ummm what's the update for?

[BM309K58SMERCH]

You can still run the mod from a bat file. I don't see why people have to change the target location of the Steam launcher if a bat file works.

[irishron]

You can still run the mod from a bat file. I don't see why people have to change the target location of the Steam launcher if a bat file works.

Option #2 in Nico's post.

[Larkin]

Tried the renaming medieval2 to kingdoms thing.

Just get told that the kingdoms.exe couldn't be found when trying to start the game.

[vin2579]

Tried the renaming medieval2 to kingdoms thing.

Just get told that the kingdoms.exe couldn't be found when trying to start the game.

Noooo, dont rename medieval2 to kingdoms or you will get an error since medieval2 is required for kingdoms to run...

Make a copy of medieval2 and rename that copy to kingdoms.

[gangreenkhan]

I've tried making a kingdoms.exe and running ss several times and all I get is a load screen then crash. even after fresh install. Hope this gets sorted out soon cause vanilla sux ass

[gangreenkhan]

Alright reinstalled it again and now ss works. But what about the long road it doesn't use kingdoms.exe why doesn't it work anymore

[irishron]

Alright reinstalled it again and now ss works. But what about the long road it doesn't use kingdoms.exe why doesn't it work anymore

I have a PM into one of their people about TLR and Darth. No word back yet. The rest what RD said in his last post. We as a site including the owner have no control over what CA and their boss hatches and what Steam uploads for them.

[gangreenkhan]

I think you have to make the kingdoms.exe before you install ss was the problem.

[irishron]

Disable the UAC assuming Vista, Win 7/8/8.1?

[RubiconDecision]

Hold your horses.

I haven't had much sleep, so I hope this makes sense.

Folks, there are workarounds like copying the medieval2.exe and renaming it kingdoms.exe. Realize that if you do these kinds of workarounds (even though they are officially sanctioned by Steam), then when Steam does its update and keeps patching, there's a strong possibility that that won't be noticed and patched along with the now consolidated medievel2.exe? Does that make sense?

Steam/CA worked together to fix the multiplayer since Gamespy is defunct, and they switched to Steam MP. When they did this, in their infinite wisdom, they got rid of the Steam Launcher and kingdoms.exe. It's also buggy with now weird reports of black settlements or screens (in MTW2 vanilla!) along with sound issues and units being depicted incorrectly in mods. A ton of people have totally removed and totally reinstalled MTW2 Steam because of this, and it looks like even more patching is down the road.

A lot of people are using a copied medievel2.exe renamed into kingdoms (don't eliminate the first one or you'll cripple your system) then copying Squid's Launcher replacement into the place where the medievel2.exe resides, then somehow using it as a launcher replacement. All of that sounds like even more future problems due to not being a part of now altered Steam altered MTW2 architecture. Making changes like that is bound to cause further issues down the road.

Why not get out some other game and play THAT for a couple of days until this gets more stable with a proper Steam patch, rather than trying odd things to get immediate gratification to play a mod. Hell, even the vanilla MTW2 (Steam version)is buggy now, so I think you're asking for trouble.

The main two TWCenter techs helping are not Steam owners themselves, so please be polite when you ask them a question, for they're helping you (and hundreds or thousands of Steam owners) when they themselves do not have the issue. Can you imagine trying to troubleshoot a problem when you don't have the same software on your system? They're doing it to be kind, and honestly have been kind since 2007 or so, patiently answering questions in a trickle...that's now turned into a flood due to a bad patch.

[RubiconDecision]

If you look at the official Steam forums, you can see they're getting hammered by lots of irate Steam owners. Imagine you're a programmer, scurrying around, trying to sort this out. It's liable to cause even more bad patching due to being under pressure. CA must know that most people play the mods and not their original content too, but what's worse, their original content is buggered post-patch.

Now is a good time to get out your RTW1 CDs, load them and load Europa Barbarorum (for RTW1) and play THAT instead of trying to do half-measures that sorta work in MTW2, right? Or hey, take a nature hike and get some sun.

[RubiconDecision]

Back in 2012, when lots of Steam users noticed the Kingdoms Launcher hanging up, then some MTW2 fan wrote a Kingdoms Launcher replacement. Requires .NET 4.0 to be installed though. [No idea if that will work for Mac folks.]

http://forums.steampowered.com/forum....php?t=2500705[2
Then in post #72, they updated it to version 1.3 beta
http://forums.steampowered.com/forum...6&postcount=72

Now you could use this as a kingdoms launcher replacement since the original no longer works. There will still be all of the Steam patch nonsense (partially black settlements, sound effect errors, music errors, unit errors) in vanilla or mods though.

A description of using that method found here:
http://steamcommunity.com/app/4700/d...0847681867946/

Of course, a future Steam patch could wipe all of that out. Note that while you can turn off auto-update in Steam, this damn patch makes it a mandatory patch and supersedes your settings which is honestly infuriating.

EDIT1: Here's what I don't get at all. CA fired the original MTW2 team. Then they sold MTW2 to another company which was too bad because some other parties were interested in it. Anyway, if they don't own it, and yet they went to the trouble of trying to patch the Steam version to allow multiplayer to work in Steam MP (since Gamespy is being shuttered), then how is that legal for the Creative Assembly (CA) folks to do?

What's worse, even if you didn't want this patch, and had auto-update turned OFF to protect your mods, the new patch overrides this, and updates anyway. Which in turn resulted in corrupting folks' games and mod folders in some cases. WTF?

The story doesn't add up, does it? If CA sold MTW2, then why patch the Steam version? The initial announcement made it seem like it was a Steam programming error, but it appears that Steam is collaborating with CA.

[scdandme]

The story doesn't add up, does it? If CA sold MTW2, then why patch the Steam version? The initial announcement made it seem like it was a Steam programming error, but it appears that Steam is collaborating with CA.

I would assume that there are legal issues involved...if steam wants to host a game on their site for us then maybe they also are bound to update the game at the developers whim....but you are right...still wish i could at least choose WHEN to instal the updates..I mean, what else is the purpose if the "auto update" disable/enable feature does not work as implied ? I mean, it locks your game so you cannot play it anyway when it seems to NOT override the setting so why not ?

[RubiconDecision]

Locking it out from auto-updating was very important because some novice modders were not careful with the original directories but altered them instead of creating a new mod folder. In essence many have lost months of work due to that. Actually this was a very good feature of Bare Geomods Kingdoms (One of Gigantus' many helpful tools) because it forced you to create a mod folder so you didn't mess that up.

If you haven't turned on Steam in a while, please back up your work, duplicate it elsewhere, because otherwise when the Steam patch is downloaded (with or without your choice) there's a high degree of certainty that it will mess up your work. Realize that Steam streams the update and so errors happen and it has to be reacquired, and often in that case (very often) then a patch goes awry and you have to dump the original Steam installation of MTW2. In that case you will certainly lose your mod folders unless you carefully backed them up.

The worst case would be an important mod update was being worked on by a mod team member, one of the very popular mods, and then they lost tons of code due to this debacle. That hurts everyone.

[scdandme]

oh i don't have problem with it locking out, but it should stay on "disabled" until i back up my work and then i can re-enable it and continue...but i understand what you said...

you are right and make a good point about the stream of updates...anytime data is streamed there is a chance of corruption...i usually verify the cache after first installing a new game from steam myself...although as you said earlier, even this is not fool-proof


yea I was actually yelling about this to everyone on the first page of this thread...LOL...i could see people logging in and the update kicking off..."NNNOOOOOOOOO !!"...LOL...ironically, renaming the folders back to the original names at that point "should" have saved everyone's data...but a backup is best....thanks for the reply and helping us all here...fortunately, i used the launcher app and kept my folders names as the modders named them so i did not loose anything but i feel for those that do..this is one aspect of steam i am very familiar with when it comes to modding..mostly finding out the hard way !! LOL

Edit: I keep forgetting that the key word is "automatically" update...i think this just keeps steam from trying to update if you are actually playing a game hosted by them...thereby saving bandwidth and not causing stability issues as you are using the files that could be updating....using this logic means that it "should" not override if you select it every time you log into steam JUST before playing that game...but not 100% sure about that...have not tested it

[irishron]

I don't how Steam updates for m2 wor(ed) but for ETW and S2 I do have experience of hitting the ETW icon to continue a save with three or four turns on ut. But instead of loading my last save, it is installing the latest update and my save just went in the waste basket. By the third patch of both I gave up playing.

[scdandme]

I don't how Steam updates for m2 wor(ed) but for ETW and S2 I do have experience of hitting the ETW icon to continue a save with three or four turns on ut. But instead of loading my last save, it is installing the latest update and my save just went in the waste basket. By the third patch of both I gave up playing.

i can imagine your frustration with that sir...i always "hard load" my last save...i never use the continue options for any game unless i accidentally hit it by mistake...i have read with some games, especially modded, this can make a difference especially when trying to keep saves from getting corrupted...not sure if it matters here or in your case but i have tried to develop this into a habbit...

[RubiconDecision]

People have been waiting for the MTW2 version of Europa Barbarorum since 2008 or so. Now it's coming out this August. I'd be sick if some EB mod team member lost their work because of a Steam patch that most of us never use.

[irishron]

We will have members like this that have modded vanilla to a personal taste that just lost everything unless the y had backups. Right now the backups are useless.

[RubiconDecision]

We will have members like this that have modded vanilla to a personal taste that just lost everything unless the y had backups. Right now the backups are useless.

Yep, that's what post#203 was addressing. When I was a beginning modder back in 2008, I had no idea what I was doing, and altered the original files, had it all tweaked perfectly, then boom Steam update wiped it out.

Right click on MTW2, click properties, click Updates, then by DEFAULT "Always keep this game up to date" is set. Oops. Always use a mod folder.

Technically a lot of modders and modplayers have found workable solutions to get a mod to work...for now...with problems of sound...but who knows what happens when the next Steam patch is updated, which we all will have to do, and may simply undo whatever we did to get a mod to run. Which is why I'm of the opinion, "Let's wait and see..." versus "Let's rush to figure out how to get a mod to run." Everyone having something different on their machines to get Third Age to run is going to be a nightmare to troubleshoot because they tried multiple things and got a cripple version to work...somewhat.