Medieval:Total War Creating Units brought to you by: SuperPig@gamefaqs.com --------- Contents --------- 1. Copyrights/contact 2. Intro 3. Before you begin 4. Creating Units 5. Credits -------------------------- 1.0-Began guide 7-7-04 @ 3:57pm est -------------------- 1. Copyright/contact -------------------- This guide is copyright 2004 Dan Dougherty This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without informing the author. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright. As if version 1.0, this guide should only be found at gamefaqs.com If anyone is interested in hosting the faq, you may use it. You do NOT need to ask permission. Just simply send an e-mail to- hhawks12@aol.com informing me you've posted it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------- 2.Introduction --------------- Editing is like riding a bike. The first few times, you'll mess up. Eventually, after some hard work, you'll be able to do simple things like riding down a hill without busting your face, or, in the case of editing Medieval:Total War, modifying the game basics. Finally, once you've mastered the basics. you'll (theoretically speaking) be able to jump through flaming hoops over 20 cars. Of course, thats not the hardest thing you could try. Basically, what this FAQ contains is what I've mentioned above. Hard stuff, but if you've mastered the basics, you'll be fine. This, by all means is not the extent of editing. Eventually,you can modify the campaign map, unit pictures sprites, whatever. You should not begin your editing experience here. Iced~Metal's editing FAQ will guide you though the beginning. This guide exclusivly covers creating units. ------------------ 3.Before you begin ------------------ Any editing you do, whether it be start dates or adding new factions, will not allow you to play multiplayer. If you are an avid multiplayer-er, than do not commence editing. Firstly, you need to make back ups of all of the txt files located in the campmap/startpos, which in turn is located in the main MTW directory. Also make a backup copy of your crusade_unit_prod11 and crusade_build_prod13, both in the main MTW directory. If you are a cautious person, you may want to back up the whole of your MTW folder. I don't recommend this, since, depending on your computer, could take nearly an hour. Do so if wish. Secondly, if you're creating a unit, you should download the Gnome Unit Editor from www.totalwar.org. It is a very, very useful tool for any editing in the build and unit prod files. Finally, if you screw up, break your game, delete your hard drive in frustration or whatever while attempting to edit, do not come crying to me. DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. You've been warned. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------- 4. Creating Units ----------------- This is more like cloning units to be honest, but you are essentially adding a new unit, so we'll call it creating alright? Also, MTW has a unit cap of 185. Any more than 184-185 will cause wierd problems. Each unit in your campagin becomes the unit below it. Again, before we begin, please backup your unit_prod and get Gnome Editor from totalwar.org. It will save a lot of time. First, go to your crusade_unit_prod11 file, which is in the main MTW directory, which should be c:\program files\total war\medieval:totalwar unless you put it somewhere else. Now, in that file, you'll see a huge jumbled mess. That, people, is the primary statistical data for every unit, ship, and agent. Find a unit you want to clone, it can be any. For our example, I will use Kerns. Run a search for your unit, and copy the WHOLE unit string. It should be two lines, no more. Make sure you get the very last words and numbers all the way over. It's a common mistake to miss them since there is a somewhat large gap. Again, make sure you copy it. Paste it all the way at the bottom, under the last unit. They need to be touching. Rename the unit to whatever you want. NO SPACES though. Capital letters represent spaces. For example, HighlandClansmen in the unit file translates to Highland Clansmen in game. Save the file. Now, hopefully, you have Gnome Editor. Open it and load your unit prod. Scroll down and, what do you know! Your unit is all the way down there. This next part is probably the most important part of the editing. Listen up! The first column is very, very, very important. You see how the unit names show up twice in a row. Your last unit has two different names. Actually, the second name is the internal name the engine uses to identify sprites, weapons, etc. Change that to whatever you want, perferably to the exact name of your unit. Now, you proably want to edit your unit traits. Here is a list of important columns to use. 3-9 General info such as starting valor, cost, build time, unit size. 17 build requirements 20 periods 26-30 samurai=elite unit. Also has speeds 37-41 combat stats 48 VERY IMPORTANT! Remember what that column says. Right it down if necessary. Whatever you do, DO NOT modify. That is what the unit looks like. 50-51 faction and province requirements 59-64 bonus vs. armoured troops, shield, bonus vs. cavalry, etc. REMEMBER: I'm using Kerns as an example. That's about it. You can play around with the other things as long as you know what they do. Be careful if you decide to do that. Now, you've got a unit, but right now it has basically nothing. Go into the main MTW folder. Look into the Battle\uniticons. Find the unit you cloned (for example, I would find Kerns) copy that file and rename the duplicate to your unit. No spaces. It must be exactly like what you put in that second column above. You must do this or your unit will have a black box for an icon during battle. Next, go back to the main MTW folder. This time got to the campmap\infopics\units folder. Again, find the unit you cloned, copy the file and rename it to your unit, exaclty like above. Do the exact same thing in the campmap\review_panal\units. Don't rush any of this or you're bound to make a mistake. I will remind you again that you absolutley must rename the unit exactly like you did when you first loaded up the unit_prod in Gnome Editor. As of now, you're about 2/5 done. There is still a lot to do. Next, you need to go back to the MTW directory and go to textures/men. Remember above when I said that you needed to write down or remember what was in column 48? Well, here is where it is needed. Find that folder, and open it. You should, hopefully, see two txt files for your cloned unit. Take note that some units don't have two. The reason is beacause the _s and the _w at the end of the file represent shield and weapon. Kerns, for example, do not have a shield, therefore they only have a kern_w. Understand? Alright, find your cloned unit. Copy both the files, and rename the UNIT portion to your unit's name. KEEP the _w and the _s. Put them back into the folder they belong, open them, and take note of what _s and what_w your unit has. It should be a single digit number. Again, write it down if necessary. Next, go back to the main textures\men. Go into items. There are folders there that say either weapon or shield with a number after them. Find the folders that have the same number as the ones you just saw. Your base unit (like kerns) should have a folder. Copy the folder and rename it to your unit. Do the same in the other folder. You aren't done though. You still have two things left to do in the textures\men folder. First, if your base unit is new from VI, like Faris, you have an easier time. If not, no big deal. Go into the actionspage folder. If unit comes from VI, this is the only folder where you need to do this. If it's from regular MTW (like kerns), you need to do the same thing in the actionsdiddy folder. Find your base unit, and rename the unit portion to your new unit. Again, if your unit is from regular MTW, do this agan in the textures\men\actionsdiddy. In actionsdiddy, make sure your unit has a X after you rename it. Finally, go back to textures\men main folder. Find DEADPAGE COORDS.TXT Open it, and run a search for your base unit. Copy the whole section, including the name, up until you are right above the unit below it. Copy and paste it wherever, but perferably right below the base unit. Here is an example --units above-- Kern 26 13 286 179 334 203 20 16 118 232 154 257 24 15 125 206 170 230 20 13 74 206 123 230 Peasants 26 13 286 179 334 203 20 16 118 232 154 257 24 15 125 206 170 230 20 13 74 206 123 230 ---more units below--- Now, my unit is called Wood. So, it'd look like this: --units above-- Kern 26 13 286 179 334 203 20 16 118 232 154 257 24 15 125 206 170 230 20 13 74 206 123 230 Wood 26 13 286 179 334 203 20 16 118 232 154 257 24 15 125 206 170 230 20 13 74 206 123 230 Peasants 26 13 286 179 334 203 20 16 118 232 154 257 24 15 125 206 170 230 20 13 74 206 123 230 ---more units below--- I really, really hope I'm making sense :p Save the file when you're done. If you don't, when your unit dies, it won't leave a corpse behind. Now, we're out of the textures\men. Go into the main MTW folder, and go to LOC\eng. Go into descriptions.txt Scroll down a bit, until you see units. You do not need to copy\paste. All you need to do is follow the format, using your unit name, and making the string look exactly like the others. You can put a little description. It cannot be too long, since MTW does not have a scroll wheel for unit descriptions. Save You have one more place to visit and only two things left! Go back to the the Loc\eng, and find the names.txt. run a search for singular. Follow the format, using your unit. This is minor, but do not mess it up. here is an example. ["HighlandClansman_Singular"] {"Highland Clansman"} ["BallistaCrew_Singular"] {"Ballista Crewman"} I'd just add Wood to in between. It can really be added anywhere in that part. ["HighlandClansman_Singular"] {"Highland Clansman"} ["Wood_Singular"] {"Slice of Wood"} ["BallistaCrew_Singular"] {"Ballista Crewman"} notice how the second part can be spaced. Run another search, this time for plural. ["HighlandClansman_Plural"] {"Highland Clansmen"} ["BallistaCrew_Plural"] {"Ballista Crew"} notice how in the singular, it was Ballista CrewMAN. Now, for plural, it's Ballista CREW. Sneaky huh? ["HighlandClansman_Plural"] {"Highland Clansmen"} ["Wood_Plural"] {"Bricks of Wood"} ["BallistaCrew_Plural"] {"Ballista Crew"} there,now your unit has a proper name! And guess what, you're done! If you didn't give your unit unique stats, you can give it to them now. Load up a game of MTW and see if your unit appears. Note that it may not appear in a custom battle list. You might need to start a new campaign and just cheat to meet it's requirements. You may, unfortunatly, have some problems. Don't worry! Dr. SuperPig is at your service. Q. Can I create a Hero? A. No Q. When I look at a unit description, it gives me (!newunitname_plural!)couldnottranslate A. You didn't add a plural entry in Loc\Eng. If it says (!newunitname_singular!)couldnottranslate, add one in the singular section. Q. Can I create a projectile A. Probably not, but you can edit them Q. My unit has a black box in its battle icon! A. You didn't put your unit in the Battle\UnitIcons folder Any more questions/problems? Dr. SuperPig is here to help! You can send them to me via email (address at top), post on GFAQS, whatever. I'm listening! Need some ideas? Here are some of my created units 1. Cavalier Bourguignon (Burgundian Horsemen) base unit:Gendarmes 2. Finnish Infantry base unit:Mongol Warriors (a.k.a Golden Horde Warriors) 3. Flemish Pikemen (French, Burgundian, German pike unit) base unit: Armoured Spearmen 4. Mounted Huscarles base unit:Teutonic Sergeants ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the thing. I was going to add creating factions to this here guide. The thing is, I haven't done it in a long time. So, when I tried to remember how, and I put everything into the game, it wasn't working. So, it won't be in this guide until I remember how, which may be never. If everyone really, really wants it, I may just consider trying to remember. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ --------- 5.Credits --------- There are only a few people I'd like to thank. Thanks to MistofRuin, self proclaimed God of Editing. Great teacher too. I salute you. Thanks to Iceant for asking most of the questions above and giving me the inspiration. Actually, I just don't want to have to write it up every week.