Questions for a new mod

[Wyatt Hebert]

I am appealing to all the better modders out here for some basic assistance with my first mod.

I wrote everything out according to the mod manual in the Dominions docs folder (probably outdated, but what the heck) while using Edi's database for numbers and such. So...

I get it set up, and I try to create a game, and I get the Nagot gick fel! response, with it saying bad armor assigned to new monster. I look into it, and can't get any better info, so I copy my mod info, clear out everything after the equipment, and it seems to load fine. I add in the first monster, and it fails, so it looks like it's a general problem with how I assigned the armor. Can someone check this creation?

#newmonster 2500
#name "Light Infantry"
#spr1 "LI.tga"
#spr2 "LIAtt.tga"
#desc "TBD"
#ap 12
#mapmove 2
#hp 10
#prot 0
#size 2
#str 10
#enc 3
#att 10
#def 10
#prec 10
#mr 10
#mor 10
#gcost 10
#rcost 1
#weapon 1
#weapon 21
#armor 7
#armor 20
#end

It should be using a Spear and a Javelin, and have Scale Mail Cuirass and an Iron Cap.

Thanks for any help, guys.

[Panpiper]

I believe the #armor command will not accept a number. You have to enter a string between quotation marks, in your case, the command aught to read:

#armor "Scale Mail Cuirass"

To make matters worse however, I believe there was a spelling change in the last patch and it may have to read:

#armor "Scalemail Cuirass"

[Amos]

It should be:

#newmonster 2500
#name "Light Infantry"
#spr1 "./dir/LI.tga"
#spr2 "./dir/LIAtt.tga"
#desc "TBD"
#ap 12
#mapmove 2
#hp 10
#prot 0
#size 2
#str 10
#enc 3
#att 10
#def 10
#prec 10
#mr 10
#mor 10
#gcost 10
#rcost 1
#weapon 1
#weapon 21
#armor "Scale Mail Cuirass"
#armor "Iron Cap"
#end

I dont know what directory your sprites are at so I put "dir" instead. You need to insert directory thats in your /Dominions3/Mods dir.

[Sombre]

It's still "Scale Mail Cuirass" afaik.

I think you should change the graphics lines too, to point to a subfolder of the mods directory and put the graphics in there. No-one wants them cluttering the actual mod directory.

[Burnsaber]

The best way to avoid these kinds of problems is to download someone else's finished mod and look from there if troubles arise.

I used Sombre's Ulm Reborn for this purpose. Helped me a great deal.

[Wyatt Hebert]

Ahhh...

Goes from not reading the mod manual quite well enough. I figured it would act just like the weapon assignment. Funny enough, I had originally had the words in, and decided it would be quicker to have the numbers.

Thanks a bunch, guys!

Also, I gather from Edi's DB that -1 for Range (what the Javelin has) is how to put rng=Str. Is this correct, and is there any way to get rng=Str+2, for example?

And, as for modifying someone else's mod... I'd rather start from scratch, and learn my way through my mistakes. I hate what amounts to modifying other people's code.

[Edi]

• The #armor command won't accept a number. That's actually on my writeup list as #1 regarding modding issues.
• The only spelling change with armor names was ficing the typo in weightless scale and changing "light weight scale mail" to "lightweight scale mail". "Scale mail" is (and is supposed to be two separate words, but chainmail is supposed to be one word instead of two. We left that as "chain mail" (like it has always been in Dominions) because otherwise it would have broken practically everything due to the #armor command not accepting numbers
• The DB is NOT a modding manual! It uses -1 to denote range str so that it can be displayed correctly in the display page, but if you want range str weapons, check the actual modding manual.

[Sombre]

I have never found the armour modding's requirement of name rather than number to be a problem, so I don't think it should be anywhere near #1 priority. That's just me though.

Wyatt: You can't make new range=str weapons. You can modify existing range=str weapons though.

[Wyatt Hebert]

Cool, thanks, Edi. I didn't mean to imply that the Database was a modding manual. I just figured to use the numbers, but if I can't, I can't. I can hardcode it, as the item (a beefed up javelin) is only used on one unit, and, even if they get the experience to get +1 Str, it won't be a big deal if they don't get +1 range.

Sombre: Not checking the manual directly, can I copy a weapon like you copy a monster, then modify it, or can I only make a new one. If memory serves, it's the latter, but I just thought I'd check.