Lost in Translation

[Feldmarshal Arcadies]

Okay, it's been a while since I've done anything with Total War, and the last thing I changed was in RTW when I made it so Julii could build caravans. I tried doing something similar just recently when I tried to make it so that the Holy Roman Empire could build the English Longbowmen in M2TW. I'm not exactly surprised that it didn't work. The change didn't even seem to register.

As I recall, when I added the buildings to Juliii, I didn't only have to add Julii's names to the ownership list, I also had to change another file(s) so that the pictures and descriptions would show up properly. Problem is I forgot what that other step was.

Now I've checked the forum but I'm having something of a hard time understanding the answers. So here is the question.

Could someone please instruct me on how to add units and buildings to a faction in M2TW that would otherwise not have them?

1. Please be thorough and specific (examples help).
2. Try to avoid the excessive use of abbreviation (I don't quite have all of them down yet, unfortunately).

Just so you know, I have already unpacked the files using the default unpacker privided by the v-1.1 patch and I own a compiler that lets me modify XML.

Thank you for your time and attention.
Feldmarshal Arcadies

[Aegis]

If you've unpacked the data files and edited them but it's not showing up in-game, I would guess you have to add --io.file_first to the command line when you start the game (so "X:\[path]\medieval2.exe" --io.file_first).

To give the longbowman to another faction, edit the export_descr_unit.txt file and add your new faction under the "ownership" line for the unit. You'll also need to edit export_descr_buildings.txt if you want to be able to train the unit.
Keep in mind though, that the English longbowman is not a native unit to the HRE, so you have to manually assign a texture from another faction to them as well. That's quite a bit more complicated than it was in RTW.

Unit cards are like in RTW. The data\ui\unit_info contains large unit portraits, data\ui\units contains the small unit portraits, and data\ui\[culture]\buildings contains the building portraits. Simply copy the portraits you want and paste them in the folder for the culture or faction you want to add the unit/building to. If I remember correctly, the files must be named after the dictionary entry, so if you create a custom entry instead of use a standard one, you'll need to change the file names as well.

[Feldmarshal Arcadies]

Meaning for this --io.file_first I need to be in the DOS prompt?

[Aegis]

The game won't run in DOS, so no. But you can do it from the terminal (Start -> Run -> cmd). It's easier to use a shortcut or .bat file, though. Just make an empty .bat file in your M2TW folder and write this line in it:
medieval2.exe --io.file_first
Or, create a shortcut to medieval2.exe, right click it and select properties, then change the destination to "[some path]\Medieval 2 Total War\medieval2.exe" --io.file_first (note the location of the quotes).
Or, finally, open your medieval2.preference.cfg file and add the following:
[io]
file_first = 1

[Feldmarshal Arcadies]

Okay. Not entirely sure what a .bat file is, but I'll give those a shot. Much obliged and thanx.

[Feldmarshal Arcadies]

Though curiousity compells me to ask. What exactly am I telling the computer to do with all this "--file_first" stuff?

[Aegis]

A batch file (extension .bat) is just a set of commands to be executed. If you create a batch file and write a couple if lines in it, it will upon execution essentially act like if you had written those lines into a command interpreter (such as DOS) yourself.

For example, a .bat file with the following in it:

cd..
cd..
dir
would go up two levels (from the folder it was executed) and print out the content of the folder it ends up in.

The file_first stuff is just there to tell the M2TW program to read data from the files you've unpacked (and modified), rather than from packs that are not edited.

[DarkKnight]

To make a bat file just write it up in notepad, but when you save it as, put .bat at the end of what you call it.

[Feldmarshal Arcadies]

Well, that just clears up everything. Thanks guys.