How to add newgrf to a scenario?

[P.Val]

I spent a lot of time designing my dream scenario, and then I realized I failed to activate some of the newgrfs I wanted, before starting the scenario editor. Now I can only start the scenario with the newgrfs I had active when I started designing it.

I completely understand that it's not allowed to add (and especially remove) newgrfs after a game is started. However, is there a possibility to add newgrfs to a scenario? For example, export the scenario (terrain, towns, etc.), create a new one with the desired newgrfs and import it?

Is my scenario salvageable, or do I have to start again from scratch? I only intend to add vehicle newgrfs.

[moki]

Hm... I believe, there used to be a sticky thread about this or at least a few older threads...

Very short answer, assuming you use Windows: Go to c:\users\[username]\documents\openttd\, open the openttd.cfg with the text editor of your choice and change "scenario_developer" to "true". If you're not on Windows or the path doesn't exist for some reason, just search for the openttd.cfg and do the same. Now restart the game and you can change the NewGRFs any time you want.

Don't blame me or any of the developers though, if you get corrupted files or crashes or anything else goes wrong - that big red warning's there for a reason.

[P.Val]

Thank you!

It seems that one upon a time it was part of the normal package, because I now faintly remember that red warning box from many years ago.

[kamnet]

They eventually removed the option from the cheat menu because too many people ignored the red warning box and then submitted bug reports when things went awry.

Adding a vehicle NewGRF should be okay. Once you add it, though, you shouldn't remove it. As a precaution, I'd suggest creating your scenario without NewGRFs first, save a backup copy, and then add your NewGRFs and save a new copy.

[planetmaker]

Actually... I don't consider that particularily cautious. I'd first look for the NewGRFs I want to use, test that composition briefly with a random map. And if it's suitable, then use it to create a new scenario.

In any case: make a backup of your savegame before you start to modify the NewGRFs being used with it. You may only discover oddities due to changes many game years after you made the changes to the savegame. And then it's too late to rescue anything if you have no backup.

[kamnet]

In any case: make a backup of your savegame before you start to modify the NewGRFs being used with it. You may only discover oddities due to changes many game years after you made the changes to the savegame. And then it's too late to rescue anything if you have no backup.

That's why I suggested making a backup of the scenario before adding NewGRFs. Sometimes even with the best of intentions and testing, you find later on a combination of NewGRFs has gone terribly wrong.

[trainman1432]

Thank you!
faintly remember that red warning box

You faintly remember? I VIVIDLY remember a time when i was a noob at OpenTTD, I added NARS to a Monorail map, and then Openttd crashed. It scared me nearly half to death!!

[e453s10]

I have actualy tried accessing that game file and changing scenario_developer to true, but when I try to access the newgrf menu, I'm still stuck without being able to add any newgrf.

[kamnet]

I have actualy tried accessing that game file and changing scenario_developer to true, but when I try to access the newgrf menu, I'm still stuck without being able to add any newgrf.

Are you editing the file while OpenTTD is open? If so, then close it first. OpenTTD only reads the file once when it starts, then writes to it again when it closes. If you've edited it in-between, then your changes will be overwritten by the game when it saves any changes made in the game itself.

[jfs]

I would strongly recommend using the console commands to change settings, instead of ever editing the config files. You can change all settings via the console, and they will take effect immediately.

[iforgot]

does this also work with removing newgrfs from a downloaded scenario?

[WenSim]

does this also work with removing newgrfs from a downloaded scenario?

yes

edit:
Note that removing GRFs may break a lot of things, especially industry GRFs - removing an industry GRF basically makes the map unplayable, and removing NRT road GRFs may break the map infrastructure.
On the other hand, removing vehicle, rail, station, and graphics replacement GRFs are usually fine, since any content in those GRFs won't appear until you actually start playing.

[iforgot]

How do I do this with console commands? The config editing doesn't work on Windows.