Need Help with Making a new faction

[Emperor Tom]

Hi guys, before I get started I would like to say that I have looked at the tutorials for adding new Factions to the Game. I understand for the most part but I ran into some problems. Also I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get new units to be recruit-able even after changing it so the Faction can recruit in the export_descr_buildings area. I dont know if I am missing something so to help you guys out I made a video and posted it on youtube here which also covers base on my other problems except one and that is that only my Faction Leader is in my family tree for some reason. My Faction Heir is not in the tree for some reason. Anyways here is the vid:






The only reason I want to use Mercs is because skinning, unit cards, and the like are WAAAAYYYYYY (even with tutorials) beyond my understanding.

[AJStoner]

*Recruitable units: In addition to being available to your faction in data/export_descr_buildings, your faction must have ownership listed in data/export_descr_units. The Saxons, as they stand, have limited units since they were included only for the tutorial game. You will need to assign textures to many units in the battle models db as well--READ CAREFULLY up on that file before you mess with it and always have a back-up of your last working version since any error here will cause a ctd.

*Family tree & Names: You must have all names you are using in data/descr_names and data/descr_names_lookup as well as data/text/names. You must include the FH as the child of your FL in data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign/descr_strat with tabs, not spaces, between the names in the family line. Look at the family entries for the other factions and you'll get the idea.

[Bungo Baggins]

Also I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get new units to be recruit-able even after changing it so the Faction can recruit in the export_descr_buildings area.

Did you add the faction name in the edu ("export_desr_unit.txt") under each unit?
If you did so please post each an example for the edu and the edb with the units you want recruitable.
You certainly will not be restricted to mercenaries.

You should also have a closer look at the beginning of the edu, there almost everything you need to know about it explained. You can also look up the attribute for the possibility for free upkeep there.

Then you should look at the "descr_strat.txt", if you didn't work it over properly, do so by looking at the entries for other factions and add things you want your characters to have (certain traits like ReligionStarter, which solves you Piety problem, for example). There you also ought to be able to fix your family tree.

In general, I would advise you to first try modifiing an existing faction in all possible files, thus seeing what is generally needed and what is possible at all before trying to add a new faction.

(By the way, saxony is a bit up in the north... ...East-Germany , but its most likely only a first draft. )

And of course AJStoner was faster...

[danny X]

i'll give you a tip for making easy Unit Cards,

1 download this stencil set http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=207710

2 go in game and take a picture of the unit

3 cut the picture in Irfanview, of the bits you want to use

4 open the stencil and paste the bits of the picture you use

its not perfect but this is what you get:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

For free upkeep units, open the edu

and on the attributes line add

free_upkeep_unit

Here is a tutorial for the edb http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=221100

[Emperor Tom]

Hi guys, sorry for getting back so late, just got home from work. Yes I did give ownership in the export_descr_unit file as well. I still dont know why nothing shows up.

[Emperor Tom]

bump. =(

[Bungo Baggins]

Maybe you can attach both edu/edb or post the important parts in spoilers so that I may have a look?

[Emperor Tom]

Bungo, I just re-did the whole thing bringing all the files back to the original vanilla so I could play the game normally until these problems can be resolved. I would love some custom units and create a new faction and place them at Caffa. I like a mix of good light cavalry, missile cavalry, strong missile infantry (archers and javelin men), spears and one or two good shock infantry. No heavy armor. I want some weaknesses in the faction or its just plain no fun! I want gun powder too! I want the grand bombards, serpentines, mortars, and rocket launchers! I want to field the same musketeers as the Russians. I basically want to mix Russia, Hungary, Turks and also add Alan Light Cavalry, Afghan Javelinmen, and Armenian Archers to the unit roster. Can you or anyon ready help me with this task?

Update! Here is the full roster of what I am wanting!

City
Town Watch-Spear Militia
Town Guard-Archer Militia
City Watch-Crossbow Militia
Militia Drill Square-Cavalry Militia (Russian Version)
Militia Barracks-Halberd Militia (turkish Version)
Army Barracks-Hashashim

(Merchant guild Unlocks Strzelcy)
(City walls unlock Turkomans)
(HUge City Walls Unlock Hussars)


Barracks:
Mustering Hall-Slav Levies
Garrisson Quarters-Woodsman
Drill Square-(Slav Levies +1 EXP/Woodsmen +1 EXP)
Barracks-Spearmen
Armoury-Afghan Javilenmen


Range:
Bowyer-Armenian Archers
Practice Range-Armenian Archers +1 EXP
Archery Range-Crossbowmen
Marksman's Range-Naffatun


Stables:
Stables-Turkomans
Knight's Stables-Strzelcy
Baron's Stables-Alan Light Cavalry
Earl's Stables-Cossack Cavalry

(Citadel Unlocks Polish Retainers, Berdiche Axemen, Dismounted Boyar Sons, Dismounted Dvor)
Artillery:
Ballista
Catapult
Trebuchet

Gunpowder"
Grand Bombard
Mortar
Cossack Musketeers
Serpentine
Rocket Launcher

[Emperor Tom]

Bump....



So any thoughts anyone? cuz I am having a heck of a time trying to mod this myself. After everything mentioned it is still a no go sadly.

[Bungo Baggins]

It might not be the best solution, but considering that you said you put everything right into edu and edb etc I would propose the following:

Take an existing faction (eg. milan) and move it to the place where you want it (have a backup and try if everything works as intended ingame), then add the units to that faction, possibly by replacing existing ones with your desired types.
Don't forget to add the according faction name in the edu.
Example:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

type Armenian Archers
dictionary Armenian_Archers ; Armenian Archers
category infantry
class missile
voice_type Light
accent East_European
banner faction main_missile
banner holy crusade
soldier Armenian_Archers, 48, 0, 0.8
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_withdraw, mercenary_unit
formation 1.2, 1.2, 2.4, 2.4, 3, square
stat_health 1, 0
stat_pri 7, 1, composite_arrow, 160, 30, missile, missile_mechanical, piercing, none, 25, 1
;stat_pri_ex 0, 0, 0
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 6, 1, no, 0, 0, melee, melee_blade, piercing, sword, 25, 1
;stat_sec_ex 0, 0, 0
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 0, 3, 3, flesh
;stat_armour_ex 0, 0, 0, 0, 3, 3, 3, flesh
stat_sec_armour 0, 0, flesh
stat_heat 0
stat_ground 1, 1, 0, -1
stat_mental 3, normal, trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 390, 150, 65, 50, 390, 4, 90
armour_ug_levels 0
armour_ug_models Armenian_Archers
ownership slave, turks, milan
era 2 turks
;unit_info 6, 7, 6

Try out, then remove their other original units from the edb and you will only have the new units you wanted available. Always test after a change.

By the way, did you try deleting the "map.rwm" in data/world/maps/base ?
This sometimes solves problems when implementing something new...
(I am no expert in this, but it helped me once concering units.)

Edit: This tutorial might come in handy, too.

[Emperor Tom]

so do i manually have to make a "my_mod" folder? and also where should I put it if so.