ESF: Adding Settlement Fortifications

Guys, how can I enable te building of settlement fortifications in different settlements, or have them pre-built?

I'm looking for a step by step guide and haven't been able to find something specifically on this in all of the tutorials.

I don't know how to enable the building of fortifications. (Presumably you would like to be able to build fortifications in, e.g., a city which only has one building slot. You may want to look at a tutorial on editing the number of slots which a city has, such as demis14's tutorial, and then try adapting the following procedure to fill the extra slot which you have made.)

I do have an idea about how to you might be able to edit the startpos so that region capitals are fortified at the start. I wrote my understanding of taw's method for removing fortifications at the start here. That tutorial may at least help you to work our where to look in the startpos.esf. Obviously, if we can remove fortifications, then it should (at least in theory) be possible to reverse that process.

In theory, something like the following procedure could work - this is just a guess (based on the experience I've had of removing fortifications from the startpos and the fact that I have been able to add information to region entries by copying and pasting, e.g. region resources):-

- Make a copy of the startpos.esf file to work on, keeping the unedited original in a safe place (you can find the vanilla Grand Campaign startpos in C:/ProgramFiles(x86)Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war/data/campaigns/main folder(I use a Windows 7 PC; if you don't, the path may vary a bit)

- Start ESF Editor

- Open a copy of the startpos.esf file to the following folder; where the instructions below say [name of region], choose a region which already has fortifications at the start (e.g. Florida or Scotland):-
campaign_startpos/campaign_env/campaign_model/world/region_manager/regions_array/[name of region]/[name of region]/region_slot_manager/Settlement: [name]/Settlement_Fortifications Building Manager/Settlement_Fortifications Building

- Right-click the Settlement_Fortifications Building Manager or the Settlement_Fortifications Building, or something like that (I don't know which - you would need to experiment) and select 'copy'

- Copy and paste that information into the equivalent location (the region_slot_manager/Settlement: [name]) for a region where you would like to have city fortifications at the start

- If you click on Settlement_Fortifications Building Manager, on the right hand side of the screen you will see two Boolean entries. In a region which starts with fortifications, the first Boolean entry will be True and the second entry will be False. In a region which does not start with fortifications, the first entry will be False. So you may need to change the first entry from False to True, if it isn't already True.

- If your unedited startpos.esf file is still in C:/ProgramFiles(x86)Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war/data/campaigns/main, rename it to something like vanilla_startpos.esf. Copy and paste your edited startpos file into that folder. Start a campaign.

I hope this works - I am afraid that I haven't tested it. Good luck! If you make do this, would you be willing to post so that other people can benefit from your experience?

(If anyone working with the startpos find that you have accidentally deleted or edited the vanilla startpos, you can get a new copy of the vanilla startpos from Steam without re-installing the whole game. To do this, simply: (a) remove any file called startpos.esf from C:/ProgramFiles(x86)Steam/steamapps/common/empire total war/data/campaigns/main and (b) verify the integrity of your game files - on Steam, right-click on Empire Total War, select Properties, then Local Files, then Verify Integrity of Game Cache. Steam should detect the absence of the startpos.esf and put a new one in the correct place.)

My other basic guides to modding ETW are listed here.

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Originally Posted by Alwyn

I do have an idea about how to you might be able to edit the startpos so that region capitals are fortified at the start. I wrote my understanding of taw's method for removing fortifications at the start here. That tutorial may at least help you to work our where to look in the startpos.esf. Obviously, if we can remove fortifications, then it should (at least in theory) be possible to reverse that process.

In theory, something like the following procedure could work - this is just a guess (based on the experience I've had of removing fortifications from the startpos and the fact that I have been able to add information to region entries by copying and pasting, e.g. region resources):-

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This was very useful information Alwyn, thank-you!
I have followed your advice and with a few 'tweeks' here and there I got it working. In particular, I used the fortifications from Malta as my first template. I ran into trouble when it came to copying-and-pasting the code. The ESF editor will paste the code following the hierarchy, and I didn't know this at first.

Alas, trial-and-error saved the day.

Thanks again for this useful guide.

You're welcome, Rohi! Thank you for reporting on your experience.

I followed the tutorial (copied Settlement_Fortifications Building Manager, not Settlement_Fortifications Building) and tried it out. I didn't crash when I went to fight the new fort. So it works. However i'm not sure if it will make the game unstable and eventually crash in later turns.