Edited AI castles in multiplayer

Hey, guys, I meant to ask if you have any experiences with edited AI castles in multiplayer? I mean, if the host has edited AI, and the others have original castles on their machines, what would happen? Would that AI build the castle from hosts AIV file, or the game would crash, or something like that?

I've been playing few skirmish games, and mother did as well, and what bothers me is that large Lionhearts castle. He has great economy in there, but he also has only two gates - one inner and one outer, and if he has some farms, mines, or quarries on the other side of the castle, those people would have to go all way around the castle, and it is very likely for them to be killed - besides the fact they they need too much time to bring the necessary good to the stockpile or granary.

I don't like to mess up with AIV files - I like to play the game the way it was meant to be played, but I still meant to fix only this thing is this looks like an omission of Firefly. I don't want to change entire castle, I would only add two gates, but I am interesting to know what you think about it, and if you have any experiences with this matter (would it work in multiplayer)?

It should work in multiplay, but you have to put the modded file into the game and remove the other files first.

You can use the castle AIV editor to mod the castle, but just adding 2 gates might not work, you have to build every thing in the editor in sequence, if you just add the gates then they will be placed last if at all.

It would be best to make a new castle, you could copy the old one and add in the gates at the right time in sequence, it can be done!

There are quite a few people who have made custom castles and posted them at HG, you could try some of them and see if you get what you want.

Thanks for the reply.

Well, that is more complicated that I though it would be. I though I should be able to put one gate, say, "between steps 23 and 24", and the other gate "between steps 38 and 39".

I will see if there are some fixes like that at SHG already - if not, I'll see if I find some time to remake that castle with two more gates.

EDIT:

It appears that it is possible to make small modifications. Sadly, after modifying the castle, those gates I had on mind will be almost the latest thing he is going to build, but I still believe that this will make him stronger, as his main problem in such situations was bad economy, which is going to be fixed.

Also, I am not going to give him any more workshops, or something like that, I am only adding gates to his huge castles.

Oh, and I just remembered - there is one Lionhearts castle with a problem with insufficient number hovels - he had just enough hovels while he is being attacked, but when he attacks and when he has all workplaces active he has 0 peasants. He needs one more hovels. I could do something else, such as removing one building from his economy, but I believe this is better solution.

I apologize for the triple post, but as I was bringing relatively new in each one, and as there was some time between each of them, I felt that was the right thing to do. I played with the AIV editor a little, and after some time I realized that it IS possible to do what I wanted to do in the first place. I added two gatehouses to both of the two large Lionhearts castles, and those gatehouses not being built in the end - I was able to make him build them when I want it to. Like I said, their economy is no larger, nor it is smaller, but peasants will not have to wall all around the castle to bring their good, and they will be less likely to get killed on the way.

I am sharing the screenshots of those two edited castles, I hope you like it, and I hope I didn't change them too much. Like I said, I like having don't want to go too far from the original idea of Firefly, but I feel like he really misses those gates.

Also, I am still going to check how it acts in multiplayer - just to make sure, and I will let you know!

EDIT:

Just to let you know, guys... I tried it, and I came to a disappointing result. It seems that if I have five not modified AIV's, and three modified, the game always chooses ones that are not modified. I shall see, but that seems to be the case now.

I may find some more stuff later - such as the thing Vetka suggested: to remove all other AIV's, and if that does work, I could modify all other AIV's as well - I could add one more statue to each Richard which wouldn't effect anything but this thing I am trying to accomplish. As soon as I get something, I would upload what I have to our downloads section, but not until I see I got what I wanted: small enhancements to two of his castles, which wouldn't effect anything significantly - Crusader and Warchest trails would remain the same as they were, and everything else.

ADDITION: I tested the rest of stuff this evening, it doesn't work. I tried deleting all AIV files on my PC except those I want to use, but no success, the game started, but they weren't building any castles, they were just confused, and they were doing nothing... I believe that it would work if I put the same AIV files on both PC's, but there's no point in that, if I have in mind to play with other people that don't have to put those edited AIV files on their PC's. I didn't test that last thing, but I am almost sure that that doesn't require any testing.

Please don't double post, especially four times within three hours of the previous post. I've merged the four posts into two, the timeframe between those two posts is really what should be used before double posting in future. :)

Just to let you know, guys... I tried it, and I came to a disappointing result. It seems that if I have five not modified AIV's, and three modified, the game always chooses ones that are not modified. I shall see, but that seems to be the case now.

Did you try replacing all the files with the custom ones, to see if any will work at all?

Thanks, Chris, I'll keep that in mind. :)

ADDITION: I have tried it in multiplayer having these two edited AIV files on both PC's. It works great - as far as I have seen!

That's great work EaglePrince, the shorter the walk the faster the production, how did you insert the new gates?

The thing about multiplayer that I see is that the games on each PC have to be the same, mod one and all fail, so to play multi you would have to make sure every one has the same setup, not hard to do just have to swap AI castles with the default ones for each player.

I used those buttons to move back as much steps back as I needed, and after he would build the latest building to enclose the castle - I remove part of the wall, and I put the gate then where I want.

You are right but the game is also somewhat smarter. If I replace only two castles, than if you have all eight original ones, the game will choose one of the six ones that are the same to both of us.

All of the posts I've seen about custom AI castles is that they must replace the original AI castles in order to work, that's about all I know about the topic, I did make a few castles for Crusader and SH2, but like you I like to play the game the way it was meant to be played, and in as natural as I can, even though I don't build a castle for myself:-)

I hope you got the answer you were looking for!

Did you try and replace the castle but leave it with the same name, take Richard1.aiv out and replace it with the new file also named Richard1.aiv?

I did get my answers. Right now I am keeping those edited AIV files, now their economy is more efficient, but I still feel sorry for editing them, as it is different than it should be. I shall see what to do - whether to keep them or not. I will also submit those files to our downloads section later. Also, speaking about the one Lionhearts castle that is missing one hovel - for now I decided not to edit anything. The less I mess up with those - better.

I didn't try that, but I believe that everything would work pretty well in singleplayer - only Crusader Trail would be messed up I think. Speaking about multiplayer, if one replaces aiv1 and aiv2, but the other players doesn't, than the game would choose one castle among aiv3 to aiv8. That is what I am almost sure that would happen after those testings I made. I could try testing that as well - just out of curiosity. Also, if one would remove all aiv's from 2 to 8, and leave only aiv1, and put there seven copies of it instead of the seven others, than AI lord would build the castle from aiv1.

That's one of the things about modding files, it messes with files you don't even think of, like you said, it will mess with the trail.

I doubt if you would have to have 8 of the same aiv, just the one would do, they supply you with 8 castles that does not mean there has to be 8, the game would wonder what a #9 castle is though:-), but only a #1 castle would force the AI to use that one.

In multi play every one would have to have the same aiv files or the game will not like it, my guess!

If you mod an aiv file and call it Richard 1 and only had that file in the folder for Richard and everyone else did the same thing it should be fine.

Indeed!

Oh, and you gave me an idea here. I could try adding some more castles to the game in a way that shouldn't do any harm to other stuff - I may try to make a new castle and name it Richard9 like you said, and hopefully, this way we can get more castles and make it all even more interesting. But, we shall see about that, that remains to be tested.

In multi play every one would have to have the same aiv files or the game will not like it, my guess!

Well, it is certain that it will act differently, and that it wouldn't act as I, or anyone else, would want. :)

If you mod an aiv file and call it Richard 1 and only had that file in the folder for Richard and everyone else did the same thing it should be fine.

I will test this as well.

What's interesting about AIV files is that even if you put troop placements of different troop types, the AI personalities will behave in the same way. For example, Pig will still only produce macemen and crossbowmen and will raid the buildings outside of your castle. Rat, no matter how you try to edit him, will still send hordes of spearmen and archers to your castle, but he can be made a bit more competent by creating for him a better castle.

I may try to make a new castle and name it Richard9 like you said, and hopefully, this way we can get more castles and make it all even more interesting. But, we shall see about that, that remains to be tested..

I'm not sure if that will work, but it will be interesting to see the results. I think it is hard-coded in the game so that each AI character can only have 8 castle designs, but I'd be glad if you could prove me wrong. :)