HowTo: Set up MTW2 for modding

[alpaca]

Hmm ya that's true, I don't know my own tutorials...
Well, then ignore steps 1.1 and 1.2 ;)

[DukeofSerbia]

alpaca

I finally got my computer from upgrade and installed M2 TW, unpacked and used Python 2.5 Windows AMD64 installer. It can't be installed even I have AMD Athlon64. But ordinary can.

I have one, maybe stupid question:

Can I erase all those files which I unpacked as I don't need them? I see many RTW-BI files which just slow down performances.

[alpaca]

alpaca

I finally got my computer from upgrade and installed M2 TW, unpacked and used Python 2.5 Windows AMD64 installer. It can't be installed even I have AMD Athlon64. But ordinary can.

I have one, maybe stupid question:

Can I erase all those files which I unpacked as I don't need them? I see many RTW-BI files which just slow down performances.

You shouldn't delete any files. If you want to mod them, you'll have to have at least those that you want to mod (and maybe a few more). You can move them to a backup directory and only copy those to your modding folder/data folder that you actually want to work on, though.

[Psyco]

Wow do I feel dumb. Reading through some random threads, I learned that after extracting the patch, you actually have to install it.
I apologize for this waste of space.

[grinningman]

Hey alpaca, you might want to mention that your mod folder installer doesn't delete or rename descr_geography_new.db and descr_geography_new.txt. I know you mention this when you talk about unpacking the files, but it's not clear that this is still required if you use your installer (and it took me a while to work out why my modded version kept crashing ).

Apart from that the installer is excellent - thanks heaps for putting it together!

[alpaca]

Hey alpaca, you might want to mention that your mod folder installer doesn't delete or rename descr_geography_new.db and descr_geography_new.txt. I know you mention this when you talk about unpacking the files, but it's not clear that this is still required if you use your installer (and it took me a while to work out why my modded version kept crashing ).

Apart from that the installer is excellent - thanks heaps for putting it together!

Hum, maybe I'll just write "DELETE THIS" in bold ;)
I didn't say it's optional though, so why didn't you delete it?

[dzzirt]

Doh i might sound stupid, but ive got a problem whith using this guide.

So my steps were :

1. installed v 1.1 --> ran unpack_all.bat ---> deleted descr_geography_new.db and descr_geography_new.txt in m2tw/data

2. Converted text files using script (installed python ---> unpacked alpaca's MTW2 .strings.bin converter into m2tw/data/text directory and ran it

3. downloaded, ran the Mod folder installer , and selected mine MTW2 directory as the installation directory, chosen all of the componets (actually it was default setting) to install ---> installed.

4. Now there was the problem - tried to test.... :
- opened text/imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names.txt and changed {London}London to {London}Supadupacity

- started game using mymod.bat (cant see extension, so its only mymod for me) ---> game loaded ---> started English campaing ---> London is still London there :(((


QUESTION: what did i wrong here ???

[Suraknar]

I been looking in to the approach between Mymod Folder and IO file first.

And, (correct me if my asumption if false), Mymod folder is a nice "overide" way of making and distributing certain mods, yet IO file first is more suited for Conversions and Larger mods.

Yes?

[alpaca]

No, if a mod folder worked with all files, it should be the preferred method of distributing any mod because it doesn't disturb the original data and you can have multiple mods installed at the same time, whereas file_first is "messy".

So, I hope that after the 2nd patch, I can finally forget about file_first and simply propose using a mod folder to everybody.

[TotalWarVet]

I used to architect/design/write software for a living, so forgive me for raising the following issue and being so verbose.

By the way, are you a unix/linux guy (use/ instead of MS \in your directory/path descriptions ).

I believe I've done as instructed in this tutorial, but game refuses to startup.

I have a full backup installation on a seperate drive which is the starting point for me. Copied the whole darn thing.

Game .exe and all files in f:\games\Medieval II Total WarMod\ directory and associated subtrees just as in original install. Game runs just fine when dblclick medieval2.exe (can call up/load save games etc.).

I've created a f:\games\Medieval II Total WarMod\mods folder and replaced mymod references in your tutorial with mods.

Ran the unpacker and then deleted the descr_geography_new.db and descr_geography_new.txt files as instructed.

So now I have two \data trees.

The original one f:\games\Medieval II Total WarMod\data and the one I'll be using for mods in f:\games\Medieval II Total WarMod\mods\data which contains all the unpacked text and strings.bin files as well as the data/world/maps/base and data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign (sic).

Furthermore, I've copied the full fmv and world subtrees from the original \data.

So now I have a full set of files and directory subtrees in mods\data (including animations, banners,...,fmv,...,vegetation, world). I've taken the original strings.bin files that where generated by unpacker in \text subdirectory and subsequently converted by your strings.bin converter and moved them to \text\OrigStringsBin. The unconverted strings.bin files I left in \text.

Aside: By the way, it looks like M2SBE strings.bin file manipulation tool only works with the same files your tool does. Have an email in to author asking for clarification.

At this point, I edited the imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names.txt as directed and attempted to run the game, but alas no luck. I've dblchecked everything and all seems fine.

Here is the error log generated while trying to run game.

14:47:20.183 [system.rpt] [always] CPU: SSE2
14:47:20.183 [system.rpt] [always] ==== system log start, build date: Dec 5 2006 version development ===
14:47:20.243 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_0.pack
14:47:20.283 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_1.pack
14:47:20.363 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_2.pack
14:47:20.414 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_3.pack
14:47:20.454 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/data_4.pack
14:47:20.484 [system.io] [always] mounted pack packs/localized.pack

Could it be that I have too much stuff in mods\data? Should I move some of this somewhere else? Wanted full set of files in one place for easy modification.

[kungfuserge]

Is there a way to launch the game faster, (with no cinematique introduction; ie RTW -nm)

[alpaca]

Yeah put movies=0 under your video section

[kungfuserge]

thank you

[losts78]

i downloaded your file and i have no idea where the read me is. All i get is a notepad file with odd writing that i have no idea what it is. plse help.

[alpaca]

i downloaded your file and i have no idea where the read me is. All i get is a notepad file with odd writing that i have no idea what it is. plse help.

Which file is that? The files are in .rar format iirc, which means you have to download 7-zip or some other freeware tool to extract them.

[william wallace]

em, ive got a question. i made 2 new folders of me2tw 1.2 i unpacked one of them, this one keeps to CTD when i start a battle... plz help

[Aedan2812]

hmmm u feel dumb i dont even know how to install :S
could some1 plz point me in the right direction?
also i need a little help using bin.string converter
any help would be greatly appreciated

[mor dan]

don't know how to install what?


i would actually suggest using the program that edits the strings.bin directly instead of the converter. the converter can't convert every file. the editor can edit any file. seems like a no brainer.

[alpaca]

don't know how to install what?


i would actually suggest using the program that edits the strings.bin directly instead of the converter. the converter can't convert every file. the editor can edit any file. seems like a no brainer.

Well just editing tooltips.txt.strings.bin and the others doesn't work anymore as of 1.2 because the game doesn't interpret them unless a text file for them is present in the same folder. I don't know about the tagged files but it's probably the same.

[Eothese]

Dose this still apply to 1.3 which is what you get when you install kingdoms? I managed to get it to run without convertimg the string.bin files but the UI and settlements were just large blank white squares, also the loading_screens and the text/imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names.txt files were already in the mymod folder?? If I need to use the sting.bin converter how do I use it?

[alpaca]

I don't really know if it works with kingdoms. The mod folder installer probably won't work because the layout for some files has changed, as well as some other things, but the general process should be pretty much the same.

[Gibb The Great]

Well i suck, i followed the instructions and when i try to open my game through mymod.dat it crashes, it crashes when i try and open it through the original way.

i guess modding isn't my thing

[Speedy]

Dose this still apply to 1.3 which is what you get when you install kingdoms? I managed to get it to run without convertimg the string.bin files but the UI and settlements were just large blank white squares, also the loading_screens and the text/imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names.txt files were already in the mymod folder?? If I need to use the sting.bin converter how do I use it?

I'm having the same problem... has anyone found an answer for this... This is a lot more technical... and frustrating than the "uuh... like... do I like... have to follow the directions?" idiot questions or that "uuh... I figured it out. I needed to follow the directions" idiot responses.


Thanks

[irishron2004]

I'm having the same problem... has anyone found an answer for this... This is a lot more technical... and frustrating than the "uuh... like... do I like... have to follow the directions?" idiot questions or that "uuh... I figured it out. I needed to follow the directions" idiot responses.


Thanks

Form an old man that has no fear of new technologies including unpackers, string-bin-convertors, the name of the game is to have fun and learning something new is always fun. The worst thing you can do is foul it up to the point you have to reinstall it and start over. It's called learning from your mistakes.

The tools that alpaca wrote for us to use come with a readme for each one. You read that, maybe even print it for reference, and follow the directions, they do work very well. Jump in and try it. It may take three or four tries but it is well worth the experience.

[alpaca]

I'm having the same problem... has anyone found an answer for this... This is a lot more technical... and frustrating than the "uuh... like... do I like... have to follow the directions?" idiot questions or that "uuh... I figured it out. I needed to follow the directions" idiot responses.


Thanks

The general process should be the same if you go with the manual configuration. The installer is potentially not compatible with 1.3 - I didn't test it. The tutorial isn't really up-to-date anymore but I don't feel like going over it again right now.

[piaoliang]

hi! i'm new to modding m2tw. i've gotten everything right so far, i have downloaded patch 1.1, unpacked the files, deleted the descr_geography_new.db and descr_geography_new.txt files, and i picked the io.file_first method

mymod is working fine and nothing is crashing so far. my only problem is, the changes i make don't happen either

i tried changing the imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names file by changing london to asdfg for trial and it hasn't changed in the game. also, i see a difference in the instructions, coz my file looks like this.

¬
{Acre}Acre
{Acre_Province}Acre Region
{Adana}Adana
{Adana_Province}Adana Region
{Ajaccio}Ajaccio
{Ajaccio_Province}Ajaccio Region
{Aleppo}Aleppo
{Aleppo_Province}Aleppo Region
{Alexandria}Alexandria
{Alexandria_Province}Alexandria Region
{Algiers}Algiers
{Algiers_Province}Algiers Region
{Angers}Angers
{Angers_Province}Angers Region
{Antioch}Antioch
{Antioch_Province}Antioch Region
{Antwerp}Antwerp
{Antwerp_Province}Antwerp Region
{Arguin}Arguin
{Arguin_Province}Arguin Region
{Arhus}Arhus
{Arhus_Province}Arhus Region
{Baghdad}Baghdad
{Baghdad_Province}Baghdad Region
{Bern}Bern
{Bern_Province}Bern Region
{Bologna}Bologna
{Bologna_Province}Bologna Region
{Bordeaux}Bordeaux
{Bordeaux_Province}Bordeaux Region
{Bran}Bran
{Bran_Province}Bran Region
{Brazil}Brazil
{Breslau}Breslau
{Breslau_Province}Breslau Region
{Bruges}Bruges
{Bruges_Province}Bruges Region
{Bucharest}Bucharest
{Bucharest_Province}Bucharest Region
{Budapest}Budapest
{Budapest_Province}Budapest Region
{Bulgar}Bulgar
{Caen}Caen
{Caen_Province}Caen Region
{Caernarvon}Caernarvon
{Caernarvon_Province}Caernarvon Region
{Caesarea}Caesarea
{Caesarea_Province}Caesarea Region
{Caffa}Caffa
{Caffa_Province}Caffa Province
{Cagliari}Cagliari
{Cagliari_Province}Cagliari Region
{Cairo}Cairo
{Cairo_Province}Cairo Region
{Caribbean}Caribbean
{Caribbean_Isles}Caribbean Isles
{Cholula}Cholula
{Cholula_Province}Texcoco Region
{Constantinople}Constantinople
{Constantinople_Province}Constantinople Region
{Cordoba}Cordoba
{Cordoba_Province}Cordoba Region
{Corinth}Corinth
{Corinth_Province}Corinth Region
{Cracow}Krakow
{Cracow_Province}Krakow Region
{Damascus}Damascus
{Damascus_Province}Damascus Region
{Dijon}Dijon
{Dijon_Province}Dijon Region
{Dongola}Dongola
{Dongola_Province}Dongola Region
{Dublin}Dublin
{Dublin_Province}Dublin Region
{Durazzo}Durazzo
{Durazzo_Province}Durazzo Region
{Edessa}Edessa
{Edessa_Province}Edessa Region
{Edinburgh}Edinburgh
{Edinburgh_Province}Edinburgh Region
{Florence}Florence
{Florence_Province}Florence Region
{Fortaleza}Fortaleza
{Frankfurt}Frankfurt
{Frankfurt_Province}Frankfurt Region
{Gaza}Gaza
{Gaza_Province}Gaza Region
{Genoa}Genoa
{Genoa_Province}Genoa Region
{Granada}Granada
{Granada_Province}Granada Region
{Halych}Halych
{Halych_Province}Halych Region
{Hamburg}Hamburg
{Hamburg_Province}Hamburg Region
{Helsinki}Helsinki
{Helsinki_Province}Helsinki Region
{Hohenstauffen}Staufen
{Hohenstauffen_Province}Staufen Region
{Iasi}Iasi
{Iasi_Province}Iasi Region
{Iconium}Iconium
{Iconium_Province}Iconium Region
{Innsbruck}Innsbruck
{Innsbruck_Province}Innsbruck Region
{Inverness}Inverness
{Inverness_Province}Inverness Region
{Iraklion}Iraklion
{Isle_of_Crete}Isle of Crete
{Isle_of_Cyprus}Isle of Cyprus
{Isle_of_Rhodes}Isle of Rhodes
{Jedda}Jedda
{Jedda_Province}Jedda Region
{Jerusalem}Jerusalem
{Jerusalem_Province}Jerusalem Region
{Kiev}Kiev
{Kiev_Province}Kiev Region
{Leon}Leon
{Leon_Province}Leon Region
{Lisbon}Lisbon
{Lisbon_Province}Lisbon Region
{London}London
{London_Province}London Region
{Magdeburg}Magdeburg
{Magdeburg_Province}Magdeburg Region
{Marrakesh}Marrakesh
{Marrakesh_Province}Marrakesh Region
{Marseille}Marseille
{Marseille_Province}Marseille Region
{Metz}Metz
{Metz_Province}Metz Region
{Miccosukee}Miccosukee
{Milan}Milan
{Milan_Province}Milan Region
{Moscow}Moscow
{Moscow_Province}Moscow Region
{Mosul}Mosul
{Mosul_Province}Mosul Region
{Naples}Naples
{Naples_Province}Naples Region
{Nicaea}Nicaea
{Nicaea_Province}Nicaea Region
{Nicosia}Nicosia
{North_America}North America
{Nottingham}Nottingham
{Nottingham_Province}Nottingham Region
{Novgorod}Novgorod
{Novgorod_Province}Novgorod Region
{Nuremburg}Nuremburg
{Nuremburg_Province}Nuremburg Region
{Oslo}Oslo
{Oslo_Province}Oslo Region
{Palermo}Palermo
{Palermo_Province}Palermo Region
{Pamplona}Pamplona
{Pamplona_Province}Pamplona Region
{Paris}Paris
{Paris_Province}Paris Region
{Prague}Prague
{Prague_Province}Prague Region
{Ragusa}Ragusa
{Ragusa_Province}Ragusa Region
{Rennes}Rennes
{Rennes_Province}Rennes Region
{Rheims}Rheims
{Rheims_Province}Rheims Region
{Rhodes}Rhodes
{Riga}Riga
{Riga_Province}Riga Region
{Roman_Province}Rome Region
{Rome}Rome
{Ryazan}Ryazan
{Ryazan_Province}Ryazan Region
{Sarkel}Sarkel
{Sarkel_Province}Sarkel Region
{Smolensk}Smolensk
{Smolensk_Province}Smolensk Region
{Smyrna}Smyrna
{Smyrna_Province}Smyrna Region
{Sofia}Sofia
{Sofia_Province}Sofia Region
{Stettin}Stettin
{Stettin_Province}Stettin Region
{Stockholm}Stockholm
{Stockholm_Province}Stockholm Region
{Tbilisi}Tbilisi
{Tbilisi_Province}Tbilisi Region
{Tenochtitlan}Tenochtitlan
{Tenochtitlan_Province}Tenochtitlan Region
{Thessalonica}Thessalonica
{Thessalonica_Province}Thessalonica Region
{Thorn}Thorn
{Thorn_Province}Thorn Region
{Timbuktu}Timbuktu
{Timbuktu_Province}Timbuktu Region
{Tlaxcala}Tlaxcala
{Tlaxcala_Province}Tlaxcala Region
{Toledo}Toledo
{Toledo_Province}Toledo Region
{Toulouse}Toulouse
{Toulouse_Province}Toulouse Region
{Trebizond}Trebizond
{Trebizond_Province}Trebizond Region
{Tripoli}Tripoli
{Tripoli_Province}Tripoli Region
{Tunis}Tunis
{Tunis_Province}Tunis Region
{Valencia}Valencia
{Valencia_Province}Valencia Region
{Venice}Venice
{Venice_Province}Venice Region
{Vienna}Vienna
{Vienna_Province}Vienna Region
{Vilnius}Vilnius
{Vilnius_Province}Vilnius Region
{Volga-Bulgar_Province}Volga-Bulgar Region
{Yerevan}Yerevan
{Yerevan_Province}Yerevan Region
{York}York
{York_Province}York Region
{Zagreb}Zagreb
{Zagreb_Province}Zagreb Region
{Zaragoza}Zaragoza
{Zaragoza_Province}Zaragoza Region

while the guide says it should be something like
{London} London

note that the guide says it has a tab spacing in between the } and the L in London

i'm not sure if this is the problem, but it seems like it. i also tried adding a tab in between mine, but still no effect.

i repeat, i can play the game just fine. i just can't mod it!

do i have a different version of the game? is there something i'm missing here? please help me. thanks!

[AndorranPrince]

I can't find the text folder :'( Help?

[Squid]

You need to unpack the game first, please read the first post in the thread at least before asking questions.

[Hakomar]

What do I put in the launch options Squid?

[Potent_Schraphlon]

Hi. I'm completely new to modding and don't really know what I'm doing. So I followed these instructions using the options to directly edit the .strings.bins and the io.file_first and I have a couple of questions:
1. I don't have a mymod folder, I'll just be changing the original files. Is that right?
2. Will this allow me to change unit stats, and if so, how do I do that?