[Saber Cherry]

New combat simulator Version 39!

The only changes are in improving mod importation, so unless you want to import mods, it is the same as Version 38.

Mod importation is pretty ugly; sorry about that. But, if you want to test your mod, you might find it useful. It is much less complicated than the directions make it seem but I'm a bit loquacious.

-Cherry


Version 39 notes:

Improved mod importation. Imports data like regeneration, magic skills, ethereality, and so forth. The importation is essentially complete except for leadership values (which have no effect in the simulator) and equipment, which must be specified by name. In other words, equipment will be imported from .dm files, but the combat sim does not yet understand item numbers, so if you specified your equipment by ID number (like 'weapon 56' instead of 'weapon "hoof"') you will have to change it in the converter output to use the name, rather than the number. I know this makes it a little confusing, but perhaps I will add numeric support in the future.

How to import a mod:

The command is (assuming your mod is in my_mod.dm):

java Converter my_mod.dm
PLEASE NOTE: The filename must contain no spaces.

The output is creatures_my_mod.dm.txt and unittypes_my_mod.dm.txt.
Copy the contents of those two files into creatures.txt and unittypes.txt in the data folder.

In order to balance-test a mod:

Do the steps above, and when you copy the contents of unittypes_my_mod.dm.txt to unittypes.txt, put them at the very top of the file.

Next, run this command:

java DataOut

This will generate some .bat files. Running "full.bat" will show the relative melee strength of your new units to all other units included in the simulator, though it takes a long time... you can shorten the time by changing the Last number in the file (2000) to something smaller like 100 - that is the number of iterations.

Alternately, you can just fight your units against the extant units, which takes much less time. To do this, modify "full.bat" in this manner:

1) Change the second word, "Matrix", to "RectMatrix", so it reads "java RectMatrix blah blah..."

2) Your units should be listed before all the other units. So, between the Last of your new units and the first old unit, add the term " vs ", so it reads "... My_Last_Unit vs Blood_Slave Militia ...". Then run full.bat and it will fight your units versus the others, and give their relative melee strengths.



[ February 25, 2004, 02:43: Message edited by: Saber Cherry ]