Modding Q&A's

[Actus Reus]

If you see any questions and you can answer, please do.. Also if you have any questions of your own, feel free to post them here and hopefully someone passing by can answer them.. Once a question has been raised I will update the OP, and of course once the answer has been found I will update the OP again..

1st off thanks and please + Rep to daniu and Jinark for the wonderful Pack File Manager without which, not much would be possible..

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UNITS

Q: Following on from previous question: How (if possible) can new regionunit_resource_requirement's be created in order to cater for the Area of Recruitment with regards to provinces not historically conquered by Rome. I.e. "Auxilia_Thracia" exists within the db as a province where AOR can be used, but "Auxilia_Parthia" does not exist within the db in order to use AOR for this province..

A:


Q: Where in the file structure can you find the entries which limit recruitment for different factions to specific areas on the campaign map? I.e. only allow certain units to be recruited in certain provinces..

A: " main_units_tables" ---> "main_units" ---> "regionunit_resource_requirement"

This is the field that determines AOR and in vanilla is only utilised by the faction Rome.. Still unknown if new region requirements can be created, or that we are limited to the regions already in use by the Romans..


Q: If I wanted to give a custom unit a specific AOR, using the pre-existing areas within the db, how do I correlate the fields within "region_unit_resources" with the campaign map regions? (Not all of the names match up)

A: "region_unit_resources" (RUR) ---> "Campaign Map Region" (CMR)

RUR: Auxilia_Saka ---> CMR: Chorasmia
RUR: Auxilia_Assyria ---> CMR: Mesopotamia & Media Magna
RUR: Auxilia_Persian ---> CMR: Persis & Carmania
RUR: Auxilia_local_Phazania_Libue_Aithiops ---> CMR: Phazania, Libya & Aethiopia
RUR: Auxilia_Bactria ---> CMR: Bactria & Transoxania

Q: Where or how can you change the colour mask for the unit cards (Relating to a specific faction ONLY)?

A: "faction_tables" ---> "factions"

Scroll to the last set of RGB values right at the end, here you will be able to enter custom values to change the mask colour for the unit cards.


Q: Is it possible to remove units from a faction completely?

A: Export this vanilla table below from data_rome2.pack

units_to_groupings_military_permissions

Import it into your MOD and don't add a prefix before this table. Then you can delete all rows of the units which you don't want. That your table overwrites the "vanilla" table, you must call it exactly like the vanilla table.


Q: How to change the name of vanilla units?

A: English: local_en_rome2.pack

The English localization is separated into many tables.

text\db\land_units.loc
text\db\unit_description_historical_texts.loc
text\db\unit_description_short_texts.loc

Export text\db\land_units.loc and import it to your own mod and call it *_land_units.loc

Make your changes and save it as a "movie type" pack file. The "movie type" gets loaded automatically if placed into the data folder. No Mod Manager is needed for "movie type" files.

All other languages: local_*_rome2.pack

text\localisation.loc

The other languages have only ONE big file called localisation.loc

Export text\localisation.loc and import it to your own mod and you must call it the same that it overwrites the vanilla table completely. Make your changes and save it as a "movie type" pack file.


Q: How to add a new texture without replacing the existing one

A: Tutorial

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CAMPAIGN MAP

Q: How to disable certain buildings soecific to regions? I.e. No exotic animal barracks in Scotland..

A:


Q: How to modify diplomacy options, i.e. force diplomacy? How moddable is the diplomacy, is it possible to add stipulations such as territory exchanges?

A:


Q: How do you add/remove vassals/satraps for factions at the game start? (startpos.esf Is where to do it, but can anyone briefly outline how)

A:


Q: Is it possible to add building slots to settlements and cities?

A:


Q: Is it possible to swap starting regions between factions? (startpos.esf Is where to do it, but can anyone briefly outline how)

A:


Q: Is it possible to set your new unit as the general's/character's bodyguards on campaign map? (I know there is an option to have it as your general unit in custom battle selection screen. But is this also possible to be enabled when raising a new army via a character selection?)

A:


Q: Where in the file structure can you find the entries for changing the RGB values for the faction colours, which display on the campaign map? I.e. the colour on the mini-map (campaign) which correspond to each faction, Rome = Red, Athens = White, Macedon = Black, etc, etc..

A: "faction_tables" ---> "factions"

Scroll to the first set of RGB values, here you will be able to enter custom values to change the colour displayed on the campaign mini map which represents the provinces the faction occupies.


Q: Where can you find the faction symbols, how to edit them? (I.e. the faction logo used at the end of turn and on the banners during the campaign game)

A: "data.pack & data_rome2.pack" ---> " ui ----> flags"

You can extract however many you wish from this directory. Each faction will have its own directory containing a total of 8 files.. 4 .dds and 4 .png files..
You are then able to load these files in Photoshop or Gimp (.dds files will require the Nvidia dds plugin).. In order for them to appear in game without causing a CTD, you will have to treat them in the same way as custom unit cards, I.e. Include the UI folder with the custom files and ensure that its correctly placed within the data folder..


Q: How to change what garrison units spawn when defending a siege?

A: "building_level_armed_citizenry_junctions_tables"

You'll find what building level spawns which "unit group".

Those are defined in the: "armed_citizenry_unit_groups" (which is a simple list and only interesting if you want to add an entirely new group).

"armed_citizenry_units_to_unit_groups_junctions_tables", you find the mapping which unit group contains what units exactly.


Q: How do you edit the number of edicts for each level of imperium?

A: "campaign_variables", keys army_cap_fame_0 through army_cap_fame_4.

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UI (Front end and other)

Q: How to change the UI for the start screen (Where you choose to start a new campaign, custom battle, etc, etc), adding or removing clickable links or just changing the names of pre-existing options?

A:

[Actus Reus]

Maybe if these questions get answered, I will edit the 1st post and put them below the questions, and continue that theme with other peoples questions.. just a thought..

P.s. Hate bumping my own threads, but as I though of another question, I thought it appropriate, considering this was lying around in the not much looked at pages...

[Actus Reus]

So...

Though I'd bump my own thread as I might have found some information for anyone whom stumbles across this..

from my limited playthrough as Rome and a few other factions, it would seem as though Rome are the only faction with units available, which actually use an Area of Recruitment rule..

As you can see from the "regionunit_resource_requirement" column they are all labelled "Auxilia" and all belong to the roman faction..

I havent found other entries for the "Auxilia" in the db yet to get a better understanding of how it fully works..

Now I may be wrong (and I really, really.. hope I am), but it appears as though Rome are the ONLY faction that have an even slightly interesting recruitment style, where the cultural area effects what units you can recruit..

[Dresden]

Faction banners - data_rome2.pack /db/faction_banners_tables/faction_banners

For the mask, possible /ui/unit/ area. You would have to add your own picture files under ui/units area of Rome2 directory.

[Actus Reus]

Hey..

Yeah I found the flags already, I was asking about the actual colour which represents your empire on the mini-map in the campaign game..

The data/ui/units/icons & or masks, is where the unit card .png's are stored yes... but the mask is just a white overlay and the colour is determined by a RGB value somewhere else in the database..

I have made custom unit cards, Banners and faction symbols alright, and know how to change the colour of the banners/flags...

But still unable to find the source for the mask colour for the unit cards or change the faction colours for the mini-map and strategic map in the campaign..

Also close to finding out how AOR works, but as it seems only the Romans have this in the game, I'm not sure how easy it will be to allow other factions to use this style of recruitment..

[Ahiga]

You can use the existing roman AOR resources on the map, no problem as another faction. The question is how to create new AOR resources.

[RadixHidayat]

Is it possible to alter the table units_to_groupings_military_permissions as well as building_units_allowed_tables, making auxiliaries recruitable to factions other than romans?

[Ahiga]

Yeah it is. If you give the other factions ownership of Auxilia units and make sure they can build them in the respective buildings they can build, you can work it.

[Actus Reus]

Yeah you sure can do that, but like you said.. how about creating new AOR recruitment for non Roman factions, unrelated to the Auxiliary?

Edit: eh? I didn't see the 2 posts above this one.. dunno why.. that's great can't wait to get home and start tinkering

[FaLKReN]

Q: Where or how can you change the colour mask for the unit cards?

I'll assume that you want to make unit masks for you custom cards.

open data.pack , then select ui/units/mask. Extract the ones that are the closest of what you have in mind, open in photoshop and from there it's up to your skills Always save them in .png, and don't forget to include them in your .pack !AND! if you want them to work you'll also have to include the .png in your Rome data folder UI/units/masks. I hope this helps


Edit: If for some reason you meant to recolor an existing unit card mask, then it's the same process, but you'll have to color it with the brush tool I think, I didn't try this one

[Actus Reus]

Would that not change the colour on the unit card across all factions? I mean they are white as the colour is added via either the PFM or an xml by an RGB value? Isnt it?

New questions:

Q: Is it possible to remove units from a faction completely?

Q: How to change the name of vanilla units? (As editing the value in land_units.loc doesn't work for me)

[Cadarn]

I've been desperate to find this, as I love the idea of playing as Athens, but I hate the garish colours on their unit cards. And now I've found it!

db>factions_tables> Factions To the far right of the table are three card colour columns with the respective RGB values. Change and enjoy!

This would be the very first piece of modding I've ever done, so thanks to everyone on this thread and elsewhere for the information and help.

So, banners changed, unit cards changed, now I just need to get to work on that damned purple owl and we're good to go.

[Actus Reus]

Lord knows why that didn't work for me.. I found the db>factions_tables>faction and edited the RGB values for the Roman faction.. It seems as there are 3 of them within this directory I edited the wrong one and then assumed this was not the method to be used..

shameful display by my self there, I could have had that answer a lot sooner if I was only more thorough and careful in my testing..

• OP updated to reflect this answer and added the answer RE the "damned purple owl", I.e. How to change a factions logo..

RE Changing the name of vanilla units:

"text" ---> "db" ---> "land_units.loc" Strangely, this seems to be a naming issue within the PFM (Certainly not blaming the tool). For example, when I had the precursor name of "NUM"_land_units.loc, any changes I made to the names of existing vanilla units failed to display in game. However removing the "NUM" part (obviously will be different for others) allowed all the changes I made to show in game..

But.. It seems you would need to include all of the data from the vanilla land_units.loc in your modded version as leaving data out causes the names of the units to vanish.. I.e. only displays the names you have added to change in the modded db table.. This is not exactly ideal..

I believe I am missing something straight forward here, is it the difference between saving as a mod or a patch in the PFM?

I see this is the same rule for everything then.. NOT renaming the directories and sub-directories within your .pack file will overwrite the CA.pack files.. Is there a better way of doing this?

So, I can now completely remove vanilla units from the campaign and custom battles, I can rename vanilla units.. (regardless of compatibility issues for the time being)..

The single mos important question then for my plans at least..

Can we add new Auxilia provinces?

I plan on overhauling how the major factions go about their recruitment, giving much more depth to raising armies, as it seems to me that if you are Parthia and manage to spread your empire all the way over to Britain, you will still be able to recruit Persian light archers and Persian elite archers if you have the suitable building.. This for me.. is just not on..

I was thinking a broad are of recruitment for core units, i.e. Parthia would be able to recruit all of its eastern units ONLY in eastern territories.. And if you empire expanded to Gaul or britain, you would be able to choose from a selection of native auxiliaries and NOT be able to recruit Persian archers or eastern spearmen..

[Swiss Halberdier]

Hello Actus Reus,

here some informations about your questions.

>>> Is it possible to remove units from a faction completely?

Export this vanilla table below from data_rome2.pack

units_to_groupings_military_permissions

Import it into your MOD and don't add a prefix before this table. Then you can delete all rows of the units which you don't want. That your table overwrites the "vanilla" table, you must call it exactly like the vanilla table.


>>> How to change the name of vanilla units?

English: local_en_rome2.pack

The English localization is separated into many tables.

text\db\land_units.loc
text\db\unit_description_historical_texts.loc
text\db\unit_description_short_texts.loc

Export text\db\land_units.loc and import it to your own mod and call it *_land_units.loc

Make your changes and save it as a "movie type" pack file. The "movie type" gets loaded automatically if placed into the data folder. No Mod Manager is needed for "movie type" files.

All other languages: local_*_rome2.pack

text\localisation.loc

The other languages have only ONE big file called localisation.loc

Export text\localisation.loc and import it to your own mod and you must call it the same that it overwrites the vanilla table completely. Make your changes and save it as a "movie type" pack file.

I use this process for all Unit Pack Compatibility Projects:

UPC - Empire
UPC - Napoleon
UPC - Shogun
UPC - Rome


>>> Can we add new Auxilia provinces?

As Ahiga answered above yes it's possible to assign the AUX provinces to our custom units. I did this in my AUM-ROM and it works fine.

table: main_units
column: region_unit_resource_requirement

Another question is how we can create our own AOR's in the db tables, without editing the startpos.esf file.

[Actus Reus]

Hey Swiss!

Thanks for all the info, I guess a lot of this info is known from Shogun 2 right? And you did plenty of work already with the warscape engine.. And I havent played around since Empire..

Really should check out all of the info on the Shogun 2 threads..

I think that maybe all of the regions are already included in "region_unit_resources_tables" some of the names are hard to match up with the campaign map, but it looks like they all are already included, so some proper AOR can be done for all factions..

Thanks again Swiss..

[Swiss Halberdier]

Thanks and I'm glad if I can help you with information. Yes we can use all the regions which are already in the column "region_unit_resources_tables". But as you wrote many of them are not quite "matching" real province names or regions.

[Actus Reus]

Thanks again Swiss, I will update the OP with the information you have given, and tomorrow I am going to be doing a lot of testing on the regions, trying to match them up so its clear what table reference correlates with which region in the campaign..

Edit: I guess a lot of this info (if not all) has been stated in other threads for Napoleon and Shogun 2, but it cant hurt to have a little Q&A on the Rome II threads..

Maybe this will grow if others post questions also.. As nearly all of the original questions and the number of others that came up along the way have been answered now, I hope this is of some help to anyone whom drops in..

[Swiss Halberdier]

This would be great if we find out which regions/provinces are connected exactly to the AUX AOR entries.

[Actus Reus]

As I discover them during the course of modding I will list them at the bottom of the OP here..

I have already completely overhauled Persia (but not made them playable yet) new faction colours, new logo, banners etc, etc, some units.. But I only want to carry on modding if I enjoy playing with the end result..

Semi-realist AOR is kind of vital for my enjoyment of the game.. I do NOT want to be able to recruit Persian Immortals in Britain if my Persian empire was to expand that far..

But.. ughhh... creating realistic AOR for one faction means that I "must" do it for all of them.. gonna take time (and I'm only talking about the current playable ones).. But its through doing this I will be able to match up a lot of the entries in the "region_unit_resources_tables" to the campaign map.. Its good that most of them actually do seem pretty self explanatory, also googling them helps as so far they have been on maps of the ancient world in Wiki..

And some even cover around 4 regions.. So Im positive I will be able to get some good results fairly soon..

[Irish guy]

Can someone tell me how to change unit stats?

I've tried opening the land units table and editing values there, but the changes aren't reflected when I test them in-game. What I want specifically is to make a units charge more powerfull.