How to Run EB 1.2 with Alexander.exe?

[SlartyBartfast]

As the title says. Have looked everywhere, found nothing useful yet.

[Nad]

It's very simple, you don't need to install anything additional to normal EB.

But the key is to ensure everything is installed in the right place. And that is your Rome Total War folder (let's call it RTW).

In the RTW folder, you should have:

1) a folder called "alexander" (this is where the RTW Alexander files are)
2) a folder called "EB" (or whatever else you called your Europa Barbarorum installation), this is where all your EB files are
3) a folder called "EBTrivialScript" (where your Trivial Script should have been installed as part of your EB installation: this needs to be in your RTW folder, not within your EB folder)
4) the .exe files for RTW, RTW-BI if you have that installed, and RTW-Alexander

Check the above first, you need to have installation as above for it to work. If not, reinstall from scratch to ensure you end up with the above.

It should end up looking like this:



5) Now, right-click on the RTW-Alexander.exe and select "Send to Desktop (create shortcut)"
6) On your desktop, right-click the RTW-Alexander shortcut and select Properties
7) Edit the "Target" box to look something like this: E:\Games\RTW\RomeTW-ALX.exe -mod:eb -show_err -nm -noalexander
8) (Of course the first bit, where I have E:\Games... etc is going to be your own file path where you have the game installed; it's the last bit which you are adding to tell the Alex.exe to launch Europa Barbarorum rather than the base game)
9) Finally you will need to edit your EDCT file to add the Immortal trait to prevent immortal faction leaders, but that is a minor thing which I can explain separately and does not affect successful installation. Just deal with steps 1-8 first and get it working.

[SlartyBartfast]

Dude, that is awesome, I have repped you hard BUT -- what if I have a steam installation with Alexander in a separate folder to RTW? Can I just copy the Alexander folder into the RTW folder? It will copy the Alexander data folder over the RTW data folder -- will that be a problem?

[Nad]

I don't know for sure if you have a steam installation. I know the above non-steam method works because that is how I have it working.

I think for Steam you will have to install EB and EB Trivial Script in your Alexander folder (don't start copying folders across, that doesn't work). That is where your Alexander.exe resides. The rest should then be similar, send the shortcut to desktop and then edit the target box.

Try it and let us know if it works

[Nad]

Ooh, one other little thing that I forgot as well. After step 8, you need to copy (copy, not cut) the file called chat_filter.san which sits in your alexander/data folder, into your EB/data folder.

[SlartyBartfast]

Nad, you rock. Thanks man, it works. I have steam installation and I actually tried installing EB to Alexander folder before, but got chat_filter.san error and didn't know what to do next. Now what about the EDCT file and Immortal trait?

[Nad]

1) Make a backup of each of the files you are going to alter below and save them somewhere safe in case you mess anything up
2) You need Notepad++ to edit, do not use regular notepad. It's a free download if you don't have it.

3) Go to your EB data folder and open the file (with Notepad++) called export_descr_character_traits (this is the EDCT)
4) It looks like this:



5) The text you will need to add is as follows (so you can copy)

Trait Immortal
Characters family
Hidden


Level Immortal
Description Immortal_desc
EffectsDescription Immortal_effects_desc
Threshold 1

6) Put this anywhere in the traits section. For example, something like this:



7) Save and close
8) In the same EB/data folder, open the file called export_descr_VnVs_enums
9) Add the following somewhere within the block (e.g. after the Renowned General trio):

Immortal
Immortal_desc
Immortal_effects_desc

10) Save and close
11) Now go into the EB/data/text folder, and open the file called export_VnVs
12) Add the following somewhere within the file (e.g. after Swift)

{Immortal} Immortal


{Immortal_desc}
Hidden immortal trait


{Immortal_effects_desc}
No Effects

13) Save and close and you are done.
14) This basically enables your faction leader to die of old age (otherwise he would be immortal)
15) Enjoy

[SlartyBartfast]

Thanks a bunch, Nad. You explain the method superbly Heard good things about EB on Alexander, so here we go!

[TheVerySpecialK]

Do you guys get any sort of script error message about "trait not recognized" when closing EB on Alex? I got EB to run on Alex but keep seeing that when exiting. Perhaps I missed a step?

[Nad]

Does it give you a line reference? If you open EDCT and go to the relevant line, maybe post a screenshot so we can take a look at what is wrong.

[Cyprian2]

I was able to install this on my Steam version of Alex with no problems. That said, I'm finding the (Alex.exe) AI completely bland and unresponsive. Playing as Rome (VH/VH), the Punic war has been a complete joke. AI not conducting naval invasions, not forming decent sized stacks when threatened and, worse, attacking at a massive disadvantage. Having enjoyed other mods on Alex, I'm just disappointed that the EB AI is not all that.

EDIT: just to clarify, I've played many hours of EB 1.2 (years ago) using the BI.exe, and I remember it being fun and challenging. That said, it's possible I'm misremembering how aggressive the AI used to be on BI as well.

FINAL UPDATE: I ended up installing Jirisy's modpack for EB 1.2 on Alex.exe, and I must say, it's a huge improvement. Factions are more aggressive in general (including the rebels). Also, there are night battles, as well as many other mini-mods to add flavour. Highly recommend instead of just vanilla EB on Alex.