Merging Elven faction units

**Tomsie** · May 08, 2009, 07:57 PM

Hello there. Is there an easy notepad based way to merge the High and Silvan Elf unit rosters for recruitement in Campaign? I'm not a huge LoTR lore buff so that side of it doesnt really bother me, and I'd like a bit more variety. I'm fickle like that, ya see. Anyways, any helps appreciated.

**HUtH** · May 08, 2009, 08:32 PM

Open export_descr_unit.txt in medieval2\mods\third age\data
Find high elves\silvan elves units.
Find:

ownership
era 0
era 1
era 2

In every HE/SE unit in above verses you should type/paste: egypt, mongols
Save.

**JonSnow** · May 08, 2009, 08:57 PM

That wont work... the db ui and a txt file or two needed to be edited too

**Tomsie** · May 08, 2009, 09:14 PM

Care to elaborate at all, Jon?

**JonSnow** · May 08, 2009, 09:17 PM

Originally Posted by Tomsie

Care to elaborate at all, Jon?

It's a tad complicated... I'd suggest finding a tutorial if you really want to take the time to do it.. you could of course skip the UI (unit card) and text (unit description), but even then you need to edit the modeldb so your units actually have a texture (in fact I think it might just D/C without doing that), and once you're done all that you'd need to change the faction colors (if you want it to make sense at least..) and what not. In short, I wouldn't bother, it'll just waste your time and once you get it (assuming you do) it'll break lore and balance.

**Faris ad Din** · May 08, 2009, 09:22 PM

Originally Posted by JonSnow

That wont work... the db ui and a txt file or two needed to be edited too

Yeah, it's really not simple as that. Several different files/folders need looking after.
Namely,
1. Copying and pasting in the unit cards for the UI/units folder
2. Copying and pasting in the unit cards for the UI/unit info folder
3. Adding the factions to the ownership in the export_descr_unit.txt file as said
4. Adding in the units to the appropriate factions, here for each egypt and mongols in the export_descr_buildings.txt file
5. Edit the MODEL.DB file... that is a bit more of an editing nightmare.

Basically you can copy and paste everything from the "egypt" folder in the UI/units folder to the "mongols" folder in the UI/units folder, and vice versa;
... copy and paste everything from the "egypt" folder to the "mongols" folder in the UI/unit info folder, and vice versa;
... add "egypt" to all the units already belonging to "moors" in the export_descr_units.txt file, and vice versa;
... add "egypt" to all the lines in the export_descr_buildings.txt file that already have "mongols" in it, and vice versa;
The biggie... MODEL.DB file needs editing - you need to copy and paste all the lines under all the units (use Ctrl-F to search for the EDU file names of your desired units) which are for one or the other faction (egypt and mongols) and add it to the other - but you NEED to edit the numbers in the file that specify the length of the strings as well as the number of factions. For example, "egypt" is a string of five characters, "mongols" is a string of seven. It's some of the more tricky editing. If you fail to change those string lengths and faction number parameters, you will CTD and be left floundering as to what went wrong. Do the changes in little bits and test frequently before backtracking. Look up some tutorials as to editing this file. If you don't use a tutorial... I'm sure they're easy to find in the M2:TW mod workshop - you will be left floundering as to what the heck is going on in that 1 MB+ text file with no entered lines.

Oh yeah, make sure to back up your EDU, EDB and the MODELS.DB file first.

The EDB editing will be tedious. The descr_models file will be the hardest and most tedious part.
The unit_names.txt or whatever it's named, and the unit description file won't need looking after.

Explanation for why these are needed?
If you don't add the cards to the appropriate units folder, you will see a gray RTW-style generic gray Roman peasant card (put in as the default when no developer-defined card is available) instead of the appropriate unit card in your unit bar and in your recruitment windows, etc.
If you don't add the cards to the appropriate unit info folder, you will see the picture of the gray Roman peasant portrait when you click up the unit information.
If you don't fix the EDU, you won't get the unit in that faction roster at all, even in the custom battles, gray peasant portrait or no.
If you don't fix the EDB, you can't recruit the unit in campaign at all.
If you don't fix the MODELS.DB file, I believe you will get the model of the unit on the battlefield, but there will be no texture, and the default is to have a Silver Surfer-type reflective silver appearance. Looks cool when you first try it out, but it gets pretty lame and annoying after a while. Either that, or CTD.

Originally Posted by Tomsie

Care to elaborate at all, Jon?

Comes across as a bit audacious for the task you're asking about, my apologies for pointing that out.

**Taiji** · May 08, 2009, 09:42 PM

Hello Tomsie, for the most part it's simple stuff in fact battle_models.modeldb is the only potentially annoying part, that file can be pretty scary

And it's the best place to start, you'll find it in 'data\unit_models'. Edit it with notepad and use 'find' to search for units. If you can't find one then you can check to make certain of it's name in export_descr_units.txt on the 'soldier' line for the unit.

So the trick is to find the correct entry for the unit you want and add your faction to the list of those that can use it... sounds simple and it really is

So here I've found some Silvan dudes:

21 silvan_heavy_spearmen
1 1
56 unit_models/_Units/my_units/silvan_heavy_spear_lod0.mesh 6400
1
7 mongols
48 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf.texture
55 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_normal.texture
53 unit_sprites/mongols_silvan_heavy_spearmen_sprite.spr
1
7 mongols
59 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_attachment.texture
66 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_attachment_normal.texture
0
1
4 None
10 MTW2_Spear
0
2
18 MTW2_Spear_primary
14 fs_test_shield
0
16 -0.090000004 0 0 -0.34999999 0.80000001 0.60000002

And to get what I want I just have to make it look like this:

21 silvan_heavy_spearmen
1 1
56 unit_models/_Units/my_units/silvan_heavy_spear_lod0.mesh 6400
2
7 mongols
48 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf.texture
55 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_normal.texture
53 unit_sprites/mongols_silvan_heavy_spearmen_sprite.spr
5 egypt
48 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf.texture
55 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_normal.texture
53 unit_sprites/mongols_silvan_heavy_spearmen_sprite.spr
2
7 mongols
59 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_attachment.texture
66 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_attachment_normal.texture
0
5 egypt
59 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_attachment.texture
66 unit_models/_Units/my_units/textures/elf_attachment_normal.texture
0
1
4 None
10 MTW2_Spear
0
2
18 MTW2_Spear_primary
14 fs_test_shield
0
16 -0.090000004 0 0 -0.34999999 0.80000001 0.60000002

See those bold 2s? Well they denote the number of factions (or entries that will follow), the rest is obviously just copy and paste and writing '5 egypt' a couple of times. Simple.

The problem is that if you make some kind of mistake you will typically get no error message, which can make it a very frustrating file.

As for the rest, you'd need to add your faction to the lines HUtH specified in export_descr_units.txt, and then in export_descr_buildings.txt you add your faction to the list of factions that can produce the unit (in the section of whatever building trains that unit).

So then you're only lacking unit cards and description pictures which you'll find in 'data\ui\unit_info' and 'data\ui\units', in both folders you'll see a folder for each faction. It's then just a case of copying the pictures with the names of the units you want, into the folder for your faction.

There... done