CTD after making more factions playable

[MiniKiller]

Ok for BI I went into the folder and made the other non playable factions palyable. loaded up bi went to campaign select. selected a few of the non-playable factions by ca (not actually entering the camapign just clickin on their shield icon) then I clicked on one (whom is there from the start, they have one province) and I got a CTD. 3 time snow. neideas as to why? thanks

[TB666]

Some of the factions doesn't exist when the game starts so thats one reason.
Only celts and berbers work at the moment.

[MiniKiller]

Got ya. Ya I figured that might have been a reason BUT the faction shield I am selecting during the CTD is a faction who starts with one province. Cant think of the name but they are a Blue faction I belive it begins with an R?? They are near the ERE and the goths as well as the huns horde.

[Sheep]

If you have patched to 1.3, go back into the regular RTW descr_strat and make the nonplayable factions playable and you will see that causes a CTD also. Impossible to play as Macedon or Thrace (for now) in RTW 1.3. But unlockable factions work just fine.

I guess when they said "nonplayable" they really meant it...

[Ciaran]

That´s definitely not good, especially if -as I suppose - you have to install the 1.3 patch when installing BI. And for the development of new mods that´s a downright catastrophe, if the non-playable factions are hardcoded now.

[lars573]

He's talking about the Roxolani in the BI campagin. Go back and check the alterations if you accedentally chopped a letter off of the faction name it would cause the CTD.

[Geoffrey S]

It must be possible to play them somehow; I distinctly remember one of the FAQs mentioning releasing a savegame to allow people to play as the Romano-British, one of the emerging factions.
Edit: bah! What on earth made me say Anglo-Saxons?

[lars573]

That was a maybe about a save file from Captain fishpants to play the Romano-British. Now the only reason that making the Roxolani playble would cause a CTD is that there are now 2 or more files that control the starting points on the campagin map. What needs to be found is the file that controls the emergence of factions like the Huns and Vandals.

[MiniKiller]

He's talking about the Roxolani in the BI campagin. Go back and check the alterations if you accedentally chopped a letter off of the faction name it would cause the CTD.

Ya everything is spelled right. I cut/pasted so its all there.

[Viking]

This was a slap in the face. I was really looking forward to test out the unplayable factions in BI, they look better than in RTW.

[professorspatula]

If you want to make the unplayable factions playable, perhaps you need to do some extra modding to descr_strat.txt file. Currently some of the factions have no starting leaders or settlements and instead have something like this:
faction romano_british, balanced caesar
dead_until_resurrected.

That suggests that merely adding those factions to the playable section of the file will do nothing but cause troubles. Some modifying of starting settlement ownership and creating a few characters for the factions awaiting 'resurrection' might make them playable from the start, but then again, might not. I'm sure someone will give it a go if they haven't already.

[PaulTa]

I've got that problem currently. I have a box set that includes Rome TW and the BI expansion, and I can't seem to mod in the unplayable factions for Rome TW by itself. I was really looking forward to Spain...

Come to think of it, I'd really love a civilized faction besides the Romans that have decent sword units, apart from Seluceids(sp?). The lack of sword wielding units is a real bummer, right up with the fact that Greece only has one decent unit type.

I like the visuals, but MTW seems to be winning the game play award so far. :(

[PaulTa]

If anyone could point me in the direction of a solution for not being able to play the imperial campaign unplayable factions with the box set, I'd be appreciative.

[ByzantineKnight]

In Mod Downloads there is a link to a mod that will allow you to play all the factions.

[PaulTa]

I see a mod that allows you to play all of the factions in BI, but I was kind of hoping to play all of the factions (excluding senate) in RTW. Problem is, it came in a box set so I don't know what patch level the game is at. I haven't downloaded any additional patches though.

I read that you could script the factions to be playable in RTW but that a certain patch made that nifty trick unusable. Am I out of luck, or is there a way around that?

Thanks in advance for the help.

[PaulTa]

For example, I have the spain Icon when I go to select a faction, but if I click on it I get a CTD. Very frustrating... Like waving a steak in front of a starving dog.

[ByzantineKnight]

I don't know what to do then, you could patch to RTW 1.5, go to C:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign and open the descr_strat file, and look for this line

; Custom campaign script generated by Romans Campaign Map Editor

campaign imperial_campaign
playable
romans_julii
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
end
unlockable
egypt
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities
end
nonplayable
romans_senate
macedon
pontus
armenia
dacia
numidia
scythia
spain
thrace
slave
end

change it to say

; Custom campaign script generated by Romans Campaign Map Editor

campaign imperial_campaign
playable
romans_julii
romans_brutii
romans_scipii
macedon
pontus
armenia
dacia
numidia
scythia
spain
thrace
egypt
seleucid
carthage
parthia
gauls
germans
britons
greek_cities
end
unlockable
end
nonplayable
romans_senate
slave
end

And you can play as any of the non CTD prone factions!!

[PaulTa]

I did have it set up that way but it still gave me a CTD. :(

Sounds like I'm stuck.

[ByzantineKnight]

Have you installed any mods or mini-mods?

[PaulTa]

Nope. I was looking at the mods available, but none seem to offer access to the non-playable factions for RTW, and still are compatable with my gold edition. :(

I was really looking forward to bull soldiers.

[ByzantineKnight]

No, I mean have you installed any mods e.g. Blue Lotus, or mini-mods e.g. Spartan Royal Guard.

[PaulTa]

No mods what so ever.

Is there a mod available that lets you play unplayable factions in RTW if you have the gold edition?

I'm crossing my fingers.

[ByzantineKnight]

No mods what so ever.

Is there a mod available that lets you play unplayable factions in RTW if you have the gold edition?

I'm crossing my fingers.

I'm not sure, you could check Total War Centre's Downloads, I'll be able to do that in about 30 minutes if you don't know where to go.

[Barbarossa82]

In 1.3 and 1.4, you have to have a campaign description for every faction you want to play as, or you will get a CTD on selection. You can add descriptions in the files Data/text/campaign_descriptions.txt and BI\Data\text\campaign_descriptions.txt. The descriptions don't have to be long, just the word "playable" would be enough. So, if you wanted to play as the Armenians in 1.3 RTW, go to the campaign_descriptions.txt file and add this:

{IMPERIAL_CAMPAIGN_ARMENIA_TITLE}Armenia
{IMPERIAL_CAMPAIGN_ARMENIA_DESCR}Playable

Note that this doesn't let you play as emerging factions, but will stop the CTDs when selecting a "non-playable" faction.
AFAIK the issue doesn't exist in 1.5 or 1.6

[PaulTa]

Barbarossa82:

If you're ever on the western half of the mountains in Washington, I owe you a beer. I think that might be the problem.

Thanks mate.

[MaddMann]

I have the same problem but it not work for me!!!!!!!!

[PaulTa]

That was actually the solution to my problem. I'm thinking of playing a Pontus campaign.

I think that maybe someone should start a thread about this issue and some general trouble shooting techniques. I'm probably not the only one with RTW and a version that requires you to put in a description to the campaign to keep it from CTD.

Come to think of it, how does one get the right to post new topics? I've wanted to post a few topics in the past that I thought might be helpful to the community, but I can't. Is this a problem with my profile?