Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

[sale70]

Remove the spaces in the folder name as DOS has usually problems processing it properly, adjust accordingly in the BAT and CFG file.

of course, it was in front of my eyes! the quantity of your knowledge inspire me! thx man

[Gigantus]

One is glad to be of service

[Frunk]

Hi Gig, thanks for another great tutorial. Looking forward to taking the knowledge to allow me to add some Kingdoms factions to my WIP that you've already helped me so much with.

Firstly however I've been using the New_Faction folder and following the tutorial step by step. Upon getting to the end, loading the game and selecting the Ottomans in the Grand Campaign, I get a CTD. Error log says this:

23:21:53.249 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/New_Faction/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt, at line 170, column 32
resource timber positioned on 199,57 which is an invalid tile.


23:21:53.338 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/New_Faction/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt, at line 1979, column 43
trying to make lesser character named character the faction leader. Only named characters please.
23:21:54.237 [system.rpt] [error] Uh oh. This isn't good. No idea why, but exiting now. Sorry pal.

I tried adding an underscore to his name to create Chaqmaq al_Turkumani, then removed the last name altogether leaving just Chaqmaq but to no avail. Do you know why this might be happening?

Forgive me if you've already answered this question. I haven't read through the thread in its entirety yet as I normally would.

Cheers, Frunk.

[Gigantus]

23:21:53.338 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/New_Faction/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat.txt, at line 1979, column 43
trying to make lesser character named character the faction leader. Only named characters please.

I haven't come across this error before, but it seems to suggest that you have a 'captain' (general) as the first character in that faction instead of a family member (named_character). Even setting a named character as leader and one as heir will solve this issue.

[Frunk]

I haven't come across this error before, but it seems to suggest that you have a 'captain' (general) as the first character in that faction instead of a family member (named_character). Even setting a named character as leader and one as heir will solve this issue.

I tried giving him both an heir and a spouse but no joy. Here is the entire faction excerpt from descr_strat. Am I missing something?

faction	ottomans, balanced smith
ai_label	default 
denari	8000
denari_kings_purse	2000
settlement
{
  level large_town
  region Edessa_Province
  year_founded 0
  population 2300
  plan_set default_set
  faction_creator moors
  building
  {
    type core_building wooden_wall
  }
}


character Chaqmaq, named character, male, leader, age 40, x 267, y 81
traits Factionleader 1 , GoodCommander 2 , PublicFaith 1 , Intelligent 2 , ReligionStarter 1
ancillaries apothecary
army
unit    ME Bodyguard exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit    ME Spear Militia exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit    Turkomans exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit    ME Spear Militia exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit    Turkish Archers exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0


character	Mustafa, named character, male, heir, age 20, x 267, y 82 
traits Factionheir 1 , LoyaltyStarter 1 , NaturalMilitarySkill 1 , PublicFaith 2 , Intelligent 1 , GoodCavalryGeneral 1 , ReligionStarter 1 
ancillaries foodtaster
army
unit		ME Bodyguard				exp 1 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		Turkomans				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		Turkish Archers				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit		ME Spear Militia				exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0




character_record		Safiya, 	female, age 55, alive, never_a_leader


relative 	Chaqmaq, 	Safiya,		Mustafa,  end

[Gigantus]

Just looking at it suggests that it might be the lack of a TAB (space instead) between character and Chaqmaq. I presume the names exists in descr_names and text\names?

[Frunk]

Indeed, this was the problem. I thought I had 'tabbed' it but, as I read here, my text editor Notepad2 was inserting my tabs as spaces! Dreadfully annoying! All fixed and working now, and saved my editor's settings to avoid the problem in the future. I had to 'tab' where appropriate a bit further down as well so the units could be created, and then had a small problem with the spouse name not being in the list, but I wasn't so slow as to not figure those ones out on my own. Easy fix.

Thanks again for your help Gig. I owe you +1.

[Gigantus]

Do you mean Notepad++ ? The newer versions have it already set correctly when installing: preferences\tab settings - untick 'Replace by space'

[Frunk]

Nope. I've been using Notepad2 for many years now. I think I chose it over Notepad++ as it's very lightweight and resembles traditional Notepad more closely with the various useful features added, or at least that's how I recall it.

There is an option called Tab Settings right near the top of the Settings drop-down which I configured to do tabs as tabs, rather than as spaces. It was an easy fix, and this is the first time I've ever had a "problem" with Notepad2 (even though it wasn't a problem, just me not having the right setting). Still, I might check out Notepad++ again sometime.

[Gigantus]

I found myself particularly attracted to the 'compare' plug in, very helpful for the numerous txt files of M2. There is in fact a language setting for it, highlighting the scripting phrases.

[Gigantus]

Update

Manual
- added reference to Creating a World - 29 Factions on selection display
- added reference to Creating a World - Editable Settlement Faction Symbols

[Ziame]

I know I promised not t post more problems, but I ain't a very wordy guy now, am I?

First: great guide. Really liked it.


My problem is quite... peculiar, to be honest. I added a faction, as per your guide, it shows up in menus, but when I try to play as this faction, or battle with it: game crashes. Four scenarios:

1.
Custom battle
choose my faction
start
unspecified error crash
2.
Campaign
choose my faction
start
loads all the way to the end (logs even show that it's processing the log already)
crash
3.
custom battle
choose some faction
choose my faction as opponent
start
crash
4
campaign
choose any other faction
start
strat map shows, everything is fine
end turn
crash



I feel like there's a small thing i have missed that prevents me from finally playing the game. I hope that you might shed some light on this. (not attaching anything as I don't know what you'd need (: )

[Gigantus]

My guess would be that you did not allocate any units or body guard unit to the faction, but then you wouldn't be able to start custom battles. Best will be to go through the tutorial step by step and make sure you processed all files. Unfortunately a crash while adding a faction is very difficult to pin down.

A trace log when using option 4 might help. Please compress before uploading.

[Ziame]

My guess would be that you did not allocate any units or body guard unit to the faction, but then you wouldn't be able to start custom battles. Best will be to go through the tutorial step by step and make sure you processed all files. Unfortunately a crash while adding a faction is very difficult to pin down.

A trace log when using option 4 might help. Please compress before uploading.

I can't start a battle. It crashes. I have only a bodyguard assigned -- will try to add some other units

EDIT: didn't help, here's log (:

http://pastebin.com/UwswNrnR

I didn't find anything there tho. If you don't either, I will retrace my steps again.

EDIT2: I think i found the error - I added only generals in descr_character (no priests etc)

[Ziame]

I can't start a battle. It crashes. I have only a bodyguard assigned -- will try to add some other units

EDIT: didn't help, here's log (:

http://pastebin.com/UwswNrnR

I didn't find anything there tho. If you don't either, I will retrace my steps again.

EDIT2: I think i found the error - I added only generals in descr_character (no priests etc)

Well I have erased my faction from every file and used an unused faction instead... the result is the same, lol.



FINALLY:

models i wanted to use for strat were somewhat wonky -- that's what broke it. It works now. Thanks for help, Gigantus!

[Gigantus]

Glad you found the error.

Could it be that you did not convert\edit the models correctly? The skeleton used for strat models is slightly different from battle models and uses other comments.

[Ryousan]

Hi, I`m new to modding and I`m grateful to ahve found this tutorial, is didactic and simple to use and I`ve been using to try implemnt a new faction for my broken Crescent copy for personnal purposes. Sadly, I followed it to the best of my abilities i can`t even get to start de game, for it crashes almost instantly. This the 5th time i tried and I knwo taht perhaps I`m a bit greedy to go try such a complex mod, but any help you can offer me will be welcomed

[Gigantus]

Implementing a new faction is fairly complex and has the drawback that you can only test it once all files have been modified. The only thing you can do is to go through each step once more and see where you may have made an error.
Most of the times mods do not utilize all the factions that are listed in the descr_sm_factions file and it is by far easier to simply use one of these factions by simply editing the text files to reflect new names.

[Ryousan]

One the problems is that the BC factions still stick tot he vainilla names(Kingdom of Jerusalem is France por example) and their names are not modified is most of he files so I was wondering if I should also stick for the vainilla names of an unused faction: like saxons and normans. For added complexity Broken Crescent doesn`t use all the files listed in the tutorial. The most tricky parts were modeldb and the Coat of Arms sections because i didnpt really know what to do,even when when I`m basically copy/pasting another faction to add a new faction

[Gigantus]

If you are using a basic faction then there a few files that do not need editing, hence they will not be present in the mod. Which means if you can use the saxons then the majority of your edits will be in the data\text folder. Even with the coat of arms all you have to do is change the graphic, editing of the sd.xml files is not required.