Grand Unit Addon Mod (for Retrofit 1.0) Version 6.0

[Candelarius]

VERSION 5.5 RELEASED

Without further ado, version 5.5 is released. The download link is available in the first post of this thread. The new installer is the full mod, and for all the features to be available, a new campaign start is required.

Version 5.5 adds new features and a few minor fixes, nothing serious. The biggest change is the removal of the Early Generals Mod and reverting back to vanilla generals and captains. Another big change is the inclusion of Kingdoms battlemap faction leader models and some new unit additions. I've tested this mod as much as humanly possible and from the hours and hours of gameplay I've put into it I can say it is bug free, but, if you should find anything I missed, let me know.

Here is version 5.5's change log:
1. Minor mercenary pool tweaks in the Holy Land and Egypt.
2. Fix for Council Mission awards giving Canons of the Holy Sepulchre unit.
Canons are no longer recruitable from barracks, and are now only a "reward" for capturing Jerusalem (as a Catholic faction).
Single unit of Canons, lead by a captain, will spawn outside Jerusalem immediately after capture.
3. Removing the Early Generals Mod. This was a hard decision, but, I've decided to go this route for the following reasons:

a. It bothers me that the strat map generals do not match the battle map generals.
b. It bothers me that the generals in the FMV and event pictures, and faction vids, do not look alike.
c. My mod was supposed to be a unit addon mod, and it bothers me that I've allowed myself to toss in non unit addon stuff.
d. Sure it's nice in the early era to have early generals, but, when one gets to the late era, ones generals still look out-of-place anyway.

4. Added faction leader battle map models from Kingdoms.
5. Added new faction color coded textures to the faction leader strat map models (many were still "england red").
6. Added English Huscarl mercenary unit, available for hire in early era England.
7. Added armor upgrades to Polish and Hungarian Foot Knights.
8. Added Knechten cavalry unit to the HRE.
9. Added Dismounted and Mounted Late Armored Knights to England, France, Scotland, Denmark, Hungary, and Poland.
10. Added Halberd Militia to Milan.
11. Added Dismounted Men at Arms to Sicily.
12. Added Mounted Men At Arms to Sicily.
13. Added Late Crossbowmen to Venice and Milan.
14. New UI cards for Sergeant Swordsmen.
15. Changed name of Spanish Dragoons to "Dragoons", since unit is shared with Portugal.

Technical Notes - PLEASE READ:
1. You MUST start a new campaign after installing version 5.5, or your campaign may crash. Finish your 5.4 campaign and then install 5.5 if you wish. See technical note #4 if you are installing version 5.5 on top of version 5.4. For best results, though, I suggest running the Retrofit Mod uninstaller, deleting the Retrofit folder from \Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\, reinstalling the Retrofit Mod, and then installing the 5.5 edition of this mod. This is not required, but will eliminate any chance at all for campaign instability.

2. For Vista users only, please make sure the sound_fix.bat file runs after installation, if you don't see a black box pop up and disappear immediately after the installer is closed, run the file manually by double clicking on it, which is found in your main M2TW folder (the one that contains the game's .exe). Don't ask me why Vista interrupts installers...

3. The first time you load up the mod it needs to create the game sound and music files, as my installer deletes them so the game engine can recreate them, so the new unit's voices will appear in-game. After the initial game loadup, it will load again normally the next time you start M2TW.

4. If you are installing version 5.5 on top of version 5.4, in order to remove the Early Generals Mod, you will need to open this folder:
C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\retrofit\data\unit_models\_generals_and_captains\
And delete these two sub-folders:
\northern_captain
\northern_general

Enjoy!

[caspian]

This mod is great! But can I play it in a bigger map, something like the Map in Stainless Steel?

[Candelarius]

Thanks!

You could, but, it will require some work because my mod modifies the descr_strat and descr_regions files. You'll need to install the Big Map mod and then manually integrate my changes, or you'll lose the hidden_resources I have programed and thus lose the Holy Land and Outremer units from the Crusades Campaign.

[Confederate Jeb]

Early generals are the generals that look like the special Generals in the historic battles, right? I keep getting them as captains in custom. Is this right? Also, when I downloaded the retrofit mod as well as the addon updates, was I supposed to copy them folders or whatever into the original Mediaval2 Folder? Cause I just downloaded them and they popped up as an icon after that, and it gets to be laggy at some times.

[Candelarius]

Early generals are the generals that look like the special Generals in the historic battles, right? I keep getting them as captains in custom. Is this right? Also, when I downloaded the retrofit mod as well as the addon updates, was I supposed to copy them folders or whatever into the original Mediaval2 Folder? Cause I just downloaded them and they popped up as an icon after that, and it gets to be laggy at some times.

1. If you are installing version 5.5 on top of version 5.4, in order to remove the Early Generals Mod, you will need to open this folder:
C:\Program Files\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\mods\retrofit\data\unit_models\_generals_and_captains\
And delete these two sub-folders:
\northern_captain
\northern_general

2. All you need to do to install the mod is run the .exe file that you downloaded.

3. What gets laggy at some times? The installer? That's normal, you're installing 600 megs of files. The game also loads up slow the very first time after installing the mod as the game engine loads up the new assets and recreates the game sound files, but after that, the game will load up like normal.

[Confederate Jeb]

Man, not only is it not lagging anymore, it's running smoother than when I just had the vanilla! Thanks!

[Candelarius]

Man, not only is it not lagging anymore, it's running smoother than when I just had the vanilla! Thanks!

Okay, good! Glad you're enjoying it.

[Candelarius]

Those heroes are used in the Historical battles, if I delete them, the Historical battles will no longer work....right?

[JonR]

Well, yeah..
You could however remove them and then edit the historical battle files and replace the hero units with generic bodyguards.

The only real difference would be that the bodyguards will get generic names when you hover over them, but that's very, very minor.


Also, some of those hero units(I think about a third of them) aren't used in any historical battles. They were probably meant to be used in some battles that were never added. You could at least remove those if you need space.

[Legionario]

Great man,you've done it again!
Kudos.....

[Candelarius]

I ran a test campaign with 5.5 today, took me about four hours, of just hitting end turn all the way through the entire game. Good news: Not a single AI turn crash. I also loaded up every single new unit for all factions, including mercs, and not a single battlemap loadup crash. So, I'm happy to report that 5.5 appears to be 100% stable, like 5.4 was. You must start a new campaign game after installing, however, or you may experience instability in your campaign. I highly, highly, highly recommend it. See the Tehnical Notes in the 5.5 announcement post for details.

Test Campaign - Faction Progress - Mini Map Screens








This was an interesting campaign. In my Test Campaign as Sicily with 5.4, England never left it's island, the HRE was destroyed early on, Egypt was destroyed early on, and Denmark and the Turks dominated most of the map, with Spain taking most of the south and Denmark the north. In this test campaign (which again consists of being Sicily, but doing nothing but hitting end turn), England dominates all of western Europe, Denmark goes east, and Egypt dominates the Middle East and Anatolia until the Timurids arrive. Milan also waged a holy war against the Pope, which was funny to see Milan controlling all of Italy and the Pope is exiled to North Africa!

Cheers,
Candelarius aka Yakaspat

[Candelarius]

@JonR:
Thanks, I didn't realise that. I'll keep that in mind if I decide to do an update later on.

@Legionario:
Cool beans, man, thanks.

[Queen Annes Revenge]

Awesome!! Great work Candelarius!

What happened to the Mongols though? :hmmm:
Did they get stuck moving back and forth in Russia? I believe I have a solution, it worked in every game for me so far: Edit the descr_regions.txt and delete the Eastern European settlements that have the horde_target tag. I think this leaves Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and I added Baghdad. They don't seem to get stuck when they stick to the Middle East.

[Candelarius]

Awesome!! Great work Candelarius!

What happened to the Mongols though? :hmmm:
Did they get stuck moving back and forth in Russia? I believe I have a solution, it worked in every game for me so far: Edit the descr_regions.txt and delete the Eastern European settlements that have the horde_target tag. I think this leaves Constantinople, Antioch, Jerusalem, and I added Baghdad. They don't seem to get stuck when they stick to the Middle East.

Depends on the game, sometimes the Mongols get stuck in Anatolia or around Edessa, and sometimes they conquer all of the Middle East and Greece. Here is a pic from my Sicily campaign (my real game and not a test game):



I've avoiding modifying any game mechanics, balancing, or other modding "enhancements", despite how tempting it is to do so, as I have intended from the start for this to be a very "vanilla" unit addon mod.

But, you're idea is a very good one.

I've also been toying with the idea of scripting the First Crusade, as I can't stand the fact that the AI doesn't launch the first crusade until 1200 half the time, and even then it targets Cairo and not Jerusalem. I have so far sucessfully resisted the temptation to do so, but, just barely...

[Queen Annes Revenge]

I've also been toying with the idea of scripting the First Crusade, as I can't stand the fact that the AI doesn't launch the first crusade until 1200 half the time, and even then it targets Cairo and not Jerusalem. I have so far sucessfully resisted the temptation to do so, but, just barely...

I really like this idea too. What really irritates me is when one of the Catholic factions angers the Pope early and the Crusades never leave Europe (nothing against the real life city, but what makes Toulouse such a holy site?). That takes all the fun out of playing Egypt or the Turks.

But as far as the Mongol suggestion, I think you can get away with calling it a "bug fix"...

[sinople]

Candelarius, you can also delete normans and saxons specific units (if I remember well they are about 10) and like that you can add new units.
With the historical campaign, it will add about 30 new units


Ps : If players want to play historical campaign, they just have to launch the vanilla game, it will change anything

[Candelarius]

Thanks for the suggestions guys, I will certainly consider them if and when I do a new addition.

[CodOfDuty]

Hello Candelarius, thanks for the 5.5, i was just wondering (not meaning in a rude way) is there a simple way i can change the formations of light missle cavalry's back to the original, the reason is that i find it hard to deploy inside settlements during sieges, and it seems that only half of the units only fire unless they are in loosened formation, and i am also playing Byzantines so I have a lot of missle cavalry

[Candelarius]

Hello Candelarius, thanks for the 5.5, i was just wondering (not meaning in a rude way) is there a simple way i can change the formations of light missle cavalry's back to the original, the reason is that i find it hard to deploy inside settlements during sieges, and it seems that only half of the units only fire unless they are in loosened formation, and i am also playing Byzantines so I have a lot of missle cavalry

Sure, no problem, I'll be glad to tell you. I personally like the horde formation but if you don't, that's cool. Open this file: export_descr_unit.txt. Do a search for "horde", and every time that word appears in a light missile unit, change it to "square". Like this:

type Jinetes
dictionary Jinetes ; Jinetes
category cavalry
class missile
voice_type Light
banner faction main_cavalry
banner holy crusade_cavalry
soldier Jinetes, 24, 0, 1
mount fast pony
mount_effect elephant -4, camel -4
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_withdraw, cantabrian_circle
formation 2, 4.4, 3, 6, 3, horde
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 9, 2, cav_javelin, 55, 8, thrown, missile_mechanical, piercing, spear, 25, 1
;stat_pri_ex 0, 0, 0
stat_pri_attr ap, thrown
stat_sec 7, 2, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_blade, piercing, sword, 25, 1
;stat_sec_ex 0, 0, 0
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 2, 4, 6, leather
;stat_armour_ex 2, 3, 0, 0, 4, 6, 6, leather
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 1
stat_ground 0, 0, 0, 0
stat_mental 5, normal, trained
stat_charge_dist 45
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 650, 130, 65, 155, 650, 4, 190
armour_ug_levels 1, 2
armour_ug_models Jinetes, Jinetes_ug1
ownership spain, portugal, slave
era 0 spain, portugal
era 1 spain, portugal
;unit_info 7, 9, 12
recruit_priority_offset 10

to this:

type Jinetes
dictionary Jinetes ; Jinetes
category cavalry
class missile
voice_type Light
banner faction main_cavalry
banner holy crusade_cavalry
soldier Jinetes, 24, 0, 1
mount fast pony
mount_effect elephant -4, camel -4
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_withdraw, cantabrian_circle
formation 2, 4.4, 3, 6, 3, square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 9, 2, cav_javelin, 55, 8, thrown, missile_mechanical, piercing, spear, 25, 1
;stat_pri_ex 0, 0, 0
stat_pri_attr ap, thrown
stat_sec 7, 2, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_blade, piercing, sword, 25, 1
;stat_sec_ex 0, 0, 0
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 2, 4, 6, leather
;stat_armour_ex 2, 3, 0, 0, 4, 6, 6, leather
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 1
stat_ground 0, 0, 0, 0
stat_mental 5, normal, trained
stat_charge_dist 45
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 650, 130, 65, 155, 650, 4, 190
armour_ug_levels 1, 2
armour_ug_models Jinetes, Jinetes_ug1
ownership spain, portugal, slave
era 0 spain, portugal
era 1 spain, portugal
;unit_info 7, 9, 12
recruit_priority_offset 10

Save your changes are you are good to go.

[silverarrow55]

Hey guys, I'm new to this site but it's good to see how many fans there are who enjoy playing this game. Anyway I was just wondering, has anyone ever successfully trained the Late Armored Knights and Dismounted Late Armored Knights using this mod? For some reason it doesn't appear on my unit selection screen. Any thoughts would be appreciated..thanks.