How to play TATW with Steam

[Mithrandir]

Steam users have had problems starting the mod, but there's a simple way to make the mod work with Steam:

1. Install the mod as instructed.
2. Open Steam/Steamapps/Common/Medieval II Total War/mods. There you will find all your installed Kingdoms campaigns as well as the Third_Age modfolder.
3. Edit the name of one of the Kingdoms folders (americas, brittannia, crusades, teutonic), preferably your least favorite campaign. The new name doesn't have to be anything specific.
4. Change the name of the Third_Age folder to the former name of the Kingdoms folder you just edited. For example, if you edited the americas folder, the Third_Age folder should be named americas.
5. Select the appropriate campaign from the steam menu. If you renamed the Third_Age folder to americas, select the americas campaign. If you named it crusades, select the crusades campaign, and so on.
6. Steam will now launch the mod.

Enjoy Third Age: Total War!

[5468mogens]

uhmm help my computer wont let me change the name of the folder

[NoMercy88]

Try...

1. In the m2tw folder you should see 3 exes. "m2.exe", "kingdoms.exe" and "launcher.exe"
2. Create a folder called "backup" and place the "launcher.exe" in that
3. Rename the "kingdoms.exe" to "launcher.exe"
4. Now go to the mod that you installed(I'll use SS in this case) and find the ".bat" file(icon should be a gear thingy) and open that.
5. Copy this bit(the last bit will be different to TATW but should be similiar)
6. @mods\Stainless_Steel_6\Stainless_Steel_Kingdoms.cfg
7. Now go to your "Steam Games" list and right click kingdoms, select "properties" and then "set launch options"
8. In the box that appears paste the bit you copied(in SS case it will be @mods\Stainless_Steel_6\Stainless_Steel_Kingdoms.cfg)
9. Now save that and go back to your games list, click on kingdoms then launch, it should bypass the launcher and take you straight to the mod.

To play vanilla kingdoms again take away the launch line and rename "launcher.exe" back to "kingdoms.exe" and put the "launcher.exe" back in the main folder.

+rep to norsca for original fix.

Kind Regards
Will

[Xelathur]

Ok, I have a problem.

I have changed kingdoms.exe to launcher.exe
I have done everything this guide have told me to do
I have installed part 1 - part 2 - patch 1.1 - patch 1.2 - patch 1.3

My Third Age.bat file contents are:

cd ..\..
start launcher.exe @mods\americas\TATW.cfg

When I start the game with the launcher.exe or steam, it goes blank and an error window comes up ( without text )

What am I doing wrong?

Please help me TWC, you are my only hope. *fading*

[Nozigan]

I believe I have the same issue as Xelathur.

I have downloaded M2TW and M2TW Kingdoms from steam.

I have downloaded all the patch from 1.0 to 1.4.1 and install them in the default path (C:\programms86\SEGA).

I have tried all 3 methods.
1) The one indicated by Mithrandir (using one of the existing kingdoms campaigns slot)
2) the regidit as suggested by Leoel
3) The modification of the steam launcher by indicating the @mods\Third_Age|TATW.cg in the steam M2TWlauncher as suggested by NoMercy88

I only manage to create a blank screen.

Has by chance anyone found another method to work it under steam?

As doubts assail me, is it correct to extract the patch content in the default C.\programms86 folder? or shall I extract it in Steam/Steamapps/Common/Medieval II Total War/mods ? or somewhere else?

Sorry for the dumb questions and thank you in advance for any possible suggestions

[JMAN1156]

Try...

1. In the m2tw folder you should see 3 exes. "m2.exe", "kingdoms.exe" and "launcher.exe"
2. Create a folder called "backup" and place the "launcher.exe" in that
3. Rename the "kingdoms.exe" to "launcher.exe"
4. Now go to the mod that you installed(I'll use SS in this case) and find the ".bat" file(icon should be a gear thingy) and open that.
5. Copy this bit(the last bit will be different to TATW but should be similiar)
6. @mods\Stainless_Steel_6\Stainless_Steel_Kingdoms.cfg
7. Now go to your "Steam Games" list and right click kingdoms, select "properties" and then "set launch options"
8. In the box that appears paste the bit you copied(in SS case it will be @mods\Stainless_Steel_6\Stainless_Steel_Kingdoms.cfg)
9. Now save that and go back to your games list, click on kingdoms then launch, it should bypass the launcher and take you straight to the mod.

To play vanilla kingdoms again take away the launch line and rename "launcher.exe" back to "kingdoms.exe" and put the "launcher.exe" back in the main folder.

+rep to norsca for original fix.

Kind Regards
Will

None of this works for me, and I get fatal graphics error before the game can even start. This is Vista 64 bit with steam (duh). Here is what I have now...
For third age,
steam launch option for kingdoms is: @mods\Third_Age\TATW.cfg
Third Age.bit:
cd ..\..
start launcher.exe @mods\Third_Age\TATW.cfg
kingdoms.exe renamed to launcher.exe

also, I can't see the registry either, is it undo able if I make a mistake creating a new registry?

[Gigantus]

None of this works for me, and I get fatal graphics error before the game can even start. This is Vista 64 bit with steam (duh). Here is what I have now...
For third age,
steam launch option for kingdoms is: @mods\Third_Age\TATW.cfg
Third Age.bit:
cd ..\..
start launcher.exe @mods\Third_Age\TATW.cfg
kingdoms.exe renamed to launcher.exe

also, I can't see the registry either, is it undo able if I make a mistake creating a new registry?

At the risk of repeating myself: There is a tool by Squid that works with the launcher and also with the "Steam" installation.

[Cracktower]

Try...

1. In the m2tw folder you should see 3 exes. "m2.exe", "kingdoms.exe" and "launcher.exe"
2. Create a folder called "backup" and place the "launcher.exe" in that
3. Rename the "kingdoms.exe" to "launcher.exe"

I tried this method when I had problems re-installing Steam with that updating issue a lot of people get, then ran into a problem with Kingdoms not being recognized, but I also went into the launch options under properties in the steam game menu. I used this line for SS6.3
--features.mod=mods/SS6.3
Which worked. Now keep in mind that if you use this launch command it will only launch that file (in other words only Stainless Steel 6.4 (patched )) so if you want to play any other game you would have to take that out. Now because I had to use that in SS I figured I would give it a try for TATW using this line
--features.mod=mods/Third_Age
And it does work. Like I said prior, I have to change the last line to whatever Kingdom Mod I want to play if I decide to play something different, i.e
--features.mod=mods/americas
--features.mod=mods/british_isles
--features.mod=mods/crusades
etc,etc....Just make sure the last folder option is TO THE LETTER, Caps included.
This might not work for everyone but looking in all the posts some things work and some things don't for steam users, thought I would share what works for me, being I have been on the rage end of Steam....

[Dexteri]

Thanks, this fixed unspecified error with steam.

Xelathur, mine "Third age" shortcut didn't work so i launched kingdoms normally and choosed campaign that i edited

[Xelathur]

Thanks, this fixed unspecified error with steam.

Xelathur, mine "Third age" shortcut didn't work so i launched kingdoms normally and choosed campaign that i edited

Iv'e edited mine to work properly, aswell as using the original launcher and steam launcher.

Game starts, then goes blank with an unknown error without text.

[leoel]

I wanted to have a clean mod menu in kingdoms in which I could choose between multiple mmods or even multiple versions of Third Age, so I played a little bit with the regedit and finally I found the way to add a mod to the kingdoms mods list without removing any official mod or renaming any exe.

First of all, you have to move a little bit the mods files. The subfolder named Third_Age must be directly accessible from the Medieval Total War II/Mods directory. By default, it is not, but it is burried into a TATW directory by the installer. I guess you can change this, but see at the end, in the Path attribute.



First you need to open the register editor with the "regedit" command (type it either in the search field of your startup menu or in a command window).

Then go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\Mods

Once you are here, create a new "key" (right click and choose New>Key), name it "Unofficial".
Then create under this key a new key named "Third Age" or whatever name you want, it is not important, this name is only used by the game as a way to sort the list.

Then add the following keys under the directory:



Be carefull to create all the values as character strings.

The available custom attributes are (the case is not important):

Author: Author of the mod, I don't know where it is used by the game
ConfigFile: Configuration file (.cfg) that comes along with the game, if no configuration file is used, this should be left blank(as in the official mods)
DisplayName: The name displayed in the mods menu.
DistributionSource: ? probably a useless artifact
FullName: The full name of the mod, but I don't know where by the game uses it
GameExe: The base exe for the mod, this is interesting as you can add wichever exe you want, probably even scripts or else ... This is kingdoms.exe for TATW, but if you have a mod that uses. The path is relative to your Medieval Total War II directory and the game may not be able to reach an executable out of this directory (it can even change between versions of windows or of you .NET framework so try it "at your own risk" - in the worst case the game will just not be able to start).
Language: Useless artifact, doesn't change anything for me; even for the official mods.
Path: The base directory for the mod, if you don't know which one it is, it contains a "data" and a "custom" subfolder. As I wrote earlier, you can probably put any path you want, but it seems like the game doesn't like spaces into the path and crashes when it sees one. That's why I chosen to move the Third_Age folder directly into the Mods folder.
Version: I guess this is pretty useless for unofficial mods


I hope this helped you, any comment will be appreciated.

[ToMmY ToM]

First you need to open the register editor with the "regedit" command (type it either in the search field of your startup menu or in a command window).

Then go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\Mods

Once you are here, create a new "key" (right click and choose New>Key), name it "Unofficial".
Then create under this key a new key named "Third Age" or whatever name you want, it is not important, this name is only used by the game as a way to sort the list.

Then add the following keys under the directory:

Ok i tried to do it this way and i got to the regidit part but there is no

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\Mods

I can only get up to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\

and there is lots of other folders things but no SEGA one

[leoel]

Hu, that's strange. Did you installed both kingdoms and medieval II via steam ? Does the Kingdoms mods menu still works ?

Make a search in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ for "Medieval II Total War" or even "Mods" and see if you can reach it.
If you can't find it, then create all the missing keys: SEGA> Medieval II Total War> Mods, it should work.

This is a bit strange, though, I think you have either not installed the game (playing it from old installation files) or you have a version that doesn't use the same regedit path (highly unprobable, as the only use of regedit is to keep software information in a precise place so they can be accessed by anyone who needs them, whatever software version or configuration you have).

[SteamKnight]

I wanted to have a clean mod menu in kingdoms in which I could choose between multiple mmods or even multiple versions of Third Age, so I played a little bit with the regedit and finally I found the way to add a mod to the kingdoms mods list without removing any official mod or renaming any exe.

First of all, you have to move a little bit the mods files. The subfolder named Third_Age must be directly accessible from the Medieval Total War II/Mods directory. By default, it is not, but it is burried into a TATW directory by the installer. I guess you can change this, but see at the end, in the Path attribute.



First you need to open the register editor with the "regedit" command (type it either in the search field of your startup menu or in a command window).

Then go to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\SEGA\Medieval II Total War\Mods

Once you are here, create a new "key" (right click and choose New>Key), name it "Unofficial".
Then create under this key a new key named "Third Age" or whatever name you want, it is not important, this name is only used by the game as a way to sort the list.

Then add the following keys under the directory:



Be carefull to create all the values as character strings.

The available custom attributes are (the case is not important):

Author: Author of the mod, I don't know where it is used by the game
ConfigFile: Configuration file (.cfg) that comes along with the game, if no configuration file is used, this should be left blank(as in the official mods)
DisplayName: The name displayed in the mods menu.
DistributionSource: ? probably a useless artifact
FullName: The full name of the mod, but I don't know where by the game uses it
GameExe: The base exe for the mod, this is interesting as you can add wichever exe you want, probably even scripts or else ... This is kingdoms.exe for TATW, but if you have a mod that uses. The path is relative to your Medieval Total War II directory and the game may not be able to reach an executable out of this directory (it can even change between versions of windows or of you .NET framework so try it "at your own risk" - in the worst case the game will just not be able to start).
Language: Useless artifact, doesn't change anything for me; even for the official mods.
Path: The base directory for the mod, if you don't know which one it is, it contains a "data" and a "custom" subfolder. As I wrote earlier, you can probably put any path you want, but it seems like the game doesn't like spaces into the path and crashes when it sees one. That's why I chosen to move the Third_Age folder directly into the Mods folder.
Version: I guess this is pretty useless for unofficial mods


I hope this helped you, any comment will be appreciated.

I made a tool which can do this for you. If anyone is interested please check here for basic information and to let me know if you wish to try it.

[phil21]

ive got medieval 2 free for pre-purchasing napoleon total war. so i have steam but i dont have kingdoms. is there a possibility of playing third age without having kingdoms installed? it costs 10€ and i dont want to buy it.

[JD-san]

I made a tool which can do this for you. If anyone is interested please check here for basic information and to let me know if you wish to try it.

It didn't really work for me. it just loaded the original Medieval II game.

[ToMmY ToM]

ok i made all the keys i needed and then put all the string files but it still don't work. is there anything i need to write any other keys... (medieval total war, the official mods)

[General Rumsfeld]

After encountering this problem myself, I noticed several Steam users had trouble getting their TATW patches to take effect after installing them, yet nobody had a solution to the problem.

It turns out that after the installation, you have to go to the "Third Age" folder, and manually transfer the contents from the "data" folder there into the "data" folder associated with the renamed mod.

So basically, move contents of: "medieval ii total war\mods\Third_Age\data"

to

"medieval ii total war\mods\(your renamed folder)\data"

Turns out the patches were being installed to the Third Age folder, instead of into the renamed folder.

[NoMercy88]

I should have said that I hadn't tested my solution with TATW but I thought it would launch the same way as SS.

Here is the original soloution incase I didn't explain it in too much detail(norsca uses KGCM in his example)
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...72#post2510072

I have heard that the registry method(which is posted above), when its finished is less ahssle than my method and makes things a bit neater, but its tricky fi you dont know what you're doing and you could mess up your registry badly.

Kind Regards
Will

[General Rumsfeld]

the registry method(which is posted above), when its finished is less ahssle than my method and makes things a bit neater, but its tricky fi you dont know what you're doing and you could mess up your registry badly.

Yeah, I wouldn't recommend using that method for moving anything other than the data in order to get the patches to work. This solution I posted is only geared towards solving a seperate problem encountered by Steam users who install 1.1-3, yet don't see them take effect in-game.

My apologies for not just starting a new topic explaining the fix, since the problem was Steam-related I thought I should just deliver the bug/fix here.