Adding a new culture

[uanime5]

The process of adding a new culture is very simple and does not require the vanillia data to be changed. However you can only add one new culture, any more and the game will crash. Though it is possible to remove an existing culture and replace it with a new culture without the game crashing (as tested by SigniferOne).

1) Making a new culture

1) Open the descr_cultures.txt, copy one of the cultures, paste it at the bottom (make sure it's seperated by a row of ;), change the 'culture' and 'portrait_mapping' lines to the name of your culture (in this case 'myth'). The end result should look like this:

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

culture				myth
portrait_mapping	myth
rebel_standard_index	1
{
village
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_village.CAS,		settlement_eastern_level_1
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_village.tga
}
moot_and_bailey
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_wooden_castle.CAS,		settlement_eastern_level_1
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_village.tga
}
town
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_town.CAS,			settlement_eastern_level_2
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_town.tga
}
wooden_castle
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_stone_keep.CAS,			settlement_eastern_level_2
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_town.tga
}
large_town
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_large_town.CAS,	settlement_eastern_level_3
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_large_town.tga
}
castle
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_castle.CAS,	settlement_eastern_level_3
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_large_town.tga
}
city
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_city.CAS,			settlement_eastern_level_4
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_city.tga
}
fortress
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_large_castle.CAS,			settlement_eastern_level_4
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_city.tga
}
large_city
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_large_city.CAS,	settlement_eastern_level_5
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_large_city.tga
}
citadel
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_fortress.CAS,	settlement_eastern_level_5
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_large_city.tga
}
huge_city
{
	normal				data/models_strat/residences/northern_european_huge_city.CAS,		settlement_eastern_level_6
	card				data/ui/southern_european/cities/graeco-roman_huge_city.tga
}
}
fort				data/models_strat/residences/NE_fort_buildings.CAS,							fort_barbarian
fort_cost			500
fort_wall			data/models_strat/residences/NE_fort_walls.CAS
fishing_village		data/models_strat/residences/NE_port_villiage.CAS,				port_barbarian_level_1
port_land			data/models_strat/residences/NE_port_02_buildings.CAS,					port_barbarian_level_2
port_sea			data/models_strat/residences/NE_port_02_wall.CAS
port_land			data/models_strat/residences/NE_port_03_buildings.CAS,					port_barbarian_level_3
port_sea			data/models_strat/residences/NE_port_03_wall.CAS
port_land			data/models_strat/residences/NE_port_04_buildings.CAS,					port_barbarian_level_4
port_sea			data/models_strat/residences/NE_port_04_wall.CAS
watchtower			data/models_strat/residences/NE_watchtower.CAS,					watchtower_barbarian
watchtower_cost		200
spy			spy.tga			spy_info.tga			spy.tga		350	1	1
assassin		assassin.tga		assassin_info.tga		assassin.tga	500	1	1
diplomat		diplomat.tga		diplomat_info.tga		diplomat.tga	250	1	1
admiral			admiral.tga		admiral_info.tga		admiral.tga	100	1	1
merchant		merchant.tga		merchant_info.tga		merchant.tga	550	1	1
priest			priest.tga		priest_info.tga			priest.tga	200	1	1

2) Open the descr_sm_factions.txt, scroll down to the faction whose culture you want to change, change the 'culture' line to the name of your culture (in this case 'myth', while the faction is mythological). The end result should look like this:

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

faction						Mythological
culture						myth
religion					heretic
symbol						models_strat/symbol_myth.CAS
rebel_symbol				models_strat/symbol_rebels.CAS
primary_colour				red 51, green 101, blue 215
secondary_colour			red 227, green 209, blue 4
loading_logo				loading_screen/symbols/symbol128_slaves.tga
standard_index				7
logo_index					FACTION_LOGO_MYTH
small_logo_index			SMALL_FACTION_LOGO_MYTH
triumph_value				5
intro_movie					faction/minor_intro.bik
victory_movie				faction/minor_win.bik
defeat_movie				faction/minor_lose.bik
death_movie					faction/minor_lose.bik
custom_battle_availability	no
can_sap						yes
prefers_naval_invasions		no
can_have_princess				no
has_family_tree					yes

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Note: you should be able to assign battle_models and strat_models to your new culture (descr_character.txt), though I do not know how to do this or make them.

You've created a new culture. However you will not be able to recruit any units or build and building because they have not be assigned to your culture (except for those that are specifically assigned to your faction).

1.1) Naming your culture
After making my culture I discovered an odd bug, when the player double clicked on any settlement owned by the new culture the game would CTD. Fortunately alpaca found the solution, this culture needs to be added to the data\text\expanded.txt. To add the new culture you need to find the following entries:

{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST}	Priest
{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST_1}	Bishop
{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST_2}	Cardinal

{SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN}	Southern European

Next you need to create a new version of these for your new culture. DO NOT change these entries of the game won't work properly. The new entry should contain the name of your culture and what it will be called in the game. In the example below the culture is 'myth' and its in game name is 'Mythological'. The part refering to priests allows your culture to recruit priests.

{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST}	Priest
{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST_1}	Bishop
{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST_2}	Cardinal

{SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN}	Southern European

{EMT_MYTH_PRIEST}	Priest
{EMT_MYTH_PRIEST_1}	Bishop
{EMT_MYTH_PRIEST_2}	Cardinal

{MYTH}	Mythological

Once this has been done your new culture will function correctly.

1.2) Settlements and ports
SigniferOne pointed out that to prevent CTDs during battles you need to add your culture to the data/descr_offmap_models.txt. To do this you need to copy the 'settlement' entry for an existing culture (see below).

settlement
{
	culture southern_european
	{        
		level village		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_village_dummy.cas	        200         0
        }

		level town		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_town_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level large_town	    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_town_roman.cas	        200         0
        }

		level city		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas 	        200         0
        }

		level large_city		
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas 	        200         0
        }

		level huge_city		
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas	        200         0
        }
	}

Then make a new version with your new culture's name (not not overwrite the existing culture).

settlement
{
	culture myth
	{        
		level village		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_village_dummy.cas	        200         0
        }

		level town		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_town_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level large_town	    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_town_roman.cas	        200         0
        }

		level city		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas 	        200         0
        }

		level large_city		
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas 	        200         0
        }

		level huge_city		
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas	        200         0
        }
	}

	culture southern_european
	{        
		level village		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_village_dummy.cas	        200         0
        }

		level town		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_town_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level large_town	    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_town_roman.cas	        200         0
        }

		level city		    
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas 	        200         0
        }

		level large_city		
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas 	        200         0
        }

		level huge_city		
        {
            data/models_building/offmap_city_roman.cas	        200         0
        }
	}

Next you need to copy the 'port' entry for an existing culture (see below).

port
{
	culture southern_european
	{        
		level fishing_village
		{
			data/models_building/offmap_fishing_village_roman.CAS	        200         0
		}

		level sea_port
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level shipwright
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level dockyard
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}
	}

Then make a new version with your new culture's name (not not overwrite the existing culture).

	port
{
	culture myth
	{        
		level fishing_village
		{
			data/models_building/offmap_fishing_village_roman.CAS	        200         0
		}

		level sea_port
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level shipwright
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level dockyard
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}
	}

	culture southern_european
	{        
		level fishing_village
		{
			data/models_building/offmap_fishing_village_roman.CAS	        200         0
		}

		level sea_port
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level shipwright
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}

		level dockyard
		{
            data/models_building/offmap_port_roman.cas	        200         0
		}
	}

2) Assigning buildings and units

1) Open the export_descr_buildings.txt, scroll down to the building you want to add (Plaza del Toro in this example):

building bullring
{
    levels plaza_del_toro 
    {
        plaza_del_toro city requires factions { portugal, spain, } 
        {
            capability
            {
                recruit_pool "Jinetes"  1   0.5   4  0  requires factions { spain, portugal, } 
                happiness_bonus bonus 1
            }
            material wooden
            construction  4 
            cost  4800 
            settlement_min city
            upgrades
            {
            }
        }
    }
    plugins 
    {
    }
}

Add your culture's name or your faction to the **building** requires factions brackets (remember to seperate it with a comma). It should look like this.

building bullring
{
    levels plaza_del_toro 
    {
        plaza_del_toro city requires factions { portugal, spain, myth, } 
        {
            capability
            {
                recruit_pool "Jinetes"  1   0.5   4  0  requires factions { spain, portugal, } 
                happiness_bonus bonus 1
            }
            material wooden
            construction  4 
            cost  4800 
            settlement_min city
            upgrades
            {
            }
        }
    }
    plugins 
    {
    }
}

This will assign the building to your culture. To assign a unit add your faction's name, not the culture, to the 'recruit_pool' line.

building bullring
{
    levels plaza_del_toro 
    {
        plaza_del_toro city requires factions { portugal, spain, myth, } 
        {
            capability
            {
                recruit_pool "Jinetes"  1   0.5   4  0  requires factions { spain, portugal, mythological, } 
                happiness_bonus bonus 1
            }
            material wooden
            construction  4 
            cost  4800 
            settlement_min city
            upgrades
            {
            }
        }
    }
    plugins 
    {
    }
}

Repeat with all the units and buildings you want to add to your culture.

Now your culture has buildings and units, however they have no information and the buildings only have the default images. All this information has to be copied and modified (unless your faction is unplayable, then it doesn't matter).

NB: If you are creating a new faction you may see the default images for your units as well. To resolve this you need to create a 'unit' and 'unit_info' folder for your faction's units and agents. This problem is not related to the new culture.

3) Giving your culture the right images

To do this you will need to a folders in the data/ui folder for your culture.
It is easier to just copy one of the existing culture's folder (such as southern european) and modify it for your needs.

1) A folder with your faction's name (in this case 'myth'). If you copied one of the existing cultures this folder can contain up to 6 images (#fort.tga, #watchtower.tga, advisor battlemap.tga, and advisor stratmap.tga are the only important ones) and three folders 'Buildings', 'Cities', and 'Portraits'.

2) The data\ui\*culture name*\buildings folder contains all the images of buildings that appear on the information scroll, while its subfolder 'Construction' contains the images of the buildings that appear in the settlement's list of buildings. All of the buildings in this folder have to be named in the following format #"culture's name"_"building's name"_constructed.tga (picture with the information) or #"culture's name"_"building's name".tga (icon). For example the Dragon's Den would be #myth_dragon_den_constructed.tga. All the buildings in the Construction subfolder have to be named #"culture's name"_"building's name".tga, eg #myth_dragon_den.tga. If a building does not have the correct name it will not have the correct images (though it will function properly).

3) The data\ui\*culture name*\cities folder contains what each level of the cities and towns will look like. The default is South European. For these images to function they must be named in the following formate "culture's name"_"building's name".tga eg myth_city.tga.

4) The data\ui\*culture name*\portraits folder contains the images of every agent, general and family members. These images need to be in the correct folder to function but they do not require a special name. The default is Southern European.

This will give your culture the right images for their buildings.

4) Giving your culture the right information

The two files you need to edit are the data\text\export_buildings.txt and the data\text\event_strings.txt.The former contains all the information about all the buildings and the latter contains descriptions about all the events.

The all the buildings in the export_buildings.txt needs to be edited for your culture, even if you cannot build the building. Below are two examples.

For buildings your faction possesses you need to add the building's name and 2 descrptions (the bold red text shows what needs to be added, substitute 'myth' for your culture's name):

{army_barracks}	army_barracks
{army_barracks_desc}	DO NOT TRANSLATE
{army_barracks_desc_short}	DO NOT TRANSLATE
{army_barracks_eastern_european}	Army Barracks
{army_barracks_eastern_european_desc}	Army barracks allow the training and housing of full-time soldiers, rather than militias and citizens-in-arms. Here men can be taught the basics of the bloody business of warfare and brought to a high standard of combat readiness. Barracks usually exist to keep soldiers separate from the ill-disciplined civilian world.
{army_barracks_eastern_european_desc_short}	Army Barracks are the first training facilities capable of training full-time professional soldiers.
{army_barracks_greek_desc}	Army barracks allow the training and housing of full-time soldiers, rather than militias and citizens-in-arms. Here men can be taught the basics of the bloody business of warfare and brought to a high standard of combat readiness. Barracks usually exist to keep soldiers separate from the ill-disciplined civilian world.
{army_barracks_greek_desc_short}	Army Barracks are the first training facilities capable of training full-time professional soldiers.
{army_barracks_myth}	Giant Ritual Sanctuary
{army_barracks_myth_desc}	The Giant Ritual Sanctuary allows full-time human transformations, rather than sporadic transformations. Here men can be transformed from basic humans into monster, werebeasts, and demons that possess a high standard of combat readiness. Ritual Sanctuaries exist to keep transformed soldiers separate from the resource bank that is the civilian world.
{army_barracks_myth_desc_short}	Giant Ritual Sanctuaries are the first training facilities capable of creating first-class fighters.
{army_barracks_middle_eastern}	Army Barracks
{army_barracks_middle_eastern_desc}	Army barracks allow the training and housing of full-time soldiers, rather than militias and citizens-in-arms. Here men can be taught the basics of the bloody business of warfare and brought to a high standard of combat readiness. Barracks usually exist to keep soldiers separate from the ill-disciplined civilian world.
{army_barracks_middle_eastern_desc_short}	Army Barracks are the first training facilities capable of training full-time professional soldiers.
{army_barracks_northern_european}	Army Barracks
{army_barracks_northern_european_desc}	Army barracks allow the training and housing of full-time soldiers, rather than militias and citizens-in-arms. Here men can be taught the basics of the bloody business of warfare and brought to a high standard of combat readiness. Barracks usually exist to keep soldiers separate from the ill-disciplined civilian world.
{army_barracks_northern_european_desc_short}	Army Barracks are the first training facilities capable of training full-time professional soldiers.
{army_barracks_southern_european}	Army Barracks
{army_barracks_southern_european_desc}	Army barracks allow the training and housing of full-time soldiers, rather than militias and citizens-in-arms. Here men can be taught the basics of the bloody business of warfare and brought to a high standard of combat readiness. Barracks usually exist to keep soldiers separate from the ill-disciplined civilian world.
{army_barracks_southern_european_desc_short}	Army Barracks are the first training facilities capable of training full-time professional soldiers.
{artist_gallery_mesoamerican_desc}	DO NOT TRANSLATE - NOT MEANT FOR THIS CULTURE
{artist_gallery_mesoamerican_desc_short}	DO NOT TRANSLATE - NOT MEANT FOR THIS CULTURE

A building your culture does not have just needs 'DO NOT TRANSLATE - NOT MEANT FOR THIS CULTURE' in place of the decription, it does not require the building's name:

{c_paved_roads}	c_paved_roads
{c_paved_roads_desc}	DO NOT TRANSLATE
{c_paved_roads_desc_short}	DO NOT TRANSLATE
{c_paved_roads_eastern_european}	Paved Roads
{c_paved_roads_eastern_european_desc}	Paved Roads outside of a settlement are somewhat opulent in the Medieval age, but offer the best possible surface for both armies and traders to traverse quickly. They are particularly useful for kingdoms and empires that have distant boundaries that need a means to send troops to the front quickly enough to be effective.
{c_paved_roads_eastern_european_desc_short}	Paved Roads maximise the movement speed of units that travel along them. They also improve trade in the region.
{c_paved_roads_greek}	Paved Roads
{c_paved_roads_greek_desc}	Paved Roads outside of a settlement are somewhat opulent in the Medieval age, but offer the best possible surface for both armies and traders to traverse quickly. They are particularly useful for kingdoms and empires that have distant boundaries that need a means to send troops to the front quickly enough to be effective.
{c_paved_roads_greek_desc_short}	Paved Roads maximise the movement speed of units that travel along them. They also improve trade in the region.
{c_paved_roads_mesoamerican_desc}	DO NOT TRANSLATE - NOT MEANT FOR THIS CULTURE
{c_paved_roads_mesoamerican_desc_short}	DO NOT TRANSLATE - NOT MEANT FOR THIS CULTURE
{c_paved_roads_myth_desc}	DO NOT TRANSLATE - NOT MEANT FOR THIS CULTURE
{c_paved_roads_myth_desc_short}	DO NOT TRANSLATE - NOT MEANT FOR THIS CULTURE
{c_paved_roads_middle_eastern}	Paved Roads
{c_paved_roads_middle_eastern_desc}	Paved Roads outside of a settlement are somewhat opulent in the Medieval age, but offer the best possible surface for both armies and traders to traverse quickly. They are particularly useful for kingdoms and empires that have distant boundaries that need a means to send troops to the front quickly enough to be effective.
{c_paved_roads_middle_eastern_desc_short}	Paved Roads maximise the movement speed of units that travel along them. They also improve trade in the region.
{c_paved_roads_northern_european}	Paved Roads
{c_paved_roads_northern_european_desc}	Paved Roads outside of a settlement are somewhat opulent in the Medieval age, but offer the best possible surface for both armies and traders to traverse quickly. They are particularly useful for kingdoms and empires that have distant boundaries that need a means to send troops to the front quickly enough to be effective.
{c_paved_roads_northern_european_desc_short}	Paved Roads maximise the movement speed of units that travel along them. They also improve trade in the region.
{c_paved_roads_southern_european}	Paved Roads
{c_paved_roads_southern_european_desc}	Paved Roads outside of a settlement are somewhat opulent in the Medieval age, but offer the best possible surface for both armies and traders to traverse quickly. They are particularly useful for kingdoms and empires that have distant boundaries that need a means to send troops to the front quickly enough to be effective.
{c_paved_roads_southern_european_desc_short}	Paved Roads maximise the movement speed of units that travel along them. They also improve trade in the region.

The event_strings.txt is even longer and needs to be filled in in much the same manner . Below is an example. If your culture can do the event replace 'DO NOT TRANSLATE' with a description (the event will work without a description but all it will say is do not translate).

{acquisition_attempt_body_eastern_european}	A shrewd plan by foreign merchants has driven your own out of business. His assets were seized forcibly, and he has no means to prove the dastardly deed took place.
{acquisition_attempt_body_greek}	A shrewd plan by foreign merchants has driven your own out of business. His assets were seized forcibly, and he has no means to prove the dastardly deed took place.
{acquisition_attempt_body_mesoamerican}	DO NOT TRANSLATE
{acquisition_attempt_body_myth}	DO NOT TRANSLATE
{acquisition_attempt_body_middle_eastern}	A shrewd plan by foreign merchants has driven your own out of business. His assets were seized by force, and he has no means to prove the vile treachery that has befallen him.
{acquisition_attempt_body_northern_european}	A shrewd plan by foreign merchants has driven your own out of business. His assets were seized forcibly, and he has no means to prove the dastardly deed took place.
{acquisition_attempt_body_southern_european}	A shrewd plan by foreign merchants has driven your own out of business. His assets were seized forcibly, and he has no means to prove the dastardly deed took place.

Once both of these have been finished your culture is complete.

5)Sound files

This isn't necessary but if you want to remake the sound files you can add your new culture to them. In all the examples 'myth' will be the new culture.

1) Download the Sound Text Files here:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/downl...o=file&id=1110

This guide explains how to remake the sound files:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=77905

2) Open the 'descr_sounds_stratmap.txt' and edit the following entries:

BANK: stratmap_object

	what settlement
		culture	southern_european, northern_european, middle_eastern, mesoamerican, greek, eastern_european, myth
		level	village, town, large_town
			event
				folder data/sounds/SFX/Environment/Structures
				;village
			end

	what settlement
		culture	southern_european, northern_european, middle_eastern, mesoamerican, greek, eastern_european, myth
		level city, large_city, huge_city
			event
				folder data/sounds/SFX/Environment/Structures
				;city
			end

	what port
		culture	southern_european, northern_european, middle_eastern, mesoamerican, greek, eastern_european, myth
		level	fishing_village, sea_port, shipwright, dockyard
			event
				folder data/sounds/SFX/Environment/Structures
				;port_01
			end

3) Open the 'descr_sounds_units_ambient.txt' and edit the following entries:

BANK: ambient_anims

	culture mesoamerican, eastern_european, middle_eastern, greek, northern_european, southern_european, myth

4) Open the 'descr_sounds_generic.txt' and add the following entry:

;;; myth
event END_TURN_CULTURE_6 volume -15 priority 260 streamed
  folder data/sounds/SFX/interface/campaign
   _end_turn_mtw2_bell_01.mp3
   _end_turn_mtw2_bell_02.mp3
   _end_turn_mtw2_chimes_01.mp3
   _end_turn_mtw2_chimes_02.mp3
  
end

Obviously if your new culture isn't 6th one listed in the descr_cultures.txt you should edit the other entries to ensure each culture has the correct end of turn bell sound.

[Casuir]

How many have you tried adding?

[alpaca]

This should be in the tutorials section, shouldn't it? It looks like you pretty much worked it out instead of this being a research thread

[uanime5]

I guess it could go in the tutorial thread, however I decided to put it here in case anyone had done something similar and could add to it.

Anyway after testing these new cultures I have noticed something odd. For some reason I cannot recruit priests and when you select the recruit option of any settlement that can recruit a priest the game instantly crashes. Cultures that cannot recruit priests or settlements that don't have a building that can recruit priests work fine, as do all other agents. I think it is to with the fact that priests can become heretics and join the Rebel culture but I have no way to test this.

[Casuir]

Theres no rebel culture, the rebel faction is southern_european. You crash is probably due to your religion being set as heretic, heresy looks to be handled seperatly from other religions, try setting it as something else and see what happens. How many cultures have you managed to add?

[uanime5]

I've added one culture so far (it's a lot of work to put in all the required text). I haven't tested how many the game can cope with.

I'll try changing the religion to catholic and see if that helps.

[uanime5]

I've changing the religion to catholic and even made a new religion called diabolism. Neither allowed me to recruit a priest. I'm guessing that there must be a special file that lists which priests belong to which culture, though I have no idea where it would be located.

[alpaca]

Did you specify a texture in descr_models_strat?

Edit: Nevermind, that's faction specific.

[Casuir]

Adding an eight causes an unspecified error, so I guess seven is the limit

[uanime5]

I found something odd and wondered if this has happened to anyone else. When you click on the settlements of the new culture with a faction belong to one of the original cultures the game crashes. However this does not occur if a factions belonging to the new culture clicks on its own settlements.

EDIT 18th July: okay I did some testing on my Titanocene culture and here is what I found.

1) If you're playing as any faction, other than Titanocene, and double click on a Titanocene settlement the game will crash. The Titanocene faction can click on any settlement without the game crashing.

2) If you put a spy in a Titanoncene settlement and the spy is not executed the game will crash. This does not apply to assassins who can still sabotage buildings.

3) Both of the above effects apply even if there are no buildings in the settlement.

[Casuir]

Whats the error log read, sounds like it crashing due to gui pics

[uanime5]

The error log reads that 'Medieval 2: Total War encountered an unspecified error and will now exit.' The crash occurred instantly upon double clicking on the settlement. The screen went black, then crashed to the desktop.

I thought one of the buildings I made might be causing this problem but the error message is the same no matter what is in the settlement. The fact that my Titanocene faction (new culture) is immune to this just makes the problem more confusing.

Edit 20th July: I've found something else odd. If I give my Titanocene culture an Aqueduct it crashes at the end of the turn the aqueduct would of been built (even if you cancle it the turn before or destroy it after building it). After some testing I found that giving the aqueduct a 'population_growth_bonus bonus 2' trait (1.0% population growth) caused the game to crash but it worked fine with a 'population_growth_bonus bonus 1' trait (0.5% population growth).

[uanime5]

Okay I've done some more testing and here are my results.

1) Princesses can still try to marry a general in a city without the game crashing.

2) The game did not crash when I clicked on a village that had no buildings in it (villages don't even have walls). I have not determined whether the crash is due to the presence of walls or the presence of any building in the settlement.

[uanime5]

2) The game did not crash when I clicked on a village that had no buildings in it (villages don't even have walls). I have not determined whether the crash is due to the presence of walls or the presence of any building in the settlement.

I added a farm to a Titanocene village and clicked on it. The result was that the game did not crash. Therefore something to do with a new culture's walls is causing M2TW to crash. Does anyone know which files relate to a settlement's walls (especially if they're culture specific)?

Also it's possible that preventing a new culture from developing certain traits may also cause the game to crash (I'm still investigating this.

EDIT: I've done some further testing and found that attacking any Titanocene settlement causes the game to crash, unless the settlement is a village (you can attack this like normal). However when I conquered a Titanocene village and double clicked on it the game crashed.

[SigniferOne]

Looks like this might have to do with the fact that walls, not government buildings, now are the central building in a settlement, and determine its size and promotion. I am not at home atm, so I cannot look for the file, but I bet that file could solve the problem here.

[uanime5]

Can you tell me what that file is called or where I can find it?

[SigniferOne]

Hmm I'm sorry, I had descr_cultures.txt in mind, which you already modified. Other than double-checking that all of those above files are modified correctly, I suppose you could look at the walls file, descr_walls.txt.

[uanime5]

I checked descr_walls.txt but it's not culture specific, so it won't affect this mod. Since the descr_cultures.txt file refers to other files I could try making a Titanocene version of the CAS files to see if this fixes the problem.

EDIT: just tested Titanocene CAS files, M2TW would not load stating that there was insufficient memory. Therefore I cannot just copy and rename CAS files to solves this. Is it possible to edit CAS files and how easy is it?

[SigniferOne]

Do you know if adjusting the rebel code affects anything:

culture greek
portrait_mapping southern_european
rebel_standard_index 1

Must it be consecutive related to all other rebel index values?

[uanime5]

I tried changing the 'rebel_standard_index' to a different number and even changed the 'rebel_standard_index' of some of the other cultures but this made no difference.

Also it seems that putting a merchant belonging to the new culture onto a trade resource will also cause the game to crash.

[uanime5]

alpaca finally found a solution to this problem, you have to add your new culture to data\text\expanded.txt file. This can be done by an entry relating to culture in expanded.txt.

{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST} Priest 
{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST_1} Bishop 
{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST_2} Cardinal 
{SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN} Southern European

Then creating a new version for the new culture. DO NOT change these entries of the game won't work properly. The new entry should contain the name of your culture and what it will be called in the game. In the example below the culture is 'myth' and its in game name is 'Mythological'. The part refering to priests allows your culture to recruit priests.

{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST} Priest 
{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST_1} Bishop 
{EMT_SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN_PRIEST_2} Cardinal 
{SOUTHERN_EUROPEAN} Southern European 

{EMT_MYTH_PRIEST} Priest 
{EMT_MYTH_PRIEST_1} Bishop 
{EMT_MYTH_PRIEST_2} Cardinal 
{MYTH} Mythological

The first post has been modified to explain this.

[uanime5]

In one of my mods with a new culture some people have found that it tends to CTD between turns 20-30 without any warning and the help log provides no information. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

[alpaca]

Did you remove the papal_faction? I had such a problem a while ago and that was what had caused it for me.

[SigniferOne]

I need to add an important addition that is required when adding a new culture. It seems to cause a crash in battles otherwise. I have in mind descr_offmap_models.txt -- if you don't add your culture there, starting a battle with it will cause CTDs, that are not explained in the log file.

re: uanime5 -- Consider events possibly causing a problem.

[uanime5]

I've added the descr_offmap_models.txt file to first first post and given you credit SigniferOne.

I'll check the data\text\event_strings.txt file but I'm faily sure all the events are correct.

Edit: I was checking through and found I was missing a few, one of the missing traits was

{character_trait_lost_body_titanocene}	DO NOT TRANSLATE: THIS TRAIT GAINED TEXT SHOULD BE REPLACED BY MESSAGES FROM THE VnV SYSTEM AND SHOULD NOT BE TRANSLATED!

Perhaps this is why changing the character traits file helped.

[SigniferOne]

Nice note, Uanime. If you want, you can make a note that cultures that no longer exist, can successfully be removed from that file also. I'm concerned the game will try to initiate an off-map block of code for a culture that doesn't exist. I've successfully removed all of the in-game cultures and replaced them with my own, so there is no hardcode barrier from deleting old cultures (if you do it properly, and according to your tutorial).

[stevohall]

First off great guide, easy to understand and follow but ive hit a brick wall, ive followed all steps except i used england instead of create a new faction and any battle i fight on the battle map causes an unspecified error after loading, just as its about to do the pre battle speech, im trying to do an english empire cultural mod for a friend that will eventually lead away from the northern kingdoms (more of an end half of the game). i wonder if anyone could help with my problem? and thanks

[uanime5]

Battle crashed are usually due to a missing texture or mesh, or an error in the battle_models.model_db. I'd recommend checking the error log.

[Csatadi]

When I added a new culture the buildings became aztec pyramids on the battlefield. Even after I deleted the mesoamerican culture. I edited the .worldpkgdesc files and the buildings are fine but when I conquer the plaza and there are remaining enemies the countdown doesn't start.
Any ideas?