Hello everyone - and few questions

amk64 · Post by **amk64** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 10:59 am

Hi, and greetings from Poland!

At first - few words about me.
I'm a long time Sid Meier's fan (since Civ2 - it was about 1993 or so...?), but last few years I spent playing and modding in "Panzer General 2" world. Two week ago I've decided to make a short break from killing Tigers and Panthers, and bought SMR. Sid Meier's name on cover was a sufficient recomendation (as for me).

I know how it is with newbie's questions on forums - believe me. So, before I register myself here I read your posts for last few days. Of course because of CTD's

But I don't want to be boring, so I'll try to deal with my CTD's by myself - at least untill I exhaust all known solutions

Now, I've got some other questions:

1) Does the In-built Editor is enough to built a working scenario? Will it work without editing xml's?

I was trying to built some trial maps with it, and play them, but the things I noticed are:

2) No one city needs neither Cars nor Manufactured Goods, even if other cities already have it for sale.

3) How should I place the Rivers on my map - I've read here, that terrain for river has to be on the "sea level", but what does it exactly mean for the editor options?

Sorry - I know that I should post my questions I dedicated places, but because it's my first post I want to write all at once.

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Thu Oct 11, 2007 11:56 am

First, Welcome to the forum.

Second, as someone once said, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask, so ask all you want.

Third, having said that, if you have a problem with a map, read the entire thread on it. Use the search if you can (some subjects are difficult). Also, read the Railroads! Wiki, especially on map making. There are also some Stickys on the subject that may assist you (brag, brag, brag

).

And questions about CTDs are not boring! We created these Mods and so it is our responsibility to help you decipher any problems you may have.....

On to your questions......

1) Yes, the Editor will work without editing XMLs. The editing that most try to do is to remove unwanted material that the editor puts in. It's not required by the person making the maps.

2) A possible reason for this is that when the size of a city is determined by you, the creater, it may be to small to have need of an item. Case in point - you can set up even a Village to make Automobiles, but the game may not allow anything smaller than a Metropolis to accept them if left to itself. Now, you CAN go in and modify the RRT_Cities.xml so that even a Village can accept them if you choose to. I do believe the editor is set up with certain goods allowed to certain sized cities.

3) This has been a well discussed subject. A mountain can be very tall, but if you put a stream starting in it, you MUST go below the set height for water, somewhere around 44 to 47 (not quite sure of the exact number there) It does tend to look awful, and if you really want to make it look good, it can be done to look close to real, but it takes much work. You have to put in a dip in the landscape that looks like the river you want, and then go in and color the bottom of it blue to look like water. This could cause a problem with bridges as the river may get filled in rather than bridged. At the other end, you have to watch making the land to close to sea level because if a track is run thru it, it may just sink to below sea level, which can drowned your city dwellers

! In case I got the reason for your question wrong let me say that any river has to be below the level of the sea in order for it to show up.

And don't feel bad about where you put a question or thread. I myself oftion wonder where I'm going to put mine and I've got quite a history here!

And there are many here who wait impatiently for new maps, so create and post...Please!

amk64 · Post by **amk64** » Wed Oct 17, 2007 11:08 pm

I was trying to play a lot during last few days, and what I'vv noticed it was:

I didn't have ANY CTD's as long as I played on original maps - even when there were a lot of tracks, trains and cities. The game stopped for a while, when I was lying a new track, but finally always came back to work.

On two maps I made with editor - the CTD's still appears very often, though I made those scens as simple as I could. Only flat terrain, with cities and sources - nothing helped.

The cities still doesn't need Automobiles nor Manufactred Goods - even when became Metropolies. Other cities are producing those goods, but no one needs...

Also I must say that file/folder structure in SMR is VERY complicated - especially for User Made stuff.

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Thu Oct 18, 2007 1:48 am

OK, if you made the maps, then there is another step. Open your maps RRT_Cities XMl and find the sixe of the cite that you want to recieve the Automobiles and Manufactured Goods. Find a <Resource> and right below it place the following lines:

<Resource>
<Input>Manufactured Goods</Input>
<Output>None</Output>
<InputOutputRatio>0.000000</InputOutputRatio>
<MaxStorage>0.000000</MaxStorage>
</Resource>
<Resource>
<Input>Automobiles</Input>
<Output>None</Output>
<InputOutputRatio>0.000000</InputOutputRatio>
<MaxStorage>0.000000</MaxStorage>
</Resource>

You can put them in more than one size city.

As to CTDs, they can be for a number of reasons. If you create an Industry but don't have the Good that comes into it, you will get a crash. Make some notes as to what your Annex is, what it produces, what Train Car it requires, wheat Industry you want to take it to, what that Industry makes, what Train Car it needs, and where you are going to take that.
Example:Lumber Mill - Wood - Wood Car - Paper Mill - Paper - Paper Car - Newspaper.

I have a full work-up of all of this info I use when I'm checking out maps.

Good Luck!

amk64 · Post by **amk64** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 11:52 pm

One more gerenal question.

My previuos pathetic trials in scenario building ended with total mess in XML files and a lot of CTD's. So I've decided to uninstall everything and restart from scratch with "clear" SMR 1.10, and then with SMRI.

Maybe it's a stupid question, but.....

Since I have SMRI installed, with those new trains in "Custon Assets" folder, which Trains.XML file wll be read by the game during my own scenarios: the one from the "Custom Assets" folder, or from "Assets" in main game folder?

Is it enough to put only a tag name for the new trains from SMRI in my scenario Trains XML?

atani · Post by **atani** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:51 am

amk64 wrote: Since I have SMRI installed, with those new trains in "Custon Assets" folder, which Trains.XML file wll be read by the game during my own scenarios: the one from the "Custom Assets" folder, or from "Assets" in main game folder?

Whichever file has the latest timestamp will be picked up. If you install SMR and then SMRI, it will use the one in CustomAssets.

amk64 wrote: Is it enough to put only a tag name for the new trains from SMRI in my scenario Trains XML?

Yes, any trains/cars which are part of the various "global" XML files in the CustomAssets\XML directory you can simply put the "name" field in and it will pick up the rest automatically. If you want to customize things like the year it comes out you can also put that in as well.

Mike

amk64 · Post by **amk64** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:40 pm

Whichever file has the latest timestamp will be picked up.

Thanks!!! Now, I see what was my main problem....

you can simply put the "name" field in and it will pick up the rest automatically.

Wouldn't it be easier for game - I mean memory usage - if I put ALL data for selected trains into my Scenario Trains.XML file?

Post by **Warll** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 3:54 pm

Noope, in fact it would be the exact opposite. You see SMR loads both the GLOBLEs and your map_XMLs no matter what.

Tijer · Post by **Tijer** » Tue Dec 18, 2007 2:21 am

Yes you are correct in your thinking. The problem is that the game developer decided to have the game read the global XML and then the scenario XML. It stores the one with the last time stamp. For what you are talking about would require the scenario XML to be written in full and put in place of the global XML. Although this would cut down on the memory consumption, the problem is all scenario XML for all games written to date would have to be rewritten completely. Then each scenario would have to be installed each time someone wanted to play a different scenario. For those who mod this is really not a problem but6 at the same time for a newbie this could be a mess.

The fact is the memory usage is not in reading the XML but loading all of the images. That is why we ask that when you build a map to remove all of the references to items not used. Like for instance. If you do not use fisheries in your game why add the reference in the XML. If you do then the XML causes the KFM and the NIF to be loaded just to fill memory with no use to the game.

The debate that has been discussed in the back corners of the forum here is to make the change anyway. It is my belief that anyone who plays this game, quickly becomes familiar with replacing and editing files due to all the CTD issues. After XML errors the next thing to crash the game is memory issues.

amk64 · Post by **amk64** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:45 pm

And two more questions - if you don't mind...

In some scenarios tag name for cities looks like: "TAG_CITY_NAME_BERLIN", while in some other ones like: "TAG_(SCENARIO)_NAME_BERLIN"

What's the difference?

The second thing I'd like to ask is - should I make my own local "Events.XML" file, to cut off events connected with goods I don't use?

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Wed Dec 19, 2007 11:57 pm

To the first, the only difference is......... there is no difference, as far as the game is concerned.

To the second, yes, do make one specificly for your map if you don't want other Goods in newspaper reports in your map.

We're also Drooling impatiently for your map

amk64 · Post by **amk64** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:19 pm

We're also Drooling impatiently for your map

I'm afraid that it's gonna be "The Long And Winding Road"

First - CTD problems
Second - graphics (as for today it's almost flat and green - for easier testing)
Third - I'd like to know how to change names and some stats for some loco's, unless someone will add more european trains to the stock.

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Fri Dec 21, 2007 12:41 am

The first two are always a problem I have a map I've been at for 8 monthes.....

As to the third, http://www.hookedgamers.com/wiki/Sid_Me ... Trains.xml

amk64 · Post by **amk64** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 5:06 pm

OK - so, I made my own (local) Events.XML file.

First - I deleted all US Events - because it's gonna be the european location,
Second - I also removed all events not connected with goods used on my map

Effects?

Map is working more stable, and the number of CTD's drop down significtantly, but there are also some: "side effects"

The events are appearing very rarely now, and some of them are still "american" !!!!

snoopy55 · Post by **snoopy55** » Sat Dec 22, 2007 8:03 pm

When you made that Events xml, did you name it "RRT_Events.xml" or "RRT_Events_(map name).xml"? Also, did you make the change to the file name in your Scenario XML file?

As to the Events happening less often, you have fewer of them, so they will show up less often. An event only happens once, then it's swept under the bridge...You can always create your own events giving different reasons for things and/or different results. That info can be found in Wiki also.

As to the American events, either the XML is not named correctly or you missed a few. Make note while you are playing as to which wrong ones are coming up, and edit your XML for them.