Help getting Hotseat to work in 1.1

[Blyzintine]

Also, if it works correctly will there be an option for Multiplayer Campaign on the main screen? I seem to recall in Olmsted's post that you have to select Multiplayer Campaign.

[SirRethcir]

The easiest thing you can do to try out the hotseat mode:

add
'playable = true'

under
'[multiplayer]'

to your medieval2.preference.cfg.

Nothing more is needed to have a quick start on hotseat.

[Blyzintine]

The easiest thing you can do to try out the hotseat mode:

add
'playable = true'

under
'[multiplayer]'

to your medieval2.preference.cfg.

Nothing more is needed to have a quick start on hotseat.

Hmm...I'm kinda skeptical. If it's that easy, how come Olmsted and others are using this "convoluted" method?

[Foz]

Thanks for the help, guys. I still haven't gotten it to work. Yeah, when I click one faction's crest, then another, the first faction's crest is no longer highlighted.

The problem I'm guessing is the multiplayer.cfg file. The instructions say to add the new lines of code to what is already in the multiplayer.cfg file, but does it make a difference where in the .cfg file I paste them? Does it go at the top? Do I erase the original [multiplayer] entry and replace it with the new one? Do I add it to what is already in [multiplayer] so it looks like this?

[multiplayer]
playable = 1
hotseat_turns = 0
hotseat_scroll = 0
hotseat_update_ai_camera = 1
hotseat_disable_papal_elections = 0
hotseat_autoresolve_battles = 0
hotseat_save_prefs = 1
hotseat_disable_console = 0
hotseat_validate_diplomacy = 1
hotseat_autoresolve_battles = 0
hotseat_disable_console = 1
hotseat_disable_papal_elections = 0
hotseat_save_prefs = 0
hotseat_update_ai_camera = 0
hotseat_validate_diplomacy = 1

You add the new entries under the already existing [multiplayer] heading, like what you have above. The [] entries are tags that tell the game to look for a particular kind of info in this section of the file, so all that's necessary is to put all the multiplayer-related info under the same tag. In fact if you put more than one copy of the same tag in the file, it may result in some of your settings being ignored, so check to be sure you haven't done so, and consolidate to only 1 [multiplayer] if needed.

Also, I notice in what you typed above that several hotseat_ lines are duplicated, with different values set sometimes. If you find a line that is duplicated in the file already, you should remove the line that was in the file, and replace it with the new one in the directions you followed. It's not necessary to keep them in the same order at all, any order will do - just look for and eliminate duplicate/conflicting entries, they may cause weirdness or problems.

Also, if it works correctly will there be an option for Multiplayer Campaign on the main screen? I seem to recall in Olmsted's post that you have to select Multiplayer Campaign.

No, there's no separate option I know of. You click single player and select grand campaign like you would to play a single player game. It's just that the multiplayer settings you've added will make you able to select more than one faction to play for that campaign.

[SirRethcir]

Hmm...I'm kinda skeptical. If it's that easy, how come Olmsted and others are using this "convoluted" method?

Have you tried it out? No? Do it! It's not too complicated I guess. ;)

Why they use the "convoluted" method?
Well, so you can run the 'hotseat' as an own mod and they made a few custom changes, I think.

[Didz]

My son and I tried the hotseat option this afternoon with only partial success.

My son was playing Russia and I chose Hungary, to avoid victory conflicts on the Short Campaign setting. The game ran beautifully for the first few turns. I took Iasi with my Hungarian army to fulfill the first Council Mission, whilst my sons Russians successfully defeated a rebel army outside the gates of their capital and then marched on Helsinki.

After beseiging Helsinki for 2 turns the Fins sallied out of their castle and the first and last game stopping problem occurred. The battle began and my son rapidly deployed his archers and crossbows to shoot them down as they emerged from the gate.

However, his missile men refused to fire and as the Fins deployed they suddenly began running backwards along with his spearmen and the entire Russian battle line. A quick check revealed that the 'fire at will' button on all my sons missile troops was off. Any attempt to switch it back on was immediately countered by the AI.

Not only that but any attempt to form a battle line to face the Fins was instantly countermanded by the AI which had decided to scatter the Russian units in small isolated pockets all over the map. It then decided to switch skirmish mode off on all missile units so that not only did they not fire on the enemy but they stood and fought them alone and hand to hand.

Finally, it decided the charge the Russian generals and faction heir into the middle of the Finish horde and leave him standing there unsupported.

In fact the AI did everything possible to screw up the Russian army, at which point my son lost his patience said 'Sod, this' and walked off in a huff. Which is a shame as this was his first expereince of MTW2 and he had been looking forward to it all weekend.

I am using the straight setting suggested in the first post as follows:

[multiplayer]
playable = 1
hotseat_turns = 0
hotseat_scroll = 0
hotseat_update_ai_camera = 1
hotseat_disable_papal_elections = 0
hotseat_autoresolve_battles = 0
hotseat_save_prefs = 1
hotseat_disable_console = 0
hotseat_validate_diplomacy = 1

The above is the full content of the [Multiplayer] section which is the only section with that name in the file.

It seems to me that the AI is being allowed to command the human sides armies when they are on the defensive which doesn;t sound right at all.

Is there a way round this?