Best MTW2 Mod?

After something of a long break from the Total War series I recently returned to come back and play my favorite old games. After getting a taste of the Europa Barbarorum experience with RTW, I was wondering if MTW2 has any mods that are similar.

Essentially I am looking for a mod that makes the game more realistic, has a lot more provinces, and perhaps includes more factions + better traits for family members / generals. I understand that EB is special in that it is just amazing, and I don't expect something to be quite that high of quality here. Nevertheless it would be nice if I could find something close.

If any of you have any good suggestions on the mods available for MTW2, please let me know and thanks in advance!

I think Stainless Steel 6.4 is probably the best mod around for M2TW at the moment. It has everything you asked for. It's nothing like EB though!

Also, if you're feeling like playing M2TW again but you find the experience slightly unfulfilling because it's too easy to beat the AI, why not try playing a hotseat campaign with us in the Throne Room?

I admit I haven't played SP for a few years now but I've been continually involved in hotseats since the game was released. It really adds a whole new dimension to the game.

Stainless Steel is about as realistic as you'll get with M2. Until EB2 is released for it, of course. :yes:

Stainless Steel for the best "vanilla M2TW" experience with lots of enhancements.
Third Age Total War is a must if you enjoy Tolkein or Fantasy in general.

Keep an eye out for: Dominion of the Sword, Broken Crescent 3.0, Westeros: Total War and the 1.0 release of The Last Kindom.

I am a complete doofus when it comes to IT and am probably posting this in the wrong place, but I too am keen to mod the original game and have looked into Stainless Steel (I think 6.4 is the most up to date version) but I have one or two reservations:

My favourite factions are:

Byzantium, because of their horse archers but it looks like their units of this type have been severely weakened and you cannot get varditori until much later in the game.

England because of their archers, but now loads of factions seem to have stake laying, amour piercing units.

Scotland because they had to rely on a few special units, but now they get Scots Guard (which I know makes some sense) and their border horse look rubbish whereas they use to be very good light cavalry.

Is my research just rubbish, or will Stainless Steel, for all its improvements, lessen MY enjoyment of the game. If so is there another mod that would suit (The Longest Road for example)

Stainless Steel has a Real Recruitment option switched on by default. It gives you the appropriate units for the year you're playing. Longbowmen for England don't come until the English Archers event around 1240 AD for example. Each faction has different units and power troughout the span of the game. The ERE (or, Byzantines) are very powerful in Early era. They can train Scholarii in Constantinople and those are murder in SS 6.4. They get good light cavalry, foot archers, decent infantry and decent HAs. An overall very strong faction.

Cav is very strong in SS, especially General's Bodyguard units. Try fighting Eastern GB units in Early with a faction like Hungary or Poland or Siclly and see what I mean. The mod has it's qirks but it's much better than vanilla.