Retrofit Mod 1.0 Released

[Temur]

Thanks now i can play hotseat in the GC Awesome!

[Garnier]

How does the retrofit desktop shortcut work.. using this target line:

"G:\GAMES\Medieval II Total War\kingdoms.exe"

It's just running kingdoms.exe? So how does it know to run the retrofit mod?

I'm trying to get my own mod working in kingdoms but it doesn't seem to use the files I change...

[Archaon]

you will need to launch a custom .cfg through a .bat file and add the command switch io.file_first more info on this here, look at post 27 by me

[Rabain]

I think the question there is why does the Retrofit install ask you if you want to create a shortcut on your desktop and then when it creates that shortcut the path in the shortcut is directly to the kingdoms exe and avoids the Retrofit bat that exists.

Just seems strange is all.

[Sarge]

It is rather strange. The shortcut seems to be more than just a shortcut. If you go to the target of the shortcut

(x:Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\Kingdoms.exe)

and try run it directly (without using the shortcut) the game will:
1) Not display the 'Retrofit Mod' text on the M2TW splash screen
2) Crash shortly thereafter with an error message box that contains no actual error message.
If you try and use the "Send To.. Desktop (Create Shortcut)" feature off the right-click menu, it will do the same thing.

Also, the shortcut that the Retrofit mod makes seems to be a few bytes (76 B, actually) larger than it needs to be. Care to explain why, anyone?

[joedreck]

exe; i ask me this thing too. i think, that the retrofit change the kingdoms exe. if you start the shortcut, they start the kingdoms.exe and the kingdoms.exe starts the mod. why i think that? i can't start the kingdom.exe. i get an error.

something else.
can someone upload the retrofit edu? i've change some things, but now i need the orginal retrofit.

[Rabain]

Rename your Retrofit folder and install it again.

[joedreck]

i have not enough hdd free.

[Unspoken Knight]

@Sarge & joedreck:

The shortcut runs the target with the @medieval2.retrofit.cfg command line switch. All 4 Kingdoms campaign shortcuts also run the kingdoms.exe with special command line switches. The Retrofit Mod does not modify the kingdoms.exe, the kingdoms installation or the vanilla M2TW installation. Running the kingdoms.exe directly may cause issues since the exe may not be able to find a suitable campaign to run.

@joedreck:

I think you can just run the Retrofit installer again. This should repair the installation. If not, just uninstall and reinstall the Retrofit Mod. Any new files (i.e. Retrofit save games) should remain.


Unspoken Knight

[Sarge]

@Sarge & joedreck:

The shortcut runs the target with the @medieval2.retrofit.cfg command line switch. All 4 Kingdoms campaign shortcuts also run the kingdoms.exe with special command line switches. The Retrofit Mod does not modify the kingdoms.exe, the kingdoms installation or the vanilla M2TW installation. Running the kingdoms.exe directly may cause issues since the exe may not be able to find a suitable campaign to run.



Unspoken Knight

Except I don't see a command line switch in the shortcut's "Target" line. It just reads "C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\kingdoms.exe"

[joedreck]

@joedreck:

I think you can just run the Retrofit installer again. This should repair the installation. If not, just uninstall and reinstall the Retrofit Mod. Any new files (i.e. Retrofit save games) should remain.

its a little bit complicate, cause i'm working on a mod and can't uninstal the files.

[Resurrection]

Hello Unspoken Knight!

I have been playing your mod for some time and it's awesome. Personally I find EDU a little unbalanced so I do not use this file, but rest is great.

What put me in awe most was the diplomacy. Did you change anything regarding that? I saw alliance blocks, switching sides when it seemes reasonable and my own alliance with HRE lasted for 150 turns! Also military access showed up in negotitations (never before) and was initiated by the AI!

I haven't seen any random or nonsense attacking ports. No stupid wars or such. Hostilities is sometimes lasting just like alliances... and on top of all, I play it on VH/VH, on which difficulty I've never seen decently performing AI before.

I really do not know how you achieved that, but it's absolutely awesome!

Thanks a million for this mod.

[Unspoken Knight]

@Sarge:

Somehow the switch has been hidden from the shortcut's target line. I used inno setup to create the shortcut.

@joedreck:

If you do as Rabain suggested, you do not need to install the full Retrofit Mod. You can disable the optional components to save some space. I am not sure off hand exactly how big the core components are.

@Resurrection:

Thanks, I have not really done anything special for diplomacy. I have only used the Kingdoms exe (which contains various bug fixes, tweaks and improvements) and added some minor data changes for the AI to target factions they need to outlive as part of their win conditions.


Unspoken Knight

[Johan217]

UnspokenKnight,

Did you change anything in the character trait files? If so, what (in general)?
And do you know if the Kingdoms.exe fixes anything in in the character traits?

Thank you for making this mod.

[RandomAttack]

UnspokenKnight,

1) Is it just my installation or has anyone else noticed a reduction/absence of sea trade in this mod?

EX: Turn 1, Grand Campaign, England. Built ports in London & Nottingham. End turn. No sea trade at all for turn 2. None at Caen even though it starts with a port. In vanilla, all 3 are trading immediately--at least with each other and maybe Scotland.

I first noticed this after about 10 turns in and my income seemed suspiciously low. No trade routes indicated on strat map. Checked the trade scrolls and NO sea trade at all... Not at war with anyone, etc.

2) For this mod and all original Kingdoms campaigns, any changes to the descr_character.txt "global" starting action points don't seem to have any effect.
EX: Changing the default movement point number in Vanilla M2TW (say from 80 to 90) works fine. Changing this number in ANY of the Kingdoms variants seems to have no effect at all. Is this controlled by some other mechanism in Kingdoms?? (Any other modified files work fine so I know my setup is ok)

Thanks in advance.

[RandomAttack]

Gave up trying to figure out why #1 above, so I reinstalled the mod-- and it corrected whatever glitch I was experiencing.

Still having the issue in #2 above though...

[Unspoken Knight]

@RandomAttack:

2) For this mod and all original Kingdoms campaigns, any changes to the descr_character.txt "global" starting action points don't seem to have any effect.
EX: Changing the default movement point number in Vanilla M2TW (say from 80 to 90) works fine. Changing this number in ANY of the Kingdoms variants seems to have no effect at all. Is this controlled by some other mechanism in Kingdoms?? (Any other modified files work fine so I know my setup is ok)

For Kingdoms and Kingdoms mods, the global starting action points are overridden by any particular character type starting action points listed in the same file. Just scroll further down and each character type will have its own starting action points specified.


@Johan217:

Did you change anything in the character trait files? If so, what (in general)?
And do you know if the Kingdoms.exe fixes anything in in the character traits?

I have only brought across a couple of very minor tweaks from Kingdoms (I can't remember exactly what they were). I also cannot recall if the Kingdoms.exe includes any fixes for character traits, sorry.


Regards,

Unspoken Knight

[pwijnands]

If I use Retrofit as a base for a (personal) mod, can I simply add whichever (text or xml) file I want into the data folder and mod away? The game seems to CTD with an unspecified error after a few turns when I make changes to files?

[Unspoken Knight]

If I use Retrofit as a base for a (personal) mod, can I simply add whichever (text or xml) file I want into the data folder and mod away? The game seems to CTD with an unspecified error after a few turns when I make changes to files?

You should be able to use the Retrofit Mod as a base and add additional modded files or mod existing ones. Since modding can be quite an involved process I cannot explain your CTD with the information you have provided. It depends on many factors including which files you have modded, how they have been modded, how you run the game, which editor you have used, etc.


Unspoken Knight

[Sarge]

Are you working on an update for Retrofit 1.0, Unspoken. or are you done with it?