Have Steam dumbed down the Alexander exe file?

[Gigantus]

When you get to the first menu screen, do you have a serial number at the bottom left and 'Bare Geomod by Gigantus' at the top? If not then something happened with the CFG file - I presume you use the Bare Geomod shortcut to start the mod?

Change in files in the world\maps\base folder require deleting of map.rwm - changes in other files will always show when you start a new campaign.

You will still get the stuff in the menu as that is governed by graphic files in the menu\textures directory. You will also find the splash screen in the menu directory, can't miss the 'Gigantus rules' wording on it

[Anarchon]

Hi Gigantus, no serial number but get Bare Geomod by Gigantus at top. Yes use that shortcut

[Gigantus]

If you don't get the serial number then have you changed\edited the menu.lnt file?

Do you have your mod in a separate folder from Bare Geomod? If so then the 'mod' entry in the CFG file needs to be adjusted accordingly.

[Anarchon]

Hi Gigantus,


I have not changed menu.lnt.
In fact I cannot find such a file in M2TW, Geomod or my mod.


How do I open the configuration.cfg file?
It doesn't give me the option to use Notepad.


My directory structure as follows:


Mods
---bare_geomod
---Alk60E3 (my mod)
tools
---Geomod


my launch bat file is configured as
"E:\Rome Total War\steamapps\common\Medieval II Total War\mods\ALK60E3\universal start.bat"


Is this all correct?


Anarchon

[Gigantus]

Ah, sorry - the file name is data\menu\mtw2.lnt. It governs the placement of UI elements in the menu.

The CFG file opens with Notepad - right click the file and then choose 'open with'. Select\browse to notepad and select 'always open with this'

Alternatively type 'choose default' in the bottom left (toolbar) search field and then select the 'choose default apps by file type' search result. In there browse to the .CFG setting and choose notepad.

BAT file configuration: that will be the path in the shortcut, not the file content itself. But it doesn't need editing, only the CFG file does. And if you haven't edited the CFG file in the Alk60E3 directory to reflect that directory's name then its not surprising that Bare Geomod opens.

[Anarchon]

Hi Gigantus,


I have no file called mtw2.lnt either.
Or m2tw.lnt if that was what you meant to type.


Have now edited config file.
It launches to the Gigantus rules screen then crashes.


Anarchon

[Gigantus]

No lnt file - no gig version number, just wanted to confirm that there isn't an issue with that file.

If you have edited the 'mod' entry in the CFG file to read your mod's directory and you get an immediate crash after the splash screen (gigantus rules) then it's most of the time an issue with the modeldb file. Simply have a look in the error log at the end and check if the file is mentioned. Else check for [error] entries.

[Anarchon]

Hi Gigantus,


By error log, I presume you mean geomod.log.txt, correct?
Thr last time that updated was 10 days ago.
Despite me successfully saving the mod minutes before testing.


The references are all something like
The victory conditions of Moors include region 'Jerusalem_Province'.
This region does not exist in the database currently used and will be ignored and removed.
Despite me having edited this file and removed all province references


Anarchon

[Gigantus]

Nope, I mean the system.log.txt file in the root directory.

Judging by the bottom part you still seem to have an issue which mod you are actually starting. I would suggest to create brand new desktop shortcuts and then make sure that each CFG file points to the right mod directory.

[Anarchon]

Hi Gigantus,


Have doublechecked the config and bat launchers.
Fairly sure they are correct.


Error message in root was...
00:09:00.818 [system.io] [info] exists: missing mods/ALK60E3/preferences/player.txt


sure enough no such file in my preferences folder


So I found that file in the M2tw preferences folder.
copied it across
tried again.


Same result.
but now error message is...
08:36:54.586 [system.io] [info] exists: found mods/ALK60E3/preferences/player.txt (from: E:\Rome Total War\steamapps\common\Medieval II Total War)


Anarchon

[Gigantus]

Compress your log and attach it here, I'll have a look.

[Anarchon]

Thanks. Sorry but how do I 'compress and attach?

[Gigantus]

I use 7zip to compress the rather large TXT file and then upload it at mediafire. And then I post the link here.

[Anarchon]

trying this

[Anarchon]

sorry doing that crashed my system.

[Gigantus]

Sorry about the system crash (I would understand a data base error), weird that it should happen.

And here is your issue:

08:36:54.571 [script.err] [error] Script Error in mods/ALK60E3/data/export_descr_unit.txt, at line 168, column 18
Invalid ownership type 'egypt' found in unit 'baghlah'.

It bascically means that egypt doesn't exist in your descr_sm_factions file. You either need to add the faction in that file or remove 'egypt' from every ownership line in the export_descr_units (EDU) file.

Edit: you also got this line: "08:36:54.106 [data.missing] [error] data/ui/strategy.sdfile not found" Keep in mind that Steam does not generate a new SD file from XML if there is no SD file present. You need to have an 'older' SD file present to generate a new one from an edited XML file.

[Anarchon]

Hi Gigantus,
I do have Egypt in d sm factions


faction egypt
culture greek
religion catholic
symbol models_strat/symbol_egypt.CAS
rebel_symbol models_strat/symbol_rebels.CAS
primary_colour red 1, green 254, blue 127
secondary_colour red 254, green 192, blue 2
loading_logo loading_screen/symbols/symbol128_egypt.tga
standard_index 16
logo_index FACTION_LOGO_EGYPT
small_logo_index SMALL_FACTION_LOGO_EGYPT
triumph_value 5
custom_battle_availability no
can_sap yes
prefers_naval_invasions yes
can_have_princess yes
has_family_tree yes
can_transmit_plague yes
disband_to_pools yes
can_build_siege_towers yes

I dont understand your second part at all. What is a SD file?

Anarchon.
PS Have added new factions according to your excellent tutorial.

[Gigantus]

Could be something wrong with the format of the descr_sm_factions file that prevents the game from reading it. Attach the file (no need for compressing, it's small) and let me have a look.

"data/ui/strategy.sd - file not found". Bare Geomod provides this file (and it's XML counter part), so you should have it unless you didn't copy it over (or only copied the XML file)

[Anarchon]

trying

[Gigantus]

Well, the format of the file is fine. Which makes this rather puzzling.
baghlah is the very first unit in the EDU and egypt is the first ownership faction entry - do try and remove the egypt entry inclusive the comma to make the entry look like this:
turks, moors
Then run the mod again and see if it now complains about turks.