Looking for an overview + advice

[Carac Caratacus]

Hi, i'm new here and just gave my hello in the welcome thread.

Ok i have a few questions re RTW, RTRPE and ExRM.

I've just bought 'Rome Anthology' on the back of what i had been reading about this mod. I'm a longtime TW player, started with Shogun etc and gave up with Empire(well Medieval 2 really)

I've helped mod some games a bit myself(under different names) over the years, nothing code based mainly just playtesting/balancing and bug tracking with the odd bit of artwork/direction here and there. So i'm quite comfortable with all the mod type stuff that crops up. I helped on the source code release for Call To Power II, and did much design and feature work some of which later helped the design for 'religion' in CivIV. I also did about a years mod work on the Pirates of the Caribbean game(Akella/Bethesda) 'Buildmod12' and 13. I dont have alot of time for modding these days, but i like to give my input if it can help

First question as i know really nothing about RTW(i skipped it and went from Medieval to Medieval2) and not much about the mods, although 'RTR' crops up in many conversations around the net about mods for Rome.

Q1: Ok so i have ordered the Anthology pack which includes all expansions of the R:TW game(Barb+Alex). Now this mod is made to run with Barb(updated to 1.6) so should i not install Alexander with my game pack? Is that possible(i'm not sure which came first to be honest! Barb or Alex!) and if so to play ExRM i should do this:

1. install RTW(patch to 1.5)
2. not install Alexander
3. install Barbarian Invasion(patch to 1.6)
4. run the v3.4 ExRM setup exe

Can i install the whole process(from RTW onwards) to any directory or am i forced to use C : as some mods insist on using C :

Q2: I'm a little confused over what ExRM actualy is - i've read as many threads as i can here, stickied as well, and i get the impression this includes RTR in the shape of RTRPE and is a mod of that? I've also downloaded RTRPE but think i no longer need to install that as ExRM includes it all, just modified. Is that correct?

Q3: In the latest download from here(ExRM_v3.4_setup.exe):

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=189465

Does that include all the current updates/hotfixes etc or do i need additional stuff?

Thanks for your help with these questions and i look forward to meeting your legions of Rome on the battlefields of albion, europe and the Mediterranean

Carac, son of Caratacus.

[despot_of_rhodes]

First of all the installation of the RTW and it´s expansion packs ( BI and Alexander ) doesn´t affect any mod you are installing on your PC ( but some mods do affect your original game files, see below )

Second: there are two kind of mods available to download. Modfolder and non modfolder versions. The second one would overwrite your original RTW files, the first one is placed in a separate folder inside of the main RTW installation ( similar to BI and Alex folders ).

ExRM and RTR PE are both available as mod folder versions, wich i strongly recommend to choose. This modfolder version would create a separate folder, as said above, and refer to the exe. file, wich they are adopted to. ExRM is actually made to be used with BI, though it can be used with RTW too.
RTR PE is called so, because it´s a platinum edition adjusted to be used with RTR 1.5 / BI 1.6 patch.
ExRM is, to put it simple, a farther developed RTR PE, wich includes most of it´s elements, while adding many new, balanced and fascinating features like roman military service system for example.
The latest version of ExRM is 3.4.1.
Though, Quin Innuit, who was developing the mod after he took the responsibility for it, is missing on this forums since spring, there are still some fan made changes, wich can be found in the ExRM threads ( one of them allows to use ExRM with Alexander exe. ).

So, once more briefly:
Install RTW and all the expansions.
Install, preferably, ExRM 3.4.1 with Bladerunners NoNonceneInstaller, available to download ( ExRM is, as said above, modfoldered ).
Additionaly you can download the files made by other forum members ( just don´t remember exactly now, who made wich changes, sorry.. ) to adjust it to the Alexander exe., wich is ment to be the best of the three available.
Enjoy the mod

Oh, and welcome to the forums, btw.

[Carac Caratacus]

Thank you for the welcome

These days i often get into games quite a few years after the initial release to give them time to devolope mods that often improve the games greatly. I'll be playing this game next week so thanks for the info.

[Carac Caratacus]

I played a quick game of vanilla Rome: Total War first, just the tutorial; and the version on the Anthology edition is patched to 1.5 as default.

I then installed the Barbarian Invaision expansion and it now reports it as version 1.6 - I played a quick game in this and could see about a dozen starting factions, mostly barbarian with the few rome(east+west?) factions.

After playing a little of both RomeTW(1.5) and BI(1.6), I installed everything as stated in the thread by Bladerunner for 3.4.1.exe of ExRM.

I've got my ExRM shortcut on the desktop and it launches the game fine. Now something i've not read in the FAQ's is about game start.

loaded up ExRM via the desktop short cut it created. When i start a game as the Imperial Campaign i get this message, "Please Select an Item from the list", but offers nothing to select, just a tick icon which takes you back to the game start selection choices.

Now if i select 'Provincial Campaign' that gives me the choice of some factions, 3 roman ones only. So my question is, is this all looking normal? Do i have to play and complete some campaigns as Romans to unlock other playable factions or is it only on playing Barbarian Invaision itself that you get to play non-roman factions?

I did read again the FAQ for ExRM and other than it talking about adding 3 extra factions the 'Britons etc' it doesnt actualy say if these are playable or just AI?

I'm looking to play the Britons mainly but dont mind playing Romans if that is how to unlock them? Thanks for any suggestions.

[florin80]

I played a quick game of vanilla Rome: Total War first, just the tutorial; and the version on the Anthology edition is patched to 1.5 as default.

I then installed the Barbarian Invaision expansion and it now reports it as version 1.6 - I played a quick game in this and could see about a dozen starting factions, mostly barbarian with the few rome(east+west?) factions.

After playing a little of both RomeTW(1.5) and BI(1.6), I installed everything as stated in the thread by Bladerunner for 3.4.1.exe of ExRM.

I've got my ExRM shortcut on the desktop and it launches the game fine. Now something i've not read in the FAQ's is about game start.

loaded up ExRM via the desktop short cut it created. When i start a game as the Imperial Campaign i get this message, "Please Select an Item from the list", but offers nothing to select, just a tick icon which takes you back to the game start selection choices.

The "select an item from the list" is the message you get when you install a mod made for RTW v1.5/BI v1.6 over an inferior version of RTW/BI. And believe it or not, after you`ve installed Bi you now have RTW v1.3. Same story happened to me with my Rome Anthology edition:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...75#post5707275
There is something wrong with the BI disc included in that pack.

[Carac Caratacus]

Thanks for that info florin80, that explains alot(and may be worth putting in a FAQ somewhere, as many newer players to Rome are probably going to start with the Anthology pack now?).

Well i've been playing ExRM(correct install) for a few days now, and in the end i ended up installing all the game from the Anthology Pack first, before then installing ExRM and that seems to work. So maybe the Alexander expansion fixes the problem with BI in this case?

So using Rome Total War Anthology Pack i did this and ExRM works fine now:

1. Install all the games from the pack in order - Rome, BI, Alexander

2. Install ExRM using BladeRunners handy .exe

[decimator22]

I don't know what to your install and it is just probably an error in the shortcut. Right click it and select properties. In destiny it should look something like this: "C:\Program Files\The Creative Assembly\Rome - Total War\RomeTW-BI.exe" -nm -show_err -mod:ExRM If it doesn't go to your RTW folder creat a BI.exe shorcut and insert what I just typed. It should now work if you installed it correctyl.

[Carac Caratacus]

thanks decimator22, but actualy i think it IS working fine, or as it is meant to, just that the info about playing this line of mods is sketchy so i'm just fishing for info i can't find in the readme's/FAQ's etc. So i'll wait for some others to pop in and tell me to start a campaign game in ExRM you use the 'Provincial Campaign' from the title screen rather than the 'Imperial Campaign'.

If ExRM is meant to be used with the 'Imperial Campaign' then maybe there is a mistake somewhere, as i cant seem to start any kind of game that way.

hmmm ok these were my exact steps:

1. Install Rome Total War(ran the game to check it was version 1.5 - it was)

2. Install Barbarian Invasion(ran the game to check it was version 1.6 - it was)

3. Ran the ExRM 3.4.1.exe from Bladerunners thread(installed into my Rome Total War directory)

Browsed when promted by the installer to find the BI.exe for ExRM to make the desktop icon to launch the game, then used that desktop icon to launch the game. I install my games to F: rather than C:

I'm currently playing as the Julii but was wondering if it is possible to play as other non-roman factions, or maybe you need to finish the roman campaigns first to unlock then(i think it was like this in the original game? I could be getting confused with Medieval2 mind you!)?

[despot_of_rhodes]

Maybe you should simply unlock those factions like one used to do it with vanilla? You just have to change "unplayable" to "playable" in apropriate folder ( i don´t remember exactly wich one this was, but one can search on the forums for it with ease... ) and the factions would appear? It´s been a while since i´ve reinstalled RTW, because i wanted it to be in english not to confuse my pc by the language mix.

[Carac Caratacus]

yes that could be an option despot_of_rhodes, i used to do something like that in the original medieval, with one of the bigger mods for that game. Can you remember when starting a game of ExRM if you would(should) use 'Imperial Campaign' or 'Provincial Campaign' and what factions you had to choose from?

My desktop icon(ExRM v3.4) is "F:\Program Files\The Creative Assembly\Rome - Total War\RomeTW-BI.exe" -nm -show_err -mod:ExRM

So that all looks ok, and i can start a game fine, just not as 'Imperial Campaign' and with only 3 roman factions to choose from at game start(Julli/Skipi/Bruti via 'Provincial Campaign'), looking at some of the polls here for favorite factions etc, it seems people are able to play as other factions(Greeks etc)?

[despot_of_rhodes]

Wait a minute: you´ve got a choice from 3 unlocked vanilla factions? I´m asking, because there are no bruti or scipi in ExRM anymore, only their symbols, but the names of the factions are Galatians and Britons, iirc. So if those 3 original factions appear you might have done smth. wrong during the installation?

[Pat89]

This sounds all very odd really

The main campaign which you should be playing is, like you thought, the Imperial Campaign.
The Provincial Campaigns is something I helped Quinn set up to allow more factions to be added and blabla... Anyway, not interesting for you to get this to work.

If you go to your RTW folder, is then the following present:
- RomeTW.exe
- RomeTW-BI.exe
- Data folder
- BI folder
- ExRM folder

Especially the last one is important. That's the mod folder which Despot was talking about.

If all this is present, then look if there is a file called "map.rwm" in: ExRM\Data\world\maps\base\map.rwm.

If that file is there, then delete it and try starting a new Imperial campaign. The game will generate a new map.rwm if you start a campaign.

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If all that doesn't help, could you then maybe post a screen shot of the faction selection screens you can see? The Roman roman factions you were talking about...

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It shouldn't matter in what directory you install the game/mod... I think I've used the entire alphabet by now

It also appears that you're installation process is correct (and with the right version numbers)... That's what makes this so odd really

[Carac Caratacus]

Thanks for the info PatricianS, and here are some screenshots and other info: First up is the install folders, the desktop icons to launch ExRM(plus details of the path). One thing i did notice in my install was that i had no 'data' folder inside the ExRM folder you can see, it just contains folders called 'Preference' and 'Saves'. I seem to get the ExRM content (Marius reforms/Britons as faction etc) so i wonder if it has been installed in the standalone 'data' folder you can see in the screenshot, or maybe in the data folder within the BI folder?

[Carac Caratacus]

Next up is what i get when i click on 'Imperial Campaign' from the main menu - it just offers a tick icon and puts me back in the same menu:

[Carac Caratacus]

ok, next i have the start up via the 'Provincial Campaign' and i just noticed something i never really looked at before - it only gives me one option in this screen and that is the 'Imperial Campaign'!

[Carac Caratacus]

And finally the faction choices having gone through that Provincial Campaign screen above(note how it now says 'Imperial Campaign' at the top). Now i also see i have Carthage as a starting option, as i wiped them out in my current campaign last night. So when i first installed Rome:Anthology pack plus ExRM i just had the three roman factions on that screen. Please note i used the ExRM installer by Bladerunner(i wanted to hear the music and it seemed the easiest install option), other than that i've made sure all the install steps were as described above:

1. Install Rome TW, check 1.5 version(ok)

2. Install BI, check 1.6 version(ok)

3. Install ExRM via the handy .exe from bladerunner

my game seems to be working fine, i seem to have all the ExRM content and i can tell i'm playing a mod over the vanilla games of Rome+BI i played prior to installing ExRM. The extra factions etc would indicate so(i just need to defeat them in my game to get access to play them from game start). I hope this all makes sense!? Atleast nothing seems broken, no error messages/crashes etc.

[Pat89]

I'm afraid you might have a corrupt download... If you've got the correct game you would notice imidiately... Everything will look diifferent.

Did the download take long?

[Antonov]

It's strange that he's still seeing the vanilla background images... or did he mention that already?

[Carac Caratacus]

ok - wierd that it still actualy runs with no errors and seemingly the added content! And yes the download did take a while, but i only have a 2MB net connection.

Ok so i'll try to download it again and report back any differences compared to what i've just shown you. So i'll look out for a totaly different front end to game start. Shame really as in my second game as the Julii i'm having real difficulty making headway against Gaul this time(i upped the difficulty level from normal to hard - the battles are much harder, many more troops put in the field by Gaul).

Still it is quite amazing my game runs at all if it was a bad download! Actualy these are all the factions i have in my game(taken from Senate Screen info), maybe that will help pin down if ExRM is running for me or not?:

Julii(playable from game start(270BC))
Scipii(playable from game start(270BC))
Brutii(playable from game start(270BC))
S.P.Q.R(non-playable?)
Gaul(need to unlock by defeating them)
Briton(as above)
Carthage(as above)
Macedon(as above)
Egypt(as above)
Seleucid(as above)
Parthia(as above)
Pontus(as above)
Germania(as above)
Armenia(as above)
Dacia(as above)
Greek Cities(as above)
Numidia(as above)
Scythia(as above)
Spain(as above)
Thrace(as above)

Thats the lot. I might continue with my current campaign a bit - to see if i get any errors/ctds etc and i'm kind of interested in general how this install has changed(but seemingly not broken) ExRM. Is there a thread/sticky/readme(i dont have one in the game files!) that describes all the factions or gives a game start overview for ExRM(or maybe RTRPE?)?

And thanks for your advice and help so far - atleast we know i have a mutant strain of ExRM, and it is still very enjoyable i must say!

[MasterOfThessus]

Sounds like you are using the modswitch version of RTR while starting the game with the normal shortcut. This would give you vanilla RTW even though you installed ExRM

What does your shortcut say? Rigth click on it, proporties (sp?) and then look at the targetline. This should say something like mod: ExRM