Loading a game in the map editor

[muzietto]

During gameplay, I stumble on situations where the AI is unable to build a realistic track where realism should allow it. It happens all the time in mountainous terrain.

I accept that there shall be slopes: it's mountain, after all! But in some cases the railway comes out in such a way that no train will ever be able to travel across it.

In such cases it is kind of cheaty but nice to load the game in the map editor, smooth the terrain and go back to play.

The hack that I am experimenting works this way:

- copy the .GM2 file from the games dir to the maps dir

- load the .GM2 file in the editor, modify the terrain and save it again

- copy back the GM2 file into the games dir and play it

Is there a more straightforward way to do this (e.g. to teach the editor to look for files in the games dir)?

BTW it looks like this hack of mine modifies somehow the economics of the game: train revenues are multiplied two/three times. That's not desirable, because the game becomes too easy to play afterwards...

Any comment is welcome. Thank you for your attention...

[muzietto]

Forgot to mention that the game file has to be renamed from .GM2 to .MP2 in order to be loaded in the editor. Afterwards the suffix has to go back to .GM2

I found out that the impact on the game economics is due to the fact that the saved file receives the same date as the start date of the scenario. It is sufficient to note down what year it was in the game, and set the same year from the editor before saving the modified map.

[MikeC]

Do you mean, for example, trying to build a track through the Sierra Nevadas?  Those trains never get anywhere in my world, and are ludicrous to run.

[jeffryfisher]

If you allow disconnected track builds, then you can use sacrificial track segments to sculpt the terrain. With the right manager, you can even keep the price down.

[muzietto]

@MikeC - never tried those, I mostly stick to Europe. But I am sure that such a train would be lovely to watch during its ride, which is the main reason I run trains in the mountains 🙂.

[muzietto]

@jeffryfisher - that's correct. But it's also a hack 😉

[Hobo]

Hi folks,

I`m a complete novice to RRT2 (although I loved to play the original version of RRT - a loooooooooooong time ago...😉). So I´m still experimenting to get a "feel" for RRT2, too.

I just startet the second map of the first campaign (difficulty setting: normal) and I tried to make it a little easier with the help of the editor (only flattening some of the steepest terrain somewhat) by loading the savegame file into the editor - just as muzietto has described it. Much to my dismay, I noticed after saving the slightly altered map file, that by reloading the save game file, the economy model has been (automatically....) changed to basic economy.... ☹️ After loading the edited save game, I can`t buy industries any more and all stations suddenly supply products, without shipping raw materials to them first! That is actually not at all, what I intended! Is there a way around this problem?

Pls don`get me wrong: I don`t want to cheat too much. I just want to "smooth" the game very gently in my favor!

Any help would greatly be appreciated!

Kind regards

Hobo

Edited July 14, 2020 by Hobo
sorry, I accidentally used the "rank" Fremen instead of his correct nick: muzietto... Shame on me...

[muzietto]

There are indeed several undesirable side effects. I haven't noticed so far what you describe, but possibly it depends on the map you're loading. In the Swiss railway scenario I play with, all trains return brand new after each reload and the medal-winning achievements I've made till that moment are recomputed and added once more to my records page.

I guess all this has to remain a hack. The thing that works is smoothing the original map and prepare it for a game without modifications on the fly.

Cheers, Marco

 

[jeffryfisher]

On 7/8/2020 at 9:16 AM, Hobo said:

I just started the second map of the first campaign (difficulty setting: normal) and I tried to make it a little easier with the help of the editor (only flattening some of the steepest terrain somewhat) by loading the savegame file into the editor

Try this: Find the actual campaign map, make a backup copy somewhere, and then load the starting map into the editor. Fix whatever needs fixing, save it, and then start the map all over again (choosing difficulty, economy etc).

[Hobo]

Thanks guys (both of you)! I´m gonna try this, if necessary. On the other hand: I already won second and third of the campaign-maps in the meantime even without any use of the map editor. So I will try to use the game as originally intended by the game designers and keep the editor only as a "last resort" - if the going gets really tough... 🤠

Kind regards

Norbert