Map Modding & Map Editor 101

[Gocidus]

I edited map and then saved thinking it would save separately. But it changed my main map on all my save files... How do I revert back to default?

 

[Snowlet]

I edited map and then saved thinking it would save separately. But it changed my main map on all my save files... How do I revert back to default?

It's because the map editor saves your changes to documents/paradox interactive/imperator/ just delete the map_data and setup folder if they exist and it should return to normal.

 

[Gocidus]

It's because the map editor saves your changes to documents/paradox interactive/imperator/ just delete the map_data and setup folder if they exist and it should return to normal.

I just see a map_data folder in the game folder. Delete the whole folder?

 

[Snowlet]

I just see a map_data folder in the game folder. Delete the whole folder?

Don't delete it in the game folder (assuming you mean the folder containing the full game). If you use the map_editor it creates a copy of the setup folder in the documents folder as I noted in my orginal message. This documents folder works like a mod and overrides vanilla causing a different checksum and when switching between mods, can cause crashes. I hope this helps.

 

[shocky27]

Since I tried some map modding again today, and I got frustrated by all the crashes and what not it generated, let me collect the crashes and issue's I've run into. It might help other people trouble shoot, as well as Paradox fix some of the issues:

Loading freezes briefly at 5-9% and crashes later
Issue: There is a province which has not been assigned an area/region
Fix: Make sure all provinces are assigned to an area/region

Loading freezes briefly at 15-19% and crashes later
Issue: setup/main/00_setup.txt file is bugged, probably an illegal trade route.
Fix: Make sure all trade routes originate in a colonised province and have a valid trade good. It may also be necessary that there is a tradable surplus of the trade good.

Loading freezes briefly at 25-29% and crashes later (40-50%)
Issue: A province is missing a history file/entry in the setup/provinces/ folder. Uncolonisable/wasteland provinces also require a history file. If that is not it, it is likely a stray pixel somewhere.
Fix: Good luck finding it. Best solution is probably to re-add all new provinces one by one until you hit a crash. Alternatively you could define some additional provinces and see what pops up. Sometimes the /documents/paradox interactive/imperator/crashes/ folder will tell you what pixel is undefined. Sometimes it wont.

Loading freezes briedly around 30% and crashes later (40-50%)
Issue: an invalid entry in the history file.
Fix: See above. My latest one was because I had copied the template of a colonised province for an uncolonised province. An uncolonisable province requires a real barebones history entry or it will result in a crash. Like so:

8091={ #Dirphys Mons
    terrain=""
    culture="euboean"
    religion="roman_pantheon"
    trade_goods=""
    civilization_value=6
    barbarian_power=0
    province_rank=""
}

The game finishes 'generating the world from history', but does not progress beyond 100% into 'loading savegame'
Issue: There is an issue reading a setupfile. In my case always either missing a " somewhere, or using an invalid argument such as:

    tribesmen={
        slaves=1
    }

Fix: Re-add the history files one by on until you hit the offending file. If it concerns newly added provinces, create a generic history (one which you know works) for the new provinces as placeholders until you overwrite them.

Unable to generate a new roads.roads file.
Issue: The game gets stuck on generating debug output (or generating ui?)
Fix: Revert to 1.3 and generate the roads.roads file there. Copy it over to your mod.

Unable to edit the heightmap.
Issue: The game loads both the modded as well as the vanilla heightmap, making terrain modding difficult if not impossible.
Fix: I have none. And it sucks.

These are all based on my own experiences. Your own experiences may vary.

Just wanna say after all these years this post has helped me dozens of times to find errors while modding Invictus. Thanks for the effort.

 

[Nyjene]

Greetings,

Can somone explain a bit more in depth how to mod map textures for the terrain? Mainly how to make the proper files for the editor to make use of the newly created textures.

Spoiler

• You will need 3 .DDS textures, a diffuse texture, a normal texture, a properties texture and a mask that you add to the above mentioned folder.
• Material.settings is the file where you add new terrain layers with script, link in your new textures here.
• Settings.terrain controls data for how all materials act globally, like how they blend, tile and such.
• The mask.bmp file needs to be the same size as the heightmap.bmp

The texture files have some texture channels switched around, channels refering to Red, Green, Blue, Alpha.

Texture -> Data

Diffuse RGB - RGB
Diffuse A - Material heightmap, used for blending.

Normal R -> Normal R
Normal G -> Normal R
Normal B -> Emissive (fill black, unless you like self illumination)
Normal A -> Normal G

Properties R -> Unused
Properties G -> Specular intensity - Used sparingly on metallic surfaces.
Properties B -> Metalness
Properties A -> Roughness


Note! - After adding a new texture you will need to re-export the map for the optimized detail maps to be updated. Otherwise the games textures will offset and you'll get snow instead of grass or the like.

I personally can replicate what is written above (see spoiler) but my textures won't apply in the map correctly* editor when used. At least it does not crash the software.

I feel there is quite a few important things missing here that are yet essential. It could be really useful for the Imperator: Rome community.

*A mess of red, green and blue pixel-like dots instead of the actual texture.