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Thread: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

  1. #1

    Default USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod


    Basic Description: This modified startpos.esf file unlocks the United States in the "normal" Grand Campaign starting in 1700. I wanted to create a starting scenario that would give you the feel of being the leader of the United States DURING the early 18th Century (rather than pushing up the Revolutionary War to an earlier date). Even though you are independent in the game, your diplomatic starting position will obligate you to get involved with Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies should they get into trouble--just like what happened historically during the French and Indian War.

    I did not modify anything else--excepting the starting regions and diplomatic relations for balance and immersion purposes. No other factions, no unit stat or unit list or unit skin changes. Hence, the "Lite Mod."

    Compatibility:

    · This mod is compatible with all DLC packs and the latest version of the game available via Steam. Assuming you have Elite Units of the West and Elite Units of America, these units will be available just as the DLC documentation described. I have all DLC packs and the latest version, and it ran smooth as silk for about 8 hours (and then I went to bed).

    · THIS MOD IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH OTHER STARTPOS.ESF MODS!!!! Sorry...but you can only have one Startpos.esf at a time.

    Known Issues:

    · NO VICTORY CONDITIONS--You cannot win the game--only play it.

    · NO FACTION DESCRIPTION--Only described as an Emergent on selection screen.

    · The portrait for the United States on the Grand Campaign faction selection screen does not update properly--it will show whatever portrait was last displayed. All portraits display normally once in game.

    · When you start the game, the campaign camera will be in a very weird location on the edge of a trade theatre. Just click anywhere on the mini-map and the camera will jump to the new location and you can continue normally.

    · For some reason you cannot research Empiricism or Physiocracy on turn 1. However, they become available to research on turn 2.


    · EDITED 4/29/10: Some users are reporting CTD relatively early in the campaign. Only 3 users have told me this is happening...and I am unable to replicate this myself. It seems to have something to do with the Barbary States offering peace. In a day or so, I will repost the file with the Barbary States already being at peace with the United States so hopefully this glitch can be avoided.


    · If your game has crashed, please post in this thread! Include everything that happened that turn...or better yet, zip your savegame and send it to me and maybe I can track down this CTD. Seeing as this mod has (in theory) 73 users, it seems that not everyone has the bug and I'd like to figure out what is going on between the users that experience the CTD...maybe there is something other than meets the eye going on.

    How to Install:

    · Download the attached .zip file. Extract it and place the startpos.esf in [...]Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war/data/campaigns/main

    · You may want to back up the original startpos.esf in case something goes wrong

    · Start up the game normally, go to the Grand Campaign and Select the United States

    · Have Fun!

    Starting Position:

    Treasury: 9000 "Bucks"--a little bit more than the other powers, but frankly, with things about to hit the fan with France, Spain, and the Native Americans you need all the money you can get.

    Regions: New York and Confederation of New England--why you may ask? Well, the simple answer is the method I used to make this mod didn't allow me to acquire Philadelphia and ALL the other territories from the Thirteen Colonies without causing a crash when the game loaded.

    o Historical Explanation: Long before the Revolution, Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan of "union" at the Albany Congress during the French and Indian War period. The idea would allow the Thirteen Colonies to be independent, yet still subject to British rule. The idea was supposedly widely accepted by the Congress in Albany, but was unanimously rejected by sitting colonial assemblies and the British government. During the same period, Boston was a hot-spot for the growing anti-British sentiment in the colonies and it only intensified as the decades went on. Thus those two regions are primed to be the "centers of United States independence" before the 1770's, making them the natural representations of "the United States" when the Grand Campaign begins. Further, representatives from Pennsylvania created the Galloway Plan, a 1774 proposal that would have kept the United States part of the British Empire--demonstrating that even as late as 1774 the impetus to separate from Great Britain was not felt everywhere...including Philadelphia. That's still a stretch but for you historical role-players out there, it should be enough.

    · New York: The trading port in New York has been replaced with a Shipyard.

    · Confederation of New England: New Haven has been turned from a non-emerged town into a School. All other major factions start with a school-type building, so should the United States or else the player can't compete. Besides, it is my understanding some sort of higher education institution was found there around the time period beginning the game (even if it was a seminary at the time).

    · Special Note on Philadelphia: If you conquer Philadelphia it will become the capital of the United States.

    Starting Technology:

    · Social Contract. Should be relatively self-explanatory: With the emphasis on legal rights and elected representatives in colonial charters, the United States started behaving like it had a social contract long before the term entered English philosophy, making this the clear starting tech for the game. It also has a higher value for tech trading with other powers--helping the player make up for the back-water school in New Haven.

    Starting Diplomatic Relations:

    · Alliances, Trade Agreements, and Mutual Military Access with Great Britain and Thirteen Colonies: Reflecting how almost all Americans in 1700 thought of themselves as being British subjects (with a little more local autonomy) starting allied and as trading partners with the other English-speaking powers in the game was the natural way to reflect that. It also serves as a mechanic that can get your fledgling pre-Revolution United States involved in Great Britain's wars with France and Spain as that's what happened historically. Mutual Military Access reflects how the Colonies and English holdings were considered "one nation" despite being divided into different colonies.

    · YOU STILL HAVE ONE OPEN OVERSEAS TRADING SLOT!!! Make sure to assign it.

    Starting Armies and Navies:

    · NONE!! Sorry...the method I used to create this mod wouldn't let me create starting armies and navies for you without crashing when the game loaded from a fresh install.

    Starting Gentlemen and Rakes:

    · NONE!! See above comments. Trying to do this caused a crash on a fresh install.

    Closing Remarks and Special Thanks:

    I had been waiting for a mod like this for quite some time--I just wanted to play with the United States faction starting in 1700. Other modders, I felt, added way too much or changed the Grand Campaign too dramatically. Eventually, I got the gumption to sit down and do this little project. Veteran modders may see these changes as simple, but it took me a good three days of work to get this working just right.

    While I made all the changes to the original startpos.esf myself, I want to give some special thanks to husserlTW, Lazy Knight, and erasmus77 for writing their excellent posts/tutorials and tools as well as how they just linked everything together. I want to thank them and everyone else who worked on the EsfEditors and the countless reference documents I consulted while trying to decrypt the original startpos.esf. Really, the whole mod community helped me with this project, and I hope you all like the way it turned out.

    Feel free to use this Startpos.esf as part of another mod--just be sure to link everyone back here when you post yours so they can have a Lite version.
    Last edited by Scourge012; April 29, 2010 at 11:43 PM.

  2. #2
    ♔Sir Digby Chicken Caesar♔'s Avatar Wyrd biõ ful ãræd
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Tried this out 2day but CTD Turn 11 1705 each time I reload game.

    Edit : Restarted campaign this time CTD when I try to get past turn 9 ...

    Before each crash I get an offer of peace from Barbary Pirates, don't know if this is anything to do with it. (makes no differance if I say yes or no to peace offer still ctd)
    Last edited by ♔Sir Digby Chicken Caesar♔; April 23, 2010 at 08:02 AM.

  3. #3
    hip63's Avatar Give me some BASS!
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    I really don't get why people have such a hardon for playing as the US in 1700 but hey whatever, good luck with the mod

    hip63

  4. #4
    ♔Sir Digby Chicken Caesar♔'s Avatar Wyrd biõ ful ãræd
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    I don't really get a hard-on to play as the US early (a semi at best)
    Just something new ain't it ...

  5. #5

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    @Sir Digby Chicken Caesar:

    Hmmm...that's odd. I used the latest official startpos.esf to make the mod--if you are using an older copy of the game with this startpos.esf it might create a problem. The startpos.esf hasn't changed that I know of, but again an older version of the game running a file from an updated copy can still produce weird problems.

    Did the game happen to give you any errors messages? Was there anything else you were doing around that time each time you started the game? Have you tried since you posted?

    I'm a little flumoxed as to why there would be a crash--only the startpos.esf is changed...this mod does not affect any other files.

    I got an odd crash once while testing: I was trying to defeat the Cherokee and a reproducible crash occured when I would go from Summer 1708 and Winter 1709 as I conquered their last settlement. I restarted from a brand new campaign, did pretty much the same opening moves, conquered their last city and played for hours--not a CTD since and I've been playing all weekend, even broadcasting on X-fire.

    Have you tried again since you posted?

  6. #6

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Gots an question about this, would it work with DMU? It would not effect the start.pos file in DMU would it?

  7. #7
    ♔Sir Digby Chicken Caesar♔'s Avatar Wyrd biõ ful ãræd
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    The crash was always after clicking end turn, the flags go around to pirates and then the little box with 'Empire has stopped working' comes up.
    I've not tried since the 2nd campaign but even if I load the old game it crashed same place.

    I'll try again now & see how it goes.

  8. #8
    ♔Sir Digby Chicken Caesar♔'s Avatar Wyrd biõ ful ãræd
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Redownloaded yr file and started new campaign.

    Still can't get passed turn 9 1704 without ctd If I reload campaign from auto-save same thing.

    End of turn , click button, gets around to pirate flag ctd.

  9. #9

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Quote Originally Posted by ♔Sir Digby Chicken Caesar♔ View Post
    Redownloaded yr file and started new campaign.

    Still can't get passed turn 9 1704 without ctd If I reload campaign from auto-save same thing.

    End of turn , click button, gets around to pirate flag ctd.
    Okay. That seems remarkably consistent. Is it possible that you can post a zipped copy of your auto save game so I can test it? What other mods are you using (you never mentioned any, but I thought I would ask just in case)? I want to try to recreate this so I can get to the bottom of it.

  10. #10

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Quote Originally Posted by 1in1class View Post
    Gots an question about this, would it work with DMU? It would not effect the start.pos file in DMU would it?

    It is my understanding that DMU has several campaigns (You are referring to the new DMUC, right)? When I was looking at other mods like DMLite they would work with the vanilla campaign because it only modded the BAI and CAI files and some unit and building stuff--not the startpos.esf.

    So, in theory, if you replace the startpos.esf from the one with a given DMUC version it should work. However, if the starting map or situation is different from the "vanilla" campaign in any way, it won't work with the campaign changes made in DMU. What will happen is that you will basically get only the vanilla countries+plus the USA and its two regions. That's it. Any other factions or starting situations added in DMU/DMUC will be gone. But the non-campaign map changes should still work just fine.

    My advice: copy or move the DMU startpos.esf onto your desktop, try the one from this mod and see what will happen when you start a new game. The worst thing is that it will crash and you can just restore the DMU startpos.esf from your desktop.
    Last edited by Scourge012; April 25, 2010 at 03:33 PM.

  11. #11
    ♔Sir Digby Chicken Caesar♔'s Avatar Wyrd biõ ful ãræd
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Quote Originally Posted by Scourge012 View Post
    Okay. That seems remarkably consistent. Is it possible that you can post a zipped copy of your auto save game so I can test it? What other mods are you using (you never mentioned any, but I thought I would ask just in case)? I want to try to recreate this so I can get to the bottom of it.
    I've since started a new campaign so the auto-save is lost, but I will try again.
    I do use alot of mods but nothing that effects the startpos file (uniforms, new units , blood , flags etc)

    I will try next time with no mods at all just to make sure though

  12. #12

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    HI.. i crash to desktop in the year 1715, and it seems too after the Barbary Pirates offer peace, and i noticed that there flag changed to red tint. ive tryed verything i know to do.
    Whats DUM, or DUMC PLS?

  13. #13
    ♔hammeredalways♔'s Avatar Darthmod Moderator
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Hi cross5glf DMUC & Darthmod can be found here, http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=341088 USA is playable in the late Custom Campaign of the DMUC
    Knight of the binge-drinking-Kebab-shop-vomiting-taxi rank-punch-up? 32nd degree

  14. #14

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Quote Originally Posted by cross5glf View Post
    HI.. i crash to desktop in the year 1715, and it seems too after the Barbary Pirates offer peace, and i noticed that there flag changed to red tint. ive tryed verything i know to do.
    Whats DUM, or DUMC PLS?
    Hmm...I routinely reject the Barbary States peace, and it never crashes for me...I just had that one instance. Well, here's what I'll do. I'll mod the startpos.esf again (tomorrow since it's almost 1AM my time) and I'll make it so you start at peace with the Barbary States, play through a few turns to make sure, then throw up the new startpos.esf. We'll see if that helps. I'll repost a reply when it's done and edit the first post to reflect this change.

    Oh and by the way...the red flag for the Barbary States is the flag they get when there has been a successful revolution.
    Last edited by Scourge012; April 29, 2010 at 11:29 PM.

  15. #15
    eran's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    thank you, exactly what I wanted!

  16. #16
    Civis
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    I have tried this startpos several times and it crashed after a few turns.
    I experimented a bit and found that my problem was related to building a fort in Confederation of New England.
    My game crashes after the pirates turn when when my fort is about to finish.
    So. If I don't build a fort there I have no problem at all.
    It has not been a problem to build a fort in New York.

    I hope this help others

    Trym

  17. #17

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Just downloaded this mod. Crashes after a few turns, restart and doesn't wanna keep going. CTD at same end turn spot.

  18. #18

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    Hey there, TogTW. It's been a while since I checked this thread...being four years since the last activity and all. Sorry about the delay. I just downloaded the mod and installed it on a Fresh copy of Empire...it worked fine UNLESS I built a fort in Confederation of New England. My advice: just don't build one there until you conquer Philadelphia...then your capital will revert there, and you should have no issues after that.

    Over the years, I've re-made this mod with the newer versions of the ESFeditor. Same issue, every time. It's something to do with the game not liking this specific change. Oh well. Like I said, just don't build a fort there until you have Philadelphia.

  19. #19
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    I've enjoyed playing this mod a lot. Using the ESF Editor, I adjusted my copy slightly so that the US doesn't start allied with the Thirteen Colonies and Britain. (I liked playing the 'Road to Independence' campaign, especially chapter 3, and wanted to do something similar in the larger world of the Grand Campaign.)

    I find Shokh's minimods useful (the minimods from the 'Empire Mod Workshop' forum, in the 'Miscellaneous' section, from the first post of a thread called 'Want a mod? We'll create it for you'). I slightly adjusted Shokh's 'Riflemen for all' mod so that it allows the United States to recruit Native American musket units. (HusserlTW's 'EasyDB' tool comes with a Pack File Manager which made this easy for me as a total beginner. If anyone is wondering where to find it, it's in the 'Empire Total War Hosted Modifications' section, in the 'StartPos mods' forum, where there's a link at the top of the first post in the thread 'my Modding Work'.)

    Apparently some Native Americans fought for the Americans in the War of Independence. It seemed strange that the US couldn't recruit these units, especially as their speed (for the mounted musketeers) and stealth (for the infantry musketeers) fit with the way that I imagine the Americans would have had to fight (at least, in the early stages of the War of Independence).

    I wonder if others playing this mod have made your own adjustments - I'd be interested in hearing other people's ideas.

  20. #20

    Default Re: USA Unlocked in 1700: A Lite Mod

    My game crashed turn 4

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