There are other ways to get an infinite amount of money, but altering files to me can get very technical and half the time, not work.
I've used a simple program that has worked with every version of ETW.
This process takes maybe 3-4mins to do, just simple and easy.
Download this Program:ArtMoney SE v7.31
Download it and save it where ever your want, I'd prefer the desktop.
To use it, follow these simple instructions.
1) Open the program before you start ETW, (just click continue when the window pops up in front of the main window for ArtMoney)
2) Once the games starts, go play any Grand Campaign (saved, new, etc...)
3) Once the campaign starts don't recruit or build anything just yet because in order for the program to work you need enough money to buy ONE thing and still have income left. This will make sense later on.
4) Go to ArtMoney and where it says "Select Process", click the arrow in the bar and find "Empire Total War" and select it.
5) After you've selected the program, press the button "Search" in the upper left corner, and where it says value, input your current income ingame and click ok. The search should take around a min or two.
6) Once it is done searching, go back the ETW - build, upgrade, or recruit one thing from any region, it just needs to show a difference in your income.
7) Once you have a different total income, go back to ArtMoney and click the button "Filter" next to the search button. In the value, input your NEW value of income and click ok. This process should load very fast and only one line of data should be in the left column.
8) Select the only data line and click the red arrow pointing to the right; this should bring the data over to the right column.
9) Click on the value in the data line and alter it to any number you want, i usually always do 9999999.
10) Once the number is changed to whatever you desire, right-click the data line and select "Edit Selected". This will bring up another window, but don't worry you only need to fill a couple lines.
11) In the line "Value" replace the "XXX" with the number you used before, in my case i would use 9999999.
12) After, go to the bottom where you should see a "freeze" box. Check the box and click the down arrow to the right of it and select "normal freeze"and then press ok to exit that window.
This keeps your new altered amount of money the same, no matter what you buy; it always stays that number as long as ArtMoney is open.
Once you did that, go back to ETW and you'll see your new income, congratulations!
You can buy anything you want. Now those pesky foreign armies that constantly attack your factories, farms, churches, etc.. don’t do a thing to your spectacular economy.
The game DOES NOT crash, glitch, blackout, etc with this program at all ~ its why i love it.
Things you shouldn't do (from experience)
* Give your exact amount of money to some other nation for a particular amount of turns. Even though your income goes back, it says you were bankrupt, so more then one turn would cut all of your armies in HALF.
Things you should do
*Start the game as England and give every major nation 999,999 gold during the first turn (maybe get some island regions from Spain, United Provinces, and France). Once you do that, sit back, relax, and watch the fireworks.
*Be a tax free nation, set all your policies so you manage them, put them to the lowest setting, and then go to every region and exempt them from taxes. This is huge when you try to take control of the world as populations with no taxes = happiness and +population.
I hope you all enjoy this program, any questions, just ask.
~ Pentel