DLV Europa Released

[Wartower]

It has been tested on 1.5 & 1.4 patch. It should work with both.

@Wartower

I feel your pain, man. It sucks that you can't enjoy this mod as I know how much you were looking forward to it. As you did get it running once though I'm really not sure what the problem is, an intermittent problem is always the hardest to fix. I would advise not to alter the CFG or BAT file too much though (or always back-up the originals first) as you could be creating your own problems. Gaias' suggestion sounds pretty solid, it's worth a go. Also are you American, Wartower?

Hello Harry. Yes, I am from the US. As far as Gaias suggestion, after spending even more time on this after I woke up and finding not much useful, I think I see why his setup probably works. This CTD is the exact same issue that has haunted Vista users from the original DLV. I thought about moving the DLV_Europa folders over to where the other mods like SS, BC, and regular DLV are kept, but I didn't think that this was a pathing issue. But I did see another installation guide for a different mod that specifically called for you to move the files out of the mods folder and dump them into the main Medieval II Total War file. I will give this a try and report back. Although it may be several hours from now as I am getting ready to head to classes.

Thanks Gaias and Harry.

P.S. For those that don't know how to view hidden files in Vista, here's how. This is important if you are trying to delete old DLV files from the \virtual store path and can't find the right files:

. Click the round blue Start button in the left corner
2. Click Control Panel
3. Click Folder Options
4. Click the View tab
5. Click Show hidden files and folders
6. If you want to see system files as well, unclick Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)
7. Click OK.

***It is imperative that you remember to go back and click the box in #6, because if not, you run the risk of tampering with files that can lead to your OS becoming inoperable.***

[tvalentine]

well i was having the same problem as everyone else. But i fixed it somehow by reinstalling patch 1.5 (it said i alrdy had it installed, but i hit "yes" anyways) and by installing Europa Twice. I remember i had the same problem with DLV when i first started, and repman suggested people install it twice since it is a big program. And it seemed to have worked. I would like to add i havent had 1 CTD yet, and i am definetly enjoying the older dlv version without the military and government points, i really hope harry doesnt update it to the later dlv version.

[ReichMaster420]

ive already done everything youve tried wartower your wasting your time...

ive done many different variations of what gaias has done as well but with no resolve, if anything should of worked this should of

As you did get it running once though I'm really not sure what the problem is,

the man said it

i am still getting unspecified error too, but can still launch after mulitple tries

im going to try tvalentine did again, just for fun

[tvalentine]

actually, i cant get back into the game. Musta been just a 1 time thing lol .....

BTW i'm on vista x64

[CaptainScott]

Downloaded and installed DLV Europa. On the first go-round, the installation of part 2 failed fairly early in the install process (believe it was installing some Venetian unit or other). Deleted and tried again and got the same error. Deleted the install and re-downloaded part 2 and then re-installed and it has worked fine.

Great mod...hopefully the mainline DLV will start to use your map for future updates and ditch the Americas finally...it was really dumb for Creative Assembly to include the New World in a game primarily about the Middle Ages anyway.

[Tilarium]

1.4.. 1.5 patches? Maybe that's why I can't play, I'm still on 1.05! Best I could find though was a 1.3 for the EU. Anyone know where to get 1.5?

[Rob2984]

Since firing Europa up last night I've spotted a few CTD bugs... The main one, which seems to be recurring, happens whenever I try to get Trade Rights with the HRE. It happened first in a game as flanders, then twice in a game as france. I've also had it CTD after winning battles, once as Aragon and once as Novgorod. I can hand over the log file, just as soon as someone explains to me how... Is it the file in the main MTW directory, and if so, is it the lines from the top or the bottom of the file needed?
Thanks,

Rob

[Ryofu]

Do i need to download DLV 5.0 to run Europa?

[Cougar109]

Do i need to download DLV 5.0 to run Europa?

Nope, it's a stand alone mod based off of DLV. Just need Europa.

Shame though this mod is giving so many people so many problems though, such a great job and effort put in by Harry, here's hoping a patch can get this baby running.

[Wartower]

Since firing Europa up last night I've spotted a few CTD bugs... The main one, which seems to be recurring, happens whenever I try to get Trade Rights with the HRE. It happened first in a game as flanders, then twice in a game as france. I've also had it CTD after winning battles, once as Aragon and once as Novgorod. I can hand over the log file, just as soon as someone explains to me how... Is it the file in the main MTW directory, and if so, is it the lines from the top or the bottom of the file needed?
Thanks,

Rob

Just go to your SEGA/Medieval II Total War/logs directory and paste the whole thing or bottom half.

If you look on the stickied thread up top, Bug Reports for DLV 5.7, you'll see how you can run traces by altering the .cfg file (if you feel the need to).

I just uninstalled/deleted everything Total War from my computer. I have finished all of the core patching and added the Retrofit Mod. I'm going to install Harry's Mod after that and see what happens. My guess is that it will still CTD. Prior to doing all of this, I had tried Gaias' ideas, also to no avail.

If all else fails, I will uninstall Europa, redownload (ugh) and try one last time. After that, I'm done...most likely with this game and it's mods too. The main reason I want to play this one is because the rest have become boring to me. Who knows though.

[BamaToon]

Well I downloaded and installed with no problems. I even was able to start a game as Mali. However, about 20 turns into it and the game froze while processing the CPU turns. It got stuck on the Turks and would not advance. I thought maybe they were hording (though it was still very early in the game), so I let the CPU sit for about 15 minutes. I came back to check on it and it was still sitting there on the Turks with an hourglass. I finally just Alt-Tabbed out and shut it down.

I may try again tomorrow, but I'm going to bed here in a few since I have to go to work tomorrow.

[Wartower]

Going to try something a tad bit different this time. When I was working at SOE last year (nothing glamorous, just in billing/CS), I learned that certain Virus scanners will sometimes interfere with installations. All I can remember is that AVG was one that typicallly didn't, but I'm pretty sure the one I'm using does. Granted, I haven't had any problems with any other mod, but I will temporarily disable mine (while installing) and give this a shot just to see what happens.

[Harry Lime]

@Rob2984

That's a tad concerning, I never had those problems at all. I take it you are running an English M2TW installation?

@BamaToon

Hording, especially on less than fast PC's can take longer than 15 minutes, I think the longest reported is 40 odd minutes, so it sounds like that is what was happening.

@Wartower

I don't think you had a corrupt install as the folder size was correct, I also don't think a virus scanner is interfering with it. I'll post some different versions of the cfg/bat files when I finish work this afternoon (GMT). The reason I asked if you were American is because the trouble I had getting 1066 to run was because of some very weird grammatical differences in their 'boot files'. It was more akin to magic than logic but that's the crazy world of PC programming for you.

[Protector]

Good news in between,

even I have non-english version of MTW 2, I installed both parts.... and no any problem. I am in 1210 now and gameplay is ok.


But I miss very much DLV flag bearers/ flag carriers.

Protector

[Gaias]

DLV Europa is a nice change from the vanillla mod as it incorporates main rpg functions of DLV while still keeping the core gameplay of MII:TW. It's nice being able to jump into a game and having a faction developed to start world domination from turn 1.

[Wartower]

@Rob2984

That's a tad concerning, I never had those problems at all. I take it you are running an English M2TW installation?

@BamaToon

Hording, especially on less than fast PC's can take longer than 15 minutes, I think the longest reported is 40 odd minutes, so it sounds like that is what was happening.

@Wartower

I don't think you had a corrupt install as the folder size was correct, I also don't think a virus scanner is interfering with it. I'll post some different versions of the cfg/bat files when I finish work this afternoon (GMT). The reason I asked if you were American is because the trouble I had getting 1066 to run was because of some very weird grammatical differences in their 'boot files'. It was more akin to magic than logic but that's the crazy world of PC programming for you.

Harry, I feel like I'm getting close to the answer as nothing I've tried has worked. Well, I'm either getting close to the answer or close to a heart attack, one of the two. Ok so, I need your help.

My new hypothesis: The Python (.py) program used for converting the .bin files into .txt files is where I was at obviously, deleting the strings that get regenerated upon boot up of the game. One thing I noticed is that there is no export_descr_character.txt file equivalent in the \DLV_Europa\data\text folder like there are with the other export_*_*.txt files there. What I mean is, there are export_buildings, export_ancillaries, export_VnV, etc files in BOTH the \data folder AND \data\text folder, but the only spot that the export_descr_character.txt file appears is in the \data folder. Since the error log has only EVER come up for me like it has when playing DLV mods, methinks that perhaps when the string converter (Python) is attempting to convert the .bin's to .txt's, it's reaching an error because the export_descr_character is missing in the \data\text folder.

Here's my dilemma. The biggest difference I notice in the coding between the export files located in \data and those located in \data\text is that the ones in the \data\text folder have their text (code) bracketed with these: {insert relevant text here}. So whereas the same file in \data has no brackets, it's counterpart in the \data\text folder has those brackets.

I tried to copy the export_descr_character.txt file located in the \DLV_Europa\data folder directly over to the \DLV_Europa\data\text folder, but obviously that didn't work because the setup of the file needs to be modified (most likely bracketed) to fit in over there in the other folder.

I hope this makes sense. I am only suggesting this because I have literally done everything under the sun to fix this problem, and because in DLV mods ONLY (based on my research), the error code listed earlier in this thread comes up when a CTD has happened a)after splash screen, b)after campaign selection then start, c)during Hungary's turn on DLV 5.7. I may be totally losing my mind, but this is a DLV problem that is a)intermittent, b)doesn't affect all users (but those it does affect seem predominantly Vista users), c)to my knowledge, has never really had a tested and true fix.

Sure, some people might have my exact same computer, exact same installs/patches of the game, exact same EVERYTHING, and still get this mod to work. Like you said Harry, the fact that I got the game to work a few times and now can't, makes it hard to figure out. Some things work for some folks some don't.

Lastly, just to clarify...I have never had a problem like this with any other mod at any time. I had a run-in with the same error while playing DLV 5.74, and whenever I would reinstall the patch, I was good to go until I exited out of the game again. I have not had a single instance of this error since 5.83 open beta came out. Now that is not to suggest that you should convert Europa to the latest DLV, however, the key to this problem, hopefully once and for all, might lie in the differences between DLV 5.74 and 5.83...or in my above hypothesis.

Hope all of this mumbo jumbo helps in one way or another.

*EDIT* After reinstalling DLV to Open Beta 3, I checked my hypothesis and no go. There is no export_descr_character.txt in the \DLV_ext\data\text folder like there is in the \DLV-ext\data folder. So that blows that theory out of the water. Yet again, regular DLV works without a hitch. So what it boils down to is this. Whatever happened between regular DLV 5.whateverish to Open Beta 3 is probably the answer to this intermittent, pain in the ass bug. Also, I did some more research and it's not a Vista only problem. Several people that reported the same error logs were actually XP users. Install hell is over for me. All I can hope for is that somehow, all of this stumbling around in the dark for me will shine a light on a possible fix down the road.

[Ahlerich]

is there a fix for non english installations yet? :hmmm:

[Wartower]

Alright chaps, all spent off off to bed. I did make some progress, however, but that came in the form of getting the same error but instead of CTD after splash screen, it was CTD after faction selection then start game.

What I noticed was that upon install, DLV_Europa creates two folders called DLV_Europa, and their contents separately equal the sum total of what's in the DLV_ext folder. In other words, the folder seems fractured into halves, with one being a subfolder of the other. When I merged the two folders into one, and deleted the custom folder in DLV_Europa, it then had the same contents as regular DLV. But by then, my changes to Harry's .cfg file (see vista fix and also direct copy of dlv_ext.cfg) were complete and this time, I forgot to make a backup of the original .cfg file. Too tired to reinstall, and I forget the exact coding of the file. Probably for naught anyway. Yet is was at this point that I was able to get past the splash screen and select a faction to play. After I hit start, same CTD, same error log. <----repeatable

I'm confident that this little nasty bug is conquerable, but by greater minds than myself. I have provided all of details, ad nauseum (sp?), so I will just leave it as it. My curiousity is piqued, my wanna-be modder craze has been totally satiated, and I will leave off with saying that I commend you modders for what you have done. The sheer work in just changing code alone is metally taxing, add on top of that working on it alone or in small teams, and I can see why it's such an arduous process to finish. And all for no pay! So thanks, Harry. I'm sure a solution will be found and I appreciate your work (and repmans + DLV team). What little I did get to play looked great and from the relatively small amount of complaints on here, 99% of DLV'ers are enjoying your product. Kudos!

On a good note, these last few days have left me unable to play any version of the game whatsoever. Soon, I will start a fresh, shiny new DLV open beta 3 campaign, this time much more appreciative of what I have.

Cheers!

[Rob2984]

Hey all, thanks for the advice.

Here's the log file from the crash following me trying to get trade rights with the HRE. This CTD happens every time, but only (I think) with this faction (the HRE, that is. It happened to me playing as both Flanders and France). I don't recall if it happened in other games, I usually push for more, but the HRE seem a bit full of themselves early on in the game, and don't want to accept much more.

If the other CTDs recur (following victorious battles in both cases, but not regularly) I'll post them up to.

Good luck with the mod, aside from the stability issues it's living up to all expectations.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

14:57:13.125 [system.rpt] [always] CPU: SSE2
14:57:13.125 [system.rpt] [always] ==== system log start, build date: Feb 25 2008 version development ===
14:57:13.171 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_0.pack
14:57:13.203 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_1.pack
14:57:13.250 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_2.pack
14:57:13.328 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_3.pack
14:57:13.343 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_4.pack
14:57:13.343 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/localized.pack
14:57:26.296 [game.script] [error] Condition parsing error in mods/DLV_Europa/data/export_descr_character_traits.txt, at line 15598, column 46
trigger not found
14:58:23.734 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.

[Harry Lime]

is there a fix for non english installations yet? :hmmm:

Not yet, sorry. Some foreign language installations could work ok, German will not.

Hey all, thanks for the advice.

Here's the log file from the crash following me trying to get trade rights with the HRE. This CTD happens every time, but only (I think) with this faction (the HRE, that is. It happened to me playing as both Flanders and France). I don't recall if it happened in other games, I usually push for more, but the HRE seem a bit full of themselves early on in the game, and don't want to accept much more.

If the other CTDs recur (following victorious battles in both cases, but not regularly) I'll post them up to.

Good luck with the mod, aside from the stability issues it's living up to all expectations.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

14:57:13.125 [system.rpt] [always] CPU: SSE2
14:57:13.125 [system.rpt] [always] ==== system log start, build date: Feb 25 2008 version development ===
14:57:13.171 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_0.pack
14:57:13.203 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_1.pack
14:57:13.250 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_2.pack
14:57:13.328 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_3.pack
14:57:13.343 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_4.pack
14:57:13.343 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/localized.pack
14:57:26.296 [game.script] [error] Condition parsing error in mods/DLV_Europa/data/export_descr_character_traits.txt, at line 15598, column 46
trigger not found
14:58:23.734 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.

I've just tested it with Flanders & France, full diplomatic negotiations with the HRE, no CTD. Are you using a non-English Medieval II, although this seems unlikely looking at the error log.

Could you post a save game please where this is happening? Zip it and attach to a post using the paper clip looking icon in the post tool bar.

@Wartower

So your installation looked like this, Medieval II Total War\mods\DLV_Europa\DLV_Europa ? I'm not surprised it wasn't working then, relieved but not surprised.