backup in case things don't work as intended);
3. extract the .zip file in the share/data/mods/ebii folder, overwriting any file;
4. start the game and play on any of the working settlements.

I should be clear that in no way I'm an expert modder, and that in no way I discovered this process and/or made any original addition to it. Full credits go to all the people credited in the original tutorial I linked above.

Thanks to anyone who'd like to help!

[SunShadow]

I've updated the file with Eastern Greek settlements. The link now directs to the new version.

EDIT: this fix works with the newly-released v2.35A (as well as v2.35) since the settlements folder was untouched.

A warning: if you are on Linux be careful while installing v2.35A, since some files and folders have uppercase letters and do not overwrite the original files from 2.35 (which can result in duplicate files which cause crashes while loading the battles). It took me some time to realize it and fix it.

[SunShadow]

Hello,
is there an easy way to test if the eastern settlements "gandhara_village_a", "gandhara_town", "gandhara_large_town" and "gandhara_city" are working, to check if I need to edit them? By peeking at the files it looks so (excluding the village), but I'd like to be sure.

Thanks

[SunShadow]

I've updated the file in the first post to version 0.3. It includes Eastern settlements. As per my previous post, I'm not sure how to test the "gandhara" settlements, so I've not edited them for the time being. If anyone knows how to test them, or can test them personally and tell me if they work on Linux, I'll edit them if needed.

[SunShadow]

I've updated the file to v0.4. Now all settlements available in custom battles should work. I believe only Gandhara settlements may have issues; once I find a way to test them, I'll edit them if needed. If you have the possibility to test them yourself on Linux please report if they work or not (include the settlement size in your report).