[Info] Empires modding enviroment

Spoiler: coresponding

at least i can access it online (in my browser) - so seems to be still on

 

meh... today i wanted to test my balancing changeings, new weapons and armor that i created over the last week - but the game doesn't load as expected from the envirement - nothing, just stock empires load :-(

so what i have overseen?:

Spoiler: empires_mod.bat

placed in "...\Steam\SteamApps\common\Empires"

Code:

hl2.exe -game empires_mod -game empires -insecure

Spoiler: gameinfo.txt

placed in "...\Steam\SteamApps\common\Empires\empires_mod"

Code:

"GameInfo" {

    game        "Empires_mod"
    gamelogo    1
    developer    "Empiresmod Foundation"
    developer_url    "http://www.empiresmod.com"
    icon        "resource/steam_icon"
    manual        "https://empiresmod.com/docs/quickstart/en/quick_start.html"
    type        multiplayer_only

    FileSystem {

        SteamAppId    17740 // GCF for TF2, required for ep2 sdk
        ToolsAppId    211 // Tools will load this (ie: source SDK caches) to get things like materials\debug, materials\editor, etc.

        //
        // The code that loads this file automatically does a few things here:
        //
        // 1. For each "Game" search path, it adds a "GameBin" path, in <dir>\bin
        // 2. For each "Game" search path, it adds another "Game" path in front of it with _<langage> at the end.
        //    For example: c:\hl2\cstrike on a french machine would get a c:\hl2\cstrike_french path added to it.
        // 3. For the first "Game" search path, it adds a search path called "MOD".
        // 4. For the first "Game" search path, it adds a search path called "DEFAULT_WRITE_PATH".
        //

        //
        // Search paths are relative to the base directory, which is where hl2.exe is found.
        //
        // |gameinfo_path| points at the directory where gameinfo.txt is.
        // We always want to mount that directory relative to gameinfo.txt, so
        // people can mount stuff in c:\mymod, and the main game resources are in
        // someplace like c:\program files\valve\steam\steamapps\half-life 2.
        //
        SearchPaths
        {
            // First, mount all user customizations.  This will search for VPKs and subfolders
            // and mount them in alphabetical order.  The easiest way to distribute a mod is to
            // pack up the custom content into a VPK.  To "install" a mod, just drop it in this
            // folder.
            //
            // Note that this folder is scanned only when the game is booted.
            game+mod                |gameinfo_path|custom/*
            game+mod+mod_write+default_write_path    |gameinfo_path|.
            gamebin                    empires/bin

            // We search VPK files before ordinary folders, because most files will be found in
            // VPK and we can avoid making thousands of file system calls to attempt to open files
            // in folders where they don't exist.  (Searching a VPK is much faster than making an operating
            // system call.)
            mod            |gameinfo_path|.
            game        |gameinfo_path|.
            game_lv        hl2/hl2_lv.vpk
            game+mod    hl2mp/hl2mp_english.vpk
            game+mod    hl2mp/hl2mp_pak.vpk
            game+mod    empires/sourcetest/sourcetest_pak_dir.vpk
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_english.vpk
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_pak.vpk
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_textures.vpk
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_vo_english.vpk
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_sound_misc.vpk
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|hl2/hl2_misc.vpk
            platform    |all_source_engine_paths|platform/platform_misc.vpk

            // Now search loose files.  We'll set the directory containing the gameinfo.txt file
            // as the first "mod" search path (after any user customizations).  This is also the one
            // that's used when writing to the "mod" path.
            mod+mod_write+default_write_path        |gameinfo_path|.

            // Add the HL2 directory as a game search path.  This is also where where writes
            // to the "game" path go.
            game+game_write        |gameinfo_path|.

            // Where the game's binaries are
            // gamebin                hl2/bin

            // Last, mount in shared HL2 loose files
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|hl2mp
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|hl2
            platform    |all_source_engine_paths|platform
            game        |all_source_engine_paths|sourcetest
        }
    }
}

What i have tryed already:

• testing my changes at the main game - they work so thats not the issue!
• swapping around the parameters - if only "-game empires_mod" or "-game empires -game empires_mod" is used the hl2 engine starts and crashes after the loading screen
• playing around with searchpaths, even adding "mod" and a new "game" path - absolute no effect

 

thx to @Smithy to work my issue out