Help a newb, please!
 

Wow, this game is pretty overwhelming. I'm on my 20th SP game, having only won once and am currently struggling to manage a medium sized map. Anyway, I have an interface question that I didn't find an answer for: Is it possible to re-map keys? Too many times I've hit 'e' when reaching for 'r' and prematurely ended my turn. Augh!!!

I quickly scanned the mods document but didn't see it in there.

Also, is there any way to change the game volume? My Sound System is set to default but I doubt that matters. The game sounds are too loud compared to all my other system sounds.

I appreciate any help. Thanks!

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

No way to remap keys and no sound volume options in the game that I know of.

I have heard of other folks using 3rd party solutions to temporarily remap their keyboard, but I don't use any such method myself.

(Oh, and welcome to the forums! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif)

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

Fun I remember having expressed the same complaint about "e" about one week after release.

The best ways to avoid the "e" trap are to always use mouse instead of the dangerous "r" shortcut, or other neighbours of "e"... or only play MP games (guess it's why I never have problem with "e" now).

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

There are command switches. Such as:
--musicvol X Set music volume, 0-100
--clickvol X Set mouse click volume, 0-100
-s --nosound No sound effects or music
--arts Route sound through aRts (default)
-o --oss Use direct oss sound output (best quality)


Some people made changes to certain sounds (elephants, screams, click) in the sound files themselves. For example, if you go to the dominions directory and copy emuller.smp to elephant.smb then you get an elephant sound that is alittle easier to live with.

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

There'

[...How ironic. I hit the wrong key while typing this message and it posted early. I've never had that happen to me before, either.]

There's no way to remap keys, so I would recommend the second-best option which is to use the dom3.exe --postexec command to back up your files every turn. That way if you accidentally finish too early you can restore. The other possibility, if you have a slow computer, is to immediately Alt-Tab out and kill the process using xkill or Task Manager (whichever is applicable). If your computer is too fast that won't work, of course.

-Max

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

Thanks for the welcome and hints everyone.

I'm disappointed to find there is a click volume control, but none for sound effects! Ah well.

I didn't know about the command switches, so that is useful to know. I would like to use that postexec one, but I am not sure how. I see the description is

--postexec CMD Execute this command after each turn generation

Is CMD inline DOS commands (windows install)? A batch file? Got an example for me to play with? http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

If you have troubles with spesific sounds (elephants, dying women etc) there's a mod that changes those to similar but not-as-annoying sounds.

Batch files work for postexec.

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

i make a batch file for each save game i make...actually no, i make 2 batch files for each, in my savegame folder...they look like this:

backup_EA_AbysiaFomoria.bat
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
copy /Y EA_AbysiaFomoria EA_AbysiaFomoria\EA_AbysiaFomoriaCPY\
</pre><hr />

restore_EA_AbysiaFomoria.bat
<font class="small">Code:</font><hr /><pre>
copy /Y EA_AbysiaFomoria\EA_AbysiaFomoriaCPY EA_AbysiaFomoria\
</pre><hr />

swap around folders etc at your discretion.
create the folder *CPY inside the savegame folder before using these or they wont work...
(ie: create EA_AbysiaFomoriaCPY inside EA_AbysiaFomoria and then you can start using these)

to backup, run the backup obviously...to restore your last turn (or the last turn saved, sometimes you dont need or want to backup every turn too, and go on 10 turns on a rampage for fun or try a different strategy and if it doesnt work 20 turns later you just backup) run the restore.

i always play 2 or 3 nations in a full (all nations) map in SP, in order to learn more nations at once and usually by some point be able to have a big war between myself and see who wins/works best etc.
well, once my nations run into eachother anyhow. it is a bit cheating since you get intelligence from all your nations (in the sense that you know in your head where other nations are that only one of your nations by itself wouldnt know about). but thats a slight advantage, especially because you usually know about some nation all the way across the map that doesnt matter to you anyway (nowhere near you).
it makes turns go alot slower hehe but SP is fast enough anyway.

Re: Help a newb, please!
 

Feel free to do those types of games. They impart knowledge which can be very handy.
A) They give more of a feeling for how the game handles players which leads directly into hosting games later.
B) Feel free to play multiple races as allies. It can give you a good feel for how some nations can best be used as allies. Some nations that do not do well trying to win on their own, make excellent and useful allies. You can also iron out some of the better ally tricks and tips. Such as building a castle to use as a drawbridge to allow allies to move armies thru your territory.