Changing Unit Availability in VI

But I'd just like a quick overview of how to change unit availability in VI. I enjoy a lot of the new units in VI, like Faris cav and Swabian Swords, and I wanted to be able to continue building them in High and Late Periods. How do I do this?

Note: I have never modded anything before.

Thanks for any help

You only need to touch one file its in the main mtw directory & its crusaders_unitprod11.txt. Back it up first then open it with gnome editor(u can get it in the downloads section. Its the 20th row & its best to copy & paste "all_periods" to the units you want to be able to use

I've bought VI. Should I be using crusaders_unitprod11.txt or VIKINGS_UNIT_PROD?

Also, the downloads section doesn't appear to be working. I get a 404 error when I try to download anything.

Now, you want to make units from VI available in MTW is this right?

Ok, just for an example, Welsh Bandits. First of all, open up VIKING_UNIT_PROD.TXT file (NOT in the Gnome editor.) Scroll to the bottom of all the entries, and about 14 lines from the bottom you should see WelshBandits on the left. Select the whole line and the line following it, then "copy" (CTRL+C) these two lines.

Now open the CRUSADERS_UNIT_PROD11.TXT, scroll right to the bottom and paste (CTRL+V) the entry for the WelshBandits here.

Now save the file, and open the Gnome Editor. Hit load file and open up the CRUSADERS_UNIT_PROD11.TXT file. In the top left, select "Availability" then hit the scroll right until you come to option 50. In the box it should say "FN_08"
Chaange this to ALL_FACTIONS, then scroll right again to the last option, 71. Click where it says "NO", then if you don't see the line FN_08, press the down arrow until you can. Change the FN_08 to ALL_FACTIONS again.


This will make them available to all factions of course, but to stop them from being built by them all, you can either;

Change ALL_FACTIONS to a specific faction, eg FN_ENGLISH.
Note: if you put two factions, FN_ENGLISH, FN_FRENCH you need to put them in speach marks; "FN_ENGLISH, FN_FRENCH"
You should also be able to play Welsh Bandits as whatever faction you specified in cutstom games, and multiplayer names if all other players are using the same prod file.

Or;

You can make them region specific, ie. a faction must own a particular province before being able to build them (this allows the unit to carry on being built, even if English are killed.) To do this, go to option 51 (Region Label) and type into the box ID_WALES - this will mean any faction that has control of Wales can build this unit.
Of course, this means they won't be available to a faction in custom games



Now save and load the game

What is your e-mail, maybe the editor can be mailed to you (if you don't want your e-mail posting, just mail me and I'll reply with the editor attached, it's only 85kb.)

That'd be great, Ithaskar I'd appreciate it if you could send me the Gnome Editor, my email is ckrisz@yahoo.com

Thanks for the great explanation. But actually what I'm trying to do is remove the time limit restrictions on VI units in MTW creation. For instance you can only build Swabian Swordsmen in Early and Faris Cav in Early and High. I want to be able to keep building them past that.

Thanks again.