Putting downloadable content into scenarios.

[wheels0132]

Hi! I've been having a great time with the USA (v1.0) scenario. It's an extremely accurate map of almost the entire continent of North America. However, I can only use the stock vehicles in it. (Unable to load any additional downloadable content to the scenario.) I tried saving the heightmap and loading a new game, but then I lose the Great Lakes and new fictional towns are placed everywhere including where the Great Lakes were. I would prefer to use the real-life cities in their correct positions that the scenario has, rather than random "English-named" cities everywhere that the heightmap generates.

Another attempt was to load the USA heightmap in 1920 with the downloadable content I want and manually use the elevate terrain feature to make the Great Lakes the same elevation as the ocean, but it's very difficult and time consuming to get the exact shorelines as they really are, plus any towns in the "flood zone" get covered in water eventually.

The only viable solution I see here would be to somehow allow the downloadable content into the scenario, but I don't know how to edit the scenario itself (is that even possible?) Thanks!

[kamnet]

If you will kindly point me to the scenario, along with the NewGRFs you would like, I will edit it. I warn as a precaution there is a very slight risk that altering a scenario could result in a destabilized game. It should be pretty small because all we are doing is adding a vehicle set, not removing one altering the economy directly.

[Eddi]

USA scenario with 4 different town/industry set combinations: http://www.tt-ms.de/forum/showthread.php?tid=3959 [german, downloads at the end of the post]

[wheels0132]

Thanks kamnet!

The scenario is USA (v1.0)

DLC:
North American Renewal Set (NARS) 2.03
North American Road Vehicle Set (NARVS) 0.1.2
American Road Replacement Set 2.0.0
US Stations Set v.0.86
Original Vehicle Names .2

I guess the dlc that's most important to me are the first two listed above, but would love to have all five on that scenario.

@ Eddi, I'll check that link out!

What a great community here, really appreciate the help!!

[trainrover]

I too am playing version 1 and the vehicules I fudged into it haven't seemed to have messed with any stability. However, do you know what AIs it uses, because I really don't want to download all AIs just to determine which ones are being deployed (no indicative description or readme)? I've had no luck at readily grasping how to play with any AI, and I'm hoping that I can weave the WMDOT one into my savegame from this scenario.

[wheels0132]

How do you "fudge in" vehicle sets? When I click into the files, it says "Windows can't open this file. Have web service find the appropriate program?"

What program do I need? (I know, I'm a noob!)

My only "modding" experience is changing the text docs in Hearts of Iron and Rome: Total War which are beginner friendly files that are easy to change.

[Eddi]

North American Renewal Set (NARS) 2.03

IIRC the trouble with that set was that adding it to this scenario messed with the cargos that ECS uses, so you can only add it with regearing disabled by parameter.

How do you "fudge in" vehicle sets?

it's a secret.

[wheels0132]

How do you "fudge in" vehicle sets?

it's a secret.

[trainrover]

^^ times 2: I think the only exceptional newgrf v1 draws from is the na city set v1.0, although your feedback reveals why weaving in ecs proved too bothersome.

Anyhow, wheels0132, I just gave you a heads-up so as to not be despairing..in the hopes that my own query be addressed. Editing save games/scenarios is tricky with clunky, old-school software, such that corrupting a game file is all too easy without much editing experience..moderators here discourage unnecessary modifications. Me, I can't even grasp artificial intelligence.

[trainrover]

Disregard my plea here, some other members have helped me at working around my problems with ais.

[Toffo]

wheels0132, I know this game and forum can be somewhat daunting for newbies. Heaps and heaps of stuff to learn. Have a read of this post about adding NewGRFs to running games. Please note that use of this functionality is discouraged and has been hidden for a reason, it has been known to corrupt save games so if you experience any strange behaviour that would be why. Hopefully it will help.

Also you can't just open a .grf file from Windows Explorer. If you have manually downloaded graphics (say, from GRFCrawler or somewhere else) you will need to move the file to Documents/OpenTTD/newgrf. When you next start the game it should auto-detect your new piece of downloadable content and then you can add it into the game from there. Have a look here for more details (including screenshots of the process). Feel free to have a read through the wiki if you get the chance, there's a bunch of useful info in there.

Let me know if you have any more questions or if I can help out in any way.

[GuilhermeJK]

I've been modifying the NewGRF on running saved games with quite success. The game never crashed and only a few times I'd experienced odd side effects, like buildings not being drawn properly. Just in case, keep backups of your maps before altering anything

[wheels0132]

Late reply... Thanks Toffo, I'll check out those links!

[wheels0132]

wheels0132, I know this game and forum can be somewhat daunting for newbies. Heaps and heaps of stuff to learn. Have a read of this post about adding NewGRFs to running games. Please note that use of this functionality is discouraged and has been hidden for a reason, it has been known to corrupt save games so if you experience any strange behaviour that would be why. Hopefully it will help.

Also you can't just open a .grf file from Windows Explorer. If you have manually downloaded graphics (say, from GRFCrawler or somewhere else) you will need to move the file to Documents/OpenTTD/newgrf. When you next start the game it should auto-detect your new piece of downloadable content and then you can add it into the game from there. Have a look here for more details (including screenshots of the process). Feel free to have a read through the wiki if you get the chance, there's a bunch of useful info in there.

Let me know if you have any more questions or if I can help out in any way.

Awesome!!! It totally worked, thanks a ton Toffo! Not only do I prefer to see North American trains going across the US, but I also like to see the cross country buses (Greyhounds) rather than the antiquated European ones running on my interstates. This made my day!

[Toffo]

No worries at all wheels0132, I'm really glad I could help. Enjoy your game