Is it easy to make units available to other factions?

[Inhuman One]

I have seen some mods around that enable units for factions that normally dont have them, and Spain seems to start out with a light infantry unit thats not even on their roster but does have the faction colors of Spain.

Would it be easy for me to locate this file and give some units to other factions of my choice? and would their uniforms automaticly be in the style of the chosen country?

And would this work for only the common units or also the unique faction units? Like giving the french janissaries for example? would that work? would they have the french colors then or the ottoman colors?

Not that I intend to give the french janissaries, I just wanted to give a wild example.

With Medieval 2 I did edit some files in stainless steel, which where unpacked to change some status and appearances so thats pretty much the extent of my modding knowledge.

[Okuto]

yes you can and they will be in the faction's color scheme, although some won't such as air riflemen, green jackets, etc. All you have to do is open the military grouping in the db editor and assign units to factions, although, before you give an exclusive unit, such as winged hussars, be sure to delete the exclusive entry and be sure to put in winged hussars in the military groupings for poland and the faction you decide to give it to.

I personally assigned every hidden unit already but some just feel odd for me...like the whole jannissaries for france thing, it feels odd to me, I try to avoid stuff like that as sorta takes away from the uniqueness of a faction but everyone has their own tastes I suppose.

But in short, it's very easy mate

[Prodigal]

Yes, that can be really weird. Simply out of interest, what are you looking to change?

[Inhuman One]

I dont mean to give the french janissaries or something like that, I just want to improve some rosters with plausible units.

Here are a few things I plan to do:

-Superiour Line infantry added to Poland.
-Scots added to Brittain
-Hussars added to Brittain and Sweden.
-Carabineers added to United Provinces and Prussia.
-Sepoys added to Maratha's.
-Rangers added to United Provinces and Sweden.
-Guerilla's added to Austria.
-Amazons added to Maratha's (not region bound)
-clansmen added as a regional unit in Scotland.
-Pirates added as a regional unit at the pirate regions.

And furthermore I might spread out a few uniques if their colors do change according to faction such as Guard Grenadiers, second Hussars and other such unique units that dont embody their faction in name or appearance.

Where can I find the db editor and is it difficult to use? And where can I find the millitairy grouping?

I am not a modder so I really need an easy explanation I never done more than carefully change a few things with Medieval 2 such as model appearances.

[Okuto]

The db editor is in the mod tools forums, found here http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=280329

When you open it, there will many different entries. Open the left hand drop box and find the entry known as units to grouping section and you may have to create a new table for it. Now you simply add the units you want and add the nation to give it to in the second box. I'm a bit short of time at the moment so I can't give you a detailed tutorial but I'll see if I can post a picture tutorial for you later.

[Inhuman One]

thanks, I am looking forward to that since I am not sure I understand now, and I wouldnt want to mess up my files. I found those tables but have no idea at all how to use it, add stuff and all that. It doesnt really make sense to me.

[Okuto]

Well the first step is this, when you get the dbeditor opened you should look for the grouping entry as so



With this open, you are free to assign what units to want to the nations of your choice

then after that you should have the units for that faction in game. Mind you, they will only appear in campaign unless to go to the chart known as units.table and make the unit in question true under the late available entry in the spreadsheet. Mind you that you must create new tables for all of this.

If you want to assign an exclusive unit to someone else then you go to the chart below and change the entries, quite self-explanatory



If you find that you cannot build the unit in campaign then you go to the chart as so below and assign the buildings that create the unit of your choice

[Inhuman One]

It seems to be read only, how do I change that? I unchecked this but it does not change anything, it remains read only. And how can I change things when its not read only anymore?

[Tan Zhi Han]

Number 1: Do you have the latest DBEditor? You should be able to even edit vanilla files... But if you can't edit it...

Use pack file manager. Extract the files from main.pack or patch_en.pack, etc. that you want to work on. Start a new pack. Add the files you extracted before. Rename the added files in your pack. Save your pack as something.

Open up DBEditor, include your newest pack. Now edit the files that are in your new pack (should be in black/bold to be edittable).

[Inhuman One]

I have the latest version, but it says at the top (read-only aggregate view)

Maybe I am just in way over my head.

[Okuto]

You have to make a new table like I said.......Just make a new new table and adjust everything to your liking.

[Inhuman One]

how does making a new table work? How do I do this?

Sorry I really dont know much about modding, next to nothing pretty much.

[Okuto]

go to the file menu and click create new table

[Inhuman One]

Alright I have a new table, but what do I do with it? Its an empty screen and I have no idea how to add anything to it.

EDIT: I managed to get the file to not be read only anymore and figured out how to replace existing units with different ones. Like replacing Hungarian Hussars with normal Hussars (which look better) and I also altered the availability for some units, sometimes to allow them to be available for other factions as well.

After tweaking a bit and testing it out in custom battles I went back to the DB editor several times to make some changes when a unit didnt seem appropriate for a faction, but now the game wont run anymore.

What could have caused this? The last time I made a few changes it werent many, I made quite a few more earlier without any issues.

[Okuto]

You are not suppose to play around with the main files. That usually results in failue. Just copy the columns you want from the orginal chart and copy them into your new chart.

[Inhuman One]

I cant seem to copy them.

At first everything worked fine so I am not sure what it is that went wrong.

[Okuto]

All you have to do is click on the block on the left of the column you want to copy, when you click on the block, it \selects the entire row....then after that you go to the menu and you'll find something that says copy. Do so and open your new table and simply select paste from the menu. Then you can play around with it all you like.

Another reason why your game isn't working is also because when you opened the groupings I don't suppose you changed around simple units like taking away austria_hussars and giving them euro_hussars. If you decide to exchange basic units you have to copy the entire groupings chart and rearange it to your liking or else you will crash your game or your rosters will be quite empty.......

Did you exchange the hung_hussars entirely or just the model, if you made hung_hussars get replaced by reg hussars in the recruitment bar then you might mess things up in current running campaigns as he ai can't find units and cries later.

[Inhuman One]

I changed units entirely and no models. At the lists of units and ownership I exchanged units for different ones. I also changed the availability of some units on another table.

I went into the DBeditor about 4 times to make changes and only the last time it gave a conflict.

Later today I think I will try to undo all changes and start back over, see if that works.

I unchecked the CA files ready only option however but I didnt uncheck the back up. Where can I find the back up and how/where to use it?

[Okuto]

You must verify your files on steam at this rate to clean the main files

[Inhuman One]

how can I do that?