Can you provide a minimal example that will run? I'm getting kind of confused by what stuff is implied to exist.

this should run, you will need Confobject and the validator that goes with it

from os import sys
from configobj import ConfigObj
from validate import Validator

from Country import Country

class Map():
''' Map is responsible for holding the state of the game.
This includes loading and saving the configuration file'''

def __init__(self):
self.name = ''
self.countries = []

def loadCountries(self, countriesdict):

countries = []

for country in countriesdict:
countries.append(Country(country))

for basecountry in countries:
for country in countriesdict:
relateddict = countriesdict[country]
for related in relateddict:
relatedlist = relateddict[related]
for relatedcountry in relatedlist:
if basecountry.name == country:
for possiblecountry in countries:
if possiblecountry.name == relatedcountry:
basecountry.relatedCountries.append(possiblecountry)
return countries

def loadMapFromFile(self, mapToLoad):
validator = Validator()
config = ConfigObj('maps/' + mapToLoad + '.txt')# configspec='configs/mapconf.ini')
valid = True #config.validate(validator)
print 'Validating game file.'

if valid is False:
print 'The configuration file is really broken: nothing matches against validation.',
print 'Try again.'
sys.exit(0)

if type(valid) is dict:
print 'Game file does not appear valid.'
for entry in valid:
if valid[entry] == False:
print '"%s" appears malformed.' % entry
sys.exit(0)
else:
print 'Game file appears valid. Continuing.'

self.name = config['mapname']

print config['countries']

self.countries = self.loadCountries(config['countries'])

def addCountryToMap(self, countryToAdd):
self.countries.append(countryToAdd)

if __name__ == '__main__':
game = Map()
game.loadMapFromFile('gaia')

for country in game.countries:
print country, ':',
for name in country.relatedCountries:
print name,
print ''

class Country():
def __init__(self, name):
self.name = name
self.relatedCountries = []
self.unitsInCountry = []
self.ownedBy = None

def setRelated(self, country):
self.relatedCountries.append(country)

def isRelated(self, Country):
if Country in self.relatedCountries:
return True
return False

def addUnitToCountry(self, unit):
self.unitsInCountry.append(unit)

def removeUnitFromCountry(self, unit):
self.unitsInCountry.remove(unit)

def getUnitsInCountry(self):
return self.unitsInCountry

def isUnitInCountry(self, unit):
if unit in self.unitsInCountry:
return True
return False

def __str__(self):
return self.name

if __name__ == '__main__':
pass

mapname = gaia

[countries]
[[abc]]
related = def,
[[def]]
related = abc,ghi,
[[ghi]]
related = def,jkl
[[jkl]]
related = ghi,

[players]
[player1]
countries = abc, def
armies = abd, def,
fleets = ,
[player2]
countries = ghi,
armies = ghi,
fleets = ,