Porting Alexander Historical Battle to RTW

**Medusa0** · January 18, 2010, 10:52 AM

I'm going to separate the contents into different posts on this thread to make it easier to view, a mod could merge if necessary.

While the Alexander engine (theoretically) isn't required for this task, it is recommended to acquire the complete experience. The result is all the historical battles from Chaeronea to Hydaspes, accessible from the RTW historical battle menu with RTW units and working scripts.

This tutorial does not cover the importation of multiplayer historical battles! Also it is not recommended to attempt to apply to major mods that features additional voices, may it be unit voices or sfxs or there will be conflicts, and I'm not experienced enough to resolve them yet.

Always backup your files, that is to make extra copies of it before the edits in case of errors. Now here is a very long post...

Softwares needed:
Notepad or similar text editing programs.

Files needed:
(data folder)
descr_names.txt
descr_names_lookup.txt
descr_sounds_narration.txt
historic_battles_subtitles_lookup.txt
export_descr_unit.txt

(text folder)
battle_descriptions.txt
historic_battles_subtitles.txt
names.txt

(sounds folder)
The voice folder, along with the events.dat and events.idx files from Alexander. They will contain the narrations in and out of the historical battle itself.

(world\maps\battle\custom folder, from Alexander)
Chaeronea folder and files
Granicus "" "" ""
Halicarnassus "" "" ""
Issus "" "" ""
Gaugamela "" "" ""
Hydaspes "" "" ""
Notice that we are not including the .mpg movie files for cutscenes and the outro folders. While they may be needed for the Alexander campaign itself, they do not seem to anything in the event of a historical battle.

(ui)
This step is optional, and will apply only if the mod uses rometw-alx.exe.
custom_portraits folder and contents

Editing required (All lines pasted do not include quotation marks):
1. We shall look at historic_battles_subtitles_lookup - as most mods do not use this file at all, it would likely be safe to copy and paste this file from the Alexander data folder to your data folder. If the file is used in your mod, copy lines from "chaeronea_01" all the way down to "issus_11" and paste them at the bottom of your file. This file will serve as a string to the actual narration texts that will be inserted later.

2. Open descr_sounds_narration. Like the subtitle lookup it is likely not used in any mods. Copy lines from "event CHAERONEA_SPEECH_01" to the "end" on "event ISSUS_SPEECH_11". Now this file defines the sound files that are used.

3. Now for historic_battles_subtitles.txt. Copy lines from "{chaeronea_01}" to the bottom of the Alexander file and paste them at the bottom of your file. This ensures that texts appear if subtitles are enabled. We'll ignore the name files until a later time.

4. I'm assuming that you are seeing a pattern here, it is mostly copying and pasting until the actual merging with your mod. Open battle_descriptions.txt and copy these lines to the bottom of your own file.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Code:

{CHAERONEA_TITLE}Battle of Chaeronea
{CHAERONEA_DESCR}King Philip II had ruled the Kingdom of Macedonia for over twenty years. In that time he had taken it from a backwater state North of Greece to the most powerful military entity in the Aegean. He had intervened in the Third Sacred War amongst the Greeks and by virtue of force, brought peace to the region.\n\n
That peace was not to last. Philip attempted to expand his empire to the Sea of Marmara to the East. This caused consternation in both the Persian empire and the city of Athens, who relied on food imports through the area. Athens declared war on Philip and Thebes, bribed by the Persians, followed suit.\n\n
Philip broke off his assault to the East and moved South. His army made contact with the Greeks on the plain of Chaeronea, a town in central Greece. The coming battle would make or break Philip's authority in the Aegean, once and for all.\n\n

{GRANICUS_TITLE}Battle of Granicus
{GRANICUS_DESCR}Having secured his position in Greece, Alexander turned his attention to the mighty Persian empire. Though the ships under his control were few in comparison to the Persian navy, the trip across the Hellespont which seperated the two kingdoms was brief and passed without incident.\n\nOnce in Asia Minor, Alexander took the opportunity to make sacrifice at the site of the city of Troy as part of his preparations to face a large Persian force which had arrived to challenge his invasion. This force was under the nominal command of a Greek mercenary general, Memnon of Rhodes, but the jealousies of a number of Persian regional satrap governors also present seem to have diluted this authority. Nevertheless, this army deployed on the far bank of the River Granicus and awaited Alexanders' arrival.\n\n

{HALICARNASSUS_TITLE}Battle of Halicarnassus
{HALICARNASSUS_DESCR}In 334 BC with the crossing of the Hellespont complete, convinced by the Granicus victory that he would have no need of a means of retreat and most importantly weary of meeting its high upkeep costs, Alexander dismissed his fleet. He planned to defeat the Persian navy by different and indirect means: by seizing all Persian-held ports.\n\nWith the Persians in temporary disarray Alexander began seizing the coastal cities in his path. Many of these were nominally Greek anyway, though they had acknowledged Persian masters for some time previously. The town of Miletos offered some resistance but inevitably fell. Halicarnassus was a different matter though. The defenses there were good and Memnon of Rhodes had arrived to rally the Persians. Unwilling to leave this difficult target as a thorn in his side, Alexander besieged the city, eager to sweep aside the defenders before they could escape to cause trouble elsewhere...\n\n

{ISSUS_TITLE}Battle of Issus
{ISSUS_DESCR}Though reeling from the relentless series of defeats inflicted on his forces by the Macedonians and the death of his most trusted general, Darius Codomannus III, king of Persia, was still master of a vast empire. Sending word to every corner of his domain, he gathered a huge force to his banner and set forth himself to bring Alexander to battle.\n\n
Alexander had established a forward base at the coastal port of Issus and, having rested there for a few days he resumed his march southwards. Darius recieved word of this and resolved to use his knowledge of the local geography to cut his enemies' lines. Taking a route through a mountain pass, he appeared suddenly to Alexander's north, between the Macedonians and Issus. Far from being dismayed by this, Alexander rode eagerly to engage the Persian king...\n\n

{GAUGAMELA_TITLE}Battle of Gaugamela
{GAUGAMELA_DESCR}After a visit to Egypt, Alexander set out once again to face the Persian king Darius. Alexander waited in Tyre expecting Darius to attack, but the Persian king was determined to make Alexander come to him. Eventually Alexander left Tyre and headed East with his army into Persia.\n\n
Darius offered no armed resistance to Alexander's progress into his territory, but sent the Babylonian satrap Mazaeus to shadow the Macedonian army. Mazaeus burned crops and moved already harvested grain to safer storage to deny Alexander a source of food. In doing so, he forced Alexander to move North. Darius was luring Alexander to his chosen battleground.\n\n
The Persian king set out his army in Assyria, not far from the ruins of Nineveh. With a far larger army and a wide plain on which to deploy it, Darius would appear to have the advantage by far. But an astronomical event on the eve of battle fortelling doom for the king of Persia seeded widespread panic in the Persian army. Despite their crushing numerical advantage they must have marched to fight the next day believing the end of the Persian Empire was at hand.\n\n

{HYDASPES_TITLE}Battle of Hydaspes
{HYDASPES_DESCR}Following yet another miraculous victory at Gaugamela, Alexander pursued Darius through the mountains. But he was robbed of his final triumph when the Persian king died by treachery at the hands of his own desperate generals.\n\nThough he had achieved the seemingly impossible in pitting his tiny kingdom against the colossal Persian empire and winning, Alexander's ambition was not satisfied. After five years spent consolidating his hold on Persia, he once again rallied the flagging enthusiasm of his exhausted men and marched for the Indus valley to challenge the authority of the Indian rulers.\n\nThough Alexander met with early success, the Indian king Porus saw no reason to submit to this western upstart and gathered a huge army to thwart him. In the unfamiliar and unhealthy climate of the Indian monsoon and faced with large numbers of men, chariots and war elephants, Alexander once again pitted himself against the odds at the crossing of the River Hydaspes.\n\n

These are the description on the right side of the screen in the historical battle menu.

5. The names files will require a little bit of efforts to edit. Open up descr_names.txt first, use the Find function (Ctrl+F) to find the text Teos. And right before the "surnames" tag, underneath "Teos", type "Porus" without the quotation marks, you'll need two tabs before the name. Next find "Zoroaster" and type "Bessus", "Mazaeus", and "Memnon". Find "of Zenodotium" and type "of Rhodes" and "Codomanus III" under.

Open descr_names_lookup.txt and do the exact same thing as you have done before, although the double tabs are not required.

Goto names.txt and paste the following text at the bottom of the file:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

And that's it for the first part, second part coming up in the next post.

**Medusa0** · January 18, 2010, 10:57 AM

Assembling required:
1. Copy and paste all the contents of the sounds folder in Alexander to your data\sounds folder. There might be conflicts if events.dat and events.idx are already present, in that case I can provide no solutions. (Edit, apparently the removal of those two files will solve some of the problems associated with vanilla RTW, but I could not guarantee the same for mods.).

2. Optional step: Copy and paste custom_portraits folder from Alexander into your UI folder. Omit this step if you are not using this feature (It makes it possible to have the general's portrait show up in historical battle and the creation of unique characters).

3. Copy the battle folders: Chaeronea, Granicus, Halicarnassus, Issus, Gaugamela, Hydaspes from world\maps\battle\custom in Alexander to somewhere safe where you can edit them, this is where it'll get tricky. We will integrate one battle at a time:

Start with Chaeronea, the battle with the Theban Sacred Band.
Delete order.txt and unlock.txt (or locked.txt) as they are not needed.
Open up descr_battle.txt, and right off the bat you will see a section that look like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Code:

 
faction macedon
character Alexander, named character, age 18, , x 13, y 59, portrait alexander, battle_model ALEX_alexander_general_battle
 
army
unit  alexander    soldiers 60 exp 8 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit  companion cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 8 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit  companion cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 8 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit  companion cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 7 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit  companion cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 7 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
 
character Philip of_Pella, named character, age 44, , x 13, y 59
 
army
unit  royal squadron    soldiers 30 exp 9 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit  javelin skirmishers    soldiers 60 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 1
unit  javelin skirmishers    soldiers 60 exp 7 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  phalangists    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
 
faction greek_cities
character Chares, general, age 38, , x 13, y 59 
 
army
unit  royal squadron    soldiers 30 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 2
unit  javelin skirmishers 2    soldiers 60 exp 4 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit  javelin skirmishers 2    soldiers 60 exp 4 armour 0 weapon_lvl 1
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  hoplites    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  theban sacred band spearmen    soldiers 100 exp 8 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit  theban sacred band spearmen    soldiers 100 exp 8 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit  theban sacred band spearmen    soldiers 100 exp 8 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3

The highlighted texts are the features that are not in vanilla RTW, they include units and new functions such as custom portraits for generals and battle models. They are the reason why a simple drag and drop of the battle folder will produce a non-working scenario.

Open up your copy of export_descr_unit.txt, this is where all of the units in RTW are defined. You'll want to substitute the units in the codes provided up above into units that are actually in your mod. The recommended format is something like this:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Code:

 
faction macedon
character Alexander, named character, age 18, , x 13, y 59, portrait alexander, battle_model greek_lesser_general
 
army
unit  greek general's guard cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 8 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit  greek royal cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 6 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit  greek royal cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 7 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit  greek royal cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 7 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit  greek royal cavalry    soldiers 60 exp 7 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
 
character Philip of_Pella, named character, age 44, , x 13, y 59, , battle_model greek_general
army
unit  greek general's guard cavalry    soldiers 30 exp 9 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit  greek peltast    soldiers 60 exp 9 armour 3 weapon_lvl 1
unit  greek peltast    soldiers 60 exp 9 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek pikemen    soldiers 80 exp 5 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
 
faction greek_cities
character Chares, general, age 38, , x 13, y 59 
army
unit  greek general's guard cavalry    soldiers 30 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 2
unit  greek heavy peltast    soldiers 60 exp 4 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek heavy peltast    soldiers 60 exp 4 armour 0 weapon_lvl 1
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite    soldiers 110 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 0
unit  greek hoplite elite    soldiers 100 exp 8 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit  greek hoplite elite    soldiers 100 exp 8 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit  greek hoplite elite    soldiers 100 exp 8 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3

The units have been substituted to those that are present in vanilla RTW, remember to delete the red text if you are not using the custom portrait or unique general function. It is necessary for the units to behave in a similar manner for the scripts to work properly, that is if a unit has missile based weapon in Alexander, it must have them in RTW else there will be a CTD. The stats of the Alexander era units can be accessed in export_descr_unit.txt in the Alexander data folder, use the search function in notepad to find these units.

You may or may not find that you cannot save the file, that is because it is under a Read-only format. In that case copy the whole file onto a blank notepad file, change the attribute of descr_battle.txt and paste the text back in to avoid losing your work. Otherwise, this historical battle is complete, the only thing left to do is to drop the Chaeronea folder into your data\world\maps\battle\custom folder.

Battle of Chaeronea in your historical battle is now complete. There's no need to touch any of the scripts as the game sees the units as the same as those in Alexander, and that the internal names of the factions are the same (parthia vs. macedon).

Battle of Granicus is slightly harder to import, due to the absence of some units. Follow the instructions to Chaeronea until the part where descr_battle.txt is to be edited. You will see the following list of units:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Code:

 
faction macedon
character Alexander, named character, age 22, , x 163, y 59, portrait alexander, battle_model ALEX_alexander_general_battle
 
army
unit alexander soldiers 60 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit cretan archers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit prodromoi soldiers 55 exp 5 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit thessalian cavalry soldiers 60 exp 7 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit phalangists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit phalangists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit phalangists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit phalangists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit phalangists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit phalangists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit hypaspists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit hypaspists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit hypaspists soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit javelin skirmishers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit javelin skirmishers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
 
faction parthia
character Memnon of_Rhodes, general, age 46, , x 163, y 59, battle_model ALEX_memnon_general_battle
 
army
unit memnon of rhodes soldiers 49 exp 3 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit heavy bactrian cavalry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit heavy bactrian cavalry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit hyrcanian cavalry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 2 weapon_lvl 3
unit hyrcanian cavalry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 2 weapon_lvl 3
unit barcanian horsemen soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3
unit scythian mounted archers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3
unit scythian mounted archers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3
unit greek mercenary infantry soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit greek mercenary infantry soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit greek mercenary infantry soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit greek mercenary infantry soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit greek mercenary infantry soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit greek mercenary infantry soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit persian peltast soldiers 80 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3
unit persian peltast soldiers 80 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3

This is where the effects of editing the character names will become apparent, if Memnon of_Rhodes has not been added to the list of names under the faction of parthia, the game will CTD without giving any clue of what's going on.

Here's the recommended edits

Spoiler Alert, click show to read:

Code:

 
faction macedon
character Alexander, named character, age 22, , x 163, y 59, portrait alexander, portrait alexander, battle_model greek_lesser_general
 
army
unit greek general's guard cavalry soldiers 60 exp 6 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit merc cretan archers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit greek light lancer soldiers 55 exp 5 armour 2 weapon_lvl 2
unit greek heavy cavalry soldiers 60 exp 7 armour 3 weapon_lvl 3
unit greek pikemen soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit greek pikemen soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit greek pikemen soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit greek pikemen soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit greek pikemen soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit greek pikemen soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit merc illyrian soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit merc illyrian soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit merc illyrian soldiers 110 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit greek peltast soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
unit greek peltast soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 0
 
faction parthia
character Memnon of_Rhodes, named character, age 46, , x 163, y 59
 
army
unit east generals cavalry soldiers 49 exp 3 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit east heavy cataphract soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 2 weapon_lvl 0
unit east heavy cataphract soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 1 weapon_lvl 0
unit merc numidian cavalry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 2 weapon_lvl 3
unit merc numidian cavalry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 2 weapon_lvl 3
unit merc arab cavalry soldiers 60 exp 2 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3
unit merc horse archers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3
unit merc horse archers soldiers 60 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3
unit merc greek hoplites soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit merc greek hoplites soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit merc greek hoplites soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit merc greek hoplites soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit merc greek hoplites soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit merc greek hoplites soldiers 85 exp 1 armour 1 weapon_lvl 1
unit merc peltast soldiers 80 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3
unit merc peltast soldiers 80 exp 0 armour 0 weapon_lvl 3

Memnon of Rhodes has been changed into a named character, this fixes the "bug" where at the battle results screen where he will be called "Captain Memnon" instead of by his full name. Again, the red parts are optional edits.

The bad thing about porting from Alexander will be the fact that difficulties of the battles may be changed as units have different stats than they have in vanilla RTW. If anyone has played this battle, they will find it to be a LOT harder than it was in Alexander as Illyrians don't exactly make a good substitute for the Hypaspists and Peltasts don't match up to the Agrian Javelinmen.

There, the second battle is complete.