Tutorial: Adding new units for beginners

[Aradan]

Disabling UAC

File properties: Right-click on the file with the mouse, select the last option from the menu that comes up, it should be Properties. A new menu will pop-up, near its bottom there are two checkboxes, called "Read-only" and "Hidden", both of which should be unchecked.

[asfcommander1989]

Last question How do u make them available on the campaign i have the characters now but i cant purchase them at any of the barracks

[Dol Guldur]

export_descr_buildings.txt

It's intuitive what to add if you like at the file.

[asfcommander1989]

thanks for all the help guys i finally got my mod working im so happy. Im gonna try making my own units from scrach. this guide is the best thing ever thanks so much for all the help and for creating it in the first place. ill let you guys know if i run into any more problems. Thanks again Asfcommander1989

[asfcommander1989]

After all your help i figured id share what i created with you guys. The Spartan Xiphos Telum are fictional but none the less they are very awesome. this has probably been done before but none the less i hope someone enjoys what i created.

export_descr_unit


type Spartan Xiphos Telum
dictionary Spartan_Xiphos_Telum ; Spartan Xiphos Telum
category infantry
class heavy
voice_type Medium_1
soldier Spartan_Xiphos_Telum, 40, 0, 1.3
officer spartan_standard
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_sap, command, very_hardy
formation 1, 1, 2, 2, 5, square
stat_health 2, 0
stat_pri 18, 10, pilum, 50, 3, thrown, blade, piercing, spear, 25 ,1
stat_pri_attr prec, thrown ap
stat_sec 14, 3, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, sword, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 5, 8, 6, metal
stat_sec_armour 0, 1, flesh
stat_heat 5
stat_ground 2, 0, 0, 0
stat_mental 17, disciplined, highly_trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 2, 1280, 460, 120, 180, 1190
ownership greek_cities

export_descr_unit_enums

Spartan_Xiphos_Telum
Spartan_Xiphos_Telum_descr
Spartan_Xiphos_Telum_descr_short


text_export_units

{Spartan_Xiphos_Telum} Spartan Xiphos Telum


{Spartan_Xiphos_Telum_descr}
Beyond Elite!\nDisciplined\nVery Hardy\ncommand\nSapping Ability\n\nThe Spartan Xiphos Telum are Spartan shock troops, with one purpose: destroy anything and anyone that dares stand before the greeks. Modeled after the roman legions, these Spartans are faster moving than hoplites, versitile, and deadly. The Spartan Xiphos Telum were adapted despite arguements that it went againts the Spartan tradition of the hoplite solider. Despite this the Xiphos Telum are extremely effective and just as deadly as any Spartan. They are equiped with several Telum (javilin) which is trown at the enemy before they attack with their Xiphos (light Swords).

{Spartan_Xiphos_Telum_descr_short}
Spartans Equiped with spears are swords, adapation of the roman legion troop. These soldiers are deadly against enemy forces.

¬----------------

export_descr_buildings

recruit "Spartan Xiphos Telum" 0 requires factions { greek_cities, }

The only real thing that my unit is missing is a skin and a unit card which despite my efforts they dont seem to work. For a skin i downloaded the alternate spartan from gamespot http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/...ml?sid=6114017, after you download the skin put it on your desktop and rename both the images Spartan_Xiphos_Telum and put them in your descr_model_battle and your UI folder and your set. You can use any skin thats just the one i went with since it was different than what i had and this skin looked shitty as a hoplite unit. If anyone creates a unit card for them please let me know id love to see how it came out. hope you enjoy!

[SubRosa]

I believe I have unit cards for that which I created for someone else, let me see.

Yes I do have it. I uploaded it, but it looks like it will not be available until the staff approves it. Do you have an email address I could send it to in the meantime?

[SubRosa]

You can get the unit cards here. Thank you Tosa.

[PopePopo]

I seem to have a problem . For a new LOTR mod , i made a Rohan Peasant .. For Rohan faction i used the gauls , so i made a new entry in EDU , DMB and Export_units.txt .. I have RTW 1.5 so EUE is not needed :)

I have a problem with custom battles . I can load a campaign , if i look at the building scroll i see the correct name and description etc. .. But custom battles don't work .(i get a KTM with no error message , even with -show_err) So i guess the fault is in DMB .. I just copied the entry from barbarian peasants and deleted all other faction-related stuff . So for instance : I have deleted all words that are bold in my new entry , and deleted the gaul entry in the vanilla barbarian peasant entry( the underlined words) .. I also changed the name to rohan_peasant , wich is the same as in EDU

type				barb_peasant
skeleton			fs_dagger							
indiv_range			40
texture				gauls, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_briton.tga
texture				britons, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_briton.tga
texture				germans, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_german.tga
texture				dacia, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_dacia.tga
texture				scythia, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_scythia.tga
texture				slave, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_slave.tga
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_high.cas, 8
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_med.cas, 15
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_low.cas, 30
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_lowest.cas, max
model_sprite		60.0, data/sprites/barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		gauls, 60.0, data/sprites/scythia_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		slave, 60.0, data/sprites/slave_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		scythia, 60.0, data/sprites/scythia_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		dacia, 60.0, data/sprites/dacia_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		britons, 60.0, data/sprites/britons_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		germans, 60.0, data/sprites/germans_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_tri			400, 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f

So my new DMB looked like this :

type				rohan_peasant
skeleton			fs_dagger							
indiv_range			40
texture				gauls, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_gaul.tga
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_high.cas, 8
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_med.cas, 15
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_low.cas, 30
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_lowest.cas, max
model_sprite		60.0, data/sprites/barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		gauls, 60.0, data/sprites/gauls_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_tri			400, 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f

And the vanilla barbarian peasant entry looks like this :

type				barb_peasant
skeleton			fs_dagger							
indiv_range			40
texture				britons, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_briton.tga
texture				germans, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_german.tga
texture				dacia, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_dacia.tga
texture				scythia, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_scythia.tga
texture				slave, data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_slave.tga
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_high.cas, 8
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_med.cas, 15
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_low.cas, 30
model_flexi			data/models_unit/unit_barb_peasant_lowest.cas, max
model_sprite		60.0, data/sprites/barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		slave, 60.0, data/sprites/slave_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		scythia, 60.0, data/sprites/scythia_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		dacia, 60.0, data/sprites/dacia_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		britons, 60.0, data/sprites/britons_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_sprite		germans, 60.0, data/sprites/germans_barb_peasant_sprite.spr
model_tri			400, 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f

i use a mod folder (called ROHAN) , and some1 told me that you have to type your mod folder's name before the entries , like this , and repeat it with your models :

texture				gauls, ROHAN/data/models_unit/textures/unit_barb_infantry_gaul.tga

But this didn't help . So what is wrong ?

i'll also post my EDU entrance , just to make sure :

type             rohan peasant
dictionary       rohan_peasant      ; Rohan Peasant
category         infantry
class            light
voice_type       light_1
soldier          rohan_peasant, 60, 0, 0.7
attributes       sea_faring, can_sap, hide_improved_forest  
formation        1.2, 1.8, 2.4, 2.4, 6, horde
stat_health      1, 0
stat_pri         3, 1, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 25 ,1
stat_pri_attr    no
stat_sec         0, 0, no, 0, 0, no, no, no, none, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr    no
stat_pri_armour  2, 1, 1, leather
stat_sec_armour  0, 0, flesh
stat_heat        0
stat_ground      0, 0,0,0
stat_mental      3, low, untrained
stat_charge_dist 40
stat_fire_delay  0
stat_food        60, 300
stat_cost        1, 120, 70, 15, 15, 120
ownership        gauls

[achilles2140]

just added royal spartan guard, works great, one small problem now all my units are unlocalised unit with no descripion, i keep looking at the export_unit file, cant see the problem, could someone please help. I pasted the spartan unit at the bottom of the file from the tutorial. pls help. thanks.

[SubRosa]

The name you have in Data\Text\Export_Units.txt is not matching up with the Dictionary Name in Data\Export_Descr_Unit.txt. Double-check it to make sure there are no spaces, or missing characters.

Could you post the code you have in both files?

[achilles2140]

to subrosa, i checked both couldnt find anything wrong so i will past both files thanks for your help.

type spartan royal guard
dictionary spartan_royal_guard ; Spartan Royal Guard
category infantry
class spearmen
voice_type Heavy_1
soldier spartan_royal_guard, 30, 0, 1
officer greek_standard
attributes sea_faring, hide_forest, can_sap, command, frighten_foot, frighten_mounted
formation 1, 1, 1.7, 0.5, 4, square, phalanx
stat_health 2, 0
stat_pri 27, 8, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, spear, 25,1
stat_pri_attr spear, long_pike
stat_sec 21, 4, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, sword, 25, 1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 12, 8, 5, leather
stat_sec_armour 0, 1, flesh
stat_heat -2
stat_ground 2, 0, 0, 0
stat_mental 60, disciplined, highly_trained
stat_charge_dist 30
stat_fire_delay 0
stat_food 60, 300
stat_cost 1, 1000, 220, 130, 190, 1740
ownership greek_cities

¬----------------

{spartan_royal_guard} Spartan Royal Guard

{spartan_royal_guard_descr}
Legendary warriors they are 'elite perfect soldiers' and nothing else. All of Spartan life is spent training for war. Weaklings perish soon after birth; youths are taught to thieve and terrorize the slave class to harden them; young men are taught nothing unless it has something to do with the arts of war - even music and dance are there only to help keep step when marching and obeying orders.The result is a man who thinks nothing of danger, expects to win, and creates a sense of dread in his opponents.\n\n From this group of men only the best make it in to the Spartan Royal Guard. They carry the Eagle of Olympus as a sign of leadership and to inspire the troops. They also fight in the traditional fashion like hoplites, with a long thrusting spear and the large red round hoplon shield incrusted with the gold symbol of Sparta. They are also protected by an iron breastplate with an external layer of silver.\n\n
The Royal Guard: is an elite unit in Greek Army. A small group of selected soldiers who acted as shock troops. The Thebian army had a group of 300 soldiers. The Spartans had a group of 300 hoplites who were a Royal Guard.

{spartan_royal_guard_descr_short}
The Spartan Royal Guards are elite hoplites trained and selected from the best soldiers of the Spartan Greek units. They are perfect soldiers made in the image of the Thermopylae heroes.

¬----------------

on here the first file spacing is weird in the actual file the spacing is correct with the rest of the entries.

[SubRosa]

It looks good to me. What version of the game do you have? If it is earlier than 1.5 then you will need to have an entry for the unit in export_descr_unit_enums.txt, like so:

spartan_royal_guard
spartan_royal_guard_descr
spartan_royal_guard_descr_short

[achilles2140]

i downloaded 1.5 patch, i still added to export_descr_unit_enums as you posted, what else could be the problem.

[Makanyane]

just added royal spartan guard, works great, one small problem now all my units are unlocalised unit with no descripion,

did you really mean ALL your units - including ones that were there before? If so you've probably saved export_units.txt as the wrong sort of file... I think it needs to be in Unicode format.

[achilles2140]

yes all units, the ones before. what do you mean unicode, could you explain further. all i did is add the units at the bottom of export_units file then saved it. thanks for your help.

[SubRosa]

Ahh, I missed that it was affecting all of your units. It sounds like you may have changed the filename or format by accident. It should be export_units.txt and be located in your Data\Text folder. It should also be a standard (unicode) text file. If you saved it as an .rtf, or a word doc, etc... it will not work.

[achilles2140]

well its saved as export_units.txt in the text file. my windows wouldnt let me change and save the file. i had to paste the whole file to a undocumented notepad file, add the new units and save it as export_units.txt, does doing it this way affect the file.

[Makanyane]

Possibly - when you save from notepad - use 'Save as'
you'll see a third box at the bottom of the save window - it might be defaulting to ANSI - change that to Unicode...

also make sure when you copied and pasted you picked up the comment at the top of the file so the first thing on first line of file is
¬
that's been mentioned by some people as necessary - though I've not tested it myself.



if you're running vista and are going to be doing more modding you might want to look into turning off UAC or installing RTW somewhere other than program files folder. If you're not on vista you just need to uncheck the 'read only' option on the files.....

[achilles2140]

i saved the file again and changed to unicode and this fixed the problem, thanks again for the help, appreciate it very much.

[achilles2140]

has anyone tried a macedon unit download called "greek gold shield pikemen", by total war fanatic, every time i add the unit files the game will not load.

[achilles2140]

also ive added a reskin and unit cards for macedon unit greek royal pikemen, the re-skin worked, the unit cards still show the original one not the new one i added could someone assist me with this

[Makanyane]

RE: the greek gold shield pikemen - nope if you can provide a link maybe someone can have a look and see if there is inherant problem with the download.


RE: the skins where exactly are you putting them? if you unpack RTW files using the simplest method the unpacked files end up at data/packs/data/ui/etc.... which isn't read by the game

you need to make new folders and path so that new stuff is at
data/ui/...

if that on its own doesn't fix things you might need to rename the unit (dictionary name in EDU which controls the ui card used and the text used) - sorry I can't remember if that is needed for RTW or not

[achilles2140]

http://totalwarfantic.tripod.com/ this is the link, then click on the link for gold shield pikemen for the download, his other units and reskins i tried worked just not the gold shields, thanks for your help!

[achilles2140]

as far as the unit card for the reskin, i already have a UI file for adding new units, the unit card unit name matches the one in the edu file. the reskin is for the macedon unit greek royal pikemen, in the edu file is "Greek_Royal_Pikemen" and the new unit card also is named "Greek_Royal_Pikemen", could you be a little more specific with ways i could try so the new unit card works for the re-skin. really appreciate the help!

[achilles2140]

the greek gold shield unit works now, if you could help me with the reskin unit card. thanks for the help

[Makanyane]

sorry missed this... If its not reading your new unit card it's probably because its reading the old one in the pack instead.

The way to stop it doing that is to change the name of the unit - the only bit you really need to change is the 'dictionary name' - eg:

type greek royal pikemen
dictionary new_greek_royal_pikemen ; Royal Pikemen
category infantry
class spearmen
voice_type Medium_1
soldier greek_hypaspist, 60, 0, 1
officer greek_standard

If you only change that line all you have to do is change the export_units.txt file so it has entry for
{new_greek_royal_pikemen} old text here.......

and call your unit cards
#new_greek_royal_pikemen.tga
and
new_greek_royal_pikemen_info.tga

that should fix problem - if you leave 'type' and 'soldier' lines as they are you shouldn't need to change the other files

[achilles2140]

it worked! thankyou! bow! thankyou! bow! your a genius! at first i didnt think it worked until i realized i was confusing the phalanx pikemen with the royal pikemen unit card. I really appreciate all your help. I really like this site and forum, you've made this game more enjoyable.

[allyn90]

hy...i have a little problem..i did everything te guid said..and i put the royal spartan...and when the battle shoud start nothing happends...then i said let's try again..and i introduced the spartan hoplite 300 too..and the game wont start......someone ple help:(

[CPT Worsham]

Okay, my goal is to make the BI unit, Hounds of Culann, playable in my vanilla RTW 1.5 mod with the britons faction. I have followed all the steps in this tutorial, but I still have an issue.

I got the unit cards, descriptions and recruitability to all work fine. The only problem is that when I try to load the battle map with this unit in the army I get a CTD with the following error:

File name doesn't exist: data/models_unit/BI_unit_hounds_of_culann_lod1.CAS

Failed to load: BI_unit_hounds_of_culann_lod1.CAS

Then it says the error is in desc_model_battle.txt line 1199

I checked the DMB file and there appears to be nothing out of order. I also checked all the CAS files associated with this unit, and everything appears to be correct there as well. What could be the issue?

[Makanyane]

I'm assuming you've actually put a copy of the .cas file in your data/models_unit/ folder

are you using a mod-folder? if you are the path in the descr_model_battle.txt needs to read
mod_folder_name/data/models_unit/BI_unit_hounds_of_culann_lod1.CAS