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Author Topic: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?  (Read 1226 times)

Sebastian2203

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My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« on: November 13, 2014, 12:37:38 pm »

Hello.

After 40.16 arrived and the main issue with attacker-always-wins-postworldgen fixed. I start playing the game again rushing to squeeze the fun and conquer the world with my adventurer.
I noticed goblins are OP because their populations do not die of old age resulting in massive never dying veteran army of goblins vs all other mortal races bound by their age limits.
I had the idea to fix this, by carefully inspecting the raws I found what exactly modifies age death timer for Dwarfs ( or whatever is it called)
It is apparently [MAXAGE:XX:XX] (Its in creature_standard file)

And imagined that I could theoretically "fix" it by basically copy-pasting it and changing the numbers, in an attempt to not break anything I noticed the patterns ToadyOne organizes stuff in raws and I see MAXAGE line begins after body categories and before attack details which I do not understand. I put the MAXAGE limit for goblins and elves.

I generate a new world with 120 years of history, and inspect the first random goblins to see if at least one of them died of old age. Someone did. It works! But here come the big questions.

1: I did not play yet, is there chance game will somehow crash once a goblin gets into my fortress/adv. mode screen ?
eg. I suspect something might break just because Toady did not intend for goblins to work/exist that way.

2: And here comes the question I am curious about the most.:
Why was goblin/elf age limit removed in first place? I guess there MUST be something wrong and thats why was it removed, I apologize if it was written/said somewhere and I just missed it but I need to know it.
Also sorry for my grammar, I am still learning english.
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Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2014, 12:46:51 pm »

I think they are just supposed to be immortal races, it isn't a problem with the code. It won't break anything to make them die of old age though.
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Dirst

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2014, 12:50:11 pm »

Hello.

After 40.16 arrived and the main issue with attacker-always-wins-postworldgen fixed. I start playing the game again rushing to squeeze the fun and conquer the world with my adventurer.
I noticed goblins are OP because their populations do not die of old age resulting in massive never dying veteran army of goblins vs all other mortal races bound by their age limits.
I had the idea to fix this, by carefully inspecting the raws I found what exactly modifies age death timer for Dwarfs ( or whatever is it called)
It is apparently [MAXAGE:XX:XX] (Its in creature_standard file)

And imagined that I could theoretically "fix" it by basically copy-pasting it and changing the numbers, in an attempt to not break anything I noticed the patterns ToadyOne organizes stuff in raws and I see MAXAGE line begins after body categories and before attack details which I do not understand. I put the MAXAGE limit for goblins and elves.

I generate a new world with 120 years of history, and inspect the first random goblins to see if at least one of them died of old age. Someone did. It works! But here come the big questions.

1: I did not play yet, is there chance game will somehow crash once a goblin gets into my fortress/adv. mode screen ?
eg. I suspect something might break just because Toady did not intend for goblins to work/exist that way.

2: And here comes the question I am curious about the most.:
Why was goblin/elf age limit removed in first place? I guess there MUST be something wrong and thats why was it removed, I apologize if it was written/said somewhere and I just missed it but I need to know it.
Also sorry for my grammar, I am still learning english.
Elves and Goblins are immortal simply for backstory reasons, and the game won't break if you make them mortal.  The MAXAGE (if present) gives the creature an expiration date, and the first status check after that date kills the creature.  There was a bug in previous versions that post-worldgen, nothing would die of old age off-screen.  This led to some migrants dying the moment they arrived at your fort.
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Sebastian2203

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #3 on: November 13, 2014, 12:52:26 pm »

I think they are just supposed to be immortal races, it isn't a problem with the code. It won't break anything to make them die of old age though.

Well, what kind of lore is DF adapting to?
I have seen/read many comics/books implying goblins age and get old.

EDIT: Also the MAXAGE X1:X2 means maximum and minimum age creatures die at? So they do not all in one year, riight ?
« Last Edit: November 13, 2014, 12:58:08 pm by Sebastian2203 »
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Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #4 on: November 13, 2014, 01:00:26 pm »

I think they are just supposed to be immortal races, it isn't a problem with the code. It won't break anything to make them die of old age though.
Well, what kind of lore is DF adapting to?
I have seen/read many comics/books implying goblins age and get old.

EDIT: Also the MAXAGE X1:X2 means maximum and minimum age creatures die at? So they do not all in one year, riight ?
Toady's lore. He thought goblins should be immortal, so they are.

Yes.
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Dirst

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2014, 01:01:07 pm »

EDIT: Also the MAXAGE X1:X2 means maximum and minimum age creatures die at? So they do not all in one year, riight ?
Correct.  If you set [MAXAGE:150:200] then each creature gets its own individual expiration date somewhere between 150 and 200 years after its birthdate.  I'm not sure if it's just an integer of years of if it's actually a specific moment.
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(0.42 & 0.43) Appearance Tweaks v1.03 - Tease those hippies about their pointy ears.
(0.42 & 0.43) Accessibility Utility v1.04 - Console tools to navigate the map

Sebastian2203

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2014, 01:05:47 pm »

Thanks for all the answered questions.

I guess I will keep the MAXAGE for goblins and elves set.
If it will ruin my experience or somehow change my gameplay? I must figure out...

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Cptn Kaladin Anrizlokum

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2014, 01:08:16 pm »

EDIT: Also the MAXAGE X1:X2 means maximum and minimum age creatures die at? So they do not all in one year, riight ?
Correct.  If you set [MAXAGE:150:200] then each creature gets its own individual expiration date somewhere between 150 and 200 years after its birthdate.  I'm not sure if it's just an integer of years of if it's actually a specific moment.
It is an integer of years, everything dies of old age right on the first day of the year.
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Dirst

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #8 on: November 13, 2014, 01:12:35 pm »

It is an integer of years, everything dies of old age right on the first day of the year.
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Just got back, updating:
(0.42 & 0.43) The Earth Strikes Back! v2.15 - Pay attention...  It's a mine!  It's-a not yours!
(0.42 & 0.43) Appearance Tweaks v1.03 - Tease those hippies about their pointy ears.
(0.42 & 0.43) Accessibility Utility v1.04 - Console tools to navigate the map

Putnam

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Re: My 1.st attempt to mod/manipulate the game, what did I break?
« Reply #9 on: November 13, 2014, 09:51:16 pm »

EDIT: Also the MAXAGE X1:X2 means maximum and minimum age creatures die at? So they do not all in one year, riight ?
Correct.  If you set [MAXAGE:150:200] then each creature gets its own individual expiration date somewhere between 150 and 200 years after its birthdate.  I'm not sure if it's just an integer of years of if it's actually a specific moment.
It is an integer of years, everything dies of old age right on the first day of the year.

Nope, it's a specific moment, as specific as the exact 72 second range.