launching VanillaMod

[FactionHeir]

Hiya,

Glad you managed to install the game!
To run VanillaMod, extract the archive into your main M2TW folder so that you now see a VanillaMod folder in your main M2TW directory along with the cfg and bat file.

You can then run the bat file directly to start the game or you can edit the cfg file. Depending on your specs (I'm running at 1400x900, which may not be compatible), I would suggest deleting the VanillaMod cfg and making a copy of your own medieval2.preferences.cfg and rename it VanillaMod.cfg (case sensitive possibly)

Once you have done that, you can then open the file and add to the very top:
[features]
mod=VanillaMod

Save and exit.
Now run the bat file and it should work and use the game settings you are using for your normal game.

[Javolenus]

Hi FactionHeir,

Many thanks for this reply! Actually - believe it or not - I'm having problems locating the preferences file in the MTWII folder.

There is a preferences folder but no preferences file inside! I have played the vanilla game a few times and expected a preferences file to be generated, but either this hasn't happened or I can't - for whatever reason - find it.

To make matters more complex, when I right click on the preferences folder to access properties, I see that the folder is checked as 'read only'. But when I uncheck 'read only', go back into the game, play a battle, exit and go back to the preferences folder, the 'read only' box is checked again! In other words, although I keep unchecking 'read only' on the preferences folder, it keeps reverting by itself.

I'm suspecting that this is the reason why no preferences file has been generated (though I may be totally wrong).

But the upshot is that I can't access my preferences (for example, I'd like to turn green arrows off etc.) because this file does not, apparently, exist!

Any advice on this welcome!

Meanwhile, does this problem prevent me from installing VanillaMod?

[FactionHeir]

Hiya,

As I said in your other thread, the medieval2.preferences.cfg is found in your main M2TW folder, not in the preferences folder. I f you do not have extensions enabled, it will display as medieval2.preferences

Open that file with notepad to edit.

That problem will not prevent you from playing VanillaMod, but its usually more fun playing under your own settings which are optimal for you rather than my settings, which may not.

Example how it should look like:

In Vista, you may need to enable compatibility files to display in your toolbar.

[Javolenus]

Hi FactionHeir,

Many thanks for this! Your visual helped me work out what to do. I changed my view to 'list' and suddenly the preferences.cfg appeared. I opened it with notepad and made the desired changes.

Then I copied my preferences file into the VanillaMod folder. I deleted the VanillaMod preferences.cfg and renamed my MTW2 preferences.cfg as 'VanillaMod.cfg'. Then I opened this file and added at the top:

[features]
mod=VanillaMod

Then saved and quit.

Then I clicked on the VanillaMod batch file. This file opened for a nanosecond and then closed. Nothing else happened - the game didn't start.

I repeated the process with the same results.

Basically, when I try to open the batch file I see it open for split second and then it closes.

Have I done something wrong? Apologies but I still need a bit more help on this!

[FactionHeir]

Great it worked so far.

You need to have the VanillaMod.cfg in your main M2TW folder rather than in your VanillaMod folder for it to work with the bat file.

[Javolenus]

Hi FactionHeir

Many thanks indeed for this reply. I've now successfully managed to find the preferences file, edit it, and launch VanillaMod - thanks to your help!

Having read the info on VanillaMod I really think this is the best mod for me. I like the sound of your approach and I'm looking forward to playing it.

But I've got one final question - it may sound a bit cheeky, so apologies in advance! Basically, while trying to fix the above problems, I installed another mod called 'Ornamentum'. This mod only affects graphics like loading screens and some skins - it doesn't change gameplay or AI. But I really like the artwork in Ornamentum, especially the loading screens. And so my question is:

Is it possible to combine Ornamentum with VanillaMod? Or at least have the Ornamentum startup/loading screens working with VanillaMod?

This may not be possible, but I'd be interested to know if it is and how to do it. I hope you don't mind my asking this?

Once again, many thanks for all your help.

[FactionHeir]

Hiya, it should work fine unless it modifies files that come with VanillaMod. Even in those cases, some combinations likely can be made.

The approach you could try is to backup your VanillaMod folder first (well, you still have the downloaded archive, so maybe you won't need to ) and then copy all contents of the other mod into the VanillaMod folder, making sure that if the other mod's folder is called say Ornamentum, you don't copy that folder into VanillaMod but only its contents and subfolders so the overall structure remains the same as in VanillaMod. If you are not prompted to overwrite anything, things should be fine. If yaou are prompted for overwriting, press no for now and note down the name of the file(s) and post them here so I can have a look and help you get it to work.