Short Campaign doesn't Unlock factions?

[ConjurerDragon]

I cant even figure out how to look at the files to do it manually

That was described in post 7 of this thread.
Look in folder:
J:\TotalWar\Medieval II\data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign
or whereever you have installed your game.
Open file descr_strat.txt

For me it shows:

; Custom campaign script generated by Romans Campaign Map Editor

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

So currently all factions are still locked to me (I have installed the Gold version again only yesterday).