The Warcraft Starter and assorted Fixes

**Gigantus** · December 03, 2019, 01:34 AM

The Warcraft Starter

IntroductionThe installation for Warcraft:TW is done via extracting a RAR file. This does not provide a desktop shortcut which this installer rectifies.

InformationThe installer provides a ready to use, Steam compatible desktop shortcut to start the mod. No further action is required to use it for the Steam version of the game.

DownloadA download is provided here at TWCenter

InstallationThis is a simple click through affair as the installer should find the mod's installation path automatically. If for some reason it doesn't find the path and you get a 'MyProduct' entry then simply browse to the Medieval 2 Total War main folder - NOT the mod's folder

**Gigantus** · December 03, 2019, 01:35 AM

The Warcraft Fixes (for version 1.6)

DownloadA download is provided here at mediafire

InstallationThis is a simple click through affair as the installer should find the mod's installation path automatically. If for some reason it doesn't find the path and you get a 'MyProduct' entry then simply browse to the Medieval 2 Total War main folder - NOT the mod's folder

Version HistoryNon save game compatible items are marked in blue

Patch 1 - 03rd December 2019

includes "Old Demise" settlement Fix
provides updated CFG file
disables invalid custom battle selection
corrects small formatting issues in EDB
provides missing building tree names
formats script files layout
fixes line count errors in "yvresse_griffon" model entry
disables invalid EDCT trigger "baandari_merchant"
provides missing sprites:

"Grail_skeleton_horse_sprite"
"wolf_hob_mount_sprite"
"chaos_dwarfs_crew_sprite"
"he_light_horse_sprite"
"american_cavalry_sprite"

corrected sprite path for "mount_amanibear" model
corrects invalid resources in descr_strat (fur, salt)
resolves silver surfers for these models:

"silver_captain"
"jinetes"
"vanguard_captain"
"drake_riders"

provides missing unit descriptions:

"murloc_slaves"
"armored_scorpion"
"ancient_dragon_turtle"
"transport"
"undead_deathship"

corrects use of invalid trait "FactionLeader"

**Mr_Nygren** · December 04, 2019, 03:16 PM

Nice to see some of those old bugs being fixed. Is there any way to get the patch in raw-file format instead?

I have an updated version of the mod so i cannot install the patch on-top of it as that could make things incompatible.

Sulfurion even has an even more recent version than mine, as i did send him mine and Bantu's updates and he is the last person to work on the mod. Your patch is for the released version and should work fine with it. But the updated versions probably have the same issues as seen in your post- some of the units like the "Jinetes" are not used in the mod, and are old vanilla units. The BMDB has a lot of outdated entries- the yvresse_griffon isn't used either- it was used in the past i believe as it's the griffon from the Sundering. It were used in the demo from 2017.

**Gigantus** · December 04, 2019, 07:14 PM

The installation path is variable - simply point it somewhere else to install, then look for a 'mods' directory, that's the beginning of the path, eg c:\mods if you install into c:

The 'jinetes' model is used as soldiers in the EDU (eg Mounted_Archmagi) the other entries are used as officers, all of them missing textures for some of the ownership factions. Hence why I handled them.

Remark of personal impression: using the intro movie as background movie is extremely distracting, hence why my provided CFG file has the 'no_background_fmv = 0 # set to one to disable menu background movie' line. You may want to consider setting that to one in your next release or mentioning the ability in the release.
Alternatively use a slow moving scene only.

In case you wonder why the patch is so small in size even if it contains the 'old demise' fix: I removed all 'old' files from your fix and only kept the actually edited ones (5).

I would also suggest to attend to massively oversized model textures that are bound to crash the game when you play for extended periods, example the 'amani' general and captain with 16MB each. That's not the battle models, that's the strat models I am talking about. In total you have nearly 50 textures that are over 10MB in size, it's an issue that even LAA will not be able to prevent, 3MB should be max in that folder. There is a reason why vanilla textures are less then 1MB, do sort that data\models_strat\textures folder out, please?

Guys, I love what you are doing, but it's not user friendly as it doesn't respect the limitations of the engine.

An identical issue exists with the battle models and blockset folders - a problem that Warcraft shares with TESTW and the original Call of Warhammer mod. Bigger simply isn't better in M2TW, regardless of the hardware - it's a recipe for low frame rates and memory related crashes.
I played a custom battle with 4 units: a golem each side, one 'helicopter' and 'guard' of some sort and the frame drop was palpable. My rig plays stuff like the latest noman's sky release on the highest setting without a problem btw.

Simply keep in mind that doubling a texture's measurement will quadruple it's file size. You got 2048*2048 instead of max 512*512 - that's how your 16 times bigger file size happens.

**Mr_Nygren** · December 07, 2019, 01:35 AM

Originally Posted by Gigantus

The installation path is variable - simply point it somewhere else to install, then look for a 'mods' directory, that's the beginning of the path, eg c:\mods if you install into c:

The 'jinetes' model is used as soldiers in the EDU (eg Mounted_Archmagi) the other entries are used as officers, all of them missing textures for some of the ownership factions. Hence why I handled them.

Remark of personal impression: using the intro movie as background movie is extremely distracting, hence why my provided CFG file has the 'no_background_fmv = 0 # set to one to disable menu background movie' line. You may want to consider setting that to one in your next release or mentioning the ability in the release.
Alternatively use a slow moving scene only.

In case you wonder why the patch is so small in size even if it contains the 'old demise' fix: I removed all 'old' files from your fix and only kept the actually edited ones (5).

I would also suggest to attend to massively oversized model textures that are bound to crash the game when you play for extended periods, example the 'amani' general and captain with 16MB each. That's not the battle models, that's the strat models I am talking about. In total you have nearly 50 textures that are over 10MB in size, it's an issue that even LAA will not be able to prevent, 3MB should be max in that folder. There is a reason why vanilla textures are less then 1MB, do sort that data\models_strat\textures folder out, please?

Guys, I love what you are doing, but it's not user friendly as it doesn't respect the limitations of the engine.

An identical issue exists with the battle models and blockset folders - a problem that Warcraft shares with TESTW and the original Call of Warhammer mod. Bigger simply isn't better in M2TW, regardless of the hardware - it's a recipe for low frame rates and memory related crashes.
I played a custom battle with 4 units: a golem each side, one 'helicopter' and 'guard' of some sort and the frame drop was palpable. My rig plays stuff like the latest noman's sky release on the highest setting without a problem btw.

Simply keep in mind that doubling a texture's measurement will quadruple it's file size. You got 2048*2048 instead of max 512*512 - that's how your 16 times bigger file size happens.

I see- thanks for the patch, and it will be applied to the recent version as well.

Ah, that's odd- the "Jinetes" model is indeed the "soldiers"-model -but we are using a different model as the armour upgrade loaded in the battlefield. I didn't know the "soldier"-line mattered if the model in the "soldier"-line isn't the one used as the first armour upgrade? What issue did this issue cause in the mod? In any case thanks for fixing it. It were probably an oversight as at least i didn't think the unit mattered if not the model used in the battle.

I actually like the FMV but i might tell people that it can be de-activated when releasing the next update.

Yeah, i guess i could have removed most of those files for "Old Demise". In the next version it will be implemented in the full build anyway.

Bantu Chieftain maximized the use of each texture, as he did include maybe 3-6 units in each texture- we did add all the models not counting Eoghans models between june 2017 and december of 2018. Some models have been replaced by others during this year, but all in all not counting Eoghans WC3 orcs and fan-made Humans- we did indeed rig and implement over 400 units. The most effective way was to use the most out of each texture. I don't think it would be feasible to remake that stuff- at least when it comes to the battle models.

**Gigantus** · December 07, 2019, 05:41 AM

Jinetes - the checker I am using also checks the 'soldier' entry for allocated textures even though that entry only indicates that this model's animation will be used. I haven't checked, but if the animation of the armour_ug_models is identical to the 'soldier' model then I would suggest to replace the soldier line.

Unit Textures - I don't see a problem for battle models if the textures are shared as it a matter of total memory used. Hence if a 5MB is shared by three units then it's only 1.6MB per model which is fine - provided those models are all present on the battle field.
The strat model textures however are stupendous in their size, shared or not. No fancy footwork will reduce the chance of a (recoverable, memory related) crash here.

Tip for your next full release - use the Bovine checker to identify unused models and related files, from what I saw they are accumulating to several hundred MB. You will need to use my modelDB file when running the checker as the old one was faulty which causes the checker to terminate with an error message.

**Mr_Nygren** · December 10, 2019, 03:33 AM

Originally Posted by Gigantus

Jinetes - the checker I am using also checks the 'soldier' entry for allocated textures even though that entry only indicates that this model's animation will be used. I haven't checked, but if the animation of the armour_ug_models is identical to the 'soldier' model then I would suggest to replace the soldier line.

Unit Textures - I don't see a problem for battle models if the textures are shared as it a matter of total memory used. Hence if a 5MB is shared by three units then it's only 1.6MB per model which is fine - provided those models are all present on the battle field.
The strat model textures however are stupendous in their size, shared or not. No fancy footwork will reduce the chance of a (recoverable, memory related) crash here.

Tip for your next full release - use the Bovine checker to identify unused models and related files, from what I saw they are accumulating to several hundred MB. You will need to use my modelDB file when running the checker as the old one was faulty which causes the checker to terminate with an error message.

Yes, i will see to it when i get the new version from Sulf.

I'll tell Bantu about the textures and we'll see if he bothers to change them or not. He is studying now unlike in 2017/2018.

I attempted to use that Bovine Checker for some mods, and actually did use it in goT Enhanced to remove stuff- but it would shut down in Warcraft and WotN for the reasons you mention here. I'll try it again when i get the most up to date version.

Btw, Makayane fixed the "Old Demise" so that it will now work perfectly with the gate. Previously i only fixed the pathfinding so that armies wouldn't get stuck. But they still would just walk in through the main gate without even needing to destroy it. Now thanks to Makayane's help the gate will work as it should.

I've downloaded your patch and updated it with the files from Makayane. I don't know how to make an installer but i'm uploading the patch as "raw"-files here in case you'd like to make a new installer for it. Or i'm just going to upload the files as a rar-archive. It's an update for the currently released 1.6 version of Warcraft: Total War- if added to the updated unreleased version it wouldn't work unless compared from file to file.

**Gigantus** · December 10, 2019, 03:40 AM

All you ever needed to know about a simple installer: Creating a World - Using the Install Creator

**Mr_Nygren** · December 10, 2019, 03:48 AM

Originally Posted by Gigantus

All you ever needed to know about a simple installer: Creating a World - Using the Install Creator

Alright thanks, i will read into this. Might actually be good for every mod so that i'll get less messages about installation problems.

**Gigantus** · December 10, 2019, 03:52 AM

Do note: it's limited to 2GB packed size (returns error otherwise). You will have to make two installers (like my RodG, 1648 and RotK installers), the principle stays the same.

**Mr_Nygren** · December 28, 2019, 09:52 AM

WarcraftHero did resize all the Warcraft: Total war strat model textures- they are now reduced from 1.45gb in size to about 283mb in size.

"Hi Mr_Nygren,

After reading Gigantus's fixes thread, i followed his advice to resize the strat map characters textures so i took the bigger ones and resized these to 512*512 as he suggested. After testing the campaign in both regular and hotseat mode i have encountered zero issues so far as the textures are loaded regularly and apparently the campaign even loads faster.

Overall the 1.6 version models_strat/textures folder shifted from 1,45 GB to 283 MB (including the reduced textures) which is a reasonable size for the old game engine.

So, if you want test them here they are, when asked to replace the files click yes. Also, for the next version, i would suggest you to resize the Vrykul strat textures to 512*512 as well in order to avoid issues.

I really hope the textures will finally solve the problems that some players have when starting or loading a campaign.

Greetings,

Warcrafthero"

**Gigantus** · December 28, 2019, 11:57 AM

Great to hear my advice was followed - it should greatly increase the stability of the game. Less size obviously also means less loading time as warcrafthero notices.

**Mr_Nygren** · February 06, 2020, 10:16 AM

Originally Posted by Gigantus

Great to hear my advice was followed - it should greatly increase the stability of the game. Less size obviously also means less loading time as warcrafthero notices.

I tried moving over all your changes using Total Commander and comparing each file. But the mod did throw me back to the menu with your configuration file, and with the old configuration file it crashed to desktop instead.

Something did not work but i don't know what is the cause.

Looking at the error-log i just get an old error connected to videos and .BIk something.

I'm afraid the best thing to do here is skiping your files entirely.

Of course the fixed files are added, and the new smaller files etc- but i can't use changes to the BMMDB or the configuration files if they cause old issues to return. Not even sure where the cause of the issue is but the fact i can't enter the campaign after adding all your changes manually tells me it's better to stay with the old.

Code:

16:47:33.882 [game.script.trigger] [trace] Trigger <becomesheir> fired
16:47:33.882 [system.io] [info] exists:   found mods/WTW/data/ui/custom_portraits/welsington/portrait_young.tga (from: D:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
16:47:33.882 [system.io] [info] exists:   found mods/WTW/data/ui/custom_portraits/welsington/portrait_young.tga (from: D:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
16:47:33.882 [system.io] [info] exists:   found mods/WTW/data/ui/custom_portraits/welsington/portrait_young.tga (from: D:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
16:47:33.882 [system.io] [info] exists:   found mods/WTW/data/ui/custom_portraits/welsington/portrait_young.tga (from: D:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
16:47:33.882 [system.io] [info] exists:   found mods/WTW/data/ui/custom_portraits/hartford/portrait_young.tga (from: D:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
16:47:33.882 [system.io] [info] exists:   found mods/WTW/data/ui/custom_portraits/hartford/portrait_young.tga (from: D:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
16:47:33.882 [system.io] [info] exists:   found mods/WTW/data/ui/custom_portraits/hartford/portrait_young.tga (from: D:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
16:47:33.882 [system.io] [info] exists:   found mods/WTW/data/ui/custom_portraits/hartford/portrait_young.tga (from: D:\Games\SEGA\Medieval II Total War)
16:47:33.947 [bink] [debug] [mods/WTW/data/fmv/menu/DUMP0000.BIK]Pause on
16:47:34.160 [system.rpt] [error] Uh oh. This isn't good. No idea why, but exiting now. Sorry pal.

I will keep the old stuff in those dangerous files.

**Gigantus** · February 06, 2020, 10:50 AM

Back to menu is a descr_strat issue, and looking at the log it happened during processing of characters with custom portraits - the name of the portraits should make it easy to trace where the issue happened. It will be shortly after the hartford character.

I am not entirly sure what exactly causes the dump000 movie to be called, but it can pop up at various occasions.

**Mr_Nygren** · February 28, 2020, 01:50 AM

Originally Posted by Gigantus

Back to menu is a descr_strat issue, and looking at the log it happened during processing of characters with custom portraits - the name of the portraits should make it easy to trace where the issue happened. It will be shortly after the hartford character.

I am not entirly sure what exactly causes the dump000 movie to be called, but it can pop up at various occasions.

Yes, but i don't want to bother with that dump-error.

I've returned the mod to pre-patch version- then i've added the new files of the Horde/Dark Horde/Trade Coalition custom settlements- and WarcraftHero's reduced strat_model textures, that he reduced based on your advice.

It's all available here:

https://www.moddb.com/mods/warcraft-...duced-textures

If anyone installed the 1.6 patch uploaded in december then i'd suggest deleting the entire mod and re-installing it.

I had to go back to an older version and update it due to the 1.6 update causing me to be thrown back to the main menu- and the dump-CTD to re-appear. It used to be a problem during early development and i were very pleased when it got removed. I can't use any patch that causes it to return.

Still, i know Gigantus just waned to help and we're thankful for that- but my priority is always stability over other stuff. I dislike bothering with CTD.

**Mr_Nygren** · February 28, 2020, 02:52 AM

Originally Posted by Gigantus

The installation path is variable - simply point it somewhere else to install, then look for a 'mods' directory, that's the beginning of the path, eg c:\mods if you install into c:

The 'jinetes' model is used as soldiers in the EDU (eg Mounted_Archmagi) the other entries are used as officers, all of them missing textures for some of the ownership factions. Hence why I handled them.

Remark of personal impression: using the intro movie as background movie is extremely distracting, hence why my provided CFG file has the 'no_background_fmv = 0 # set to one to disable menu background movie' line. You may want to consider setting that to one in your next release or mentioning the ability in the release.
Alternatively use a slow moving scene only.

In case you wonder why the patch is so small in size even if it contains the 'old demise' fix: I removed all 'old' files from your fix and only kept the actually edited ones (5).

I would also suggest to attend to massively oversized model textures that are bound to crash the game when you play for extended periods, example the 'amani' general and captain with 16MB each. That's not the battle models, that's the strat models I am talking about. In total you have nearly 50 textures that are over 10MB in size, it's an issue that even LAA will not be able to prevent, 3MB should be max in that folder. There is a reason why vanilla textures are less then 1MB, do sort that data\models_strat\textures folder out, please?

Guys, I love what you are doing, but it's not user friendly as it doesn't respect the limitations of the engine.

An identical issue exists with the battle models and blockset folders - a problem that Warcraft shares with TESTW and the original Call of Warhammer mod. Bigger simply isn't better in M2TW, regardless of the hardware - it's a recipe for low frame rates and memory related crashes.
I played a custom battle with 4 units: a golem each side, one 'helicopter' and 'guard' of some sort and the frame drop was palpable. My rig plays stuff like the latest noman's sky release on the highest setting without a problem btw.

Simply keep in mind that doubling a texture's measurement will quadruple it's file size. You got 2048*2048 instead of max 512*512 - that's how your 16 times bigger file size happens.

WarcraftHero did most of the strat_models, and i just did the new Vrykul ones- they are all 512X512 now- what's the recommended size for the battle_models?

I'm thinking of reducing those next.

**Gigantus** · February 29, 2020, 04:30 AM

1024*1024 for the battle models works fine in my experience, that normally ends up as 1.3MB TEXTURE format

**Mr_Nygren** · February 29, 2020, 06:11 PM

Originally Posted by Gigantus

1024*1024 for the battle models works fine in my experience, that normally ends up as 1.3MB TEXTURE format

The battle models did use the same heavy size as the strat models- and i tried 512*512 which worked but the textures became a little blurried out.

I will heed your suggestion and try 1024*1024- hopefully that will be big enough to not make them blurry, while at the same time lowering the loading times in and out of battles- and making the battles more stable.

**Gigantus** · February 29, 2020, 06:55 PM

512 is fine for the strat models as you never get close enough to them for details to matter. 1024 is actually default in vanilla for battle model textures.