After 1.7.0.14 policies must be "Read-only"

[Arcatus]

I spent a few hours pulling my hairs out over this - so I made this post so you don't have to...

After I edited the 1.7.0.14 polices I activated my mod. And none of my starting ship had any armor, shields or weapons.
I investigated a bit more and it turned out that none of the other ships in the galaxy had any weapons, armor or shields.

The solution to the above problem is that you must have the "read-only" attribute on your polices.

Don't ask me why....

[tjhkkr]

Can you recreate the problem by changing the file attribute BACK to read/write?

If so, that is a real bug to pass along...

[Arcatus]

yes,

Remove read only attribute = all ships have no weapons, shields and armor (starting ships in a new game - just to clarify that)
Set the read only attribute = everything works as expected

I wasn't sure if this was a technical or a modding issue - if a mod feels like it belongs in the tech forum, then feel free to move it

[jlevans]

I've modified a race policy file and saved it, but of course you can't save it with the same name as the default race policy file since that is now read-only.

To get around this restriction, I changed the name back to the race name but saved it in the customized them policy folder (Diverse Worlds v5/Policy) and made it read-only per your suggestion, but the race still loads the default policy file... How did you get customized policy files for each race to be loaded at startup by the AI?

[tjhkkr]

Make sure this gets into the bug forum!

[Ardryn]

ORIGINAL: jlevans

I've modified a race policy file and saved it, but of course you can't save it with the same name as the default race policy file since that is now read-only.

To get around this restriction, I changed the name back to the race name but saved it in the customized them policy folder (Diverse Worlds v5/Policy) and made it read-only per your suggestion, but the race still loads the default policy file... How did you get customized policy files for each race to be loaded at startup by the AI?

I would assume the game only loads AI profiles that have the same name as the race file. So, if you delete the old race policy file, and replace it with your modified file it should work, in theory.

[jlevans]

Hmm...

I think Elliot made a good decision by making the default policy files read-only. If I were in his shoes, I would want any customized race policy files to be loaded through a Mod - aka in the Cutomization folder. I would design it so that using a mod would automatically use the race pollicy file found in the mod, if one by the same race name was there. If not, it would load the default (base game) policy file. Therefore, I wouldn't want anyone deleting base policy files.

At least that is how I would have done it.

Has anyone been successful in getting the AI in a game to adopt policy files that they have custom designed for them? If so, how?

[tjhkkr]

ORIGINAL: jlevans
I think Elliot made a good decision by making the default policy files read-only. If I were in his shoes, I would want any customized race policy files to be loaded through a Mod - aka in the Cutomization folder. I would design it so that using a mod would automatically use the race pollicy file found in the mod, if one by the same race name was there. If not, it would load the default (base game) policy file. Therefore, I wouldn't want anyone deleting base policy files.
At least that is how I would have done it.
Has anyone been successful in getting the AI in a game to adopt policy files that they have custom designed for them? If so, how?

Agreed, but it is STRANGE that the file attribute would have that affect...

[jlevans]

ORIGINAL: tjhkkr

Agreed, but it is STRANGE that the file attribute would have that affect...

Yes, the file attribute resulting in no armor, etc. is quite strange. It's like having the unexpected attribute resulted in the file being ignored, which means the default behavior when finding no policy file is to outfit it the way you found... Sounds like a defensive programming bug - what to do when the user does something he's not suppossed to do. [:-] [:)]

[Arcatus]

ORIGINAL: jlevans

I've modified a race policy file and saved it, but of course you can't save it with the same name as the default race policy file since that is now read-only.

To get around this restriction, I changed the name back to the race name but saved it in the customized them policy folder (Diverse Worlds v5/Policy) and made it read-only per your suggestion, but the race still loads the default policy file... How did you get customized policy files for each race to be loaded at startup by the AI?

It's not clear to me where you saved it...

You should never modify any policy in "..\Distant Worlds\Policy"

All changes must be made in "..\Distant Worlds\customization\yourMod\Policy"
And don't forget to activate your mod in the main game menu [;)]

(and the Read-only attribute must be set in the mod folder policy as well....)

[jlevans]

ORIGINAL: Arcatus

You should never modify any policy in "..\Distant Worlds\Policy"

All changes must be made in "..\Distant Worlds\customization\yourMod\Policy"
And don't forget to activate your mod in the main game menu [;)]

(and the Read-only attribute must be set in the mod folder policy as well....)

exactly what I did. The mod folder I used was the Diverse Worlds v5 folder with the extra ships that was already there. Didn't work.

[Shark7]

Take this for what it is worth, but it seems to me that once you have happily completed your mod, setting the whole folder (and its subfolders/files) to read only is a good idea anyway. It prevents changes being made, and thus reduces the chances something corrupts.

[Arcatus]

ORIGINAL: jlevans

Hmm...

I think Elliot made a good decision by making the default policy files read-only. If I were in his shoes, I would want any customized race policy files to be loaded through a Mod - aka in the Cutomization folder. I would design it so that using a mod would automatically use the race pollicy file found in the mod, if one by the same race name was there. If not, it would load the default (base game) policy file. Therefore, I wouldn't want anyone deleting base policy files.

At least that is how I would have done it.

Has anyone been successful in getting the AI in a game to adopt policy files that they have custom designed for them? If so, how?

I have now had a chance to sit down with .14 and test properly, and now I agree with you. Custom policy files are indeed not used by the game.

Sorry I doubted you.

I took the liberty and reported it in the Tech forum.

[jlevans]

Been gone a week or so. Thanks for moving to the Tech Support forum.