Limit To Campaign Battle Size?

[ArtistofWarfare]

Last question from me before I dig into a campaign...I promise.

I remember hearing in the past that during a campaign, the game may deem a battle that is to take place as "too large" for your system to handle and place any "leftover" units into a stack of their own...basically removing them from the battle that is about to take place.

Does this really occur? I notice in a custom battle, whenever I try to get 4000+ on screen @ once, the game gives me the little message saying this may be too large for my settings. Yet I can put 9000 on screen with max settings, and get zero lag. So why is the game even giving me this message?

Obviously, the game doesn't know what it's talking about in this case...and what I'd like to avoid is constantly having battles reduced in size during my campaign, strictly because the game is overly stubborn (for no reason) about this issue.

What do we know about this?

Thanks

[FactionHeir]

medieval2.preferences.cfg
Set unlimited_men_on_battlefield to 1

[ArtistofWarfare]

medieval2.preferences.cfg
Set unlimited_men_on_battlefield to 1

Thank you...

Just out of curiosity- what kind of troop limit in a campaign battle am I looking at if I didn't edit the cfg?

Just to get an idea. (and is that how the "leftover" troops are handled, just dumped into another stack behind the original army?)

[FactionHeir]

Depends on your rig. It won't allow it if it thinks it cannot handle it, but that is very subjective.
The normal "reinforcements delayed" happens on a random basis, not necessarily related to your rig.

[ArtistofWarfare]

Ok thanks again Faction.

The thing that frustrates me is that the game massively, massively underestimates what my computer can handle...and I'm seeing other examples of people complaining about this.

I mean it's not even remotely close.

Hopefully, CA/Sega do not feel the need to dictate this in Empire. As it's ...pointless.

[ArtistofWarfare]

a couple of sources seem to indicate that I have to save my config file as a new config file (or something along those lines) after I change it to 1 or else it will not apply.

Is this the case, or is simply editing it and saving it/exiting the document sufficient?

edit- Ok- so i open the preferences file using notepad. There are only 2 lines in the entire document (it's 1kb). One says "widescreen 0" and the other says "Game, all users 1"

this by no means sounds normal ...

edit2- well, if you check out this link and the post by "BraveDude" and the screenshot of the cfg file, this is what mine looks like.

So it appears I have to just add that command line...question is, do I need to preface it with anything? Misc or Game or just enter it in?

Thanks

[ArtistofWarfare]

looking around the web I see this question get to this point often- as some people (for some reason) do not have the command line "unlimited_men_on_battlefield" showing up in their config.

Are we to simply add it? And if so...under what..misc or game or what?

Appreciate it as this is a sticking point for me (i have the hardware, I do not want 4,000 men caps on my campaigns) and as said- this command line is not in my config.

[phonicsmonkey]

I saw elsewhere that you are running Vista - could this be the problem?

I don't have any Vista experience but I've seen on many mod forums that people have trouble with the User Access Control which stops them from being able to properly view or edit crucial files...

Maybe you can log in as Administrator or something and try from there?

Because as far as I know (and when I edited the file on my PC running XP) there should be an entry there already which says 'unlimited men on battlefield = 0' and you should just have to change it to a '1'

[ArtistofWarfare]

I am on vista.

Bah, I just realized I forgot to put the link up of that guy who had the exact same looking config file.

Widescreen=0

game

allusers=1

That's all I have- and I've seen this showing up for several others, not just one person.

I'm sure it is b/c of Vista, so what would be the workaround? Perhaps Faction knows...

Would I just add the command line in there under the allusers=1? I've seen this suggested regarding other command lines that others have not seen in the config file.

Thanks for the help..this is irritating

[phonicsmonkey]

from my limited understanding of Vista there are different levels of access rights granted to different kinds of user

so you could try logging out and logging in as admin, then checking the same file again to see if it looks different...

EDIT: by the way, if I recall correctly this is something you can change mid-campaign, so it shouldn't stop you starting a campaign. Likely you won't have any battles big enough to cause you a problem in the early stages anyway

[ArtistofWarfare]

Gotcha...

Well, I tried administrator rights (I already had, double checked) and nothing is diff...that file has nothing hidden or inaccessible. It is what it is.

And yes, I would imagine this is save friendly...I just got totally distracted tonight and now that i've been on the PC, am managing to get some work done.

I'm sure it'll get sorted out. And again, all help appreciated.

I'd imagine when Faction comes on tomorrow he may know for sure about it...as I see he has other threads where he's solved this issue (I guess it irritates him too).

[FactionHeir]

You have to run a game and start a campaign for it to actually generate things into the file (make sure it is NOT read only). If you are using a mod, you want to change the preference file specific to the mod you are playing instead.

After it generates it and you exit the game, you can change the line and mark it read only.

[phonicsmonkey]

There you go - FH to the rescue! (as usual)

This one reminds me of all the 'I don't have a map.rwm file' queries that used to endlessly pop up in the EB forums...

[ArtistofWarfare]

You have to run a game and start a campaign for it to actually generate things into the file (make sure it is NOT read only). If you are using a mod, you want to change the preference file specific to the mod you are playing instead.

After it generates it and you exit the game, you can change the line and mark it read only.

Awesome and thank you- I will try this shortly...

FH to the rescue is right lol...

[ArtistofWarfare]

Well, i started up a campaign with the English, did not save it...exited the campaign and then exited the program. Went back and checked out the config file and still- nothing but those two entries.

So starting a campaign did not fill in the entires we're talking about. I definitely had the file as NOT read only but still- no luck.

What would be the next step here?

thanks

edit- I guess I'll go try this out now anyway but could it be that I have to actually go through at least the first turn before it will generate things? Perhaps just starting the campaign is not enough...it actually needs to go through a turn? I dunno, just throwing ideas out...

[FactionHeir]

You probably want to play a bit.
You could also play the tutorial to make it generate things.

[ArtistofWarfare]

well, i've just tried multiple turns, the tutorial etc...nothing works.

This is a joke. It really is. I'd like to sit in the same room with the guy who thought implementing this "feature" was a good idea and have him attempt to justify why those of us with thousands of dollars of hardware are restricted like this...

I dunno...I'm not playing a campaign with limits like that. I'll keep trying until I just don't have the energy to anymore.

[FactionHeir]

Just to confirm. You are playing unmodded M2TW non Kingdoms, yes?

[ArtistofWarfare]

Well , i have m2tw:gold installed on my pc...so of course kingdoms is installed, but correct- what we're talking about here is M2TW- I am not running a kingdoms campaign...it's a regular m2 grand campaign. It is definitely unmodded though. Version 1.3 of M2tw and Version 1.5 of Kingdoms installed. edit: another hour or so spent trying every single thing under the sun...no cigar. Really, really frustrating to spend thousands on hardware, and actually be limited to less troops on screen than I was 5 years ago on a 1.6ghz pentium and MTW:VI. Sorry, but fact: Whoever implemented this has an IQ of at most...75. <throws arms in the air> I tried again...different factions, did the tedious boring tutorial again...have searched hidden files, tried administrator rights, everything. Still just 2 entries in the config file. I give up...if someone can find a solution to this at some point, great...but for now, I just can't sit here literally WORKING on the game for more time. It's been 4 months. That's enough. I just don't know what else to say. Literally every time I turn this game on there's another issue. I guess when Empires hits I'll have to take a very, very cautious approach before purchasing the title. This is just...boring. more time spent... after looking around further on the web, i've found information that detailed administrator rights enabling for m2tw using vista. Apparently, it requires multiple steps...which I've now done. Voila...the command lines all filled in correctly in my config file finally. Now we move onto the next issue, which I knew would exist: Can't save the file due to an inaccurate file name or path. It attempts to save a new preference file into the directory (so it seems). What do I do here now? also, i did try enabling the entire m2tw folder as NON read only. It took a few seconds and then said the action was complete. Is this a problem, or something I should change back? thanks... edit: anyone have any idea how I actually save the config with Vista after editing changes? edit 2: Just found 2 error reports in my windows error reporting thing...from earlier (when I was changing user access controls and changing read only)

Problem signature Problem Event Name: PCA2 Problem Signature 01: Launcher.exe Problem Signature 02: 1.0.2669.20298 Problem Signature 03: unknown Problem Signature 04: unknown Problem Signature 05: unknown Problem Signature 06: 200 Problem Signature 07: -1 OS Version: 6.0.6001.2.1.0.768.3 Locale ID: 1033 Extra information about the problem Bucket ID: 36486602

the second was simply a carbon copy of this one, and occurred a few minutes later. What is this now? ...trying to remain patient here...

[FactionHeir]

Since I don't have Vista, I wouldn't know what the problem is you are having.
However, please don't double or even triple post within such short time spans (less than 12 hours), you do have an edit button

Merged your posts for you. Formatting looks a bit odd now but you can edit it

[ArtistofWarfare]

don't worry about it...it's a new day and I'm just not going through this again.

I need to know how to save the config file using Vista. If that's so far fetched and nobody knows, there's not much I can do. I refuse to play a campaign with like max 2500 men on screen (that's what it is...I've tried it).

Don't really know what to say except- you definitely saw me spend 4 months trying to get into this game, simply running into issue after issue after issue- all created by Sega/CA.

Forget it....in the amount of time I've spent on this game (and...done nothing but play computer programmer baby games all day) I could have mastered 3 others. I guess I'll have to go do that.

I'll check back in a few months...maybe someone else has chosen to play with more than 2500 men on screen by that point in time. Till then- Sorry, I'm just not torturing myself to play a game.

Note- I own 4 other PC games. Not one of them has required anything other than to install the game, and play it. So this is by no means an "industry standard", this is just CA/Sega. We're game players , not computer programmers. Get this through your head.

edit: I just received an email from someone regarding this situation and for anyone else running into issues when trying to save edited changes, here's the easiest way to work around it using Vista-

Find your notepad icon in the start menu and right click. Select "run as administrator". When it opens the program, go to "file" and then "open". Locate the cfg file inside of the Sega/TotalWar folder. Open it. Now, edit anything that you like and go to file/save. Boom, it will go through and retain it's accurate file extension.

There are many other ways to go about doing this (that's what made it so complicated) but by a large margin, this is the easiest way. (and it is pretty easy). In running notepad as an administrator, you also bypass any UAC that applies to any files that you open with it. So consider running notepad as administrator to be a "skeleton key" for all files that can be opened and edited with notepad.

Oh also- if by any chance you still have issues saving your file (and get the incorrect file/path message) go to start, control panel and then folder options and make sure that you have it set to NOT hide file extensions of known programs. If it's hiding the file extension, it won't acknowledge it and therefore, that's why it doesn't identify the path when you try to save it. You want it displaying .cfg at all times...as even when you edit it using notepad as a .txt, it will still save it as a .cfg and you'll be left with simply an edited cfg file...which is the goal here.

[Dead Guy]

Vista makes me mad.

I really have to activate that unilimited men thingie... It has completely ruined some bridge battles for me when my main army on the other side of the bridge doesn't show up because the computer doesn't think it can hanlde it. Then again it has saved my behind against the Mongols once or twice :p Will it apply to campaigns or must I start fresh?

[Galain_Ironhide]

Coming from a Windows XP user - I hope you do solve the problem.

It can create another dimension to the game just by the sway that reinforcements can create in a battle.

[ArtistofWarfare]

Coming from a Windows XP user - I hope you do solve the problem. It can create another dimension to the game just by the sway that reinforcements can create in a battle.

Thanks, yeah I think I have the unlimited men all set up, but as you see from that other thread it raises a new question... As now that the config file is filled out, we have many settings that will overwrite in game settings. This naturally, raises new questions. I do understand that many are the "plug and play" type and would never even give thought to such matters , but I just can't understand how. Especially with the depth that some of us involve ourselves into our campaigns. I'm still trying here- I'll continue to update threads with new information as I gather it. I was actually under the impression that there was a backlog of information around here- that we troubleshoot things regularly. Looking around, there just isn't that much info on ...really anything other than modding, and even the questions raised in those threads rarely reach any conclusion. Maybe this is a habit that can be broke around here...

Vista makes me mad. I really have to activate that unilimited men thingie... It has completely ruined some bridge battles for me when my main army on the other side of the bridge doesn't show up because the computer doesn't think it can hanlde it. Then again it has saved my behind against the Mongols once or twice :p Will it apply to campaigns or must I start fresh?

I and others seem to be under the impression that this is in fact save game friendly. <shrug> but who knows? That's part of the problem- everything comes down to trial and error because nobody ever gives a definitive answer to anything. It's always entirely "well, you could try this or try that or this"... I'll try to find out. The fact here remains that in order to trial and error all of these outstanding questions, we're talking days more of just that and not "playing". And that's why I just say what's the point sometimes. Again, I'll try to find that out as well and report back to the thread.

[Dead Guy]

If I interpret FHs post in the read only config thread correctly, it should be save game frindly... as it is not determined without regard to the config like manage all settlements if I understand things correctly. Hope you figure it out, I like to set up my campaigns my way too.
On the subject of manage all settlements, I've had some strange goings on with that where seemingly in the middle of a campaign settlements would become auto-managed when I moved a governor out of them. This is possibly confusion on my part though, I have no detailed information at all on how I could possibly have made the game behave like that unfourtunately.
I've found your discussions very informative and your explanations thorough, much appreciated.

[FactionHeir]

The game's config overrides most campaign settings, only a few things are saved in the savegame file, like battle time limit and automanage and the like. Video and Audio settings as well as reinforcements are loaded up each time by the config.