FAQ
Some questions and answers I've gathered. Some of them are still asked daily:
Q: I want to start the Cinematic Editor but
it only loads Medieval II in a window. What am I doing wrong?
A: 1) Make sure that you have installed Patch 1.2 or newer or the expansion pack.
2) Check all file names and file paths in the
cine-ed_edit.cfg and
cine-ed_render.cfg. Are you sure that the installation path of your game is the same as the paths in the
*.cfg-file? Do you have a localized windows version, that means your game is not installed at
C:\Program Files\SEGA\
but somewhere else, for example
C:\Programme\SEGA\ (german),
C:\Programmer\SEGA\ (danish),
C:\Programmi\SEGA\ (italian),
C:\Programmes\SEGA\ (french).
3) If you use Vista/Windows 7 there is yet another file path. It is
C:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War (64bit version of Vista or Windows 7).
Q:
I use Vista or Windows 7 and I can't find the replay where I want to use the Cine-Ed with. Where is the replay folder on Vista/Windows 7?
A: 1) You need to play a replay first, of course. And if you use a mod or Kingdoms campaign, the
Replays folder is in the subfolder of that mod/expansion.
2)The default folder of the Medieval II installation on 64bit version of Vista/Windows 7 is:
C:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War
Vista/Windows 7 doesn't save the Replays there, though. They are saved at this folder by default:
C:\Users\[USER_NAME]\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War
Instead of
[USER_NAME] it should be the name of your Windows user account.
Q:
I'm getting black renders when using the render.bat. What is the cause of this and how can I fix it?
A: 1) Does it playback ok in cined? Do you see the frames being rendered ok when you run the render? Keep in mind that the CineEd captures directly from the screen when rendering. Meaning, if you move your mouse cursor over the window while rendering it will capture it. If you have a screen-saver running while rendering, it will capture that too. Make sure you have your screen saver turned off and that you can see the frames rendering ok.
2) If you use Windows Vista, try to switch from the Aero interface to the standard Windows interface. Aero seems to cause the black rendered video. To disable Aero follow these steps: right-click on desktop, go to "Personalize", then "Theme", then under the Theme drop-down menu, go to "Windows Classic" then click "Apply" and no more Vista Aero! Go through the same steps to get the original theme back (thanks to
theseus1234 for the explanation).
3) If your PC is too slow to play back the big and uncompressed rendered video files you should try and compress the video first.
4) When you export the rendered cameras into Adobe Premiere, make sure that the alpha channel is disabled. It let your scenes turn out black.
Q: Is the CineEd able to
render sound?
A: No, CineEd doesn't render sound, you will need to capture it from your replay and edit it yourself. How to do this is explained in the
video tutorial.
Q: Why does my video have
only 30 fps, even though I have changed it to 60 fps in the config file?
A:
Caliban: "It may be that the retail medieval2.exe does not support changing of fps via config. I use our release build internally which has some debug commands that may not have been exposed for the retail.exe".
Q: Fraps. How to include
Fraps in Cinematic Editor?
A: You don't need Fraps if you work with the Cinematic Editor. The CineEd renders the video itself.
Q: How can I make use of those camera effects like
the shaking camera?
A: Check the boxes Noise Amp, Noise Freq, Roll Noise Amp, Roll Noise Freq. There will appear some lines. Just play a bit with the lines... put both, Noise Amp and Roll Noise Amp a bit from the original point (no matter whether you do it horizontally or with gradient) and put a little gradient to Noise Freq and Roll Noise Freq, just like I did in this screenshot:
Q: It keeps kicking me out when it is loading, I get to the loading screen then
it kicks me out. What am I doing wrong?
A: Usually the reason for this is an outdated version of the game. Download the latest patch (1.3 for M2TW and 1.5 for Kingdoms) and try it again. It also happens when there are spelling mistakes or path errors in your config files. Check the exact name and path for your replay and camera files and mod folder (if using one) in your config files.
Q: How do I
remove the unit flags?
A: Open the render.cfg and change the line
show_banners = 1
into
show_banners = 0
Q: I can't find my
rendered scenes. Where are they saved at?
A: 1) Go into your M2TW installation directory. There should be a subfolder called
capture_tga. If you use the Kingdoms expansion or a mod the scenes could be saved in the subfolder of that mod/campiagn.
2) Make sure that you ran the
cine-ed_render.bat. If you started this file but the game doesn't load correctly and doesn't show the rendering scenes in slow-motion, you have made some mistakes in the
cine-ed_render.cfg. Open it again and check all file names and file paths.
Q: Where can i get that freeware program
WinRAR? I checked my pc but I can't find it.
A:
Google is a great website! It certainly helps you with that serious issue! Also, you should better use "7-Zip". That freeware program is faster, more compatible and overall better.
Q: In the camera view mode,
I can't move the camera using the WASD and Arrow keys. It's simply stuck.
A: You need to make sure that your keyframes are selected. To select them press [ or ] (on english keyboards) to select the previous or next keyframe. Press the other key to go back to the original frame... It's a bit tricky, I know...
If you use non-english keyboards you should try the keys directly left of backspace.
Q: If I have a camera with 3 keyframes,
the camera move doesn't flow smoothly at all, it will slow down as it approaches the 2nd key frame, and then speed up again very suddenly and slowing down before approaching the 3rd keyframe. I want the camera to ease in and out, but I want the speed to remain constant as it passes the 2nd keyframe.
A: The smoothness of easing depends on the relation of the three keyframes to each other, the angle and the time distance between them. For instance, if the first keyframe is about 50 metres away from the second, and the third keyframe goes 5 metres back into the direction of the first keyframe, the camera will move a lot behind of the second keyframe, before it moves back to the third... Hard to explain, just try a little more.
Q: I have the problem that
Audacity won't record the sound.
A: That happens if you chose the wrong sound input. Open your windows sound control
Open the option menu, choose record, hit ok and make sure that the stereo mix box is checked (some systems have different names for the sound output. You need to trial & error then):
The volume can be turned nearly down because it records the output very loud otherwise...
Also make sure that you selected stereo mix in audacity:
Q: My *.avi file is really slow! Loads of lag! Or it doesn't even play at all. How can I make a smooth piece of video?
A: The CineEd renders the video in an uncompressed format. Hence, the video file is very big, several GB's per minute. That is too much information for most of todays CPU's and it will slow down the video speed to it's limit. Some video players wont play the files at all. You can still use the shots for video editing or you can compress them at first, using a video editing software.
Q: Can I use the Cinematic Editor on
Rome: Total War?
A: There is a different movie editor for RTW, the movie_cam. There is a great tutorial about it, you can read it
here.
Q: I've got the
STEAM-version of M2TW. How can I get the cine-ed to run on it?
A: (Answer explained by the example of the mod "Third Age". I CAN NOT GIVE FURTHER SUPPORT FOR STEAM AS I DON'T USE IT FOR M2TW)
1 - rename Americas to Americas_backup in your Steam\Steamapps\common\medieval 2 total war\mods.
2 - rename [MOD NAME] to Americas, now when the launcher loads, and you select Americas, it will launch your mod, mine for example is Third Age.
3 - Go into Steamapps\common\medieval 2 total war, create a folder entitled backup, now drag and drop your Launcher.exe and Medieval 2.exe into this folder. Now rename Kingdoms.exe to Launcher.exe, now Steam will by-pass the launcher (here is where it gets slightly more tricky)
4 - Now, download the Kingdoms Cine-Ed, and follow the tutorial to install, making sure that all of the path files are correct, and the .bat is edited to launch launcher.exe (both edit and render)
5 - right click Medieval 2:Kingdoms on your My Games page under Steam. Select Launch Options. Now enter into this box:
(Editing stage)
--features.mod=mods/americas --io.file_first @americas_cine-ed_edit.cfg
(Render stage)
--features.mod=mods/americas --io.file_first @americas_cine-ed_render.cfg
enter the one for which you will be doing i.e if youre rendering use render - obviously.
6 - if you want to play the original kingdoms games, or any other kingdoms mod, just un-do everything you have done (get the 2 .exe's out of the Backup folder, and rename your launcher.exe to kingdoms.exe again. Also remember to delete the launch options. And if you want to play Americas, remember to rename Americas_backup to Americas again. (thanks to
danthom for the explanation)