The Universal Game Editor Module for LORDS OF THE REALM 2
by Dave Melanson, using Jack Hartman's Universal Game Editor 1.0
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Hi again, PC gaming buffs, and welcome to UGE module #27
created by me using Jack Hartman's UGE base program. Other
modules you may (or may not) have seen include Stonekeep, Diablo,
Anvil of Dawn, Daggerfall, and quite a few more!
All of the modules I've created are free of registration
charge, but I do ask that all users of the modules please register
the base program with Jack Hartman (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)
Apologies to Capt. C.M. Fears...sorry this took so damn long,
but you wouldn't believe what my schedule's been like recently.
Okay, enough advertisement. On with the show...
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FIRST: How to set up UGE. To accomplish this, I've lifted a couple
questions from the UGE FAQ I've written:
Q: "How do I set up Universal Game Editor?"
A: First, create a directory on your hard drive to hold the programs. Then use PKUNZIP version 2.04g or
better...or WinZIP ...to uncompress the UGE10.ZIP file into the new directory. If you want to use a plug-in
module, also use the same program(s) to uncompress the zipped module file into the same directory.
Q: "Will Universal Game Editor work in Windows 95?"
A: Yes, it will work in Windows 95 without a problem. Just set up a Shortcut to UGE.EXE.
Q: "How do I install a plug-in module?"
A: Start up UGE. You have to Add the game to the main menu screen (blue) that appears. As that suggests, press
the "A" key. A red box will appear on the right. Type the name of the game in there and press Enter (actually,
you can type anything you like; it won't matter, but typing the name of the game just might be useful for
identifying it later on!) Now a list of files with the extension ".mdl" will appear in a box on the right. (There will
also be one called "**New File**," which you DON'T want to choose right now...later, if you decide to create
your own modules, this will be very useful).
Use the arrow keys to highlight the file that says GAMENAME.MDL, where GAMENAME, once again, is the
name of the game (or an abbreviation or approximation), then press Enter. Now you should see a directory listing
of your hard drive in the box on the right. Use your arrow keys to select the file you wish to edit, in the following
manner:
Use the arrow keys to highlight the directory where the actual GAME (NOT U.G.E!!) is stored on the hard drive.
Press Enter. Now scroll up and down the list and look for a saved game file...usually, the module's instructions will
tell you the name of the file to look for (so read the instructions) but as a general rule, the file formats take one of
several forms:
If you saved a game with a specific name, you may see that name followed by a three digit extension (for
example, you named a saved game WALKING, then you might see WALKING.SAV or WALKING.DAT
or something similar...that's your saved game file).
Maybe there is a separate directory for saved games...usually, this'll be named SAVES or SAVEGAME or
GAMES or something like that...go into that by highlighting it, then pressing Enter...and then keep looking.
Sometimes games are saved with numeric extensions that indicate which "slot" they are saved in...for
example, let's say a game has a "Save Game" screen with ten available slots for games. When you save to
the first slot, you create, say, a game called GAME.001, or GAME0.SAV, or something like that. When
you save the game to the SECOND slot, you create a file called GAME.002, or GAME1.SAV, or
something like that. Some games start numbering with 1, some with 0. It's a matter of which game you're
playing.
Still other games save a series of game files in a numeric subdirectory...for example, let's say a game has
ten subdirectories called SAVE01, SAVE02, SAVE03, etc...to SAVE10. Inside THOSE directories are the
saved game files for the various slots...once again, these work the same way as a numeric extension-ed
game file...so that, if you save a game in the first "slot" of the saved game screen, the files you want to
modify would be in the SAVE01 subdirectory. If you save in the second slot, the files would be in the
SAVE02 subdirectory.
EXAMPLE FOR THIS MODULE: Lord Of The Realm II
When you save a game in Lords Of The Realm II, you can give it
a name, and it will be given the extension .SAV The file you want to
modify will be in the LORDS2 subdirectory of your SIERRA directory,
and will have the name you gave the game followed by the extension
.SAV For example, if you saved your game with the name "TESTING,"
the file you would want to modify would be TESTING.SAV.
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Okay, that's great, sure...now you're set up. So you go into the
variables screen and...what the heck IS all that stuff?
The first few fields should be relatively obvious: in ANY game, these
control the number of crowns you have, the amount of Iron, Stone, and
Wood you have, the number of Crossbows, Maces, Swords, Pikes, Bows,
and Knight Armors you have available. Simple enough. (Dave's special
note: By giving yourself some insane number of Crowns like 1,000,000,
you can completely eliminate the need for taxes from any and all
shires...so set 'em all to 0! People love you for that!)
Now we come to the tricky part. Shire variables. Each map has a
maximum of sixteen "shires" (territories to be conquered). With UGE,
you can directly control the three most important factors of any
particular shire...and they are:
HAPPINESS: Population ticked because you just slaughtered half
their crops and killed off all their young men? Set this to 100, and
they miraculously forget everything that's happened (amazing, isn't
it?) Even more fun: figure out which shire your opponent has and set
his population's happiness to 0, then just park a couple armies outside
the shire and wait for a rebellion. Great for a laugh!
POPULATION: This is the civillian population only. Army
members are not counted. Warning: Don't set this too high; too many
people tend to consume too much food!
NUMBER OF COWS: The food producers of each shire. I usually
like to set the ratio of People to Cows to be around 8:3 (so if you
have 400 peasants in a shire, try putting number of cows up to 150).
The tricky part is this: figuring out which shire is yours!
I suggest you start the game, save it, take down your first shire's
number of cows, population, and happiness, then go into UGE and find
those same numbers. If more than one shire has those same numbers, go
BACK into LOTR2, build a small army (50 or so), take note of the
shire's NEW population and happiness, then go back into UGE and
find what shire's population and happiness numbers have changed to
match.
Okay, you say, that's great...but what about my armies? Well, you
could bump civillian population and #'s of weapons way up and create
huge armies...or you could use the Army Variables. I've created this
UGE module with the capability to modify up to 115 armies...if you're
in a game that has more armies active than that, you've got some
REAL problems. For each army, the module can modify the following
variables:
TOTAL # OF MEN IN THE ARMY: This MUST equal the sum of the remaining
variables for the army, which are:
# OF PEASANTS, # OF CROSSBOWMEN, # OF MACEMEN, # OF SWORDSMEN, # OF
PIKEMEN, # OF BOWMEN, and # OF KNIGHTS.
So, if you create an army with 100 Peasants, 200 Crossbowmen, 300
Macemen, 400 Swordsmen, 500 Pikemen, 600 Bowmen, and 700 Knights, your
TOTAL # OF MEN IN ARMY variable for that army MUST equal
(100+200+300+400+500+600+700=) 2800! (Big army, huh?) If you really
want to go sick, the maximum number of members any army can have is
around (32,768 x 7)= 229,376. More than enough to conquer a small
country, I'd say.
Once again, the trick is figuring out which army is yours.
Since the computer, when creating its armies, always arms them fairly
well, I suggest you create a small army (about 50 or a little higher,
since 50 is the minimum number), and make them all peasants. Save the
game, noting the number of men in your army, and scan through the
list of armies in the UGE module, looking for your army. When you
find it, feel free to go nuts.
WARNING: DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CREATE AN ARMY OUT OF NOWHERE! You
MUST HAVE an already existing army to modify; trying to create one
from all "0" values will cause the game to crash!
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Well, anyway, believe it or not, that's about it. Be sure to
read the UGE FAQ for more common questions. You can get a copy
directly from:
http://www.ici.net/customers/overkill/uge/ugefaq.htm,
or download the text version from:
ftp://ftp.ici.net/special/overkill/uge/ugefaq.zip
If you have any questions that are NOT answered by the UGE
FAQ, you can write to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., but PLEASE...NO REQUESTS!
I don't have every game and not every game is editable! Good luck
in your conquests!
-DM (Overkill/Mortuai)
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Files : 3, NeW:NONE, oLD:NONE
uL Node : 1, NFo:NONE, D?Z:NONE
