"Total Vanilla 1.0" - A Medieval 2 - Kingdoms mod (Vanilla+)

[4zumi]

Edit Note:

I work no longer on this mod. It is finished as it is. I work now on the successor mod "Total Vanilla Beyond". You can check it out in the other thread.
Thanks and cheers
azumi

Fellow Generals,

a few month ago I released the beta versions of my „Total Vanilla“ mod for Medieval 2 – Kingdoms on Reddit. Now it is finished and available in the 1.0 version. The step from 0.9 to 1.0 was a large one and took some time.

This started as and is foremost a personal mod to suit my playstyle. I consider it a vanilla+ mod, keeping most of the original gameplay intact. And I like to share it with you guys and girls.

Important notice (The .bat mystery):

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Mod works fine with the Steam Version of Medieval 2 + Kingdoms, just follow the installation instructions and start it with the command line in Steam.

On the other hand I could not get the game to run with using either of the provided .bat files. (It always CTDs at startup with no real answer in the log file. For some people those seem to work, especially the alternative bat. No idea why)
The alternative .bat was taken from the Bare Geomod and changed accordingly.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

If you are using the cd version, please use the alternative bat (if it works) or change the name of the .exe in the other bat to "kingdoms.exe".

If there is anyone who could provide a soultion for this, it will be much appreciated, because at the moment I'm out of ideas how to solve this mystery.

So here are the condensed changes: A complete change note can be found in the manual available for download.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

• -198 regions, including some small new landmasses, and slightly altered starting locations.
• -more regions in america, north africa and the eastern steppes, and all around
• -New Playable Factions: Ireland, Norway, Lithuania (complete with religion change), Novgorod, Emirate of Damascus and the Empire of Azumi (mostly for fun, you can play completely without them, if you leave their territory alone.
• -New Non Playable Factions: Tuareg, Apachean
• -Special Unique Units for every faction, only one of it recruitable. With unique skins.
• -New Unique Buildings, St. Peters, Hagia Sophia, Kaaba,…..
• -Reworked recruitment. You can only recruit troops from buildings not any longer from walls.
• -New Units, integegrated from the kingdoms campaign and some completely new ones.
• -Some new events, like the smallpox event in the americas.
• -Two new startup movies (when you start the game) and some new event movies (discover azumis empire, hold 100 regions, discover apachean, etc.)
• -Debt script, that keeps the ai going and not going dormant, when bancrupt. But does not allow them to recruit new units until they have a positive balance again, but allows them to build buildings, so they can get out of debt.
• -Added a new recruit system for the knightly order troops.
• -Free Cities (Rebels) are now able to build and recruit (but stay relatively passive) after turn 50.
• -Double movement range for ships and agents
• -Now completely in english
• -Some changes to guild boni, triggers, etc. Now you should not find a thieves guild everywhere.
• -Changes to pike units, to make them more effective, some changes to unit stats, etc….
• -More mongols
• -3 new trading resources
• -and some more changes (please read the manual to get a complete overview)

The Full Campaign Map

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Album from the Speacial Unique Units and some Campaign Map Screens

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

http://imgur.com/a/ueDVw

known issues:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

• -the new factions will greet you as england, because i have no desire to mess with the sound files. If it bothers you you have to try and change it yourself.
• -maybe some german words that are overlooked, maybe some missing info cards or skins.
• -sometimes a ctd during siege battles, but this may not be a mod issue.
• -The .bat file mystery (they don't seem to work, i gave no idea why. Please read the Important notice above.

Installation:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

• -please look into the manual.
• -it works for the steam version
• -make sure you have a clean and unaltered vanilla installation

Mods used as a base for this mod
(Much thanks for this work and effort)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

• Retrofit Mod by Unspoken Knight (TWCenter)
• Grand unit addon mod by Calendarius (TWCENTER)
• Stone Forts Complete by Gigantus (Twcenter)
• Dismounted Mailed Knights by Lord Condormanius (Twcenter)
• G5 Settlement Tweaks v1.01 for M2TW\Kingdoms by Germanicu5 (Tw Center)
• And much inspiration and help from the TW Center Forum

Downloads:

Campaign Map: http://www.mediafire.com/view/tgmddo...la_1.0_map.png
Total Vanilla Manual: http://www.mediafire.com/download/do...1.0_manual.pdf
Mod Files 1.4 GB (unpacked 3.4 GB): http://www.mediafire.com/download/db...anilla_1.0.zip

Please keep in mind that i'm just a one man modding team, so there may be issues i'm not aware of. If you run into any bugs, let me know. I will try to help.


Have fun. Thanks and good night.
Azumi

[4zumi]

Reserved for later additions

[Kesten pire]

Good job so far!

[PrimoTw]

Hi i wanted to try your mod, but when i start Medieval 2 ,following the installation process in the manual, the game crashes after the splash screen of Total Vanilla. Is something wrong?

[4zumi]

Hi Primo,

thanks for trying my mod.

I will try to help you. For this I will need some infos.

First of all, which game version are you using the steam version or the cd version. There is a known issue with trying to start up the cd version that i cant quiet figure out and may be the culprit for the ctd. Unfortunaltely i'm stuck with trying to get it to work for the cd version. But i'm working on it.

If you are using the steam version please let me know if you have altered any of the original files of the base game. Maybe for another mod?

[4zumi]

@ Kesten

Thank you,

hope you are having fun wih it.

[LYNCHY]

Really enjoying the mod so far; just what I wanted, bar one thing. Is there any way of removing the azumi altogether? Not a fan of the faction being there and I don't like there units appearing for the normal factions. Cheers.

[4zumi]

Thanks, glad to hear that you are having fun.

With some work it would be possible. You would have to edit a few files.
There is a quick and dirty method if you want to just get rid of the azumi units for every faction. You will have to open up the export_description_buildings.txt and set a ; in front of every azumi unit recruitment line.
save it and the factions should no longer be able to recruit these units. this will work with a save game, except for the azumi units already recruited, they will have to die in battle.

but this does not get rid of the faction completely. they would be still sitting in their small island not able to recruit anything, so you could crush them in an instant.

i would have to make some adjustments to wipe them of the map. if i find the time i will look into this at the weekend and make a small submod for this.

Cheers.

[hot jack]

Thanks Azumi for this great MOD
but can you tell us more about the AI
and can i add a blood mod ?

[4zumi]

Thank you jack, for enjoying it. Hope you have fun.

Frankly, there is not much to tell about the AI, I have not stuck my nose into this. Apart from the change with the "free cities" aka rebels faction, so they will become active at some point and build up their armies and settlements, i have not changed anything AI related, as far as I remeber.

A blood mod could be working, if it does not overwrite any crucial files of my mod. I have no experience using a blood mod, but i think such a mod would overwrite some textures, so it should be save to use. You have to try that out.
If you run into an issue feel free to ask, I will try to help.

Edit: Oh, if you want to incorporate one of the improved ai systems from other modders, i'm not sure if this will work out with just simply installing them.

[hot jack]

Thanks 4zumi when i read your manual i liked the mod and downloaded it instantly
it's perfect adding more features and keeps the vanillia atmosphere
but i have a little problem everytime i launch the game it gives me an error
i tried your method but didn't work
i hope you fix this
Note: i'm using the cd version

[hot jack]

Thank you jack, for enjoying it. Hope you have fun.

Frankly, there is not much to tell about the AI, I have not stuck my nose into this. Apart from the change with the "free cities" aka rebels faction, so they will become active at some point and build up their armies and settlements, i have not changed anything AI related, as far as I remeber.

A blood mod could be working, if it does not overwrite any crucial files of my mod. I have no experience using a blood mod, but i think such a mod would overwrite some textures, so it should be save to use. You have to try that out.
If you run into an issue feel free to ask, I will try to help.

Edit: Oh, if you want to one of the improved ai systems from other modders, i'm not sure if this will work out with just simply installing them.

I forgot that your mod is based on retrofit and it balances the Ai already
but did you use V1 or V2 ?

[4zumi]

I'm pretty sure i used the retrofit 1.0
Unfortunately I still don't have a solution for the CD version problem. I don't know, why it works on the steam version and not for the CD Version.
As soon as I have a solution I will post it here.

[kuzyn]

@4zumi
Hey! Nice work but I have an one question. Can you share files with only added new factions from Kingdoms? Or can you explain how I can add Lithuania, Norway, Novgorod, Ireland etc to the main game? Thanks!

[4zumi]

Hey kuzyn,

sorry that may answer is so delayed, but i'm pretty busy at the moment.
Do you want to add these factions to your unmodded game, or my map without the new factions like damascus, tuareg, etc?

If it's the first, i'm afraid this is not as easy. It's not like it is a simple drag and drop addition of new factions. This would require some rework. The easiest way would be editing my mod with the geomod tool from Gigantus and remove the unwanted factions and reassigning the provinces to rebels or some other faction. But an in depth explanation of how to do this would take a lot of time. But you could read the tutorials by Gigantus.
If you want to add the factions to your normal game, this would be even more work and some extensive text and data editing.

But feel free to ask me further questions. Maybe I can help.

Sorry again for the late answer.

[Begeta]

error

[4zumi]

Hi Begeta,

if you could elaborate a bit about what happened, I may be able to help you.

If you are using the CD Version and not the Steam version of Medieval 2 there is a startup error I'm unable to solve at the moment due to a lack of ideas what is causing it.

Thank you.

[Filipse]

Doesnt work, gives error on start-up after the window with screen-splash with game-name appears before cinematics (vanilla steam version, done as instructions asked)

Screenie
http://i.imgur.com/6VVEi72.jpg

[Filipse]

Was also done with fresh install, no difference in results.

[4zumi]

Hi Filipse,

I know you wrote, done as instructed, but please don't feel offended when I ask the next questions. I just want to make sure.

You have Medieval 2 + Kingdoms Addon on Steam?
You added the command line to Steam, an not used any of the bat files?
You placed the mod in the separate mod folder and did not overwrite any vanilla game files?
Could you send me the error log? Usually the last few lines will suffice.

From the screenshot I could see that it taps out very early in the loading process. This can mean all kind of things. So hopefully there is some hint in the log file.

Alternatively you could try out the new iteration of this mod "Total Vanilla Beyond", found here in a thread above.

Thank you and i will get back to you when I could have a look at the log file.