Modding Questions and Help Thread

[Nikiforos XMike]

Hi, sorry for asking this here and not to the Total War Mod Workshop but ithink you guys can help me more directly because of your experience on the matter.

I would like to asign a building or a tech tree to a specific civilization.

Is there a tutorial on how to do that?

I noticed that in several mods (like EOR for example) the Greek buildings style techtree is present.

Is there a way to asign them to a new mod?

Thanks in advance

 

[Ngugi]

Hello,

well, the file of concern is export_desxcription_buildings.txt, found in the mod's data-folder. Here's a tutorial on how to read that file (what is what): http://medieval2.heavengames.com/m2tw/mod_portal/tutorials/edb_guide/index.shtml

In essence it's quite simple, find the building(s) you're interested in and set what factions can build it, or what cultures can build it.
Example when cultures are given (be aware that what's called "culture" ingame is not what we are talking about here, because that's actually religions renamed):

        wooden_castle castle requires factions { [COLOR=#ff0000]gondor, northern_european, mesoamerican, middle_eastern, eastern_european, greek, southern_european[/COLOR], }

Example when factions is given, which is more common in TATW:

        small_church city requires factions {[COLOR=#ff0000] england, france, hre, portugal, spain, venice[/COLOR], }

What is what (that england = Mordor, or greek = Elves) you can read at the top of expanded.txt in .../data/text

I noticed that in several mods (like EOR for excample) the Greek buildings style techtree is present.

Is there a way to asign them to a new mod?

This makes me really uncertain what you're trying to do however.
I must assume that you do not mean that you want to enable buildings that one faction has for another faction who has it not (considering almost all buildings are already shared, the only thing that differs are the visuals = cards and battle map model).
If you want to add buildings from other mods that look like greek buildings (on the battle map), to your TATW, you have a huge work ahead. Would not recommend it if you do not have experience under your belt, from easier tasks first.

 

[Nikiforos XMike]

Hello,

well, the file of concern is export_desxcription_buildings.txt, found in the mod's data-folder. Here's a tutorial on how to read that file (what is what): http://medieval2.heavengames.com/m2tw/mod_portal/tutorials/edb_guide/index.shtml

In essence it's quite simple, find the building(s) you're interested in and set what factions can build it, or what cultures can build it.
Example when cultures are given (be aware that what's called "culture" ingame is not what we are talking about here, because that's actually religions renamed):

        wooden_castle castle requires factions { [COLOR=#ff0000]gondor, northern_european, mesoamerican, middle_eastern, eastern_european, greek, southern_european[/COLOR], }

Example when factions is given, which is more common in TATW:

        small_church city requires factions {[COLOR=#ff0000] england, france, hre, portugal, spain, venice[/COLOR], }

What is what (that england = Mordor, or greek = Elves) you can read at the top of expanded.txt in .../data/text



This makes me really uncertain what you're trying to do however.
I must assume that you do not mean that you want to enable buildings that one faction has for another faction who has it not (considering almost all buildings are already shared, the only thing that differs are the visuals = cards and battle map model).
If you want to add buildings from other mods that look like greek buildings (on the battle map), to your TATW, you have a huge work ahead. Would not recommend it if you do not have experience under your belt, from easier tasks first.

First of all Thanks for the reply

What i'm actually trying to do is assingn buildings on the battle map (i should've specified that)
meaning taking actual buildings and city plans from EOR and assigning them to greek culture for example.

Or taking the Catholic south_european cathedral from vanilla and assigning it as Orthodox Cathedral

 

[Ngugi]

No problem!
Ok, that's not an area I've dabbled with, but I suspect you'll have to work with IWTE (a free tool) to manage with that.
Here's the tutorial section for it: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?2047-The-IWTE-Project

Best of luck!

 

[Nikiforos XMike]

Thanks

 

[rusty887]

Hi,
I'm trying to replace the DAC background artwork when selecting factions for the main campaign with the vanilla TATW artwork.
Which file do I need to replace?

Thanks

 

[Danger Close]

Hello, I'm trying to start modding my own version of TATW and I would really like to make some new units and portraits. I would really appreciate if someone could give me a few rough directions where to start.

 

[Ngugi]

Welcome to TWC, Danger Close

The Mod Workshop is for you, check out the Tutorial-section: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?272-Medieval-II-Total-War-Mod-Workshop
Also, never underestimate the power of google to dig up the information you need on any given topic.
Good luck

 

[Danger Close]

Thank you, I'll make sure to post some pictures of the work I do.

 

[scolsie1]

Hey there
I’m sure this question got answered already - sorry for that.
I want to import battlemaps from Reforged into DaC. I would love if anyone could point out a tutorial or give a explanaiton about this matter
Thank you!

 

[Ngugi]

Should be somewhere here, and ought to include learning IWTE (which is a free tool, btw): http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?1016-Mapping

 

[Danger Close]

Hey there
I’m sure this question got answered already - sorry for that.
I want to import battlemaps from Reforged into DaC. I would love if anyone could point out a tutorial or give a explanaiton about this matter
Thank you!

I believe you're looking for this tutorial.

 

[scolsie1]

Thanks a lot for helping me out so quickly
The tutorial is exactly what I was looking for!
Thanks!

 

[scolsie1]

Hey there
I am playing and (trying) to mod in the Divide and Conquer submod for Third Age.
My aim is to give the Elderenwe units from Imladris an armour upgrade. They shall take the armour witch is used for the Noldorin Guard, the Imladris officers and the Imladris Guards. You know that silver armour with the red clocks (shown in the hobbit movies) instead the golden one with nearly the same details. The three units should keep there weapons (except the shield of the spearman - there shield should be silver as well) so I am wondering if it is possible to basically copy that armour and add in the old weapons of the existing units.
This is my first take at modelling units so hopefully I can understand your tips^^

Thanks a lot!

 

[Danger Close]

You cannot take weapons or any part of the model from one unit and add it to another simply with text editing. Your options are limited if you're not interested in editing models and textures of each mentioned unit but if one of the models that you want to have as an armour upgrade uses same animations/weapons as the original unit, which is one of the Eldarinwë in your case, then it is entirely possible and very simple to do. Let me give you an example: let's say that one of the golden Eldarinwë units uses swords and shields, if the model you want to have as an armour upgrade also uses a sword and a shield then it's fine (axes or any other one-handed weapons are acceptable as well) but if it uses a bow or a spear or some other type of weapon the animation will still remain the same and the unit will behave as if it's using swords and shields even though they'll have some other type of weapon equipped.

I hope it's understandable at least a little bit and if not here's a short version ... No, weapons are a part of the unit as a whole and cannot be separated or assigned to other units with text editing.

 

[scolsie1]

Thank you for the explanation - that makes sense I get it
Sadly the three Eldarinwë don’t use those kind of weapons for which there are already existing models with the armour design I want to give to them. Already I was able to use the model of the Imladris officers for the Nanotari for they use sword and shield like the officers do. Since the Eldarinwë use a bow + sword (Archer), spear + shield (Spearmen) and a two handed sword (Swordsman) and there are no matching models I have to create them myself right? In this case: is there a step by step tutorial for creating unit models?
And secondly is it possible to use already existing models [(pike, bow + sword + shield, sword + shield, mounted bow + sword, mounted lance) <- these models already exist in my knowledge] as a base and for example just get rid of the shield?
Thanks for your time

 

[Danger Close]

Second question first. Yes it is possible and if deleting a part of a model is all you want it's quite a simple thing to do. Adding weapons or parts from other units is a bit more tricky but with some practice (not that much, a few days can be enough for the basics) you can soon be able to edit every unit in any way you want. Here are all the tutorials on unit making/editing and much more.

 

[scolsie1]

Alright makes sense Thanks again!
Sorry for being anonying but where should I start with modelling?
I am not realy sure witch tutorial is the right for me since your link brought me to the overview of modelling subforums &#55357;&#56904;

 

[Danger Close]

Try this one first.

 

[scolsie1]

This helps^^
Thank you!

 

[scolsie1]

I got two question concerning modding DaC.
Playing as Imladris I noticed that the Nanotari do not have a custom voice (when you click on them on the battle map) like the Eldarinwë or the Imladris Guars just to name some examples. I am sure that there are many units in the game with no voice and the units of have imported from other mods also don’t have one. So my question is how I can give units already existing voices? Which files I have to edit in order to make them speak?

Secondly I am sick of waiting 250+ turns as Imladris after capturing Ost-in-Edhil and building it up to the point when I finally can reastablish the Gwaith-I-Mirdain and recruit the first unit of smiths.
My aim is to apply some construction time boost to the ruined smith building. So to be more concrete: I want that Imladris and Lindon (the factions who can restore the guild) get like 50% less construction time in order to make it a bit less painful to wait so long for one unit. I already tried to copy over the capability of the masons building line to the smith guild but I fear that I did something wrong. So how can I add a construction time boost to the ruined smith building? I want to keep the restriction that you need to nearly completely build up the city for I like that idea.
I hope that there is hope for me aim
Thanks

 

[Danger Close]

I have ran into a problem while modding the menu UI. I am using DaC as a base for my version but this is only relevant because DaC has disabled custom campaigns and I'm trying to get them back and working. This is where the problem lies, I have put all the relevant UI entries back into mtw2.lnt file and the option for the Fellowship Campaign does pop up in the menu but now when I click on Custom Battle the game CTDs and so does the Fellowship Campaign. Does anyone have any experience with that?

P.S. I'm not trying to get the Fellowship Campaign working, I just want to enable custom campaigns.

 

[Ngugi]

@scolsie1
1) Right, I give you the easy version here.
Note 1: always back up any file before you edit it.
Note 2: get Notepad++ to edit text-files. It is a freeware all modders use: https://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v7.5.9.html

Open export_descr_unit.txt [the EDU] found in your DaC data-folder to know what faction the unit you are to add belongs to (in bold red by me; don't mind the purple for now).
Example:

Spoiler

type                    Imladris City Guards        ;Imladris Guards MA1
dictionary                Imladris_Guards
class                     spearmen
[B][COLOR=#4b0082]voice_type                Heavy[/COLOR][/B]

(...)
ownership                [B][COLOR=#ff0000]egypt[/COLOR][/B], slave
(...)

Never mind "slave" as you do not play as that.

Open descr_sounds_accents.txt (same folder) to know what accent is used by the faction who owns the unit you intend to add.
In this case it would be the accent Sindarin

Spoiler

;############################
;##### SOUNDS - ACCENTS #####
;############################



accent Arabic
    factions khand, spain, venice
(...)


[B][COLOR=#008000]accent Sindarin[/COLOR][/B]
    factions ireland, mongols, [B][COLOR=#ff0000]egypt[/COLOR][/B], saxons
(...)

Open export_descr_sounds_units_voice.txt (same folder).
First, look for "accent Sindarin". Under that will follow a LONG list of entries.
Accents have three classes: General, Heavy and Light.
Check the EDU again; the "voice_type"-line inform you what class the unit use. In our example we see that "Imladris Guards" have "voice_type Heavy" = "class Heavy".
So, search for "class Heavy" under "accent Sindarin".
Also "class Heavy" have a lot of entries under it. Search for "vocal Unit_Select" to get, as the name implies, the entries for unit voices when they are selected on the battle map:

Spoiler

    [B][COLOR=#008000]accent Sindarin[/COLOR][COLOR=#006400]
[/COLOR][/B]     class General
              vocal Group_Created
                    event 
(...)
                     end
          [B][COLOR=#4b0082]class [/COLOR][COLOR=#4b0082]Heavy[/COLOR][/B]
               vocal Group_Created
                     event 
(...)
                     end
              vocal Unit_Select
(...)

Find a unit that already has a voice, which you think fit for the unit who do not has one currently.
Then copy-paste the entry of the existing unit and change the name.
In this example I decided the "Lorien Infantry Spearmen" have a fine voice, so I duplicated it and changed the name from "Lorien Infantry Spearmen" into "Imladris City Guards" (the type-name from the EDU as you see at top):

Spoiler

(...)
                           vocal Unit_Select
                                    engine town_ladder, medium_ladder
                                    event
                                             folder data/sounds/Voice/Human/Localized/Battle_Map
                                                  English_General_Generic_Ladder_1.wav
                                                  English_General_Generic_Ladder_2.wav
                                    end
(...)
        unit Lorien Infantry Heavy Archers
        event
                        folder data/sounds/Voice/Elves/Infantry
                        haldir_sel4.wav
                        haldir_sel2.wav
                        haldir_sel6.wav
                    end
                [COLOR=#800000]unit Lorien Infantry Spearmen[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#800000]                    event[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#800000]                        folder data/sounds/Voice/Elves/Infantry[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#800000]                        elite2.wav[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#800000]                        elite3.wav[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#800000]                        elite4.wav[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#800000]                    end[/COLOR]    

                [COLOR=#0000cd]unit [B]Imladris City Guards[/B][/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000cd]                    event[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000cd]                        folder data/sounds/Voice/Elves/Infantry[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000cd]                        elite2.wav[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000cd]                        elite3.wav[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000cd]                        elite4.wav[/COLOR]
[COLOR=#0000cd]                    end                    [/COLOR]
                unit Dorwinion Elven Archers
                    event
                        folder data/sounds/Voice/Elves/Archers
                        lindon_sel4.wav
                        elfarcher_sel3.wav
                        defender1.wav
                    end    
(...)

Save and run the game.


2) I'm not quite sure what you actually want to do.
Make it so it takes 4 instead of 8 turns to construct "Gwaith-i-Mírdain"? Or make it cheaper to build once you can? Or add a population growth-bonus (to the Ruins for example) so you get it to a City faster? Or speed up the replenishment rate for the Smiths-unit?


~~~


@Danger Close
Not attempted anything of that kind. Perhaps this contain anything of use? http://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...multiple-campaigns-(aka-provincial-campaigns)
Mind you, presume you'd have to supplement what in the tutorial refers to M2's content with DaC's.

 

[Danger Close]

Thanks Ngugi, I could not get it to work but it really isn't that big of a deal. I'll just have a few different versions of "base" and "campaign" files and switch them before starting a new campaign.

 

[scolsie1]

Thank you very much for the detailed way of changing the unit voices Ngugi!
I will try it out soon

To the second part of my question and my concrete aim.
In order to upgrade the ruined building (which gives a hidden trade bonus in the edbuilding file if memory serves right) you need to pretty much build up the complete town which takes a long time. You need the highest tier of the blacksmith, the barracks and the town hall. To build up all these structures you need to build some farms etc. here and there on top of that. So I want to give the ruined building the capability to speed up construction time by 50% so that the entire town needs only half the time to build every building. This feature is present in the masons building line. The highest tier speeds up construction by 26% if I remember correctly. I just want to bring over this feature and add it to the ruined building. After upgrading it (around turn 125 so only half) the upgraded and restored building does not need to have this feature any more. But since it is a new building/the next tier I think there is nothing to edit so that construction time goes back to normal speed.

I hope that this explains my struggle better^^
Thanks!

 

[Ngugi]

You're welcome


Ok, this should do it, add the lines in red in export_descr_buildings.txt:

Spoiler

;############################################################
;######################## LANDMARKS #########################
;############################################################
building hinterland_gwaith_i_mirdain_guild
{
    levels gwaith_i_mirdain_guild m_gwaith_i_mirdain_guild
    {
        gwaith_i_mirdain_guild city requires factions { egypt, saxons, }  and hidden_resource hr_none
        {
            capability
            {
                trade_base_income_bonus bonus 1
                [COLOR=#ff0000]construction_cost_bonus_stone bonus 50 [/COLOR]
[COLOR=#ff0000]                construction_cost_bonus_wooden bonus 50 [/COLOR]
            }
            material wooden
            construction  8
            cost 12000
            settlement_min large_town
            upgrades
            {
                m_gwaith_i_mirdain_guild
            }
        }

When you upgrade the ruins into the guild the bonus will be lost as intended.

 

[scolsie1]

I tried to follow both of your tips.
I dont know if I did something wrong but nothing works - my unit is still silent and building still takes the same time (started a new campaign). Is it possible that the construction time boost needs to be applied to the region itself?

 

[Ngugi]

Hmm, could be Virtual Store perhaps?
See the third spoiler box in the first spoiler box, and remove at need: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/show...rd-Age-TW-and-its-submods-(-with-pictures-!-)

 

[scolsie1]

Well again - I had no success.
I coud not find the entry I needed to delete...

 

[Danger Close]

I think what Ngugi showed you cuts down construction costs not times.