this is a quick and dirty tutorial on easy faction conversion.
mind you, this only concerns basic faction coding.
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you will need: Notepad++, formated Modelsdb, sting.bin converter and Bare Kingdoms.
not relevant for this
probably redundant all together
File/folder hierarchy:
data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign\
campaign_script.txt
descr_mercenaries.txt
descr_strat.txt
descr_win_conditions.txt
data\world\maps\base\
descr_regions.txt
data\unit_models\
battle_models.MODELDB
data\text\
campaign_descriptions.txt
expanded.txt
export_vnvs.txt
names.txt
data\
descr_banners_new.XML
descr_character.txt
descr_cultures.txt
descr_lbc_db.txt
descr_model_strat.txt
descr_names.txt
descr_offmap_models.txt
descr_rebel_factions.txt
descr_religions.txt
descr_sm_factions.txt
export_descr_ancillaries.txt
export_descr_buildings.txt
export_descr_character_traits.txt
export_descr_guilds.txt
export_descr_unit.txt
create a folder on your desktop or any other convenient location. recreate the file and folder hierarchy, using files copied from the "vanilla" campaign. make a copy of the unmodified folder, in case you mess up it is good for back-up.
i strongly suggest converting one faction at a time, making a new back-up for each good conversion.
for this example i use the "Bare Kingdoms" as a base. it has already been given a custom map and my goal is to convert England into Tikal, with minimum hassle.
since it is the initial steps of a total conversion some of the files has been stripped, such as campaign_script, descr_rebel_factions and descr_strat. though others, like traits and ancillaries, will be kept intact.
1. data\ :
descr_banners_new.XML
open the files in Notepad++ and mark the text you wish to change.
in this case i wish to keep the vanilla banners, they can be changed when new ones are made. so i select "England", which is to be changed with "Tikal". in the "search" menu i open "Replace".
i set to "Match case" and use "Replace All".
it turns out like this:
descr_character.txt
this file use small letters, but the routine is the same:
descr_models_strat
again i wish to keep the models and textures vanilla, so i select also the comma after faction name.
this:
like this:
to this:
this is pretty much it for most files.
some files only have one instance of the faction mentioned, while others use a mix of different terms(example: England and english).
export_descr_ancillaries
such a troublesome file is "export_descr_ancillaries".
first i search for england, case insensitive:
it yields various results:
but it is no real problem, just have to do it twice:
export_descr_character_traits
yet another messy file, the faction names need to be converted several times.
here i had the opportunity to clean up the capitalization of letters, but for some reason i did not...
at any rate i choose to use Tikal/tikal in all instances, since non of this text is seen in-game. the descriptions that is referred to in this document is how ever seen on screen, but we will get to that later.
export_descr_guilds
not all factions are listed in this file.
2. data\text\
use the stings_bin converter to convert the files to text documents. delete the old files, they will be regenerated.
expanded.txt
again there is a mix of spelling and capital letters.
the most important is the faction name in all capitals within the brackets. this is what the game engine refer to, the rest is the on-screen text which will not cause a CTD.
export_vnvs.txt
this is the file which is referred to by export_descr_character_traits. the entries in the latter need to match the lines in between the brackets in export_vnvs.txt.
3. data\unit_models\
battle_models.MODELDB
use the formated file and open it in Notepad++
the number before any faction name entry must be equal the letters in the faction name, so that need to change also. for england that was 7, for tikal that is 5.
4. data\world\maps\base\
descr_regions.txt
if you have not made changes to the file descr_rebel_factions.txt then you need not concern with the rebels entries in descr_regions.txt
5. \world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign\
being the initial stages of a total conversion, there are not much information in the files contained here.
campaign_script.txt
this file i cleaned out, there are no scripts no faction names...
descr_mercenaries.txt
this file i cleaned out, there is a new map and new provinces, so it will have to be built from scratch.
descr_strat.txt
this file i pruned, only one faction, one settlement and one character is listed for testing purposes. this file must be built from scratch, according to the new campaign.
descr_win_conditions.txt
by now i guess you get the point...
a messy .PDF version attached bellow.