Character Portraits

[MansaSakura]

i'm having problems editing the character portraits for Egypt in the imperial campaign. I've edited unit cards before but no matter what I do, the character portraits for my egyptian generals remain the same. What am I not doing? Is there a different process than what is used to edit unit cards? Thnx in advance.
MS

[MansaSakura]

REally stumped here guys. I've changed every portrait of the egyptians i can find but nothing seems to take. what's goin on?

[Makanyane]

Normal reason people have problems is they are editing a version that is just where they unpacked files (assuming you have RTW not BI) - unpacker automatically puts things in RTW/data/packs/data/ui which is just for your reference.

You'd need to change file structure so that the new parts are in RTW/data/ui
- though I'd assume you'd know that from doing unit cards :inquisitive:

Look up descr_cultures.txt as well - there is a section in that about portrait mapping - though I think it has egyptian = egyptian already....


Also have you realised there are 6 folders that need changing? the ones in portaits/portaits for dead old and young and in portraits/cards for the same ages?

[MansaSakura]

Hi Mak

I do have BI, but I'm trying to make the changes to RTW. Is there something I need to change in the the BI folder.

Yes I did move the ui from the packs to the main data folder.

I've changed the portraits in all six folders
CARDS- dead, old, young
PORTRAIT- ded, old, young

I didn't see anything in the desc_culture file that was helpful. It all had to do with buildings and not characters from what I could tell.

Still having no luck...

[Makanyane]

the bit in descr_cultures.txt would just be the portrait mapping line:

culture egyptian
portrait_mapping egyptian
rebel_standard_index 4
but that does refer to egyptian folder anyway in vanilla...

I thought with RTW you could just move the bits of UI you wanted and put them on data/ui path, for everything except roman culture - might be wrong (I'm a BI modder). You definitely don't need to change anything in BI folder, sorry mentioning that was a red-herring.

If you move everything you unpacked to 'right' path and then rename the packs so it can't find them it should work, though that seems a bit extreme. Using a mod-folder should also work and might give you other advantages. RTW mod folders just need the map folders, the regions file in data/text and anything you've changed so they are really simple to use and helpful....

Otherwise check for silly mistakes like mispellings in the file names or getting them at wrong level in folder path structure.

....or wait for a RTW modder to come and give you proper answer!

[MansaSakura]

Thnx Mak. I'll give the culture-thing a try once i get home. anyone else got any suggestions or know of any idiot-proof way of doing this. i can't seem to find a guide on here specifically for portraits. holla :)

[MansaSakura]

No luck with the culture file. do i have to delete the paks or something? can anyone who has successfully changed a portrait PLEASE contact me. I'm real desperate here.

[MansaSakura]

still lookin for help guys. PLEASE. any info on changing portraits will be helpful.

[Dol Guldur]

I'm a BI coder too, but I remember in RTW that roman cultural elements - specifically the interface - did need to be repacked in order to work. Of course whether that changed later in a new patch I do not know.

[Myrddraal]

yeah, I'd suggest try repacking

[Makanyane]

I've finally got round to checking this.

Use a mod-folder !!! there is absolutely no reason not to and it works fine to change both the egyptian portraits and the roman ui without unpacking, repacking or renaming packs etc.

To make mod folder for RTW, make folder at same level as the .exe files called "my_mod" or whatever. Make folder called "data" inside that, so path is Rome - Total War/my_mod/data. Copy and paste into that the "text" and "world" folders from RTW/data (you don't need all of it but that's easy than trying to explain what you do need). To change the UI elements make folder so you have
RTW/my_mod/data/ui
and within that make folder for the culture you want to change and add your portraits or interface to the correct path inside it so you'd have:

RTW/my_mod/data/ui/egyptian/portraits/cards/young/generals

etc in your case.

Run game from shortcut with
-mod:my_mod
added to target line.

Works a dream for portraits and also Roman interface (I just tested by copying in the nomad ui folder from BI). You should also put any other files you change in the mod-folder and not the original data folder. It keeps original files intact which users like and means you always have original version to refer back to....

[Dol Guldur]

Gah..

[MansaSakura]

Thnx Makanyane. Just tried it. Worked like a dream. Wish more ppl were this descriptive rather than assume one knows all the ins and outs of this system. If I knew them...I wouldn't be asking. Thnx a bunch friend.MS