Game Editing

[kycracker]

Hello all,

I'm tickled I finally found an editing site for my favorite game. I'm sorry if I have looked over a tutorial, but the only one I found here has empty pages on wiki.

I want to start editing game files, making mods, and just customizing the game. I can do a little c+ and I am an experienced modder for the unreal engine. But I have no idea how to start here, I think this is all like a big microsoft office database?

I'm going to start very simple. Right now all I want to know is what I use and what files do I edit in order to adjust the CSA economics. The game is way unfair in 1861-62 as the CSA had far more supplies than the game gives. The union blockade wasn't that effective until mid-late 62, and even later in the war the CSA produced enough war materials to outfit its armies in all but shoes, clothes, and in the end food.

So I just want to play with the economics for now. Could someone be so kind as to tell me which file I need to edit and with what program I edit it? Once I get the files open and I can look at the code I can figure out the rest most likely. Also if there are any tutorials on the subject that somebody could point me towards I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you very much for hosting this community!!

[Pocus]

Hi kycracker,

You don't need programming experience in order to make mods, some of the best changes done in the game has been done by people who could not create an 'Hello World' application, you know

What you need (in addition to commitment and seriousness) is to start small, by creating simple events I believe. For that, the general modding forum is your best friend, there are links and there are people who could answer you.

For modding, practically, you have several possibilities:
a) edit the initial setup. It does not ask for much knowledge of the scripting language, as you can do very well by imitation of the current syntaxes and layouts (all the files are available)
b) edit things with events, triggering at the right time.

If you want to boost or change the economy at start, edit a setup. If you want to control better the economy during game, then you have to create events which would remove or add, under certain conditions supply, money, conscripts, etc. You can also alter how much a specific region produce, depending of special circumstances...

[kycracker]

What do you mean edit a setup? How? With what? Do I have to pull out my office disk or what? Is this stuff excel documents or what I have no associations for any of the files and I have no clue what setup file you are talking about.

My game directory has no setup folders.. I need a little more detail to get started here.

[Pocus]

Check the stickies #2, 4, 5 of this forum:

http://www.ageod-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=132

[kycracker]

Ok so I have the files, but I still don't know how to use this stuff. Can't I just modify the plain text of the 1861 scenario campaign to increase production? I see at the end a list of regions laid out by uid #, past that there is a list of all the regions that are numbered it appears like the number is the UID number. like this

{/GlobalRegionData}
{GlobalRegionData}
UID=1523
CivLevel=2
Forage=0
Loyalty=-1
VP=0
BlockState=0
TransportLvl=0
SupplyStock=0
AmmoStock=0
PowerStock=0
SupplyProd=0
AmmoProd=0
PowerProd=0
MoneyProd=0
WSUProd=0
ConsProd=0
{/GlobalRegionData}
{Weather Patterns}
0Rensselaer, NY = 2
2Putnam, NY = 3
4Westchester, CT = 2
7Albany, NY = 1
8Greene, NY = 2
9Ulster, NY = 3

In the first section what numbers would I use to increase supply,money, ammo etc etc. Are they dollar/crate/tonnage numbers or are they on a scale?? I would love to find directions on how to use all these files I just downloaded, they are xls and I see now list on how to change them, how to save them or what goes where etc etc. I'm still lost lol, maybe I can do what I need to in this .scn?????

[Pocus]

For a quick and dirty fix, you can edit directly the scn, but this is not the recommended way, because it trashes your effort in each new patch and veterans modders will not help you, if you don't use the source files (the xls) and only the output files (the scn for scenarios).

But yes, you can do that. Region 1523... look at the gamedata\regions folder to identify it.

SupplyProd=0
AmmoProd=0
PowerProd=0
MoneyProd=0
WSUProd=0
ConsProd=0

these 6 fields govern the base output in points (there is no strict equivalent of what a point is, but you can say that 1 pt is 100 men, recruited over a month, etc.) of the region.

So take Richmond for example, and crank up the war supplies production or stock to whatever number you wish, save and restart the game, and voila, it is done.

quick and dirty (but working)

For the rest, I'll be mostly on week-end, this week-end (strange), so I hope you'll find your way to the main modding forum and ask your questions there, and yes it can mean to wait a bit to get an answer

[kycracker]

For a quick and dirty fix, you can edit directly the scn, but this is not the recommended way, because it trashes your effort in each new patch and veterans modders will not help you, if you don't use the source files (the xls) and only the output files (the scn for scenarios).

But yes, you can do that. Region 1523... look at the gamedata\regions folder to identify it.

SupplyProd=0
AmmoProd=0
PowerProd=0
MoneyProd=0
WSUProd=0
ConsProd=0

these 6 fields govern the base output in points (there is no strict equivalent of what a point is, but you can say that 1 pt is 100 men, recruited over a month, etc.) of the region.

So take Richmond for example, and crank up the war supplies production or stock to whatever number you wish, save and restart the game, and voila, it is done.

quick and dirty (but working)

For the rest, I'll be mostly on week-end, this week-end (strange), so I hope you'll find your way to the main modding forum and ask your questions there, and yes it can mean to wait a bit to get an answer

Thank you so much, actually I found a thread over there that explains how to use the xls files so I'm good for now. Had to hunt a little, I was hoping I'd find a big bold lettered tutorial subject but I had to hunt a little lol.

Thanks, I'm wondering what it would be like using real historical economic data. I suspect it would be more like what actually happened, the CSA probably could have won that war had they went on the offensive and invaded maryland early in 1862. The csa's problems were political leadership not in war materials though they were disadvantaged there. Abraham Lincoln was relentless in his handling the war while Jefferson Davis was naive in his defensive posturing early in the war. The CSA soldiers were highly motivated and fought very very hard early, while the US soldiers were not so motivated. The confederate rebel yell for example scared the heck out of most people that heard it, they knew those relentless rebels were getting close and most times they ran early on.

The civil war is my favorite area of history. The people that fought it spoke so elequantly about their cause. The south really took the war like a war for independance, and having the history of the revolutionary war they had a sense of doing something good and noble. In reality the last thing on the common mans mind was slavery, there was a general feeling of being oppressed by the north and slavery was a part of that but other things such as taxes and federal expansion were a huge part as well. The motivation at the top though did have much to do with money and slavery, the value of slaves in the south was more than any other industry or even all the land in the country. The rich were sure they were going to lose their status and investment in that area of the economy. And the north was concerned about the wealth of the southern plantation owners as well as slavery as being moraly wrong.

But in fact the civil war was very complicated.. and it wasn't even a civil war it was in reality the war for southern independance. Civil war means two powers are struggling to take over one nation, not that part of a nation is trying to break off and make its own nation. It was called civil war by the north because even naming it a revolutionary war would lend legitimacey to the southern cause and might lead to foreign intervention on the side of the south mainly by france that was always looking for more influence in the new world as well as seeking to lessen britians influence in the world.

I think Robert E Lee sumed it up best in his prediction about how the war would go:

"They do not know what they say. If it came to a conflict of arms, the war will last at least four years. Northern politicians will not appreciate the determination and pluck of the South, and Southern politicians do not appreciate the numbers, resources, and patient perseverance of the North. Both sides forget that we are all Americans. I foresee that our country will pass through a terrible ordeal, a necessary expiation, perhaps, for our national sins."

Robert Lee was opposed to slavery, yet he fought for the south because he felt the North had no grounds to invade Virginia. Had the south won and Lee ran for president he would have probably abolished slavery himself!

[Clovis]

Thanks, I'm wondering what it would be like using real historical economic data.

You would just get full unhistorical result.The AACW system is just a whole abstraction and not suited to reproduce real economy.

For my own, I just concluded CSA ( and USA ) are getting too much ressources at start. Armies in vanilla are routinely much larger than in reality, players suffers very few of economical limitations. In 1861, 60 to 70 % of fireams were bought from Europe. AACW model is just unable to simulate this, you have to devise your modding tricks to get a flavour of this.

Good luck with modding. Modding isn't too hard, the most difficult being to learn the event commands as no complete manual is available.

2 tricks:

1) each turn a scriptreport file is created. You will read here what events fired, the results and the errors.

2) the main log files will serve you if your modded game crashes at start.

[kycracker]

You would just get full unhistorical result.The AACW system is just a whole abstraction and not suited to reproduce real economy.

For my own, I just concluded CSA ( and USA ) are getting too much ressources at start.

I agree with your second conclusion. However as is the game is totaly unbalanced. You cannot simulate the resolve of the confederate troops in this game really, supply is a good substitute.

As the union you can cut the south in half by 1862, this is totaly unrealistic historically. In reality the CSA though outgunned and outnumbered had the most dedicated soldiers, so they fought against better equipped troops most of the war and early on really put a whopping on the north. Since I don't know how to modify experience yet I'm getting a good result by modding the economy.

Also during the war the CSA's exports and imports were cut by 95% because of the blockade. In reality most of the issued firearms were as you say produced in europe. HOwever 99% of the ammunition was in fact produced in the south. Also the CSA had regiments that up to 75% of their arms were captured from the yankees, abandoned forts, defeated armies, and raided supply lines meant much of the war supplies actually came from the north!

The CSA invented canned goods during the war but couldn't produce enough for the whole army. They had a problem with clothing, but so far as arms they were equiped well.

Actually people don't realize that the south if ranked as its own nation was the 4th biggest economy in the world. Their problem was more manpower than anything.

From wikipedia

The states that entered the Confederate States accounted for 70 percent of total US exports, and the Confederate leaders believed that this would give the new nation a firm financial basis. Cotton was the primary potential export, accounting for 75 percent of Southern goods either shipped to northern US states or exported in 1860. The Confederate States entered the war with the hope that its near monopoly of the world cotton trade would force the European importing countries, especially Great Britain and France, to intervene in the war on her behalf.[22] In 1861, Southerners at the local level imposed an embargo on cotton shipments — it was not the government's policy. Millions of bales of cotton went unshipped, and by summer 1861 the blockade closed down all normal trade.

the immediate aftermath of Fort Sumter, agents, headed by Major Caleb Huse, were sent abroad to Europe to procure weapons and other necessary supplies.[26] Despite these efforts, the first shipment did not leave England until August, and didn't arrive in the South till November, a full 8 months after the outbreak of hostilities.[27] The slow rate of importation continued from September 1861 to February 1862, with a grand total of 15,000 small arms procured for the Confederate's war effort.[27]

After February, however, the Confederacy's fortunes in weapons procurement changed dramatically. From April 1862 till August of that year, the Confederacy was able to procure some 48,150 arms, over three times the amount gained in the same period the year before.[27] By February 1863, the total number of guns purchased had raised to a total of 174,129.[27]. While some of these weapons were caught by the Union navy in the blockade, a slight majority made it through, with 40.9 percent of all privateers being caught in 1862.[28]

Raw minerals that the South was bereft of were acquired through trade with Mexico, most notably sulphur, copper, powder, and niter.[29] Union officials recognized the extent of trade with Mexico, and aggressively tried to interrupt it.[30] Despite their efforts, and the fall of the Mississippi into Union hands, flow of goods from Mexico to the Confederacy was unabated until the end of the war.[31]

Blockade runners whom sold to the public dealt almost exclusively in luxury and other high-profit items, despite the ever-present need for staple goods.[34] The practice was so egregious that the Confederate congress came to ban the import of luxury items, though the law was not effectively enforced.[34] Smuggling over land, from either Mexico or Union territory, also provided a profitable trade in luxury items, though it also become a useful means of acquiring much-needed medicine.

Total Servicemembers 1,050,000 (Exact number is unknown. Posted figure is median of estimated range from 600,000 – 1,500,000)
Battle Deaths (Death figures are based on incomplete returns) 74,524
Other Deaths (In Theater) 59,297
26,000 to 31,000 who died in Union prisons
Non-mortal Woundings (Confed.) Unknown
At the end of the war 174,223 men surrendered to the Union Army.[15]

On March 13, 1865, the Confederate Congress passed General Order 14, and President Davis signed the order into law. The order was issued March 23, but only a few African American companies were raised. Two companies were armed and drilled in the streets of Richmond, Virginia, shortly before the besieged southern capital fell. Several African American soldiers, free and enslaved, served with the Confederate Army during the war, but the Confederate Government failed to recognize their contributions until this late time.

Very intereseting how similar the CSA was to the revolutionary army. The biggest problem for their supply was clothing and food, but weapons and arms were not as bad a problem as people often think.

Very interesting history is it not?

"Not only did Jefferson Davis envision black Confederate veterans receiving bounty lands for their service, there would have been no future for slavery after the goal of 300,000 armed black CSA veterans came home after the war."

In 1864, President Jefferson Davis approved a plan that proposed the emancipation of slaves, in return for the official recognition of the Confederacy by Britain and France. France showed interest but Britain refused.


I think it would be great to make a modification that allows us to make drastic political decisions. I would like to make a emancipation proclimation for the south and be able to see the political options that were being debated in Richmond in 1864. Enlisting african american regiments and militia in exchange for freedom would be a very cool and interesting option for this game.

Until I get good enough to do that I am settling for modifying the economy

[Clovis]

The blockade began to get some real effectiveness from 1863, and yet.

The real problem in AACW is Union can build too much too soon. Blockade, huge armies at the eve of 1862 are the real cause of unbalance, especially against vanilla AI. I've reduced both sides WSU at start, and even the CSA AI is able to raise troops in sufficient numbers. Now, the Union needs much more time to create the large armies needed to win.

About CSA superiority, it's just a myth. On offensive, CSA armies made as much errors than Union, just because in war offensive is much more complex than defense. Take a look at Lee' errors in WV in 1861 and the 1862 Maryland campaign. Each side had poor and good regiments, and uneven leaderships. But as JE Johnston's example shows, mediocrity is less harmful on defensive than on attack

[kycracker]

CSA superiority isn't a myth, I wouldn't call it superiority at all however. I would call it motivation. It's a very logical conclusion too, the south fought mostly on their own land, in their minds they were defending their families, their way of life, and their land and even freedom to make their own destiny. It wasn't until 1864 and 1865 that desertion became a problem for the CSA, when it was obvious that the CSA was going to be overwhelmed then it could be seen one might be fighting a lost cause no matter how noble it may be, nobody wants to die for a lost cause.

Historians on both sides recognize the CSA soldier made up for lack of adequate food and clothes with his spirit. There were anti war riots all over the north early on, in the south that was not a problem. It was really viewed as a revolution, as throwing off an oppresive federal government.

I wouldn't go so far to say that the CSA army was superior though. I would say they were definately dedicated to their cause however, and I would say on the whole southern soldiers were better shots. There are many records of officers getting picked off at long distance, it wasn't till later in the war that the union really took up marksmanship. The CSA really didn't take up much in marksmanship I think they just had more hunters enlisted than the north did.

That would explain why the CSA almost always enflicted greater casualties on their foe. However per capita their casualties were worse, suffering about 150 wounded for every 1000 soldiers compared to the norths 110 casualties per 1000 soldiers. The difference was just the north had many more thousands advancing mostly where the south was mostly defensive. So I would say tactics aside it was even steven with exception of early in the war when the CSA was in high spirits.

And I agree about mediocre leadership, Lee made a fatal error at gettysburg by advancing with only 1/3 of his army in the first day. Had they waited until the army was mustered together the union would not have retreated to the good defensive positions in the famous fishook line they formed on day 2. As a whole all the leaders were still using revolutionary war tactics with more modern weapons, and mostly british tactics as well there was not much guerilla warfare which would have given the south much more of an advantage had they persued that kind of war.

All in all though it was pretty equal because what the union may have lacked in motivation in subjugating the rebels they made up for in supplies and numbers.

But speculating now is just really an excersize in philosophy more than one in real history as most the accounts we read today are slanted one way or another... its still a great history to study. I like reading the letters written by the soldiers, its a shame today we do not make use of such dramatic language. Back then with no TV's or radios' literature was entertainment... and as such the literacy rates back then were better than today and they liked to write very fancy didn't they. The wrote such moving accounts of their battles, victorious or defeated it really put the person that was reading it in their shoes.

I think thats a big reason why people are so passionate and interested in this bit of history, because of how well the people involved wrote about it. Very passionate and moving no matter what side's letters you are reading. These soldiers were very passionate and noble people, its a shame so many of the best of them died in that war.

[Rafiki]

[color="Blue"]Guys, keep in mind that this forum is for discussing AACW modding and AACW mods. If you wish to discuss the war itself, there's a whole other subforum for that: http://www.ageod-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77[/color]

[kycracker]

[color="Blue"]Guys, keep in mind that this forum is for discussing AACW modding and AACW mods. If you wish to discuss the war itself, there's a whole other subforum for that: http://www.ageod-forum.com/forumdisplay.php?f=77[/color]

Yes sorry I got a little too detailed, but I'm discussing adding historical elements to the game not really the war itself by itself. What from the war I want to add got us sidetracked into a little history sorry about that. My last reply was all history but based on what I"m changing and why I'm changing it.

Does anyone know where political options are added? I'm planning to add some of the revisions Jefferson Davis tried to pull off in 1864. I want to add an enlistment of african americans with an emancipation proclamation. I want to have this add huge points for foreign intevention (50), 100 victory points, but it wasn't all that popular thats why Davis didn't do it, but he could have forced it through on the basis it was their only chance for an independant nation, he wanted to take a big reason for war away from the North, and he wanted to one up abraham lincoln by freeing the slaves he didn't free, the ones in southern states that were occupied by the union as the Unions emancipation proclamation only applied to confederate controlled regions, not to the north and not to areas liberated by the north. So I think that unique set or circumstances should give positive victory points but negeative national morale since it was very controversial and was only popular in population centers. -10 national morale, and since african americans were like 40% of the population 300 conscription points.

I know how to add units now I'm already working on african american BDE's and militia.. but I don't know the political screen and options yet. Anyone done this before can you point me towards the files to edit?

Thanks, and sorry for getting off topic maybe this question will get us back on track.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[kycracker]

Simply stated... you can't.

Part of the coding for political options are hard coded in AACW in the AACW.exe file and new ones can't be designed by modders. Existing political options can be altered somewhat to affect the timing of when the already existing political options take effect or to adjust some of the parameters but that's about the limit of working with political options in AACW.

edit> Well over a year ago, I thought it might be possible to just replace a previous option with a newly designed option. That's when I found out you can't even do that. Per Pocus: This is a game design limitation for the current version of AACW. I presume AACW2 if/when it might come to fruition will not have this limitation.

So your saying its in the source code?

Do they allow us to modify the source code if we can? Or is that off limits and not public? As long as its not illegal I think I could modify whats in the exe if thats where it is?

If thats not allowed what about modifying one of the existing political options to get the same effect is that possible?

Thanks guys for all the help, I'm really getting into this game the database setup I"m really starting to like!! Its not so tedious as writing java and c+ or even uscript, its kind of fun actually so much you can do so quickly!!!

This is my final question on this thread thanks again!!

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[Rafiki]

Yes sorry I got a little too detailed, but I'm discussing adding historical elements to the game not really the war itself by itself. What from the war I want to add got us sidetracked into a little history sorry about that. My last reply was all history but based on what I"m changing and why I'm changing it.

Indeed.

I just wanted to make sure that if you wanted to continue in that direction, that there's a much more suitable place for it.