One day I got tired trying to explain how mods are installed with Steam and then Squid came along with his Kingdoms Launcher App. A short time later musicdemon applied the tool to Third Age and wrote an instruction on how to do the stuff hands on.
And then I came and generalized that instruction. So without further ado I give you the "Mod Install for Steam" tutorial:
All credit (and rep) goes to:
Step by step instruction
Run your game at least once before installing any mods (thanks bohema)
Make sure you run this program as administrator
Install your brand new mod, but make sure to change your install directory as follows:
32-bit Windows Users:
From - C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War
To - C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\medieval ii total war
64-bit Windows Users:
From - C:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War
To - C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\steamapps\common\medieval ii total war
Repeat step two for any other parts\patches of this mod
Download the Kingdoms Launcher App designed by Squid. This tool modifies the necessary registry entries to enable a mod start via Steam's Medieval II\Kingdoms Launcher.
Note: the above instructions are for version 1.4 of Squid's Kingdoms Launcher Application. Please drop me a PM if this is outdated at any time.
Removing an entry:
Simply open the application, high light the entry and then click 'File\Delete Mod Settings' - this will only remove the installation from the launcher, you will have to remove the actual mod installation via the mod's uninstaller or do it manually in your browser.
Some member released a new M2TW launcher, it might be of interest for Steam users. Please note that support for that launcher will have to be through that site\link.
December 31, 2010, 07:27 AM
IZob
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
Very usefull, well done.
January 04, 2011, 04:20 PM
Gonxas
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
This is great :) Thank you guys!
January 05, 2011, 01:28 PM
Jorge Juan
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
Trying to use this to run Lands to conquer but cant find the cfg. file were i find it
thanks
EDIT: lol nvm
2 EDIT: now with the path section, when i go to mod carpet it only shows the 4 kingdom mods, theres no LTC mod and gives me error if i click the LTC carpet
January 05, 2011, 11:42 PM
Gigantus
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
It appears you installed LTC into the main game folder instead of into the \mods subfolder. Most probably you renamed the path and did not add the extension for the mod's install.
With carpet you mean the folder symbol?
Link is for this forum where your identical link is to the same forum - please update with correct link.
January 26, 2011, 01:18 PM
Flyersfan314
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
Im getting a fatal error every time I try and start expanded Americas using the launcher.
January 26, 2011, 08:32 PM
Gigantus
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
A fatal error could indicate that you used the incorrect EXE setting. Is "Expanded Americas" for kingdoms or medieval? To check, right click the BAT file of the mod , choose 'edit' and see whether it says "kingdoms.exe" or "medieval2.exe".
Please post your log as well (compress and attach if it is too big).
The fatal error is from the Total War launcher menu not the Kingdoms launcher app. I have it set as a kingdoms mod like its supposed to do. I did need to launch that in administrator mode however. Where is my log and how to I compress it?
January 27, 2011, 02:01 AM
Gigantus
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
The log will either be in the root of the medieval2 installation or in a sub directory called 'logs'
January 27, 2011, 12:34 PM
Flyersfan314
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
Is this it?
January 28, 2011, 05:15 AM
Gigantus
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
The log does not indicate a fatal error. There are massive errors in the EDCT, but those are usually not fatal.
The errors themselves indicate that the game starts (hence this tutorial was successful), but it will not have anything to do with the set up for STEAM.
If you have followed all the steps as in the first post and the suggestion in post #9 didn't solve the problem, then I would suggest to ask directly in the forum of your mod. There are several versions\patches of the mod out I believe.
January 28, 2011, 06:30 AM
Eothese
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
Flyersfan314, that log is from the americas expansion, not the expanded_americas3.2 mod...
February 09, 2011, 03:44 PM
AlNut
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
Okay, so i install this launcher, and i'm trying to get it to work for the Westeros mod. Except once i've filled in the required fields, and i click ok, it says an unhandled exception was encounted. It says i don't have access to the registry keys, and yet i am an administrator, so i don't understand why this problem is still arising?
February 09, 2011, 07:24 PM
Derpy Hooves
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
That happened to me as well
February 09, 2011, 08:35 PM
Gigantus
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlNut
Okay, so i install this launcher, and i'm trying to get it to work for the Westeros mod. Except once i've filled in the required fields, and i click ok, it says an unhandled exception was encounted. It says i don't have access to the registry keys, and yet i am an administrator, so i don't understand why this problem is still arising?
You need administrative permissions on the computer for the launcher to work. Its just telling you, that you don't have those permissions. If you are using win 7 or vista you likely need to be running in elevated admin mode, not just as an admin account.
February 15, 2011, 10:58 PM
Tellos Athenaios
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
Gigantus: it may be useful to update the tutorials with a few additional pointers:
Path doesn't need to be mods/ModName. It can be pretty much anything, e.g.: C:\M2TW-Mods\MyMod. The only restriction is that if you don't use the GameExe for a custom program you need to ensure it doesn't contain any spaces. Otherwise it will trip up the game when it attempts to load your mod.
Advanced: GameExe can be set to a custom program. Then the launcher will use that. It may contain spaces. For example C:\My mods\MyMod.bat will make the Launcher launch the bat file.
The result is that with the entries for the Launcher set properly, and using a custom GameExe entry you will be able to run your mod from *anywhere* even if it is installed outside the Kingdoms/M2TW installation directory. In turn, this means you can safely install M2TW/Kingdoms to the Program Files on Vista or 7, yet have a mod function correctly by installing it elsewhere.
For launching a mod from arbitrary locations like this, a mod could bundle a simple batch file[*] inside the modfolder, like this:
Code:
@echo off
rem Launch kingdoms with a given mod. change to medieval.exe for m2tw
rem %~dp0 expands to the absolute path to the directory which contains
rem the batch file itself. Therefore this batch file must be located in the
rem modfolder of your mod.
kingdoms.exe "@%~dp0\settings.cfg" --features.mod="%~dp0"
This will work because the GameExe is called from inside the M2TW/Kingdoms directory so even if the mod is installed outside of that you can run the game directly.
[*]Note that without such an interstitial script the Game is actually called with slashes in the paths rather than backslashes, and I did not test this particular code. (I use a more elaborate JScript version.) It's more to give you an idea of what such a custom GameExe should actually do.
February 15, 2011, 11:12 PM
Gigantus
Re: Creating a World - Mod Install for Steam
I am sure Squid will know the ins and outs of this - I just compiled it into a manual. :laughter: