Unit highlighting not working

[americanerik]

Before explaining my issue let me just preface that I've done just about everything I could think of to fix the problem...

A while back I noticed that while in battle the green highlights that surround soldiers when you select a unit were not appearing. The enemy red highlights did not work either, and also when I clicked the button featuring the general's portrait nothing happened (it didnt highlight both armies as it was supposed to).

Admittedly I've added a few mods to the game (Anno Domini, Rise of Kings, and the Lord of the Rings Mod, whatever its called). I'm not sure the if any of them were what caused the problem (Lord of the Rings was the last I installed but cant remember if the highlights worked afterward). Regardless, the unit highlights work for no versions of the game, not even the Kingdoms expansion.

The only concrete info I found was here: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=242706
It suggested modifying the "medieval2.preferences.cfg" file by changing the value in "disable_arrow_markers = 1" to "0"

Upon attempting this, I found I was unable to access the .cfg file so I did what the author in the post suggested and opened it with notepad.

All I found in the folder was this:
[video]
widescreen=1
[game]
allusers=1


This seemed like a deceivingly small amout of text, so I searched in another post (which I cannot find now, to my frusteration) and it said the contents of the file should look something like this:
[audio]
enable = 1
master_vol = 100
music_vol = 50
provider = Miles Fast 2D Positional Audio
sfx_vol = 100
speech_enable = 1
speech_vol = 100
sub_faction_accents = 1

[camera]
default_in_battle = default
move = 50
restrict = 1
rotate = 50

[controls]
campaign_scroll_max_zoom = 30
campaign_scroll_min_zoom = 30
keyset = 0

[game]
advanced_stats_always = 0
advisor_verbosity = 3
ai_factions = follow
auto_save = 1
blind_advisor = 0
campaign_map_game_speed = 15
campaign_map_speed_up = 0
campaign_num_time_play = 0
chat_msg_duration = 10000
disable_arrow_markers = 0
disable_events = 0
english = 0
event_cutscenes = 1
first_time_play = 1
label_characters = 0
label_settlements = 1
micromanage_all_settlements = 0
mute_advisor = 0
no_campaign_battle_time_limit = 0
pref_factions_played = 0
show_demeanour_value = 0
tutorial_battle_played = 1
tutorial_path = norman_prologue/battle_of_hastings
unit_size = 40
use_quickchat = 0

[multiplayer]
hotseat_autoresolve_battles = 0
hotseat_disable_console = 1
hotseat_disable_papal_elections = 0
hotseat_save_prefs = 0
hotseat_update_ai_camera = 0
hotseat_validate_diplomacy = 1

[network]
use_ip =
use_port = 27750

[ui]
SA_cards = show
buttons = show
full_battle_HUD = 0
radar = show
unit_cards = show

[video]
anisotropic_level = 0
anti_alias_mode = off
antialiasing = 0
assassination_movies = 1
autodetect = 0
battle_resolution = 1024 768
bloom = 1
building_detail = low
campaign_resolution = 1024 768
depth_shadows = 2
depth_shadows_resolution = 2
effect_quality = normal
event_movies = 1
gamma = 98
infiltration_movies = 1
no_background_fmv = 0
reflection = 0
sabotage_movies = 1
shader = 2
show_banners = 1
show_package_litter = 1
skip_mip_levels = 1
splashes = 1
subtitles = 0
terrain_quality = custom
texture_filtering = 1
unit_detail = normal
vegetation = 1
vegetation_quality = normal
vsync = 0
widescreen = 0



I tried everthing. I tried simply cutting and pasting both into files, even adding the "disable_arrow_markers = 1" into my original...

...nothing's working. What should I do??? I would appreciate any suggestions.

[irishron]

Many mods disable it for what reason I don't nkow.

Here is the easy way:

Delete the the medieval2.preferences.cfg you have now.
Start a new campaign, play a turn so it can generate a new one, and exit.
Open the medieval2.preferences.cfg in Notepad and change the entry, save.
Now make the file read-only so the game or anybody else can change it.

Good luck.

[americanerik]

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it but unfortunately it did not fix the issue.

I did what you said and got rid of medieval2preferences, but I encountered a problem. I attempted getting into the regular (unmodded) version of the game. I got all the way into the main menu, but when I tried to "continue campaign" the game began to load but then crashed. The same thing happened when trying to play a new game.

Frankly I don't care that I can't play the original version of the game - I'd much rather play the mods and expansion. However, I can't help but wonder if I need to play through a turn in the regular version in order to fix the highlighting problem? I tried playing a turn in each Kingdoms expansion as well as the mod, but none have regenerated the preferences file in the Medieval II folder.

Must I fix my original version of my game in order to fix the unit highlighting issue, or is there some other course of action I could take?

[irishron]

Delete all the map.rwm that you can find, then try to start a new campaign. What mods do you have installed?

[americanerik]

I have Rise of Kings, Anno Domini, and Third Age Total War installed.

I can't be positive of this, but I have a sneaking suspicion it is Third Age Total War that messed me up, if only for the fact that I played Rise of Kings regularly up until I installed Third Age and if my memory serves me right, the highlighting was working when I played it.

Now unfortunately I've gotta run to my school's archives before they close at 4:30, but right when I'm back I'm going to try deleting all the map.rwm. Before I do though, I have a couple questions...

Should I delete the ones associated with the Kingdoms expansion? And likewise, if its not necessary, should I try deleting the Third Age map.rwm first?

Also, when starting a new campaign, what mod/version of the game should I use to do it?

[irishron]

I just delete them all. The game will regenerate new ones with no problem. Even the Kingdoms expansion ones.

[americanerik]

Long story short, nothing happened.

I deleted the map.rwm files from every mod, but nothing regenerated (neither the medieval2.preferences.cfg nor the map.rwm files).

It's super frustrating because I'd gladly uninstall then reinstall the game, but I lost the second disk awhile back.

Do you think the reason they're not regenerating is linked to fact that the original game no longer works? There's other map files like map.fwc, just as an fyi, but I'm not sure if I should touch a file like that.

[irishron]

You will have to reinstall even if you have to buy a new copy of the game.

If it won't regeneerate, something is seriously missing.

[Gigantus]

but when I tried to "continue campaign" the game began to load but then crashed. The same thing happened when trying to play a new game.

Your game will crash if you made modifications and try to continue a saved game. That is also the reason\meaning of 'not save game compatible'.
After deleting the cfg file in your med2 root directory, start a regular new campaign. If that fails, you should simply take that long list of yours in the beginning and copy it into a txt file and name it medieval2.preference.cfg (save as\all files)

The culprit will be Third Age, I am not very happy that the install messes with basic files. There are a few other settings that they replaced\changed in the cfg file.

The entry you need is:
disable_arrow_markers = 0
in the [game] section