Utility: RanDom v2.03 - Map gen & Semirandomizer... Updated

[Ballbarian]

I think that I may have found the limit.
I created a test map and the last line that appears to have been read by Dom3 is line number 10696.

Gandalf's MegaMap is 9152 lines long.
A SemiRandomized MegaMap reached 46973 lines!
Note that these figures all include comment lines and empty lines which are likely ignored by Dom3, but no guarantees on that.

More testing will be required before I can determine if stripping comment lines and empty lines will help or not.

I typically play on 175 province maps which only reach to about 4000 to 5000 lines est. So it is probably safe to assume that you can run a 350 province map without issue?

[TienIsCoolX]

I just tried a map called "radiance 1.0" and it worked well, the load time was about 4 minutes. By the way, what constitutes a "megamap"? Is there a certain range of provinces that goes by to achieve megamap status?

Oh and about this line stripping thing, would it mean that around 30,000 lines must be taken out?

[Ballbarian]

Gandalf had one of his crazy maps available that was 1495 provinces. It was titled "MegaMap". It was the largest random map that I had in my maps folder so I used it as a gauge.

If my findings are accurate, then yes, 36277 would have to be trimmed.

I hope that when JK returns from his overseas invasion that he can confirm this map line limit and maybe he will even graciously find that changing a single constant somewhere in the code (in a future patch ) will greatly increase the ceiling out of the kindness of his great big programming heart.

[TienIsCoolX]

Dang, well I guess I'll keep myself occupied with some other game till this gets fixed. I don't wanna waste my time with a non SRed 1500 map (Too much time and not enough satisfaction). I'll watch this topic for any updates on the matter, oh and, where is he vacationing at? And I really hope he comes back soon.

[Kristoffer O]

He's in Patala, the underworld of jewelled cities and the origin of all rivers and monsoon rains. In other words, India. I havn't heard from him, but I suspect he's getting wet

[Gandalf Parker]

TienIsCoolX said:
I just tried a map called "radiance 1.0" and it worked well, the load time was about 4 minutes. By the way, what constitutes a "megamap"? Is there a certain range of provinces that goes by to achieve megamap status?

On my Dom2minions pages
http://www.dom2minions.com/~dominion...andomMaps.html
I used this.....

TINY less than 5 each, or less than 85 total provinces. Best done as 45 land and 8 water.

SMALL 5 each, or 85 total provinces. Best done as 75 land and 10 water.

MEDIUM 10 each, or 170 total provinces. Best done as 150 land and 20 water.

LARGE 15 each, or 255 total provinces. Best done as 225 land and 30 water.

HUGE 20 each, or 340 total provinces. Best done as 300 land and 40 water.

EPIC 25 or more each, maybe to the maximum 500 total provinces. Something like 450 land and 50 water.

But now the Dom3 game defines small, medium, large as
SMALL 10 provinces per player
MEDIUM 15 provinces per player
LARGE 20 provinces per player

So I guess I need to redefine. Something like Epic 50/player (1000 province map) and Xtreme 60/player (1250 province map). MegaMap Ive usually used for maximum settings (1500 provinces)

Oh and about this line stripping thing, would it mean that around 30,000 lines must be taken out?

Maybe Ballbarian could add a "stripped" version. Knocking out blank lines, descriptions, helpful remarks such as what the unit is next to the unit number. And I have no idea if it matters but maybe try putting the text in unix format like the .map is instead of the bulkier dos version.

[jutetrea]

Couple quick things -

When a .map file is semirandomed could you have it change the map title to reflect the _SR

Any chance of getting an option to randomize starting provinces (not provinces with a #start, but any that have an actual nation starting in them)
- Is there a map command for a random unit?
Like
#randomcommander 40 (40 ldr)
#randomunit 40 (40 units)

- so instead of potentially messing up normal starting armies, just adding a new commander and potentially 40 new units (fine to start with 1-40...some would be nasty). Kind of a toned down version of GP's chaos.
- maybe do a @1 commander and have a list of 40-50 cool potentials. Doesn't help the whole max line # problem, but maybe call from another list?

Possibly add a checkbox option for no independents?

Potential for an option to append the GAN name to the end of the gan file when saving? I added _A_Secluded_Temple to mine manually for example. Would make it easier to pick and choose.

I'm having issues with the attached mapfile - no holiness error. Help would be appreciated, I'll edit if I find it first.
-NVM, seems I had a mod compatibility problem instead. Although I've had 2 failed tries without finding a starting province.

[jutetrea]

As an addendum to the above I went through (awhile ago) and rated each unit on a 0-5 scale with the idea of having a starting commander. So while some units were big and nasty (titan, or cyclops) just with their starting magic they only rated a 4. Units with large magic or unique special abilities may have rated a 5.

Purely subjective, and fully editable of course.

I'd think having a starting commander from the 4 toughness list would be very cool for a high powered game (or SP) toss in some random units (probably from the 1-3 lists) and a #randommagic 4 and you've got a varied game without going too nuts.

[murteas]

jutetrea said:
Any chance of getting an option to randomize starting provinces (not provinces with a #start, but any that have an actual nation starting in them)
- Is there a map command for a random unit?
Like
#randomcommander 40 (40 ldr)
#randomunit 40 (40 units)

- so instead of potentially messing up normal starting armies, just adding a new commander and potentially 40 new units (fine to start with 1-40...some would be nasty). Kind of a toned down version of GP's chaos.
- maybe do a @1 commander and have a list of 40-50 cool potentials. Doesn't help the whole max line # problem, but maybe call from another list?

There isn't a that randomizes armies, but you can use my random commander (and starting army) mod. You can find a thread about it here:

Random Commander mod

BTW, Ballbarian - love the SemiRandomizer. Keep up the good work.

[Ballbarian]

@murteas,
I have been meaning to try mod out. Thanks for sharing the link.

@Gandalf,

This is getting complicated enough that it might be putting off people who want to check out what all the hubbub is about.

If anyone gets a map generated which they feel is a good example, could be make it available for download as a zip please?

...And I was trying soooo hard to keep it simple.

I generated a quick sample map. Keep in mind that I have not played on this one yet, so let me know if you see any problems. At first glance, I see that it only contains 1 cave province and no "lost" provinces. Unusual... I usually end up with at least 2 or 3 caves and at least 1 lost province in almost every map I have generated until now.

Anyhow, here is a thumb of the map:





And here is the zip containing the map files:
SemiSample175_SR.zip



And here is the contents of the Notes.txt file included with the zip:
Code:

---

Just a few tips for those that are new to starting a game with preset start positions:

**************************************************  **********

1. Start a new game in dom3, select the SemiSample map.



2. On the participants screen, select the nations that you

would like for this map.  SemiSample has 7 neutral start

positions (6 land and 1 sea).  These 7 can be human or AI. 

Do not add more nations than the supported 7 or else you may

get undesirable results!  Also be sure that you do not

select more than 1 sea nation.  If you do not want any sea

nations, then simply set 6 (or less) land nations.



3. Set or load human gods.



4. Adjust dom3 game settings.



5. Start game and boom. All set. 

---