Ways to majorly(!) boost battle performance

[FactionHeir]

Update
Check post #15 of this topic if you experience siege battle lag.

So I've been searching for way to remove the tree swaying movement on the campaign/aerial map but have not have found what file/variable to change yet, but while doing that, I came across a few files I thought I'd modify and see what happens.
After playing some 6 hours and having all kinds of battles, I can say the following will work.
They remove some eyecandy from the battlemap but it will make battles slightly more fluent, especially in city battles, although they do not remedy the siege battle lag for me (makes it a bit easier to fight in minor cities at least and large scale night battles)

What you have to do is really simple. Create following files in your data directory:

descr_campfires_brasiers.txt
descr_chimney_smoke.txt
descr_structure_effects.txt
descr_torch_fire.txt
descr_engine_torch_effects.txt
descr_water_effects.txt

Now, you don't need (and shouldn't) write anything into those files. Just create blank, size 0 text files.

To make the game recognize them, use the io switch to activate the data folder read-first. If you don't know how to do it:

Create a shortcut to your medieval2 executable. The shortcut's target should read as following:
D:\Medieval\medieval2.exe --io.file_first

Where D:\Medieval\ is obviously your medieval2 folder (not the data folder, but the medieval2 folder)

Enjoy your game without torches, water splashes, chimney smoke, and city building ambient sounds/effects.

[Specky the Mad]

I know this is mod talk, but can you add that to a existing mod or do you have to do the file-first thing (i get the concept but not the know how)?

And if so how?

[Foz]

I know this is mod talk, but can you add that to a existing mod or do you have to do the file-first thing (i get the concept but not the know how)?

And if so how?

Generally you will have the same success putting things in your mod folder as you will putting them in the data folder and using io.file_first. Instead of putting them in your data folder as he suggests, simply put them into the mod's data folder of whatever mod(s) you use. The game automatically loads file-first from mod folders when you launch a mod, so your txt files should be read in every time the mod launches and have the exact same effect as if they were in the game's base data folder.

Just a note - there are a few things that only work correctly in the main data folder, but AFAIK txt files are not among those. The only real way to know for sure though is to set it up in the mod, then fire up the mod to be certain your torches/smoke/etc are gone.

[Shahed]

Cool tips. Thanks.

[HoreTore]

I KNEW it was possible to set the game up with buy-yourself-a-new-graphics-card-you-cheap-bastard-low setting!

Thanks a lot!

[Foz]

I KNEW it was possible to set the game up with buy-yourself-a-new-graphics-card-you-cheap-bastard-low setting!

Thanks a lot!

There's only one response for that... and it's one word.

buy-yourself-a-new-graphics-card-you-cheap-bastard.

Seriously, I just did, and am loving it. This game is SO worth enjoying at the higher end of its graphical range.

[FactionHeir]

Life sucks with a laptop now doesn't it? ;)

Well I'm still trying to get the most out of my 2 year old laptop.
I've come across another file you can safely use a blank for:

descr_engine_torch_effects.txt
Basically the night torches for siege engines and tools.

Btw, I was looking at the other files for vegetation and building_effects but couldn't figure out what they meant (my physics is too weak).

[edit]
I did find a section in the descr_vegetation that was dealing with wind and tree sway and edited it out, but haven't paid attention to whether my campaignmap trees are now static or not or whether that was for battlemap trees. Will post tomorrow (well today after some sleep :p )

[edit2]
Added info into 1st post, the vegetation change only worked for battlefield sadly so I won't include it

[TevashSzat]

Every game that seem to be impossible to run smoothly on a normal computer have some secrets to it.

Even for Oblivion which ran just horribly on my comp could get out 30fps once I followed some guides and configured some files

[HoreTore]

There's only one response for that... and it's one word.

buy-yourself-a-new-graphics-card-you-cheap-bastard.

Seriously, I just did, and am loving it. This game is SO worth enjoying at the higher end of its graphical range.

It's on my to-do-list... However, like Factionheir, I have a laptop, and even better, it's with a built in gfx card, so to get a new one, I'll also have to get a new motherboard, and have Dell to it so I don't cancel my warranty...

I would have done it in january before the bill rush, but my car broke down completely so I had to buy a new one, then I chrashed that one just a teeeeeny bit, so I had to buy new parts... Then all of the annual/quarterly bills hit me, the missus birthday, I had to buy a new washing machine because the old one was falling apart, I need a new freezer, some various furniture(not my idea, but I do what I'm told I want), and so on, and so on... Damn I miss the good old days when I was mooching off my parents...

I'll probably have to wait patiently a month or two before I can consider spending money on electronics again... It'll probably be a new card, but... It would be nice to upgrade my sorround system... And those nice TV's are getting cheaper... It might be time to order a new bunch of DVD's too... And...

[FactionHeir]

Every game that seem to be impossible to run smoothly on a normal computer have some secrets to it.

Even for Oblivion which ran just horribly on my comp could get out 30fps once I followed some guides and configured some files

Yeah, I wish CA would put out a guide on their own for us low end spec people to make things smoother instead of having us dig around in hopes of finding something

[FactionHeir]

OK, after some discussion with Ralendil over at TWC, we have now managed to make larger settlements (i.e. cities and fortresses+) look exactly like smaller ones with the higher level buildings and towers displaying properly and so far without crashes.

This basically remedies all siege lag for me and probably will for you as well!

Link to topic and how to do it:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=91758

If you got any questions you can post them there or here and I'll walk you through.

[Foz]

OK, after some discussion with Ralendil over at TWC, we have now managed to make larger settlements (i.e. cities and fortresses+) look exactly like smaller ones with the higher level buildings and towers displaying properly and so far without crashes.

This basically remedies all siege lag for me and probably will for you as well!

Link to topic and how to do it:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=91758

If you got any questions you can post them there or here and I'll walk you through.

While I'm not sure I'm going to do it myself (big siege battles have yet to make my game intolerable), I think it's safe to assume others will want to do this, so you should probably write a tutorial for exactly what you did, and consider releasing it as a mod. People like mods

[rrdew]

While I'm not sure I'm going to do it myself (big siege battles have yet to make my game intolerable), I think it's safe to assume others will want to do this, so you should probably write a tutorial for exactly what you did, and consider releasing it as a mod. People like mods

Foz,
That is just what I was about to ask for. A mod for people with low powered rigs to up thier performacy.

[FactionHeir]

Meh, making a mod would make me have to support it compared to putting out the hint ;)
Besides, then I would even have to publish my vnv fix mod and whatever else I made...and I don't think I even documented what I did...I only know it works.

Fine I'll put up a tutorial for it somewhere (modding tutorials forum I suppose?), but don't expect me to make it a mod...those files are huge. I think all those together took like ~300 megs on my drive. Well if you unpack everything and then get rid of the packs you'd save 300, but who would ever do that :D

[FactionHeir]

Fine, your detailed tutorial/walkthrough is found here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1502871

[Shahed]

Wow. That's neat. Very helpfull indeed. Good work !

I tried this i.e added all those 0kb files into my mod folder like so:

D:\Games\Medieval II Total War\ProblemFixerPureV1.13\Data

Then I launched a custom battle in a huge city at night, but I still see torches on the soldiers and also on the buildings. I can also hear ambient sounds. That's supposed to be gone, right ?

[Foz]

Very helpful, FH - thanks for the detailed walkthrough. I'm sure your instructions are already making countless siege-lagged ORGers able to finally play their siege battles. Bravo!

[Shahed]

Am I the only one for which this is not working?
Damm ! I resign to being stupid. (lol)

[FactionHeir]

Its working perfectly on my end. What exactly are you doing to not make it work? :p

[Shahed]

LoL... Well I don't know. I've created all those files in my mod folder and am launching through a shortcut that loads this folder. here's what my mod folder looks like:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

It's all there, but it's not working since all those elements are still present in battle map.

[FactionHeir]

Are the other mods there working for you?
Does it work if you put only the files I named in the first post and put them in your actual data folder (not the fixer data folder) and run it the way I described?

[rrdew]

FH,
I don't blame you for not wanting to host a mod, but your efforts and instructions are appreciated by those of us that are technologically challenged. :)

[Shahed]

Yeah everything else is working fine. I have modded that folder with my own tweaks and the basis is PureFixer 1.13. It launches through the desktop shortcut and anything I change in that folder works except this. In fact I'm modding highways in just now and it's working. I just changed trade bonus for roads etc (which si NOT working in vanilla) and it worked. Changed campaign ai diplomacy and it works.

After reading your reply, I went and:

1. Backedup the same files in the original /data folder.
2. Copied the files over from the mod folder to the /data folder.
3. Launched game -> custom battles -> huge city

The smoke, torches, everything else is still there. I can see the torches, chimney smoke etc, ambient sounds are still there too. This is despite the fact that BOTH folders now contain the same files i.e 0kb files.

Thanks for the time FH ! And I bet this will be great if I could just get it to work.

[FactionHeir]

Hmmm I'm not quite sure whats going wrong in your game then... I just uploaded my files anyway in case it helps. Wouldn't think so, but can't hurt to try:

http://download.yousendit.com/74B717C52B5D740F

[Shahed]

Thanks. I'm gonna try yours.. just going to finish highways first as I'm the middle of it. Will report back.

[Shahed]

Ok I tried agin with your files, first in the mod dir then in the default /data dir. So I have your files in both dirs. This is how it looks:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I don't see what the issue is because I have'nt changed anything else that could impact this. Anyway I'll keep trying and if I manage to get it up I'll shout.

Just a note, the game is running perfectly. There's nothing wrong with the mod just glitch with my installation. I'm gonna make it work, eventually.