How to add an existing unit to another faction

[Silvan Heir]

I'm not getting this done right no matter what I try. So in my frustration lol, so can I just go to modeldb and simply change every value that says saxons and change it to mongols? Will that simple take the unit away from lorien and give it to mongols?

[Silvan Heir]

Changing the owner was much simpler with the meshed modeldb file. I fixed my problem

[Gigantus]

Great to hear - have fun with your units.

[kerrel]

hi again!, well i have been trying to fix the problem with the silver units since last week but it seems the game simply wont read the addresses on the mdb i think i've reached my limit on the understanding with that file im really lost now >.< dont know what else to do, i tried to even create new attachment files mesh files and everything new even renaming the unit with adding the extra number on top of the mdb file and still i cant make the game read the textures for them to appear with uniforms instead of silver

[Gigantus]

There is one thing I always advise modders: disable your virtual store for M2TW. It plays havoc with your efforts because the file you have edited may not be the file that the game reads. Follow the tutorial here from step 3 onward and then delete the Medieval II Total War folder in the virtual store if it exists.
After that make sure the path and file name of the modelDB entry agrees with your actual files. If you have added entries to the modelDB make sure you have increased the model count number in the first line for each entry.

[kerrel]

There is one thing I always advise modders: disable your virtual store for M2TW. It plays havoc with your efforts because the file you have edited may not be the file that the game reads. Follow the tutorial here from step 3 onward and then delete the Medieval II Total War folder in the virtual store if it exists.
After that make sure the path and file name of the modelDB entry agrees with your actual files. If you have added entries to the modelDB make sure you have increased the model count number in the first line for each entry.

it didnt help i disabled the UAC, reinstalled the game with uac disabled unpacked everything again and did the changes but still no success my acc has full control over the med2 folder and still no success, i can not make the game read the entries, that or perhaps they are faction locked, if i create a new unit using the regular peasants for the NE factions the game will read it and show newly named peasants with their respective clothing but if i use the EE peasants for a NE Faction i get all those chrome looking little dudes with some weird sticks as weapons, same goes for any other unit if i give the russians dvor_cavalry to the england faction all i get are silver troops and i even assigned the respective mount to england as well.

[Gigantus]

I am not sure what the problem is: it's a simple adding of your ownership faction to the modeldb entry. Read through the opening post again.

I am afraid to ask: are you using a mod folder or are you modding the main game?
If you are using a mod folder, has the CFG file (opens with Notepad) in it's folder this entry?:
[io]
file_first = 1

[kerrel]

I am not sure what the problem is: it's a simple adding of your ownership faction to the modeldb entry. Read through the opening post again.

I am afraid to ask: are you using a mod folder or are you modding the main game?
If you are using a mod folder, has the CFG file (opens with Notepad) in it's folder this entry?:
[io]
file_first = 1

ohh dont worry about asking actually i would be grateful if you do, for your questions its the original game, i dont play with mods and yeah i have the line on the cfg aswell, i have followed every single step on this guide to add units, ill use the Basilisk for another example, you can only recruit that for russia france and other 2 factions, Scotland is not one of those thou but it has the textures for it on the game files so its just as simple as adding the corresponding lines and ownership and i can recruit that artillery unit without problems, but thats not the case with lets say the England Yeomen Archers i can make the game give the ownershp to Scotland as well for those archers but since there are no textures for then on scotland faction they will appear silver no matter what i do, if copypaste the mexsh,textures and attachments and rename them to scotland instead of england to create a new address i place it on the mdb and the game runs well yet again they will still appear silver.

[Gigantus]

Let's get you on the right path - modding the main game has a few unnecessary drawbacks and pitfalls. With main game I am assuming you mean the grand campaign, also that you have at least one kingdoms campaign installed. Now simply install my Bare Geomod 1.15 installation - this is the grand campaign ported to kingdoms, that enables the boiling oil at gates and a few other small things and has a few modding pit falls removed but otherwise is untouched (see version history for more details).
You can now use that set up to simply copy necessary files from your unpacked files if they are not yet present and start modding them in there. That way your unpacked files are actually a back up in case something goes wrong. Now try your unit stuff in there, you should have a bit more luck. Use the desktop shortcut to run Bare Geomod after your changes.

[kerrel]

i downloaded the mod and then copied both the unit_models and unit_sprites folders on the geomod data folder and did everything step by step as explained on this thread but now with the files on the mod folder, then ran the game but same results, all the units are still silver, i tried now to add the armored sergeants to scotland since there are scotland textures for the spearmen i guessed that should be enough, but it seems that the game will not by any means read the changes on the mdb file, i gave ownership for sergeants on the edu and i can play with them on custom battles
thou they are chrome warrios like every single other unit that i tried to add. Ty for that mod thou im exited at the fact that the gates will now pour oil at the attackers

[Gigantus]

That's a bit weird.

Please state the name of the unit and then upload the EDU and modeldb together with any custom files (MESH, TEXTURE, SPR) that you may have created. There is no need for model related files if they exist in the main game.

[rj2long]

Great tutorial super helpful!

[jaghatarsimon]

Hey I would like to add a couple of units from the Thera mod to the stainless steel mod. Now I've been searchen around for some kind of guide to how I will be able to do this, however I am not sure that the guides I've found (like this one) would help me since it doesn't say anywhere that it would work with textures etc.

If there's a part of text in this forum that I've missed out on that you know about, I'd be gald if someone could link it to me. If this requires a new guide I really hope someone would make a good one for a noob modder such as myself ^_^

Thanks in advance.

[Atrion]

hi i would like to know ho to add a unit from Third age MOS submod to Third age Divide and Conquer submod can anyone of you explain me how to do it?, I already know how to work with export buildings and export units but i dont know how to work properly with the Battlemodels.db. Sorry for the bad english and thanks.

[Ngugi]

The description is on the top of the first post in thes thread, so what of it is unclear to you?

[Ngugi]

OK, this tutorial is for a unit from one faction to another within the same game.
There's supposed to be another tutorial somewhere for your topic; couldn't fidn it rigth now however...
OK, I give a crash course directive;

0) Back up any file you edit first.

1) Do you know how to find a model entry (the names of them are attached to each unit in the EDU) in .modeldb?
Copy paste that entry from MOS' .modeldb into DaC's .modeldb

2) Increase the number on the serialization-line (at the very top of the .modeldb) with responding amounts of models you pasted in.
If you add one model, make it +1.
If you also added an upgrade-version, make it +2 etc.

3) Each entry, if you read the lines, are describe what files it uses and in what folders they are found.
Make sure to copy paste those files from MOS into DaC; create new folders so they match, if needed.
Do not overwrite files, eitehr it means DaC already have them, and all is fine - or DaC has their own version, and then things may look funny for either the new or old model(s).

4) If the unit become silver surfers ingame, it's because the factions do nto match in .modeldb [for example Mordor = england and Gondor = sicily but some factiosn can differ, especially since DaC have more factions]
Correct that (as seen in this thread's OP).

[Atrion]

thanks for answering man, and to use your time to show how to do it and sorry for any inconvenience thanks

[♔atthias♔]

how do I find the uint i.e I cannot find the uint when I use this in game name Axemen_of_Lossarnach
notepad ++ say no match found
sorry for necroing

[Gigantus]

I guess you were looking in the modeldb file? Then you need to use the entries from the 'armour_ug_models' line in the EDU. If the entry in the 'soldier' line isn't included in that line then you need to copy that entry as well.

[♔atthias♔]

I guess you were looking in the modeldb file? Then you need to use the entries from the 'armour_ug_models' line in the EDU. If the entry in the 'soldier' line isn't included in that line then you need to copy that entry as well.

thanks gig will try out ASAP