Guide: Changing Dominions 3 defaults

[Gandalf Parker]

EXAMPLES:

dom3 -mwafc -r 1024 768 Run Dominions 3 in a window (w), at the resolution (r) of 1024x768,without music (m), no nice fading effects (f), and no credit screen when you quit (c), no animated backgrounds (a)

dom3 -d --scoredump creates a scores file like you see on servers like LLamaserver, and a debug file so you can see what the game is "thinking"

dom3 -preexec bakup.bat will run a file called bakup.bat just before it starts to process a turn. Good for automatically making a save of the game so you can switch back if things go badly.

dom3 --tcpclient 70.36.184.129 --port 9876 connects directly to a game, I tend to also set low graphics and no music just because its more business than enjoyment when I do this. I dont want to be distracted (my solo play icon on the other hands turns everything up)

dom3 YARG1 goes directly into the YARG1 game which I was playing. Actually later I switched it out for a batch file that put the pbem turn file into place, then opened dom3 directly to the game, and when I quit dom3 it automatically transferred the .2h file

dom3 -fwacd --clickvol 10 --magicsites 75 --renaming --scoredump --indepstr 7 --hofsize 15 --eventrarity 1 changes various default settings I got tired of and found myself wanting or changing for every game I created such as setting renaming on so I didnt forget and curse myself for it later. You still get the same game setup screen and can change it if you want. But this way instead of defaulting to rename off, it defaults to rename on, and still gives me the choice.

dom3 --enablemod stub.dm to set that on for that use, or to turn on mods such as Streamers and Standards, Worthy Heroes, Mytheology, Magic Site Mod, Watchers, and Single Age (doing it by icon means it turns off automatically when I leave). Or at least stub.dm so I can make changes to a long running game without having to start over.

dom3 --mapfile TinyTest.map --resources 10 --era 1 --impai 1 testgame1 uses the test map, creates a testgame1, with early era, low resources, and Ermor loaded as Impossible AI setting

dom3 --seapart 10 --mountpart 50 --mapgcol 50 100 50 250 --mapscol 20 50 80 255 --mapbcol 130 130 130 29 --mapsbcol 111 194 21 104 --mapaa --mapnoise 100
This is my settings for the randomly generated maps. Less water, more mountains (for more strategic chokepoints), green grasslands, lighter blue on water, different colors for the borders on land vs the color of borders over water. They tend to look like this...
http://www.dom3minions.com/RandomMaps/MegaMap.jpg

I also have one icon that generates a map with my favorite settings, then runs it thru a couple of programs to add surprises to it, then starts a game with this new map that I dont know anything about.

I like to keep separate icons on my desktop for each of the multiplayer games Im in. That way I dont have to mess with changing settings for different servers, and having one for each game in the same place reminds me to hit each one at least once a day. In a couple of cases the icon also swaps out the background screens and theme files to give the game a totally different look. Green (my favorite), or dark, or bright red. I find that it makes me play differently and changes the mood to match the nation Im playing for that game.

These examples are not meant to be copied exactly. And they do not have to be exclusive. ALL of these switches and tricks can be added to your one desktop icon for Dom3 if you want it that way.

[Ragnarok-X]

Originally Posted by Gandalf Parker

I also have one icon that generates a map with my favorite settings, then runs it thru a couple of programs to add surprises to it, then starts a game with this new map that I dont know anything about.

Care to elaborate on this exact subject ?

[Gandalf Parker]

Originally Posted by Ragnarok-X

Care to elaborate on this exact subject ?

You sure? Its kindof jumping right to the very end of the subject. Thats an extreme example of trying to use everything at once.

You can add to a shortcut all of the switches for the way you like random maps to be run, amount of each terrain, color of land, colors of borders, etc. And you can put all the switches for games. Hall of Fame size, Rename on, mods, and naming the game. But it tends to hit the 255 character limit if you try to do everything on one. So I split it to two and use a scripted program to run both. I make my shortcut to that script (on WIndows its a batch file, on Linux its a shell script).

So, on WinXP I create a batch file for the various things I want to do, then create a shortcut to that.
Such as....

D:
cd \progra~1\dominions3

:---- make the map------------------------------

dom3 -Td --makemap QuickGame --mapaa --mapsize 200 100 --mapprov 300 --seapart 10 --mountpart 50 --mapgcol 50 100 50 250 --mapscol 20 50 80 255 --mapbcol 100 130 100 229 --mapsbcol 21 194 111 104 --mapnoise 50 --borderwidth 1 ">log.txt

:---- now modify it ----------------------------

FOR /L %%X IN (1,1,300) DO @(
  ECHO #setland %%X >>maps\QuickGame.map
  ECHO #poptype 90 >>maps\QuickGame.map
)

ECHO #computerplayer 23 4   >>maps\QuickGame.map
ECHO #computerplayer 24 4   >>maps\QuickGame.map

type AI-alliances.txt  >>maps\QuickGame.map

:---now create a game with that map--------

dom3 --mapfile QuickGame.map -mwafc --statfile --scoredump --preexec pre.bat --postexec post.bat  --indepstr 9 --hofsize 15 --magicsites 75 --renaming --era 1 --enablemod stub.dm --enablemod SingleAgeComplete.dm --enablemod heroes1_8.dm --enablemod "Epic Heroes Mod 1.5.dm" --enablemod mytheology3.dm --enablemod sitemod.dm --enablemod SRAI_1.dm

This one modifies the map to be No-Indy, adds 2 special AIs, and sets up interesting alliances between various nations if I include them as AIs in the game.

The game line enables mods because done that way turns them on for that game and I dont have to turn them off again. They are automatically on for that game, and off when Im done.

In that middle section you can also do:
SemiRandom: of course which can scatter interesting provinces thru the map
Chaoticized: scatters random armies with equipment
Mazed: a program to randomly remove neighbor connections

You can also run programs which modify mods in order to surprise you.

You can also specify ALL the settings and start the game but that gets trickier. With some more trickery you can also run the game thru 20 or 50 or 100 turns to give the AI a head start.