After hearing so many people ask how to change these things, endless new topics on the same question, I decided to do something about it.

To unlock all the factions:

Quote Originally Posted by frogbeastegg
The ... need to be unlocked before you can play as them. To do this you can either complete a campaign (on any difficutly, long or short setting) with one of the five starting factions, or you can edit the preferences file. To do this open your Sega\M2TW folder\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign, find the file called "descr_strat" and open it with wordpad. Now find the section which says
Code:
campaign      imperial_campaign
playable
   england
   france
   hre
   spain
   venice
end
unlockable
   sicily
   milan
   scotland
   byzantium
   russia
   moors
   turks
   egypt
   denmark
   portugal
   poland
   hungary
end
nonplayable
   papal_states
   aztecs
   mongols
   timurids
   slave
end
Change it so it reads
Code:
campaign      imperial_campaign
playable
   england
   france
   hre
   spain
   venice
   sicily
   milan
   scotland
   byzantium
   russia
   moors
   turks
   egypt
   denmark
   portugal
   poland
   hungary
end
nonplayable
   papal_states
   aztecs
   mongols
   timurids
   slave
end
Changing the turn display into years:
To do this open your Sega\M2TW\folder\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign, find the file called "descr_strat" and open it with wordpad. Now find the section which says
Code:
marian_reforms_disabled
rebelling_characters_active
gladiator_uprising_disabled
night_battles_enabled
show_date_as_turns
brigand_spawn_value 20
pirate_spawn_value 28
into this:
Code:
marian_reforms_disabled
rebelling_characters_active
gladiator_uprising_disabled
night_battles_enabled
brigand_spawn_value 20
pirate_spawn_value 28
To remove Pirate Spawns:
To do this open your Sega\M2TW\folder\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign, find the file called "descr_strat" and open it with wordpad. Now find the section which says
Code:
marian_reforms_disabled
rebelling_characters_active
gladiator_uprising_disabled
night_battles_enabled
show_date_as_turns
brigand_spawn_value 20
pirate_spawn_value 28
into this:
Code:
marian_reforms_disabled
rebelling_characters_active
gladiator_uprising_disabled
night_battles_enabled
show_date_as_turns
brigand_spawn_value 20
pirate_spawn_value 100
To remove Rebel Spawns:
To do this open your Sega\M2TW\folder\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign, find the file called "descr_strat" and open it with wordpad. Now find the section which says
Code:
marian_reforms_disabled
rebelling_characters_active
gladiator_uprising_disabled
night_battles_enabled
show_date_as_turns
brigand_spawn_value 20
pirate_spawn_value 28
into this:
Code:
marian_reforms_disabled
rebelling_characters_active
gladiator_uprising_disabled
night_battles_enabled
show_date_as_turns
brigand_spawn_value 100
pirate_spawn_value 28
To change how long each turn counts:
(default is 2 years per turn [2.00])

To do this open your Sega\M2TW\folder\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign, find the file called "descr_strat" and open it with wordpad. Now find the section which says
Code:
timescale	2.00
into
Code:
timescale	X.YZ
XYZ being three numbers. For RTW timelime (2 turns per year) make it 0.50
Yes you need the zero beforehand. For MTW timelime (1 year per turn) make it 1.00

You can change it to whatever you want, just not too low (0.25 is lowest IIRC)

A sticky would be nice to help the newer people.