Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

This is a thread for discussing some of the many tips and tricks for changing the way Dominions 3 does things in order to personalize it abit. Im going to start out with desktop icons.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

There is a full list of "command line switches" for Dominions3 at this location...
http://www.dom3minions.com/docs/CommandLine.txt

Some are for the way the game displays things, some are for the way it generates maps, and many for are game variables inluding some which are not available on the menu from inside the game. All of them can be included on the same line that calls Dom3. Such as, if you are using windows, then there is an icon on your desktop that runs Dom3. At the moment that is all that it does. But, you can add any of these switches to that. If any of these are something you change every time you run the game then you should change the default instead. You can still choose to switch it off, but the automatic default when you enter the game will be your choice first with options for others instead of vice versa.

You can also have multiple desktop icons for Dom3. One with your playing choices. One for multiplayer games. One for generating maps. Even one for each game you are presently involved in which would speed up access and play.

Here are some you might consider turning on:
-d Increase debug level
--scoredump Create a score file after each turn (scores.html)
-c --nocredits Disables the end credits
-C --tcpclient Connect to a Dominions multiplayer server
-S --tcpserver Start a Dominions multiplayer server
--ipadr XXX Use this IP-adr when connecting to server
--port X Use this port nbr
--preexec CMD Execute this command before each turn generation
--postexec CMD Execute this command after each turn generation
--minutes X Set host interval in minutes
--mightyai X Nation ai controlled X=nation number (0-94)
--impai X Nation ai controlled X=nation number (0-94)
--mapfile XXX Filename of map. E.g. eye.map
--randmap X Make and use a random map with X prov per player (10,15,20)
--research X Research difficulty 0-3 (default 1)
--hofsize X Size of Hall of Fame 5-15 (default 10)
--indepstr X Strength of Independents 0-9 (default 5)
--magicsites X Magic site frequency 0-75 (default 40)
--eventrarity X Random event rarity 1-2, 1=common 2=rare
--totalvp X Vic. points available in the world 0-25
--capitalvp One extra victory per capital
--requiredvp X Vic. points required for victory (default total/2)
--summervp Vic. points are accumulated each summer
--richness X Money multiple 50-300 (default 100)
--resources X Resource multiple 50-300 (default 100)
--supplies X Supply multiple 50-300 (default 100)
--startprov X Number of starting provinces (1-9)
--renaming Enable commander renaming
--noscoregraphs Disable score graphs
--nonationinfo No info at all on other nations
--nocheatdet Turns off cheat detection
--era X New game created in this era (1-3)
-M --enablemod XXX Enable the mod with filename XXX
******* Random Map Options *******
--makemap XXX Generate a random map with filename XXX and exit
--riverpart X 100 = normal amount of rivers, 0=no rivers
--seapart X Percent of map that is below water level (default=30)
--mountpart X Percent of map that is mountains (default=20)
--forestpart X Percent of lands that are forests (default=20)
--farmpart X Percent of lands that are farm lands (default=15)
--wastepart X Percent of lands that are wastes (default=10)
--swamppart X Percent of lands that are swamps (default=10)
--mapaa Enable antialiasing for random maps
--mapsize W H Set width and height of random map (default=1600 1200)
--mapprov X Set number of provinces (default=150)
--passmount Don't use impassable mountains on random maps
--mapgcol RGBA Ground color 0-255 (default=170 146 116 255)
--mapscol RGBA Sea color 0-255 (default=54 54 130 255)
--mapbcol RGBA Ground border color 0-255 (x4)
--mapsbcol RGBA Sea border color 0-255 (x4)
--mapnoise X Ground color noise 0-255 (default 15)
--borderwidth X Border width 0-500 (default 100)
******* Video Options *******
-w --window Run Dominions 3 in a window
-u --fullscreen Use the entire screen
--bitplanes X Try to use a color depth of X bits per pixel
--zbuffer X Try to use a depth buffer of X bits per pixel (default=16)
-T --textonly Use this with --tcpserver to get graphicless server
--gamma X Set gamma function (brightness) 0.1 - 5.0 (default=1.0)
--opacity X Set gui opacity 0 - 100
-r --res X Y Set screen resolution / window size (default=1024 768)
--animback Use animated backgrounds
-a --noanimback Don't use animated backgrounds
--fade Use fade effects
-f --nofade No fade effects
--nopopups No helpful popups
--fps X Aim for this nbr of frames per second (default=20)
--maxfps X Maximum nbr of frames per second (default=50)
--filtering X Quality of OpenGL filtering 0-3 (default=2)
--maxtexsize X Max texture size in pixels 32-4096 (default=unlimited)
--treequal X Tree quality 1-5 (default=3)
--texqual X Texture quality 1-5 (default=3)
--nolightfx No light effects in battles
--partamount X Max nbr of particles 0-8 (0=none, 4=default, 8=max)
--nograss Don't draw the grass
--noarcade Don't draw floating damage numbers
--noglext Don't use any OpenGL extensions
--vsync Enable vsync
-V --novsync Disable vsync
--renderpath X Use different optimizations 0-1 (0=good for low mem cards)
-x --fastgrx Faster graphics (use 3 times for best performance (-xxx))
-p --perftest Run a performance test and exit
******* Audio Options *******
-s --nosound No sound effects or music
-m --nomusic No music
--musicvol X Set music volume, 0-100
--clickvol X Set mouse click volume, 0-100
--arts Route sound through aRts (default)
-o --oss Use direct oss sound output (best quality)
----------------------------------------
the hidden switches
-------------------
--fullgrx
--intro
--nointro
--noantialiasing
--superhost does HOST over and over very fast
--esd
--defsound
--directsound
--waveout
--windowed
--badmouse
--allai puts all of the nations for that era into a game as AIs
--comptrn generates a turn file for AIs so that you can see what they do
--badgl
--nocompression

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

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.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

HOW TO

For a Windows XP user just right-click your Dom3 icon that you usually use.

You might want to select Copy. Then go someplace else on the desktop, right-click, and do Paste.

The right-click the icon you want to change. Select Properties. Under the General tab you can rename it if you want. And under the Shortcut tab you can add the switches you want. The "target" line might look like "C:\Program Files\dominions3\dom3.exe" with the quotes and all. Add the switches you want OUTSIDE the quotes. So it becomes something like
"C:\Program Files\dominions3\dom3.exe" -w -a -c -d --rename

Someone want to give an example for Vista? for Mac?

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Thanks! I like the settings for defaulting HoF and renaming for example. Nice!

I'm using Vista 64 and it works the same as in XP.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Oh good, this fixes the problem of going from fullscreen to windowed for me by never going to fullscreen in the first place. Thanks.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Hmmm.... looking at this thread again (because someone asked a question about settings) I see something I said that was wrong. I need to correct it.

At least in some OS's it is NOT true that you can put all the switches you want. As I am famous for, I have hit a limit that most people would never come close to seeing. On WinXP it appears to be something like 255 characters limit on how much you can add to a command line. There are some tricks you can use to shorten things up and squeeze more in but if you get as insane as I did then you will still probably end up having to create specific desktop icons for specific uses of the Dom3 exe if you really want to tweak personal settings for each one. They wont all fit on one.

Gandalf Parker

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

This post isnt really about defaults but it is about using command-line switches so this is probably the best thread to put it in since it will avoid having to explain HOW to do it.

For those who are curious about how the AI works (the computer's thinking when its told to play a nation) then the switches of interest are:
-dd
--statfile
--scoreboard
--superhost
--comptrn

Change your icon that calls Dom3 and add these to the command line.
-dd --statfile --scoreboard --superhost
now create a new game (I prefer a really huge map).
Select a nation that can hold out well (I prefer Neifelheim or Jotunheim, or use the Watcher mod)
Add computer players (you can select the setting for one, then hold the "n" key to add all the rest)
Set the game settings. Setting Indepts low will speed up AI expansion
Start the game. Eat lunch or Go to bed.

The SuperHost setting will cause the game to just host over and over and over without waiting for you to do your turn. The --stats switch with superhost will give you a superstats.txt file which will give you information such as the ai-script the nation is running on (aggressive, normal, defensive). The scoreboard switch will give you the scores.html which you can check every so often to see what turn the game has reached and how well everyone in the game is doing.

At any point, kill the game. Remove --superhost and add --comptrn. Now restart the game and do one turn. You now have turn files for EVERY nation in the game including the computer players. You cant do their turn for them but you can see what they are doing.

Contrary to the belief of some, the AI is not mindless. :)

For more on the subject of watching the AI check out the thread
Curious about Dominions? how the AI thinks? which AI is best/worst?
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/showthread.php?t=41845

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Care to elaborate on this exact subject ?

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

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....

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.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

I see, thanks. What i actually was trying to ask was how exactly you "add surprises" to it. I figured out what you mean now though.
I was under the impression you might have a script that alters spell effects or spell requirements each time it is run, so all the spells and/or units might have, small subtle changes whenever a new game is being start.

Thanks for the explanation though.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Spells is one of the most complicated things to mess with. Its about the ONLY thing I havent written a randomizer for. One Im messing with now creates a random nation by randomly selecting the units you get. So far its just "funny". Too wild to be either fun to play or a good AI

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Do you know the shortcuts to set up income, ressource and supply modifiers for a new game ?

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

--richness X Money multiple 50-300 (default 100)
--resources X Resource multiple 50-300 (default 100)
--supplies X Supply multiple 50-300 (default 100)
</pre>

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

thanks man !

One last one, difficult if not possible though. Could you use a command switch to disable certain races being taken by the AI ? I.e. i dont want water races to be in the game, i suppose you cant do that unless you manually choose each AI's race ?

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

I havent tried that. Im usually designating which nations are in the game as AIs so non-selection would be taken care of.

But there is this...
--closed X Nation closed X=nation number (0-94)
which might affect AI choice also.

There used to be a map commands for that
5.3 #landplayers <> no affect in Dom3
5.4 #seaplayers <> no affect in Dom3
but they are broken now

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Gandalf, can you please help with this ? I would really, really like to copy your way of defaults (with the .bat) to create an automated savegames for each turn, since i only play SP.
Can you help me with this and perhaps post the exact switch AND the your .bat (i can alter it with my path's).

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

[quote=Ragnarok-X;738823I would really, really like to copy your way of defaults (with the .bat) to create an automated savegames for each turn, since i only play SP.[/QUOTE]
Look here for a .bat file and a better solution that uses Python. I believe that somebody even coded a small .exe program for this purpose eventually.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

This one actually copies all of the Dom3 savegames directory to an oldsaves directory.
Then to restore it just find your game in oldsaves, and copy its files back to savegames

If you put this in a noetpad file called d3bakup.bat then the switch for your Dom3 shortcut is
--preexec C:\bat\d3bakup.bat
and every time just before hosting a new turn, it will backup all saved games.
A bit large and clunky but its easy to follow for DOS or Linux people.

And if you just want to do backups on a click once in awhile I have a desktop shortcut for it in the Utilities section of Dom3Minions.com

As lch said there have been other improved versions. Various program languages and such for those more comfortable with those.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Clumsy me, forgot all about this. The post should have been: Look here for a .bat file and a better solution that uses Python. I believe that somebody even coded a small .exe program for this purpose eventually.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Gandalf, once more. I applied your script, but i have a small question about it. Up to now, i was manually doing "save and quit" when i was with a turn, went to windows via alt-tab and manually copy/pasted the saves folder. That way, i always had a save right before ending the turn.
When using your script, will it do the same, so-to-say, will it update the savegame right before processing new turn orders ?

One nitpick is that with your switch, the game tabs to windows (im playing fullscreen). Any way to make it execute the bat in the background with tabbing back to windows ? Or do you suggest playing in windowed mode but with fullscreen resolution (i.e. 1680 * 1050 windowed mode to fit perfectly on the screen) ?


Ich: I couldnt get the script to work .D

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Yes, thats the order of it.
The game saves the .2h file just as it would for sending to a server (or pbem).
Then any pre-exec orders are carried out.
Then the game hosts creating your new turn file.
Then any post-exec is carried out
(I know I over explained but some lurkers might suddenly see why those are handy)

I know of no way to stop the flash of jumping to the command window to run the bat. I usually run Dom3 in windowed full-screen mode because I play lots of large map solo games. I like to see the tabs of other things I have going on so I can easily jump in and out of other programs.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

When you say you "usually run Dom3 in windowed full-screen mode", then how exactly do you do that ?

Apparently the game either uses the FULLSCREEN resolution you choose in the options, or it uses a fixed windowed resolution when unchecking fullscreen in the game options.

How exactly did you achieve windowed mode but with actual fullscreen size ? command line something ?

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

commandline options -w for windowed and -r X Y for resolution.

You may also just be able to stretch the window to the size you want. You can on Linux, I don't know about Windows.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Is it possible to set up alliances using defaults ?

i.e. could you say something like: always ally player slot 1 and 2, 3 and 4, 5 and 6 ? Or something similar ?

EDIT: can you preset the magic research difficulty ?

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Alliances are done by adding commands to the map. So no I cant think of an easy way to do this.

Magic research does have a command line setting. So yes that can.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Oh sorry, i didnt fully remember post2, thanks again.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

OK something was brought to my attention that I hadnt thought to explain before.
When the command switch list has something like
-r --res X Y Set screen resolution / window size (default=1024 768)
and you want to change that, you use either -r X Y OR --res X Y
Do not put -r --res X Y

Longer trivia:
both versions do the same thing.
--res is the way Linux prefers switches (the home operating system of the game)
-r is Windows preference. Considering the 255 character limit in Windows of building a command line using the shorter version can be handy for Win users

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Im sorry. Looking back thru this thread I realized I should have mentioned that you could setup a desktop shortcut to create a map, and append the alliance commands, then start a game with it.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

This thread is awesome.

Gandalf, is there a switch to customize the "prov per player" setting apart from the 3 options available in game ?

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

There is only this one...

--mapprov X Set number of provinces (default=150)

But you have to do the math yourself.
You could probably script something to take a number (playr) and do a math thing with it. But I put it into a calculator then plug it into the script. Especially since its common that when a person has a strong opinion on the number-per-player they tend to also have a favorite overall map size or a favorite number of players, so the answer doesnt tend to change much

Nothing is Impossible. Its a computer. The term impossible is a technical term meaning it is possible but probably more trouble than its worth.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

I have a halting problem for you! :)

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Thank for answering and thank you for this awesome thread.

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

LOL
Well since it does involve a computer, there is a computer answer for it which has worked well in the past. But in this case, in the overall scheme of things here, it would probably be considered "impossible"
(see above definition)

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

I have another question. Only partly about defaults.

This is one of the switches im using, and its working.

D:\Dom3\dom3.exe --preexec D:\Dom3\backup.bat


So i get the savegame. But if i mess up and want to copy back the back up, i always have to open the folder, copy, open new folder, paste, hit overwrite.

How would i go about creating an automated bat file ?

cd D:\Dom3
cd oldsaves
cd 1


now what are the parameters for copying from oldsaves/1 to savedgames/1 with overwrite ?

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Hmm I missed this. Good thing I read thru it.
I think the switched for overwrite depend on your system. I tend to use xcopy on winxp so mine might not be the same as yours

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Bumping this in the hope that I can get some advice. I play Dom3 mostly on my laptop, 1024x768 resolution, fullscreen. What I look at is a nice, square picture, properly proportioned, with thick black borders on either side. It is great.

My desktop computer's monitor has a native resolution of 1600x900. I tried doing the command line "-r 1600 900" to force the resolution to 1600x900 because it isn't an option that is available for me to pick in the game. What I basically get is a stretched out mess. Everything looks distorted. So I tried changing the resolution to 1024x768, hoping the game would look the same as it does on my laptop. No luck. It looks even worse, more stretched out and distorted. I turn off fullscreen,and it gives me Dom3 in a window. Everything in the window looks fine, but it is still a window and I can still see my desktop and all of my folders, etc.

Is there any way I can get 1600x900 to look good? Or maybe to get the thick black borders that I have on my laptop to appear on my desktop?

The reason this is suddenly important to me is because I'm attending a LAN party pretty soon and I'm trying to introduce some friends to Dom3. I'd prefer to remove some of the temptation of trolling my desktop, or going through my stuff, by leaving it out of the picture, but I'd also like for the picture to look good. Ya know?

Also: if it matters, laptop has Windows 7, desktop has Windows Vista

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Anyone with knowledge about this still around ?

Im using this one:



D:\Dom3\dom3.exe --preexec backup.bat -w -r 1400 950 --magicsites 65 --indepstr 7 --eventrarity 2 --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



And my random maps dont have any province borders, what am i doing wrong ?
In addition, the command line switch seems to have a maximum lengths (windows-wise). The above line is as long as it gets. If i want to add richness etc presets, what would ineed to do (because the command switch itself cant have any more characters, windows will cut it off)
thanks

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

I made a shortcut with only one item. --mapbcol 130 130 130 29
and yes the map had no borders. Iirc those numbers are red green blue and opacity (how see thru it is). When I changed 29 to 129 the borders showed up. It was ugly but they were there.

I had that problem. I had to split my game playing settings into a different icon than my map making (and another for MP). So I would split that stuff up into

--preexec backup.bat -w -r 1400 950 --magicsites 65 --indepstr 7 --eventrarity 2

and

--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

to two different shortcuts

Re: Changing Dominions 3 defaults
 

Okay, thanks.
One more questions about this one:


--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


If i put this behind the dom3.exe i would expect the game to create a random map with these settings. However, what happens is that the game loads of normally. So i choose "game tools" "random map gen" but the random map menu is still showing the stock settings as presets, not the one i defined using the command switch. Maybe i just dont understand it and the switch has another use, NOT altering the "random map generator" preset ?

Last question: I remember some years ago someone (you?) had a site which hundreds of random maps, available with preview and sortable by province number etc. I think each day a new map was uploaded. Do you know which site i mean ?