Help on chaging some stuff

[Pherion]

Hello, I want to change some things about EB2 which I do not like and I was hoping someone here could tell me how to do it.

Where and how can I replace the new javelin throwing animations for the old vanilla ones?

And how can I enable killing moves again?

[QuintusSertorius]

What you're asking to do is not a simple change; I'll leave it to Rafkos to explain re-enabling killing moves (and the bugs and performance issues that brings with it). But changing the javelin animations will require you to edit the modeldb entry for every unit affected. To identify those, look at the "soldier" line against their entry in the EDU.

Open the data\unit_models\battle_models.modeldb with Notepad++, search for the entry you need. Scroll right down to the bottom of that particular entry (eg for Euzonoi it's this):

4 None 
26 EB_Fast_Short_Javelin_Prec 
22 EB_Fast_ShortSwordsman 
2 
18 EB_Javelin_primary 
14 fs_test_shield 
2 
18 MTW2_Sword_Primary 
14 fs_test_shield 
16 -0.090000004 0 0 -0.34999999 0.80000001 0.60000002

What you need to change is EB_Fast_Short_Javelin_Prec to one of the other javelin animations in the data\descr_skeleton.txt.

Repeat for every unit you want to alter - make sure you get their late models as well, for those with upgrades.

[Pherion]

What bugs? Every other mod uses them and it's fine.

[QuintusSertorius]

What bugs? Every other mod uses them and it's fine.

There are graphical glitches associated with some of them that we can't fix. And they reduce the performance of a unit, since they're wasting time doing moves that don't contribute to the overall success of the unit.

[Pherion]

There are graphical glitches associated with some of them that we can't fix. And they reduce the performance of a unit, since they're wasting time doing moves that don't contribute to the overall success of the unit.

But it makes battles way more interesting to watch. Atleast that's why I'm always zoomed in when playing SS. To see the beautiful carnage unfold!

But nevermind, I lost interest on doing this. I'm instead going to take a really long brake from this mod, it has been getting on my nerves recently. But yea, thanks anyway.

[z3n]

It always annoyed me in SS when they rampage a good two or four ranks into the enemy line and then get killed almost immediately afterwords during their kill animation.

[romanius24]

Those animations are fun for a while when you first see them but then they get really old fast.

The newest TW games are a complete joke because of the way that new engine handles combat. Soldiers constantly get locked into Hollywood garbage animations and phase through everything around them.

[Pherion]

Nope. I play medieval 2 since it came out, it never gets old. And the animations of the newer games are the best thing about them. That's whats fun for me, not in EB2 where everyone is just poking eachother and nothing happens.

[alpharomeo]

What you're asking to do is not a simple change; I'll leave it to Rafkos to explain re-enabling killing moves (and the bugs and performance issues that brings with it). But changing the javelin animations will require you to edit the modeldb entry for every unit affected. To identify those, look at the "soldier" line against their entry in the EDU.

Open the data\unit_models\battle_models.modeldb with Notepad++, search for the entry you need. Scroll right down to the bottom of that particular entry (eg for Euzonoi it's this):

4 None 
26 EB_Fast_Short_Javelin_Prec 
22 EB_Fast_ShortSwordsman 
2 
18 EB_Javelin_primary 
14 fs_test_shield 
2 
18 MTW2_Sword_Primary 
14 fs_test_shield 
16 -0.090000004 0 0 -0.34999999 0.80000001 0.60000002

What you need to change is EB_Fast_Short_Javelin_Prec to one of the other javelin animations in the data\descr_skeleton.txt.

Repeat for every unit you want to alter - make sure you get their late models as well, for those with upgrades.

Quintus,

I found the Eunozoi entry in the EDU file, but I can't see where it corresponds to in the battle_models.modeldb file. There are several matches for "EB_Fast_ShortSwordsman".

Also, the descr_skeleton.txt file has several anim for javelin, e.g., stand_a_to_ready, stand_b_to_ready, and so on with several attack anim too. Which one should be used?

Thanks.

[QuintusSertorius]

The only one you should be changing is EB_Fast_Short_Javelin_Prec if you want to change the javelin-throwing animation, not the second one. Note that's an animation-set, not an individual animation. For a knife/sword using unit MTW2_Fast_Javelin is the non-run-up animation.

[alpharomeo]

So, if I change every "EB_Fast_Short_Javelin_Prec" to "MTW2_Fast_Javelin", then all units that can throw javelin will not run when they do? Will that affect horse javelins or catapults?

[QuintusSertorius]

So, if I change every "EB_Fast_Short_Javelin_Prec" to "MTW2_Fast_Javelin", then all units that can throw javelin will not run when they do? Will that affect horse javelins or catapults?

Cavalry and artillery have entirely different animations, so will be unaffected.

[alpharomeo]

After making the change, I get "unspecified error" when I start the game. I tried "MTW2_Javelin" instead of "MTW2_Fast_Javelin" too. Same error message. It must be more complicated to make this change.

[QuintusSertorius]

After making the change, I get "unspecified error" when I start the game. I tried "MTW2_Javelin" instead of "MTW2_Fast_Javelin" too. Same error message. It must be more complicated to make this change.

What did you use to edit the file? Not Windows Notepad, I hope? You need a proper text editor, like Notepad++.

[alpharomeo]

Thank you for helping, Quintus. I used Wordpad. Just tried Notepad++. Same error message.

BTW, my game does not generate the log file mods/ebii/logs/eb.system.log.txt as described in the installation notes. So I really don't know what is happening.

[Earl of Memory]

There are some numbers that you need to change in that file as well:

18 EB_Javelin_Primary

Those indicate the count of characters/letters this piece of code contains; since EB_Javelin_Primary is 18 characters long, that's why there's an 18 before. You need to replace this number as well, MTW2_Javelin should be 12 MTW2_Javelin and MTW2_Fast_Javelin should be 17 MTW2_Fast_Javelin. There are editors that make this easy to do (such as Notepad++). Once you get them right, M2TW should start without issues.

[QuintusSertorius]

There are some numbers that you need to change in that file as well:

18 EB_Javelin_Primary

Those indicate the count of characters/letters this piece of code contains; since EB_Javelin_Primary is 18 characters long, that's why there's an 18 before. You need to replace this number as well, MTW2_Javelin should be 12 MTW2_Javelin and MTW2_Fast_Javelin should be 17 MTW2_Fast_Javelin. There are editors that make this easy to do (such as Notepad++). Once you get them right, M2TW should start without issues.

Thanks for that. I don't touch the modeldb myself, I do all my work in input XML files, then run a script to integrate them. However, we don't provide that with the release versions of EBII, so if you want to change them for yourself, you have to do it the hard way.

[alpharomeo]

It worked!! Thank you I replayed my last battle and indeed the javelin units stayed put.

However, the infantry units with javelin as secondary weapon still move a little bit. Which entries should I change for those?

[betto]

Is possible to have a the old animation for stationary throw and the new one for offensive throw ?

[QuintusSertorius]

Is possible to have a the old animation for stationary throw and the new one for offensive throw ?

Nope, you can only have one animation per attack type.