Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

Greetings again,
I am trying to create a specific force in the editor and am bewildered by the system to change rank names. I know by searching and reading the forum post that the rank names are cosmetic and are influenced by the OOB, but my confusion is in the typing in of numbers in the unit leader editor.
I am using the RED force for a non-included nation in the game and need to have UK style ranks. While RED seems to have Eastern European ranks as default, I can type in numbers and get different ranks but there seems to be no order. I even typed in the number '5000' and got a rank. As I type in numbers it seems to change nation but not in numerical order. I have found numbers that give me 'General'(10) and 'Corporal'(1) and have been as high as 133 till I yelled "By Grisby, all is lost!" and came here to post. All I really need is Sergeant, Lieutenant, Captain and General, to make me happy and leave you fine folk alone, (for now).
I am thinking of putting the scenario up on the forum when finished so I do not want to alter my rank files but I am using real life leader names and I am sure somebody will 'sharp shoot' me on it if I use 'Grand Pooh-Bah' instead of Captain.
Can anybody help a dude out?

UPDATE*** Silly me! I apparently just did not type high enough. Almost two hours later I got to 710 and found 710-720 has UK style ranks that will work. (Curse you Grigsby!)!!!
Still, if anyone can explain this system, I would appreciate it. Maybe I'll make a chart or something.

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

Unsure where you are "typing numbers" to "get different ranks"...

Each nations ranks are held in a text file in the ...\Shrapnel Games\The Camo Workshop\WinSPMBT\Game Data\Ranks folder. The one for Red (OOB43) is Rnk43.dat.
If you want British ranks the easiest way (after taking a backup) would be to rename a copy of the British rank table (Rnk07.dat) to that for Red (Rnk43.dat).

If you are using Scenhack to change the rank of a formation leader within a scenario then there are 11 ranks in game from "private" at 1 to "Brigadier (General)" at 11. If unsure what rank is where, simply open the relevant Rnk??.dat file to see the 11 ranks listed from 1 to 11 ie using UK Rnk07.dat:

Private
L/Cpl
Corporal
Sergeant
2/Lt
1/Lt
Captain
Major
Lt/Col
Colonel
Brig.

Hope this helps

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

Thanks S_R,

I'm in the editor in the "modify unit data" function (not the change unit type). There is a button for modifying unit leader data including name and rank.

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

OK - sorry.

All that I said above is still true.

Entering a number from 0 to 10 will give you the ranks from the relevant country's Rank data file - the programming language the game is written in starts counting at zero, therefore 11 options are numbered 0-10.

Therefore 3 would be the fourth rank in the current country's file, ie Sergeant (Serjant in Red)

I would hazard a guess that large numbers that get results are a combination/concatenation of the OoB/Rank file number and this. (possibly born out by 700+ being the British - OOB 7)?

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

OK first off ...changing ranks is NOT something I have bothered to do and I can't say the topic has been broached before ( but my memory isn't what it once was.....too much junk accumulated over the years ........but I digress...... )

BUT........ you got the UK ranks at 710...........OK, note the UK OOB is 7 so my guess here is you need to enter the OOB number then the rank from the rnk.dat list so my WAG would be a UK Sergeant would be 713 ??

Don

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

None of the above.

All the rank number does is change the leaders rank string, from recruit (or is it private?) (0 is low, this is "C" indexing, not Pascal;) - i.e. list indices are zero based) to general (10 or 11, cant recall the maximum), as found in the rank text file for each nation. So 0 is the string that is first in the list of strings , and the larger number is the "general" or whatever is the last string in the list.

It changes nothing in the leader statistics, the scenario editor has to do that himself (unlike ranks generated in the game, which can go up as experience is gained).

It is solely there so that the editing designer can input a nice rank name that he thinks suits the situation (He may also edit the leadership stats appropriately, if he so desires).

I'll need to check that field is only taking the appropriate numbers (its a byte, so 740 is not going in, it will be truncated at the very least to fit, even if the field is not maxing out at the 10 or 11 top end).

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

OK here's what I know for sure.. )..:re:

.... in a test scenario I had already set up to test standoff attacks there was a coy of Iraqi tanks for targets. I opened the scenario from the Iraqi side and selected a tank. I clicked on the unit leader tab and then clicked on RANK and entered 713 and surprise, surprise, surprise.......'Arif Anwar was transformed to Sergeant Anwar and entering 720 makes him a Brig-General

NO it does not change his ratings but it does change the rank that is displayed but again.......changing his rank does NOTHING to his rating but 713 and 720 works as predicted but that is where the wheels fall off 740 makes that leader a "P.Plukov" which is only in two OOB's none of which have anything to do with OOB 7 but rather one or the other slovakias in OOB37 or OOB51 and I can say with some confidence that in the 18 years I've been doing this....this is the first time this has been brought up ( which is why the bug lay dormant for so long )

further digging shows 810 which I thought might give PLO ranks instead gives TaeRyong which is a South Korean Colonel......go figure how 713 gives a Brit Sergeant rank and 810 a South Korean Colonel......I'd love to see how the math works for that because 810 -713 = 97 and there are more than 97 individual ranks between Sergeant on the brit ranks list and the South Korean Colonel.

What should happen...(and I predict is will happen after the next patch)....is you should only be able to enter numbers between and including 0 and 10 and you will get the rank name FOR THAT OOB............entering 713 and getting Sergeant is a bug that in that one case actually fit a theory but 613 won't get you a French rank it gets you an Afghan rank

Fun

Don

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

But that would sink my boat,(and anyone's doing what I am doing, so to speak). I am using a RED OOB to represent a Soviet armed Caribbean force with an UK colony heritage that needs a UK rank structure to match the real life individual's names I am having as the leaders of their respective units. (I have my own personal reasons to be that picky about this scenario), Since it would not be possible to have every country in the world available, the ability to change ranks outside an OOB is useful to such an endeavor.

I truly did not want to cause a kerfuffle over this. SP is my all time favorite and plan to be cremated with my disk so I really appreciate you all for your consideration of my questions and quandaries.

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

You just found a minor bug, which will be fixed.

The only way to change the leader rank name for an OOB is to include a new ranks txt file - but that would then change things for all uses of the OOB file unless the end user is willing to swap in different copies of the ranks text file for your particular scenario. Leader Rank is held as a number which points to the string - unlike leader names which are a character string field (initially loaded with one chosen from the leader name text file) that is editable in itself.

Re: Confusion about leader rank in editor
 

Set up your scenario as the Brits then buy from the red OOB as captured..that puts brit ranks in the Red units.....then when you are all done open the scenario with scenhack and change all the ID tags from 7 to 43..that gives red ID's then change the Brit player to red and save again and you should have what you are looking for.......Birt ranks with Red OOB units and red OOB ID tags and V hexes

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/attac...1&d=1469802499