Failing to work with Steam

**khomotso** · December 30, 2007, 06:48 PM

There must be something really obvious I'm doing wrong, but I can't find either the early or late campaigns. I launch SS 5.1 from the desktop icon, I have Kingdoms installed (via Steam), I have SS pointed to the right directory in the Steam folders, but when the game comes up I still only have the vanilla release, with no sign of anything modded. Someone help a newb out?

**delra** · December 30, 2007, 06:50 PM

You should run SS from its own exe file inside Stainless_Steel/ directory.

**khomotso** · December 30, 2007, 06:53 PM

I've done that, too (or at least I've run the .bat). Still no dice.

Is Stainless_Steel supposed to show up in the "Play" dropdown along with the other Kingdoms campaigns?

**delra** · December 30, 2007, 06:56 PM

No. Maybe I tell you how I do it.

I have a shortcut on my desktop pointing at "E:\gry\Medieval II Total War\mods\Stainless_Steel\Stainless_Steel_Kingdoms.bat". I click it and here shows my cute SS.

You just should look for that bat file. If it's not there, it means that your installation is corrupted.

**khomotso** · December 30, 2007, 07:12 PM

Yes, again, I've run the .bat file. Still no dice.

I did some more digging, and came up with this:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=86236

Which suggests to me that I need to change the launch options in Steam to read:

@mods\Stainless_Steel\Stainless_Steel_Kingdoms.cfg

... and this seems to launch the mod appropriately ... up until it hangs my computer and I have to do a hard reboot.

Any other steam users with SS out there?

**khomotso** · December 31, 2007, 01:15 PM

OK, for posterity and future searching, I found this, which seems to solve the problem (see the opening section of the first post):

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=132411

**Issachar** · February 12, 2008, 11:29 PM

Hi all,

I've tried the reg change and it's still not working. The launcher shows the Stainless Steel option, but when I click it, it launches the vanilla M2TW and then crashes to desktop.

I do have the boxed Vanilla version installed, but Kingdoms is from Steam. Any idea why this isn't working?

Thanks all!

**Snizel** · February 13, 2008, 01:47 AM

Well if u read my post on tht topic you looked at i explain how i got it to work with steam. I'm not sure if it was a fluke but it did worked and if u r desperate u should give it a try.

**Issachar** · February 13, 2008, 10:18 PM

Hi Snizel,

Thanks for directing me to your solution! I just read it and I'm afraid your knowledge of these changes clearly exceeds mine. I was wondering if you could break it down a bit further and tell me what you did in detail. For instance, I'm not sure how you changed the .bat file to .exe, and I don't know where you added the shortcut in Steam, i.e. is it in the Launch button?

I know you already typed it out once, but I am indeed desperate and need some help in understanding exactly what you did.

Thank you!!

**gracul** · February 14, 2008, 05:09 PM

Hey,
can you check if this .exe will work? Just put it in your stainless_steel folder.
If you are afraid of viruses, scan the file on www.virustotal.com

.exe launcher

**Westermeyer** · February 14, 2008, 10:09 PM

I had the same problem. The problem is that the launcher, for whatever reason, can't "see" stainless steel. Steam, of course, looks for the launcher instead of kingdoms .exe. So your solution is this: Back up the launcher and kingdoms.exe. Delete the launcher from your MTW folder and rename kingdoms to launcher. Go to steam, click right click on the Kingdoms shortcut and hit properties, then launch options. Add this to the field: @mods\stainless_steel\stainless_steel.cfg (That might not be right - find your stainless steel .cfg file path to make sure it's right; so it would look like "@your path here". This will bypass the launcher and put you right into stainless steel. To reverse this just rename your launcher (that is really kingdoms) back into kingdoms.exe and get put the launcher (real launcher) back into your folder; then remove that text from the launch options.

So:

Back up launcher & kingdoms.
Delete Launcher
Rename kingdoms to launcher
Find stainless steel.cfg file path
place this with with @ symbol (like @____) into launch options. (properties, click launch options.)
Launch SS!

e: this should work for the OP but I'm not sure about your problem, Issachar. worth a shot though.