Stringtable Trouble

[Hellbender]

I'm having trouble changing unit tags to custom tags via stringtable. Also, the strings connected to my radio soundfiles don't show when they're supposed to, leaving the screen empty of text when my radio sounds go off.

So I think this must be something I've done wrong with my stringtable file. I've tried to make it work by following the guidelines from other topics on the forum, but it doesn't work for me.

Its probably something extremely "noob like", but I just want to kick myself right now because it doesn't work! So could someone please tell me whats wrong with/missing in my stringtable?

Code: [Select] LANGUAGE,English,Comment STRM_nothing, " ", STRM_CrossroadsVictor1, "Well done 1.5! Proceed to Obj. India! Crossroads out!", STRM_CrossroadsIndia1, "Roger that 1.5! Stand by on present position! Crossroads out!", STRM_PL1a, "1st Platoon this is 1.5! Move to attack position, out!", STRM_PL1b, "All squads this is 1.5! Proceed to Obj. Victor! I repeat, Obj. Victor is a go, out!", STRM_PL1c, "1st Platoon this is 1.5! Proceed to positions around Obj. India! 1.5 out!", STRM_PL1d, "Crossroads this is Bravo 1.5! Obj. Victor is secured, over!", STRM_PL1e, "Crossroads this is Bravo 1.5! Obj. India is secured! We're waiting for new orders, over!", STRM_PL1f, "All squads this is 1.5! Proceed to take military positions, out!", STRM_Paladin5a, "Bravo Company this is Paladin 5! We're ready to take it to'em! You guys can hang back and enjoy the show! Paladin 5 out!", STRM_Hawk1a, "Bravo 1.5 this is Hawk 1! You've got company from the west! They've got two heavy tanks, a Shilka, and a BMP! They'll be with you in about two minutes! Hawk 1 out!", STRM_Hawk2a, "Bravo 1.5 this is Hawk 2! IG 37, to scout vehicles, two BMP's, heading north along the road! Should be with you in about two or three minutes! Hawk 2 out!", STRM_Firefly1a, "All Bravo units this is Fire Control! Fire mission is inbound at your LZ, ETA 20 seconds! Fire Control out!", STR_CFG_PAPABEAR,"Crossroads" STR_CFG_FIREFLYBASE,"Fire Control" STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_ALPHA,"Bravo 1.5" STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_BRAVO,"Bravo 1.1" STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_CHARLIE,"Bravo 1.2" STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_DELTA,"Bravo 1.3" STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_ECHO,"Paladin" STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_FOXTROT,"Hawk"

[Mandoble]

STR_CFG_PAPABEAR,"Crossroads"
STR_CFG_FIREFLYBASE,"Fire Control"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_ALPHA,"Bravo 1.5"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_BRAVO,"Bravo 1.1"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_CHARLIE,"Bravo 1.2"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_DELTA,"Bravo 1.3"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_ECHO,"Paladin"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_FOXTROT,"Hawk"

Are missing a , at the end.
You might also remove ,Comment and then remove all the ending ,

[Hellbender]

Right! Should have spotted that!

I've removed the "," at the end, but it still doesn't work!

I don't need to put something about the stringtable in the description file or something do I?

Anyway, the contents of my stringtable still doesn't have any effect!

If someone has any suggestions, I would appreciate it!

Code: [Select]

LANGUAGE,English

STRM_nothing, " "

STRM_CrossroadsVictor1, "Well done 1.5! Proceed to Obj. India! Crossroads out!"
STRM_CrossroadsIndia1, "Roger that 1.5! Stand by on present position! Crossroads out!"

STRM_PL1a, "1st Platoon this is 1.5! Move to attack position, out!"
STRM_PL1b, "All squads this is 1.5! Proceed to Obj. Victor! I repeat, Obj. Victor is a go, out!"
STRM_PL1c, "1st Platoon this is 1.5! Proceed to positions around Obj. India! 1.5 out!"
STRM_PL1d, "Crossroads this is Bravo 1.5! Obj. Victor is secured, over!"
STRM_PL1e, "Crossroads this is Bravo 1.5! Obj. India is secured! We're waiting for new orders, over!"
STRM_PL1f, "All squads this is 1.5! Proceed to take military positions, out!"
STRM_Paladin5a, "Bravo Company this is Paladin 5! We're ready to take it to'em! You guys can hang back and enjoy the show! Paladin 5 out!"

STRM_Hawk1a, "Bravo 1.5 this is Hawk 1! You've got company from the west! They've got two heavy tanks, a Shilka, and a BMP! They'll be with you in about two minutes! Hawk 1 out!"
STRM_Hawk2a, "Bravo 1.5 this is Hawk 2! IG 37, to scout vehicles, two BMP's, heading north along the road! Should be with you in about two or three minutes! Hawk 2 out!"

STRM_Firefly1a, "All Bravo units this is Fire Control! Fire mission is inbound at your LZ, ETA 20 seconds! Fire Control out!"

STR_CFG_PAPABEAR,"Crossroads"
STR_CFG_FIREFLYBASE,"Fire Control"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_ALPHA,"Bravo 1.5"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_BRAVO,"Bravo 1.1"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_CHARLIE,"Bravo 1.2"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_DELTA,"Bravo 1.3"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_ECHO,"Bravo Victor"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_FOXTROT,"Hawk"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_GOLF,"Paladin"


[Planck]

Posting the relevant parts of the description.ext might help.


Planck

[Hellbender]

Okay!

Here's a part of the cfgRadio sounds I have in my description. There are of course many more, but they are all like these:

Code: [Select]

class CfgRadio
{

   sounds[] = {PL1a,PL1b,PL1c};

   class PL1a
      {

name = "PL1a";

        sound[] = {\sound\radio\PL1a.ogg, db+0, 1.0};

title = $STRM_PL1a;

      };

   class PL1b
      {

name = "PL1b";

        sound[] = {\sound\radio\PL1b.ogg, db+0, 1.0};

title = $STRM_PL1b;

      };

   class PL1c
      {

name = "PL1c";

        sound[] = {\sound\radio\PL1c.ogg, db+0, 1.0};

title = $STRM_PL1c;

      };

};
As it is now, the mission runs smoothly with no error msg. Only trouble is, the text for the radio won't show! I could just make a sideChat to follow the radio message, but I kinda want to do it the right way!

[Planck]

Try removing the M from STRM, using only $STR_CrossroadsVictor1 for example.

Make sure to change both stringtable and description.ext.


Planck

[Wolfrug]

It -should- work with the M, hell, it should work with anything pretty much, since that's the way BIS does it.

One slight possibility is that there's something wrong with the stringtable.csv file itself (wrong encoding or somesuch - I think it's supposed to be UTF-8): try copy-pasting all your strings into a stringtable file from a mission you know works, and see how it handles that.

Aside from that... Sometimes ArmA can just be a bitch.

Wolfrug out.

[Hellbender]

Aside from that...  Sometimes ArmA can just be a bitch.

Oooh tell me about it!

Well, my stringtable is in CSV (comma delimited) format. Tried to change it into Unicode but that didn't make it work either.

I'll try editing a working stringtable from the missions depot.

Be right back!

[h-]

You said you had read some topics about this here so I'm assuming you're not using Excel or the OpenOffice equivivalent to edit the csv file? 
If you are using either one of those that can be the root of the whole problem.

[Hellbender]

Ahh, but you shouldn't assume things like that! 

I have the feeling there's something about this I need to know!

Tell me more please h-

[h-]

Don't use either one 
Use some plain text tool like notepad or something, can't remember what Excel and the like caused but IIRC it might cause some troubles.

[Hellbender]

Well at least I'm getting a little wiser every day!

I got the strings for the radiosounds to work now, using an old stringtable edited with notepad. Thanks h-!

The radiotags in the bottom still aren't working though! Does this look wrong to you?

Code: [Select]

LANGUAGE,"""English"""

STR_Archangel1Shilka,"Firefly this is Archangel! No more Shilkas left to worry about! Archangel out!"
STR_Archangel1Tank,"Archangel to firefly! All heavy armor destroyed! Mission Complete!"
STR_Archangel1BMP,"Firefly this is Archangel! You don't have to look at those BMP's anymore! They are all dead or running home!"
STR_Archangel1Assistance,"Eagle this is Archangel! We need assistance, over!"
STR_Archangel2Bail,"This is 2! I'm hit, I'm hit! Bailing out!"
STR_Crossroads1Go,"Archangel this is Crossroads! Your mission is a go, and you're cleared for takeoff! Good luck, Crossroads out!"
STR_Eagle1Assistance,"Eagle rolling in hot!"
STR_Firefly1Tank,"Well I guess we owe you a cold one! Thanks for your help Archangel! Firefly out!"

STR_CFG_PAPABEAR,"Crossroads""
STR_CFG_FIREFLYBASE,"Firefly"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_ALPHA,"Archangel"
STR_CFG_GRPNAMES_BRAVO,"Eagle"

[h-]

Try changing the """English""" to just English, and remove the second (or third if you will ) quote from "Crossroads"".

Those are the only things I can notice being off right now..

[Hellbender]

Whohooo!! Now almost everything works!

It turned out that the lines I had pasted into the stringtable from other files didn't work, so I rewrote them in the file, which did the trick.... partly!!

I got the tag names to change for Crossroads and Firefly Base but not the groupnames, Alpha, Bravo and such. They look the same as above.
I've named the groups ALPHA and BRAVO using the setGroupId and they display as Alpha 1 and Bravo 1 when their radio messages show.
I just can't get the names to change through the stringtable.

I usually define the groupId's in the initfield of the group leader or in a trigger. I also tried defining them in an "init file" in the mission folder. Since I got it to work with "Crossroads" and "Firefly Base" I'm assuming that the problem somehow lies in the way I'm changing the tag names.

I also tried it with a fresh test mission, placing only the player and a few triggers on an empty map. If i understand things correctly, the first unit recognized by the editor will be named "Alpha" and so forth. This did not work either!

Do I have to define the grpNames in another way/in another file or could it be something else?

[Wolfrug]

Hm, interesting. You can define groupnames in the stringtable? Didn't know that. Anyway, it seems a bit superfluos since you can use setGroupID for that, no? And anyway, in OFP, the first group would be something like Alpha, yes, but in ArmA it's more like 1-1-A or something to that extent  Don't know if changing that would make it work, but...yeah. Me and stringtables have never had a very happy relationship.

Glad you got it to work anyway! 

Wolfrug out.

[Hellbender]

Well it's my understanding that for the custom tags defined in the stringtable for "Alpha", "Bravo", etc. to work, you need to set the group ID's to "Alpha", "Bravo" etc somewhere.

The thing is, I can get it to work with "Crossroads" and "Firefly Base" , but not with any of the groups!

Can anyone help me with this last piece of the puzzle?

[h-]

How do you truy to apply the gorup names.
I'm assuming (again  ) that you are using the setGroupID command?

You can use that to name your group ID to anything you want in ArmA without any stringtable entries, such as

Code: [Select]

group setGroupID ["Rambo Squad"]

[Hellbender]

Well, silly me!

I thought you had to set a group ID to "Alpha" and THEN set "Alpha" to something else in a stringtable! 

Anyway, everything works now!

Thank you h-, Wolfrug, Mandoble and Planck for your patience!