Crash after adding a new faction

**Aymar** · August 02, 2009, 07:39 AM

Hey everyone,

I need help. We are working on a little modding project that adds the county of Flanders to the vanilla M2TW campaign. Now, all is going very well for now, but after changing some stuff in the descr_strat, expanded.txt and so on, I get a CTD when I try to start a grand campaign. The CTD happens when I select a faction and press start in the Grand Campaign menu.

It's an unspecified error and the log doesn't help me much. This are the last lines from the log.

_{14:21:29.140 [system.io] [trace] file open,,06E148E8,167283

14:21:29.140 [system.io] [info] open: found Vlaanderen_1302/data/world/maps/base/map_features.tga (from: H:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)

14:21:29.171 [system.io] [info] exists: missing Vlaanderen_1302/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/map_trade_routes.tga

14:21:29.171 [system.io] [info] exists: found Vlaanderen_1302/data/world/maps/base/map_trade_routes.tga (from: H:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)

14:21:29.171 [system.io] [trace] file open,,10CB6BA0,167283

14:21:29.171 [system.io] [info] open: found Vlaanderen_1302/data/world/maps/base/map_trade_routes.tga (from: H:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)

14:21:29.343 [system.io] [info] exists: missing Vlaanderen_1302/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/map_regions.tga

14:21:29.343 [system.io] [info] exists: found Vlaanderen_1302/data/world/maps/base/map_regions.tga (from: H:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)

14:21:29.343 [system.io] [trace] file open,,06E148E8,167283

14:21:29.343 [system.io] [info] open: found Vlaanderen_1302/data/world/maps/base/map_regions.tga (from: H:\Program Files (x86)\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)

14:21:29.546 [system.rpt] [error] Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.}

I've added some of the files where I think the error could be in to this post. I hope that someone can help me out. I'm a bit desperate, spent two days now going through every file looking for errors.

Many thanks

**konny** · August 02, 2009, 09:08 AM

Sounds like a problem with the map. Have you deleted map.rwm?

**Aymar** · August 02, 2009, 09:47 AM

I deleted the map.rwm. I was convinced it was a map problem too.

I also have symbol_flanders.cas file and a matching texture file.

I'll try changing the name of the priest and I'll go through your tutorial (I was using two other tutorials...)

Thanks

**Aymar** · August 02, 2009, 11:11 AM

Okay, stupid me. I did not delete the original .strings.bin files in the Text directory.

The game does not crash any more, but now I have another problem. After selecting a faction and pressing Start I get thrown back into the main M2TW menu.

**Gigantus** · August 02, 2009, 09:22 AM

Can't find any flanders in the 'imperial_regions....' file.

OK. Flanders is a new faction. That opens tons of new possible errors.
Have you got a symbol_flanders.CAS file in models_strat and the matching texture?

You have got Filips twice in the descr_strat: once as a priest, once as a family member.

Check my tutorial in the signature (adding a new faction) to get an idea what all else can get wrong

**Gigantus** · August 02, 2009, 11:34 AM

That error should be documented in the log.

**konny** · August 02, 2009, 11:45 AM

Yes that's a descr_start error. BTW, making the changes step-by-step and checking each on its own would save you a lot of trouble and guesswork.

**Gigantus** · August 02, 2009, 12:52 PM

Ach ja, those kids always want to run when they can just walk. Gotta catch them before they hurt themselves.

**Aymar** · August 02, 2009, 03:20 PM

I am very thankful for all your help, Gigantus and Konny.

It is true that I am not that experienced at modding, but I'm very eager to learn more. I am not some kid that's just started his own gigantic supermod. I work with with a very good 2D artist. We have a very simple, easy but solid mod plan. And we made a lot of progress in the last weeks.

In my previous post, I was just stating that I made a rather stupid mistake, that's all.

I know that the new error I had can be found in the log, thanks.

**Gigantus** · August 02, 2009, 08:15 PM

If you found the error message we wouldn't mind to help. That's why we are all here: to learn and to help others.

**Aymar** · August 03, 2009, 03:00 AM

Never mind, I was a bit desperate when I posted my first message. Two days of going trough all my files without finding a clue.

After that I was simply relieved to find a "normal" error, and happy as I was I posted my relief here.

Although I know that nobody meant it like that, I was a little bit insulted by the "those kids..." message. But like you said, Gigantus, we are all here to live and learn. I have to learn to swallow my pride from time to time. And I do not want to disrespect any member of the Total War modding community, knowing that there is so much free help, tutorials and goodwill around here.

I am still very thankful for all the help and suggestions I got, even though I finally resolved it myself.

In a week or two, we hope to have made enough progress so that we can show something on these forums. I hope you all come and have a look then, I would appreciate that.

**Gigantus** · August 03, 2009, 03:52 AM

You know where to find us. A PM with a link will ensure a look and comment.

PS Next time don't wait two days before posting.

PPS Temptation is always there to do things fast, three steps at a time. Unfortunately it tends to bite back. It is the fate of the modder to do things one step at a time with lots of back ups and testing in between.
I actually got myself an external drive where I back up my mods before I tear into them.

PPS "Ach ja.." is a german way of starting a sentence, indicating indulgent patience.

**Aymar** · August 03, 2009, 04:19 AM

Yeah, Yesterday I created a clean mod directory with unchanged files. I also have a back up of the modded files now.

Safety first!

**Gigantus** · August 03, 2009, 04:32 AM

Tips if you need to unpack the game again (involves editing the unpack_all.bat file):

You can unpack individual files or a certain type of files by using the --filter= switch
Example for unpacking only TGA files:
unpacker.exe --source=..\..\packs\*.pack --destination=..\..\ --verbosity=1 ---filter=*.tga

You can unpack into a different directory so your game files don't get messed up and you don't have to worry about the geography files, C:\unpack as example:
unpacker.exe --source=..\..\packs\*.pack --destination=C:\unpack --verbosity=1

You can however not unpack folders