User Created Content

TAOE Forums

XxX_RAGE_XxX — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 04:14:31 GMT

Everyone come check out the forums. Its easy to register. and the Offtopic section is back!!!

And we got TNP going

Just come on and register and test out the mod

http://taoe.forumotion.net/

RPG Guide

Naisly — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 03:26:29 GMT

RPG Guide

By - Naisly

First I’ll start with the basics. I’m sure most of you all ready know these facts but this can be an important part of game development. I also suggest, if you don’t already know, is to familiarize yourself with triggers. You can find help here - Wiki trigger help this is important since triggers will be a driving force to your scenario. This guide is geared around single player scenarios. If you wish to make a multiplayer scenario, then read this guide CSO by MosheLevi.

I personally don’t mod, so this guide is about you and the editor, nothing more. I guess I’m ‘old school’ and believe the tools given should be used accordingly. That being said; if I was given a shovel to dig a hole, I’m not about to complain I don’t have a backhoe. It may be harder to do the job, but the hole can still be dug. So when all is said and done, I’ll stand back, and admire my accomplishment! Just remember – If there’s a will, there’s a way. I guess what I’m trying to say is, don’t give up if you run into trouble with the editor. Just think of it as a challenge. Are you up for a good challenge? If you are, then lets make an amazing RPG!

What you will need:

An 80-page notebook and a pencil.
Basic editor knowledge.
A good short story, preferably written out in your notebook.

What is a RPG (Role-Playing Game)?

A game, which character development, is the main driving force of game play. The player controls one character, usually the hero of a story. The player will have a goal to reach and this goal can be introduced at anytime within the game play. An example would be to save the heroine from the villain. This can be achieved through actions set out by the game designer. It should involve interacting with NPC’s (Non-player characters). As the story takes shape, so should the said character – Increasing inventory, combat etc. through puzzles, and problem solving.

RPG’s were developed in the mid‘70’s, derived from D&D. The traditional RPG was turn-based in a fantasy setting. However, this has since changed when video consoles were introduced. J.R.R Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings influenced D&D extending to some games such as – Warcraft, Elder Scrolls etc. Today, you can find many variations of the genre. From strategy to real-time strategy (RTS) to turn-based strategy (TBS). An example would be – Some Final Fantasy games use both RTS and TBS.

Story Development:

RPG’s are much like a story – Beginning, middle and ending. It is up to you, the designer to introduce the story, giving the tools needed for the player to grow. So while your sitting there staring at that blank map, think about a story. Either one you have read, or were told, even one of your own. Write down some descriptions and the main elements to your story.

Where is this place – Open world, a city, the desert, in the mountains?
When does the story take place? Remember, just because AOE3 is based on colonial history, doesn’t mean you need your story to follow.
Scenery – Landscape, eye-candy, buildings, weather.

Now that you have the basics, go back to your blank map and start by adding the setting. First, size your map. No larger than 600x600. Turn off all your graphics settings because this will help you with eye-candy later on. Your story is coming alive! At this point don’t worry about adding too much terrain, just the basic. If you have a hard time with terrain, take a walk outside. Walk around the block and perhaps to the park. What do you see? Look at the grass near buildings, at the foot of the trees. Is it any different than the grass in the park? Are there rocks and or shrubs? Keep in mind, adding too much will cause lag and slow upload times. You can find out more here - Map size

Next is the plot. The plot is a series of events and character action that relate to the conflict. It should include challenges for the hero to over come. Examples would be - enemy’s to fight, relationships, chases, obstacles, puzzles and more. Remember there should be an element of challenge and an element of realism.

The world:

It is the your job to design the backdrop and more importantly you need to establish a goal for the player and give the needed tools to discover your goal. The player will explore your world and will react to it. Never reveal the full details of the world, as the game progresses, the details will come clearer to the player. I personally like the freedom of movement in the world. It allows the player to travel and explore freely. Mind you I still add locked doors/gates and few impassable paths. These I will open as a reward for completing certain tasks.

The hero should travel far, navigating through obstacles to get him to his destination, be it the next village, or quest area. You must think about a couple things first. How long does it take him to travel? Perhaps there is a better way of transportation, like teleport? Make sure the player isn’t bored while travelling. Always and I mean always have movement on the map. Have unexpected events accrue – IE: Enemies jumping out at the hero on paths. Perhaps have a NPC stop him and ask for help, but make sure the player is not bored while travelling. This is a great time to use the QV random effect.

The main goal could be a quest like the example above – saving the heroine.

How does the hero know he must save her?
Is it her father who asks for your help?
Perhaps the hero needs to save a village from the enemy. Is the village an ally or enemy?
Maybe the hero must negotiate with the village to learn about their enemy. How will the hero fight the enemy?
What will the hero earn by doing so?

But for the duration of this guide, I will use something very simple – Buying milk at the store. Sound odd? Read on!

The main quest (goal) can lead to smaller quests. These quests can help with character development, which I’ll explain below. Quests are much like puzzles. You will need to give the player hints – Where to begin, what to look for, who to talk to. The player must piece together these hints and discover the outcome him/herself, earning a reward.

Quests and objectives:

Think of quests as everyday events. Here is an example:

1) Primary – You need to run to the store and buy milk.

2) Secondary – But you can’t find your wallet, and search the house for money.

3) Secondary – You now have some money but notice you have a flat tire.

4) Secondary – You have a choice, should you walk or take the bus to the store?

5) Secondary – You chose to walk. But on your way, you run into some thugs.

You know the primary goal is to buy milk. You’re probably asking how do I give hints for that? Ok, ask yourself these questions:

· Who wants you to get milk? Hint: Talk with the Leader.

· Why do you need milk? Hint: The people are hungry and need food.

· Which store sells milk? Hint: There is a small town North. The people there can help you.

Of course for your scenario you will need to elaborate on your hints. Lets jump past the secondary objectives for a second. And go straight to the ending of the primary goal. Say you have arrived at the small town; most of the people there won’t talk to you. You find one person who will talk, and this person tells you strangers have been coming to town as of late, robbing the stores. These thugs only show up at night. The people in town don’t trust anyone. This has lead us to the Hidden objective. You talk with another person and she tells you her son has disappeared. You search the lands and after a lot of turmoil you find the lost son, return him and the people of the town are so grateful.

You see what I just did? I branched out the primary goal even more. But this one was hidden. This is the same as the secondary goals. You can branch them out as well and each secondary goal will take you closer to your main objective, earning rewards on the way.

Lets look at 4) Secondary – You have a choice, should you walk or take the bus to the store? It is a good idea to give players choices where there will be both awards and consequences for their actions. In this case, the consequence was the thugs.

Imagine how far you can take this quest. Did you ever think going to buy milk could be so much fun? =P

Some secondary objectives don’t need to lead to the primary goal. You can add extra just to give a reward or perhaps throw the player off track. Perhaps a small quest to earn extra gold. With quests the possibilities are endless.

This is where some of you may have trouble adding objectives to your scenarios. You can find help here Adding objectives I personally don’t like to hide my objectives because I want the player to keep a log of events, but that is totally up to you and your particular scenario.

The objectives are great to give the basic information. But I suggest you have NPC’s who give out hints also. IE: Your hero stops to talk with a villager.

Villager1

“What do you want?”

“Oh, your that hero. The one that is supposed to help us?”

“Well I can’t help you. Just go away! I’m too hungry to talk.”

Villager2

“Did you ever wonder what’s in the Milky Way?”

“I heard if you travel North, you can see it better.”

With this editor it can be difficult to get your message across to the player. RPG’s are that much more difficult because the designer must stay In Character. What I mean by this is you must not use direct statements in your objectives and/or hints. An example of Direct statement would be:

Villager1

“What do you want?”

“Well, I’m too hungry to talk with you.”

“A tall glass of milk will help.”

Villager2

“There is a village north of us that sells milk.”

“There is a Lady there that is missing her son, talk to her.”

In the above statements you will notice I have told the hero where to go, who to talk with and what they need to find. This is a not a good idea since it won’t force the player to talk with the Leader (quest giver), and find out more on their own.

The player must stay IN Character even when reading hints/objectives. Out Of Character (OOC) is usually frowned upon in RPG’s. You can find examples of how other designers do this by games such as Splinter Cell, Gears of War etc. In these games you will notice they designed it so there is a training area, which keeps them In Character. They could have easily told you what to do.

By now you should have a pretty good idea what your map will look like, and should add your quest areas while they are still fresh in you mind. You don’t need to elaborate on them right now, just rough them in.

Character Development:

Characters in RPG’s generally correspond with statistics (stats).

Experience points (xp): XP can be given via unit kills and or quests etc. Once a certain amount is obtained, the hero will progress in level increasing skills.
Skill points: And again, these can be earned as above. Unlike XP, the hero can use skill points to buy upgrades rather than wait to advance in level.

You could also use gold to gain skills. The hero can buy items such as a new rifle, which will give more attack (because buying milk can be so dangerous). Perhaps a new helm to give more health points (hp).

You can also give the player a choice at the beginning on which unit they want to use. Or perhaps they can trade in their unit for a stronger one. Keep in mind you will need to add the other unit to your trigger sequences.

As your game progresses so should the hero. This is where balance comes into play. The enemy should seemingly grow more intelligent. As you are giving upgrades to your hero, add to your trigger sequence and give the enemy the same upgrades, not in every upgrade, but enough to make it look as if the enemy is getting stronger.

RPG’s are not necessarily about killing the enemy. Do not confuse Super Hero with Hero. Your hero should not be a ‘god’ sort of speak. RPG’s are about problem solving, conflict, courage and fighting for a cause.

Definitions of hero on the Web:

· a man distinguished by exceptional courage and nobility and strength; "RAF pilots were the heroes of the Battle of Britain"

· the principal character in a play or movie or novel or poem

· champion: someone who fights for a cause

A Fireman, a police officer, soldiers are all heroes. They are much like you and I but what makes them different is courage. Keep this in mind while building your hero.

AI (Artificial Intelligence) Development:

I suggest Gaia for main support, such as the main city/town. I realize there can be a difference of opinion when using Gaia, so I suggest testing it and finding your niche. The reason is; the AI won’t attack unless provoked to do so. This will give your hero more movement within the city and surrounding areas. I found working with Gaia has more advantages.

Set your map up for 3 players:
Player1 being your hero.
Player2 set AI – aiLoaderStandard.
Player3 set AI - Age3AI

To utilize AI, you must first set it up in the Player Data Panel in the editor. After you set player1 &2 for the enemy, select the same civilization (civ), same colour, same team and same name for each. At this point you may wish to hide either or both AI. Once this is done, close the Player Data Panel, and your ready to begin by setting triggers to do your bidding with the Age3AI. Also don’t forget to set Gaia as ally and enemy to your AI.

Player2: aiLoaderStandard:

Make sure they have Home City shipments. Build up their town, giving them enough resources, but watch them. Time how long it takes them to build, how long to make an army. I suggest you test this by ‘save as’, exit editor and test from main menu. Make notes and learn about the AI you have created. Keep in mind, every time you edit terrain, add/remove resources, the AI will act accordingly, so test after each change. Basically you want player2 to act on their own accord. Their only purpose is to add movement on your map.

Player3: Age3AI:

This AI can be a most useful and powerful tool when used in conjunction with the aiLoaderStandard. When using this AI the player will actually be playing two different civilizations (civs) but will get the impression of playing one. This gives the designer an added ability to be in control of his/her scenario, if triggers are set properly. You can read more here - AI Forced Attack

The designer can deploy armies, then move the armies to any point and instruct it on what to do at any given time in the scenario. This is also possible with individual units.

You can direct them to build.
Cut wood.
Mine gold.
Or claim a nugget that could launch a special event or condition in your scenario.

As you can imagine, it opens up many new possibilities. Yet this is dependent on your abilities with trigger members. The more familiar you are with them, and how they work, the more possibilities will open up. Experiment and have fun!

Overview:

Use your notebook for ideas and map sketches. Write down character names, places, and civs. Describe your hero and detailed event descriptions. What rewards are you planning on giving your hero? Write them down as well. When you begin your map work, it might be best to work in sections because designing an RPG can be overwhelming.

Building a scenario of this magnitude can take weeks, if not months to complete, be patient, and try not to rush it.

Plan out every detail for you scenario. Always de-bug your scenario before release. Inspect each and every trigger, no matter how good you think you are; it’s very easy to make simple mistakes when you’re working with literally hundreds of triggers. If you run into trouble with triggers, read this article When Triggers Stop Working

There is a save bug which will remove any upgrades you give the hero via HC cards. Mister SCP worked very hard and made a few custom effects and conditions to help nullify this issue. You can read more here Save bug

At this point you should be near completion of your scenario, and your notebook should be full of notes. If your still having some trouble, I found these sites helpful as well:

HG scenario help

ES User Content

Mister SCP scenario help

Wiki FAQ

I would like to thank Kjn for all his help and support. Also for his help writing the AI portion of this guide. If it wasn’t for his patience, I would have surely given up.

Lastly, I hope designers find this guide useful, perhaps we will see more RPG’s.

And most of all – Experiment and Have Fun!

Naisly

< < Scenario Design - Question Thread > >

zeuslord5000 — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 00:04:02 GMT

Following AoE3 Heaven's Question Thread, I have decided to create one for the AgeCommunity. You may post any and all questions here that have to do with Scenario Designing, and only that since there is already a RMS Tutorial and Faq Thread created by M0nTy_PyTh0n. Please don't spam, and argue amongst yourselves. Try to answer questions to the best of your ability. This thread is intended to store all common (and uncommon) questions and answers, so the people no longer have to answer and reanswer the same questions due to people not reading the previously answered threads, and deciding to make their own. Help make this thread a success.

It would be greatly appreciated if my fellow forumers could help each other out.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want help on eyecandying or on how to make screenshots in-game, or in the editor, please feel free to visit The EyeCandy Guild! [Edited on 3/30/2006]

The Great War Campaign : By Yuttho

Yuttho — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:43:37 GMT

The Great War Campaign : By Yuttho

Must have TWC and TAD to Play

You Must have all Sounds, Music, and Mods installed for Full Game play Experience or else this will not Work

I am removing this campaign from the scenario design competition because (Rules say no mods) this campaign will not work well without the mods that are coming out with this. I want players to feel the emotion and fear while playing this and reading the words of the cinematic to give them a position during war from a bird's eye view saying this is serious, not like any other war game.This is going to be strategical, difficult, and long. The cinematic are going to be poignant. Cut scenes and such are going to be very much colorless--giving players a feel of a black-and-white picture for this campaign: death, rain, artillery, mud. Despite the victories, each scenario will be about an hour long or over. This is not to glorify war, but a history lesson for many. A lesson about preventing war. This war was truly called, The War to End all Wars.

Realism mods that will be added to this single-player campaign:

Splash Damage by Artillery Units = When they attack, the explosion or impact will affect surrounding units. Deadly.

Gatling Gun is Inaccurate = the gun will be inaccurate but will affect surrounding units. Deadly.

Gas Attack Units = (IN PROGRESS : STILL DECIDING WHAT UNIT) Lil' Bombard shoots poison gas, kills all infantry units.

Gas Mask Formation = To prevent yourself from dying in poison gas raids, put your men on gas mask formation but it will reduce unit range, speed and attack.

British Mark Tank = extremely slow, very strong against infantry and artillery. invincible but weak against mortars and satchel charges(ability by sappers)

The Wex Flamethrower Unit = long range, slow, weak defense, but extremely deadly with area of effect.

Sappers = able to build sandbags, barbed wire, trading posts for supply lines, and satchel charge ability.

Enhanced Mortar (STILL IN PROGRESS) = Artillery: The 15-Inch Howitzer

World War One had the biggest artillery that the world has ever seen. It had the most massive, destructible and deadliest artillery batteries. World War One is sometimes called the Artillery War. I want to add these unique artillery pieces into this campaign so the player can feel overwhelmed about the many roles and tasks and objectives that must be performed--keeping the player on his feet and ready. The Artillery in World War One is responsible for most of the deaths and also the primary culprit for Extreme PTSD (shellshock) for WW1 Veterans. Under MONTHS and MONTHS under artillery bombardment, many soldiers reached a breaking point, counting them as casualties.

The tank is going to be the strongest unit in the game because it can only be taken out by a satchel charge by sappers and by mortars. But the mortars do very little damage but enough to kill the thing compared to everyone else. During gas attacks, put your men on gas mask formations to prevent them dying in the poison gas. Flamethrower unit is going to be extremely deadly, long range, but moves at a slow speed with very little defense.

The Download is going to be over 100MB, overall, for the entire campaign.

UPDATE: The Great War Soundtrack

The Great War Campaign Soundtrack

You must make an Imeem account to listen. Sorry.

>>>>>UPDATE ON THREAD : THE CHINESE, JAPANESE, INDIAN INVOLVEMENT<<<<<

I'll be adding like two or three scenarios on Asia's role in World War One since I'm going to buy the expansion packs soon. China was attempting to join the war and send troops to the Western Front. But Japan was entirely independent and wanted to conquer German colonies in Asia and the Pacific. And also India's involvement between the Central and British factions--marching toward their own independence.

This release is going to be extremely large because there's going to be a lot of custom sounds added to this and music to keep players entertained.

Hey guys, this is the official thread for the The Great Campaign. This is a historical scenario based on World War One. I'll be covering all major battles of the war in this campaign and will try to add some poignant or comprehensive cinematics.

Briefing on World War One History

There are a number of things that brought Europe and the rest of the world into a massive world war. Many of the world's powerful nations were in Europe and since countries and empires were so close to each other--relationships were tense and alliances were changing. Imperialism, militarism, and economics were some factors to the war. The European empires were struggling over land in Africa and Asia. Militarism, there were growing armies and this would lead to a very unstable political relationship for many nations. America stayed out of this--even though they showed off their Great White Fleet and joined the war in 1917.

The trigger to the war, was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary, heir to the throne. The assassin was a Serbian terrorist. Austria-Hungary retaliated by asking some apologizing questions, saying that they will not attack. They lied, Germany and Italy made an alliance with Austria-Hungary, forming the Central Powers. Once Russia heard that Serbia was soon going to be attacked, they prepared their forces. France joined when Russia joined the war. German forces crossed the border of Belgium and headed for France. This move made Great Britain join the war. The Ottoman Empire also joined.

This was the most devastating and most horrific war Europe EVER saw prior to World War Two. It lasted for four long years with nothing but artillery, smoke, and fire. The land was completely reformed. New technologies brought death to a large statistic. But at the same time, the Flu was even more deadly--killing more humans than the war killed humans. But this war was significant in a way that it brought Empires down and allowed for political reform in some parts. But with this open opportunity--communism after the Russian Revolution which made them pull out of World War One and the United States and Italy joined in to fill the position--and also fascism soon came, affecting Germany, Italy, and Spain. World War One was called, "The War to End all Wars".

Battle history: When the Germans advanced into France, they pushed far and deep and then staling outside of Paris. That gave enough time for Britain and France to push back the Germans. It worked well, pushing the Germans back miles away from Paris. But both sides were rushing for the North Sea to establish a foothold. Meanwhile in Russia, the Russians pushed deep, taking Prussia and parts of Austria-Hungary. Soon, the Germans pushed back, miles and miles back. The Western Front was a desolate and gloomy battle--it was bloody stalemate that made a solid line stretching from the North Sea to Italy. The British came into the Middle East, attempting to take Jerusalem back from the Ottomans. The Ottomans were also attacking the Russians beside the Black and Caspian Sea. As Russia was up against a revolution--they pulled out and Germany pushed into far and the Ottomans focused their forces on the British. Again, the Western Front was a stalemate. The British in the Middle-east finally pushed in to Turkey. The Italians joined in and attempted to fight off Austrian forces but made an overwhelming and complete lose. Italian Forces repeatedly failed in this war. While Germany was finally able to focus on one front, they pushed in West--Verdun and Somme--two of the largest battles in World War One. They were both long battles but the Allies won and pushed the Germans back. Americans soon came at a rapid pace, sending in a large amount of forces. At this rate, they were able to push the Germans back into Germany. As the Allies from the West pushed in too far--they surrendered and a peace treaty formed.

This campaign would mainly be fixed force strategy with a blend of strategic planning and constant mobilization of your forces to keep key positions. And trust me, this will be THE HARDEST and MOST STRATEGIC campaign you'll ever play... (I'll try to keep it non-repetitive...)

Also, I'll be adding some cool features like sounds and music.

The Campaign List:

"There's a current in society"

=First Battle of the Marne

"Russia"

=Battle of Tannenberg

"Race to the Sea"

=First Battle of Ypres

=Siege of Tsingtao

"The Christmas Truce of 1914"

"Get the Ottomans out!"

=Battle of Gallipoli

=Battle of Jerusalem

=Indian Independence

=Battle of Jutland

"Bloody Stalemate"

=Second Battle of Ypres

=Battle of Verdun

"PLEASE GOD!"

"The Highlanders"

=Battle of the Somme

=Battle of Vimy Ridge

"Drowning in Death"

=Third Battle of Ypres

=Battle of Megiddo

=Battle of the Argonne

=Battle of Cambrai

=Second Battle of the Aisne

"Hundred Days Offensive"

=Second Battle of the Marne

"Aftermath"

Screenshots: Will add some more later...

[JPEG, (645.15 KB)]
[JPEG, (238.25 KB)]
[JPEG, (248.82 KB)]
[JPEG, (266.87 KB)]
[JPEG, (232.46 KB)]
[JPEG, (256.91 KB)]
[JPEG, (391.42 KB)]
[JPEG, (330.76 KB)]
[JPEG, (347.66 KB)]
[JPEG, (374.02 KB)]
[JPEG, (381.12 KB)]
[JPEG, (471.48 KB)]
[JPEG, (397.08 KB)]
[JPEG, (393.65 KB)]
[JPEG, (475.28 KB)]

The Modding Thread.

Northern_lord — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:10:27 GMT

The modding thread!

Hi, guys.

I have finally decided to make a modding thread around here. Currently it is unstickied, but I hope it will be stickied with the time. So now it's “The (unstickied) modding thread”.

NOTE: You can call making custom maps modding too, but why should I make a thread about that, when there already is one? No. When I talk about modding I mean:

Modding a new unit/civ/homecity/building. There are many, many other possibilities too.

But what is modding?

[quoted from BilboBeutlin's introduction to AoE3 modding]

'Modding' is a usual short word for modding, modifying - that means changing existing stuff (espec. for games) to get a new outlook, other behavior, adapt on individual requirements or to add new features.
Strictly speaking it's already modding, if you change anything from the delivered original program state. That may be color settings or the keyboard layout. In most cases such changes are already doable with the program's inbuilt features.
Most programs come with one or more setup files, which are editable with normal text editors like eg. Windows' Notepad. From programming aspect, also the files which determine game behavior (like AoE3's proto.xml, techtree.xml) are also merely setup files, which the program's exe(cutable) reads in the initializing startup phase. So changes on such files will usually only take effect at a new game start.

Only to mention by the way: very experienced users can mod the program's exe (executable code) or a dll (dynamic link library). But this requires specialized, advanced know-how and particular tools.

[/quoted from BilboBeutlin's introduction to AoE3 modding]

Read the rest here. link

Modder's first rule: Never touch a non-backuped file!

Keep in mind that if you mod your game, and suddenly discover that you can't get your game working, ES may not be held responible. You might be forced to perform an uninstall, and then install the game again. If you get the message Intialisation Failed, we might help you.

IN CASE YOU DELETED A FOLDER IN YOUR GAME CORE, OR ANYTHING HORRIBLE THEN: DO NOT PANIC!!!

We might be able to help you. Once I was moving the game core from one folder to another, and suddenly everything got messed up. Half of the folders were still in C:Program Files/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires3, while the rest where in a folder on my desktop. I got panic, and I ended up having to uninstall windows.

Well. The first thing you should do is to read a couple of tutorials, before you do anything.

Here are some:

link

Okay. Now that you've read through this, I can start explaining some things:

1: Your game core.

Your game core is located in C: Program Files/Microsoft Games/Age of Empires 3

This is were the data for almost everything is located. In this folder you will find:

All unit data.

All building data.

Files for the Scenario Editor

All triggers

All random maps (both loading-screens, and the files)

And so on...

Usually when modding the most important folders in your game core are:

Art and Data.

2: The art folder:

The art folder is where you will find:

All models, graphics and animations.

(more info later)

3: The data folder:

In the data folder you will find many files. The most important of them while modding are:

Proto.xml (Protox.xml for TWC)

Stringtable(x).xml

Techtree(x).xml

In the proto(x) you will find all unit stats. It is specified in this file if a unit is Light, Heavy or whatever. I.E. You will find hitpoints, build limit, armour, attack, attack bonus and such in this file.

The stringtable(x) is also a VERY important file. If your game is in Italian, this file would be in Italian. In this file you can find the names of every unit, tech, home city, choice, text in the main menu buttons, and anything. This is called strings. Take the skirmisher as an example. In the proto(x) you can find all his stats. But there is more in the proto(x). It is also referred to a “String” in the stringtable(x). There are also tags that refers to the rollover text, for the unit, and his name. Every string in the stringtable(x) has a number. And you refer to strings by referring to these numbers. So a string might look like:

<string_lockID='23654'Skirmisher'</String>

So a tag in the proto(x) refers to this string's number. So... where was I...

Oh, yeah. Take the skirmisher as an example. In the proto(x) it is refered to a string, that contains the name of the skirmisher (for everything else in the proto(x) too.). Without this string, the name of the skirmisher wouldn't be showed.

You guys understand?

Note that also techs from the Techtree(x).xml refer to a string in the stringtable (I'll just call it stringtable from now on).

Then I will explain you the techtree(x):

In the techtree (I'll call it techtree) you will find every tech in the game.

Yes, I mean like Guard Musketeers, Bastion, Imperial Tercios, church techs, and such.

Also a tech in the techtree refers to a string in the stringtable.

4: A little break.

Just a little break from the constant reading. Now read through this or the tutorials again, or ask a question in this thread if there were some things that you didn't quite understood.

5: Modding programs:

Well... You might have read something about these programs in the two tutorials I posted above? Yes?, No?

Anyway there are a few programs you will need to use to mod:

AoE3ED: Download here: link

Explanation:

This will add two new programs to your desktop; AoE3ED Archive Viewer and AoE3ED File Converter.

Let's all cheer and clap for Ykkrosh who made this fantastic tool! *Claps*

-But what does AoE3ED do?

Oh, silly boy. You should have taught of that before clapping and cheering.

But anyway:

AoE3ED Archive viewer can read .bar files. As far as I know there are:

5 bar. files for AoE3 vanilla (without any expansion installed)

8 bar. files for AoE3 The War Chiefs.

AoE3ED File Converter converts files as: DDT to TGA (TarGA) and opposite, xmb to xml and opposite.

Notepad: A program that comes with Windows, and most of you have it on your computer. You use this program to edit XML files.

Any photo editing program. You will need a photo editing program if you want to mod. The program will only need to be able to read TGA (TarGA) files. Examples: Gimp, Paint Shop Pro, Photoshop.

6: Files you should know:

-XML: An xml. file can be edited with Notepad. (Everyone with Windows should have notepad... it comes with windows.)

-XMB: Not readable. You convert them to edit them, and then convert them back.

-DDT: Not readable. You have to convert them to TGA to read them, and edit them. Then you can convert them back.

TGA (TarGA): Editable file. You can convert it to DDT by using AoE3ED File Converter.

Okay, currently only these, but there are more.

7: Another Tutorial:

link

Well... I am going to add more into this, but not yet.

Also if some people has anything against modding, then DO NOT post your posts here, as it only would end up in me being irritated.

Also note that the thread isn't absolutely finished yet.

Okay... I think you may post now.

Problem with scenario editor and cards

ALA87 — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:04:14 GMT

My question is I have been gone for so long I thought when you could make a scenario and the player could use any deck that he/she has made. Yet I was testing my lasted map and they are giving me pre built decks. I see where I can make decks for each civ but I just want people to be able to play their own decks.

Did I do something wrong or can you no longer use your own decks?

Modify Protounit Effect

kjn — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 13:04:02 GMT

Guys,

I am trying to compile an accurate list of fields that actually work, and what fields do not work with this effect..I have some of them, that I've experimented with to find out.. Some fields have already been listed, in other posts..It doesn't matter..

All input would be most appreciated here.

Thank you!

HC New Cards

PieLighter — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:47:02 GMT

OK, I need to know how to create brand new cards for the Brits in TWC.

Question about an effect

Conquistador! — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 18:28:22 GMT

The "unit talking" effect, is giveing me some problems. I put in for the time duration of the effect for 10 seconds. But the white ring underneath the unit never goes away after the flashing stops. Is there a way to fix this?

Knights and Barbarians Prologue

General_II — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 19:03:51 GMT

Knights and Barbarians is a total conversion for Age of Empires III and both expansions.
Command armies from one of fourteen medieval powers in detailed, intense battles to defend your dominion and also add to it. The timeline of Knights and Barbarians stretches roughly one-thousand years, from the twilight of the Roman Empire to the infancy of the Italian Renaissance. New gameplay elements, both economic and militaristic, mean that leadership is essential in all situations.

K&B Development Team:peugeot407, General_II, Linuchadnezzar, Northern Lord, gibbo1993 and NiXiM
_{Special thanks to Lord Tahattus for the flags and Argalius for the team forum.}

Feel free to post questions or comments. If you'd like to help, indicate accordingly. There are a list of jobs at the main K&B website. Additionally, there is a mod update every Friday. These range from music that's going to be used to new units and buildings and can be found at every K&B affiliate.

K&B at Age of Empires III Heaven

Official K&B Website[under construction]

Question about a condition

Conquistador! — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:35:34 GMT

On this map that I made, there is a land bridge crossing a river. The British are in control of it at the beginning of the game. I want to send a message (the effect) to the British player if the Americans (the Brit's enimy) cross over a certian point on the bridge. Is there a condition for this?

9 of the most commonly asked questions concerning designing maps are answered here

Aoe3Champ — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 03:46:07 GMT

9 of the most commonly asked questions concerning custom designing maps, are answered here
By AOE3Champ

P.s ES could you make this Sticky please???

1. My computer players don't move.

You have to assign an AI (Artificial Intelligence) to them. Like so:
Place a Town Center or Covered Wagon at the desired location. If you place a Town Center use a normal (not the IGC) one.
Place an "AI Start Object" for each computer player next to the Town Center or Covered Wagon or nearby. Go to the Objects Menu, select Place object, then find the object "***AIStartObject" and put it on the map. You can also add the AI Start object later on in the game with triggers. Then the AI will start working at the time the AI Start object is created.
Go to the player’s menu ("Scenario" -> "Player Data") and select as "Control" for each human player "Human", for each computer player "Computer".
Click "AI" and select aiLoaderStandard.xs (there're other AI files as well, although their exact functions are not understood). Then click "Open". Don't double-click the *.xs files, otherwise the scenario will 'forget' your AI settings (which is one of AoE3's bugs). Click once on the file, then "Open".
To enable shipments select Home Cities for the players. "Reset HC" sets the default civilization-specific HC, "Set HC" displays the current one and enables individual selection.
To support a specific AI behavior set according flags in "World" -> "Map Types", depending on the kind of your map.

Do that for every computer player you want to act like in normal random maps. (Don't assign an AI though to the player that actually plays the scenario, otherwise the human and the computer will both command the same units and buildings.)

It might also be that they don't work in play test mode -- only by choosing a custom scenario and actually playing the game.

2. How do I make a Cinematic Movie?

Use the Cinematic mode effect, and choose either ON or OFF in order to start or end the cinematic.
Use the Cinematic Tools to create Camera Tracks, and integrate them in your cinematic with the Camera Track effect. Use Camera Cuts as well.
To display text use Play Dialog.
If you want the units not to automatically start fights, use SetIdleProcessing OFF. Don't forget to turn it ON again when the cinematic ends.
For in game cinematic, use the effect Deselect Units. This hides the ugly waypoint flag.
If you use a low camera angle use skies in order to make your cinematic look better.
Don't show the borders of the map in a cinematic. It just looks ugly.

3. How do I add sound to my scenario?

Use the effect Sound Filename. Note that the editor only accepts sounds in .wav and .mp3 format.

4. Where are all my scenarios?

Unlike previous games like Age of Kings, AoE3 scenario files are stored in the "My Games" folder. Go to "My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\Scenario".

5. How do I place a Trading Post (in the editor)? If I place a Socket, I cannot place the Post on top.

There're different kinds of Sockets (you can access a whole list of them in the Place Object menu). In order to make them work you have to distinguish between the two basic types:
A Socket as a Native American village:
Firstly, go to the Native American Manager. Tick the boxes to determine which tribes can be used on your map. Then place a Socket of that tribe and you can put a Trading Post on top.
A Socket next to a trade route is even easier:
Position the specific Socket for trade routes next to a trade route (use the Trade Route Tool to create one) and you can place a Trading Post on top. If there's no trade route next to it won't work.

6. How do I take an in-game screenshot?

CTRL-F12 (Or PrtScr) creates a screenshot, which will be created in "My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\Screenshots", while CTRL-ALT-F12 will create a full map screenshot, located in the same area.

7. File types: Where do all of AoE3's file types go?

If it is:
. Age3scn it's a scenario, place it in "My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\Scenario".
. Age3sav it's a saved game, place it in the "My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\Savegame" folder.
. Age3rec it's a recorded game, place it in the "My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\Savegame" folder.
.ddt it's a texture, place it in the "\art" folder.
.wav it's a sound file, place it in the "\Sound" folder.
.mp3 it's a sound file, place it in the "\Sound" folder.

a Random Map (RM) goes to "My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\RM".

8. Waves: How do I get those nice waves on my coastlines?

There's two ways you can do this. One is a lot easier then the other, but doesn't work for all river and sea types.
To try the automatic method, you can either select "edit water" and then select "beautify" which will add even waves, rocks, tree and MISC. to your coastline.
Manually, you can search under objects and find "Wave" and place them down manually wherever you wish. However this wave doesn't look as realistic as the normal waves and moves way too fast. In AoM this way was possible, but here it just looks ugly. So go for the first option.

9. When I play my scenario I control the wrong player's units.

The scenario will be played through the perspective of the last player you used in the editor, for example in the Place Object or Play test Scenario menu.

To play as the right player, select the right player and save the scenario, like so:
Changing the player in the Place Object or Play test Scenario menu changes the active player. So make sure to select the right player here before saving the final version of your scenario.
You can also switch between players in the editor with a hotkey combination: Press CTRL+F (number of player)
Example: CTRL+F1 for player 1.
Then save the scenario and you're done.

HOPE THIS CLEARS ALL THOSE PESKY QUESTIONS, REGARDS....AOE3CHAMP

[Edited on 4/19/2006]

What is the trigger for unloading ships

kyi — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:36:11 GMT

hello i'm making a map and i need to know a trigger for unloading ships filled with units plz help.

What's up with this category?

kjn — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 13:36:20 GMT

Hey guys,

I don't know about all of you but I have noticed lately that the support we don't get in here has gotten a lot worse..Your posts are "under moderation" with no explaination as to why..There is no telling if or when the post will get approved..I have nothing against rules and regulations but when guys come in with legitimate questions and then don't get their answers in a reasonable time..They're sure to get fed up and go someplace else to get their answers..It's a sad situation..We lose so many people..Through the years.. I 've watched a lot of good designers leave..I watch the category get junked up with spam posts and non-subject related threads and Nothing is done about them..When you do ask about it..You get messed around with..It makes it very hard to help out and keep things running smooth..We never had much moderation assistance in here..We never really needed it until as of late and the only way to get any is.. Making a lot of noise and making yourself a nuisance..(That should not need to be)..Whats up with this place anymore?.I for one am getting fed up!

TFE MOD Update

The_Hollow — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:52:50 GMT

Ok here some new TFE infos!

We have finsihed 4 of our 8 main nations! All old nations are fully included! 5 new maps are finished until now! It would be good to name all natives your own, until we made existing technologies better or gave them new improvements. We alwayss tried to get more tactic and strategy into TFE games.

Union skinned by Disco86

EITC units with new formationmode! skinned by Disco86

Scene from the intro video (old textures)

Homecity editing

pikalife — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 17:47:03 GMT

I want to create a new civilization (eg.british to something completely new) but i dont know what i should do for the homecity (the picture) .For example the flag on top of a building in the homecity. If i create a new nation and change the flag, then how to i change the flag in the homecity picture?

Custom Map Tutorial & FAQs

M0nTy_PyTh0n — Mon, 28 Nov 2005 01:12:42 GMT

CUSTOM MAP TUTORIAL & FAQs

IMPORTANT NOTES - The difference between a MAP and a SCENARIO:
• A custom map is a random map script (RMS) you can play in skirmish mode.
• A custom map will be created with a separate text editor only, outside of the game.
• A custom scenario is a scenario like in the parts of the AOE3 campain.
• A custom scenario will be created with the scenario game editor only.

AOE3 Random Map Scripting Tutorial:

Contents:
• It will give answers to the most asked questions about custom maps, posted in popular forums.
• The tutorial will explain the basics and advanced steps to create your own custom maps.
• It will explain how to test your maps using the AOE3 build-in XS Debugger.
• It contains example maps you can easily create by your own.
• and, and, and ...

Read the COMPLETE AOE3 RMS TUTORIAL here!

Feel free to post comments and suggestions here.

Custom Map and Scenario FAQs:

Q: Why can I not play my custom scenarios in skirmish mode?
A: Only random maps can be played in skirmish mode.

Q: How do I convert my scenario into a random map/skirmish map?
A: You can't. A scenario is a map with a fixed size, player number, terrain, buildings, etc.
A random map/skirmish map will be generated new each time it gets started,
and with the random commands you will learn to create in the tutorial posted in the topic.

Q: Can I play my custom scenarios online?
A: Not yet. You will have to wait for a game patch with a version higher than 1.11 .

Q: Can I play my custom random maps online?
A: Yes.

Q: I joined a custom random map online. Can I host this map now?
A: Yes. When you join a game with a custom map online, the map will be automatically transfered onto your computer. In the game hosting menu you press the "Custom Maps" button on the upper right screen and the custom maps will appear for selection.

Q: I played a custom random map online. Where do I find the map files on my computer?
A: You will find the custom random maps in your windows profile directory. This is usually
"C:\...\My Documents\My Games\Age of Empires 3\RM\".
Each map consists of 2 files (*.xs and *.xml) - more informations in the tutorial above.

Q: I am new to RMS. How long does it take to make my first own RMS?
A: Long! You will need several hours to be able to correctly modify an already existing map, and a few weeks to create you very own random map from scratch. But, modifying maps makes MUCH fun and will enormously help you learning the commands.

Q: Why is there no RMS Editor for AOE3?
A: First of all, Ensemble Studios - the developers of AOE3 - do not support custom maps at all. They never did it in the past with AOE, AOK, AOM, and they will not do it in future. The main reason is: It is just too complicated for the regular players. Furthermore, it makes no sense in creating a drag'n drop menu for RM scripting, since RM's are dynamic/random. So, be happy to have this tutorial here - made by a fan of this game. And, I hope it is also a bit of entertainment for you .

Regards,
M0nTy_PyTh0n.

Reyks Editor

Musketeer925 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:45:43 GMT

I've read alot of good feedback about reyk's editor, http://aoe3.heavengames.com/downloads/lister.php?category=misc&author=reyk, (mostly on HG) and wonderered if anyone knew if it would work with the newest patch? (I would prefer kjn answer this question, i would think he oculd tell me the most.)

Question on techtreey.xml

kelvSYC — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 18:24:42 GMT

I'm wondering what the following effect subtypes do in techtreey.xml, if someone more experienced with tinkering the file can help:

For the Indian Call to Arms card, it uses the SetOnBuildingDeathTech. I can see that it sets both ypSpawnIrregulars (ships one irregular) and ypSpawnPeasants (ships one sentry), but I have no idea what the amounts mean. I'm thinking that it would ship one sentry and up to 100 irregulars, but I cold be wrong. Anyone with an idea on what this does?

For reference, here's the XML code:

<Effect type="SetOnBuildingDeathTech" amount="0.00" amount2="100.00">ypSpawnIrregulars</Effect>

<Effect type="SetOnBuildingDeathTech" amount="1.00" amount2="0.00">ypSpawnPeasants</Effect>

Introducing War of the Triple Alliance.

Banished — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 23:39:39 GMT

Team

Basically, the team is Lord Tahattus (from Brazil), Alvaro_qc (from Mexico), Day of the Ninja (from North America) and many others, namely Banished for expanding the mod over to Macintosh. Since Lord Tahattus lives in one of the old WotTA battlefields, it was the basic inspiration for making the mod. Currently, the mod has been assisted by Skippo (who made theTupi buildingset), by Custergrant (who made the intro song), and by many fans of WotTA who are partaking in the forum life and basic community by posting their screenshots and suggestions.

The Origin

Warof Triple Alliance idea was originally for Rise of Nations, another real-time strategy game. Once Tahattus realized that he could take the RON mod to the new game, War of the Triple Alliance was born. It was going to have just one civilization, Brazil, but Paraguay came in quick succession. With the release of The Warchiefs expansion, Argentina, Tupi and Colombia were added. For The Asian Dynasties, five more civilizations are under development: the Italians, and three unique African nations: Egyptian, Zulu and Abyssinians.

Unique Features

Two new cultures: Latin Americans (Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina) and Africans (Zulu, Egyptian, Abyssinian)
Over 20 new Random Maps
Old nations redesigned: Ottomans, for example, get a full new set of turkish politicians
New AIs, techs, cards, music, UI, homecities...
Three new 5-scenario campaigns (coming soon!)
...and much more!

Currently, the Mod is open for whomever has skills in modding, whom can add to the growing team! New team members will be graciously welcomed, as a good team makes a good mod, and there are many jobs to be had!

A myriad of other features also add to this promising mod, such as:

Mac and PC installation support
Online multiplayer gameplay for the Mac platform [PC is soon to come!]
8 new nations and compatibility with The Asian Dynasties [Coming this month!]

So there you have it! Join us at:

lordtahattus.110mb.com - The Official WotTA website.

For all the essential info and things yet to be said! Come join the fastest growing mod in the Age of Empires III Community! Bring your skills and gameplay prowess!

Scenerio Editor Overhaul

kjn — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:29:30 GMT

As you all know..There are three versions of the game out there..With that being posted a lot of issues have piled up that need to be addressed with this game..I understand that each issue has priority and is more important than my concern, but to this fan the editor is one big issue..

It is very well known that this editor needs some tweaking..When you stand it up against the well known editor mod there is no contest..There are so many powerful tools that we have come to depend on with it..

As you all know too there are drawbacks with this editor mod..One big one is you cannot use it with all three versions of the game with out a lot of altering of your files..It would be so much better for the design community if we finally had an in-game editor that we could go from one version to the other and also have the powerful tools that we've come to depend on included..

There are also a few conditions and effects that could be fixed..All of this could be achieved in a patch..I understand that time is money..I think it would be money well spent..I.M.H.O..Its over due!

How many of you out there in the design community would like to see something finally done with these issues?

please answer :)

ceche015 — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 16:59:37 GMT

how do i create an scenario, i have made many scenarios for other games and i want to know how to create on AOE3

Tips and Tricks For Custom Scenarios Online

MosheLevi — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 23:56:15 GMT

As many of you already noticed, CSO (Custom Scenarios Online) don’t work quite the same as single player scenarios.

I have therefore decided to put together some basic information on how to solve some of the CSO issues.

How to set Dynamic Players (that works for both Human player or AI)

When I say “Dynamic Player” I refer to selecting Human player or Computer player for each player slot on ESO.

If you want to set your scenarios to work with either Computer player or Human player for each player slot, then read the following:

Currently we cannot set dynamic players for CSO on ESO.

That doesn’t work for CSO like it does work for normal skirmish games.

The player who hosts a scenario game on ESO can choose between a computer player or human player for each player slot.

However the scenario designer has to choose between a “Human” player or “Computer” player for each player slot and set it to work only for one of them.

So if a certain slot is designated by the designer to be played by a human player and that player slot is set on ESO to be played by the AI then the AI won’t function.

The opposite of this would also be a problem.

In order for the AI to work for CSO the designer has to set that player to “Computer”, set “AI” for it and then place the “AI Start” object next to the TC.

So if a human player is selected (on ESO) to play in a slot that was designated by the designer to be played by the AI, then AI is NOT deactivated and there is a conflict between the player’s actions and the AI’s commands since both of them are in control of that player.

The good news is that we can set the scenario to work with Human Player or Computer Player for each slot with triggers.

In order to solve this problem we need to place the “AI Start” with triggers under certain conditions.

One condition we can use is “Population” but it is not that simple since the starting population is different for every civ.

However, if we use the condition “Player Population” > 10 then that should work for all civs.

So here is how the condition is going to look like for each player except for player 1:

Trigger 1: Active

Condition: “Player Population” > 10

Effect: Disable Trigger 2

Trigger 2: Active

Condition: Timer = 180 seconds

Effect: Unit Create – AI Start

Effect: Unit Create Multi: 7 villagers (give the AI the villagers that he would have trained)

Effect: Grant Resource – 800 Food (give the AI the resources he would have collected so he can age up)

So if a human player is playing that spot, then he should have more than 10 population by 3 minutes and the “AI Start” trigger is then deactivated.

If the population is not greater than 10 then there is probably no human player assigned to that spot so we activate the AI and give him the villagers and resources that he lost for not being active in the first 3 minutes.

Under this setup the player data should be “Computer” for all players except for player 1, and the AI should be set to AILoadStandard.

This method should allow players to set dynamic players for their scenarios.

How to Set the Camera’s Starting Position for Each Player

In multiplayer player skirmish games the camera’s starting position is always set at the town center for each player.

That is not the case for CSO.

The camera’s starting location in CSO is the same for everybody resulting in starting in a dark area for most players

That is not such a big deal, but it is somewhat annoying, so here is how you can set the camera’s starting position yourself for each player.

For this you would use the “Visible to Player” condition in combination with the “Camera Cut” effect.

For 2 player scenario it is fairly simple.

Trigger name: “Camera Cut 1”, (Active, High Priority)

Condition: Always

Effect: Camera Cut (where the “Set Cut” is set next to TC (Town Center) number 1)

Effect: Fire Trigger (“Trigger Name” = “Camera Cut 2”)

Trigger name: “Camera Cut 2”, (Not Active, High Priority)

Condition: Visible to Player (Source Units is set on TC number 1) (“NOT” Checkbox checked)

Effect: Camera Cut (where the “Set Cut” is set next TC number 2)

Explanation: the first trigger sets the camera next to one of the TC’s (either one) and fires the second trigger.

The second trigger checks if TC number 1 is Not visible to the current player.

It won’t be visible if that area is a dark area.

So if that area is dark and not visible then the condition will be true and the camera cut effect for the second TC will be executed moving the camera to the next TC.

If the condition is not true, and the TC number 1 is visible then the camera won’t move to TC number 2.

Now the question is how do we handle 4, 6 and even 8 players?

We handle that pretty much the same way but we need additional triggers to move the camera from one TC to the next until we find a TC that is visible, and then we stop.

So let’s say we have a 2V2 scenario with 4 players, how do we make that work?

We keep the first two triggers, modify trigger 2 and add two more triggers as follows:

Trigger name: “Camera Cut 1”, (Active, High Priority)

Condition: Always

Effect: Camera Cut (where the “Set Cut” is set next to TC (Town Center) number 1)

Effect: Fire Trigger (“Trigger Name” = “Camera Cut 2”)

Trigger name: “Camera Cut 2”, (Not Active, High Priority)

Condition: Visible to Player (Source Units is set on TC number 1) (“NOT” Checkbox checked)

Effect: Camera Cut (where the “Set Cut” is set next TC number 2)

Effect: Fire Trigger (“Trigger Name” = “Camera Cut 3”)

Trigger name: “Camera Cut 3”, (Not Active, High Priority)

Condition: Visible to Player (Source Units is set on TC number 2) (“NOT” Checkbox checked)

Effect: Camera Cut (where the “Set Cut” is set next TC number 3)

Effect: Fire Trigger (“Trigger Name” = “Camera Cut 4”)

Trigger name: “Camera Cut 4”, (Not Active, High Priority)

Condition: Visible to Player (Source Units is set on TC number 3) (“NOT” Checkbox checked)

Effect: Camera Cut (where the “Set Cut” is set next TC number 4)

So basically we keep moving the camera from one TC to the next until we find a visible TC and then we stop and break the chain if events.

This way every player is going to end up looking at his own TC at the start of the game.

If you have 6 or 8 players, then just keep adding more triggers for the additional TC’s.

But wait, there is one little complication that we need to take care of for this to work.

If we have players that are allies, then more than one TC is visible so how can we insure that we stop on our TC and not on our ally’s TC?

We have to play with “Diplomacy” for that to work.

We set our scenarios as FFA (Free For All) and a few seconds into the game (Timer = 4 seconds) we set the allies via the “Diplomacy” effect (Player 1 ally to player 2 and so on).

FFA makes everybody enemies with everybody, so every player can only see his own TC.

By the time the Diplomacy effect kicks in 4 seconds later the triggers above will be executed and every player will be looking at his own TC.

Now it’s not worth playing with Diplomacy just for the camera set up, but we need to be aware that the “Diplomacy” has its own issues.

So here is one method you can use to set up the diplomacy in your scenarios.

Diplomacy

In single scenarios we set the players and the diplomacy to our liking and the players cannot change that unless they modify the scenario itself.

However, with CSO players can modify the teams in ESO any way they want.

Let’s say that you made 1V3 scenario, but in ESO someone set the game as 2V2.

The scenario won’t work as it was intended, right?

We cannot expect other players to know how diplomacy is being set for every scenario.

The solution is that we take matters to our own hands and specify the diplomacy in a complete way for every scenario.

So first we need to set all players as enemy either via FFA set up (in ESO) or actual diplomacy triggers.

Once all players are enemies to everyone, only then we can set up the teams (allies).

This way no one can mess up our scenarios.

If you want the camera starting position to work for every player then you would need to set the game as FFA.

Either that or set up all players as enemies first, then set up the camera position for all players, and then set up the teams.

Now this whole thing can take a few seconds and we don’t want the players to see the camera jumping around, do we?

So what can we do about this problem?

Presenting our Scenario and Buying Time

Simple, we can use the “Fade to Color” effect with “Overlay Text” to present our scenario and give credit to ourselves.

We can set the scenario to show a black screen right away followed by two lines of text in the middle of the screen (on black background) that looks like this”

“Name of the Scenario” (without the quotes)

Scenario by “Name of the Designer” (without the quotes)

We can set this introduction screen to show for 4 or 5 seconds and then make it fade away.

During that time our triggers for diplomacy and setting the camera’s position all took place already and everything is all set.

So how do we make this small presentation?

It takes only two triggers to do that (as I am sure most of the designers here already know).

Trigger name: “Fade to Color On”, (Active, High Priority)

Condition: Always

Effect: Fade to color (all parameters set to zero, Fade set to “ON”)

Effect” Overlay Text (TEXT = your text, Fade Duration = 4, do not change anything else)

Trigger name: “Fade to Color Off”, (Active, Normal Priority)

Condition: Timer = 4

Effect: Fade to color (all parameters set to zero, Fade set to “OFF”)

Again, this will set the black screen, then the overlay text will display our scenario name and designer name, and then the second trigger will kick in and make the black screen disappear.

Spreading Out our Starting Triggers

It is not uncommon to get OOS (Out Of Sync) error in the first 5 seconds of the scenario.

Most OOS errors will occur at the beginning of the scenario.

It is unclear what all the factors that cause OOS are, but there are good indicators that suggest that slow computers are one of these factors.

Usually there are many triggers that get executed at the beginning of the scenario and slow computer cannot catch up fast enough and therefore may cause OOS error.

It is therefore a good idea to spread out all your starting triggers over the first 4 or 5 seconds (during the scenario presentation) in order to reduce the chances of getting OOS errors.

Usually we use “Always” as a condition for triggers that need to be executed at the start of the scenario.

It is OK to do so for a few riggers, but when you have many such triggers, it would be better to place some of them under “Timer” condition where the Timer = 1 or 2 seconds (or even longer periods than that).

This will help to spread out your triggers and hopefully slow computers can catch up and not cause OOS.

Starting Population Room

Some of you probably already noticed that when we start a scenario we cannot train any villagers because the population room is set to zero instead of 10.

There is some kind of bug that resets the population room and our existing TC doesn’t change that.

To solve this problem just use the “Unit Create” effect at the start of the scenario (while the black screen is showing) and use it to place one house next to each TC.

This will give all players the 10 population room that is needed.

Placing several houses on the map via the editor won’t solve the problem.

So if you want the player to start with 10 houses and population room of 110 then you will have to place these houses via triggers in order to give the player the population room you want him to have.

If you want to give players more starting population without placing houses then use the “Unit Create” effect with SpcPopBlock and that will give 15 population for each Pop Block up to 220 population limit for all civs.

Setting Defeated Players and Ending the Scenario

As we all know scenarios can go on forever even after we wiped out everything and everyone.

Yet I noticed that not many designers know how to end the scenario properly.

So here are a few tips to solve this issue.

In CSO you can wipe out a player and he is still going to be in the game.

So it is a good idea to take out the defeated players and announce it.

There are many ways to determine if the player is defeated and that is subject to personal preference.

This is my preference:

Trigger name: “Player 1 defeated” (Active)

Condition: Player Unit Count (player = 1, Unit = Town Center, equal zero)

Condition: Player Population (player = 1, Count < 6)

Effect: Set Player Defeated (Player =1)

Effect: Message (text = Player 1 has been Defeated)

This effect will put a strike on the player’s name and announce to everyone that this player is out of the game.

You can also use these effects:

Player destroy all units (player = 1) and

Player destroy all buildings (player = 1)

You can do that if you want to take the player completely out of the game.

For team games you can use the condition “Player Defeated” for all team players to determine if the whole team is defeated.

When that is true you can either announce that a specific team is defeated (for games with more than two teams) or end the game (for two team games).

Here is how you can end the game properly with announcement where everything stops, and giving the players the option to view the game’s statistics.

This is an example for 2V2 game:

Trigger name: “Team 1 Won” (Active)

Condition: Player Defeated (player = 3)

Condition: Player Defeated (player = 4)

Effect: Render Fog/Black Map (fog of war = off, black map = off)

Effect: Win Message (Flash UI Train = Team 1 Has Won the Game)

Effect: End Game

Trigger name: “Team 2 Won” (Active)

Condition: Player Defeated (player = 1)

Condition: Player Defeated (player = 2)

Effect: Render Fog/Black Map (fog of war = off, black map = off)

Effect: Win Message (Flash UI Train = Team 2 Has Won the Game)

Effect: End Game

First, the fog of war and black map will be removed so everyone can see everything on the map.

Then a big victory message will be displayed on the screen.

And finally the game will freeze and players can view the game statistics.

Making High Home City Levels

First, it is important to know that the single player method of assigning your own home city files from the scenario menu doesn’t work for online scenarios.

To make high level home city you need to use the new “Home City Editor” option from the “Scenario” Menu.

However, before you do that, open the “Player Data” window from the “Scenario” menu and click on the “Reset HC” button for all players in order to reset the home city.

After that you can open the “Home City Editor” window and assign the home city level that you want.

You can then choose new cards and build decks just like you normally do.

Please note that players can choose to play CSO with any of the civs so you may want to set high home city level for every civ.

After that you are done.

However, if you test your scenario in the editor or as a single player scenario you will NOT see your high level home cities.

You will only see them Online.

Please also note that once you exit the Editor you cannot go back and modify your home city decks.

You will then have to delete them and start all over again.

So make sure you make them right the first time.

How to Copy High Level HC Decks from one Multiplayer Scenario to Another

- Open an exiting multiplayer scenario (via the Editor) that already has high level HC decks.

- Open another scenario that doesn’t have any HC setup.

The HC decks from the first scenario are still in the Editor’s memory.

- Save your second scenario and you are all set (HC decks from the first scenario are now included in this scenario too).

How to set the Players and Teams

In the civ selection screen in ESO players can select their civs and teams in any way they want.

That could cause a problem for scenarios that are set in a special way where humans/computer players are supposed to be assigned to a certain player numbers or team numbers.

So here are a few tips and examples on how to enforce your special setup.

Example number 1:

Let’s say you want to have a 1V1 game where there is a computer player that you assigned triggers to, and these triggers are essential for the scenario.

So in this case players 1 and 2 should be the human players, and player 3 should be the computer player.

First, I am sure we agree that human player cannot be assigned to player number 3 as it would cause the scenario not to work properly.

Unfortunately you cannot force a computer player to be player number 3 in ESO.

So the best way (that I found) to make the scenario work properly is to kick player 3 out of the game once the game started and notify him that player 3 meant to be a computer player and that he cannot play that role.

The game will then continue to work properly where player 1 and 2 can play and the triggers for player 3 will work properly.

To notify player 3 that he cannot play that role just use “Send Chat to Player” effect with the appropriate message.

After a few seconds you can set player 3 as a defeated player (“Set Player Defeated” effect).

Player 3 will then loose the control over his units, and he can observe the game if he wants.

This solution will work only for passive computer players who don’t have a base and don’t develop their economy with the help of “AILoadStandard” AI.

Of course if the computer player is an active player, then the triggers won’t work and human player probably can and take that role.

Please note that Triggers don’t work for “AILoadStandard” AI because the AI takes over and issues its own commands that override the triggers command.

In CSO you set “AILoadStandard” AI by placing the “AI Start” object near the TC.

Example number 2:

Your scenario is supposed to be 3V1 but the players set the game as 2V2.

The solution for that is to override the diplomacy with your diplomacy set up.

First, issue the “Set Diplomacy” for all enemies with a timer – 1 or 2 seconds.

Then in the next effect issue all the neutral and ally effects.

This will override the player’s team setup from ESO.

The only side effect that I didn’t find a solution for yet is the “removal of the black map” according to the original team set up (from ESO).

There is going to be fog of war, but my triggers to return the black map didn’t work.

It is therefore best if players don’t set the teams in ESO and leave them as “?”.

That will resolve the black map issue.

Deploying Armies for Computer Players and Moving them

The “Army Deploy” effect doesn’t work Online for computer players

This effect works only for human players and Gaia (player 0).

To get around this problem just use the “Army Deploy” for Gaia (player 0) and then in the same trigger use the “Army Convert” effect and convert the army to the player that you want.

This will be done very fast and you won’t notice the difference.

Unfortunately the armies that were converted cannot always be controlled via the “Army Move…” effects.

This effect doesn’t always work for converted armies (more research is needed here).

That means we cannot always use the “Army Move…” effect for converted armies.

There are also the “Move from Area” effects to move units from one point to another.

However, I found out that the “Move from Area” effects don’t work all the time (Single Player and Multiplayer).

It is very possible that the “Move from Area” effects got messed up with patch 1.04.

So is that means we cannot create armies for computer players and move those armies to specific locations (for CSO)?

No, we just have to use another method for doing so.

You can place many cinematic blocks in different locations on the map (physically, not through triggers).

During the game you can use “Change Unit Type” to change the units to any military units (you can select several cinematic cubes and change all of them in one effect).

You can then use the “Move to Point” effect to move them anywhere you want with attack move.

If you want them to move to a point with “attack move” = “off” (ignore everything in their way), then use the “Unit Work” effect.

This method works pretty well for CSO.

It’s just that you need to place many cinematic cubes around the map.

Setting the AI Difficulty Level

Setting the AI difficulty level on ESO should work fine in most cases.

Setting the AI difficulty level is only needed when there is one or more active AI’s in the scenario.

DO NOT open the Scenario Editor prior to playing scenarios online.

If you opened the Editor, then just restart AOE3 before you go to ESO.

This is because the Editor’s difficulty level (default is Sandbox) will override ESO’s difficulty level resulting in OOS (Out of Sync) error when the Editor’s difficulty level doesn’t match the difficulty level on ESO.

Verify that the AI difficulty setting on ESO does match the AI’s difficulty level during the game.

I witnessed cases where it wasn’t the same and so far I haven’t been able to determine the cause for that other than the Editor’s difficulty override.

Scenario Doesn’t recognizing Resigning Players

As some of you have noticed when a player resigns a scenario game the game doesn’t set him as “Player Defeated” automatically.

As result of that players may resign the game and your win triggers won’t be executed.

The solution for that is to check if the player is active, see:

Player Active Condition

You should have this condition for each player with the “NOT” check box checked.

The effect under this condition should be “Set Player Defeated”.

You may also want to display a message notifying everybody when a player resigns.

This will insure that your win triggers always get executed.

-------------------------

I wrote this “short” guide mainly to help out new scenario designers who want to make online scenarios.

If you want to see actual examples for these triggers in a very small and simple scenario, then check out my first published multiplayer scenario 2V2V2 California.

This is a very simple 2V2V2 skirmish scenario that has almost all the triggers that I mentioned above.

If you have Reyk’s editor then you can even cut and paste these triggers to your own scenario.

Thank you,

Moshe Levi

-->My Scenarios:
The Tapir Witch Chronicles: Immortal Cows – Single Player / Multiplayer
Tribe Wars (2V2/FFA) Multiplayer / Forest Domination II Multiplayer / Geronimo’s Revenge
“Annihilation” 2V2 (Supremacy) Multiplayer / Strategic Objectives: Islands
Strategic Objectives: Stronghold / Strategic Objectives: Russo-Turkish Wars
More Scenarios / http://www.moshelevi.com

TAD play with mics

Rodriguez — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:30:24 GMT

Hi,

Ok, so who wants to play this awesome game with mics? I've tried TeamSpeak, Ventrilo, and Xfire, but the one I like the most is Skype. This very user-friendly and easy-to-use program is great for playing with! Download it at www.skype.com and add me to your list (ezhidze-47). The more people the better!

TAD Skype Team

Ezhidze — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 01:34:46 GMT

Hi I'm thinking of forming another TAD team that will communicate in-game using Skype. Ages 16+, no grandpas please. Who would like to join?

User Created Content

TAOE Forums

RPG Guide

RPG Guide

By - Naisly

What is a RPG (Role-Playing Game)?

Story Development:

Character Development:

< < Scenario Design - Question Thread > >

The Great War Campaign : By Yuttho

The Modding Thread.

Problem with scenario editor and cards

Modify Protounit Effect

HC New Cards

Question about an effect

Knights and Barbarians Prologue

Question about a condition

9 of the most commonly asked questions concerning designing maps are answered here

What is the trigger for unloading ships

What's up with this category?

TFE MOD Update

Homecity editing

Custom Map Tutorial & FAQs

Reyks Editor

Question on techtreey.xml

Introducing War of the Triple Alliance.

Two new cultures: Latin Americans (Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina) and Africans (Zulu, Egyptian, Abyssinian)

Over 20 new Random Maps

Old nations redesigned: Ottomans, for example, get a full new set of turkish politicians

New AIs, techs, cards, music, UI, homecities...

Three new 5-scenario campaigns (coming soon!)

...and much more!

Scenerio Editor Overhaul

please answer :)

Tips and Tricks For Custom Scenarios Online

TAD play with mics

TAD Skype Team