What's the point?
I have never liked the weather modelling in ROP, or any of the other AGEOD games. Although an improvement over WIA, to me, the weathers in ROP still have problems. (Examples to follow in subsequent posts.)
Your Mileage May Vary! If you disagree with me, if you are happy with the default ROP Weathers--fine. That is your prerogative. And it's my right to be unhappy. And to mod things to my liking. That is what (in part) mods are for--to tailor the game to personal fit. If it doesn't fit you, don't wear it. Moving on...
In my mod, I have grouped the various ROP weather regions into just two broad bands:
@areasalpine = ("Alpine");
@areastemperate = ("Interior_Lowlands", "Interior_Uplands", "North_Sea_Coast", "Baltic_Coast");
(I have written a Perl script to auto-generate the weather .ini files. My explanatory examples here are lifted from the script. More on the script later.)
More:
@weathers = ("Clear", "Mud", "Snow", "HarshWeather", "VHarshWeather");
@terrains = ("normal", "low", "high", "coldwater", "water");
@ta = (0, 0, 1, 1, 0); # for each terrain, 0 normal, 1 colder, -1 warmer
And the numbers specifying each weather area's weather, by month:
@alpinecold = (3.6, 3.5, 3.3, 2.7, 1.5, 0.7, 0.2, 0.2, 0.1, 1.3, 2.7, 3.5);
@alpine = (2.8, 2.5, 2.1, 1.5, 0.5, 0.2, 0.2, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.5, 2.5);
@alpinewarm = (1.8, 1.6, 1.4, 0.9, 0.5, 0.2, 0.2, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.9, 1.4);
@temperatecold = (2.8, 2.6, 2.4, 2.2, 0.8, 0.5, 0.2, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 2.2, 2.6);
@temperate = (1.8, 1.6, 1.4, 1.2, 0.5, 0.2, 0.2, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1.1, 1.4);
@temperatewarm = (0.9, 0.8, 0.7, 0.6, 0.5, 0.2, 0.2, 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 0.6, 0.8);
where:
4 = VHarshWeather
3 = HarshWeather
2 = Snow
1 = Mud (Rain)
0 = Clear (Fair)
and:
[default] = normal, low, water
cold = high, coldwater
warm = [not used currently in this ROP mod]
In general, I am striving to follow these general principles:
--colder to the north, warmer to the south
--colder in the uplands and wilderness, warmer in the lowlands and toward the coasts
--consistency east to west (no "crazy quilt" weather patterns)
In order to achieve the desired effects (adhere to the three design principles), I have to constrain each region to just one or two "adjacent" weather possibilities in any given month (e.g., 2 => Snow; or 1.5 => 50% chance Mud, 50% chance Snow). To allow three or more possible weathers for a given region and month is to invite inverted weather/temperature patterns, "crazy quilt" patterns, or worse.
For further explanation of the numbers and the method, see the "Berto's WIA Weathers Mod" thread at
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=21844
Here is a typical weather specification, in this case a portion of the WeatherPatterns_Interior_Uplands file:
Interior_Uplands|January|normal|Fair|0
Interior_Uplands|January|normal|Mud|20
Interior_Uplands|January|normal|Snow|80
Interior_Uplands|January|normal|HarshWeather|0
Interior_Uplands|January|normal|VHarshWeather|0
Interior_Uplands|January|low|Clear|0
Interior_Uplands|January|low|Mud|20
Interior_Uplands|January|low|Snow|80
Interior_Uplands|January|low|HarshWeather|0
Interior_Uplands|January|low|VHarshWeather|0
Interior_Uplands|January|high|Clear|0
Interior_Uplands|January|high|Mud|0
Interior_Uplands|January|high|Snow|20
Interior_Uplands|January|high|HarshWeather|80
Interior_Uplands|January|high|VHarshWeather|0
Interior_Uplands|January|coldwater|Clear|0
Interior_Uplands|January|coldwater|Mud|0
Interior_Uplands|January|coldwater|Snow|20
Interior_Uplands|January|coldwater|HarshWeather|80
Interior_Uplands|January|coldwater|VHarshWeather|0
Interior_Uplands|January|water|Clear|0
Interior_Uplands|January|water|Mud|20
Interior_Uplands|January|water|Snow|80
Interior_Uplands|January|water|HarshWeather|0
Interior_Uplands|January|water|VHarshWeather|0
As you can see, for each terrain type, there are just two weather choices (chance > 0%). This is true across all regions, all months, all terrain types.
Another general principle: I am trying to make as few changes from the AGEOD defaults as possible. But in some cases, I really do need to make some weather area region reassignments. Here are two:
Code: Select all
Berto@robert /cygdrive/c/Games/AGEOD/Rise of Prussia/ROP/GameData
$ diff Areas.ini\ ORIGINAL Areas.ini
757c757
< ListParams = '$Area_Salzburg|'$Area_Quebec|'$Area_America|
---
> ListParams = '$Area_Quebec|'$Area_America|
773c773
< ListParams = '$Area_Bayern|'$Area_Ostereich|'$Area_Schwaben|'$Area_Hessen|'$Area_Hessen_D|'$Area_Oberpfalz|'$Area_Ober_Schlesien|'$Area_Pilsen|'$Area_Prag|'$Area_Ober_Lausitz|'$Area_Maehren|'$Area_Slovakia|'$Area_Croatie|'$Area_Serbia|'$Area_Transylvania|'$Area_Hungary|'$Area_Great_Polska|'$Area_Russia|
---
> ListParams = '$Area_Bayern|'$Area_Ostereich|'$Area_Schwaben|'$Area_Hessen|'$Area_Hessen_D|'$Area_Oberpfalz|'$Area_Ober_Schlesien|'$Area_Pilsen|'$Area_Prag|'$Area_Ober_Lausitz|'$Area_Maehren|'$Area_Slovakia|'$Area_Croatie|'$Area_Serbia|'$Area_Transylvania|'$Area_Hungary|'$Area_Great_Polska|'$Area_Russia|'$Area_Sachsen|'$Area_Salzburg|
789c789
< ListParams = '$Area_Mazowia|'$Area_Polska|'$Area_Wielo_Polska|'$Area_Malo_Polska|'$Area_Lodz|'$Area_Bromberg|'$Area_Poznan|'$Area_Neumark|'$Area_Nieder_Schlesien|'$Area_Nieder_Lausitz|'$Area_Brandenburg|'$Area_Hannover|'$Area_Braunschweig|'$Area_Anhalt|'$Area_Sachsen|'$Area_Nassau|'$Area_Westfalen|'$Area_Pfalz|'$Area_Lorraine|'$Area_Baden|'$Area_Wurtemberg|'$Area_Oberbayern|'$Area_France|
---
> ListParams = '$Area_Mazowia|'$Area_Polska|'$Area_Wielo_Polska|'$Area_Malo_Polska|'$Area_Lodz|'$Area_Bromberg|'$Area_Poznan|'$Area_Neumark|'$Area_Nieder_Schlesien|'$Area_Nieder_Lausitz|'$Area_Brandenburg|'$Area_Hannover|'$Area_Braunschweig|'$Area_Anhalt|'$Area_Nassau|'$Area_Westfalen|'$Area_Pfalz|'$Area_Lorraine|'$Area_Baden|'$Area_Wurtemberg|'$Area_Oberbayern|'$Area_France
That is to say, in the Rise of Prussia/ROP/GameData/Areas.ini file:
--for area $Area_Salzburg, move it from Area #93, Alpine to Area #95, Interior Uplands
--for area $Area_Sachsen, move it from Area #97, Interior Lowlands to Area #95, Interior Uplands
There will be more region assignments in future, but those two essential fixes will get us started.
I have run through a complete year of test game turns, and so far I like what I see, even in this early v0.2.
This is a work-in-progress. With user feedback, and as my ideas evolve, I will update this mod. (Eventually, I plan to port this mod over to other AGEOD games, besides ROP (and also WIA).)
Please see the Weathers Mod v0.4 attached (below). (With each new release, I will be sure to attach the latest release to this first message in this thread.)
To install, simply:
--unzip into the Rise of Prussia/ROP/GameData/Weathers folder
--cut and paste, the Areas.ini file to the Rise of Prussia/ROP/GameData folder
But first make a backup of your default Weathers folder, also your default Areas.ini file!