removing unhistorical units

Hi There,

I need help with a basic modding question:

How do you remove units from the game? I'm especially keen to remove some units that look 'unhistorical' - e.g. 'battlefield assissins' etc. Any help or advcie would be really welcome.

Also, I'd be interested to hear of any views about unhistorical units in the game, as I'd like to remove as many as possible.

Thanks in advance for replies.

All of them. Well almost all, some of the spearmen and archers can stay :laugh4:

To remove them, first go through export_descr_buildings and remove any recruit lines, then descr_strat to make sure they don't appear at the start of the campaign. Then remove them from export_descr_units and, optionally, from any custom battles and the modeldb (if the model isn't otherwise used)

Hi alpaca,

Thanks for this.

I was guessing that a few 'fantasy' units existed in the game - the ones with dodgy names - but now I'm beginning to wonder about lots of others: for example, dismounted knights. Anyway, I'd like to have a clear out, even if I end up with only a fraction of the original roster.

And so I appreciate your info. But when you say 'remove' from the EDU file, I take it you mean delete the whole entry for that unit? Apologies, but I just wanted to make sure, as I've never attempted this stuff before.

And thanks again!

Yeah, remove the whole entry. If you're unsure of any step I'd propose commenting things out first with a ; instead of outright deleting it.

Hi alpaca,

Thanks for this - and for the commenting out tip. I'll give this a try, as I'm keen to get rid of some units. Fingers crossed.

EDIT: It's OK, I seem to have got a result by just deleting the recruit line in the EDB. Not sure if this is the best longterm solution, but the game seems to run OK and the units I deleted haven't showed up. Thanks again for replies.

Hi There,

Well, I seem to be having big problems with this. No matter what I do, as soon as I load the game after editing these files, I get CTDs. I must be missing something really obvious.

I started out trying to remove lots of units - CTD. I did it all over again, thinking I'd made an error - CTD.

And so I tried only deleting dismounted units - again, CTD.

There's probably something really simple and basic that I'm doing wrong - or not doing at all.

Thing is, the instructions above are pretty clear and straightforward, so I'm not seeing where I could be going wrong.

Any extra help would be really appreciated. Thanks again for help and patience.

First rule; Go slow.

Until you are intimately familiar with all the files your working with, do one thing at a time. Remember even a simple syntax error an empty line, anything can cause ctd.

When dose the game crash?
What dose the system.log say?

Hi CavalryCmdr,

Many thanks - that's good advice. I'm learning to treat the files with more respect now.

Basically, I restored the files to their original state using backed-up copies and then limited myself to modding EDB only. By removing the recruit lines of the units in question, I seem to have successfully eliminated them from the game. At any rate, so far so good, and the game is running.

I've removed units that I think are unrealistic, though I'm no expert. This has left me with armies largely composed of peasants, militia, spearmen, archers and mounted knights. Although this roster is less exotic than in vanilla, it has a gritty quality that I like. Also, fewer unit types means that, in general, specific units get called into action more frequently, thereby gaining more experience.

I have also tweaked the Mercenaries files, making Mercs slightly more plentiful and giving all Merc units experience. I have adjusted Merc costs to reflect unit type and experience. I have also made generals recruitable and 'star' generals are accepted into the family.

I have also renamed the factions according to William Shepherd's historical map of 11th-century Europe. And I have tried to beef up France's economy and farming levels. I have also tried to boost Hungary's population. I have added the Judaic religion to reflect the Jewish presence in Medieval Europe. I have tweaked 'religious unrest' to create some tension. I have also greatly boosted the 'heretics' in southern France to try to reflect the presence of the Cathars etc.

So far, the game is looking and sounding OK (I've added 'real' medieval music).

There are still a few things I'd like to change. For example, I'd like to calm down the use of heavy artillery if possible. I'd also like to add some historical events. I'd also like to make the Teutonic knights emerge as a faction. And finally, I'd like to add relgious buildings for the Judaic and Heretic sects. But for now, these things are beyond my skill - hopefully I'll get there eventually.

Thanks again for help and advice and all the best.