[Modding] RTW: Guide to Command Line Switches

[Publius]

Author: Simetrical
Original Thread: Guide to Command Line Switches

Guide to Command Line Switches

A command line switch is something that's added to the end of a shortcut to a program. Generally, switches are preceded by a hyphen. For those who don't know how to use them, here's a quick and easy guide; those who already know how to use command switches can skip ahead.

1) Create a shortcut to RTW.

2) Right-click on the shortcut and select Properties.

3) At the end of the Target box, where the location of the program is in quotes, add the desired switches after the program path. So for instance, your Target line might read "C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\RomeTW.exe" -switch1 -switch2, where -switch1 and -switch2 are switches.

Now, why did I make a topic about this in the Workshop? Most of you probably already know how to use command switches such as -show_err and -enable_editor. But in addition to those two, there are three little-known switches that are immensely useful. To wit:

-ne. This switch is the #1 most useful switch of all, discounting show_err. It allows RTW to run in windowed mode—you can switch back and forth between it and other applications instantly while anything's loading. I can't overstate how useful this is—no more staring blankly at loading screens! You can post on message boards, talk on IRC, etc., switching between RTW and your browser as easily as you switch between your browser and e-mail client. Try it out and see for yourself.

-nm. This is next most useful, in my opinion. What it does is quite simple—it eliminates all videos, including the introductory videos and the menu background video. This speeds up loading significantly.

-strat:campaign_name (campaign_name is the name of a subfolder within data\world\maps\campaign). This skips all the menus and immediately starts a new campaign that you specified. This is useful for repetitive testing of the campaign, or at least some find it so. I personally think it's easier to just start it up normally. Also, I don't know how to pick what faction you start as, but I'm sure there's some way.

And for those of you in the dark about -show_err and -enable_editor:

-show_err. This switch will often show you an error when one crops up in the game. Sometimes it's helpful, sometimes it's not, sometimes an error doesn't show up at all. The error message will appear when you exit RTW (or when it crashes), and only the first error encountered will be reported.

-enable_editor. This switch enables the historical battle editor. With it enabled, go to the Options menu, then Battle Editor.

There are also one or two others, like -sprite_generator, but I think that's enough for now.

-Simetrical