[SS6.3] Broken Sword

[Phosphoricus]

You are right in seeing a problem. SS is set up so that all of the Middle Eastern bodyguards use the same model but use different textures for different factions. BC is set up differently, with each bodyguard having its own model and texture, so each texture will not fit each model. You /could/ adopt the same system in SS, but this would mean creating a unique unit for each Middle Eastern faction's general bodyguard unit in the EDU. If I am not mistaken, the EDU cannot exceed 500 different units, and I believe that most are already used (in RRRCC, only one unit is available to be overwritten: DISMOUNTED TURGAHUT). Perhaps the removal of unnecessary/redundant unique units could fix this (mamluk/ghulam duplicates, azabs, etc), but would you then wish to use the free slots on bodyguard units?

The other option is to find some BC heavy cavalry with a fairly generic appearance and use its model and texture for all Middle Eastern factions, but you don't want to do this. In my reskin, I have used this 'one BC unit matches all' approach on such units as Fatimid 'Al-Haqa Infantry' and Khwarezmian 'Daylami Light Infantry'. Both use the same model in the battle_models.modeldb file, so I assigned the appearance of the Tajik Urban Militia to both of them. It is compromise that must be made, unfortunately, because the programmers decided that the EDU shouldn't be able to handle more than 500 units, or something like that...

[Lord Derfel]

Thank you Phosphoricus for explaining that. I did attempt to add the new units in the EDU and had a CTD and I could not figure out the reason. Your explanation has solved that mystery for me. Once again thank you. I will try to use the other method you described and see how that goes I am willing to make the compromise as I find the vanilla ME general models very boring.

[Phosphoricus]

Update:
I have made unique the battlefield appearance for Islamic teams (only Timurids retain the original general) as well as for the Mongols and the Cumans using Broken Crescent (BrCr) generals and captains. I have also replaced the Middle Eastern bodyguard units with heavy cavalry from BrCr and switched a few other cavalry around to provide better fits. A new RRRCC-based edition is attached to this message; this file includes a battle_models.modeldb as well as a descr_character.txt. (note: I have given up on trying the strat models for the time being due to frustrating difficulties encountered during my efforts)

The installation is the same (but now with a descr_character.txt as well), but please realize that you will need to manually integrate the changes if you have changed these files as part of other customizations that change these files. For battle_models.modeldb, this means adding to the bottom of your file all content of the attached battle_models.modeldb starting from "16 muslim_general_3" and updating the total entry count at the top of the file accordingly. For the descr_character.txt file, I recommend comparing the attached text file with your own (using Notepad++ or similar software) to locate differences and manually adjust your file. This text file also controls character movement points, so if you customize these or use the 'FASTER' version included with the compilation, you will need to adjust manually.

If somebody can please provide me with the SS6.3 descr_character.txt , I can prepare a similar update for the SS6.3 version.

[Babygod22]

here, SS 6.3's descr_character. good luck

[Phosphoricus]

OK, I've updated and attached the SS6.3 version with the changes described in my last post (except for Cumans, because SS6.3 appears to use a different set of models that I do not know about and so will not mess with). Once again, I have not tested anything for the 6.3 version so please let me know if there is an error.

[Smokey Bacon]

Will this be compatible with any mod that dosn't change unit appearance?

[Babygod22]

Good job, I haven't seen any bug so far, exept that the extra captains still have vanilla models.
Why not change Timurids model? aren't they MiddleEastern too?

I have a few suggestion:

1. Change all Muslim bodyguard models with BC model, also complete whatever vanilla units still left.
2. Replace Vanilla Turkish Ghulam with BC Turkish Ghulam. Qapukulu with Elite Ghulam.
3. Use Egypt's mounted tabardariyya model for Khassaki instead of Ghaznavid elite cavalry. Use Tawashi cavalry model for Royal Mamluk.
4. Replace Eastern Armoured Cavalry model with ERE cataphract model - they look fairly similar, exept that cataphract is more bad ass, it will be a great improvement for ERE also.

[hippacrocafish]

If somebody can please provide me with the SS6.3 descr_character.txt , I can prepare a similar update for the SS6.3 version.

I'd be glad to.

I can't wait to play with those awesome BC unit textures.

EDIT: Whoops, beaten to the punch.

[hippacrocafish]

Getting a CTD whenever I try to enter a battle.

EDIT: Last lines of the log

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

23:08:50.488 [system.io] [trace] exists: 1112: caching directory: mods/ss6.3/data/unit_models/_units/generals
23:08:50.488 [system.io] [info] exists: directory non-existant: mods/ss6.3/data/unit_models/_units/generals
23:08:50.489 [system.io] [info] exists: missing mods/SS6.3/data/unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh
23:08:50.489 [system.io] [trace] file open,,data/unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh,,not found
23:08:50.489 [system.io] [trace] pack open,packs/data_3.pack,data/unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh,,not found
23:08:50.489 [system.io] [warning] open: data/unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh is missing
23:08:50.489 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.

[Lord Derfel]

Looks like there is a texture file missing, what I belive is happening is that the battlesmodeldb is trying to locate an entry but is not able to. It is basicly trying to locate "bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh" but the file is not present.

Look in the following path "unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh" and make sure the"bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh" is in there. If not than copy it over from the BC unit_models file.

[hippacrocafish]

Looks like there is a texture file missing, what I belive is happening is that the battlesmodeldb is trying to locate an entry but is not able to. It is basicly trying to locate "bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh" but the file is not present.

Look in the following path "unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh" and make sure the"bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh" is in there. If not than copy it over from the BC unit_models file.

That texture is already in mods/ss 6.3/data/unit models/_units/_units/generals (The second "_units" is the copied folder from BC)

EDIT: I moved the BC _untis folder into the unit models folder and that did nothing.

[Lord Derfel]

According to the system log the modelsdb file is trying to find a texture in "mods/ss6.3/data/unit_models/_units/generals" but it can not find the generals folder. Based on the log the error is somewhere here. Other than that I do not know what else to tell you. Check and make certain the files are all in the right place and if the problem still occur post the system log again.

Also the file path _units/_units/generals is not correct there should only be one 1 _units for example data/unit_models/_units/generals

[Babygod22]

Getting a CTD whenever I try to enter a battle.

EDIT: Last lines of the log

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

23:08:50.488 [system.io] [trace] exists: 1112: caching directory: mods/ss6.3/data/unit_models/_units/generals
23:08:50.488 [system.io] [info] exists: directory non-existant: mods/ss6.3/data/unit_models/_units/generals
23:08:50.489 [system.io] [info] exists: missing mods/SS6.3/data/unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh
23:08:50.489 [system.io] [trace] file open,,data/unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh,,not found
23:08:50.489 [system.io] [trace] pack open,packs/data_3.pack,data/unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh,,not found
23:08:50.489 [system.io] [warning] open: data/unit_models/_units/generals/bc_islamic_captain_lod0.mesh is missing
23:08:50.489 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.

You did not install it properly then, nothing happened to me.

[maxstill]

any way these things could be included in a installer,it's hard for everyone to add the units himself

[smitty]

any way these things could be included in a installer,it's hard for everyone to add the units himself

How hard? All you need to do is copy over the entire _units file from the Broken Crescent folder into the Stainless Steel folder, then add the 2 files Phosphoricus has added here. It's very simple. Do not complicate things by trying to fiddle with each individual unit and transferring them over, just simply merge the one folder into the other.

[Phosphoricus]

How hard? All you need to do is copy over the entire _units file from the Broken Crescent folder into the Stainless Steel folder, then add the 2 files Phosphoricus has added here. It's very simple. Do not complicate things by trying to fiddle with each individual unit and transferring them over, just simply merge the one folder into the other.

Copying the BC files is not a pain unless you don't already have BC2.02, because that is where the skins are from (I don't plan to package them myself). If you don't have that mod, you should get it rather than wait for someone to post just the _units folder, because, frankly, it is an excellent mod in its own right and worth playing.

Perhaps he refers to the predicament faced by those who have made other changes to their battle_models.modeldb or descr_character.txt . In order to preserve their prior customizations, they must manually make some of the textual changes made by my mod. I explained how to do this earlier. It can be tedious if you have made extensive changes to these files already. Again I recommend using an editor such as Notepad++ because of the useful 'compare' function.

I suppose that an installer or patcher could be written to make targeted changes to the text files, but I don't think the changes are so extensive as to warrant such a luxury. Of course, this also depends on how difficult it would be to create a basic installer. I have an idea how a Python script could be written to make such changes but it seems like unnecessary work if you consider that most folks probably haven't made that many changes altogether to the default files, but maybe I am wrong.

[hippacrocafish]

How hard? All you need to do is copy over the entire _units file from the Broken Crescent folder into the Stainless Steel folder, then add the 2 files Phosphoricus has added here. It's very simple. Do not complicate things by trying to fiddle with each individual unit and transferring them over, just simply merge the one folder into the other.

That's exactly what I did and my game CTDs whenever I enter battle, so for some of us it's not that simple.

[maxstill]

to get this straight let me understand,i have the BC mod on my PC,all i have to do is just copy some files from BC to SS or do i need to make text changes?(sorry for being such a noob,but i've never messed with skins before)

[Phosphoricus]

to get this straight let me understand,i have the BC mod on my PC,all i have to do is just copy some files from BC to SS or do i need to make text changes?(sorry for being such a noob,but i've never messed with skins before)

If you use the default SS installation for the version you use, you need only to copy the contents of C:\...\Medieval II Total War\broken_crescent\data\unit_models\_units\ into the equivalent SS folder, C:\...\Medieval II Total War\mods\Stainless_Steel_6\data\unit_models\_units\ . After this, you overwrite the SS files, battle_models.modeldb and descr_character.txt , with the versions I have attached. These SS files are located at C:\...\Stainless_Steel_6\data\unit_models\ and C:\...\Stainless_Steel_6\data\ , respectively.

If you are not using the default SS files for battle_models.modeldb or descr_character.txt (because of your own customizations to these files, or use of other mods that change these files), you will need to manually make the changes or else you will lose your customizations or encounter crashes. Reduce your workload by thinking through different ways of doing this. If the only customization relevant to the files changed by my mod was the addition of one entry to the battle_models.modeldb, it is easier for you to simply add that entry to my mod's version (and update the entry count) than to integrate the extensive and picky textual changes from my version into your version.

[maxstill]

is Meneth's compilation compatible with this?