Crashes and how to fix them

[Gigantus]

Copy all your supporting files (not the mesh or textures) in one folder. Compress the folder and then upload it.

[LordJax]

Copy all your supporting files (not the mesh or textures) in one folder. Compress the folder and then upload it.

Wow thanx for the quick response, I’m not sure what you mean by “supporting files” but I’ll send what I’m trying to use with the meshes ,textures ,sound and animations deleted I hope that’s what you need. I am using the animations and sounds from Expanded Americas, thank you for the help.supoorting files.7z I added in an error log file and a trace log file. Hoping you can help thanks again

[Gigantus]

On first look in the log there is the type line missing for your war dog unit, check the original EDU and copy the line:

Script Error in lurcher/data/export_descr_unit.txt, at line 14737, column 1
Unknown identifier when new type expected.

type
dictionary       Mercenary_Wardogs      ;Wardogs
category         handler
class            heavy
voice_type       Heavy
banner faction   main_infantry

Your modelDB entry is fine - it's just that the checker cannot handle the format of the entry . Change the entry as shown and then the checker will work:

7 wardogs 
1 1
43 unit_models/_Units/wardogs/wardog_lod0.mesh 6400 
1 
4 merc 
50 unit_models/_Units/wardogs/textures/wardog.texture 
57 unit_models/_Units/wardogs/textures/wardog_normal.texture 
36 unit_sprites/merc_wardogs_sprite.spr 
1 
4 merc 
50 unit_models/_Units/wardogs/textures/wardog.texture 
57 unit_models/_Units/wardogs/textures/wardog_normal.texture 0  
1 
4 None 
9 fs_wardog 
0 0 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0

[LordJax]

Wow thanx for that Gigantus It worked I,ve got some other errors now but not the missing type one any more I feel I,m getting close, The missing type one has me laughing now A tutorial I read said that type referred to the exp.desc_battle file which I looked for for 3 days till i found out it is only in RTW not MTW2 It was like Candalf with the "Speak friend and enter" riddle thank you much I hope I didn't keep you away from the beach and I'll let you know when I crack it.


Ps Is it because I am a new member that I can't find the button to give you rep I can see the green cross under my avatar but no one else's ???

[Gigantus]

'type' is referred to in descr_formations as well as in some esoteric script parts.

Until you have reached 25 posts a number of restrictions are still placed on you - giving rep points is one of them. Your intention is duly noted.

Bug hunting: set your error log to 'trace' by opening your mods CFG file (opens with Notepad) and making sure your entry reads like this in the [log] section

[log] 
to = logs/M2TW.system.log.txt 
level = * trace
#level = * error

Your error log will now be huge and you can find it in the ...\Medieval II Total War\logs folder. Look for entries with [error] in it - most of the time you will find detailed explanations.

[EnochForseti]

Hello! I'm having a CTD problem that is vexing me, if anyone could help me it would be most appreciated.

The CTD occurs when loading to campaign battle but does not affect the custom battle. It only affects the one faction I moded and doesn't seem make any difference as to which units are involved in the battle. A quick CTRL F "error" produced no hits in the system.log other than "Uh oh. This isn't good. No idea why, but exiting now. Sorry pal."

The only thing close to describing this problem in the OP suggests that there may be extra "spaces" in the modeldb file. if this is indeed the most likely case, is there a quicker or more efficient way of finding this needle in a haystack without having to completely redo the modeldb file and in turn the export_desc_unit/building texts?

system.log.txt.zip

[Gigantus]

Your mod path suggests hat you tried adding a new faction. As the problem is only with campaign battles it is unlikely that the problem lies with the modeldb file, which would cause a crash at game start anyhow.
If you added a new faction then you might have forgotten to allocate captains and generals, or banners.

[EnochForseti]

Thank for replying,
I went back and checked. Generals are copied from Sicily and assigned to SE_bodyguard, Captains are copied from Denmark, and banners are assigned. Banners and captains show up on custom battles as well as all of the units I made/assigned. I have no problems with custom battles at all. I used the guide that you made for creating a new faction (thanks!) and have done all that was listed. Unfortunately, CTD on loading to campaign battles still though. =/

[Gigantus]

Did you by any chance unpack the game and forgot to delete the geography_new files in the data folder (as is mentioned in the Readme in the unpacker folder)?

[EnochForseti]

My game is unpacked to VirtualStore (windows 7) and I deleted the geography files from there, do I need to move the unpacked data folder files from VirtualStore to the normal location of the game? Also I should mention that on occasion, the game will CTD on the loading screen for campaign after faction selection. Not everytime, just once in while. I can tell when it is going to happen because it loads slightly slower than otherwise.

[Gigantus]

1. Delete the complete medieval ii total war folder in the virtual store and follow this tutorial from step 3 onward.
2. If you require the unpacked files for modding, follow this tutorial
3. The crash at loading should happen every time, not only occasionally, report back if it still happens after you did the stuff in point 1 and 2

[EnochForseti]

Thanks for the continued help, I deleted the VirtualStore folder and allowed all user permissions to the medieval folder. The game still crashes occasionally on loading a campaign, and every time on loading a campaign battle with the created faction.

[irishron]

Thanks for the continued help, I deleted the VirtualStore folder and allowed all user permissions to the medieval folder. The game still crashes occasionally on loading a campaign, and every time on loading a campaign battle with the created faction.

Did it do this crashing before the unpacking including battles?

[Gigantus]

I am not sure if I was understood correctly with the general\captain issue. I am talking about the entries in descr_characters, eg like this for generals:

faction            venice
dictionary        15
strat_model        northern_leader
battle_model        Northern_General
battle_equip        gladius, chainmail shirt helmet and rectangular shield

[EnochForseti]

Yes, my created faction has been added to the descr_character file and assigned generals, captains, and agents.

faction order_of_st._john
dictionary 15
strat_model southern_general
battle_model Northern_General
battle_equip gladius, chainmail shirt helmet and rectangular shield

It is a copy/paste of Sicily.

[EnochForseti]

The battles were working at some point after I unpacked the the game, I do remember vaguely checking some of the earlier unit changes I made to the Modeldb file by going into a campaign battle and it worked. After that, I only checked the changes through custom battle. Because everything worked in custom battle I assumed everything was fine and did some other modding on other files, but I can't remember in what order I did things or what files I modded since that point. It was only when I actually tried to play a campaign as the new faction that I discovered this CTD.

[makanyane]

order_of_st._john

I'd personally not try using a . in the internal faction name

it might not be the cause of the problem but different bits of programs are set up to recognise spaces as a point to stop reading, or .'s as a point to read the type of file, eg .tga, and/or can not be set up to read punctuation/accents at all - as what you call the faction internally doesn't matter to the user it's generally best to keep to plain text and underscores only...

[EnochForseti]

yeah, I should have named the faction differently, however, I started it that way and didn't feel like going back through all the files and changing it to something more simple. It hasn't been the cause of any problems so far....knock on wood.

[Gigantus]

I'd personally not try using a . in the internal faction name

it might not be the cause of the problem but different bits of programs are set up to recognise spaces as a point to stop reading, or .'s as a point to read the type of file, eg .tga, and/or can not be set up to read punctuation/accents at all - as what you call the faction internally doesn't matter to the user it's generally best to keep to plain text and underscores only...

This issue sounds weirdly familiar - came across it just recently.

[irishron]

Mak could be right. I think I had it bite me once.