Small Edits to Gameplay

[jeffryfisher]

Kill723 gave me permission to post a PM thread:

Kill723 >> I'm looking to make a few edits to RRT2's gameplay but I'm not sure how to implement them. Your US History + 1.56+ Patch are fantastic and definitely add to the game, but there's a few changes I'd like to make myself:

- Chemical plants exist before the fertilizer plants. As a result they clutter maps in the 1800s with cargo that can't be used effectively. I want to change the date chemical plants spawn to the same date fertilizer plants spawn

- Stone bridges have existed for thousands of years, and it has never made sense to me that they aren't available in game until 1840. I want to correct this so that the stone bridges are also available at the beginning of the game.

- I think there's a typo for passenger cars after 1960. Their loaded weight is 34 tons, while the previous generation of cars had a weight of 40 tons. While this change in weight could be for the decrease in passengers, the 34 is sticking out like a sore thumb. If your intention was to decrease the weight for this reason, I think it would be better at 35 tons.

Could you show me how to make these changes? I tried changing some values in the EXE Data file myself but it did not affect the game at all. (I made a backup of the original, so no need to worry about that.)

Finally, I'm looking for ways to play the game to make it more challenging. The classic campaign is very easy and I'm wondering if there's some extra penalty I could put on myself so that it becomes more difficult.

[jeffryfisher]

I've heard that from others about chem plants. They haven't been a problem on my maps (at least not recently), but other maps might react differently. If you got my EXE data spreadsheet, then you should be able to edit the CD version of the game to change the intro date of the chem plant building.

Bridges are not in a convenient table. Somebody else once found something once, so search the forums here (perhaps one of my threads) for that old message from ~2013, maybe earlier. I've wanted to enable the double-tracked wooden bridge (which exists), but I've never figured out how.

Pax cars really did get lighter after the heavy-weight era. I don't recall whose number the 34 is, but if it's mine, then I pulled it from an authoritative source.

The EXE data file is merely a road map telling you what's where inside the game's EXE file (CD version patched to v1.56). To edit the game, you must perform surgery on the innards an executable program file. Always backup the original and prior working version. Use what's called a "hex editor" that can translate from hex to decimal. Never change the length of the file (you can only write over what's there; if you shift the position of anything, you'll trash the file).

The most challenging map I have is US History choosing Mexico for starting location. See my notes inside the game for the constraints (and choose a start year late enough that a transcontinental award is possible in time to reach silver (required on the way to gold). Since Mexico got started on rails so late, you'll still need to reach the bronze goal before you're allowed to build anything of your own, so brush up your skills as a passive investor.

[jeffryfisher]

Kill723 >> Alright, I'll take a look at the EXE and see if I can make any changes. Regarding more difficult gameplay, I was more looking for restrictions to place on myself to make regular maps (in this case, the classic campaign) more difficult. Examples could be a limited amount of engines, limited amount of track cells per year, or maybe even setting the throttle to a lower setting. I'll definitely give your suggestion a shot, though I found the US History map to be frustrating because all of the towns were so small. It's true that the population was much lower in the early 1800s, but Chicago only having a handful of houses (to name one example) became a huge problem. Are the towns designed to get larger as the population rises.

[jeffryfisher]

Kill723 >> I was able to change the date of the chemical plants to 1905 and the stone bridge date to 1800. Unfortunately, I was not able to find where the weight of the late passenger cars. My changes:

- The default value of 00069F07 is .0, which sets the 16-bit integer to 1840. By changing the 16-bit integer to 1800, this address is assigned a new value of 08. (Bridge fix)

- The default value of 001406B0 is ., (dot comma), which sets the integer to 1836. By changing the 16-bit integer to 1905, this address is assigned a new value of .q. (Chemical fix). This doesn't appear to cause any problems with the munitions factory demanding chemicals prior to 1905.

Finally, the modified EXE will run old maps. I tested this in a map set around 1850 and found that the chemical plants were not removed, but the chemical cargo was.

[jeffryfisher]

3 minutes ago, jeffryfisher said:

Regarding more difficult gameplay, I was more looking for restrictions to place on myself to make regular maps (in this case, the classic campaign) more difficult.

Oh that... Just edit a map to turn off mail.

Yes, villages grow into towns, and towns grow into cities. Especially in US History, there's a LOT of growth because the map is designed to be played for nearly 200 years, many times as long as a typical map. When you start out ~1830, each "train" could be just one car of mail or pax. The payoffs are huge, so a single line between any two towns can launch your company. You don't need cities until you develop freight (e.g. paper) that requires them.

[jeffryfisher]

14 minutes ago, jeffryfisher said:

By changing the 16-bit integer to 1905, this address is assigned a new value of .q. (Chemical fix). This doesn't appear to cause any problems with the munitions factory demanding chemicals prior to 1905.

If you can't produce munitions during the US Civil War, then your "Railroad War" competition will be diminished. Indeed, I think it was for munitions in that war that I set the chem dates that I did.

Be aware that there are separate dates for factories (buildings), industry (cargo production / conversion) and cargo cars. The original game (even as patched to v1.56) was broken in that there were some divergent dates among those three concepts (e.g. buildings that could appear on the map when no cargo cars were available to carry their production). Supporting the Civil War delivery race is what drove me to work out all of the kinks in munitions / weapons / troops pipelines.

[kill723]

Alright, if I play through your US History map, I'll use the previous EXE for it. Thanks for letting me know about it.