RanDom v2.03 - Map gen & Semirandomizer... Updated

[Ballbarian]

RanDom v2 is a simple program written in visual basic 6.0 which serves two purposes:

1. It can be used to tweak the various settings for random map generation via the command line options provided by Dominions3, generate the map, and then save those settings for future use, or to load settings from previous sessions.

2. It can also be used to tweak the settings for and run the SemiRandomizer on the specified map.

There are several features I would still like to add, and changes I would like to make, but it can be quite entertaining in it's current state. I have included a few sample saved settings (.stg files) and hope to see some interesting setting files from others.

Since it is a VB program, it will require the VB runtime dll which you probably already have on your system. If not, it is widely available on the net.


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2/10/2009 GAN and GOD Compilation is now available HERE (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=673744&postcount=194)!
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das123's RanDom Help Guide is now viewable online HERE (http://www.dom3minions.com/~semirand/sub_pages/RanDom2.03_Help_Draft02.html)!
************************************************** *************************


If you receive errors about missing controls see the following posts:
COMDLG32.OCX (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=585939&postcount=115)
MSCOMCTL.OCX (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=629278&postcount=148)
TABCTL32.OCX (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=629343&postcount=153)

For more help on using these controls see:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=586236&postcount=117


For sample map images and previous discussions on RanDom (v1) you can view previous postings HERE (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=496176&page=3&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1).

http://www.dom3minions.com/%7Esemirand/creepycellar/AUTOMAP_cot_thmb.JPG http://www.dom3minions.com/%7Esemirand/creepycellar/AUTOMAP_greenland_thmb.JPG http://www.dom3minions.com/%7Esemirand/creepycellar/AUTOMAP_northernskrags_thmb.JPG http://www.dom3minions.com/%7Esemirand/creepycellar/AUTOMAP_rediculous_thmb.JPG http://www.dom3minions.com/%7Esemirand/creepycellar/AUTOMAP_swampyredsea_thmb.JPGhttp://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/523924-GandalfPlains.jpg
http://www.dom3minions.com/%7Esemirand/creepycellar/AUTOMAP_savannah.JPGhttp://www.dom3minions.com/%7Esemirand/creepycellar/AUTOMAP_bluewaterbay.JPGhttp://www.dom3minions.com/%7Esemirand/creepycellar/AUTOMAP_ruggedshores.JPG

Feel free to share your favorite settings here if you would like. The stg files can be opened with any text editor. Just copy the contents and paste them here along with a title for the file and maybe a small sample thumbnail image if you are so inclined.

Basically, the same with some tweaks and upgraded to support SemiRandom version 101 which is where the majority of the work was done. ;)


Ok, I re-uploaded the file and the attachment link appears to be working now.

5/25/07 - Replaced v200 with v201: Fixed a minor problem with the anti aliasing & normal mount check boxes when turning them on via a stg file.

6/24/07 - Replaced v201 with v202: Fixed a major bug in SemiRandom where custom provinces could sometimes be placed on the incorrect terrain and a minor bug involving start placements for water nations. Also, added a check box to the "Starts" tab titled "Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg". When checked, RanDom will automatically adjust several player count settings in SemiRandom. Very helpful when setting up a quick game. BACKUP YOUR OLD RANDOM/SEMIRANDOM FILES BEFORE INSTALLING THE NEW VERSION OR RISK LOSING YOUR OWN CUSTOM ADDITIONS.

7/08/07 - Replaced v202 with v203: Updated SemiRandom to version 106. Now supports the new "_OR_" tag which will allow placement of a single province file across a wide variety of terrain types. Also added a new option "fiddleXP" which will block #xp (experience point) lines from being written into the map file. This is for folks who would like to keep the Hall of Fame clear of independent commanders. In RanDom, this is a new check box located on the "General" tab. The update also includes some drastic changes to many of the existing GAN province files as well as many new ones. I HIGHLY recommend moving or renaming the old SemiRandom folder prior to installing this new version. And finally, the Province Editor has been updated from version 1.00 to 1.01 to support the new features. The editor's discussion thread can be found HERE (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=d3smm&Number=528292).


NOTE: If you are installing over an old version of RanDom some files will be overwritten. I recommend backing up your old RanDom settings folder and SemiRandom folder prior to install. As a general rule, I include any GAN/GOD files that I have received in the latest release so if you have added files from the SemiRandom web site, you should not have to add them again. Additionally, some of the existing GAN files may have been updated as well. You WILL need to add any custom files that you had that were not submitted to me prior to this release.

QUICK PATCH:
HERE (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=580660) is a quick patch for SemiRandom. Upgrades SemiRandom v106 to v107.
To apply:
Replace SemiRandom.exe in your dominions3/SemiRandom folder with the one included in SemiRandom107patch.zip.
Fixes:
Start placement code will no longer ignore "nostart" flags in custom maps.

3/5/08 - Four new GAN province files!
Download from the following link:
Valley of the Sisters (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=585712)
To apply:
Paste the four ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following four lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

SISTERSET1_VL_U_R_OR_EMT_S_N_L_
SISTERSET2_VL_U_R_OR_FST_S_N_L_
SISTERSET3_VL_U_R_OR_WST_S_N_L_
SISTERSET4_VL_U_R_OR_PLN_S_N_L_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

3/26/08 - 32 new GOD pretender files!
Download from the following link:
NewGods.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=591882)
To apply:
Paste the new Nations.cfg file in your SemiRandom directory. (This updates SemiRandom/RanDom2 to include the new Dominions3 v3.15 nations.)
Paste the 32 ".god" files into your SemiRandom/GOD_BIN directory and add the following lines to GodList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

BARIAN1_13_A_EA_
BARIAN2_13_A_EA_
BARIAN3_13_A_EA_
BARIAN4_27_A_MA_
BARIAN5_28_A_MA_
BARIAN6_29_A_MA_
BARIAN7_30_A_MA_
BARIAN8_31_A_MA_
BARIAN9_14_A_EA_
BARIAN10_32_A_MA_
BARIAN11_33_A_MA_
BARIAN12_34_A_MA_
BARIAN13_35_A_MA_
BARIAN14_36_A_MA_
BARIAN15_37_A_MA_
BARIAN16_38_A_MA_
BARIAN17_39_A_MA_
BARIAN18_40_A_MA_
BARIAN19_41_A_MA_
BARIAN20_42_A_MA_
BARIAN21_43_A_MA_
BARIAN22_44_A_MA_
BARIAN23_46_A_MA_SEA_
BARIAN24_47_A_MA_SEA_
BARIAN25_48_A_MA_SEA_
BARIAN26_69_A_MA_
BARIAN27_27_A_MA_
BARIAN28_29_A_MA_
BARIAN29_30_A_MA_
BARIAN30_31_A_MA_
BARIAN31_32_A_MA_
GANDALF1_40_A_MA_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

3/27/08 - 66 new GAN province files created and contributed by Foodstamp.!
Download from the following link:
JasonGanSet.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=592318)
To apply:
Paste the 66 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

JASON1_U_R_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON2_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_
JASON3_U_R_WST_L_
JASON4_U_A_OR_PLN_MNT_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON5_U_A_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON6_U_A_OR_PLN_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON8_U_A_OR_PLN_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON9_U_A_OR_PLN_SEA_DEP_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_ S_N_L_
JASON10_U_A_OR_MNT_S_N_L_
JASON11_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON12_U_A_OR_PLN_FST_S_N_L_
JASON13_U_A_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON14_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON15_U_A_OR_MNT_SWP_FST_S_N_L_
JASON16_LK_U_R_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON17_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON18_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON19_U_R_OR_SWP_S_N_L_
JASON20_M_A_DS_
JASON21_IS_U_R_
JASON22_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON23_CLD_U_A_N_
JASON24_CLD_U_A_N_
JASON25_CLD_U_R_WST_N_
JASON26_U_A_OR_PLN_MNT_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON27_U_A_OR_PLN_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON28_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON29_U_A_OR_EMT_MNT_FST_S_N_L_
JASON30_CLD_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON31_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON32_U_A_OR_PLN_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON33_U_A_OR_EMT_MNT_S_N_L_
JASON34_U_A_OR_SEA_DEP_WST_S_N_L_
JASON35_U_A_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON36_TMP_U_A_OR_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON37_TMP_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON38_HOT_U_R_OR_EMT_MNT_S_N_L_DS_
JASON39_U_A_OR_PLN_L_
JASON40_TMP_U_A_OR_PLN_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON41_TMP_U_A_OR_PLN_SWP_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON42_TMP_U_R_OR_PLN_N_L_
JASON43_CLD_U_A_MNT_S_
JASON44_TMP_U_A_FST_N_
JASON45_TMP_U_A_SWP_N_
JASON46_U_A_S_
JASON47_CO_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON48_HOT_VC_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON49_VL_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON50_U_A_OR_SEA_WTR_S_N_L_
JASON51_CLD_U_A_CAV_N_
JASON52_TMP_U_A_FST_N_
JASON53_U_A_WTR_S_
JASON54_M_A_OR_EMT_S_N_L_
JASON55_U_A_WST_WTR_S_
JASON56_U_A_OR_EMT_FST_WTR_S_N_L_
JASON57_M_A_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON58_M_A_OR_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON59_M_A_OR_CAV_S_N_L_
JASON60_M_A_OR_EMT_S_N_L_FS_
JASON61_VC_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON62_CO_U_A_L_ES_
JASON63_U_A_EMT_FST_L_WS_NS_
JASON64_PN_M_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON65_U_A_EMT_FST_S_
JASON66_U_A_OR_S_N_L_DS_
JASON67_U_A_OR_S_N_L_BS_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

Foodstamp has done a great job with this set. It has a nice mix of beefy, hard to tackle provinces and nice thematic additions to the standard fare. Very cool. ;)

6/9/08 - Updated Nations.cfg file which brings nation selections up to dominions version 3.17
Download from the following link:
NationsCfg317.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=614035)
To apply:
Paste the Nations.cfg file into your dominions3\SemiRandom folder. This replaces the Nations.cfg that was included in RanDom v203.


7/30/08 - 14 new GAN province files submitted by Gandalf!
Download from the following link:
GandalfContributions1.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=629537)
To apply:
Paste the 14 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

GAN10_VL_U_A_OR_PLN_WST_FST_FRM_S_N_
GAN4_PN_U_R_OR_S_N_
GAN5_TMP_LO_U_R_OR_PLN_FST_S_
GAN6_U_A_WST_S_
GAN7_VL_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_WST_S_
GAN8_U_A_S_MST_
GAN9_VL_M_R_OR_PLN_WST_FST_FRM_N_
Jutetrea1_U_R_L_CO_FST_
Jutetrea3_CLD_U_A_N_EMT_FS_
Jutetrea3_CLD_U_A_N_MNT_FS_
Jutetrea6_TMP_VL_U_A_S_FS_AS_WS_ES_
quantum_mechani1_U_A_OR_EMT_MNT_S_N_L_
quantum_mechani2_U_A_PLN_
quantum_mechani3_CO_M_R_SWP_N_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.


8/8/08 - 9 new GAN province files submitted by Gandalf!
Download from the following link:
GandalfContributions2.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=632163)
To apply:
Paste the 9 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

CelestialGoblyn1_U_R_OR_EMT_MNT_
CelestialGoblyn2_LK_U_R_OR_SEA_S_N_
Cor1_U_R_FST_L_
GAN11_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_
GAN12_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_
Stryke1_TMP_U_A_FST_N_
Taqwus1_CO_U_R_PLN_EMT_WST_SWP_FRM_
Turin1_U_A_FRM_N_
Turin2_U_A_N_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

2/8/09 - 46 new GOD files & 38 new GAN province files submitted by Stavis_L!
Download & details can be found HERE (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=658675&postcount=171).

2/8/09 - 37 new GAN province files submitted by Happyfungi!
Download & details can be found HERE (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=673112&postcount=172).

11/22/10 - 89 new GOD files & 81 new GAN province files submitted by Stavis_L!
Download & details can be found HERE (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=763781&postcount=209).

Since the dom3minions server is deceased, the semirandom email address is no longer working. If you wish to submit semirandom files, for now just use:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/picture.php?albumid=7&pictureid=50

[Ballbarian]

Below is a screen shot of the new RanDom interface: http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/523673-main.JPG

[Gandalf Parker]

Great program. Here are my favorite settings.
100,30,50,30,20,10,10,#TRUE#,1600,1200,150,#FALSE# ,50,100,50,255,20,30,110,200,100,200,20,100,40,120 ,200,100,100,15

Growing up in the plains Im abit bugged by dirt-colored plains.

[Ballbarian]

Replaced v200 with v201: Fixed a minor problem with the anti aliasing & normal mount check boxes when turning them on via a stg file.

Thanks Gandalf!
Trying out your settings brought a bug to my attention which is now fixed. (Why on earth VB wants to turn a boolean TRUE into "-1" instead of "1" is beyond me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif )

Here is a thumb of Gandalf's settings:
http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/523924-GandalfPlains.jpg

[Ballbarian]

Since I have a little more time tonight, thought I would highlight some of what was added to the SemiRandom portion.

1. Map text color can now be set.
2. Random start distributions can be set.
3. God files can be added similar to the methods used for adding province files. At this point, I have only created 1-2 gods for each nation in EA with the exception of Tir na n'Og. Over time, I hope to have a variety for all nations of all eras, but I would really enjoy playing games with a variety of gods designed by other players.


Steps for setting up a game using custom gods:
1. Use RanDom to generate desired map (if one not already available).
2. Set SemiRand options within RanDom.
3. Hit "Semi Randomize" to execute the SemiRand settings.
4. Copy yourMapsName_SR.map from the SemiRandom directory to your dominions3/maps directory.
5. Start a new game in dom3, select the SR map. The only age available will be the one that was set in RanDom.
6. On the participants screen, hit &lt;add new player&gt; until it greys out. This is how many nations were "allowed" when start positions were generated. <font color="red">Note that this number may be less than numPlayers!</font>
7. Select the human player's nation(s) from the available nations. (the others are AI nations). <font color="red">Do not select a nation that was set to AI in RanDom or you will crash Dominions!</font>
8. Set or load human gods.
9. Adjust dom3 game settings.
10. Start game and boom. All set.


Sample GAN file:
BALL17_LK_M_A_N_SEA_.gan
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
@RANDOM landname LAKE
-- Landlocked Sea Populations
@3 poptype
65 --Ichtyids
72 --Mermen
85 --Kappa
</pre><hr />

Sample GOD file:
BALL1_11_A_EA_.god
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
#god 11 138 -- PANGAEA GORGON
@RANDOM comname COMMANDER
#clearmagic
#mag_earth 9
#mag_nature 4
#additem "Shield of Gleaming Gold" -- hand slot
#additem "Sword of Sharpness" -- hand slot
#additem "Black Steel Helmet" -- head slot
#additem "Robe of Invulnerability" -- body slot
#additem "Boots of the Messenger" -- feet slot
#additem "Amulet of Antimagic" -- misc slot
#additem "Amulet of Missile Protection" -- misc slot
#dominionstr 11 10
#scale_chaos 11 3
#scale_lazy 11 1
#scale_cold 11 -1
#scale_death 11 -3
#scale_unluck 11 -2
#scale_unmagic 11 2
-- 6 points left if we were dormant...
</pre><hr />

[Endoperez]

Wait - is the .god file something that gives AI nations intelligently designed pretenders? If it is, this must be one of the GREATEST tools available for a friend of single-player Dominions.

Why do you use a '@random #comname COMMANDER' for the Gorgon, when the game already has huge namelists defined for the various monsters, and uses a list that's probably more fitting than your general one?

Also, I think you can't have too many special provinces. It can be tedious to learn how to make new ones, so I'll start an idea thread and actualize some of the better ones myself. I don't think I'll have time to do any this weekend, but I should have time next week, so I'll go and start the tread now.

[Ballbarian]

The intention is to give AI nations intelligently designed pretenders, although I don't claim that the pretenders that I designed to act as examples are. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I used the @random for the commander names simply to show that you could use @random's in the god files. I intended to go back to the files and do a variety of improvements to the designs of the individual gods, but time always seems so short and I wanted to get to the finish line instead of letting it rot away on my hard drive. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

I agree with you completely. The more special provinces that are available to select from, the better. No promises, but I am considering options for a simple GAN editor to hopefully make the process of creating and adding special province files a little easier.

[Gandalf Parker]

The thing holding me up is going back and forth between Edi's files and an editor. If the two could be merged then we might be on a roll.

[Ballbarian]

What I wanted to do would require the unit sprites. (hint hint KO...). As it is, the best that I can offer is the online unit list and a text box to enter the unit number in which automatically pulls in the units name and the proper item slots. I hope to include the ability to select items, forts and magic sites from categorized lists.

[Gandalf Parker]

Here is a mid era Pangaean God. I have not tested it in map-add format yet.

#god 40 812 -- Lord of the Wild
#comname "Natural Disaster"
#allies 40 48 -- likes to ally with Oceania if they are both AI
#clearmagic
#mag_death 4 -- needed for Pangea spells and a bless
#mag_nature 4 -- needed for Pangea spells and a bless
#mag_blood 4 -- good combo with the above and a bless
#additem "Treelord's Staff" -- 2 more nature
#additem "Skullface" -- helmet with 1 more death and support
#additem "Armor of Souls" -- armor and 1 more blood
#additem "Boots of the Behemoth" -- goes well with his size 6
#additem "Brazen Vessel" -- misc slot and 1 more blood
#additem "Ring of Sorcery" -- 1 death and 1 nature and 1 blood
#dominionstr 40 6
#scale_chaos 40 2
#scale_lazy 40 2
#scale_cold 40 -1
#scale_death 40 0 -- this line might need removed
#scale_unluck 40 -3
#scale_unmagic 40 -1

-- 6 points left over
-- Gandalf Parker

[Endoperez]

Gandalf - those scales are Order 2, Prod 2, Cold 1, Misfortune 3 and Drain 1. I think you meant the opposites.

[Gandalf Parker]

Endoperez said:
Gandalf - those scales are Order 2, Prod 2, Cold 1, Misfortune 3 and Drain 1. I think you meant the opposites.


Ouch! Yes I did, thanks for that. I will edit it

[Xietor]

I loved random I, when i get time i will try the newer version!

[jutetrea]

Ballbarian - could you expand on this line:

-Random start distributions can be set.

Thanks

[Ballbarian]

@Gandalf
Great! That will make a perfect addition. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

@jutetrea
Sure. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
The parameters are:

numPlayers
--&gt; -1 means use DEFAULT_PROVPERPLAYER or provPerPlayer (0=NO START PLACEMENTS), otherwise how many starts are desired.

provPerPlayer
--&gt; -1 means use DEFAULT_PROVPERPLAYER or numPlayers, otherwise this will determine how many starts can be placed dependent on province count.

minNeighCount
--&gt; -1 means use DEFAULT_MINNEIGHCOUNT, otherwise value entered is the minimum neighbor count before a province can be a valid start.

maxSeaStarts
--&gt; -1 means use default of 3. Use this to limit sea start placements.

enforcedSpace
--&gt; -1 means no space enforcement, otherwise value entered enforced. This is the minimum number of provinces between start positions.

Provinces adjacent to start provinces are set off limits to prevent SemiRandom from assigning any specials to those provinces.


As a side note:
I know that there are algorithms out there that would have worked just as well (likely better) than this one, but I came up with it from scratch. Anyhow, keep in mind that it is possible to set numPlayers to "7" only to find that SemiRandom only placed 6 start positions. I added a fidgeter into the algorithm early on to mix up the results a little from run to run which keeps every run on the same map different, but as a result it will not be optimized.

This is also probably a good time to point out that my entire approach to this project from day one was to keep it moving by letting myself be a little sloppy at times. Kind of one hack stacked on top of another to get the end result that I wanted, and then work another idea into it. Time is a serious issue for me, so this (and many other projects) are what I do for fun. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

Ballbarian said:
This is also probably a good time to point out that my entire approach to this project from day one was to keep it moving by letting myself be a little sloppy at times. Kind of one hack stacked on top of another to get the end result that I wanted, and then work another idea into it. Time is a serious issue for me, so this (and many other projects) are what I do for fun. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


The joys of basic programming. Thats why I stay with it. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Herode]

Wow, I've juste discovered RanDom. Great job, Ballbarian !!

[Gandalf Parker]

If a god is randomly added, does the description remind the player that the nation MUST be in the game? Otherwise the game blows up.
Altho, an interesting note, apparently you can choose to make that nation AI or play it yourself with that god.

[Ballbarian]

Example description:
"This is a SemiRandomized map. It has 125 provinces: 116 land, 9 sea, 14 land starts, 1 sea starts, 1 open land starts, 0 open sea starts, 14 custom AI gods."

The open land/sea starts tell you how many slots there are for human players and the "14 custom AI gods" lets you know that there will be 14 slots devoted to AI nations. Remember that you do not have to set each individual nation. All you have to set are the human nations and then just hit &lt;n&gt; (the shortcut for &lt;add new player&gt;) until it greys out. In the map example above, you would end up with 14 random nation spots showing default settings.

It would be a nice feature to have the description remind you which nations were reserved for human, but in its current state, SemiRandom only sees nation numbers and not the names.

Right now I am neck deep in a province/Gan editor. Made a huge amount of progress so far this weekend, but I have been seduced by Edi's database and the pace is slowing some. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Gooles]

If VB lib. didn't work for anyone else, I've found this library (http://www.ascentive.com/support/new/libraryfiles.exe) to contain and register all the ocx files you'll need.

[Gandalf Parker]

Thanks, I needed that on one of my machines. The other loaded and ran it fine but my newer XP got that unregistered library error.

[Ballbarian]

Uploaded 10 new province files to the Gan Library (http://www.dom3minions.com/~semirand/semi_random/GAN_LIBRARY/). These were created with the new Province Editor. The tag name on the new set is "ZIGGY".

Thanks for sharing the link Gooles. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Ballbarian]

Gandalf Parker said:
Great program. Here are my favorite settings.
100,30,50,30,20,10,10,#TRUE#,1600,1200,150,#FALSE# ,50,100,50,255,20,30,110,200,100,200,20,100,40,120 ,200,100,100,15

Growing up in the plains Im abit bugged by dirt-colored plains.



Thanks for sharing this Gandalf. I am currently enjoying a challenging game on a map generated with these settings. It worked out perfectly. Playing EA Rlyeh and the map generated included two large, bodies of water (north &amp; south) with an isthmus separating them. A serious mountain range runs through the center of the strip with many chokepoints and one-neighbor provinces that SemiRandom turned into caves. Perfect for my darkvision hordes. Trying desperately to cross the land to get to Atlantis so that I can lay claim to their body of water. (Even found a nice lake to slosh around in along the way. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

On another subject, I have found and squished a bug in SemiRandom that crept up. It involved start placements for water nations under some circumstances. Also am in the process of adding a check box that will apply changes in the RanDom nation sliders to the SemiRandom settings player counts. This appears to be working great, but I want to fiddle with it for a while longer to look for any problems it could introduce. Seems to really simplify setting up a game. For my current game, I just set all of the early era nations to AI except for Tir na n'Og which I disabled, and Rlyeh which I set to human. Then I just hit SemiRandomize and baboom, off and playing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

I should be able to release an updated version by this coming weekend.

[Valandil]

Hrmmm. Blew up in my face when I tried it with Vista. Can't say I'm surprised.

[Ballbarian]

Has anyone had any problems running this in Vista? Judging by the little I have read online, it appears that it should run fine.

What exactly happened Valandil? What error message did you receive and at what point in the process?

[Ballbarian]

6/24/07 - Replaced v201 with v202: Fixed a major bug in SemiRandom where custom provinces could sometimes be placed on the incorrect terrain and a minor bug involving start placements for water nations. Also, added a check box to the "Starts" tab titled "Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg". When checked, RanDom will automatically adjust several player count settings in SemiRandom. Very helpful when setting up a quick game. BACKUP YOUR OLD RANDOM/SEMIRANDOM FILES BEFORE INSTALLING THE NEW VERSION OR RISK LOSING YOUR OWN CUSTOM ADDITIONS.


NOTE: If you are installing over an old version of RanDom some files will be overwritten. I recommend backing up your old RanDom settings folder and SemiRandom folder prior to install. As a general rule, I include any GAN/GOD files that I have received in the latest release so if you have added files from the SemiRandom web site, you should not have to add them again. Additionally, some of the existing GAN files may have been updated as well. You WILL need to add any custom files that you had that were not submitted to me prior to this release.

[Valandil]

Ahem* Sorry for the delay.
"Componet TABCTL32.OCX or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid"

I'm guessing htis is a fairly straightforward missing file, probably at my end. The registry part botheres me though.

[Ballbarian]

My guess is that you are right. I did a little research and found a support statement from MS. Basic controls are reported to have shipped with Vista, but TABCTL32 was not one of them. It is however in their "tested" list so it should work once it is downloaded and registered.

If you are comfortable with it, you might try the vb library files installer that Gooles found:
http://www.ascentive.com/support/new/libraryfiles.exe

By using the installer, you shouldn't have to manually register the file. If you decide to try it, let us know if it works for you.

(I assume that Vista is like XP and will allow you to set a system restore point prior to running the installer. That way you can undo the process if anything goes wrong.)

[Endoperez]

If I name a file "Endo2_A_U_.gan", where can it appear? I'd like to do a province that isn't terrain-restricted. IIRC, using something like _FST_MNT_FRM_ means that it much be all of forest, mountain and farm. Is there a way to set it as "forest, mountain or farm"?

Also, if that doesn't work, have you solved the "multiple instances of the same unique province for different terrains" problem yet? I think it would work if I had e.g.

Endo2_A_U_FST.gan
Endo2_A_U_MNT.gan
Endo2_A_U_PLN.gan and
Endo2_A_U_FRM.gan,

but only one instance of an Endo2_X province could be added to any map.

[Ballbarian]

If you name a file Endo2_A_U_.gan, then SemiRandom will see it internally as Endo2_U_A_N_PLN_.gan because it is actually converting the file name tags into a terrain value. Normal (N) and Plain (PLN) have a value of 0 in Dominions maps so they are implicit.

I will look again at a workaround for this tonight and will consider using the numeric portion of the file name. Haven't thought it through yet and I have to get to work. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Endoperez]

Okay. That's a bit of a bummer, but I guess it can't be helped. Any way, I'll get you a bunch of provinces today, and tomorrow I'm back with the green garb. This time I'll have a laptop with me, but I'm not sure if I'm even going to take Dom with me. It's more for LAN fun than Dom work.

[Ballbarian]

Will be trying out a few ideas tonight.
How about if I added an "_OR_" tag that when present would have SemiRandom look for a province with any of the included terrain flags? I think this is in line with what you were suggesting.

So:
Endo2_U_A_OR_N_L_S_WST_SWP_FST_.gan
Could only be placed once (Unique) in Normal, Large, or Small provinces which include the terrain type of Waste, Swamp, or Forest.

Need to get some coffee in me and then I will dig into the code and see what I can do. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

maybe use another character. Such as a dash.
No the dash should be not such as -SWP.
Maybe plus could be OR.

[Ballbarian]

Sorry Gandalf, already implemented and appears to be working fine. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
If changing it to a "_+_" is preferred for a sense of clarity, I can easily change the tag.

The following test file...
hdENDO2_A_U_OR_S_L_N_FST_WST_SWP_

...was successfully placed in a province of terrain type forest and size large. Will need to do more testing, but it could have been placed in any size province that contained any of the three tagged terrain types (forest, waste or swamp).

After I have had a chance to further stress test this, I will release the next update which will also include another serious bug fix involving pattern recognition and province placement. As with all things random, they can be some of the hardest critters to stumble upon. Illwinter certainly has my sympathies. I can't imagine trying to pinpoint things that can creep up in a piece of programming with the size and complexity of Dom3.

[Stryke11]

Ok...

Generated a map using Gandalf's settings. (I clicked the Load Settings button and chose the GandalfPlains one). The map was generated without a hitch.

Then, I clicked the SemiRandomize button, and some stuff happened which I assume was going along the right track until I got this:

---Error in main, line 1516: index 1 &lt;=-1&gt; out of range
---Error: Program stopped due to an error
---Program done, press RETURN---

So...no SemiRandom fun for me just yet. I just used what came with the program, I didn't add any .gan's.

Also, I'm not 100% on the auto add gods thing...will it allow you to still pick any nation you want with just typical settings, or do I need to change anything before I generate the map? Can the feature be disabled just to create a nice map that you can add the gods/nations on later when you set up the game?

Thanks! Once I get it working, and the community builds up a huge database of provinces, this is going to be awesome.

I would be happy to make provinces, I just need some time to familiarize myself with the controls. I don't think I have the programming know how to make them from scratch, but I can use your ProvinceEdit tool.

[Stryke11]

I created and SemiRandomized a different map and this one worked. When I created the map I left everything alone except I moved the slider of Eriu from AI to Human.

When I loaded up the map in the game all was going well. Only the middle age was selectable just like this forum said, and some nations were blacked out. I changed the human nation to Eriu and just clicked "n" until no more random AI's could be selected.

I designed my god, named him, and then clicked ready, where I abruptly got a nagot glik fel or something like that and it said "#god - this nation is not in play" and then crashed. Maybe this just wasn't meant to be for me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ballbarian]

Thanks for trying it out Stryke11. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

It would be a great help if you could send me the file "TESTDUMP.txt" located in your SemiRandom directory to semirand-AT-dom3minions.com. This only records data from the last run of SemiRandom, so if you have run subsequent maps through it without an error, it won't do any good to send it.

To let Dom3 handle start locations and AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to 0 (zero)

To use the custom start placements without using the custom AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to your desired number of players.
4. Go to the 'AI Gods' tab
5. Set 'AI Land Players' &amp; 'AI Sea Players' to 0 (zero)


Looking forward to seeing some of your province contributions. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Stryke11]

Excellent! Your tips answered my questions exactly! But, as always, there are a few follow-ups:

If I have a random map, and lets say for whatever reason there are not enough provinces to follow the instructions I set on semirandom (say I want at least 4 neighbors and I want capitals to be four provinces away, but I select all nations and there just aren't enough provinces to do this)...what happens?

I'd like to know a rough guide for how width/height and provinces should go together. It makes sense that as I expand the number of provinces, the width and height (the size of the map I guess) should increase...but are there some established norms? I hate to reinvent the wheel. If nothing else, should the expansion be 1-1 (if I double province number, then I double # for width and height)?

Does the randomizer "randomize" the enemies in a province, or is every special province hand created. I noticed some in my quick tests that seem random, like militia and claymen together, or just infantry and crossbowmen in a motte and bailey. They didn't seem "special" like the ones mentioned in the companion thread, with Xavier's school or Robin Hood and all that, just, well, random http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif.

I take it the "fiddle" percentage is the amount of regions that are randomized? It didn't seem like setting it to 100% randomized every region though...some had what looked like standard defenders.

If I can repeat the previous error I will send testdump, but as of now my last few have been ok.

Thanks for the patience with the questions and creating such an awesome program. Bluewater Bay is niiiiiice.

[Ballbarian]

If I have a random map, and lets say for whatever reason there are not enough provinces to follow the instructions I set on semirandom (say I want at least 4 neighbors and I want capitals to be four provinces away, but I select all nations and there just aren't enough provinces to do this)...what happens?


SemiRandom will first attempt to place human starts. These are '#start' commands in the map file which are completely neutral in that any nation can use them as long as they are not an AI nation with a special start location somewhere on the map.

If there are more human starts defined than places to put them, only the positions which fit the defined criteria will have a start placed and the remainder will be left out.

Next SemiRandom will select AI nations randomly from those that are enabled, and place them across the remaining available start locations with '#specstart' commands.

Just make sure that when you start a game that you do not use more nations than there are starts available or you could end up with nations starting right next to each other due to Dom3 having nowhere else to put the extra nations.


I'd like to know a rough guide for how width/height and provinces should go together. It makes sense that as I expand the number of provinces, the width and height (the size of the map I guess) should increase...but are there some established norms? I hate to reinvent the wheel. If nothing else, should the expansion be 1-1 (if I double province number, then I double # for width and height)?


This is pretty much a matter of taste since the Dom3 random map generator is great at scaling the image. If you increase province count without increasing the size of the image, the image quality degrades since it is squeezing more (and smaller) sprites into the same number of pixels.

Maybe a fair formula (by my own preferences) would be something like:
provinceCount * 20 = (height + width)
So if you wanted 175 provinces for a map:
175*20=(3500)
3500/2=1750
1750x1750

This would get you in the ballpark and then you can just shift some from the height column to the width column to get rectangular map sizes.
1700x1800 or 2750x750 etc...

Once you have the scale that you like, then I would certainly double the image size if I doubled the province count as you suggest in your example.


Does the randomizer "randomize" the enemies in a province, or is every special province hand created. I noticed some in my quick tests that seem random, like militia and claymen together, or just infantry and crossbowmen in a motte and bailey. They didn't seem "special" like the ones mentioned in the companion thread, with Xavier's school or Robin Hood and all that, just, well, random .



All of the provinces placed by SemiRandom are generated from '.gan' files. The gan files can act as simple scripts with randomized elements in them, and they can be flagged as being Unique (where only one of the given province can be placed anywhere on the map), or as Multiple (where any number can be placed as long as the terrain matches). The somewhat random provinces that you are seeing are just, well, semi-random. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Take a look at some of the existing gan files for an idea of how it works. They are just text files and can be opened with the text editor of your choice. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif


I take it the "fiddle" percentage is the amount of regions that are randomized? It didn't seem like setting it to 100% randomized every region though...some had what looked like standard defenders.


You are correct. The fiddle percentage can be increased over 100 which will cause SemiRandom to try even harder to fill all of the spots on the map, but run time will increase as well, and it may just be that it can't find a gan file which matches the remaining terrain or geographical patterns. It is also worth noting that it will never place a special province directly adjacent to a pre defined start position. It is no fun to start a game with Hellgate Keep parked right next door to your capital. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


If I can repeat the previous error I will send testdump, but as of now my last few have been ok.

Thanks for the patience with the questions and creating such an awesome program. Bluewater Bay is niiiiiice.


Glad to here that it is working for you now!
Thanks for asking them. I am sure that for every person who asks a question, there are two people that haven't asked, but have the same question. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

So far my favorites are the RuggedShores &amp; GandalfPlains settings, but I like lots of chokepoints and rough terrain in my games.

[Ballbarian]

7/08/07 - Replaced v202 with v203: Updated SemiRandom to version 106. Now supports the new "_OR_" tag which will allow placement of a single province file across a wide variety of terrain types. Also added a new option "fiddleXP" which will block #xp (experience point) lines from being written into the map file. This is for folks who would like to keep the Hall of Fame clear of independent commanders. In RanDom, this is a new check box located on the "General" tab. <font color="red">The update also includes some drastic changes to many of the existing GAN province files as well as many new ones. I HIGHLY recommend moving or renaming the old SemiRandom folder prior to installing this new version.</font> And finally, the Province Editor has been updated from version 1.00 to 1.01 to support the new features. The editor's discussion thread can be found HERE (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=d3smm&amp;Number=528292).


NOTE: If you are installing over an old version of RanDom some files will be overwritten. I recommend backing up your old RanDom settings folder and SemiRandom folder prior to install. As a general rule, I include any GAN/GOD files that I have received in the latest release so if you have added files from the SemiRandom web site, you should not have to add them again. Additionally, some of the existing GAN files may have been updated as well. You WILL need to add any custom files that you had that were not submitted to me prior to this release.

[dmentd]

Every time I run this program now, I get an error:

---Error in main, line 1692: index 1 (=-1) out of range
---Error: Program stopped due to an error
---Program done, press RETURN---

Another time, the index equalled -3 with the same results. What am I doing wrong?

[Ballbarian]

Thanks for letting me know dmentd.

Here is kind of the stock request:
It would be a great help if you could send me the file "TESTDUMP.txt" located in your SemiRandom directory to semirand-AT-dom3minions.com. This only records data from the last run of SemiRandom, so if you have run subsequent maps through it without an error, it won't do any good to send it.


If I had to guess, I would say that your problem is likely tied to AI nation selection. So far there are only god files for EA (every nation in the early era except for Tir na n'Og, so check the "AI Gods" tab and be sure that EA is selected and hit the "Show Nation Configuration" button and make sure that Tir na n'Og is disabled or set to human.


The following helped Stryke11 when he was having trouble:
To let Dom3 handle start locations and AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to 0 (zero)

To use the custom start placements without using the custom AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to your desired number of players.
4. Go to the 'AI Gods' tab
5. Set 'AI Land Players' &amp; 'AI Sea Players' to 0 (zero)

[jutetrea]

ok, i'm feeling dumb.

I dl'd the new version. Unzipped it and get:

random.exe
random.txt
[semirandom]
[randomsettings]

C:\Games\dominions3\Tools\RanDom_v203

If I click random.exe I get an error "semirandom.cfg cannot be found" - but the program still opens. If I click execute i get "can't find dom3.exe"

If i go into [semirandom] and click semirandom.exe i get "initializing" then "lost in time cannot open ...semirandom\255 205 000 225" try again? y/n

As an FYI I have provinceeditor, semirandom, and random under a \tools directory so.

C:
\Games
\Dominions3
\Maps; \Mods; \Tools

C:\Games\dominions3\Tools\RanDom_v203\SemiRandom


***Ok, so if I put random.exe (and random.txt) in my \dominions3 folder I still get the cannot find semirandom.cfg but at least it makes the map. I still have issues running semirandom.exe even after replacing line 1 of the .cfg file with my path and having a map in the folder.

[Ballbarian]

Sorry jutetrea.
RanDom &amp; SemiRandom are not as user friendly when it comes to paths as the Province Editor is.

Here is a stock answer that should help:

Getting all of the pieces in place can be a small challenge. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif
On my system, Dom3 is installed on my C: drive in a folder called "Games".
When you unzip RanDom, it should have the directory structure intact so that you can just paste the contents into your dominions3 directory.
Below is a bare bones map of the directory structure that you want to end up with.

<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
c:\Games\dominions3
RanDom.exe
\RanDomSettings
BluewaterBay.stg
COT_colorscheme.stg
Default.stg
etc...
\SemiRandom
SemiRandom.cfg
SemiRandom.exe
SemiRandom.yab
\GAN_BIN
\GOD_BIN
\LIST_CRATE
\NAME_VAULT
</pre><hr />

[jutetrea]

So everything is in the dominions 3 folder

dom3.exe
random.exe
[semirandom] folder
[randomsettings] folder

Same issues.
Can't find semirandom.cfg file with random.exe
Initializing, then can't open \255... using semirandom.exe

I had the old version working in the \tools directory before so now i'm just confused.

[Ballbarian]

Does your SemiRandom.cfg look like this? (or at least, same number of lines and roughly same order &amp; path):

C:\Games\dominions3\SemiRandom
1
100
1
0
25
25
-1
-1
-1
-1
-1
7
6
0
2
EA
-1
4
0
4
255 205 000 225
GANPLAINS

[jutetrea]

C:\Games\dominions3\SemiRandom
Project NEW
1
100
1
0
25
25
-1
-1
-1
-1
-1
7
6
0
2
EA
-1
4
0
4
255 205 000 225
GANPLAINS

[Ballbarian]

Get rid of the "Project NEW" line completely.
That is causing you grief. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

RanDom normally overwrites that line for you, but I strongly suspect that good ol' notepad has bit me and is causing a wrap around to appear as a new line.

If anyone else is getting similar strange behaviour, please let me know and I will try to update the upload. It may not be an issue for everyone. ?

[jutetrea]

K, figured that. Now I'm getting

lost in time

Can not open ...\ganplains

[jutetrea]

k

that next line was bogus as well. that first 1, after looking in the readme and seeing what the lines meant it seems the 100 does not equal "1 or 0" fiddle names

so previously had

C:\Games\dominions3\Tools\RanDom_v203\SemiRandom
1
100
1
0
25
25
-1
-1
-1
-1
-1
7
6
0
2
EA
-1
4
0
4
255 205 000 225
GANPLAINS

Should be
C:\Games\dominions3\Tools\RanDom_v203\SemiRandom
100
1
0
25
25
-1
-1
-1
-1
-1
7
6
0
2
EA
-1
4
0
4
255 205 000 225
GANPLAINS

(I put it back under tools)

K, new problem. When I get rid of the "1" under the path, random.exe does not recognize semirandom.cfg and I get "text1" for all the fields within random.exe. If I do NOT take out the "1" under path it works fine.

Code shift somewhere?

[Ballbarian]

Just to be clear...
Are you now running SemiRandom from within the RanDom frontend? or are you running it directly by SemiRandom.exe?

If you are using just SemiRandom.exe directly, then you will have to manually change the SemiRandom.cfg settings. It sounds like SemiRandom is looking for a map named GANPLAINS.map and (odds are) not finding it, so generating this error.

If that is the case, try running it from RanDom, and remember to change the map name (bright yellow &amp; red field) to a valid map (minus the '.map' extension).

[Ballbarian]

Keep your cfg like you had it. Don't remove the '1'. There is a new line in the cfg that was not there in the previous version.

[Ballbarian]

To expand on that...
I am an evil programmer who hates doing the documentation thing, so I neglected to update the readme.

The '1' that you removed is for fiddleXP, a new option. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

I kept pushing Johan and Kristoffer to get a player to do the manual and Im very pleased with the results. By the time a programmer gets to releasing something he has beta-tested it to death so he can no longer think like a newbie.

Maybe someone who is just tackling your programs for the first time will keep good notes and post us a small documentation file.

[jutetrea]

K, put everything back into the dominions 3 folder. Removed the new project line (left in the fiddle xp line). copied Aran.map to the semirandom folder.

Opened random, typed "aran" into the yellow box, hit semirandomize. Got the below (same as user above my earlier Fubar)

Adding stuff... /
---Error in main, line 1692: index 1 (=-1) out of range
---Error: Program stopped due to an error
---Program done, press RETURN---

Attached is the testdump, there is also a new text doc called neomatrix.txt.

I ran through your tips above and it worked though... thanks, sorry for being so thick.

Edit: Yup everything is working now. Playing a 2 player Aran @ 100% fiddle so I can have time to see the new GANs... some are very intimidating http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Bout turn 20 and have seen 6 or 7 so far. One had like 300 units with hoburgs/ants and such... can't remember the name. Went down easier then i thought it would. Playing the Urdheim nation which I'm currently liking.

[Ballbarian]

Not sure if I am just ahead of you, but I can't see an attachment?

Anyhow, just fyi, you don't have to move the map file to the SemiRandom folder. It just needs to be a valid '.map' file in your dominions3\maps folder.

The line 1692 index error is (I suspect) related to AI nation selection settings. You may have already seen this stock answer previously, but just in case you missed it:



If I had to guess, I would say that your problem is likely tied to AI nation selection. So far there are only god files for EA (every nation in the early era except for Tir na n'Og, so check the "AI Gods" tab and be sure that EA is selected and hit the "Show Nation Configuration" button and make sure that Tir na n'Og is disabled or set to human.


The following helped Stryke11 when he was having trouble:
To let Dom3 handle start locations and AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to 0 (zero)

To use the custom start placements without using the custom AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to your desired number of players.
4. Go to the 'AI Gods' tab
5. Set 'AI Land Players' &amp; 'AI Sea Players' to 0 (zero)

[Ballbarian]

I must apologize for rushing the release Sunday night.
I had intended to spend a little time on trying to determine the best default settings to cause users the least amount of trouble, but you know the saying about not being able to see the forest for the trees? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ballbarian]

I kept pushing Johan and Kristoffer to get a player to do the manual and Im very pleased with the results. By the time a programmer gets to releasing something he has beta-tested it to death so he can no longer think like a newbie.

Maybe someone who is just tackling your programs for the first time will keep good notes and post us a small documentation file.



I thought that I had tricked Honeybadger into handling the documentation awhile back. I dazzled him with my archaic readme files, but he came to his senses and wandered away. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post is a late addition.
VINESET.zip
Includes 3 new province files and an additional name set to support them.

To use:
1. Place the '.GAN' files in your GAN_BIN directory.
2. Place the '.txt' files in your NAME_VAULT directory.
3. Open the LIST_CRATE directory and open NameList.txt
4. Append the following lines:
UNOTMPFOREST_DATA1
UNOTMPFOREST_DATA2
5. Open the GanList.txt file and append the follwing lines:
VINESET1_HOT_M_R_OR_FST_S_N_L_
VINESET2_TMP_M_R_OR_FST_S_N_L_
VINESET3_CLD_M_R_OR_FST_S_N_L_


That's it.

I haven't had the pleasure of playing a map with these forest provinces in them yet, but hopefully the reward vs the fight are worthwhile without being too much.


Enjoy. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[dmentd]

I just tried your suggestions and it did work. I got the program to randomize a map again by adjusting the AI starts. Thanks.

[Ballbarian]

Great! Thanks for letting me know dmentd. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

I will try to at least put in some filler gods for any future releases, and I will spend a few more brain cells on default settings to help make life a little easier for everyone.

[Stryke11]

What's a "name set"? That is, why is updating those three files more complicated than just putting the gans in the gan bin? For every gan I make I don't have to change the ganslist.txt and namelist.txt files do I?

PS I'm still trying to find a good fiddle ratio. I'm playing at 200% right now and at turn like 10 I have two provinces. It feels like an RPG. Every province is crazy strong. I sent my prophet and a full army to a province with just some heavy infantry and archers, and was completely decimated by a Lady of Storms and a bunch of Sylphs. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

[Ballbarian]

A name set is just 2 files ("_DATA1" &amp; "_DATA2") that SemiRandom uses to generate random names. There are several methods that it uses which I discussed in this thread (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=dom3&amp;Number=http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=dom3&amp;Number=532207).

When you add gan files (province files) with the Province Editor, it does the foot work for you, but if you download a gan file, you have to add it to the gan file list so that SemiRandom knows about it. (I couldn't find a simple way to read the directory with Yabasic.)

Name files are the same way. You have to let SemiRandom know that they are there by adding them to the name list.

With the provinces you have been submitting, the province name is stored within the province file itself. It is possible to use external name lists that can be utilized by other province files as well.

Oh, and SemiRandom should never place special provinces right next door to your capital. These neighbor provinces should all be marked as off limits if you are using it's internal start placement. (I suspect you are using the settings that let Dom3 handle start placement.)

I recommend the following method:

To use the custom start placements without using the custom AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to your desired number of players.
4. Go to the 'AI Gods' tab
5. Set 'AI Land Players' &amp; 'AI Sea Players' to 0 (zero)

[Stryke11]

Well, I had fun...I loved it.

Thanks Ball!

[TienIsCoolX]

Hey, I've been lurking here for quite a while but I registered because I need help. I'm a fan of HUGE maps and I've generated a 1500 province map with your program and the settings posted by Gandalf, I am able to load this map in about 10 minutes and play it.

When I do the semirandomize thing, the 1692 error came up and so I turned off the "lock players to nat config" and put desired # of players to zero, and the semirandomizer goes smoothly. But, when I try to play the SR version of the map, it just stays at the loading screen, and when I CTRL ALT DEL, it says Dom3 isn't responding. I noticed that it does this even when its a small map if I CTRL ALT DEL so I tried waiting for the map to load, and my longest time was around 40 minutes before I got impatient, so I'm wondering if its actually LOADING or did it lock up due to some error (possibly related to the start locales?) I noticed that the normal .map file is 100 kb, whereas the modified SR .map file comes in at 800kb, so maybe the wait time is proportional to the size of the .map file?

Please help, I'd love to get a huge game going with SR settings (I tried SR Aran map and it was just freaking awesome, with 9 indy strength, I saw a province with 400 hoburg militia *WOW*) If you don't mind, maybe you can help me on AIM or something? I'd like to get a game going as soon as possible. Thank you.

[Kristoffer O]

Perhaps you have given preferences that the game cant handle, like 6 neigbours for everyone, not neighbour to special provinces or something else. Then the game goes on serching for thousands of provionces to find a possible placementwithout succeding. Just a guess. I have not tried a semirandomized map yet. I made myself a special province the other day, but never got to the semirandomization. And currently I'm in linux mode, so it'll have to wait.

[Ballbarian]

Well, I had fun...I loved it.

Thanks Ball!



Great!
Oh, and your welcome! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



When I do the semirandomize thing, the 1692 error came up and so I turned off the "lock players to nat config" and put desired # of players to zero, and the semirandomizer goes smoothly. But, when I try to play the SR version of the map, it just stays at the loading screen, and when I CTRL ALT DEL, it says Dom3 isn't responding. I noticed that it does this even when its a small map if I CTRL ALT DEL so I tried waiting for the map to load, and my longest time was around 40 minutes before I got impatient, so I'm wondering if its actually LOADING or did it lock up due to some error (possibly related to the start locales?) I noticed that the normal .map file is 100 kb, whereas the modified SR .map file comes in at 800kb, so maybe the wait time is proportional to the size of the .map file?



SR will definitly work on a 1500 province map, but I cannot guarantee that Dom3 (or maybe your system?) can handle a 1500 province SR'd map with the potentially large numbers of units that could be placed.

Have you tried creating a game using the non-SR'd version of the 1500 province map (just to see how long it takes to load on your system)?

As far as the chance of an error with the start locations goes, by setting the number of players to 0, no start locations should have been placed. Feel free to attach the ".map" file to a post if you want, and I will look it over to make sure that this is the case in your situation.

AIM won't be an option for me (sorry), and I will have to leave for work in a few minutes. I will check back here over lunch and again this evening. If I get time tonight, I will try to start a game on a 1500 province map. I know it will be painful on my ancient PC... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif



I made myself a special province the other day



Don't forget to share your creation with us KO! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
You can open the gan file with any text editor and just copy/paste the contents into your post. And be sure to give us the name of the file as well. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

TienIsCoolX said:
But, when I try to play the SR version of the map, it just stays at the loading screen, and when I CTRL ALT DEL, it says Dom3 isn't responding. I noticed that it does this even when its a small map if I CTRL ALT DEL so I tried waiting for the map to load, and my longest time was around 40 minutes before I got impatient, so I'm wondering if its actually LOADING or did it lock up due to some error (possibly related to the start locales?)



Im probably the one with the most experience at creating maps that the game seems to hate. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
The game is not particularly fast at some things. Some things can help speed it up. Such as less of the special terrain settings like manysites, firesite, bloodsite, priestsite which causes it to look up a special list. Also things like random equip on assigned commanders which causes it to "think" some more. There are also some units that force the game to do extra thinking to decide how many random gems or what random magics. But once it does all the initial thinking and finally creates the ftherland file then its not too slow for playing it.

Just to be sure of what is really happening, I will sometimes start a game just before I go to bed and let it think all night so I can see what is happening the next morning.


I noticed that the normal .map file is 100 kb, whereas the modified SR .map file comes in at 800kb, so maybe the wait time is proportional to the size of the .map file?

It does definetly but not the size specifically. More for the reasons I gave. If all of the random things are replced with specific settings then it sets up much quicker.

Dont sweat the overnight setup time. Once you get a game generated on something like that then you will have a long LONG game to play http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[TienIsCoolX]

Thank you for the fast replies. I have started the 1500 province map, non SRed, it takes 10~ minutes, that is, with settings at 9 indies and 10 nations.

I think my computer is able to handle the map. Here are my specs: 1.8 GHZ X2 Turion, 2 gigs of ram, and a Geforce 7600 Go(If the graphics card matters, I've no idea lol) I'll probably try an overnight load, if the SR'ed version here has no errors and is actually *loading*.

Ok, I will attach the SR'ed version here, sorry about the name of it being "Automap" I forgot to change the name as I was generating random maps till I got one that I liked, this one is the best so far. The fiddle setting is at 150%, no normal mountains, desire number palyers at zero, and unchecked the ntl config box. Those are all the settings I changed.

On a side note, I've got some questions...
-When I was playing a game with mid man, a one eyed crone appeared and the description says she was like a beloved hero or something. Do these events happen alot?
-I recruited a castellan and he had the skill of "unequaled obesity", yet, he was FRESHLY recruited and was NOT in that hall of fame thing. Is this a bug?
-Is there a limit to how many troops a castellan or any commander can control? Or does it go by their ever gaining experience?
-Let's say all the nations recruits mercenaries and the whole merc squad gets killed, does the game automatically auto generate more merc squads, or is there no more after that?

Oh and I'd like to congratulate the makers of this game on their ingenious, simple yet effective anti pirating technique built into the cd key, it got my neighbor buying this game after he pirated it because he wanted to play with me. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

EDIT: Shoot, I don't know how to add an attachment. Agh.
EDIT2: Ok never mind I did it, yay.

[Ballbarian]

I don't know for sure if this is causing the problem, but I have located at least one error in a gan file:
ENDO8_U_R_OR_FST_S_N_L_.gan
The line:
#additem "Vision's Foe
Should be:
#additem "Vision's Foe<font color="red">"</font>


Keep in mind that this was just a quick scan over my lunch hour.
I will attach a corrected .map file to this post.

Maybe try it with the updated map file and be sure to let me know if it works for you.

[Ballbarian]

I will attach the corrected gan file to this post.

[TienIsCoolX]

I clocked in at about 45 minutes, still did not load. CTRL ALT DEL says that DOM3 isn't responding. :\

Gandalf, how do I lower those instances of those specials list? And would it affect my gameplay too much because I really want the indy provinces to be uniqe and extra difficult to take over.

[Gandalf Parker]

The Ctrl-Alt-Del thing isnt important. Basically that says that it asked Dom3 to quit and got no response. Dom3 thinks really hard and does not check for things like being asked to quit.

Like I said, to be sure that it can or cant be used I would ask it to do it overnight. I really like the random stuff.

[TienIsCoolX]

^ Will do, and Gandalf, how big of a map have you SR'ed and played succesfuly?

[Ballbarian]

I think that I may have found the limit.
I created a test map and the last line that appears to have been read by Dom3 is line number 10696.

Gandalf's MegaMap is 9152 lines long.
A SemiRandomized MegaMap reached 46973 lines!
Note that these figures all include comment lines and empty lines which are likely ignored by Dom3, but no guarantees on that.

More testing will be required before I can determine if stripping comment lines and empty lines will help or not.

I typically play on 175 province maps which only reach to about 4000 to 5000 lines est. So it is probably safe to assume that you can run a 350 province map without issue?

[TienIsCoolX]

I just tried a map called "radiance 1.0" and it worked well, the load time was about 4 minutes. By the way, what constitutes a "megamap"? Is there a certain range of provinces that goes by to achieve megamap status?

Oh and about this line stripping thing, would it mean that around 30,000 lines must be taken out?

[Ballbarian]

Gandalf had one of his crazy maps available that was 1495 provinces. It was titled "MegaMap". It was the largest random map that I had in my maps folder so I used it as a gauge.

If my findings are accurate, then yes, 36277 would have to be trimmed. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

I hope that when JK returns from his overseas invasion that he can confirm this map line limit and maybe he will even graciously find that changing a single constant somewhere in the code (in a future patch http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif ) will greatly increase the ceiling out of the kindness of his great big programming heart. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/heart.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[TienIsCoolX]

Dang, well I guess I'll keep myself occupied with some other game till this gets fixed. I don't wanna waste my time with a non SRed 1500 map (Too much time and not enough satisfaction). I'll watch this topic for any updates on the matter, oh and, where is he vacationing at? And I really hope he comes back soon.

[Kristoffer O]

He's in Patala, the underworld of jewelled cities and the origin of all rivers and monsoon rains. In other words, India. I havn't heard from him, but I suspect he's getting wet http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

TienIsCoolX said:
I just tried a map called "radiance 1.0" and it worked well, the load time was about 4 minutes. By the way, what constitutes a "megamap"? Is there a certain range of provinces that goes by to achieve megamap status?



On my Dom2minions pages
http://www.dom2minions.com/~dominion/Dominions2/RandomMaps/RandomMaps.html
I used this.....

TINY less than 5 each, or less than 85 total provinces. Best done as 45 land and 8 water.

SMALL 5 each, or 85 total provinces. Best done as 75 land and 10 water.

MEDIUM 10 each, or 170 total provinces. Best done as 150 land and 20 water.

LARGE 15 each, or 255 total provinces. Best done as 225 land and 30 water.

HUGE 20 each, or 340 total provinces. Best done as 300 land and 40 water.

EPIC 25 or more each, maybe to the maximum 500 total provinces. Something like 450 land and 50 water.

But now the Dom3 game defines small, medium, large as
SMALL 10 provinces per player
MEDIUM 15 provinces per player
LARGE 20 provinces per player

So I guess I need to redefine. Something like Epic 50/player (1000 province map) and Xtreme 60/player (1250 province map). MegaMap Ive usually used for maximum settings (1500 provinces)


Oh and about this line stripping thing, would it mean that around 30,000 lines must be taken out?


Maybe Ballbarian could add a "stripped" version. Knocking out blank lines, descriptions, helpful remarks such as what the unit is next to the unit number. And I have no idea if it matters but maybe try putting the text in unix format like the .map is instead of the bulkier dos version.

[jutetrea]

Couple quick things -

When a .map file is semirandomed could you have it change the map title to reflect the _SR

Any chance of getting an option to randomize starting provinces (not provinces with a #start, but any that have an actual nation starting in them)
- Is there a map command for a random unit?
Like
#randomcommander 40 (40 ldr)
#randomunit 40 (40 units)

- so instead of potentially messing up normal starting armies, just adding a new commander and potentially 40 new units (fine to start with 1-40...some would be nasty). Kind of a toned down version of GP's chaos.
- maybe do a @1 commander and have a list of 40-50 cool potentials. Doesn't help the whole max line # problem, but maybe call from another list?

Possibly add a checkbox option for no independents?

Potential for an option to append the GAN name to the end of the gan file when saving? I added _A_Secluded_Temple to mine manually for example. Would make it easier to pick and choose.

I'm having issues with the attached mapfile - no holiness error. Help would be appreciated, I'll edit if I find it first.
-NVM, seems I had a mod compatibility problem instead. Although I've had 2 failed tries without finding a starting province.

[jutetrea]

As an addendum to the above I went through (awhile ago) and rated each unit on a 0-5 scale with the idea of having a starting commander. So while some units were big and nasty (titan, or cyclops) just with their starting magic they only rated a 4. Units with large magic or unique special abilities may have rated a 5.

Purely subjective, and fully editable of course.

I'd think having a starting commander from the 4 toughness list would be very cool for a high powered game (or SP) toss in some random units (probably from the 1-3 lists) and a #randommagic 4 and you've got a varied game without going too nuts.

[Ballbarian]

Fiddled with it some more this morning and found that removing lines that contained comments did help.

Removing:
"-" followed by text would save a line.
"######" lines like these would save 2 lines.
" " blank space &amp; blank lines made no difference.
"---" with no text following made no difference.

Even with these items stripped from my test file, I was only able to save 1385 lines. In a normal SR map I might have achieved 13000 removed lines est out of a 46000 line map file. This would certainly help, but would not solve the problem for very large maps.

In the next version I will add an option to minimize file size which will strip blank lines and comments.

[Ballbarian]

When a .map file is semirandomed could you have it change the map title to reflect the _SR


This is already on my todo list for the next version.
Very annoying oversight on my part. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif


Any chance of getting an option to randomize starting provinces (not provinces with a #start, but any that have an actual nation starting in them)
- Is there a map command for a random unit?
Like
#randomcommander 40 (40 ldr)
#randomunit 40 (40 units)


There is currently no option or command for this.


- so instead of potentially messing up normal starting armies, just adding a new commander and potentially 40 new units (fine to start with 1-40...some would be nasty). Kind of a toned down version of GP's chaos.
- maybe do a @1 commander and have a list of 40-50 cool potentials. Doesn't help the whole max line # problem, but maybe call from another list?


I tinkered with this idea previously, but can't remember much of the details at the moment. I will look at it again. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Off the top of my head, I think I had looked at something along the lines of the @RANDOM additem LISTNAME format.


Possibly add a checkbox option for no independents?


This shouldn't be too hard to implement in the next version.


Potential for an option to append the GAN name to the end of the gan file when saving? I added _A_Secluded_Temple to mine manually for example. Would make it easier to pick and choose.


Should be fairly easy to add, and a good idea. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
But be careful! The "_A_" part will likely be seen as an 'ADD' command by semirandom.


I'm having issues with the attached mapfile - no holiness error. Help would be appreciated, I'll edit if I find it first.
-NVM, seems I had a mod compatibility problem instead. Although I've had 2 failed tries without finding a starting province.



When I first saw your post, I did a quick search and found this line:
#mag_priest 0

...which was found in ENDO2_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_FST_FRM_S_N_L_.gan

Not sure what effect that has? Maybe makes the unit holy without giving priest levels?

On the failed starting province tries, I suspect that being a 150 province map with 138 placed special provinces is your problem. It can also be an issue if there are water nations enabled during the game creation and no water starts available.

To reduce the chance of special provinces eating up too many provinces, either adjust the fiddle percent down, or (preferably), set "Desired Num Players" to the number of nations that you would like to appear on the map. By doing this, SemiRandom will attempt to place that many neutral starts, and will block those areas from further modification. (By neutral, I mean that they can be used by either human or AI nations.)

Unless it was fixed in a subsequent patch, leaving nation selection to "Random" in Dom3 game creation on a map with no water will risk Dom3 trying to place a water nation and cause the game to generate an error. (It has been quite a while since I tried using the random nation option.)

[Ballbarian]

As an addendum to the above I went through (awhile ago) and rated each unit on a 0-5 scale with the idea of having a starting commander. So while some units were big and nasty (titan, or cyclops) just with their starting magic they only rated a 4. Units with large magic or unique special abilities may have rated a 5.

Purely subjective, and fully editable of course.

I'd think having a starting commander from the 4 toughness list would be very cool for a high powered game (or SP) toss in some random units (probably from the 1-3 lists) and a #randommagic 4 and you've got a varied game without going too nuts.



Thanks for sharing this. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

[jutetrea]

Yup, water nations were my problem with the starts.

And the no holiness thing seems to come from the Sylvania mod I was trying out, thought it was the map file. And yes, I didn't even know we HAD 138 GAN options - I'm assuming many were duplicates. Bit much if you ask me http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Question: So, Do I add starting locations when creating the map or when semirandomizing? I'm not sure which options are for which. Does the "semi-randomize" button only work with those options on the front page (fiddle, fiddle xp, fiddle name?)

If I have a 150 province map, with 9 nations and I have a 4 province buffer... will those 4 provinces in the buffer be semirandomized if they fit? Any way to prevent those 4 from being semi-randomized? Hmm, that wouldn't work, would just be a line essentially... how about any way to prevent randomization of any province adjacent to a capital?

So,
9 nations, 50% fiddle, 150 map
~4 adjacent per capital (36)
150 - 36 = 114 available to fiddle?
Possible or not worth the effort?

[Ballbarian]

And yes, I didn't even know we HAD 138 GAN options - I'm assuming many were duplicates. Bit much if you ask me


Right now, there are 162 seperate gan files. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
Some of those can appear in multiple flavors multiple times, but most are unique (only one placement ever per map).


Question: So, Do I add starting locations when creating the map or when semirandomizing? I'm not sure which options are for which. Does the "semi-randomize" button only work with those options on the front page (fiddle, fiddle xp, fiddle name?)


Starting location options should be set after you have a generated map (or an existing map). Or in other words, when semirandomizing. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

In the following image, everything under the four tabs (General, Climate, Starts &amp; AI Gods) are SemiRandom options that are only applied to the specified map file when using the "Semi Randomize" button.


http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/uploads/523673-main.JPG



If I have a 150 province map, with 9 nations and I have a 4 province buffer... will those 4 provinces in the buffer be semirandomized if they fit? Any way to prevent those 4 from being semi-randomized? Hmm, that wouldn't work, would just be a line essentially... how about any way to prevent randomization of any province adjacent to a capital?


Start locations and all of their neighbors are seen as off limits by SemiRandom. They will not have specials added to those provinces. This only works if you use SemiRandom's start location placement options.

22222
21112
21C12
21112
22222

In the above example, the Capital and all of the 1's, will be skipped, but the 2's could have special provinces assigned to them.

All the 4 province buffer does is ensure that at least 4 (or more) provinces exist between any 2 capitals. This also means that you could end up with less than the requested number of start positions. Always read the SemiRandom map description (in Dom3) as you are setting up a new game for the open start counts. This will tell you how many land/sea starts were placed. If you exceed these counts when adding nations, you risk placement errors and could even have 2 capitals start adjacent to each other as Dom3 tries to use the empty provinces that border the expected capitals for the extra ones.


So,
9 nations, 50% fiddle, 150 map
~4 adjacent per capital (36)
150 - 36 = 114 available to fiddle?
Possible or not worth the effort?



If I had a 150 province map, first I would decide on how many provinces per player I wanted. In your example (9 nations), let's say I wanted 16 provinces per player...

Next question would be, do I want any sea nations?
If the map was with no or very little sea, I would set "Max Sea Starts" to 0.

Now I would set "Desired Num Players" to 9 and leave "Enforced Spacing" at 4.

For "Fiddle Prov%" I usually use 100, but 50 would work just fine. Even 100 doesn't mean that every province will get fiddled with, but as the selection of gan files grows, it could in the future. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

If you didn't want to mess with the start options, you can just lower that fiddle 50% and leave "Desired Num Players" at 0, but that could still leave voids where the lands were treacherous and civilization was sparse. You would only have about 8 clear provinces per player for possible starts in that case. A little too tight and risky for my tastes. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

This is getting complicated enough that it might be putting off people who want to check out what all the hubbub is about.

If anyone gets a map generated which they feel is a good example, could be make it available for download as a zip please?

[murteas]

jutetrea said:
Any chance of getting an option to randomize starting provinces (not provinces with a #start, but any that have an actual nation starting in them)
- Is there a map command for a random unit?
Like
#randomcommander 40 (40 ldr)
#randomunit 40 (40 units)

- so instead of potentially messing up normal starting armies, just adding a new commander and potentially 40 new units (fine to start with 1-40...some would be nasty). Kind of a toned down version of GP's chaos.
- maybe do a @1 commander and have a list of 40-50 cool potentials. Doesn't help the whole max line # problem, but maybe call from another list?




There isn't a that randomizes armies, but you can use my random commander (and starting army) mod. You can find a thread about it here:

Random Commander mod (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&amp;Board=d3smm&amp;Number=522557&amp;Forum= f195&amp;Words=&amp;Searchpage=0&amp;Limit=25&amp;Main=522557&amp;Sear ch=true&amp;where=bodysub&amp;Name=9403&amp;daterange=1&amp;newerv al=5&amp;newertype=y&amp;olderval=&amp;oldertype=&amp;bodyprev=#Po st522557)

BTW, Ballbarian - love the SemiRandomizer. Keep up the good work.

[Ballbarian]

@murteas,
I have been meaning to try mod out. Thanks for sharing the link. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif

@Gandalf,

This is getting complicated enough that it might be putting off people who want to check out what all the hubbub is about.

If anyone gets a map generated which they feel is a good example, could be make it available for download as a zip please?



...And I was trying soooo hard to keep it simple. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

I generated a quick sample map. Keep in mind that I have not played on this one yet, so let me know if you see any problems. At first glance, I see that it only contains 1 cave province and no "lost" provinces. Unusual... I usually end up with at least 2 or 3 caves and at least 1 lost province in almost every map I have generated until now.

Anyhow, here is a thumb of the map:

http://www.dom3minions.com/~semirand/semi_random/SemiSample175.jpg



And here is the zip containing the map files:
SemiSample175_SR.zip (http://www.dom3minions.com/~semirand/semi_random/SemiSample175.zip)



And here is the contents of the Notes.txt file included with the zip:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
Just a few tips for those that are new to starting a game with preset start positions:
************************************************** **********
1. Start a new game in dom3, select the SemiSample map.

2. On the participants screen, select the nations that you
would like for this map. SemiSample has 7 neutral start
positions (6 land and 1 sea). These 7 can be human or AI.
Do not add more nations than the supported 7 or else you may
get undesirable results! Also be sure that you do not
select more than 1 sea nation. If you do not want any sea
nations, then simply set 6 (or less) land nations.

3. Set or load human gods.

4. Adjust dom3 game settings.

5. Start game and boom. All set.
</pre><hr />

[trentzero]

Great tool, Ballbarian! I've been using it since it was only the Semirandomizer. The fiddle XP was what I was really waiting for since I was doing it by hand before. But I haven't been able to get the semirandomizer to work the xp toggle. I tried doing by hand again but I keep getting at least one random Indy on the scoreboard with a couple of hundred XP. Any tips?

[jutetrea]

Yeah, I'm actually regretting putting so much XP in my GANs, I think I have like 900 xp on some of those guys.. I miss heroic abilities http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/frown.gif

I've only played on 2 maps so far, but haven't had any luck with fiddle xp working either.

[Ballbarian]

I have checked several runs and I have not seen a single #xp line sneak through. I believe that you are seeing independents that have been placed by Dom3 and not SemiRandom. In my current game, the only non-Dom3 placed independent in the hall of fame is Tharizdun, who has 306 kills. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Hopefully the poor naming of the xp check box hasn't caused confusion? If you want to block #xp lines from being written to the map file by SemiRandom, uncheck "Fiddle XP".

To insure that experience points have been blocked, open the SR'd map file and search for "xp". You should see "--XP blocked" instead of "#xp 100" (for example). Let me know if this is not the case.

(Oh, and thank you for the positive feedback! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif )

[TienIsCoolX]

Ok, now do one with 1500 provinces! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[jutetrea]

Looking for instructions on how to develop GOD files, include them in the GOD_BIN and then most importantly which settings on RanDom affect how god's are chosen.

For example, I set a small 80 map to 50% fiddle, 2 land, 3 seastarting locations, 2 Land AI, 2 Sea AI. The gods somehow broke it, seems it chose 4 versions of the same god (Arco) and then since it was random when it didn't pick arco it CTD'd. Manually chose Arco and it still popped. Had to delete all god files and it worked fine (although it only made 4 starting locations and started MA Ry'leh out on land)

Still brutalizing the AI so buffing them with good scales + an awake pretender with magic/items would be a nice boost. I figure I'll make a few, give em all one major weakness (like Death 3, or drain 3) and boost the heck out of everything else.

Also, Anyone found a way to stimulate AI site searching? Or a way to make an AI conquered province always reveal on kill or "always known"?

Would it break the game to have every site in the world pre-known? I'm figuring it would simplify things a bit, but would boost the AI more than humans since humans (or at least me) make it a priority to site search anyway? Would also reduce Micro quite a bit. Going to try a test game and find/replace all #feature with #knownfeature and see what happens.

[Ballbarian]

Looking for instructions on how to develop GOD files, include them in the GOD_BIN and then most importantly which settings on RanDom affect how god's are chosen.



Developing GOD files is very similar to developing GAN files. Let's say you wanted to create a custom god for early era Arcoscephale...

Create a text file and rename it to:
JUTETREA1_0_A_EA_.god

The format is:
&lt;author&gt;&lt;index&gt;_&lt;nation#&gt;_&lt;add/replace&gt;_&lt;era&gt;_.god

A little more explanation:
&lt;author&gt;
--&gt; self explanatory. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

&lt;index&gt;
--&gt; Whatever works for you, but I started with '1', then if I created a 2nd god for a nation, I advanced this to 2. You can use whatever system works best for you. It is really just a way to help insure a unique name for the file.

&lt;nation#&gt;
--&gt; A valid nation number. Gandalf has posted a list of nations &amp; numbers here:
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/nations.txt

&lt;add/replace&gt;
--&gt; '_A_' = add the units included in this god file to this nation's starting province. '_R_' = replace the nations's starting units with those included in this god file.

&lt;era&gt;
--&gt; '_EA_' = early era, '_MA_' = middle era, '_LA_' = late era.

To fill your shiny new file with meaty god-like goodness, you can use the Province Editor to help with some of the coding if you would like to use it to add bodyguards &amp;/or units, magic items, additional magic sites, etc, and then just copy the code from there and paste it into your god file. You will still have to do some manual editing however.

An example Arcoscephale god file follows:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
#god 0 156 -- Arcoscephale CYCLOPS
@RANDOM comname COMMANDER
#clearmagic
#mag_fire 4
#mag_earth 5
#additem "Shield of Gleaming Gold" -- hand slot
#additem "Frost Brand" -- hand slot
#additem "Horror Helmet" -- head slot
#additem "Copper Plate" -- body slot
#additem "Birch Boots" -- feet slot
#additem "Girdle of Might" -- misc slot
#additem "Amulet of Missile Protection" -- misc slot
#dominionstr 0 10
#scale_chaos 0 -2
#scale_lazy 0 -1
-- #scale_cold 0 0
#scale_death 0 -2
-- #scale_unluck 0 0
#scale_unmagic 0 2
-- 4 points left if we were dormant...</pre><hr />

The key line above is the first line.
#god 0 156
#god &lt;nation#&gt; &lt;unit#&gt;

And the dominion &amp; scale lines:
#dominionstr 0 10
#dominionstr &lt;nation#&gt; &lt;dominion strength&gt;

#scale_chaos 0 -2
#scale_&lt;scale&gt; &lt;nation#&gt; &lt;value&gt;

(Note that this looks confusing, but it really isn't that bad once you figure it out. See the dom3 map editing manual and other god files to get a better feel for how it works.)

The lines that start with '--' are just comment lines, and are ignored by dom3.

A more complex god file with a little bit of additional boost follows:

BALL2_1_A_EA_.god
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
#knownfeature 340 -- The Crypt Underneath

#god 1 994 -- Ermor Special: EATER OF THE DEAD
@RANDOM comname COMMANDER
#clearmagic
--#mag_fire 0
--#mag_air 0
--#mag_earth 0
#mag_astral 9
#mag_death 9
--#mag_nature 0
#additem "Bane Venom Charm" -- misc slot
#additem "Amulet of Antimagic" -- misc slot
#dominionstr 1 10
#scale_chaos 1 1
#scale_lazy 1 -1
#scale_cold 1 1
#scale_death 1 3
#scale_unluck 1 -2
#scale_unmagic 1 -3
-- Unpredictable prelude of things to come...

#bodyguards 10 185 -- Bane
#units 20 185 -- Bane
#units 20 185 -- Bane
</pre><hr />

Notice how it includes an additional magic site &amp; bodyguards &amp; units... how the eater of the dead will act over time, well, that remains to be seen. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Finally, you need to add the god file name to '\SemiRandom\LIST_CRATE\GodList.txt' file so that SR knows that it is there.


On the 2nd part of your question:
1. #start locations are placed for human players. (desired num players - aiplayers)

2. #specstart locations (nation specific) locations are placed randomly for ai nations. Random location is picked, and then a random nation from the enabled ai nations, then finally a random god from the available god files for that nation.





For example, I set a small 80 map to 50% fiddle, 2 land, 3 seastarting locations, 2 Land AI, 2 Sea AI. The gods somehow broke it, seems it chose 4 versions of the same god (Arco) and then since it was random when it didn't pick arco it CTD'd. Manually chose Arco and it still popped. Had to delete all god files and it worked fine (although it only made 4 starting locations and started MA Ry'leh out on land)



I'm not sure what happened, but here are some gotchas:

1. Make sure you are using 'EA' (early era) for now as there are no god files for other eras yet (afaik!). Also, make sure that all of the nations that you are setting to AI have a god file. (Tir na n'Og is the only EA nation that I have not created a god file for yet.)

2. Make sure that you are setting 'Max Sea Starts' to a value equal to or greater than the number of sea nations you want. This is automatic if you have the 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg' check box checked and are using the Nation Cfg sliders.

Let me know if that doesn't help, and if you are still having problems, attach the SR'd map file and TESTDUMP.txt.






Also, Anyone found a way to stimulate AI site searching? Or a way to make an AI conquered province always reveal on kill or "always known"?



Not to my knowledge.


Would it break the game to have every site in the world pre-known? I'm figuring it would simplify things a bit, but would boost the AI more than humans since humans (or at least me) make it a priority to site search anyway? Would also reduce Micro quite a bit. Going to try a test game and find/replace all #feature with #knownfeature and see what happens.



I wouldn't think that it would break the game, but not to my taste. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
I like a little mystery &amp; micro. (Ok, very little micro... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif ) I would think it would certainly boost the AI somewhat, but the human would benefit as well, so it probably would even out?

[Gandalf Parker]

If you ever want to test a god, or always have it used every time, then you can just add those lines to a map. Such as...

copy eye.map to eye2.map

then append

#god 0 156 -- Arcoscephale CYCLOPS
@RANDOM comname COMMANDER
#clearmagic
#mag_fire 4
#mag_earth 5
#additem "Shield of Gleaming Gold" -- hand slot
#additem "Frost Brand" -- hand slot
#additem "Horror Helmet" -- head slot
#additem "Copper Plate" -- body slot
#additem "Birch Boots" -- feet slot
#additem "Girdle of Might" -- misc slot
#additem "Amulet of Missile Protection" -- misc slot
#dominionstr 0 10
#scale_chaos 0 -2
#scale_lazy 0 -1
-- #scale_cold 0 0
#scale_death 0 -2
-- #scale_unluck 0 0
#scale_unmagic 0 2
-- 4 points left if we were dormant...

the only line that isnt going to work is the RANDOM one which could be replaced with
#comname "Bozo"

[Morkilus]

I would like to try this out, but it seems I'm missing some GAN files and it won't run. I was trying it on a cradle map file. Is the readme up to date on the current attached version? Do I need to install something else to get it to work?

[Ballbarian]

Are you using the RanDom gui? or trying to just use SemiRandom separately? Are you a windows user? XP? Vista?

What kind of error are you getting?

I am on my lunch hour right now, so it may be tonight before I am able to check the forums again.

Thanks for trying it out Morkilus!

[jutetrea]

Random note: Is it WAD that when a unique summon is placed in a GAN it is unavailable for summoning? I had assumed that if you summoned a unit not in control by another player they would just *poof* and appear.

Last game ran against the GAN that had an air queen in it. The one who summons spring hawks, Arielle or something? Anyway, I summoned the first 2 fine and could not summon the third and figured my opponent had her. Then a turn or two later ran into her in an Indy site.

[Ballbarian]

My assumption was the same as yours. I tried to avoid using uniques in my province files because I wasn't sure, but it sounds like if the unique unit is in play anywhere in the world, then it becomes unavailable for summons.

I would say that it is working as designed from a Dom3 perspective.

[DakaSha]

i have a question. are the items in the custom god files what they choose to forge and equip or do they start with the items?

im guessing they start with them but wouldnt that be a little too much?

[Gandalf Parker]

They start with them.
But thats basically a mappers way of further "building" the god in ways that the modders get to use. It lets us give extra powers and levels.

[Endoperez]

DakaSha said:
i have a question. are the items in the custom god files what they choose to forge and equip or do they start with the items?

im guessing they start with them but wouldnt that be a little too much?



It could be too much, but it could be used to strengthen the less-powerful pretender choices. The armor-clad Lord of War would be quite a bit better if he had magical arms and armanent from the start, and perhaps a Ring of the Warrior and a Dragon Helmet as well.

[PyroStock]

jutetrea said:
Also, Anyone found a way to stimulate AI site searching?



In a custom map I'm playing the AI was given a huge lead and during the game the AI gem income spiked significantly after it casted Strands of Arcane Power and for some reason seems to have gained a larger gem *increase* almost each turn after it casted Arcane Nexus. My guess is more astral income led to more acashic record searches. Therefore, an AI pretender given 4+ in most/all magic paths with a healthy income of astral should find more sites if it does decent research progress. From a player's persepective, the spike and rapid increases seem scary at first. Eventually one realizes the AI is still inefficient with gems and still has the same tactical weaknesses. The AI dominating the globals also protects it from the player better.

However, once this gem income source is discovered the human will likely focus on conquering it for their own use. Maybe an AI territory with high astral income that can only be teleported into and have it guarded by numerous horrors and guards? Perhaps an easier way would be a mod with L0 Acashic Record costing 1 pearl available only for the AI nations, but then it's not just a simple map file.

[Morbius]

hi everybody, im not sure whether this is the right place to ask this question, sorry if it isnt.

when i create [execute] a map with semirandom ver. 2.03 and then click on [semi randomize], it says:

ups, something is shiny ...
and then "error in main, line 1692: index 1(=-2) out of range"

could anybody help me?

[Ballbarian]

You are in the right place Morbius.

Here is kind of the stock request:
It would be a great help if you could send me the file "TESTDUMP.txt" located in your SemiRandom directory to semirand-AT-dom3minions.com. This only records data from the last run of SemiRandom, so if you have run subsequent maps through it without an error, it won't do any good to send it.


If I had to guess, I would say that your problem is likely tied to AI nation selection. So far there are only god files for EA (every nation in the early era except for Tir na n'Og, so check the "AI Gods" tab and be sure that EA is selected and hit the "Show Nation Configuration" button and make sure that Tir na n'Og is disabled or set to human.


The following helped Stryke11 when he was having trouble:
To let Dom3 handle start locations and AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to 0 (zero)

To use the custom start placements without using the custom AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to your desired number of players.
4. Go to the 'AI Gods' tab
5. Set 'AI Land Players' &amp; 'AI Sea Players' to 0 (zero)

[Morbius]

thanks a lot for your swift and detailed reply http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

and also for your offer to look into the testdump file.
i greatly appreciate that!

it might not be necessary, though, since your explanations about not turning on the Tir na n'Og AI should be sufficient.
that was a mistake i made, since i did turn it on!

im playing on the semirandomized map nonetheless, and it seems to work just fine.
i play Tir na n'Og, by the way.
dont know why i turned on the AI, since i wanted to play that nation myself anyway http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

if you want me to send you the testdump file even though i have already found -- thanks to your help -- the mistake that caused the error, i will of course gladly send it to you anyway.

thanks again,
i greatly appriciate your help http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ballbarian]

Glad you got it working. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/smile.gif
Sending the file won't be necessary.

[Forrest]

Downloaded 2.03 and I am a bit stumped.

I keep getting no GANPLAINS file error. So where do I get it?

[Ballbarian]

From a previous post:

Are you now running SemiRandom from within the RanDom frontend? or are you running it directly by SemiRandom.exe?

If you are using just SemiRandom.exe directly, then you will have to manually change the SemiRandom.cfg settings. It sounds like SemiRandom is looking for a map named GANPLAINS.map and (odds are) not finding it, so generating this error.

If that is the case, try running it from RanDom, and remember to change the map name (bright yellow &amp; red field) to a valid map (minus the '.map' extension).




Hope that helps!

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post is a quick patch for SemiRandom. Upgrades SemiRandom v106 to v107.

To apply:
Replace SemiRandom.exe in your dominions3/SemiRandom folder with the one included in SemiRandom107patch.zip.

Fixes:
Start placement code will no longer ignore "nostart" flags in custom maps.

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post are a four new GAN province files in zip format.

<font color="red">Valley of the Sisters (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=585712) </font>

To apply:
Paste the four ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following four lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

SISTERSET1_VL_U_R_OR_EMT_S_N_L_
SISTERSET2_VL_U_R_OR_FST_S_N_L_
SISTERSET3_VL_U_R_OR_WST_S_N_L_
SISTERSET4_VL_U_R_OR_PLN_S_N_L_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

[jscott]

I am trying to use RanDOM and I get an error about my COMDLG32.OCX not being installed correctly or one of its dependencies not being installed correctly.

I have VB 6 installed and I re-downloaded it from Microsoft just to be sure.

[Ballbarian]

Sorry that you are having trouble jscott. I suspect that you have an older version of COMDLG32.OCX.

I have attached a version that should work for you. Just unzip and drop the control (file: COMDLG32.OCX) in your dominions3 folder with RanDom.exe. This should fix your problem without having to mess with the one in your system32 folder &amp; without having to fiddle with your system registry.

Let me know if you are still having trouble.

[jscott]

That did not work. I receive the same error message.

Both RanDom and the comdlg32.ocx file are now in my dominions3 main directory.

[Ballbarian]

You should be able to find comdlg32.ocx in your windows\system32 directory. It may be that you just need to re-register it by typing "regsvr32 comdlg32.ocx" from the command line in the system32 directory.

In case you are not familiar with the command line I will include more detail below.
You can get a command line from:
Start-&gt;Programs-&gt;Accessories-&gt;Command Prompt.

You should get a window with a black background and a blinking cursor. Type cd\ to take you back to root and then type cd windows\system32 to switch to the system directory.

Now type:
regsvr32 comdlg32.ocx

Then:
Exit

This will re-register the control and then exit command prompt.

Hope that helps.

[jscott]

That did not work because the comdlg32.ocx file is not in my systems32 directory.

I used the one you sent me that I placed in my dominions3 directory and got an error that I could not register it. Research on the error indicated an elaborate fix involving permissions and regedit.

I'm giving up. Probably on Dom3 as a whole in fact. I'm not going to play MP and if the AI can't pick its dominion/scales even remotely intelligently, then I don't know why I'm bothering to play SP.

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post are 32 new GOD pretender files and an updated Nations.cfg file in zip format.

<font color="red">NewGods.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=591882) </font>

To apply:
Paste the new Nations.cfg file in your SemiRandom directory. (This updates SemiRandom/RanDom2 to include the new Dominions3 v3.15 nations.)
Paste the 32 ".god" files into your SemiRandom/GOD_BIN directory and add the following lines to GodList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

BARIAN1_13_A_EA_
BARIAN2_13_A_EA_
BARIAN3_13_A_EA_
BARIAN4_27_A_MA_
BARIAN5_28_A_MA_
BARIAN6_29_A_MA_
BARIAN7_30_A_MA_
BARIAN8_31_A_MA_
BARIAN9_14_A_EA_
BARIAN10_32_A_MA_
BARIAN11_33_A_MA_
BARIAN12_34_A_MA_
BARIAN13_35_A_MA_
BARIAN14_36_A_MA_
BARIAN15_37_A_MA_
BARIAN16_38_A_MA_
BARIAN17_39_A_MA_
BARIAN18_40_A_MA_
BARIAN19_41_A_MA_
BARIAN20_42_A_MA_
BARIAN21_43_A_MA_
BARIAN22_44_A_MA_
BARIAN23_46_A_MA_SEA_
BARIAN24_47_A_MA_SEA_
BARIAN25_48_A_MA_SEA_
BARIAN26_69_A_MA_
BARIAN27_27_A_MA_
BARIAN28_29_A_MA_
BARIAN29_30_A_MA_
BARIAN30_31_A_MA_
BARIAN31_32_A_MA_
GANDALF1_40_A_MA_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post are 66 (number 7 was missing from my pack) new GAN province files in zip format created and contributed by <font color="green">Foodstamp</font>.

<font color="red">JasonGanSet.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=592318) </font>

To apply:
Paste the 66 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

JASON1_U_R_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON2_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_
JASON3_U_R_WST_L_
JASON4_U_A_OR_PLN_MNT_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON5_U_A_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON6_U_A_OR_PLN_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON8_U_A_OR_PLN_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON9_U_A_OR_PLN_SEA_DEP_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_ S_N_L_
JASON10_U_A_OR_MNT_S_N_L_
JASON11_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON12_U_A_OR_PLN_FST_S_N_L_
JASON13_U_A_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON14_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON15_U_A_OR_MNT_SWP_FST_S_N_L_
JASON16_LK_U_R_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON17_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON18_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON19_U_R_OR_SWP_S_N_L_
JASON20_M_A_DS_
JASON21_IS_U_R_
JASON22_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON23_CLD_U_A_N_
JASON24_CLD_U_A_N_
JASON25_CLD_U_R_WST_N_
JASON26_U_A_OR_PLN_MNT_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON27_U_A_OR_PLN_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON28_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON29_U_A_OR_EMT_MNT_FST_S_N_L_
JASON30_CLD_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON31_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON32_U_A_OR_PLN_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON33_U_A_OR_EMT_MNT_S_N_L_
JASON34_U_A_OR_SEA_DEP_WST_S_N_L_
JASON35_U_A_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON36_TMP_U_A_OR_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON37_TMP_U_A_OR_FST_S_N_L_
JASON38_HOT_U_R_OR_EMT_MNT_S_N_L_DS_
JASON39_U_A_OR_PLN_L_
JASON40_TMP_U_A_OR_PLN_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON41_TMP_U_A_OR_PLN_SWP_FST_FRM_S_N_L_
JASON42_TMP_U_R_OR_PLN_N_L_
JASON43_CLD_U_A_MNT_S_
JASON44_TMP_U_A_FST_N_
JASON45_TMP_U_A_SWP_N_
JASON46_U_A_S_
JASON47_CO_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON48_HOT_VC_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON49_VL_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON50_U_A_OR_SEA_WTR_S_N_L_
JASON51_CLD_U_A_CAV_N_
JASON52_TMP_U_A_FST_N_
JASON53_U_A_WTR_S_
JASON54_M_A_OR_EMT_S_N_L_
JASON55_U_A_WST_WTR_S_
JASON56_U_A_OR_EMT_FST_WTR_S_N_L_
JASON57_M_A_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON58_M_A_OR_DEP_S_N_L_
JASON59_M_A_OR_CAV_S_N_L_
JASON60_M_A_OR_EMT_S_N_L_FS_
JASON61_VC_U_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON62_CO_U_A_L_ES_
JASON63_U_A_EMT_FST_L_WS_NS_
JASON64_PN_M_A_OR_S_N_L_
JASON65_U_A_EMT_FST_S_
JASON66_U_A_OR_S_N_L_DS_
JASON67_U_A_OR_S_N_L_BS_


These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

Foodstamp has done a great job with this set. It has a nice mix of beefy, hard to tackle provinces and nice thematic additions to the standard fare. Very cool. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post is an updated Nations.cfg file which brings nation selections up to dominions version 3.17.

NationsCfg317.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=614035)

To apply:
Paste the Nations.cfg file into your dominions3\SemiRandom folder.

This replaces the Nations.cfg that was included in RanDom v203.

[Ming]

Hi, this is my first visit to this thread. Could someone tell me what GAN province files are? Do I need it for using RanDom? Any instructions for using RanDom would also be appreciated although I can probably figure out how to use it on my own eventually.

[Panpiper]

I've gone through two previous generations of much enjoying Dominions. The first was a couple years back with Dominions2, then again last year with Dominions3, both times spending months playing nothing but. Now I am again with a game computer and am back at it. The previous couple of times I used SemiRandom extensively to generate more interesting content for the maps I was playing on (single player). Faerun was my favorate, SemiRandom having created a very interesting and extensive set of improved provinces, SemiRandom having added 122 'gan' files to it. This was with version 0.95. I've attached it here just in case anyone wants it.

Now however I just tried it with Thrall's really amazing map, Latus. SemiRandom version 1.06 adds all of four gan files! I tried with with the old unmodified Faerun map just to see what would happen and with that old file it now adds also only 4 gan files. Setting fiddlePercent from 100 to 100000 doesn't change anything. Dropping it to just one will result in three gan files.

Obviously I am a clueless sort. Could you give me one?

[Endoperez]

Ming said:
Hi, this is my first visit to this thread. Could someone tell me what GAN province files are? Do I need it for using RanDom? Any instructions for using RanDom would also be appreciated although I can probably figure out how to use it on my own eventually.



They are like the special provinces you sometimes meet in maps. Cyclops, hammer and a special site, or a sorceress and a robe, or couple of Wind Mages. Because they're player-made, and have to be mod-free, they won't use unique units or items or sites.

I did some. Others were quite powerful, and others were simpler. I think I did something Camelot-like, and probably a Robin Hood province with a Longbowman and a Monk and perhaps some Rangers and Woodsmen and other fun stuff.

[Ballbarian]

Could someone tell me what GAN province files are? Do I need it for using RanDom?


GAN province files are simple text files with the extension changed in honor of good 'ol Gandalf Parker. SemiRandom (a separate program written in yabasic that RanDom uses), was inspired by many of his ideas and random thoughts. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

The GAN files contain map code for custom provinces and the file name itself acts as a filter that SemiRandom uses to determine where to place the province in the modified map file. SemiRandom and the GAN files only come into play if you use the 'Semi Randomize' button in RanDom. SemiRandom and the base GAN files are included in the RanDom zip. Additional files and patches can be found in the first post.


Any instructions for using RanDom would also be appreciated although I can probably figure out how to use it on my own eventually.



From the ReadMe document:

[Execute] to run the Dominions3 random map generator with the settings that you have specified.

[Semi Randomize] to run the SemiRandomizer. The modified map file will have '_SR' appended to the file name and can be found in your dominions3\SemiRandom directory. Just copy/paste this '.map' file into your dominions3\maps directory to make it available for play. (In the future I hope to fix this so that it will be moved automatically.)

[Save Settings] to save your favorite map settings for future use, or to share with others.

[Load Settings] to load map settings from previous sessions, or those of other users.



As you may have noticed, the documentation is not very extensive. Unless someone beats me to it, I will try to post a little more in depth instructions when I get home from work tonight. It is pretty straight forward once you get the hang of it. Be prepared for a little trial and error to get the map that you want. I recommend defining some very small map sizes with mid level province counts in the beginning so that map generation times are low until you get the colors and settings like you want them.

[Ballbarian]

Thanks Endo!

This will be a hurried post because I need to be leaving! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

@Panpiper:
I suspect that Latus may have many #nostart's set in the map (may be included in the terrain mask) or something that for some reason SemiRandom is thinking that it can't mess with. I don't have time to look right now, but I will check it tonight.

Thank you very much for sharing your province files!

[Panpiper]

Ballbarian said:
@Panpiper:
I suspect that Latus may have many #nostart's set in the map (may be included in the terrain mask) or something that for some reason SemiRandom is thinking that it can't mess with. I don't have time to look right now, but I will check it tonight.

Thank you very much for sharing your province files!



Technically they were 'your' province files Ballbarian, and those who contributed. I just used your program to put them into the Faerun map. They probably would have been better placed by doing it by hand, but I am too lazy for such an andevour and not enough of a Faerun scholar.

By the way, I used the same original Faerun file both the first time and this subsequent time to do a test run. The first time through got the attached map with 122 improved provinces. The second time through it got only four, essentially the same problem as the Latus map. So I doubt the problem is encoded nostarts. On the other hand, it may be two problems, nostarts on the the Latus map and some other issue working with the Faerun map.

[Gandalf Parker]

On the subject of Documentation...
As I often said (and was finally proven out with the manual for the 3rd version of Dominions) waiting for the programmer to document is not the best idea. By the time a programmer (or mapper, or modder, scripter, etc) gets their love-child to work they tend to be beyond writing for a brand-new user. They dont think like a newbie and dont come up with newbie questions. And any answers tend to not be newbie answers. They are too deep into the subject. And we dont really WANT them to back out of that deep spot since they are hopefully thinking on the next version. (a very general stereotype of course and not true of every programmer)

The BEST documentation IMHO is when a new user, with abit of writing skill, takes good notes while they are learning the program. Write down the questions that came up and the answers you got. Translate the programmers short answers into new-user full english. Maybe even add charts and screenshots. Etc, etc, etc. Not only is it great for the community but its a nice way to thank a developer by offering them "just a quick little thing I did that you can use for documentation". Most of them will appreciate it.

[Ballbarian]

Technically they were 'your' province files Ballbarian, and those who contributed. I just used your program to put them into the Faerun map.



Ah! Sorry for my confusion. I was running in high gear today and did more skimming than reading and completely misunderstood what you were trying to say. Work was insane today. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

I downloaded the Faerunmod.map map that was attached to your post and removed all of the provinces from the map file that had been placed by SemiRandom ver095, then ran it through ver107 a few minutes ago and it modified 349 provinces with 'Fiddle Prov%' set to 100.

It could be that the map file you were using was already modified and SemiRandom just could not find very many new locations to populate.


On the other hand, it may be two problems, nostarts on the the Latus map and some other issue working with the Faerun map.



Very prophetic Panpiper! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

The Latus map has 64 #specstart &amp; 25 #land provinces. SemiRandom sees these provinces and all of their neighbors as being off limits for modification. Many of those provinces have 6+ neighbors with 7 and 8 neighbors not being uncommon. This quickly blocks 100's of provinces from modification. But it doesn't stop there. There are many provinces marked with terrain flags like FIRE-SITE, ASTRAL-SITE, EARTH-SITE, etc, and many of these are showing up as having no matching GAN file that is not unique and that has not already been placed. Again, this adds up to many provinces. (You can see when a province is skipped because of no matching GAN file by checking the 'Show Need' box on the 'General' settings tab.

Also note that when I ran a test run on Latus, SemiRandom v107 placed 38 provinces. Since you were only getting 3 or 4, I suspect that you have 'Desired Num Players' value on the 'Starts' tab set to some value other than zero. Every start location that SemiRandom places is going to mark that province and all of it's neighbors as off limits as well, further reducing the available clear locations.

Out of curiosity, I removed all of Latus's #specstart commands and ran it through SemiRandom which yielded 131 provinces modified. There were around 100 provinces with no matching GAN file and around 200 or more that were excluded because of the #land provinces and their neighbors. (Ideally, SemiRandom should only ignore the #land and not it's neighbors, but the initial idea was not to clutter areas around special provinces that were placed by map designers with a theme in mind.)

In summary:
When a map designer has used commands that set start locations and special provinces with custom content, SemiRandom will preserve them and all of their neighboring provinces.

If custom starts already exist in a map, be sure to set 'Desired Num Players' to zero.

If you happen to use the 'Show Need' option, and see an entry in the map file like:<font color="red">
----------------------------------------------------------
-- No match exists for province #71, terrain value:
-- Need: ASTRAL-SITE NORMAL COAST
----------------------------------------------------------
</font>
...then design a GAN file for it (the Province Editor tool can help with this) and submit it to this thread or email it to me and we will add it to the library. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

Thank you for pointing out the issues you were having as I will bet there were other folks having similar troubles and hopefully some of this might help in understanding how this creature works. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/tongue.gif

[Ballbarian]

Gandalf,
That was such an absolutely fantastic post that it deserves to be repeated with a full quote. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif


On the subject of Documentation...
As I often said (and was finally proven out with the manual for the 3rd version of Dominions) waiting for the programmer to document is not the best idea. By the time a programmer (or mapper, or modder, scripter, etc) gets their love-child to work they tend to be beyond writing for a brand-new user. They dont think like a newbie and dont come up with newbie questions. And any answers tend to not be newbie answers. They are too deep into the subject. And we dont really WANT them to back out of that deep spot since they are hopefully thinking on the next version. (a very general stereotype of course and not true of every programmer)

The BEST documentation IMHO is when a new user, with abit of writing skill, takes good notes while they are learning the program. Write down the questions that came up and the answers you got. Translate the programmers short answers into new-user full english. Maybe even add charts and screenshots. Etc, etc, etc. Not only is it great for the community but its a nice way to thank a developer by offering them "just a quick little thing I did that you can use for documentation". Most of them will appreciate it.



I know that I would appreciate someone taking something like that upon themselves.

Not that I am begging or anything.

(<font color="red">Please, oh please won't somebody save me!!!</font>)

...uh...I mean, well, yeah. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Panpiper]

Ballbarian said:
I know that I would appreciate someone taking something like that upon themselves.

Not that I am begging or anything.

(<font color="red">Please, oh please won't somebody save me!!!</font>)


Heh, not just save you, but save the rest of us as well. (Ok, maybe just me.)

I fear I remain utterly clueless. I have tried exactly the same as yourself, removing all changes made by the program then running it again.

"I suspect that you have 'Desired Num Players' value on the 'Starts' tab..."

Oh boy. Er... There's a tab? When I run SemiRandom I get a DOS sceen that requests that I input a filename. If I try to run the RanDom program, I get an error message saying it can't find SemiRandom.cfg even though it's sitting right where the extraction put it, in the SemiRandom folder right above the RanDom program. The documentation (which is for version 0.80 by the way) describes the first 8 or 9 entries in the .cfg file, but the rest are undefined, so I have no way of knowing what to hack. The SemiRandom.cfg file looks like this:

F:\Program Files (x86)\dominions3\SemiRandom
100
1
0
25
25
-1
-1
-1
-1
-1
7
6
0
2
EA
-1
4
0
4
255 205 000 225
GANPLAINS

Or maybe I should just ask you to post that modified Faerun file? ;-)

[Ballbarian]

I will attach the modified Faerun file to this post. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

For what it is worth, the following is from the SemiRandom 107 code and may give you a fair idea of what the additional values are associated with:
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
line input #1 path$
line input #1 fiddleXP REM &lt;=0 means block #xp lines to keep Hall of Fame clear of Independents. 1 to allow.
line input #1 fiddlePercent
line input #1 fiddleName
line input #1 showNeed
line input #1 hotPercent
line input #1 colPercent
line input #1 cldband1 REM -1 means realworld climate bands not defined
line input #1 tmpband1 REM otherwise the values are prov# ranges.
line input #1 hotband
line input #1 tmpband2
line input #1 cldband2
line input #1 numPlayers REM -1 means use DEFAULT_PROVPERPLAYER or provPerPlayer (0=NO START PLACEMENTS)
line input #1 aiLandPlayers REM 0=NO AI LAND PLAYER PLACEMENTS
line input #1 aiSeaPlayers REM 0=NO AI SEA PLAYER PLACEMENTS
line input #1 aiDifficulty REM 1 to 5 (2=standard)
line input #1 selectedEra$ REM values= EA, MA, LA
line input #1 provPerPlayer REM -1 means use DEFAULT_PROVPERPLAYER or numPlayers
line input #1 minNeighCount REM -1 means use DEFAULT_MINNEIGHCOUNT
line input #1 maxSeaStarts REM -1 means use default of 3.
line input #1 enforcedSpace REM -1 means no space enforcement, otherwise value entered enforced.
line input #1 mapTextColor$ REM -1 means don't set, otherwise = Red Green Blue Alpha (000-255)
line input #1 map$
</pre><hr />

I will try figure out what is going on with your error message (with RanDom) after a good nights sleep! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

[Ming]

Endoperez,

Thanks for the explanation. A follow-up question: if I just want to give the AI better Pretender/scale settings I don't have to worry about GAN files, right?

I'll start to play around with RanDom and see if I can get it to work. Thanks for drawing this excellent program to my attention (and thanks to Ballbarian for writing it and Gandalf for the idea).

[Ballbarian]

Right. Custom Pretenders and scale settings are stored in 'god' files. These can be created by hand with a text editor or via the "God Editor" (link in my sig).

[Panpiper]

From the readme files included in the zip:
Ok, here is a line by line map of the SemiRandom.cfg:
1. Path$ &gt; Path used by SR to find your gan &amp; data files.
2. fiddlePercent &gt; Percent of provinces in the selected map file to attempt to modify.


This is what messed me up. Your posting of those lines from the SemiRandom 107 code did the trick. The above would indicate that the second line in the .cfg file defines the percentage of provinces modified. In fact it is the third line. I shall now be able to hack, thank you.

(And I really mean it with a big thank you. The work some people have done to make my life happier really astounds me sometimes.)

[Ballbarian]

Ugh! Just realized that my attachment of the modified Faerun file didn't take, or I completely forgot to attach it. If it turns out that you end up needing it Panpiper, let me know and I will get it to you. It sounds like you have everything under control. Great news!

(Oh, and thanks for the thanks! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif )

[PvK]

OMG I hadn't studied this before and it is insanely cool!

Wow......

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post are 14 new GAN province files in zip format submitted by <font color="green">Gandalf</font>. Some of them are his own inventions and others include contributions from <font color="green">Jutetrea</font> and <font color="green">quantum_mechani</font>.

<font color="red">GandalfContributions1.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=629537)</font>

To apply:
Paste the 14 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):


GAN10_VL_U_A_OR_PLN_WST_FST_FRM_S_N_
GAN4_PN_U_R_OR_S_N_
GAN5_TMP_LO_U_R_OR_PLN_FST_S_
GAN6_U_A_WST_S_
GAN7_VL_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_WST_S_
GAN8_U_A_S_MST_
GAN9_VL_M_R_OR_PLN_WST_FST_FRM_N_
Jutetrea1_U_R_L_CO_FST_
Jutetrea3_CLD_U_A_N_EMT_FS_
Jutetrea3_CLD_U_A_N_MNT_FS_
Jutetrea6_TMP_VL_U_A_S_FS_AS_WS_ES_
quantum_mechani1_U_A_OR_EMT_MNT_S_N_L_
quantum_mechani2_U_A_PLN_
quantum_mechani3_CO_M_R_SWP_N_


These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

Great additions from Gandalf, Jutetrea and quantum_mechani for the library. Thanks!

[Ballbarian]

How did I miss your post?!?
Thanks PVK! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

[Gandalf Parker]

Anyone whose post I typed into a file is invited to check it and make changes of course. Its still your province design. Feel free to update it as you see fit.

My one stuff will not tend to be hard-to-beat surprises. More along the line of interesting change-of-pace filler stuff.

[Endoperez]

How do the god files work? I've been thinking that someone (== no one will volunteer so I'll have to do it myself) should make AI god files that only give the AI few good scales that go well together. Order 3 Production 3, Luck 3 Magic 3, etc etc. It would ensure that even if the AI designed the actual pretender, it would have some good scales as well.

[Ballbarian]

Great idea Endo!

I have not tested it in game, but you should be able to create a god file with a name like...
BARIAN_2_A_EA_

...which can be read as "Add (A) Ulm (2) for Early Age (EA)", and would only adjust the luck scales for the given nation with the code below:
#scale_unluck 2 -3

Or you could randomize the scales a little with:

@3
#scale_chaos 2 -1
#scale_chaos 2 -2
#scale_chaos 2 -3
@3
#scale_lazy 2 -1
#scale_lazy 2 -2
#scale_lazy 2 -3

#scale_unluck 2 -3


I generated the file name and code in a few seconds with the GodEditor. Let me know if that doesn't work or if I am misunderstanding how the map code for scales work.

[llamabeast]

Are there many maps around which have been SemiRandomised already? I'm trying to gather maps for the LlamaServer, so if anyone has any cool ones you think people may enjoy in MP, could they post them and let me know? That would be awesome.

This project looks like the most amazing thing, but somehow I have never gotten around to using it. I suspect it is the best kept secret in Dom3. As in, the best thing that is not universally known, rather than the secret that is kept best!

[Gandalf Parker]

I think some might have randomized some maps and uploaded them as samples.

But to me it would work better as an option. Like some of the other programs you can run against maps.
1) Select Map
1a) add AIs?
1b) Would you like it No-Independents?
1c) Would you like it as No-Water?
1d) Would you like it Semi-Randomized?
1e) Would you like it Chaoticised.

The cool thing about map changes over mods is that the players dont have to download it. If its a map they already have then the graphic is still fine. Only the server needs the new .map file. So if they ask for the Aran map, then choose a modifier, you could just run it to Aran31Jul08.map and use that one.

[llamabeast]

I will have multiple versions of many maps available, inc. NI etc.. But I can't make the server SemiRanDom a map on the fly - I mean, this is a Windows program after all.

[Ballbarian]

"RanDom" is a windows program, but "SemiRandom" is a separate program written in yabasic and should run on windows and unix. RanDom handles the building of the switches for the dom3 map generation and is a more human friendly interface for setting up the SemiRandom configuration file. So basically, any program can make the changes to the settings in the cfg file and then initiate the SemiRandom executable to generate the map file without the windows RanDom program.

If you decide to go the automated route, let me know if you need some help deciphering the configuration settings for SemiRandom. The help file that is included with it desperately needs updated.

[Ming]

When I tried to rum RanDom it says "MSCOMCTL.OCX" or one of its dependencies not correctly registered: a file is missing or invalid.

Is there a fix?

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post is a zip containing MSCOMCTL.OCX. You may be able to just drop it in the folder with RanDom.exe or it may have to be registered.

I don't have time to give more details at the moment, but will follow up after work if you have any problems or questions.

[Ming]

Ballbarian,

Thanks. Will let you know if I still have problems.

[llamabeast]

Trying to automate this sounds like great fun. Regrettably I don't think I'm going to look into it. I'm trying to finish my current set of planned features for my server and then draw a line under it, so I can concentrate on my PhD. I'm meant to hand in in 8 months. 8 months! Very scary.

[llamabeast]

On the other hand, maps generated with this would be very gratefully accepted for the server.

[Ming]

Balbarian,

Now its says TABCTL32.OCX is missing. I am beginning to wonder how many of these *.ocx files my computer is missing. Hope I am not causing you too much bother and thanks for helping.

Ilamabeast,

You mean your thesis is not on Dominion 3? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ballbarian]

Good!
We are making progress. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
I will attach tabctl32.ocx to this post

[Ballbarian]

Don't endanger your PhD llamabeast. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ming]

Ballbarian,

It works!! Many thanks.

[Ballbarian]

Great!
Don't forget to share any custom map settings (or any provinces and god files you might come up with in your travels) with us. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post are 9 new GAN province files in zip format submitted by <font color="green">Gandalf</font>. Some of them are his own inventions and others include contributions from <font color="green">CelestialGoblyn</font>, <font color="green">Stryke</font>, <font color="green">Taqwus</font>, <font color="green">Turin</font> and <font color="green">Cor</font>.

<font color="red">GandalfContributions2.zip (http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/download.php?Number=632163)</font>

To apply:
Paste the 9 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):


CelestialGoblyn1_U_R_OR_EMT_MNT_
CelestialGoblyn2_LK_U_R_OR_SEA_S_N_
Cor1_U_R_FST_L_
GAN11_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_
GAN12_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_
Stryke1_TMP_U_A_FST_N_
Taqwus1_CO_U_R_PLN_EMT_WST_SWP_FRM_
Turin1_U_A_FRM_N_
Turin2_U_A_N_


These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

More great additions from the community for the community. Thanks!

[Pehmyt]

I've been trying to set up some custom AI gods on a scenario map with predefined starting positions for each nation (Dawn of Dominions). However, it seems impossible to just get the gods, without messing up the starts. Am I doing something wrong? With "Desired number of players"=12 and AI gods (land+sea)=11, I get 11 custom gods, but they have new, silly starting positions, while the human player gets to keep his start as given in the original map file. If I set "D.N.players"=0 there are no new starts, but also no custom gods, independent of AI gods settings.

So far the best solution has been to delete the undesired #specstart lines by hand (actually by sed), and its working well, but I was hoping for a better solution.

Anyway, thanks for this wonderful tool.

[Ballbarian]

Pehmyt,
Sorry. Just saw your post and I have to leave 5 minutes ago. I will return late tonight and see if I can help you if someone hasn't beaten me to it.

[Ballbarian]

I've been trying to set up some custom AI gods on a scenario map with predefined starting positions for each nation (Dawn of Dominions). However, it seems impossible to just get the gods, without messing up the starts. Am I doing something wrong? With "Desired number of players"=12 and AI gods (land+sea)=11, I get 11 custom gods, but they have new, silly starting positions, while the human player gets to keep his start as given in the original map file. If I set "D.N.players"=0 there are no new starts, but also no custom gods, independent of AI gods settings.

So far the best solution has been to delete the undesired #specstart lines by hand (actually by sed), and its working well, but I was hoping for a better solution.

Anyway, thanks for this wonderful tool.

The option to place the custom gods with RanDom is tied directly to assigning start positions. Dawn of Dominions is a scenario map with predefined start locations (as you pointed out). RanDom tries to work around existing start locations and provinces with custom content. That is why you are seeing the silly start placement. Your current solution is the best workaround. RanDom was really designed to take a generic map file and spice it up. The custom gods and start locations came later as an afterthought. :)

(Thanks for the thanks!)

[Ballbarian]

Just some touch up to the main post. Added links to help those who run into the missing ocx error and some sample map images pulled in from some of the older posts.

(Pardon my mess. :) )

[MaxWilson]

Has anyone had any problems running this in Vista? Judging by the little I have read online, it appears that it should run fine.

What exactly happened Valandil? What error message did you receive and at what point in the process?

I am having problems with Vista. Currently getting an error:


Lost in time...
Could not open 'C:\usr\dominions3\SemiRandom\GANPLAINS'
Try again? (y or n): y
Enter name of .map file to modify (leave off extension please!): scenario

Adding stuff... |
---Error in main, line 1692: index 1 (=-2) out of range
---Error: Program stopped due to an error


I'm trying to track it down now.

Edit: Okay, I've read some earlier posts in this thread about this problem, and Ballbarian recommends going to the AI tab and making sure you've got EA w/ Tir Na N'og turned off. I've been running Semirandom straight from the command line, but just in case I tried going to RanDom and doing this... no luck. But at least I'm pretty sure it's a problem with the allowed provinces. More when I find the problem.

-Max

[MaxWilson]

Okay, I'm not sure exactly what was causing the problem (i.e. why the array indexing wasn't right) but I finally decided that the PRINT was simply a logging statement, so I REM'ed it out... and it seems to work. Now to experiment with the God editor and some scenarios. I'm glad that I'm finally getting around to this, I've been meaning to play with SemiRandom for ages.

Edit: nope, I guess I was just lucky. It didn't really work because semirandom.yab is the *source code* for the .exe, not something which is actively being used by the .exe. It turns out I just got lucky that time (I guess it happened to pick all valid nations that time I tried it). Back to work for me, trying to isolate the problem.

[MaxWilson]

Okay, I *think* the problem is that nation.cfg should have a "-" instead of "!" in front of Tir Na N'Og to mark it as off-limits. After making this change, SemiRandom appears to be working reliably, although I'm puzzled why it assigns several versions of the same God to a given nation (EA Arc) with different lands. However, that's probably valid and I just don't understand map files well enough to know that.

-Max

[MaxWilson]

Okay, here's a version that should "just work" for anyone doing SingleAge games. It has a bunch of stuff from Ballbarian's first post all rolled into one (e.g. all of Foodstamp's GANs, Ballbarian's extra Gods) and the nation config file set for all nations in EA/MA. (LA is omitted because it has no God files yet.) Actually, let me rephrase that: pick your nation by editing nation.config to move the hyphen "-" onto your nation. Other than that it should just work.

-Max

[Ballbarian]

Sorry that I missed your posts this afternoon MaxWilson. I will review your problems tomorrow night. I am already running about 4 hours behind on sleep and I expect work to be rough in the morning.

[Coldshard]

Sorry if this was answered somewhere in the thread and I missed it.. but I'm having the, 'component TABCTL32.OCX or one of its dependencies not correctly registered' error. I found the file in this thread but putting a copy in the dominions folder doesnt help nor does putting it in the system32 folder.

Where should I put this file to make it work? Or do I need to change some other setting somewhere?

[Ballbarian]

Coldshard,
See this post:
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=586236&postcount=117

Just replace references to comdlg32.ocx with tabctl32.ocx.

[Ballbarian]

Okay, I *think* the problem is that nation.cfg should have a "-" instead of "!" in front of Tir Na N'Og to mark it as off-limits. After making this change, SemiRandom appears to be working reliably, although I'm puzzled why it assigns several versions of the same God to a given nation (EA Arc) with different lands. However, that's probably valid and I just don't understand map files well enough to know that.

-Max

The RanDom program (for Win users) takes care of the nation configuration and other options, because (as you have discovered :) ) it can be a daunting task to set all of these options manually and get everything working as you would like. Even with using the gui it can be a challenge.

- reserve for human
! disable this nation
<null> enabled for AI

The multiple placements of EA Arc is because that nation number is 0 and it is the first nation in the nation cfg list. Sounds like some of your settings might be off a tad.

[Ballbarian]

For some examples that might help clarify some things, I will post some of my own current settings.

Nation Configuration screen from within RanDom
(So you can see graphically how SemiRandom sees the settings in the Nations.cfg file posted below.)
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/picture.php?albumid=11&pictureid=111


Nations.cfg (EA section only)

===EARLY ERA===
!0 Arcoscephale
1 Ermor
2 Ulm
!3 Marverni
!4 Sauromatia
!5 T'ien Ch'i
!7 Mictlan
!8 Abysia
!9 Caelum
10 C'tis
11 Pangaea
!12 Agartha
13 Tir na n'Og
14 Fomoria
!15 Vanheim
!16 Helheim
!17 Niefelheim
!18 Kailasa
!19 Yomi
-20 Hinnom
!*21 Atlantis
!*22 R'lyeh
!*26 Oceania
68 Lanka


SemiRandom.cfg

C:\Games\dominions3\SemiRandom
0
100
1
0
25
25
-1
-1
-1
-1
-1
0
7
0
2
EA
20
4
0
-1
255 000 000 255
Faerunmod_SR


Hope that helps.

[Ballbarian]

Since I am running out of time again, I will go ahead and attach Stavis_L's wonderful contributions to this post. When time permits, I will either do a proper upload and announcement or post an updated "compilation" to simplify things for new users.

Edit:
Attached to this post are 46 new GOD files & 38 new GAN province files in zip format submitted by <font color="green">Stavis_L</font>. This is a great addition to the library and the new god files are greatly appreciated!

<font color="red">Stavis_L_GodsAndProvinces.zip (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7399&d=1228874968)</font>

To apply:
Paste the 38 ".god" files into your SemiRandom/GOD_BIN directory and add the following lines to GodList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

STAVX1_64_A_LA_
STAVX2_70_A_LA_
STAVM1_58_A_LA_
STAVM10_62_A_LA_
STAVM11_51_A_LA_
STAVM12_53_A_LA_
STAVM13_54_A_LA_
STAVM14_61_A_LA_
STAVM15_67_A_LA_SEA_
STAVM16_56_A_LA_
STAVM17_55_A_LA_
STAVM18_52_A_LA_
STAVM19_70_A_LA_
STAVM2_57_A_LA_
STAVM20_71_A_LA_
STAVM21_65_A_LA_
STAVM3_49_A_LA_
STAVM4_66_A_LA_
STAVM5_64_A_LA_
STAVM6_59_A_LA_
STAVM7_60_A_LA_
STAVM8_50_A_LA_
STAVM9_63_A_LA_
STAVH1_66_A_LA_
STAVH10_49_A_LA_
STAVH11_53_A_LA_
STAVH12_54_A_LA_
STAVH13_59_A_LA_
STAVH14_61_A_LA_
STAVH15_55_A_LA_
STAVH16_58_A_LA_
STAVH17_57_A_LA_
STAVH18_67_A_LA_SEA_
STAVH19_60_A_LA_
STAVH2_71_A_LA_
STAVH20_62_A_LA_
STAVH21_63_A_LA_
STAVH22_64_A_LA_
STAVH23_65_A_LA_
STAVH3_70_A_LA_
STAVH4_52_A_LA_
STAVH5_52_A_LA_
STAVH6_51_A_LA_
STAVH7_51_A_LA_
STAVH8_56_A_LA_
STAVH9_50_A_LA_

Paste the 46 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

STAV1_CLD_CO_U_R_WST_DS_
STAV10_HOT_IS_U_R_FST_
STAV11_TMP_VL_M_R_FST_S_
STAV12_M_R_WTR_N_.gan
STAV13_TMP_M_R_PLN_EMT_
STAV14_U_A_
STAV15_TMP_U_R_FST_N_NS_
STAV16_U_R_WST_FS_
STAV17_U_R_WST_FS_
STAV18_TMP_VL_U_R_FST_
STAV19_U_R_OR_SWP_FST_
STAV2_HOT_U_R_SWP_S_WS_
STAV20_U_R_OR_PLN_FST_FRM_
STAV21_U_R_OR_PLN_FST_FRM_
STAV22_U_R_
STAV23_CO_U_R_
STAV24_M_R_DEP_
STAV25_CLD_IS_U_R_FST_FS_
STAV26_TMP_M_R_FST_
STAV27_M_R_FST_
STAV28_M_R_DEP_
STAV29_M_R_SEA_
STAV3_TMP_LO_U_R_FST_
STAV30_TMP_U_A_
STAV31_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_SWP_FST_FRM_
STAV32_M_R_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_SWP_FST_FRM_
STAV33_M_R_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_FRM_
STAV34_CLD_M_R_OR_PLN_EMT_FST_FRM_
STAV35_TMP_M_R_OR_PLN_EMT_FST_FRM_
STAV36_HOT_M_R_OR_EMT_MNT_FST_
STAV37_CLD_M_R_OR_PLN_EMT_FST_FRM_
STAV38_HOT_M_R_OR_EMT_MNT_FST_
STAV4_CLD_U_R_SEA_
STAV5_U_R_EMT_SS_
STAV6_U_R_EMT_FST_
STAV7_CO_U_R_PLN_MST_
STAV8_HOT_U_R_EMT_WST_
STAV9_LK_U_R_WTR_


These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

More great additions from the community for the community. Thanks!

Edit: See the Gan & God Compilation for updated version with syntax fixes for some of the god files included in this archive.

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post are 37 new GAN province files in zip format submitted by <font color="green">Happyfungi</font>. From the land of Pax Ravana (where a breakaway faction of Ermor refuses to ackowledge the new god and worships a diffent god instead) to Bergrens Hollow, more variety and challenges await.

<font color="red">HapyfungiGANS.zip (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=7740&stc=1&d=1234107259)</font>

To apply:
Paste the 37 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

Happyfungi1_TMP_U_R_OR_PLN_FST_FRM_N_
Happyfungi11_U_R_OR_SEA_DEP_S_N_L_
Happyfungi12_IS_U_R_OR_S_N_L_
Happyfungi2_TMP_U_R_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_FST_N_L_
Happyfungi3_HOT_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_S_N_L_
Happyfungi4_CLD_U_A_OR_PLN_FRM_S_N_L_
Happyfungi5_U_R_OR_PLN_CAV_EMT_MNT_S_N_L_
Happyfungi6_HOT_CO_U_R_OR_PLN_WST_SWP_N_L_
Happyfungi7_U_A_OR_SEA_S_N_L_
Happyfungi8_U_A_OR_DEP_S_N_L_
Hapyfungi10_HOT_M_A_OR_SWP_FST_S_N_SS_NS_
Hapyfungi11_CLD_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_S_
Hapyfungi12_HOT_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_
Hapyfungi13_TMP_M_A_OR_PLN_FRM_S_
Hapyfungi14_TMP_M_A_OR_FST_S_
Hapyfungi15_TMP_M_A_OR_EMT_MNT_S_
Hapyfungi16_TMP_M_A_OR_WST_S_
Hapyfungi17_M_A_OR_SEA_DEP_CAV_WTR_S_N_L_
Hapyfungi21_M_A_DEP_N_
Hapyfungi28_M_U_SEA_N_
Hapyfungi29_CLD_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_AS_WS_
Hapyfungi30_HOT_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_FS_BS_
Hapyfungi31_TMP_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_
Hapyfungi32_TMP_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_
Hapyfungi33_HOT_U_R_OR_EMT_MNT_FST_L_
Hapyfungi34_TMP_U_A_OR_CAV_EMT_N_ES_S_
Hapyfungi35_HOT_CO_U_R_OR_EMT_FST_L_
Hapyfungi36_TMP_U_R_FRM_S_
Hapyfungi37_HOT_U_R_FRM_S_
Hapyfungi38_IS_U_R_FST_S_
Hapyfungi39_PN_U_R_PLN_S_
Hapyfungi40_VL_U_R_EMT_S_
Hapyfungi41_CO_U_R_PLN_S_
Hapyfungi42_CLD_U_R_OR_PLN_EMT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_
Hapyfungi43_TMP_U_R_OR_PLN_EMT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_
Hapyfungi44_HOT_U_R_OR_PLN_EMT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM_S_
Hapyfungi9_VL_U_R_OR_EMT_MNT_S_N_L_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

More great additions from the community for the community. Thanks!

[Gandalf Parker]

I should try and figure out what our grand total is now,
and maybe chart out what we have to try and spot holes that could use some filling.
(I SHOULD, and might, but I will mention it just in case someone else wants to take a stab at it also as a community service) :)

[das123]

Is there a help file or tutorial on using SemiRandom? I have never been able to get this to work for me. Usually throws exceptions on line 1695: 'Index 1 (=-1) out of range' if that is a help.

[Ballbarian]

There is a help file included with SemiRandom, but it is very out of date. Some new options exist in the configuration files that were not available when the docs were written. It might help you understand how the program works though. Some day I hope to be motivated enough to take a stab at either an extensive tutorial OR a complete rewrite with a simpler set of options, a cleaner UI and more extensive error checking. Neither sounds like much fun right now as my job has been more demanding as of late.

Here is kind of the stock request:
It would be a great help if you could send me the file "TESTDUMP.txt" located in your SemiRandom directory to ballbarian-AT-gmail.com. This only records data from the last run of SemiRandom, so if you have run subsequent maps through it without an error, it won't do any good to send it.

If I had to guess, I would say that your problem is likely tied to AI nation selection. Until recently, there had only been god files for EA, so check the "AI Gods" tab and confirm which Era is selected and hit the "Show Nation Configuration" button and make sure that any nations which have no god files are disabled or set to human.

The following helped Stryke11 when he was having trouble:
To let Dom3 handle start locations and AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to 0 (zero)

To use the custom start placements without using the custom AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to your desired number of players.
4. Go to the 'AI Gods' tab
5. Set 'AI Land Players' & 'AI Sea Players' to 0 (zero)

[Ballbarian]

I should try and figure out what our grand total is now,
and maybe chart out what we have to try and spot holes that could use some filling.
(I SHOULD, and might, but I will mention it just in case someone else wants to take a stab at it also as a community service) :)

Please do Gandalf. I am curious as well. :)

[Gandalf Parker]

I will put in this pitch.

I have never found documentation written by the developer to be great documentation. By the time a programmer gets a program working, they are already too deeply into it to start trying to think like a newbie. They take too much for granted, and spend too much time explaining deep subjects instead of the basic how-to

Being deeply involved in the project from before its beginning Im not sure if I could write them either. (altho with my horrible lack of decent memory maybe I could do it like a newb) :)

IMHO the best thing for the entire community is for someone who is tackling the program for the first time to take good notes. What questions came up, what answers they got, what steps were required. That would not only be helpful to Ballbarian in smoothing any bumps but to all of us. If you are at all interested in the SemiRandom map improver and you feel you take good notes then this would be a chance to offer something to the community.

[VedalkenBear]

GP: Maybe I'll try this, because I redownloaded this either last night or this morning, and I'm struggling to work through it again.

At least I'm getting no outright errors now.

[das123]

Thanks for your response, I found your earlier post and when I selected one of the gods as 'human' it worked for me.

As I've recently struggled through using the generator, I would be happy to help write a tutorial for it as well. I think it is a great idea to get relative newbies to start writing a guide because there is nothing 'taken for granted'.

[das123]

Attached is a draft version. A lot of holes but may help.

Inside the zip file is an HTML file. :)

[Ballbarian]

Thanks a ton das123! :up::cool::up:

I read through your guide and jotted some very rough notes & thoughts which I will share here:


************************************************** ************************************************** ***********
section: Map details setup
Might be nice to have a few notes on how I come up with appropriate dimensions versus province count. Now what did I do with that formula??? As a general rule, decide on how many provinces you would like and look for an existing map with a similar count and use it's dimensions as a general guide.

Normal Mount check box - when unchecked mountains are impassable and can create choke points within a map. When checked, mountains are provinces themselves (like they were in DomPPP & Dom2).

section: Borders
Map Noise - Adds a speckling effect to the map lands. Increasing this slider increases the speckling. A little can add some texture, too much can get pretty ugly. I usually set this around 15 or less.

section: General Tab
Fiddle Prov% - note that can be set above 100%. The higher the setting, the more time SemiRandom is allowed to try to fill provinces.

Fiddle XP - note: (to clarify) leave unchecked to keep from showing up in the Hall of Fame.

section: Starts Tab
Provinces Per Player - This one is a rather strange and hard to describe critter in how it relates to some of the other settings. Maybe the easiest way to describe it is the following:

DEFAULT_PROVPERPLAYER=20
Priority is:
1. numPlayers
2. provPerPlayer (numPlayers=provCount/provPerPlayer)
3. DEFAULT_PROVPERPLAYER (numPlayers=provCount/20)

So if numPlayers has a value other than -1, then this is the number of player starts that semiRandom will try to place.

If numPlayers is set to -1, and provPerPlayer has a value other than -1, calculate the number of starts to attempt to place by dividing the total province count by the provPerPlayer value. Hmmm. Setting this to zero will surely crash the program. Damn sloppy programmer. :)

If both numPlayers & provPerPlayer are set to -1, then just use the default value of 20 to calculate numPlayers based on the number of provinces on the map.


Lock Player to Nat Cfg checkbox - When this box is checked, changes to a nations sliders (in the nation configuration screen) will adjust the "Desired Num Players" count. Setting a nation to "HUMAN" or "AI" will increase the number of players and changing a nation to "DISABLED" will reduce this value so you don't have to. If you enable a sea nation (like R'lyeh) it will also increment "Max Sea Starts" for you or decrease it if you disable a sea nation. And finally, it will automatically adjust "AI Land Players" & "AI Sea Players" for you as you make changes to the sliders. I highly recommend leaving this box checked.

section: AI Gods Tab
How can you tell which races have .god files?
Ah, sorry. That is not as easy to check as I made it sound.
Unless I have missed a recent patch added nation, all early & mid era nations should have a god (as long as the user has downloaded all of the available god files from the RanDom forum thread) and I believe that with the addition of Stavis_L's god files we have one for every late era nation as well. If you look in your GOD_BIN, you will see that the god file names contain the nation number and which era they belong to. So nation zero (0) is EA Arcoscephale.

************************************************** ************************************************** ***********

I hope that helps to fill in some of the gray areas and thanks again for your wonderful contribution. :)
Two penguins up for you! :penguin: :penguin:

[das123]

Thanks for the feedback. :)

I'm working my way through it. I've come up with a simple(ish) formula for map dimensions. Essentially if you allow each province a 120 x 120 pixel dimension, you simply multiply the number of provinces by 120 squared to get your total pixels. To make a square map you just take the square root of this total; or you can set an arbitary width - divide the total pixels by this amount to get the height. So the the formula is w x h = p x (120 x 120).

With Fiddle Prov%, is it a logrithmic scale, linear scale, or some other formula. I'm wondering if 100 in the builder is really 50% or some other figure?

I'll post next draft again soon.

[das123]

Here's the next draft addressing the items raised...

[llamabeast]

VERY nicely done das123, thanks!! I think I will finally have a go at using this now.

[llamabeast]

Am I correct in understanding that in order to get all the data files, we should look through this thread to find all the available downloads?

Maybe we could compile them all into one single download?

[Ballbarian]

Thanks for the feedback. :)

With Fiddle Prov%, is it a logrithmic scale, linear scale, or some other formula. I'm wondering if 100 in the builder is really 50% or some other figure?


Nothing fancy, just a brute force applied via a blunt hammer. :)
Here is the relevant code:

REM Set fiddleCount (how many provinces to modify)...
fiddleCount=int(((provCount*fiddlePercent)/100))

REM Select random provinces to mark for modification...
fin=false
i=0
attempts=0 REM Saftey to prevent risk of infinite loop...
while (fin=false)
attempts=attempts+1
x=int(ran(provCount))+1
if terFlag(x)=0 then
if offLimits(x)=1 then
terFlag(x)=-1
else
i=i+1
terFlag(x)=1
endif
endif
if attempts>=(provCount*(10*fiddlePercent)) then
PRINT #9 "*** WARNING: ATTEMPTS >= (10xfiddlePercent)xProvCount ***"
PRINT #9 "Could not select desired number of provinces for modification."
endif
if (i>=fiddleCount) or (attempts>=(provCount*(10*fiddlePercent))) then
fin=true
endif

[Ballbarian]

Am I correct in understanding that in order to get all the data files, we should look through this thread to find all the available downloads?
They should all be listed in the first post of this thread with either links to the download or links to the post containing the download.


Maybe we could compile them all into one single download?
This is actually a fairly high priority. I would be tickled pink if someone put together a compilation before I got to it. :)

[das123]

Ahhh, so the percentage is the number of times the program will randomly select provinces for changing. As the program can select the same province more than once, 100% is in reality closer to 50% of the provinces being affected. 200% would be statistically about 75% and so on. So it works logarithmically in effect. :)

[Jazzepi]

Is there any way you could create a province generator that would make wrap around maps? :9

Pretty plz?

Jazzepi

[llamabeast]

ParadoxHarbinger made one Jazzepi. The maps it makes are a bit garish, but I understand it works well. I suppose the solution would be some photoshopping (or GIMPing) after they're generated.

[Gandalf Parker]

PH's mapgen will accept color preferences so it doesnt need to be garish. The biggest problem I have with it is that he considers this to be an instruction on how to do something.
http://paradoxharbinger.wikidot.com/local--math/eqs/916ed35ab39d26dfe31e59140cef6b4a.png

Ive been messing with it by randomly changing settings. Here is a batch of 300-400 prov maps
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/Mid_Wrapped/

Someone can grab one of those and use a paint program to fill the provs with something. You can even use the Dom3 sprites that Kristoffer gave us.

HBs latest screen shots look great if he ever comes back to finish it.
http://paradoxharbinger.wikidot.com/screenshots

[VedalkenBear]

Okay, I'm getting an error when I try to run SemiRandom. Assuming this is a RTE in VB, I'm getting an Array out of Bounds error in line 1692 of main.

Can someone clear this up for me? Note: This happens in the 'adding stuff' stage.

Also, does the latest version of RanDom (in post 1) have all of the .GAN and other files made so far?

[Ballbarian]

Okay, I'm getting an error when I try to run SemiRandom. Assuming this is a RTE in VB, I'm getting an Array out of Bounds error in line 1692 of main.

Can someone clear this up for me? Note: This happens in the 'adding stuff' stage.

Here is kind of the stock request:
It would be a great help if you could send me the file "TESTDUMP.txt" located in your SemiRandom directory to ballbarian-AT-gmail.com. This only records data from the last run of SemiRandom, so if you have run subsequent maps through it without an error, it won't do any good to send it.

If I had to guess, I would say that your problem is likely tied to AI nation selection. Until recently, there had only been god files for EA, so check the "AI Gods" tab and confirm which Era is selected and hit the "Show Nation Configuration" button and make sure that any nations which have no god files are disabled or set to human.

The following helped Stryke11 when he was having trouble:
To let Dom3 handle start locations and AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to 0 (zero)

To use the custom start placements without using the custom AI gods:
1. Go to the 'Starts' tab
2. Uncheck 'Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg'
3. Set 'Desired Num Players' to your desired number of players.
4. Go to the 'AI Gods' tab
5. Set 'AI Land Players' & 'AI Sea Players' to 0 (zero)




Also, does the latest version of RanDom (in post 1) have all of the .GAN and other files made so far?

No. But your timing couldn't have been better. See my next post. :)

[Ballbarian]

2/10/2009 GAN and GOD Compilation (UPDATED*)
************************************************** *********

Included in this zip are 78 god files, 168 gan province files, GANLIST.txt, GODLIST.txt, SemiRandom QUICKPATCH 1.07 and the latest available NationsCfg317. This compilation should include all of the available downloads including patches that were available in the RanDom v2.03 thread as of this writing. These files were not included in the RanDom_v203.zip

INSTALLATION:
This text assumes that you have a working version of RanDom v2.03 installed.

SemiRandom QUICKPATCH 1.07:
Upgrades SemiRandom v106 to v107.
To apply:
Replace SemiRandom.exe in your dominions3/SemiRandom folder with the one included in SemiRandom107patch.zip.
Fixes:
Start placement code will no longer ignore "nostart" flags in custom maps.

NationsCfg317:
Brings nation selections up to dominions version 3.17
To apply:
Paste the Nations.cfg file into your dominions3\SemiRandom folder. This replaces the Nations.cfg that was included in RanDom v203.


GAN PROVINCE FILES:
To apply:
Paste the 168 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and copy/paste the contents of GANLIST.txt (included with this download) to the end of GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory).

GOD FILES:
To apply:
Paste the 78 ".god" files into your SemiRandom/GOD_BIN directory and copy/paste the contents of GODLIST.txt (included with this download) to the end of GodList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory).


Contributors include:
Foodstamp, Gandalf, Jutetrea, quantum_mechani, CelestialGoblyn, Cor, Stryke, Taqwus, Turin, Stavis_L & Happyfungi

Many thanks!

- Ballbarian

*UPDATED:
Re-uploaded with syntax fixes to a few god files. 2/22/2009

[das123]

Just found an error in the new GanList.txt file, Ballbarian. On line 12 there is a space in the name between FRM and _S_N_L...

JASON9_U_A_OR_PLN_SEA_DEP_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_

EDIT:
Just found a few more. All the names longer than 50 characters have a space at the 50 character mark.

Hapyfungi12_HOT_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_

Hapyfungi29_CLD_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_AS_WS_
Hapyfungi30_HOT_M_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_FS_BS_
Hapyfungi31_TMP_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_
Hapyfungi32_TMP_U_A_OR_PLN_EMT_MNT_WST_SWP_FST_FRM _S_N_L_

[Ballbarian]

Thanks!
Fixed and replaced. :)

I have used good ol' notepad for many years when dealing with quick, simple text files, but this was the last straw. Why in the world MS thought they had to fiddle with notepad (in Vista :doh:) I will never know, but they have broken it. I already used Vim for a lot of text editing, but it looks like it is time to switch over completely. /end rant. :p

[Gandalf Parker]

Im not sure about Vista but in XP I was very happy with some of the notepad improved versions out there. They seemed to think like me. Keep the good things about it but add a few niceties. Like Note Tab, NotePad++, NotePad Plus, etc.

[Ballbarian]

Update:
Added a link to das123's RanDom Help Guide which is now viewable online at:
http://www.dom3minions.com/~semirand/sub_pages/RanDom2.03_Help_Draft02.html

Thanks again das123!

[Ballbarian]

Update:
Re-uploaded the GAN and GOD Compilation (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=673744&postcount=194) with syntax fixes to a few god files. For simplicity's sake, I will not be updating the Stavis_L gods & provinces upload. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I don't want to try to maintain too many archives. All that needs to be replaced is the Stavis_L god files. No changes to god lists are necessary, just copy and replace the god files themselves and you are all set.

Edit: After uploading, found an error in the GanList that was included in the compilation. I have corrected it and replaced the original. It is a simple ".gan" that was left in the list on one of Stavis_L's provinces. If you do not want to download the whole compilation for this minor fix, just search your GanList.txt (with a 'find' command or equivalent) for ".gan". If found, remove the ".gan" part.

[Theonlystd]

I've never been smart enough to get this to work properly =o

[DakaSha]

hey uhm for some reason semirandom is choosing a random god file (from the disabled ones..) and then making all the nations set to AI use that god file.

so the game crashes saying that the nation isnt in the game.

the first map i did with semirandom worked though. now it does this every time

edit: its not doing it when i select early age... what am i doing wrong? it only does this on mid and late

[DakaSha]

nevermind im an idiot... didnt extend the text files ;)

[pyg]

Did some fiddling waiting for a turn to host and yes you can get RanDom to run under Wine/*nix (you need a vb.dll and all three .ocx). You can even get it to spawn the map creation in Dom3 if you symlink your binary as Dom3.exe. Should be able to use the created .map although I didn't wait for it to finish.

SemiRand works fine under Wine as well and you can use RanDom to do it. I did not test it extensively but it seems to have worked. Finding the completed _SR.map in the SemiRand directory was a little counterintuitive to me.

Running SemiRand.yab in yabasic/*nix has a tiny bug you might want to fix.


320c320
< OPEN 1, path$+"\\LIST_CRATE\\OkEndList.txt", "r"
---
> OPEN 1, path$+os$+"LIST_CRATE"+os$+"OkEndList.txt", "r"


As a minor point of feedback it would be nice if the first post had an attachment that was completely up to date (nation.cfg is 3.17) and included all the GANs and GODs available.

I am looking forward to messing around with this some more!

[Foodstamp]

That means Map Forge will probably work as well in linux with some fiddling + WINE. Good stuff to know :).

[LumenPlacidum]

Is it possible to generate wrapping maps with this?

[Gandalf Parker]

I dont think so.
There is another program that can generate wrapped maps but unless you are REALLY smart in math its very hard to use. Or do like I did and spend alot of time plugging in random numbers until you hit something usable. But you can run those maps thru the randomizer afterward to generate SemiRandom game maps.
Check out some of the links for MapGen project of ParadoxHarbinger at http://www.dom3minions.com/maps.htm
and if you want to download the mepgen program itself to take a stab at it then its on the links page at
http://www.dom3minions.com/links.htm

[LumenPlacidum]

Haha, how ironic. Math degree, don't fail me now!

[Gandalf Parker]

I still have trouble with the basic 4 math functions from 4th grade. My enjoyment of programming is based partly on being able to just type in the formula someone gives me, or having the program do the math for me. Thats what computers are for.

ParadoxHarbinger's "simple" explanations of some of his programs features sounded to me like a lecture from Stephen Hawkins. Personally I think I did pretty good. I got maps out of it that I felt were comfortable to look at, properly colored for the terrains, and in different sizes. But everything in the program is so inter-connected that if someone wanted one a certain size or more water I ended up starting over completely. Any small change affected everything the program did.

Id love to see some decent maps done with it. People do like wraps. You might also snap up Kristoffers file of map icons which would help make the maps look more like other maps that have been made. ParadoxHarbinger's program did have something about automatic icon insertion on the last version but I didnt get it to work very well.

I truly do wish you good luck. Let us know how things turn out.

[Ballbarian]

Attached to this post are 81 new GAN province files & 89 new GOD files in zip format submitted by <font color="green">Stavis_L</font>.

<font color="red">Stavis_L_Nov_2010.zip (http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10651&stc=1&d=1290477035)</font>

To apply:
Paste the 89 ".god" files into your SemiRandom/GOD_BIN directory and add the following lines to GodList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

STAVIS1_12_A_EA_
STAVIS10_17_A_EA_
STAVIS11_26_A_EA_SEA_
STAVIS12_26_A_EA_SEA_
STAVIS13_22_A_EA_SEA_
STAVIS14_2_R_EA_
STAVIS15_2_R_EA_
STAVIS16_2_A_EA_
STAVIS17_2_A_EA_
STAVIS18_19_A_EA_
STAVIS19_19_R_EA_
STAVIS2_0_R_EA_
STAVIS2_66_A_LA_
STAVIS20_49_R_LA_
STAVIS21_49_A_LA_
STAVIS22_71_R_LA_
STAVIS23_71_R_LA_
STAVIS24_59_R_LA_
STAVIS25_59_R_LA_
STAVIS26_60_R_LA_
STAVIS27_50_A_LA_
STAVIS28_65_A_LA_
STAVIS29_53_R_LA_
STAVIS3_9_R_EA_
STAVIS30_53_R_LA_
STAVIS31_62_A_LA_
STAVIS32_61_R_LA_
STAVIS33_61_R_LA_
STAVIS34_67_R_LA_SEA_
STAVIS35_36_R_MA_
STAVIS36_36_R_MA_
STAVIS37_36_A_MA_
STAVIS38_27_R_MA_
STAVIS39_27_R_MA_
STAVIS4_14_R_EA_
STAVIS40_43_R_MA_
STAVIS41_43_R_MA_
STAVIS42_69_R_MA_
STAVIS43_69_A_MA_
STAVIS44_28_R_MA_
STAVIS45_42_A_MA_
STAVIS46_35_A_MA_
STAVIS47_30_R_MA_
STAVIS48_32_A_MA_
STAVIS49_32_A_MA_
STAVIS5_16_A_EA_
STAVIS50_33_A_MA_
STAVIS51_48_R_MA_SEA_
STAVIS52_40_R_MA_
STAVIS53_29_A_MA_
STAVIS54_44_R_MA_
STAVIS55_31_R_MA_
STAVIS56_8_R_EA_
STAVIS57_8_A_EA_
STAVIS58_12_A_EA_
STAVIS59_12_R_EA_
STAVIS6_20_R_EA_
STAVIS60_60_R_LA_
STAVIS61_60_R_LA_
STAVIS62_60_R_LA_
STAVIS63_54_A_LA_
STAVIS64_54_R_LA_
STAVIS65_70_R_LA_
STAVIS66_70_R_LA_
STAVIS67_70_R_LA_
STAVIS68_30_R_MA_
STAVIS69_30_R_MA_
STAVIS7_68_R_EA_
STAVIS70_30_R_MA_
STAVIS71_30_R_MA_
STAVIS72_60_A_LA_
STAVIS73_56_R_LA_
STAVIS74_56_A_LA_
STAVIS75_56_R_LA_
STAVIS76_65_A_LA_
STAVIS77_71_R_LA_
STAVIS78_71_R_LA_
STAVIS79_57_A_LA_
STAVIS8_3_R_EA_
STAVIS80_57_A_LA_
STAVIS81_57_A_LA_
STAVIS82_66_A_LA_
STAVIS83_66_A_LA_SEA
STAVIS84_56_A_LA_SEA
STAVIS85_55_A_LA_
STAVIS86_55_A_LA_
STAVIS87_55_A_LA_
STAVIS88_55_A_LA_
STAVIS9_17_A_EA_

Paste the 81 ".gan" files into your SemiRandom/GAN_BIN directory and add the following lines to GanList.txt (located in your SemiRandom/LIST_CRATE directory):

STAVX1_CO_A_SEA_DEP_N_NS_
STAVX10_U_A_EMT_WTR_L_
STAVX11_U_A_EMT_FST_N_SS_
STAVX12_U_R_EMT_FST_N_SS_
STAVX13_M_R_EMT_WST_WTR_N_
STAVX14_M_A_EMT_WST_WTR_N_
STAVX15_M_A_FRM_WTR_S_
STAVX16_M_A_EMT_WTR_S_
STAVX17_PN_U_R_L_WS_
STAVX18_CO_U_A_FRM_L_BS_
STAVX19_CO_U_R_FRM_L_BS_
STAVX2_CO_M_A_WTR_N_
STAVX20_U_A_EMT_FST_N_ES_
STAVX21_M_A_EMT_FST_N_ES_
STAVX22_M_A_SEA_DEP_N_ES_
STAVX23_VC_U_R_SEA_DEP_N_FS_
STAVX24_VL_U_A_N_PS_
STAVX25_VL_U_R_N_PS_
STAVX26_M_A_FST_N_WS_
STAVX27_M_A_FRM_WTR_N_
STAVX28_M_A_FST_N_PS_
STAVX29_U_R_SEA_DEP_N_ES_
STAVX3_CO_M_R_FST_L_BS_
STAVX30_M_A_FST_N_AS_
STAVX31_M_A_N_SS_
STAVX32_VL_U_R_N_SS_
STAVX33_M_A_EMT_N_WS_
STAVX34_CO_U_R_FST_WTR_N_SS_
STAVX35_M_A_WTR_L_
STAVX36_VC_U_R_N_FS_
STAVX37_VC_M_A_N_FS_
STAVX38_M_A_WST_WTR_N_
STAVX39_M_A_N_WS_
STAVX4_CO_U_R_FST_L_BS_
STAVX40_M_A_SWP_N_DS_
STAVX41_M_A_N_BS_
STAVX42_U_R_MNT_FST_WTR_L_
STAVX43_M_A_MNT_WTR_S_
STAVX44_M_A_MNT_WTR_N_
STAVX45_VC_U_R_MNT_FST_WTR_S_
STAVX46_U_R_MNT_WTR_N_
STAVX47_VL_M_A_FRM_WTR_N_
STAVX48_CO_M_A_FST_WTR_N_
STAVX49_U_R_FST_S_AS_
STAVX5_CO_M_A_FST_N_AS_
STAVX50_CO_M_R_FST_L_NS_
STAVX51_VC_U_R_FST_N_FS_
STAVX52_CO_M_A_N_SS_
STAVX53_CO_U_A_FRM_N_BS_
STAVX54_M_A_S_BS_
STAVX55_VC_U_R_L_FS_
STAVX56_CO_M_A_FST_N_DS_
STAVX57_CO_U_A_FST_L_ES_
STAVX58_M_A_MNT_WTR_
STAVX59_CO_U_R_FRM_WTR_L_
STAVX6_CO_U_R_FST_AS_
STAVX60_CO_M_A_FRM_WTR_L_
STAVX61_VC_U_R_FST_WTR_N_FS_
STAVX62_M_A_FST_WTR_N_
STAVX63_M_A_SWP_N_ES_
STAVX64_U_R_SWP_N_ES_
STAVX65_U_A_WST_WTR_N_
STAVX66_CO_M_A_FRM_L_WS_
STAVX67_CO_U_R_FRM_L_WS_
STAVX68_CO_M_A_FRM_WTR_N_
STAVX69_M_A_N_ES_
STAVX7_M_A_EMT_FST_S_WS_
STAVX70_M_A_SEA_DEP_N_WS_
STAVX71_CO_M_A_WTR_L_
STAVX72_U_R_EMT_FST_S_WS_
STAVX73_CO_U_R_FST_L_ES_
STAVX74_U_R_SEA_DEP_N_ES_
STAVX75_M_A_S_BS_
STAVX76_M_A_S_BS_
STAVX77_U_A_N_BS_
STAVX78_U_A_FRM_N_
STAVX79_U_A_BS_
STAVX8_U_R_EMT_FST_S_WS_
STAVX80_U_A_SS_
STAVX81_U_R_MNT_S_PS_
STAVX9_M_A_EMT_WTR_N_

These are new and were not included in RanDom version 203.

More great additions from the community for the community. Thanks!

[DeadlyShoe]

I just started using RanDom, its fantastic for creating a better SP experience. Thanks Ballbarian.

I did find the installation grind somewhat pointless laborious and created an archive that can simply be extracted to the dominions directory with the updates etc preinstalled. It contains RanDom, the GAN/GOD Compilation, and the Stavis 2010 update. I tested it on a vanilla dom3 installation and it created a map/semirandomized it successfully.

If you ever think about updating it, i'd love "No Independents" and/or "NI outside Fiddled Prov" buttons :)

I'm just doing it manually for now though so no worries :D

[Gandalf Parker]

FANTASTIC! Stavis_L is the champ of AI work.

I will immediately update for both the daily downloadable SemiRand play map
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=45702
and for the multiplayer (or solo game) open SRAND games on the server
http://www.dom3minions.com/HostedGames.htm

hmmm... question. Does it matter to the program if the new files are at the beginning or end of the list? Will it change their chances of appearing?

[DeadlyShoe]

Though I am having problem where LA Marignon insta-domkills. Dunno why - Their entry in the map file looks fine. I even tried giving them a Juggernaught. :|

[Gandalf Parker]

if you use the -dd switch you can see the debug logs of the game, or the --comptrn switch to see the trn files of the AI

[Stavis_L]

Though I am having problem where LA Marignon insta-domkills. Dunno why - Their entry in the map file looks fine. I even tried giving them a Juggernaught. :|

I find that occasionally the game doesn't actually place the province, even though it appears valid in the map file. Not sure why, but (since it's for single player) I've never bothered investigating too deeply. Usually I just RanDom up another instance of the map, and the 2nd time through it works...one more factor that may be an issue is that I think LA Mari requires a coastal start, and I'm not positive that Semi-RanDom respects this when placing them.

Also, make sure that the nation for your LA Mari province is actually 53 - it's possible that either there's a typo or that SemiRandom pulled in a different pretender (.GOD) file (I think it uses one at random if it can't find a .GOD file that matches the nation in question for whatever reason.)

I'm assuming that LA Mari is an AI opponent, and not your player nation?

If you want to get another perspective, you can also try starting as the AI nation by removing the #computerplayer line - for LA Mari it's #computerplayer 53 (you'll need to disable cheat detection too.) It doesn't matter what pretender/scale settings you choose if you do this, the map file will overwrite them. Sometimes this lets you see something that's not obvious from looking at the map code.

[Gandalf Parker]

INTERESTING
This is probably one of those things I knew, but forgot. But I was messing around with SemiRandom and discovered that if it picks a province to put a surprise in, and cant find a matching file, then it lists it in the map as a note for a NEED.

Running one of my megamaps thru it (which should provide as many tries as possible) came up with this list of needs.....

-- Need: EDGEMOUNT ASTRAL-SITE NORMAL
-- Need: ASTRAL-SITE LARGE
-- Need: PRIEST-SITE LARGE
-- Need: DEATH-SITE NORMAL VALLEY
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT AIR-SITE SMALL
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT DEATH-SITE NORMAL
-- Need: FIRE-SITE SMALL VOLCANO
-- Need: BLOOD-SITE SEA NORMAL
-- Need: AIR-SITE WASTE NORMAL
-- Need: AIR-SITE SMALL
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT EARTH-SITE NORMAL
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT PRIEST-SITE SMALL
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT EARTH-SITE NORMAL CAVE
-- Need: DEATH-SITE FOREST NORMAL
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT EARTH-SITE NORMAL
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT NATURE-SITE FOREST NORMAL
-- Need: AIR-SITE NORMAL
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT PRIEST-SITE NORMAL
-- Need: EDGEMOUNT DEATH-SITE LARGE

Of course we want multiple choices for every possible location
for SemiRandom to be able to properly fill its mission.
But there are still HOLES? Those need filled now.
Surely we can come up with something interesting to run across in a
DEATH-SITE and VALLEY province.
</pre>

[DeadlyShoe]

@Stavis - I did a few more trial runs and though I havent confirmed it explicitly the coastal placement seems to be the most likely reason. I'm running middle age games for now though, I'll check into it later.

@Gandalf - I think a few nations are still lacking gods as well. I ran into some problems with some nations just using other nations godfiles instead and insta-exploding because of it. I think MA Atlantis? Will need to confirm.

[Stavis_L]

@Gandalf - I think a few nations are still lacking gods as well. I ran into some problems with some nations just using other nations godfiles instead and insta-exploding because of it. I think MA Atlantis? Will need to confirm.

There should be .GOD files for all nations now, but you'll need to add:
1) The main Semi-RanDom archive (bottom of the first post of this thread)
2) The "rollup" archive from 2/10/2009 (In a post linked near the top of the first post of this thread.)

These two should be enough to have at least 1 ".GOD" file per nation. Not sure if you need to hand update the GODLIST and GANLIST files though.

If you like, you can also add the latest archive of things I contributed, which is linked near the bottom of the first post in this thread; that archive adds a great many more ".GOD" files, although doesn't cover *every* nation. I think there are now >1 per nation with that set, though (I was shooting for that, but I haven't checked to make sure I got there.) Again, you'll need to update your GODLIST and GANLIST files to make sure those additional files are "pulled in".

[DeadlyShoe]

well, as it turned out, I managed to import the STAVIS list into the compilation i uploaded, but not into the copy i actually use in game. Woops. ^_^ Sorry

I am curious why 6, 23, 24, and 25 are unused nation numbers...hadnt noticed before checking in excel for missing nation #s in the godlists.

[Gandalf Parker]

6 was set aside for later use. I think for an Early Machaka? It just never got used and now trying to turn it on gets an error if its not done carefully.

23, 24, 25 arent actually unused.
23 and 24 are the "Special Monsters" AI's and are the "nation" controlling some random events and random summons
25 is the AI of the Independent's

You can actually turn them on in a game, give them a capital, sites, a god. I do that in my Chaos games. SURPRISE!
http://www.dom3minions.com/HostedGames.htm

[DakaSha]

I have been trying to use the GOD setups but i cant do it.. no matter what i do it crashes after setting up my god with the "Nation not in play" message.

I am making sure to setup AI's and a human player and I am choosing the human player as mine.. No matter what I do it crashes though.. ive tried maybe about 50 times with different setups..

What could i be doing wrong?

[DeadlyShoe]

We're talking about a Dominions crash, right? it should be impossible to mess up - it won't let you choose a nation that's not in, at least not in a singleplayer create-game.

did you copy the (name)_sr.map file from the SemiRandom Folder to the Maps folder?

first check the RanDom settings. Is Starts- Lock Player Counts to Nat Cfg checked? And, does the listed number of AI Players in the AI Gods tab actually match what you've chosen in the nation picker? In particular, if it shows 0 0 you need to restart RanDom. Finally make sure that the map name you're Randomizing is actually the map you want to Randomize.

Another quick check is to open the .map file in a text editor and scrol to the bottom. It should list the nationstarts - first the human starts, then the AI starts after a seperator.

If you're still having problems upload the .map file you're using and i'll take a look at it.

[DakaSha]

Yeah im doing all the basic stuff right as far as i can tell.
So here, as an example i picked the simplest thing: MA. Me as arco and 1 AI as ermor.. crashes.
All settings in semi random are correct as far as i can tell and both (and only) those players available to choose in nation select.
I chose arco as mine and ermor as the AI
Attached map file (renamed to doc so i didnt have to zip it)

edit: btw i AM able to choose ermor as my nation despite it being listed as AI only.. is this just not compatible with the newest version?

edit: wtf is it using an EA arco god? 0.o

[DakaSha]

Speaking of compatibility is their any chance of a newer version that allows the new races?

kinda sucks to not be able to use all

[DeadlyShoe]

According to the tag at the bottom of the map file you seem to be using an out of date version of RanDom, which probably explains why you can't choose newer races. :^)

Anyways, the map file looks fine except as you say the EA Arco god. That probably indicates you don't have all the newer God files installed either. Try deleting your RanDom folder and replacing it with this:

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showpost.php?p=765819&postcount=210

That should have all the GOD files and the uptodate RanDom.

[Doo]

I'm using the latest version and am having issues.

When I run the program for the map Cradle of Dominions (for 1 human player and 7 AI's) it says this at the end of the file:

-- Modified Independent Province Count: 176

When I run the program for the map Alexander_No_Sites (for 1 human and 2 AI's) it says this:

-- Modified Independent Province Count: 13

For some reason when I randomise the map Alexander it modifies significantly less provinces. Its a wrap-around map if this changes anything.

Does anyone have any idea's?

[Ballbarian]

Alexander has many #start & #nostart locations defined. The #start locations negate that province and every province bordering it from modification.

[Doo]

Cheers.

[NTJedi]

I've never used the semi-random myself, however I'm updating a map where it was used and discovered three things which should be considered for removal within the semi-randomizer.

1) Remove #killfeatures: I found some provinces created with this command and I feel it's a bad idea for the following reasons:
A) Removes randomly generated magic sites, thus the game is more predictable.
B) Players who use this tool frequently will know exactly what magic sites exist within provinces and thus providing them an edge as compared to players which are less familiar with the provinces created.
.
.
2) 50+ units for one province should have a bag of wine. Too many units will sometimes cause a lack of supplies. I found several provinces where the province had many units which could cause starvation. Any province with more than 50 units should have a commander with a bag of wine... just to be safe, especially since events can drop more indepedents.

3) I found many provinces using the #xp command. I suggest a change is made where the tool will *randomly* provide 15 commanders with experience which ranges from 5 experience to 300 experience. This will allow the semi-randomizer to be more random and less predictable.

[Gandalf Parker]

The things you point out are VERY true. However, they are not things about the program that can (or should) be fixed by the program.

Those are things that were used by the players who designed those province files that you have problems with. There is a tendency for people when they first start out designing provinces to want to force a image they have of that province.

More randoms are better and the SemiRand program does allow for more "semi" by allowing each province file to create sub-lists for its own design. As they progress, the people doing those files tend to do more things that make a province design more random. Provide a list of possible names for the province, a list of equipment to be randomly assigned, a list of magic sites which can be assigned to the province to fill out the 4 slots, or killing the sits there but providing a list of magic sites that fit the pattern to be selected from.

The problem is that we STILL dont have enough province designs to make SemiRand work the way it was meant to. And we have too many really REALLY special provinces. We need more filler designs. Not so deadly as to become an entire game itself to try and take it, but just a cute idea with a name to match, and guards to match, and magic sites that fit those as your reward.

[Question]

What should i be putting for width and height? Im trying to create a random medium sized map...

[Joelz]

What should i be putting for width and height? Im trying to create a random medium sized map...
I generate maps with 2000x2000 pixels myself. Things look pretty and it doesn't take too long to generate.

Never go over 5000 though. That takes forever.

[Gandalf Parker]

Check the screen sizes of your monitor or various softwares. Those are good to go by for a map that looks good on the screen. For my maps I tend to use 1600x1200. But it also depends on how many provinces you are trying to put into it since too much crammed in causes the images to blur. I find that 150-250 provinces tend to meet most peoples needs.

Also the game will try to fit any map onto your screen but the Width/Heigth will affect the file size greatly. A 200 province map on a 4000x2000 map will be incredibly detailed and zoomable, but it will take forever to download if you are letting the server send the map to each user. On the other hand those same 200 provinces squeezed into a 800x600 map might be ugly and pixilated.

[Question]

So if i am running at 1024x768, i should make a map of that size?

[bluescreen1988]

Im having trouble with getting the semiRandomizer to work. I click the Semi Randomizer button after making my map but it doesnt appear in the semirandom directory. I dont get any errors in the creation process and im using windows 7.

[Ballbarian]

Been a few years since I messed with this, so bear with me. :)
You might try doing a search (Start button / "Search programs and Files") for yourMapsName_SR.map

So, If you left the default map name as "AUTOMAP" then you would search for:
AUTOMAP_SR.map

Two things of note:
1. If you installed Dominions to your program files directory, windows may be dropping files in a user directory of it's own creation.
2. Windows 7 has a notoriously horrible search utility, so just because it doesn't find it, doesn't mean that it is not there.

Failing the above, you might try installing Dominions and RanDom to it's own folder in the root directory (C:) or the desktop, or wherever you are comfortable.

Hope that helps.

[Gandalf Parker]

Hi BB
Im getting some interest in starting a SemiRand for Illwinters new game CoE3

[Ragnarok-X]

If i have a mod that adds custom sites enabled, will these be incorporated when i create a random map using this tool ?

[Happyfungi]

The sites wont be part of the generated map file that semirandom makes. But, when you start the game your mods will kick in so yes they will be used when you play. The sites will show up in open lands, say around starting sites, and in semirandom lands that don't use #killfeatures or that don't use all 4 site slots. I may not be 100% right about this but I use several site mods and I see sites from them often, and I only play semirand maps when playing single player.

[Gandalf Parker]

Also, you CAN create your own province files for RanDom to use if you wish. Then you could create maps that specifically use what you want used and how you want them used. You could even include such maps with a mod.

Or if you really want it, I can set up such a randomization to redo the map on a regular basis then zip it and make it available for download on my system like I do other maps.

[majama]

This tool is fantastic, thank you Ballbarian.
I sometimes generating new worlds only for looking how suprise my closest provinces will be :)

But stil is part of options in Random map generator program which is unknown for me (normal mount? climate bands?)

[majama]

Today i swiched game to CB 1.92 mod and after generating one new map i meet crashing game error hidden somewhere in semirandom additional map codes (after deleting them map working). Error message is: "addbodyguards:bad osq"
It was very big map, Modified Independent Province Count: 861 (maybe too many?)

[Hully]

Hi All


Have a few questions about the Semi Randomize:

Lets say map size 350,20 AI,1 Human,3 AI in water. So I've picked races to include and the race I wish to play disabling the rest.

When I actually come to play this SR map and load it into the game, how do I remember ALL the settings, number of players, which races are included or not or even the difficulty levels and even which race I'm meant to be playing?

I'm sure there is a very simple answer to this other than writing it all down? Please anyone?


Thanks Hully

[Hully]

Hi

Is it possible to add a customize race to an era for the Semi Randomizer?

[Soyweiser]

I don't know if this program is still actively maintained.

[Hully]

Neither do I, but the program generates some beautiful maps. The Semi Randomize bit doesn't seem to have enough God profiles or there are some other issues, as only some seem to be active.

The random maps are great though, if I have time I’ll take a look at the God Profile Editor thing see if I can’t add to the missing profiles.

Great Maps Though!