First off, this isn't my original work. This is a compilation of posts from other members on the board. Particularly Barbarossa82 and ByzantineKnight.

So you're having problems getting to play the "unplayable" factions? Want to try out those bull warriors, but so far have been unsucessful? Well hopefully these two quick solutions will be your answer.

First off, do this:

C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign and open the descr_strat file, and look for this line

; Custom campaign script generated by Romans Campaign Map Editor

campaign imperial_campaign
playable
romans_julii
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
end
unlockable
egypt
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities
end
nonplayable
romans_senate
macedon
pontus
armenia
dacia
numidia
scythia
spain
thrace
slave
end

change it to say

; Custom campaign script generated by Romans Campaign Map Editor

campaign imperial_campaign
playable
romans_julii
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
macedon
pontus
armenia
dacia
numidia
scythia
spain
thrace
egypt
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities
end
unlockable
end
nonplayable
romans_senate
slave
end

Make sure to leave the slave and romans_senate in the non-playable section. They're both too buggy to play.


Ok, so you tried that already, and you fire the game up. You're excited, because you just gave yourself an expansion pack without paying anything. Woohoo. You go to imperial campaign, and click on Spain, for example. The game quits and you're staring at your cold desktop. Don't fret, just do the following:

In 1.3 and 1.4, you have to have a campaign description for every faction you want to play as, or you will get a CTD on selection. You can add descriptions in the files Data/text/campaign_descriptions.txt and BI\Data\text\campaign_descriptions.txt. The descriptions don't have to be long, just the word "playable" would be enough. So, if you wanted to play as the Armenians in 1.3 RTW, go to the campaign_descriptions.txt file and add this:

{IMPERIAL_CAMPAIGN_ARMENIA_TITLE}Armenia
{IMPERIAL_CAMPAIGN_ARMENIA_DESCR}Playable

Note that this doesn't let you play as emerging factions, but will stop the CTDs when selecting a "non-playable" faction.


Tada! Now, you ought to be able to play all of the factions in RTW (aside from rebels and senate, of course). Enjoy!

Oh, it is suggested that you make copies of the files that you alter in case you accidentally mess something up.

If anyone has any other fix ideas, then please feel free to post them after this post. Besides that, if the above helps you out, please express your gratitude to either ByzantineKnight or Barbarossa82 by PMing them and saying thanks.

Oh, if a mod. could sticky this, I'm sure it would be helpful to the visitors to the board.