A couple of questions...

[César Victor]

I know there'd probably a thread for this somewhere but I'm short on time; how would I go about adding Macedonia as a playable faction? I've been playing as them online and they're hawt.

Also, I've been watching the TW Campaign Chronicles by Attila- an avid TW player- and Attila has a different, better battle set up to mine. The video below shows what I mean. How'd I get my battle screen like that- units at the bottom, no radar and buttons at the top?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeUVTE74dg0

Thanks.


EDIT: Ah, I see there is a thread in this forum with the answer to my first question already. Sorry boot that, fellas.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi César Victor,
You can minimise the large UI like Attila has done by going into your "...Rome - Total War\preferences\preference.txt" In that great file you will find many amazing options which can change many aspects of your R:TW playing experience. If you wish to change an option change TRUE to FALSE in the files and the option will be changed for something else. However you do have to bear in mind that some settings do not change like that and change differently - yet those settings can often be changed elsewhere so they are not really needed in the file. Here is a short guide which hopefully explains what each one of these great functions, or at least the ones that stupid old me understands, does:

SUBTITLES - creates subtitles for general's pre-battle speeches and the messages shouted out during the cut-scenes.
MORALE - turns morale on or off for non-arcade battles (for arcade battles this is off automatically).
FATIGUE - turns fatigue, whether men tire or not, on or off for non-arcade battles (for arcade battles this is off automatically).
LIMITED_AMMO - turns unlimited ammunition on or off for non-arcade battles (for arcade battle this is off automatically).
EVENT_CUTSCENES - turns the event cut scenes which occur when a general has died or a wall has been broken down.
VEGETATION - turns vegetation on the battlefield on or off.
AUTO_SAVE - turns auto save on or off.
SHOW_BANNERS - hides or shows the huge flying banners over the top of units.
UNIT_EXPERIENCE_UPGRADE_EFFECT - turns unit experience increases or armour upgrades on or off.
ENABLE_UNIT_SPEECH - stops or allows units from speaking when you order them to move or select them.
DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS - when set to TRUE, the green arrows underneath units when selected are turned off.
LABEL_CHARACTERS - when set to TRUE it enables all characters to have their name shown on the strategic map like settlements are by default.
LABEL_SETTLEMENTS - toggles whether settlement's names and other basic details, such as happiness, status (such as rioting, plague and siege) and settlement income, are shown underneath the settlement on the strat map.
MINIMAL_UI - this is the great one you are looking for! It hides the large UI of the battle map and makes it like the one shown in Attila's movie shot!
MUTE_ADVISOR - in effect this does what we always have wanted to do - it gags that irritating advisor woman - Victoria - and her evil twin Brother - Centurion Marcus - and causes them to be totally silent.
BLIND_ADVISOR - this handy tool removes the advisor's speech bubble from appearing when he/she wants to speak.
MICROMANAGE_ALL_SETTLEMENTS - this turns of auto-manage for settlements without a governor.
UNLIMITED_MEN_ON_BATTLEFIELD - this allows an unlimited amount of men on the battlefield at once - no longer do units have to wait their turn to fight with this great tool on TRUE!
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA_SMOOTHING - this makes the campaign map camera move nice and smoothly.
EDIT_SETTLEMENT_NAMES - this allows you to rename your settlements. It's a really cool tool - for example I once renamed Capua after my favourite Carthaginian general. This one is my personal favourite.

Good luck with your new UI, cheers!

[César Victor]

Ah, thanks fer that Omanes. I've already been tweeking the preferences; display unit names is cool!

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

No need to thank me, your fully welcome to any assistance

[LuckyDog Trojan]

Omanes: You 'da man! Seems like everytime someone has a question (such as Victor in this case), you almost always have a good answer or know where to direct the person to get the answer.

From many of us 'out there' - THANKS!

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Thanks very much for your appreciation, yet everything I have done really was my pleasure, no need to thank me

[UltraWar]

Omanes, soon I'll be back in Inquisitor robes

[Barbarossa82]

EDIT_SETTLEMENT_NAMES - this allows you to rename your settlements. It's a really cool tool - for example I once renamed Capua after my favourite Carthaginian general. This one is my personal favourite.

I had absolutely no idea you could do that in 1.5! Great information Omanes, now I have to start another campaign just to make use of it!

[César Victor]

I see Omanes getting "Most Helpful Forumer" at the next HoF. I doubt anyone would disagree.

How dya change settlement names?

[Andres]

Hi César Victor,
You can minimise the large UI like Attila has done by going into your "...Rome - Total War\preferences\preference.txt" In that great file you will find many amazing options which can change many aspects of your R:TW playing experience. If you wish to change an option change TRUE to FALSE in the files and the option will be changed for something else. However you do have to bear in mind that some settings do not change like that and change differently - yet those settings can often be changed elsewhere so they are not really needed in the file. Here is a short guide which hopefully explains what each one of these great functions, or at least the ones that stupid old me understands, does:

SUBTITLES - creates subtitles for general's pre-battle speeches and the messages shouted out during the cut-scenes.
MORALE - turns morale on or off for non-arcade battles (for arcade battles this is off automatically).
FATIGUE - turns fatigue, whether men tire or not, on or off for non-arcade battles (for arcade battles this is off automatically).
LIMITED_AMMO - turns unlimited ammunition on or off for non-arcade battles (for arcade battle this is off automatically).
EVENT_CUTSCENES - turns the event cut scenes which occur when a general has died or a wall has been broken down.
VEGETATION - turns vegetation on the battlefield on or off.
AUTO_SAVE - turns auto save on or off.
SHOW_BANNERS - hides or shows the huge flying banners over the top of units.
UNIT_EXPERIENCE_UPGRADE_EFFECT - turns unit experience increases or armour upgrades on or off.
ENABLE_UNIT_SPEECH - stops or allows units from speaking when you order them to move or select them.
DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS - when set to TRUE, the green arrows underneath units when selected are turned off.
LABEL_CHARACTERS - when set to TRUE it enables all characters to have their name shown on the strategic map like settlements are by default.
LABEL_SETTLEMENTS - toggles whether settlement's names and other basic details, such as happiness, status (such as rioting, plague and siege) and settlement income, are shown underneath the settlement on the strat map.
MINIMAL_UI - this is the great one you are looking for! It hides the large UI of the battle map and makes it like the one shown in Attila's movie shot!
MUTE_ADVISOR - in effect this does what we always have wanted to do - it gags that irritating advisor woman - Victoria - and her evil twin Brother - Centurion Marcus - and causes them to be totally silent.
BLIND_ADVISOR - this handy tool removes the advisor's speech bubble from appearing when he/she wants to speak.
MICROMANAGE_ALL_SETTLEMENTS - this turns of auto-manage for settlements without a governor.
UNLIMITED_MEN_ON_BATTLEFIELD - this allows an unlimited amount of men on the battlefield at once - no longer do units have to wait their turn to fight with this great tool on TRUE!
CAMPAIGN_MAP_CAMERA_SMOOTHING - this makes the campaign map camera move nice and smoothly.
EDIT_SETTLEMENT_NAMES - this allows you to rename your settlements. It's a really cool tool - for example I once renamed Capua after my favourite Carthaginian general. This one is my personal favourite.

Good luck with your new UI, cheers!

Very nice post Omanes

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Hi César Victor,

How dya change settlement names?

On the great settlement details scroll, there, at the top, the settlement's name rests. All you have to do is double click it, delete the text that's there and write your own name for it. It could be anything from "Hippo Regius" to "The Brothel" - just take your pick, type it there and press the return key! After that, you've got your own personalised settlement. Good luck, cheers!

BTW, everybody, thanks!

[LuckyDog Trojan]

Omanes: Regarding your post immediately above - I trust that the name change will only apply in that particular game? i.e. Start a new game and the name of the settlement reverts back the original?

Cesar: How's that Germanic campaign going? I'm midway thru my Parthian campaign right now - and it is a lot of fun. (As so many of our helpful Org bloggers have attested) the key with Parthia is learning to do battle with HA based armies, stay alive early and find a way to keep afloat financially in the opening phases of the game.

Money is no longer a problem. And, those treacherous Egyptians have been whittled down to two provinces. Curiously, the Selecuids have honored an alliance pact with Parthia for nearly 100 years. (Probably because we have Egypt as a common enemy).

Having now reached the eastern edge of Europe, I've begun to assail the Greeks in a huge pincer movement at their northern and southern borders.

Ironically, this game has loosely progressed along the same lines as Barbarossa's Armenian campaign. Not with intention of course - but I guess when the only choice you have as this faction is to 'go west'... Unlike 'Barb however, I don't let my family members marry any females under the age of 13. Heh, heh... On the other hand, my family members do tend to drink grog just a bit much. Can't blame them though - I am after all, their fearless leader who sets the example for them in these matters. Hope to hear from you.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Omanes: Regarding your post immediately above - I trust that the name change will only apply in that particular game? i.e. Start a new game and the name of the settlement reverts back the original?

Yep, it sadly resets.

[LuckyDog Trojan]

Omanes - thanks! Oh well, it's better than nothing. I can see it now... LuckyDogville, Campus LuckyDog, LuckyDogopolis, Chili-dog Town... ...

[César Victor]

Cesar: How's that Germanic campaign going? I'm midway thru my Parthian campaign right now - and it is a lot of fun. (As so many of our helpful Org bloggers have attested) the key with Parthia is learning to do battle with HA based armies, stay alive early and find a way to keep afloat financially in the opening phases of the game...

I gotta admit, I tired of the endless forests of Germania and Gaul and I quit the campaign a few weeks back. But I've started a Macedonia campaign; I fancied a change in setting after countless battles in northern Europe as the Julii. I'm taking this one serious and have already done 15+ pages of AAR. Ownage. I'm almost finished on episode 2 (a meaty 8+ pages ) which focuses on the first ten years of the campaign. I'm gonna spell check it and start on episode three before I post number one on the Org so I can get a bit further ahead. This AAR is much better than the one I started for Germania, if I do say so myself.

Until I post it, here's a trailer I made fer my AAR Excuse the shameless ripping of RTW fmvs; I don't have any decent recording software (Fraps has a watermark and wouldn't produce good quality videos) so I couldn't take in-game clips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XxGJvlBMs8

[Ludens]

Impressive.

[Roman_Man#3]

THATS AWESOME!!!! I felt like I was about to watch an action packed movie or something. Very Impressive.

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Wow! It's great César! It's like an action movie trailer, wish I had that sort of creative ability.

[César Victor]

If only my AAR would look as noice. 13 pages of crap in episode 2. Yeah, 13! Who the hell's gonna read that!? Bah. Should of done an AAR every 5 years instead of 10...

[Davor]

Hi César Victor,
UNIT_EXPERIENCE_UPGRADE_EFFECT - turns unit experience increases or armour upgrades on or off.

I don't think this is correct. Seems this is just the "sparkly light show" that occurs when an unit goes up a chevron during battle.

Edit: Reference: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=86530

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Sorry Davor. I wasn't quite sure what it did, so I just made a simple guess. My sincere appologies for any inconvenience caused.

[mrdun]

Can you change the name of settlements you dont own?

[Omanes Alexandrapolites]

Can you change the name of settlements you dont own?

Sorry goldendunner, but yes, you need to own them to change their names using the methods described. You could mod the names, but that would not provide the same effect as described above.

[Aradan]

Try the imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names.txt file in your data/text folder. Don't change the names to the left, only those to the right.

[mrdun]

Get in there my son, no more old names. Thank you

[Sonicdahedgie]

I'm totally giving every city a ghetto-themed name.