A Guide to Modding Character Names in M2TW
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deRougemont
A Guide to Modding Character Names in MTW2
The name-modding process in MTW2 is relatively simple. The hardest part is doing the tedious dirty work of creating the necessary .txt file-fragments for the faction(s) you are concerned with. However, if you are new to name-modding in MTW2, nothing will be immediately clear when you start. This guide is designed to point out the most important details about the process.
The Files
There are four .txt files in MTW2 that control what and how the character names will appear in the game. Below I’ve listed them and their locations in the MTW2 folders. (Keep in mind that to find these files you must use the unpacker tool that came with patch 1.1. For everyone's convenience and reference I have posted the vanilla names files at the bottom of this post.)
1.) descr_names.txt – located in MTW2/data
2.) names.txt.bin – located in MTW2/data/text
3.) descr_names_lookup.txt – located in MTW2/data
4.) descr_strat.txt – located in MTW2/data/world/maps/imperial_campaign
What To Know About The Files
1.) descr_names.txt – The most important of these files is the descr_names.txt. Unlike the other files, it is organized firstly by faction; then by male first names, surnames and female first names. When the program creates a name for a newly created character in the game, it searches this file first. Therefore, no matter what names you have listed in any of the other three files, if that name is not listed in the descr_names.txt, you will never see it appear in the game (but the game will still function).
2.) names.txt.bin – On the other hand, if the names in descr_names.txt are not listed in the names.txt file you will have a serious error. More than likely when you try to start a new campaign, it won’t load, but kick you back to the MTW2 main menu. I personally have no idea what purpose names.txt serves. It is simply a list of all the names (one name per line) organized in no particular fashion, such as:
{Henry}Henry
{Agatha}Agatha
{von_Sachsen}von Sachsen
However, it should be pointed out that in names.txt you can alter the way the program sees a name, and how that name is actually displayed in the game. For example, if you have the following name:
{Henry}Henry
…the game will display Henry in-game. However if you change that name listing to:
{Henry}Heinrich
…anytime the program hits Henry in descr_names.txt, and then moves to names.txt, it will think you wish to have Heinrich rather than Henry show up in-game. Why this works is unknown to me, but it could be useful. Keep in mind however, that the above example would change the name Henry to Heinrich for every faction that uses that name since the names.txt file is not organized by factions. Thus, in this case, Both HRE and England would be affected by changes made to the line {Henry}Henry, as both factions contain a reference to Henry in their descr_names.txt listings. Also keep in mind when you create these files that a byname composed of two words such as “von Sachsen” must be written with an underscore mark when it is contained within brackets. Thus, “von_Sachsen”.
There is one last thing to point out concerning the names.txt. When you add this file to the MTW2/data/text folder and start the game, the program will convert your names.txt into a names.txt.bin file and place it in the same folder. So any time you alter the names.txt file, make sure to delete the previous names.txt.bin file created by your computer (if one exists).
3.) descr_names_lookup.txt – This file is similar to names.txt in that it is one, single, unorganized list that lists every name in the game; one per line. Though it is simpler than names.txt in that names are listed so:
Henry
Agatha
von_Sachsen
Like names.txt, those bynames with two words in them need to include and underscore. Other than that, there is nothing special or noteworthy about this file that I know of.
4.) descr_strat.txt – This file contains a load of data that effects what you find on the map when you start a new campaign; including character names. Since every faction begins a campaign with a family and a few characters already on the map, a section of the descr_strat.txt is dedicated to giving them all names. The problem with this is that when you change the names in the other three .txt files, you may have deleted some starting character names. So before ever starting a new campaign with your new names lists, you need to make sure that all the names in the descr_strat.txt are also in the names.txt, descr_names.txt, and descr_names_lookup.txt. If you don’t, you will get kicked back the main menu when you start a new campaign. Also, when modding names in this file, be careful as these files seem to be space sensitive. So if you kick around parts of the text while changing the names, you may end up getting the error I just mentioned above. Though I have personally modded this file many times, I rarely do so anymore. Its simply much easier to put up with a few names I don’t like than to alter this particular file.
Potential Sources for Medieval Era Names (most of which can be found online)
*Geneologies
*Battle histories
*Monastery records
*Church records
*Articles pertaining to famous writers/leaders/weapons makers, etc.
*Typing in one known name will usually bring up articles that include the names of many other people from the same time period
*Title histories (i.e., searching for "English Baronies" will give you tons of sites that list everyone who has ever held any English royal baronial title in the Medieval period.
*Town histories
Comments: This Guide is a work in progress. It is rough, but I will flesh it out and generally improve it over time. For right now, it is better than nothing. However, for those with experience modding these files I will leave this thread open so can add hints, tricks or advice to modding these files. I will attempt to add what others suggest to the guide when I can. Thanks!
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Re: A Guide to Modding Character Names in MTW2
Originally Posted by Lopus
i dont understan 
(I'm belgian so I speak french) and I think I don't speak very well English. I can't find any french tuto, so I need your help. Can you help with a easy langage?
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?470432-BunnyPoopCereal-s-Workshop-FTW
Kidding of course. There's a chance that a new general to that faction could end up with the same name. Best option is to leave Jon in names.txt as jon and use a trait that gives someone thats in the game from the start the trait that'll give the surname you want. If you look into the 
