Help appreciated - adding units to factions.

[falkonfive]

I've spent a couple of days trawling through tutorials on the subject being new to NTW3 modding. Some excellently written tutorials full of info but confusing to a total new boy. I think the problem is I would like to do something quite simple, that is put in a couple of existing units from one faction into another.
I don't want to create units or use them in the campaigns. Purely for MP custom historical battles.

I understand the PFM does the job but which files do I actually need to edit? units_to_faction_permissions looks essential but should I be editing others if so which ones?
In order to make space for them I will need to delete some existing units. Do I do this in the units file?

The initial objective is to add some Portuguese to the Brits and Confederation to the French to enable Peninsula stuff to be played using the Lordz mod.

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but would be eternally grateful if one of the ' old hands ' could briefly list the steps required.

Many thanks

falkonfive

[wulfgar610]

Well that's pretty simple.

Go to units_ to_exclusive_factions_permissions.

Search in the unit ID for say "Inf_Line_Portuguese_Infantry". Click the extreme left column button. The row should now be highlighted in blue. Go to the top bar and click "clone row". Now at the very bottom of the columns their is a duplicate of the row. Now all you have to do is copy "Britain" from another row and paste that over the faction ID which currently says "portugal". Now click on any row to hold your change.
Then just go to file in the left hand upper of the screen and click on save.

The unit will now be recruitable in any British town which the correct level of military building.

Maybe you need learn how to create your own pack file for modding. Essentially you simply need to create a mod file which is a copy of patch 4. In fact you only need the DB of patch 4.

To create your own mod file, follow these step by step instructions.

MODIFICATION BASICS: How to become a modder, and how to use Pack File Manager to make a mod

Ok, lets start off by making your first mod!

1. Ok, create a new folder on your desktop, call it "My Mod" or the name of your mod.
2. Ok, now open the PFM, and find the file(s) that you wish to edit (Find other tutorials for more percific details on how to edit)
3. Don't edit them yet, extract them to the folder you made step 1
4. Now click on 'File/New' and then when asked which folder do you want it to be relative to, press the folder yo created in step 1.
5.Now right click and press "add directory" and click on the folder you created in step 1.
6.Now all of the files you extracted should be in your new pack, now right click somewhere on the left panel, and press 'Change Mod Type' and usually change it to 'mod' (There is also movie, patch, release, but they don't mean anything, they are just different types of packs, but stick with mod) Now save your pack to Program Files/Steam/Steam Apps/Common/Napoleon Total War/data, call it whatever like "My_Awesome_Mod" or whatever.
7. Now edit your files, edit tga's dds', or DB files, whatever you want to edit, there are other tutorials that go into more detail for what you particually want to mod, just call them the same thing when you resave them in the same place as 6!
8. To activate your mod, go to your AppData/Roaming/Creative Assembly/Napoleon/Scripts and create a user.scprit text file with Notepad and type in it: mod xxxx.pack; (xxxx being the name of your mod) and then save it, making sure it is saved as unicode.

Warning, Appdata may be hidden, so you may have to look hard to find it, Appdata is usually found in your User folder for Vista or Win 7, meaning the folder named what your computer is called, usually found on your desktop!

I'd probably use mod manager to launch it since that tends to be the easiest way.

Keep a copy of your mod file in a spare folder and update when you find your alterations will load. It easy to corrupt the file and it won't load. In that case simply copy your spare to your data folder.

All you are doing in this case is extending permission so Britain can use the unit. That particular units onscreen name is the very simple minded one of "infantry"

The unit will show in the MP battle, but unfortunately it won't have the Portuguese uniform and instead will the place holder generic uniform and be in British red waving the union jack.

To get the unit with the correct appearance involves cloning the unit and setting quite a number of files for it. However if you can do the above you are well on your way to doing the rest.

[falkonfive]

Belated thanks for the info Wulfgar. With your advice it's beginning to make sense. I've added some units but am trying to go the whole hog and do uniforms and names as well. I'll keep you informed.

Cheers

F5

[wulfgar610]

Belated thanks for the info Wulfgar. With your advice it's beginning to make sense. I've added some units but am trying to go the whole hog and do uniforms and names as well. I'll keep you informed.

Cheers

F5

Like anything it looks confusing at the start. But once you start becoming familiar with it, then it begins to look simple. It takes time, that's why it's best to start with a simple mod as an exercise.

[falkonfive]

Many thanks Wulfgar, after countless cups of coffee, too many cigarettes and some midnight oil I finally added a Portuguese line unit to the Brits!!

You were right, the more you play with files and make mistakes the more it begins to fall into place. I used a combination of two useful tutorials, one by Thalion and one by Katz both concerned with adding units to factions. What made the task more difficult is that whereas one lists xxx files to be edited another lists yyyy. Another problem is that for complete beginners referring to ' extracting the latest files from the pack ' doesn't help if you don't know which pack to look in. In the end it was your reference to pack 4 which did the trick. Anyhow many thanks once again for your help. Now comes the exciting bit if I can repeat the triumph with Cacadores

Regards

F5

PS if anyone else is starting from scratch adding units to the Lordz NTW mod ( no campaign just custom battles ) writing the script file needs an extra step in converting the user.script to an NTW3. preferences script. If you are having a problem I'll be glad to help ( Good Lord, I almost sound like I know what I'm talking about!! )