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Thread: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

  1. #1
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    The more experienced modders in the community will know the great work that DukeofSerbia published two years ago. This is my effort to simplify and expand this work. Give the man rep when you see him.
    Having had a hand in the subject matter in the 'Pro Deo et Rege' and 'Last Kingdom' mods, I thought it might be of interest to rewrite the tutorial.
    A couple of days later I came up with the document below to which I have added an installer that contains the unmodded text files plus the required graphic files. I am not the greatest at graphics and I am sure a lot of other modders are not much better. For those suffering souls the inclusion of ready made faction graphics should be a delight. Included are also links to tools used and tips on error messages.
    So without further ado I give you the new chapter in the 'Creating a World' series: 'Adding a new Faction'.

    The tutorial\download consists of two parts:

    • A manual in PDF format (10 pages) - 0.5MB
    • An installer for the unmodded files required (functional mod) - 2.9MB

    Update 28th December 2018
    Document
    - added battle UI symbol part
    - updated links and instructions
    Installer
    - Steam compatible
    - all lower case for Linux use
    Update 21st January 2015
    Document
    - added reference to Creating a World - 29 Factions on selection display
    - added reference to Creating a World - Editable Settlement Faction Symbols
    Update 29th January 2011
    Installer
    - added mtw2 file with 26 slots for CoA in faction screen
    Update 7th December 2010
    Document
    - more details for using additional banner\symbolxx.tga files
    Update 27th March 2010
    Document
    - Added 'table of content'
    Update 21st March 2010
    Document
    - Added info for EDU entry 'general_unit'
    Update 06th March 2009
    Document
    - Added chapter 'captain banners'
    Installer
    - Provided graphics for 'captain banners' (portraits)
    - Provided 'cleaned' descr_model_strat.txt file (the stuff that CA forgot to take out)


    Spoiler for manual preview

    Tools used in this endeavour
    The GIMP
    DDS Plugin for GIMP 2.6
    Texture2DDS Converter
    ModelDB Checker
    Shared, Tooltips and Strat.txt
    StringBin Converter
    Notepad

    Preparations
    For the diehard this would start with unpacking the game. Afterward get the files needed, undo the read-only attributes and put them all into a mod folder. After which they will be converting string.bin, texture and modeldb files. However, do not despair, help is near – here is the link for my installer which includes all the files necessary in their unmodded form (does converting count as modding?)
    New Factions Installer 2.47MB
    Simply run the installer, it will do everything automatic. After the installation, you will now have a brand new subdirectory in your mods folder, aptly named ‘New_Faction’, complete with executable and configuration file as well as the basic map and campaign files. It is written for Kingdoms, should you only have Medieval2 then you will have to edit the ‘executable.bat’ (right-click\edit) by replacing ‘Kingdoms’ with ‘Medieval2’. You will also have to delete the data\sounds folder and copy the folder in the original game in to this mod. For a complete Kingdoms version, you will need to add the files contained in my mod Bare Kingdoms 0.001. Time to start!


    Note:
    It is advisable to delete any 'unlock' files in the imperial_campaign folder as they will cause a crash when a faction gets defeated.

    Download Link
    .
    Last edited by Gigantus; December 27, 2018 at 11:12 PM. Reason: update










  2. #2
    Moon's Avatar Centenarius
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    This will be another helpful tutorial from gigantus for all the budding faction creators.
    I think he deserves a bit of rep.

  3. #3

    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    on what it says to do it say "it works just click ok" but there isnt an ok

  4. #4

    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    oh found it thanks

  5. #5
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    bump










  6. #6

    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    A question Gigantus, for renaming a faction completely(not expanded) is there a tutorial?

  7. #7
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    Simply use this one. Renaming a faction completely (from descr_sm_faction onward) is the same as creating a new one.










  8. #8

    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    thank you so much for this. My friends and I have been wanting to do this for a while.
    Last edited by guidobattle; August 23, 2009 at 07:26 PM. Reason: i figured out what i was actually supposed to do.

  9. #9
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    One is glad to be of service










  10. #10
    IZob's Avatar Citizen
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    Im gona give this a swing. See if I can get the Teutonic order in place
    Contact me on Steam: steamcommunity.com/id/IZob/ or send a PM.

  11. #11
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    The max number of factions per campagin is 31. Does this include the tutorial factions? Or are the campagins seperate when it comes to the total number of factions?
    Contact me on Steam: steamcommunity.com/id/IZob/ or send a PM.

  12. #12
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    31 is the number of factions in the descr_sm_faction file that will be processed for game use. Any additional entry (more then 31) in that file will be ignored.










  13. #13
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    This one is for octavius: unexpected error in descr_regions (possibly corrupted) with a program freeze at 79%. Attached is the descr_regions file.










  14. #14
    JorisofHolland's Avatar Primicerius
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    Why can't there be more than 31 factions? Is it hard-coded (like in Rome) or won't the others show up in the faction selection menu.
    The Enemy of Human Souls
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  15. #15

    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    IIRC, a 31st faction will cause a crash. I've never tried that many myself.
    Son of PW

  16. #16
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    IIRC, a 31st faction will cause a crash. I've never tried that many myself.
    The 32nd faction gets completely ignored. The crash comes because of ownership\faction name issues in the EDU and EDB for that ignored faction.
    Why can't there be more than 31 factions? Is it hard-coded (like in Rome) or won't the others show up in the faction selection menu.
    Yes it is hardcoded, and no the faction will not show up.
    Last edited by Gigantus; November 09, 2009 at 08:20 PM.










  17. #17

    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    Code:
      Coat of Arms (CoA) files  During my long travels in the modding world, I heard that these are easy to replace but very difficult to add. Let us try to make both ways easy. In the data\ui folder are two xml files (remember: right click, Open with notepad) which determine the source of graphics for the strategic map and for other shared graphics. Let us start with ‘shared’. I took the liberty to finish this file and the ‘strat’ file as well. It makes explaining a bit easier. Once you open ‘shared.sd.xml’, you will notice two parts: the small one underneath ‘texture_pages count’ and the huge one underneath ‘sprites count’. The first one points to the graphic files that contain all the little graphic signs. You will notice this entry: ‘sharedpage_NEW_02.tga’. This is the file that contains our brand new (cloned) CoA in the small version and can be found in the data\ui\southern_european\interface directory. When you add a new entry here, you have to remember to increase the count number (count="4"). The entry consists of the filename and the height and width of the graphic file.
      In the big part you specify the name of the graphic element (remember descr_sm_factions?), in this case ‘SMALL_FACTION_LOGO_OTTOMANS’ as well as its position on the graphic. This can be a bit tricky, therefore the template. The index on the left of the line has to be in chronological order, starting with zero at the top. If you have to delete an entry in the middle, you will have to renumber every entry after it. The number of the ‘count=’ entry will be one bigger as the last line as the count starts with zero. The same principle applies for the number of the ‘page=’ entry for the individual element. In our case, it is 3 as it is the fourth page, starting with zero as the first page. Underneath the entry for ‘ottomans’ I left template entries for ‘yellow’ and ‘blue’ for later use.
      The same principle applies to ‘strategy.sd.xml’ so I will not bore you with a repetition, just the ‘count’ numbers change.
    First, thank for all the job you've done.

    Second - in my folder "data/ui/" I have only strategy.sd and shared.sd without xml extension. So I tried to remove the .sd files and replace them with .xml files beliving that game will create from it .sd files (like it happens with .string.bin files). Unfortunately I was wrong, so the question is - how to use these .xml files in order to apply them to game?

    I don't know if that help's, but I guess any information will help - I edit your stratpage_NEW_02.tga adding Lithuanian COA on these yellow one. In strat.sd.xml file I changed only YELLOW into LITHUANIA, I guess that should work, but it isn't.

    OK, problem solved - I find out that I have to keep te .sd file
    Last edited by narsil; December 29, 2009 at 01:04 PM.

  18. #18
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    That is correct, the sd file regenerates the same way string.bin files do. Ne need to delete them.










  19. #19

    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    How would you be able to Change the Name of a Title of an Existing Faction say

    With Russia you wanted to Change the Name of the Faction Leader from Grand Duke to say Tsar

    I'm a Real new at doing this and I've tried altering the bin file the expanded text file but nothing changed in-game
    Last edited by DrakeLlandon; January 04, 2010 at 11:42 PM.

  20. #20
    Gigantus's Avatar I am not special - I am a limited edition.
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    Default Re: Creating a World – Adding a new Faction

    Quote from page 5 of this tutorial:
    Expanded.txt
    This file will give you all the in game (display) text like the faction name. It is a bit cumbersome; hence, I have provided you with a template (expanded_template.txt) in the same folder (data\text). Simply do some ‘find and replace’ after you made a backup.

    NEW_CULTURE à OTTOMANS (use ‘Match case’!)
    New_Culture à The Ottoman Empire (use ‘Match case’!)
    Adjective à Ottoman Empire’s

    That leaves the special entries for ‘weakness, strength, unit, titles of leader and heir’. Once done, do a copy\paste from the template to the bottom of the expanded.txt file.
    Which follows that you have a look for these entries in the expanded.txt:
    {EMT_RUSSIA_FACTION_LEADER_NAME}Velikii Knyaz %S
    {EMT_RUSSIA_FACTION_LEADER_TITLE}Faction Leader
    Change you entry (NOT within the brackets!), delete expanded.string.bin for good luck (usually not necessary) and start your mod. If you do the change for th evanilla game, you will have to add the file first in the cfg file to see changes.










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