Editing Files with RGDConv

Dullahan

Hey guys,

So I've been toying around with the RGDConv tool to try and edit files that either can't be cloned or aren't visible in the editor. (I.e october patch elites and abilities)

I can convert the .rgd files to .xml, edit them as I want and then convert them back. I'm able to package them into my mod's .sga file. But they don't seem to take any effect.

For example today I've been trying to modify attributes/tuning in order to remove the refund on death mechanic that is tied to escalation phases, but this file can't be cloned in the editor. I've extracted the file, changed the refund ratios to 0 and packaged it all back up. I can verify that the file is present in my mod's .sga file with the archive viewer and yet it doesn't seem to be overriding the game default files.

Is there no way to manually edit .rgd files like this for DoW3? Or am I missing something? Would be a shame since if Relic never updates the tools the new elites won't ever be possible to edit.

Gorb

@Dullahan

So, uh, tl;dr: I think I need to ask RGDConv's creator (Copernicus; he doesn't appear to be on here) about the format.

I'm not sure the format generated by that tool matches the actual XML format for DoW III. Now, I'm also not sure this matters (what matters is that the RGD structure is readable), but it might account for any discrepancies in the conversion process that cause the resulting RGDs to not be read. A coupla questions:

1. Does the game read other packaged RGD files, created by cloning from Attrib (in the regular / documented way), in the same mod? Or is the whole mod seemingly not applied?
2. Is there anything in your warnings.log that might indicate bad file integrity on the RGDConv'd files? Mod errors do turn up in there, the pain is finding where.

I might resurrect my old warnings parser / reader I wrote for vDoW / DoW II, back in the day. Issue is time; I've barely been able to mod DoW III, or maintain my DoW III tools - nevermind go back to old and most certainly buggy tools I put together for older games (Corsix was always the man there).

Dullahan

@Gorb said:
@Dullahan

So, uh, tl;dr: I think I need to ask RGDConv's creator (Copernicus; he doesn't appear to be on here) about the format.

I'm not sure the format generated by that tool matches the actual XML format for DoW III. Now, I'm also not sure this matters (what matters is that the RGD structure is readable), but it might account for any discrepancies in the conversion process that cause the resulting RGDs to not be read. A coupla questions:

1. Does the game read other packaged RGD files, created by cloning from Attrib (in the regular / documented way), in the same mod? Or is the whole mod seemingly not applied?
2. Is there anything in your warnings.log that might indicate bad file integrity on the RGDConv'd files? Mod errors do turn up in there, the pain is finding where.

I might resurrect my old warnings parser / reader I wrote for vDoW / DoW II, back in the day. Issue is time; I've barely been able to mod DoW III, or maintain my DoW III tools - nevermind go back to old and most certainly buggy tools I put together for older games (Corsix was always the man there).

The mod otherwise works orrectly. Nothing in the warnings.log that I can see in relation to unloaded files.

It seems to me that because the file isn't built with the mod tools it isn't flagged properly to override the base game files.

Right now the thing I'm looking at burning the file into my mod with the tools and seeing if it will load that way.

EDIT:

Upon review, I may actually have the wrong file path for the file I am attempting to overwrite. I'll try and fi it and see if it works properly if I do that.

Seems correct. For the record I am trying to replace the Attrib/Attrib/Tuning/Tuning.rgd file

Another possibility is this file doesn't control what I think it does. I'm going to try the process with something easy to check like making the LiftaDroppa have 1hp or something obvious.

nachocheese

Things that cant be cloned with the attribute editor, will get ignored by the game as long as they are just attrib files. other file formats might cause crashes.

Gorb

If it helps in the meantime (cope will get to this thread if / when he can), modifying the tuning variables in vDoW (I never got around to looking at it in DoW II) was a weird one. Basically, either tuning.lua or all the associated LUA inherited files were ignored. I have a sneaky feeling tuning.lua was. You might want to dig down into the references in tuning.xml and see if you can get to deeper files that on-paper do the same thing. They might control what you want.

Just a stab in the dark based off of how vDoW tuning files worked.

Dullahan

@Gorb said:
If it helps in the meantime (cope will get to this thread if / when he can), modifying the tuning variables in vDoW (I never got around to looking at it in DoW II) was a weird one. Basically, either tuning.lua or all the associated LUA inherited files were ignored. I have a sneaky feeling tuning.lua was. You might want to dig down into the references in tuning.xml and see if you can get to deeper files that on-paper do the same thing. They might control what you want.

Just a stab in the dark based off of how vDoW tuning files worked.

It's quite possible since the feature I am to edit is refunds on unit death in escalation phases and it was changed sometime in July/August last year but the file says it hasn't been altered since 2016.

EDIT:
Can confirm that this didn't work with the Battlewagon hitpoints. The file shows up properly everywhere I can think. Final mod .sga, mod .xml, Intermediate cache, ArchiveDefinition.txt, BurnInfoCache.xml.

Gorb

So after having a look, it doesn't look like there's any way through the tools to even approach this. I don't know how long it'll be, but it might be that you have to wait on an update to RGDConv - if that is even the issue. I'm not the expert there, it's a long shot.

Dullahan

@Gorb said:
So after having a look, it doesn't look like there's any way through the tools to even approach this. I don't know how long it'll be, but it might be that you have to wait on an update to RGDConv - if that is even the issue. I'm not the expert there, it's a long shot.

Darn. Boy I sure do love how much of a pain modding is these days. Whatever happened to unpacking archive files with winzip, editing a few lines of text and then packaging it up again?

Gorb

I could give a long apologetic-sounding answer that most people wouldn't find interesting, but the unfortunate baseline is that the technology is simply more complicated. Relic introduced signed SGA archives a while back (for CoH 2 I think), presumably for quick file integrity checks and also anti-tampering. That's a level on top of packing your old archive compared to how it used to be. The Steam Workshop is its own ecosystem and Valve imposes its own limits on processes there as well. It's a mixed bag of stuff. Not all decisions will have been made solely for the sake of technical improvements, I'm sure, but that's just the way business is.

Dullahan

Okay so update on this. I just published a new version of my mod and apparently my changes did actually take effect once published. (Lifta droppa has 1 hp)

So it does appear to work! I'm not sure why it didn't work client side but works with the published version but it's awesome news.

Dullahan

Can confirm I am able to consistently do this now. I'll put together a guide for it in case anyone else wants to know how.

Dullahan

Here's the editing process:
http://www.evernote.com/l/AWewY_FqXFhM_bScqmSlOU5trB7UUlXzvCo/

Gorb

Appreciate your work on this, good to know there's nothing wrong with Cope's tool.