Changes in descr_names.txt - are these save-compatible?

[Jurand of Cracow]

Hi Guys,
Changes in descr_names.txt may be deer or just superficial:
(1) some names that appear a few times in the file are deleted (so the frequency of their appearance will change, but nothing more: the set of names is the same)
(2) some names are deleted (so they won't be anymore in the file - and there's a possibility that a named character already uses one)
(3) some names are changed (so the number of names is the same, but the names are different)
(4) new names are added (so the engine can choose new names)
Let's assume that for those changes (but (1)) the necessary changes are made also in names.txt.
Are these save-compatible?
(I'm particularly interested in (1) as the set of historical names changes over time, and for a Medieval mod one may imagine that you artificially (ie after exiting the game) replace some files to provide for a change of time.
cheers
JoC

[Gigantus]

I would think that #2 will provide an issue - but I don't think it will go beyond a simple 'nothing displayed' issue as the name has been assigned already from descr_names and only it's counterpart in data\text would be missing at this stage (if you follow through on removal). I don't see how any of the other points can have any negative impact. You can get a crash if a specific name is defined in descr_strat and it's not present - or a simple script failure if it is in the script. Descr_strat is a no brainer as it only gets read (and executed) at the beginning and hence a fatal error from changing descr_names is a non event. Script is not so lucky.

All of that is still assuming that the descr_names file is read at every game restart, something that I haven't tested.