How to set up an admin accessible M2TW or Kingdoms Hotseat Game

[Privateerkev]

Tosa patiently taught me how to set up a Kingdom's Hotseat game that allows the GM to open up the console. I believe in "sharing the wealth" and I would love to see a large and vibrant Kingdom's Hotseat community in here so I will share his instructions with all of you.

The following guide is from Tosa with my additions in italics

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1 Go to the M2TW main folder.
2 Find medieval2.preference.cfg
3 Right click on it and select properties.
4 The properties window for the file opens.
5 At the bottom is the Attributes field.
Deselect Read-Only.
6 Hit the Apply button. Close the Window.
7 Open the file with wordpad/notepad.
8 Find [hotseat]
9 Add below that admin_password = yourpassword
"yourpassword" means what ever password you want
10 Save the file.
11 Right click it again, select properties and enable the Read-Only attribute.
12 Create the hotseat save like normal. Disable the console if you don't want others getting into it.
Go into the first player's login screen.
13 Check whether you can open the console with ~
14 Type in the console "logon yourpassword" which is what ever password you entered in the config file and hit enter.
15 Do you get an error message? make sure the ` is not in the field like it is when I first open the console
16 If not type "logoff" and hit enter
save the game
17 Quit the game, start the game again, load the save and repeat step 13-16 to check.

18 It should all work now, start playing and have fun.
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You will then have admin access to your hotseat game. Just enter in your admin password at any player login screen. Even with console disabled, you can still access the console in there.

Here are some basic commands from Tosa (his words are in quotes).

To reset someone's password:

When that is set, you open the console, login with the password and then type: clear_password <faction_label>

Replace <factionlablel> by say byzantium
The password will then be removed, the first player who enters can set a new one.

If a player drops, and you can't find a replacement, you can set their faction as AI controlled:

It also allows to change control to the AI (so 1 inactive player? => set faction to AI control and move on). Type control <factionlabel>

To set someone elses password:

There are also functions to set the password (type set_password <faction_label> <password> <password> ).

Other cheats should work but it is advised that you inform your players so everyone knows.

Afaik, the console also allows cheats such as money injections (I'ld suggest to update the players in advance about that so they can make a judged decision).

I have been able to successfully start and test an admin accessible Kingdom's Hotseat game. So, let me know if you have any questions.

Happy gaming!