Cossacks I Q & A

NR

(Extract from CIEBP.txt)

14. To Ask list /Questions & Answers:

Q's: by [E-BEL]Angel
A's :by Gexozoid ( tyvm!!!~you rock my socks) (21/06/2009)
NQ's:(New Questions by me) are added after the A's have been given by Gex (22/06/2009)
FA's:(Flame Answers) Answers by FlameMaster (22/06/2009)
Last update 23/06/2009
 




Open Questions about ALL.GSC ( Cossacks 1.35)

Q1:FN8.GP ? what's this for, looks like the alphabet
A1: all letters in game that you see arent the usual fonts like which word uses or iexplorer, so you need to have their graphics which is the FN8.gp for.

Q2:In which file is the peace time defined/altered? Text+Start only is for translating.
A2: peace time is regulated inside the engine, thus not changeable.

Q3:TEXT+Text8.txt : what are the alliance options for at the bottom?
A3: dunno what is inside the text file you mentioned but for sure, it wont change anything by editing, such files ( text files) are just used to designated what the players will see for a certain command, so changing it will only change text no the mechanism itself
NQ3: well i had to look back to see what i meant, cause this was an old question, this is taken from text+Text8_eng:
UM_CONTR1 %s wants to be your ally.
UM_CONTR2 If you agree, please press Enter and type "team %s"
UM_BREAK1 %s does not want to be your ally.
UM_BREAK2 If you agree, please press Enter and type "break %s"
So this is what i mean with the alliance options in Q3, is this for missions or single play or multiplay or gsc server play? obsolete function that never has been used or fully implemented? It is just below the option surrender ( which is a menu txt, so was this supposed to be added to the menu options but has been cut out for some reason? and they just left the text in this file?)
I know text file's are only used for translating the stuff into different versions for different countries, but that was not the question. I was wondering why there was uberhaupt a reference to this as I cant seem to find it in any other file and have never seen this in game.

Q4:where is the max price level defined for buildings ( cap level)
A4:there is no max price, the only cap is the maximum money you can collect.
Q4.1: with max cap level of price i mean, when you have builded like over 200 houses or smth, the price doesnt increase anymore , it also goes for 17th barracks eg, it stops at 100 000 wood, 300 000 gold, 100 000 stone, and any building constructed afterward is build at this price. So why is this
A4.1: dont know, never have tested it, but also have enver encountered a string that would define a max price.
NQ4.2: ok , so it must be a bug though this goes for all version of cossacks, they all have a maximum price (eg houses stop increasing around 32000 wood & stone, 17th barrs i already said above, even stables have it, if i remember well from some of my epic games , its somewhere around 800 000 gold, 3200 000 wood and 700 000 stone,...I'm pretty sure it goes for all buildings that have the ' costpercent' line.
I had a look at AC/EWN aswell,and noticed that it happens too, for example, if you build 5 mills ( or was it 6) the price stops increasing at 204800 wood and 102400 stone, any additional mill build afterwards is at this price, same for blacksmith(@5/6--> W93754,S56250,I31250),....
NQ4.3: so what is the maximum money you can collect then? And do you mean the maximum number that can appear on the screen due to space , or effectively the amount you can collect during a game? Or did you mean, the sky is the limit, only your own skills define how much money you can collect?

Q5:Peasant building speed? where is it defined
A5:its defined inside the .md like for every other unit/building
Q5.1 what i mean with peasants buildingspeed is not the speed of the peasants production, but how fast a peasant will build a building,, like the russians build slower on 1.35 then other nations.
A5.1: are u sure they build slower or are the buildings just taking longer to build?
Q5.2: im pretty sure, and even if they don't, how could i change it( for all peasants that is)
A5.2: dont know never done that, (prolly in engine)

Q6:Why is in 1.35 a file ai.dat in main directory and in none of the other version ( 1.15, 1.29, 1.30, or any mod iv seen has this file. But to get a mod on 1.35 working( ie, to have the names of the nations actually show up, this file needs adjustment, without it doesnt seem to work).
I find this weird that one needs to add a nations name to the AI (sic)file in order to get the nation appearing in the drop down menu in random map screen. They also have to be exactly the same for both players, which i dont find that weird actually, but the mere fact that its not present in any other version, i find weird. It is also not the same file contained inside ALL.GSC ( AI+AI.dat)
And thinking further on this, does this mean that the imperia mod could be played online after all if it had such file included with the appropriate nations? Or is the imperia engine not suitable for connection with the gamespy server as version 1.35 is.
A6: well to shorten the q, it has nothing to do with what you mentionned. Imperia engine is not and will not be suitable for MP unitll awar fixes it, since the coding is bad, it has been fitted for SP, dont wanna go into details here, but i can
NQ6.1: so if it has nothing to do with what i mentionned, what does that file do there then? and why do i need to change it in order to get it working?
NQ6.2: and yes pls, dont hold back on me, if you fancy , pls explain the details why the Imperia engine is not suitable for MP.

Q7: Where are the cannon formations icons ?
A7: in the icons file probably, not sure, should be there
NQ7.1: yeah dont know why i put this question down here, i had to think deep what it was or when i made this question, and indeed, its not the cannons formation ICONS, but the NAME of the icons for the cannons formations in ICONS.TXT, for example for units this is eg: str_Kare for the square formations, but i cant find those for the cannons batteries lines.

Q8: GRP 1, GRP 2,...(md files) what is the entry that defines these? and why this division?-->function?
A8:Ill answer this one myself, 1 means there is one unit taking an upgrade eg, or 2 means to units in the group

Q9: FORCE 10 (md files)?
A9: cant remember it out of the head

Q10: VES 100 or VES 100? (in MD files)
A10: cant remember

Q11: VIC.MD ( victoria) ZALP 40 what does this mean?
A11: zalp/number means that the unit will fire that many times before reloading, I used this for my cavalry units using pistols ( hist, acc, they carried usually 2 pistols) so i placed zalp2 making it firing twice and then starts reloading

Q12: ATL_B1.MD : description states 'building' but uses ev_bsh as icon, so is it a tower? But towers already have their icons?
A12: dont really get the question
Q12.1: well its a file that is there but cant be traced back to any nds file, like its not beeing used or smth, so i was wondering what it was
A12.1: just add it and look at what it is
Q12.2: well i think it caused an error, gottac check back in test logs( same for Q13, prolly another one like q12
NQ12.3: tried tracing back test logs for this, but's its in the parts i lost in my pc crash. Nevertheless, how would i test this in game? I mean there is no gp file for this, and what good is an md for without gp? I guess its just one of the few files that is there but isnt used in game,...

Q13: WAKKR.MD ? another one of those gp-less md's.

Q14: VER.MD has icon G_Kor & uses ver.gp as rlc but cant find ver.gp . It looks like a unit: special function : MAGIC 256. Test icon: no working.
Test 2: replaced the icon to the CAL.MD and added it to the iconlist. Messes up the icons badly for Algeria. I reckon its the balloon. But not sure

Q15: VES.GP and VESSSMAL.GP? there are no md's for this ,i guess i should check in gp viewer, right done it: funny , its the wooden peddle that comes out of the transport ship, didnt realise the transport worked like this.

Q16: BAS.MD tower but uses different icon then the other towers? : bashnya .Prolly not working either, indeed cannot create object? WEAPON REVENANT? prolly doesnt work since it has no gp.files? like basa.gp etc..test the icon?

Q17: Peasants.md's: PORTION 4 WOOD 28 GOLD 100 STONE 40 FOOD 30 ???? Initial rate it collects resources? , but why no iron and coal then?
FA17: relates to Q 23: this defines the resources they can carry. As to why coal & iron are not hear, is because those come from the mines, and gold which is in the line, but has a mine, well thats too much coffee@GSC as seen in other md's aswell where they have double lines for no reason.

Q18: Serif.gp? and those starting with O ( okech,,...) NVM ill check

Q19: Schleif.gp . NVM ill check

Q20: Vin.gp VinBig, VinRBig. NVM ill check

Q21: Special.gp looks like another alphabet (prolly same as Q1)

Q22: where is the initial resource setting for the editor defined ( it gives you billions of each) on a fresh start?
A22: there is an option where you can set the resources for all players in editor
Q22.1: O.O gex, I'm not that big a noob, a modding rookie, yes, but not a map editor rookie, i didnt mean the custom resource settings in the options, but the very very very first time you start up the editor after installing the game, it automatically states 3456569875(billions) of each resource without touching anything. So where is this defined? This is actually not an interesting questions cause it has no use towards the game, just forget about it.

Q23:Pls Explain Complex.rsr, meat.rsr,trees, stones,... what do the numbers refer to?
Well to be more specific:
[WORKTRANSFORM] what do the numbers exactly mean eg from trees.rsr
D01 D50 10
or
D50 D47 600
[SOURCES]
D01 WOOD 2 30
FA23: Each workable sprite can be considered an entity, here for instance, D01, D02...D050 are all sprites and are defined again in Trees.lst
So the trees.rsr defines work/Time variables
[WORKTRANSFORM] = Transforms Object 1 to Object 2 at n units of work
[SOURCES]= what you get from the entity on work ( food-wood-stone,...)
[TIMETRANSFORM]= Transofrms Obj1 to Obje2 in n amount of time
SO basically, tree D01 will tranform in to D50 ( which is probably a stump) in n works
So like 60 portion( md)-->10 works required for that transformation ( 60*10=600)
This is related to the md where peasants have the line 'portion xxxxx' which defines the resources they can carry.
They will work ( loop work animation) unitll they get x resources and head to the storage area
About the [SOURCES] 2 & 30 numbers: it takes 2 animations to get a single resource of wood. The 30 radius is the radius where they can chop , try it with 100 and they will chop in to mid air near the tree for wood.


Translation issues: (prolly a font missing, or language pack (unicode issue?) )
 
Q24: KUT.MD ( blacksmith)
ICON //ICON Украинский_центр ?
Q25: const.lst : what are the numbers refering to, eg:
@MMFONT0 menu32y1.rlc
@MMFONT1 menu32w1.rlc
MMMENUX 271
@MMSINGLE Один_игрок
MMSINGLEY 85
WHat do the 271 and 85 refer to? I thought they are coordinates of the position, but you need at least 2 numbers to form a coordinate.
FA25: Notice the X & Y after menu, or single? The coordinates are split up and denounced after the word or another example:
OPNOX 365
OPNOY 376


Q26: Mech, strela, pika, vistrel, iadro, iadromor, strelok, ppointtkor
A26: mech= sword, strela: arrow, vistrel= musket
Q27: KRP.MD( Peasant) txt next to rlc?
USERLC 0 krps SHADOW -62 -89 //6 стоять
USERLC 1 krpt SHADOW -62 -89 //20 идти с телегой
USERLC 2 krpu SHADOW -62 -89 //20 удар топором
USERLC 3 krpk SHADOW -62 -89 //22 удар киркой
USERLC 4 krpb SHADOW -62 -89 //10 строить
USERLC 5 krpm SHADOW -62 -89 //20 идти с мешком
USERLC 6 krpg SHADOW -62 -89 //20 идти
USERLC 7 krph SHADOW -62 -89 //26 смерть
USERLC 8 krpd SHADOW -62 -89 //20 идти с дровами
USERLC 9 krpp SHADOW -62 -89 //24 полоть
Is this russian? or Swahili? or Kiswhahili? Makes no sense to me

Other:

Q28: What are these strings inside dmcr.exe for?
- MAGIC
- TELEPORT
- MAGICREQUEST
- MAGICCONTROL
- USEMAGIC
- NUCLEAR
- ANTI-NUCLEAR
- FEAR
- UFO
- UFOTRANSFORM

Q29 : Whats the exact difference between Imperia dmcr and AC dmcr. How has it been created? from cossacks dmcr or from ac dmcr? Certain things are obvious, eg zoom mod(lmode), hints ( tab ) pages 1-3
What are the other main features that have been implemented? ex shots eg?
Can those fortresses (ac) for example use the upgrade's to expand in imperia and will it show up?
A29: Imperia engine is an upgrade Cossacks 1 engine, so dont expect any AC features in it that arent already there and used, so dont expect some hidden and unused stuff.


Q30:(@Gex) EW dmcr engine? modified one by awar? Which changes?
A30: copyright protected engine and can only be used by either me or Awars version of EW.
NQ30.1: O.O, i was just curious what makes your engine different from the others, you surely didnt mean that the copyright protection is the only thing making it different from other dmcr's ;-)

Q31:(@Gex) Ai Italy in Ew? New ai? Modified one?
A31: all ai in EW is new, some made by awar some made by Jarema
NQ31.1: right forgive my ignorance on this matter, but, did they needed to use the ai source code to create these ai file's in order to work in game, or did they build them fresh from scratch. The reason why i ask is, someone told me you need the ai source code to alter the ai or create new ai's, but if one would not need the source to create new ai, that would be just great to know.

Q32:(@Gex) EW = EW Napoleonica? --> EW2 ( so 2 or 3 mods for ACFB?)
A32: EW: European warfare Napoleonica, the russian version that awar made is called Bonapart and EW 2 is European Warfare : Age of Reason. A second installment in production , you can see more info about it on www.moddb.com, just type in european warfare and you should get links for both ew1 and ew2

Q33:(@Gex) EW N Color Changes to the interface ' blue ' how achieved?
A33: changed the .gp/bmp's

Q34: ACDN HWK Mod? Changes, features?
A34: see hawks website, basically a redited DN so to make it more sutible for historical battles

Q35: Pathfinding in AC? Someone told there is an issue, or its messed up compared to Cossacks Engine. What's this all about?
A35: In AC original: pathfinding works
In AC FB: pathfinding doesnt work
In AC DN: it works again.
Its messed up in the way that the formations stop and first check point and dont move untill ordered again and then again stops at first check point.


Q36: GpArch: what is the subfolder "game" for in the 0 & 1 folders?
A36: dunno

Q37: Gparch: what is the difference between the default 0 & 1 folder and the CI & AC 0 & 1 folders?
A37: well CI and AC use different color palettes
NQ37.1: yes but the difference between the 0& 1 folder that is inside the gp arch already and the CI AND AC folders?
So not the diff between CI & AC but between the 3 different versions of the 0 & 1 folders inside GP arch? They are all different in size. On testing they all give different results and havent found a pattern/logic in it, hence the Q.

Q38: Icons.gp & icons.txt: how does it work exactly? First number is the first image? last = last? where does it gets its name(for md reference) from? (txt--<=numbers in .gp?)
A38: first image in the gp is the first name in the txt file, the second image is the second in txt,..., you can change it all and make a new .gp and txt and it will be still like that

Q39: All.gsc: what is the folder 2 for ( palette?)-->does this mean you could use palette 2 option in mega pack? and to what purpose?

Q40: (1.35)(ALL.GSC)in TERRAIN+RES.DAT: first block, whats is the 3 1 for ( 3 for 3 options and the 1?) same below and further down in #0LT_Land... 000.STY 6 2... what is the 0 and 1 for after # and what is the 6 2 for after .STY?
FA= short answer: mostlikely a constant, also to be found in AI, dat ( the second number, eg 20 20) or, data+Start has a line like that too ( eg 27 4 , after defining which buildings and before the postion)

Q 41:(1.35)(ALL.GSC) in TERRAIN+ : SUHOD, KONTIN, ...those msi package's? What do they do, how can i change anything about them?, which other file's make these work besides the terrlist.Txt and the res.dat file?

Q:42: GParch: 10 different tests (see 17.1 below) and only 2 things work for me: convert from cossacks to ac and from cossacks to cossacks. I want to convert from AC to cossacks, how?
A42: whats the exact problem?

Q42.1: well remember you helpd me out the the 'blackcolor' problem i had a while ago, so we tested it with your version of the gp arch and it worked then, but we only tried to convert from CI to AC, when i do it the other way around from AC-CI my colors are all blury
A42.1: blury in what way?
Q42.2: like this: http://cossacksworld.ucoz.co.uk/index/0-148 never mind the text but i got the same looking blury images both in game and in the gp view, so im sure its smth im doing wrong with the palettes 0 & 1 but i dont find the logic in it as described in chapter 17.1 in this document.
A42.2: you need to use the AC palette to extract the ac units ,then use cI palette to pack it.
Q42.3: yes well i'v done that but i get blury colors
A42.3: be sure to used the palettes from the game files, cause my palettes might be fucked up.
Also try packing without selecting 0 or 1 options, amf, dont select anything.
NQ42.4 First thing i tried after our conversation yesterday, tried it without selecting 0 or 1 palette in the megapack options. Still blury colors.
On using the folders 0 & 1 from the extracted all gsc from CI, i get the black coloured version again, which is the same thing we discussed the very first time we met, and this was solved by using your gparch and your palette folders.
So somehow this seems to be a vicious circle that i'm stuck in, no matter what i try, i cant get it right.
Could you be so kind to perform a 5 minutes test for me and extract a AC file and pack it so it shows up properly for Cossacks? Any building, just to see if this is me doing smth wrong or if this is smth else causing this.
I'v done too many tests already to motivate myself for another one without knowing that it works. If i know it works then I'll find it, but else...pfff


Q43: Is there a mod for ACDN that enables the FB nations that are present in the ALL gsc file? kinda FB+DN ( maybe historically not accurate, but that's not why i am asking.More out of interest if they can be used. I did a test where i enabled a few of the mayan units that are present, however have not had time to test wether the ai from fb would also work in dn for eg for the mayan nation.
A43: FB and DN were made by different developers so dont mix the graphics or any material from the 2 cause you might get yourself in a legal mess.
NQ43: Yes i know, and mostlikely will not go there, but one could make a case for the many gp's, md's, nds files that are actually FB units and are inside the All gsc of DN but are just not 'enabled' in game.
If i were to use any of the DN units I'd ask permission from both ROS to use them, and also from gsc/cdv to add them.

Q44: Gp Regenerator tool: I have prolly referred to this before either my website or above in this document, but here is what i'm talking about: http://p094.ezboard.com/Gp-regenerator/famericanconquestfrm23.showMessage?topicID=1.topic . So basically there is this tool but i cant seem to get my hands on it.
There is another thread on the net but i lost the link to it that mentions this tool and something bout needing it cause the pixels in AC & CI are off by 1, or smth along those lines. Really like to know if this is linked to my issue with the GParch and trying to convert from AC to CI which isnt working, or what this tool was exactly for, and ofcourse who still has a copy of this tool.
A44: its actually a code for photoshop i think, its only used to automaticly make all the blue colours when conveting the units from C1 to ac, or other way around to become purple again ( cause purple is the players color in game)
NQ44.1 So basically bit the same thing that the Palitra tool does?

Q45: how do you get wall's show up in L-Mode if they come from cI and are imported in to AC?
A45: Ac engine doesnt support walls in L mode
NQ45.1 so why are walls L mode graphics treated differently than the L mode graphics of any other building?

Q46: http://www.thefreenations.bravehost.com/ WHere is all the stuff gone to? Can't download anything there, all i get is 404 errors. Who has a back up of this? Also has the 'regenation tool' as described in Q44 in the list but cant download it.
A46: long time gone, the silversurfer guy that got onto cdv forums a while back was its webmaster
Additional note from gex: be carefull with Imperia, im sure awar would not be happy if someone messes with imperia without his consent.
AQ: right well gex, pls provide me with AWAR's email adress, cause i might use a few of his things ( such as the converted CII graphics for the tower~even though GSC prolly owns the right to those graphics, he converted them for use in CI IM, so better be nice and ask him~ i just like that tower and a few others, spares me the time of converting them myself)

/Added after 22/06/2009:

NQ47:(@GEX) http://www.internetwars.ru/Imperia/Snovavoina.htm
What's this mod? It uses DN units, so did they get permission to do this then?
Looks like an unfinished mod though, cause funny enough the GP's of the units are packed in the .Rar file but are not present in the mods03.Gs1 that comes in the rar, so it doesnt work without the gp's added to the mods03 file.
My translator gave me some funny results , so kinda missed what's its all about.

NQ48: the peace time border /stones, which gp file is this, i remember when i first started modding i managed to get those PT stones up in the editor and could place them manually one by one, but i'v lost that stuff in the pc crash and cant remember how i did this.

NQ49:(@GEX) Played EW napoleonica a bit. Apparently its not supposed to be played in single player/Random map? cause all that happens is the AI starving to death after 10 minutes due to no collection of food. It builds mines, but doesnt fill them, nor do i see any barrack been build. Should i have used a particular start option for the ai to work properly or is this a battle map mod or online mod? Pitty if it is.
Edit: ok so it works with millions, thought they still dont harvest food.

NQ50: formations, stand ground option, where is the time it takes to achieve the stand ground modus defined? which file?

NQ51: .bik software that is good/easy to use?

NQ52:.ogg software that is good/easy to use?

NQ53: how you get music playing without cd inserted?(cause of no cd-dmcr?) & what is the file 'tracks' for in the all.gsc(atleast in 1.35)(to define which files are 'national music'?)

NQ54: EWNapoleonica: what are the asterixes for after certain nations in the list? ( eg Italy*, Turkey* & Sweden*)

NQ55: EWNapoleonica: explosive barrels, how can one make the life of a object decrease over time untill it eventually explodes? ( has this been changed in the engine to get this to work, or is this done in the .md file?) Nice stuff really ( detonator?)

NQ56: EWNapoleonica: ladies & gentlemen under neutrals--> are these from CII? they look alike for sure. Could be entirely wrong though.

NQ57: where are balloon options defined? ( dmcr.Exe again?)

NQ58: (1.35) Files I cant open , so i dont know what they are for 

NQ59: (1.35)Files I can open, but havent figured out what they do, or what the numbers mean,...
-DATA+CRC1.DAT : looks like bad decrypted; has text ZZur? Re-extract using scheme one? ( LlCD) ?
-DATA+Softarea.dat: use scheme one? Lots of 6 ‘es?
-DATA+TERRHI : more funky numbers ( algorithms?)
-DATA+TERRMAP: what do the letters refer to? S , Y? wood, plain, mines?hills?sea?disable automatic loopback and it looks like a map and yet no
-DATA+TExSET? Numbers which define the text size?
-DATA+UnitsList.dat: list of units ( is this the same as in main directory? Why is it redefined here? As a check ?
-IRD Group list: formations, orders refer to code?

NQ60: NRES.DAT: ADDRANGE200? ( Mostlikely an + 200 effect in range for fire units)
NQ61: Terrain+Cost.dat: numbers refer to resources or start options in txt? ( cfr this to Q40)( and cfr to RES.DAT, these numbers appear again)
taken from file:
17 102
1 15
6 15 15 15 15 15 14
6 15 15 15 15 14 14
6 15 15 15 14 14 14
6 15 15 14 14 14 14
6 15 15 14 14 14 14
6 15 14 14 14 14 14
5 14 14 14 14 13
5 14 14 14 13 13
5 14 14 13 13 13
5 14 13 13 13 13
5 13 13 13 13 17
5 13 13 13 17 17
5 13 13 17 17 17
5 13 17 17 17 17
4 17 11 11 11
3 11 0 0
^^ the 17 & 102 make sense: there are 17 lines and 102 numbers in this file, but what is the rest, well the first number , eg 6 means 6 numbers in that line, etc.. but then the 15, 14, 13, 17, 11 and 0's, what do they refer to? Thinking bout the title 'cost'under section Terrain?. I mean, i dont get it, terrain has no cost, or does it mean smth like, the probability that certain terrain features will appear on random map or smth? and where does it take its information from then? First i though the block with 6 'es is for 6 players game, 5 for 5 players game, but it misses a 2 player game then...i dont know

NQ62:Terrain +Terrlist.dat : refers to .Terr files. 1: normal? 2:big? 3/huge? X, X2, X4

NQ63:Terrain+Hills.Dat: has layers, texamount, etc…how do they work

NQ64:AI_Parameter.Dat : has some numbers, no idea what they refer to

nQ65:UnitsList.Dat ( looks similar to data+UnitsList.Dat but its smaller file, only nations +originals, and what is merchantry in the list?

NQ67:Holelist: Mines; nrs?

NQ68:OBL: numbers list? 1-0001- 10_0009 referal numbers?

NQ69: Where are the points for scoring defined? This must be in the md's right? Like when you build a building,score goes up, for every unit score goes up, same for a building you kill, you loose, while your enemy gains score, etc....

NQ70: CII graphics --> CI: did a test, extracted the frames from a CII g16 ( a bridge or smth it was)(damba.g16-which had like 6 frames). Made a lst file, converted the frames from tga to bmp, then tried packing them with megapack but it didnt work cause i didnt have the 'black& white' copies ( gp|a24). So how do i get these then? How did Imperia manage doing this then? Did they have the original models or smth and went from there or?