Note: If you have Gold Edition then the unpacking may happen at another destination such as in your virtual store and not in Program Files e.g. (AppData/Local/Virtual Store/Medieval2) Thanks to Liuon for highlighting this. If I discover that other versions of the game have similar issues then I will add them here. In case you are not aware, I'm playing the definitive edition. ps. A (potentially obvious) note of caution here: Have back up copies of any files you edit because it is very easy to make a tiny mistake. ENJOY!
Oh boy! I learned a lesson about keeping regular 'on the go' backups yesterday. Spent 12 hours modding England faction, - stealing swordsmen militia from the Portugal and Spain, Morgannwg, Mathrafal horsemen and Teulu from Wales, (i'm going to wipe them out immediately anyway - they don't need them) renaming units and descriptions, spending absolutely ages in descr_buildings getting rid of troops i don't want and putting the ones i do in all the different buildings and making everything nice and tidy. I was confident in what i was doing as i've done it all before but then after a whole day of modding the darned game crashes and i can't find the problem. Have to start over. What i should have done is make sure all the units work and get built first then make a backup. Then get the units in all the right buildings, check it, and make a backup, and then tinker and balance all the troops i'm using in descr_units, check it and make a backup, then finally do the descr_strat and sort out the towns and troops, traits and agents. - Big lesson learned!
I just had the same issue. I only did one mod, the 0.5 Occupy mod. And the whole computer became unstable, and M2TW didn't work anymore, requiring a reinstall. Where it had been successfully running without fail since 2007. 17 years, no issues. 1 mod, and poof, it's gone. No more mods for me.
IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE WHO INSTALLED A FRESH COPY OF THE GAME: The configuration file won't exist/show up until you've booted up the game for the first time, maybe not until you've started a campaign. I've seen some people on steam threads asking how to create the config file, you may not need to do that at all.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH Hi! I did all your tutorials here, but in the end, after I executed the unpacker I still can't see any additional/unpacked files in data. Why is that? Thanks!
This is really useful, I love being able to Heal castle units in towns and cities now, really helps the flow of a war don't need to bring the army back to a castle every time they take heavy losses, thanks!
Thank you so much for this video! I spent hours today trying to unpack these files and you explained everything so well. You made me subscribe to your channel and now I'm watching your other M2TW videos!
I've had so much fun with the game since I followed your guide. Thanks again. Just to say that the io_file_first = true tells the game whether to use the exe files or the unpacked files first. Unpacking the game doesn't remove the files from the exe, basically it copies them.
Cheers! And thank you for the clarity there! in the time since I first made this I have definitely developed a much better understanding of such details.
That's great! after watching your how-too mod, I did some mods thanks to you and improved the fun factor to enjoyable. I had quit playing it some years back. The game always hated my faction, I got sick of the stupid game. The creators must not have played the game. Thanks again, now I can actually enjoy playing the game.
A side note for fellow pirates here, I have the gold edition and I did the unpacking like 50 times without noticing any new file in data folder. After like 2 hours I found that the unpacking happend at another destination (AppData/Local/Virtual Store/Medieval2 folder and not in Program Files) and then I performed the actions the mate in the video suggested. Gonna come back here to tell you if that worked. Thanks for the video anyway mate ;)
It appears that it worked, I occupied many settlements and reputation didn't fall at all. I assume that betrayal and random wars can happen, but previously i got rekt every time after certain amount of turns everybody hated me no matter how many diplomats i sent to bear gifts... Thanks a lot my man
Ahhhh! A few people with Gold edition were having odd problems with that. Thank you for the help - hopefully others will gain from that! Pleased you can enjoy your slightly more diplomatic version of Med II. :D
running definitive edition and neither your nor the original solution works, I've tried running unpack_all and unpacker.exe with and without admin but still no mass folders in either location. Any clue at to where it could be?
Thanks for this. Clear instructions and everything worked as described. I'm using Steam Definitive Edition - the unpacker.exe didn't run but the .bat files did.
You are an absolute life saver. I switched to steam edition a while ago and have been struggling to edit the silly unbalanced unit stats of the grand campaign for ages. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this 😀 . It worked for me using the Gold CD with Steam linked. Easy unpacking and I tested making the 'cog' upkeep cost 500 and back to 150. Love your video. Thanks again!!!
Thank you so much for this! I couldn't get this done using internet forums (even tho the instructiosn were almost the same!) Thank you for your tutorial! Finally, I can get rid of the damned occupy settlement bug!
This was really helpful thank you! Been trying to apply the Diplo bug fix and getting increasingly frustrated at how elusive faction_standing was proving!
Hi! I did all your tutorials here, but in the end, after I executed the unpacker I still can't see any additional/unpacked files in data. Why is that? Thanks!
I could fucking kiss you right now! Thanks to your heavenly smooth and simply instructions, as well as some help from other sources I've actually managed to mod one of my games for the first time. Thank you so ever much. I truly hope all is ever well for you.
This is an excellent overview and introduction, really appreciate you putting this up here. As a novice when it comes to editing game files, I run into trouble when attempting to edit the txt.strings files. Would you consider making a video on what can be done regarding those files? For example names.txt.strings or export_ancillaries.txt.strings
Thanks you very much! I always appreciate suggestions so I can look into that. I myself would not claim to be more than an enthusiastic novice with modding. My mantra with these videos is very much to see if I can make these edits accessible to the general player so hopefully more people can enjoy playing around with these older total war titles.
I followed these steps and everything worked properly with the exception of the background script in the game. For any reason after using the unpacker tool, if you play the game the descriptions of the menu and the units are missing. This is a pain in the ass becasuse you cannot use the diplomats or see important info in the game. Do you know how to resolve this problem? thank you
I've changed the preference file and unit file to read only but somehow the data I edited is still being reverted back by the game, does anyone know why?
very strange thing happened when i did this so leaving this as a warning for others: the files you move into the tools folder for the unpacker to work: Make a copy of them elsewhere for safe keeping for some reason the unpacker ate them and my game wouldn't run until i reinstalled it and ran the unpacker and then manually added those files back in after the unpacker ate them again, Steam version
Hey man , i did everything to the letter , and im still not seeing the changes take place , i added what i needed in the preferences , and made sure the read part of the propertys on the files , what do i need to double check ? Game loades fine and everything is unpacked and were it needs to be .
Well, i'm having quite a dilemma. I've done all there was to do, unpacked the game and done adding the bypass to the checksum and done read only to preferences, and all that but changes still revert. For example i'm trying to unlock the rebels for costum battle. I just cannot, it reverts back to normal even if i removed a faction from costum battle avalability and still does not work... what do i do now?
for some reason i cant get the changes to save in the game. just as an example ive been changing the cogs upkeep but no matter what it stays at 150. i followed the tutorial to the letter and they just wont save. anything i might be doing wrong?>
How would I go about editing the dlc campaigns such as Britannia? I tried unpacking it and it just broke the UI. I'm so glad you're making these tutorials, thanks!
1:52 if you double click the unpack_Britannia file then it should process the unpacking of that dlc just like it did for the main game in the video. What about the UI broke? Can't say I've had that problem myself.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH I'll try it again, but the UI elements became large colored boxes. Any idea why the unpacker might not be giving me all of the files? I don't have the "Export_Ancillaries.txt" file when I try unpacking
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH The unpacking portion worked, but all the files that I try to edit don't apply into the game, or if they do, it is strangely working and not working. I made it so castles would provide free upkeep of 4, ensured that the units had the free upkeep in the unit file and sometimes only 1 unit in one castle would be getting the free upkeep while the same unit in another castle wasn't receiving the free upkeep. In addition, I tried making forts in the descr_strat, have free upkeep of 4 as well and no units received the benefit. I ensured that the export_unit file and the units I was experimenting with had the free upkeep line. Any solution?
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH For me, certain Kingdoms campaigns don’t unpack entirely. Britannia did, but Teutonic for instance got about five seconds into the unpacking when it just stopped. No error message, no nothing, it just disappeared. In addition, even where the unpacking did work, there is no unit description under data that could be modded
If you can, please dedicate a video or two to modding the historical diplomatic attitudes of the factions. I found that some factions are overly friendly to each other when they should hate each other's guts. For example, the Byzantines and the HRE entered in an alliance when they both compete for the claim of Romans. Sometimes the Milanese will either ally with the French or HRE when the win condition or even description states that they are enemies sooner or later. Another example is the Moors are often attacked first by the Portugese and rarely by the Spanish whether they entered temporary alliance or not. Also, I would love it if you can make a video about which guilds to build for which towns/castles. For example, I have more incentives to build merchant guilds knowing Milan, Venice, London, Constantinople, Paris... are historical economic, trading, fashion centers. I can concentrate on building religious-related guilds in Jerusalem knowing that they are historically accurate religious synagogue grounds of both the Eastern and Western powers.
This used to work for me, now when I add in the [io] bit and set to read only, the game crashes instantly. None of my changes have stuck other than a couple of the things I've done to the descr_strat folder. All the .dll files are back in the main folder and all the instructions have been followed to the letter. Any ideas?
You have to delete two files I. The data folder, I forgot the exact names, but search for the keyword geography I. The data folder, there should be two right next to each other. Just delete them and it'll work
Hey I have a version of the game that doesnt have the preferences.script where i can change the campaign unit multiplier where I used to change the 0.75 default to another number. My other total war games have this script in the appdata folder except medieval 2. Can you help?
Hey man, I feel like I've made a mistake somewhere. I followed your instructions in the video, but when I click on the game - nothing happens anymore. Sorry to be a pest, but any suggestions?
Hello! Mine runs on windows 10. Though yes, it can get awkward on modern computers. After unpacking, have you moved the application extensions back to where they were originally (the main Med II folder)? That can be an issue as the game expected to find them there.
My game files increased almost 10gb by doing this. Is there a way to not increase it? My PC has little space :( Thank you for the excellent video and channel!
Hey man, I'm thinking of making a mod where I swap around and dub over voice lines so every faction speaks their native languages, any tips on how to access the voice lines and switch around/replace them?
An interesting question. This is not something I have looked at before but if I find anything i will let you know. Apologies for the slow response! Try the Total war centre forums. Most modding things come up in there! www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?272-Medieval-II-Total-War-Mod-Workshop
I tried to fix pikes using this method and the one in the other video however it does not work. I did everything the way you instructed but the game refuses to listen to the changes i made. I have no idea why though. How did you open the cfg file? I opened it in txt and maybe that's why it failed?
Ooooh a good suggestion. Without having done that myself I would assume yes as they are running on the same engine etc... How accessible it is for the casual modder though, I'm not so sure. I'll have to play around and see about that!
I changed the preferences with the [io] first = true line exactly as you showed. Then made it read only. After doing this the game will not get past the loading screen, it crashes immediately. What do???
Each of the applications you move to the mod folder will unpack a chunk of files. I imagine those two would be unpacked from the same application but I couldn't tell you which one as I simply unpacked them all. If I find out I will update you!
In my game files, there is no "tools" folder. It doesn't exist. I have: data, miles and packs. That's it. Mine was installed from dvd, not steam. Would it be somewhere else in that case?
Thank you for this, very helpful indeed! I have one problem though: I unpacked the files and I can edit them, but the unpacked files for the Britannia and Teutonic campaigns don´t show up. I tried unpacking them separately, but the process won´t finish. I tried unpacking all the files again, but the Britannia and Teutonic files still won´t show up. Any ideas how to fix this?
Strange... have you got all the application files from the data file back in the folder with the unpacker? If you miss one then it can sometimes play up. I'm guessing theres no error code coming up when the process fails to finish!?
That's right, no error code there. I tried again with all twelve .dll files that were in the Medieval II Total War folder, with the same results. Thanks for your reply!
@@benjaminbernreiter2283 the folder is in read only mode. Open cmd in administration. Type "cd" and location of bat file. Execute bat file in cmd by typing its name. It worked for me.
Mine did the same,but you can go into medieval2.pref file by right clicking,go to its properties and click on the big change button.Here you can change it to notepad.Hope it helps.
The game didn't revert back to it's original file when you set the cog value, the files you edit are not the game files which are packed. The computer is reading from the packed files. When you set the IO file first it tells it to use the edited files. You didn't have to set the cfg to read only.
If you have gold edition, the unpacking may happen at another destination such as in your virtual store (AppData/Local/Virtual Store/Medieval2) and not in Program Files.
Great videos! I noticed that your settelments on the campaign map are having textures from medieval kingdoms expansions, how can I do that? they look way better than the vanilla cities and castles!
After unpacking the files (to try and sort out the diplomacy bug), the game just won't load anymore. Not even to the start screen. Steam said the game is loading, then kicks me out with no crash dump or anything. I'm not sure what I did wrong
The .dll files that are moved into the mod folder, need to be put back into the Medieval II folder after unpacking. That is most likely the problem. I think I mentioned it a little quickly here and a few people have missed that point before. Hope that is it!
Almost all changes will have an ongoing effect on saved campaigns. The descr_strat file being the most notable exception as it's used to create the game start.
@ToNerdistoHumanTNH so your how to mods have helped me tremendously with what I am currently working on a revamp of medieval 2 total war, but i found only one issue with this video when you tell us to type [io] file_first = true my game starts then crashes so instead of putting [io] and = true i don't put [io] and instead of = true i put 1 this way my game saves all i edit and at the same time does not crash when i start it up. so it looks like this file_first = true
So my unpacker doesn't give me an error like yours without the files in the same folder and when I put the files in the folder when I agree to the terms the unpacker just closes and nothing happens
Would love in the expansions like britannia to be able to edit turns per year and maybes add France into the map. And also add the pictures of there sigils and title. So if you put a character in York they become Duke of York like they do in stainless steel and darth mod. This would give the game a good edge. 1 turn per year breaks me because your characters only have a life span of like 20 turns and it takes that to get into the game
Character ages can be fiddly but that might be down to the family members listed under the armies. I assume the ages need to match up (children being 16 years younger at least for example).
hello man, do you have any idea how to unpack or decode savegame files? ;d I would like to use mod where u can manage more units per army but none of the programs like Save Parser and so on.. doesnt work for me so I probably need manually to overwrite some files :( I did spend whole yesterday trying to make it work cause I really want a lot to run it :(
I'm afraid I don't have any experience with that sort of modding. Have you tried the Total War Centre? They usually have lots of guides for deep modding :) www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?3-Medieval-II-Total-War
Here's a video about upkeep: th-cam.com/video/lc5AW-FPoKA/w-d-xo.html Regarding recruitment slots, this video probably covers that! th-cam.com/video/A3APXpxg9Zo/w-d-xo.html
Update of my Issue these are the errors in my logs. 19:20:36.510 [data.missing] [error] mods/crusades/data/ui/shared.sdfile not found 19:20:36.510 [data.missing] [error] mods/crusades/data/ui/battle.sdfile not found 19:20:36.511 [data.missing] [error] mods/crusades/data/ui/strategy.sdfile not found
Most likely it is because of the age of other family members. children needing to be a certain amount younger etc... Ages can be fiddly so I tend to fix those separately after I complete the rest of my editing.
I don't know the chances of this being read it but if you have an answer please tell me. I put in the [io] file_first = true code in and all that happened is my game crashes shortly after starting. I don't know what is wrong or if I missed something. I opened the preference file in note pad but it don't know if that is a problem. I also did the unpacking in the other tutorial video. Edit: I am still trying to get this to work and with some testing found that the crashing problem starts when I save [io] file_first = true in the preference tab. I still do not know how to fix this and do not understand why its still not working.
Pleaseeee replyyyyyy siiiir. So if i have an on going campaign and i do something in data file (fixing bug like in one of ur videos) does it effect the on going campaign? If it not, what i have to do so it will effect my on going campaign :(
i dont know man, there is no tool folder.. the folders are (data, logs, miles, packs, preferences, saves, temp)... as you can see i have different folder available than you do.... can i fix it?
Hey, I noticed ur tutorial and I did everything in the previous video with unpacking the stuff etc. But I noticed my "mods" the kingdom expansion pack doenst unpack at all. How can I fix this matter?
Hey thanks for posting this video! I was wondering if you can help me. I’m trying to add the stone forts to imperial campaign and I’ve unpacked all the files and even unpacked Brittania files separately. But when I go to “mods>british_isles>data” there is no option for ‘settlements’ and therefore I can’t retrieve the Stone_fort_d file that I want. Do you know what the problem might be? Thanks in advance
Another great video!! Just one question: is there a way to revert the files to their original state after you save your changes? Such as changing the stats and such without individual having to remember them and changing them again.
Best thing is to just keep copies of the originals and copy/paste it back when you want to revert to the original version. Much much easier than editing it back or having to reinstall.
i have a problem i found the unpacker but i didnt see any error on the screen , i started the first step of copying the files to tools folder etc. in second step i didnt find IDV and steam api but after the first step i found the file of export descr unit after modification the game doesnt work because of ms32dll is missing so i took the file from tools to main game folder it works but nothing changed about the units numbers when i proceed to the batttle the game crashes
![Fixing The Diplomacy Bug - Why Everybody Hates You in Medieval II Total War [Vanilla] - Game Guides](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5gzhsAqbZQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![Fixing The Diplomacy Bug - Why Everybody Hates You in Medieval II Total War [Vanilla] - Game Guides](/img/tr.png)
Note: If you have Gold Edition then the unpacking may happen at another destination such as in your virtual store and not in Program Files e.g. (AppData/Local/Virtual Store/Medieval2)
Thanks to Liuon for highlighting this. If I discover that other versions of the game have similar issues then I will add them here. In case you are not aware, I'm playing the definitive edition.
ps. A (potentially obvious) note of caution here: Have back up copies of any files you edit because it is very easy to make a tiny mistake. ENJOY!
Hey one question, in minute 6:38, you change something in the preference file, it wont let me write or change anything in it, can you help?
I found a way, ty anyways
I can't find the virtual store :( pls help!!
Still can't find the files.
Must have unpacked them into outer space sigh..
What did you use to open the file
Oh boy! I learned a lesson about keeping regular 'on the go' backups yesterday. Spent 12 hours modding England faction, - stealing swordsmen militia from the Portugal and Spain, Morgannwg, Mathrafal horsemen and Teulu from Wales, (i'm going to wipe them out immediately anyway - they don't need them) renaming units and descriptions, spending absolutely ages in descr_buildings getting rid of troops i don't want and putting the ones i do in all the different buildings and making everything nice and tidy. I was confident in what i was doing as i've done it all before but then after a whole day of modding the darned game crashes and i can't find the problem. Have to start over.
What i should have done is make sure all the units work and get built first then make a backup. Then get the units in all the right buildings, check it, and make a backup, and then tinker and balance all the troops i'm using in descr_units, check it and make a backup, then finally do the descr_strat and sort out the towns and troops, traits and agents. - Big lesson learned!
I just had the same issue. I only did one mod, the 0.5 Occupy mod. And the whole computer became unstable, and M2TW didn't work anymore, requiring a reinstall. Where it had been successfully running without fail since 2007. 17 years, no issues. 1 mod, and poof, it's gone. No more mods for me.
IMPORTANT FOR PEOPLE WHO INSTALLED A FRESH COPY OF THE GAME: The configuration file won't exist/show up until you've booted up the game for the first time, maybe not until you've started a campaign. I've seen some people on steam threads asking how to create the config file, you may not need to do that at all.
A very good point indeed!
Thank you matey
Thanks for sharing this! I didn't see the preferences file, loading the game and saving a campaign then backing out made it appear!
@@aleczanderwilliam8043 for me its still not seeable lol
Clear and eloquent, as ever! Thank you.
^_^
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH Hi! I did all your tutorials here, but in the end, after I executed the unpacker I still can't see any additional/unpacked files in data. Why is that? Thanks!
This is really useful, I love being able to Heal castle units in towns and cities now, really helps the flow of a war don't need to bring the army back to a castle every time they take heavy losses, thanks!
Thank you so much for this video! I spent hours today trying to unpack these files and you explained everything so well. You made me subscribe to your channel and now I'm watching your other M2TW videos!
I've had so much fun with the game since I followed your guide. Thanks again.
Just to say that the io_file_first = true tells the game whether to use the exe files or the unpacked files first. Unpacking the game doesn't remove the files from the exe, basically it copies them.
Cheers! And thank you for the clarity there! in the time since I first made this I have definitely developed a much better understanding of such details.
it's a relief to come and find this video again for troubleshooting thx bro!
That's great! after watching your how-too mod, I did some mods thanks to you and improved the fun factor to enjoyable. I had quit playing it some years back. The game always hated my faction, I got sick of the stupid game. The creators must not have played the game. Thanks again, now I can actually enjoy playing the game.
Which one? Russia?
A side note for fellow pirates here, I have the gold edition and I did the unpacking like 50 times without noticing any new file in data folder. After like 2 hours I found that the unpacking happend at another destination (AppData/Local/Virtual Store/Medieval2 folder and not in Program Files) and then I performed the actions the mate in the video suggested. Gonna come back here to tell you if that worked. Thanks for the video anyway mate ;)
It appears that it worked, I occupied many settlements and reputation didn't fall at all. I assume that betrayal and random wars can happen, but previously i got rekt every time after certain amount of turns everybody hated me no matter how many diplomats i sent to bear gifts... Thanks a lot my man
Ahhhh! A few people with Gold edition were having odd problems with that. Thank you for the help - hopefully others will gain from that! Pleased you can enjoy your slightly more diplomatic version of Med II. :D
running definitive edition and neither your nor the original solution works, I've tried running unpack_all and unpacker.exe with and without admin but still no mass folders in either location. Any clue at to where it could be?
Thanks for this. Clear instructions and everything worked as described. I'm using Steam Definitive Edition - the unpacker.exe didn't run but the .bat files did.
Thank you! Enjoy your medieval maiming!
You are an absolute life saver. I switched to steam edition a while ago and have been struggling to edit the silly unbalanced unit stats of the grand campaign for ages. Thank you!
Very good video. It took me quite a while to find the info online
Thank you so much for this 😀 . It worked for me using the Gold CD with Steam linked. Easy unpacking and I tested making the 'cog' upkeep cost 500 and back to 150. Love your video. Thanks again!!!
Thank you so much for this! I couldn't get this done using internet forums (even tho the instructiosn were almost the same!) Thank you for your tutorial! Finally, I can get rid of the damned occupy settlement bug!
Cheers! There are plenty of guides around on forums but I think the visual format helps :) Pleased to help.
so simple but without your help i wouldnt have known it, thanks
Thank you my friend, very USEFUL and clear guide!
Danke
This was really helpful thank you! Been trying to apply the Diplo bug fix and getting increasingly frustrated at how elusive faction_standing was proving!
Very helpful thank you. I was really frustrated with the missing DLL's until i saw this, thanks a bunch :)
Cheers! Glad I can help.
Hi! I did all your tutorials here, but in the end, after I executed the unpacker I still can't see any additional/unpacked files in data. Why is that? Thanks!
I could fucking kiss you right now! Thanks to your heavenly smooth and simply instructions, as well as some help from other sources I've actually managed to mod one of my games for the first time. Thank you so ever much. I truly hope all is ever well for you.
It's very satisfying isn't it. I love modding games almost as much as playing them.
This is an excellent overview and introduction, really appreciate you putting this up here. As a novice when it comes to editing game files, I run into trouble when attempting to edit the txt.strings files. Would you consider making a video on what can be done regarding those files? For example names.txt.strings or export_ancillaries.txt.strings
Thanks you very much! I always appreciate suggestions so I can look into that. I myself would not claim to be more than an enthusiastic novice with modding. My mantra with these videos is very much to see if I can make these edits accessible to the general player so hopefully more people can enjoy playing around with these older total war titles.
Amazing tutorial, thanks so much man! Great help!
Man, you're a legend
Key to remember to do step @3:45
Thank you dude, very well explained 😁
My pleasure!
Brilliant tutorial, many thanks mate :-)
I followed these steps and everything worked properly with the exception of the background script in the game. For any reason after using the unpacker tool, if you play the game the descriptions of the menu and the units are missing. This is a pain in the ass becasuse you cannot use the diplomats or see important info in the game. Do you know how to resolve this problem? thank you
I have the same problm dude. Did u find any solution? Any luck?
Still no anwser
Anyway to get a walkthrough/breakdown for doing this on Mac? struggling to find the right files and unpacker etc.
I've changed the preference file and unit file to read only but somehow the data I edited is still being reverted back by the game, does anyone know why?
very strange thing happened when i did this so leaving this as a warning for others:
the files you move into the tools folder for the unpacker to work: Make a copy of them elsewhere for safe keeping
for some reason the unpacker ate them and my game wouldn't run until i reinstalled it and ran the unpacker and then manually added those files back in after the unpacker ate them again, Steam version
Hey man , i did everything to the letter , and im still not seeing the changes take place , i added what i needed in the preferences , and made sure the read part of the propertys on the files , what do i need to double check ? Game loades fine and everything is unpacked and were it needs to be .
Appreciate this brother.
Well, i'm having quite a dilemma. I've done all there was to do, unpacked the game and done adding the bypass to the checksum and done read only to preferences, and all that but changes still revert. For example i'm trying to unlock the rebels for costum battle. I just cannot, it reverts back to normal even if i removed a faction from costum battle avalability and still does not work... what do i do now?
Helpful video! :D
Glad you think so!
for some reason i cant get the changes to save in the game. just as an example ive been changing the cogs upkeep but no matter what it stays at 150. i followed the tutorial to the letter and they just wont save. anything i might be doing wrong?>
Now we're modding :)
Thank you!
Hey, I followed every step but my edited upkeep stat still won’t show up in game.
same but mine crash
That helped me alot!
Thanks !
Great series
Hello there bro. Did you find any solution to texts disappearing after adding the {io}... code to preferences ?
I have thee same problem.
Me to
How would I go about editing the dlc campaigns such as Britannia? I tried unpacking it and it just broke the UI. I'm so glad you're making these tutorials, thanks!
1:52 if you double click the unpack_Britannia file then it should process the unpacking of that dlc just like it did for the main game in the video.
What about the UI broke? Can't say I've had that problem myself.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH I'll try it again, but the UI elements became large colored boxes. Any idea why the unpacker might not be giving me all of the files? I don't have the "Export_Ancillaries.txt" file when I try unpacking
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH The unpacking portion worked, but all the files that I try to edit don't apply into the game, or if they do, it is strangely working and not working. I made it so castles would provide free upkeep of 4, ensured that the units had the free upkeep in the unit file and sometimes only 1 unit in one castle would be getting the free upkeep while the same unit in another castle wasn't receiving the free upkeep. In addition, I tried making forts in the descr_strat, have free upkeep of 4 as well and no units received the benefit. I ensured that the export_unit file and the units I was experimenting with had the free upkeep line. Any solution?
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH
For me, certain Kingdoms campaigns don’t unpack entirely. Britannia did, but Teutonic for instance got about five seconds into the unpacking when it just stopped. No error message, no nothing, it just disappeared. In addition, even where the unpacking did work, there is no unit description under data that could be modded
can this changes be made if i am playing on stainless steel mod?
If you can, please dedicate a video or two to modding the historical diplomatic attitudes of the factions. I found that some factions are overly friendly to each other when they should hate each other's guts. For example, the Byzantines and the HRE entered in an alliance when they both compete for the claim of Romans. Sometimes the Milanese will either ally with the French or HRE when the win condition or even description states that they are enemies sooner or later. Another example is the Moors are often attacked first by the Portugese and rarely by the Spanish whether they entered temporary alliance or not.
Also, I would love it if you can make a video about which guilds to build for which towns/castles. For example, I have more incentives to build merchant guilds knowing Milan, Venice, London, Constantinople, Paris... are historical economic, trading, fashion centers. I can concentrate on building religious-related guilds in Jerusalem knowing that they are historically accurate religious synagogue grounds of both the Eastern and Western powers.
This used to work for me, now when I add in the [io] bit and set to read only, the game crashes instantly. None of my changes have stuck other than a couple of the things I've done to the descr_strat folder. All the .dll files are back in the main folder and all the instructions have been followed to the letter. Any ideas?
same for me
You have to delete two files I. The data folder, I forgot the exact names, but search for the keyword geography I. The data folder, there should be two right next to each other. Just delete them and it'll work
Hey I have a version of the game that doesnt have the preferences.script where i can change the campaign unit multiplier where I used to change the 0.75 default to another number. My other total war games have this script in the appdata folder except medieval 2. Can you help?
Strange. Check the text folder (inside data) my rome tw preference file is in there. Maybe that's where it is located.
Hey man, I feel like I've made a mistake somewhere.
I followed your instructions in the video, but when I click on the game - nothing happens anymore.
Sorry to be a pest, but any suggestions?
I'm using Windows 10. Looking in forums they're saying it's not a big fan of unpacking.
Yikes
Hello! Mine runs on windows 10. Though yes, it can get awkward on modern computers.
After unpacking, have you moved the application extensions back to where they were originally (the main Med II folder)? That can be an issue as the game expected to find them there.
My game files increased almost 10gb by doing this. Is there a way to not increase it? My PC has little space :( Thank you for the excellent video and channel!
when you unpack game files it quite litteraly puts it on your drive so sadly, the extra gigs is required if you want to mod the game
Thank you bro
Happy to help!
Hey man, I'm thinking of making a mod where I swap around and dub over voice lines so every faction speaks their native languages, any tips on how to access the voice lines and switch around/replace them?
An interesting question. This is not something I have looked at before but if I find anything i will let you know. Apologies for the slow response! Try the Total war centre forums. Most modding things come up in there! www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?272-Medieval-II-Total-War-Mod-Workshop
I tried to fix pikes using this method and the one in the other video however it does not work. I did everything the way you instructed but the game refuses to listen to the changes i made. I have no idea why though. How did you open the cfg file? I opened it in txt and maybe that's why it failed?
Happens the same to me
Merci beaucoup !
Can we add units from crusader to native ?
Ooooh a good suggestion. Without having done that myself I would assume yes as they are running on the same engine etc... How accessible it is for the casual modder though, I'm not so sure. I'll have to play around and see about that!
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH really would like to see a guide to do that
I changed the preferences with the [io] first = true line exactly as you showed. Then made it read only. After doing this the game will not get past the loading screen, it crashes immediately.
What do???
I'm at my wits end trying to get this to work.
Same problem for me. But I also had a mod installed. Reinstallling the game now, to see if that changes anything.
There are two files you need to delete within data that cause a crash I believe
Hi! I have the Mac version of the game and it does not have the "tools" folder. Is there any solution?
Many thanks for that!
You're most welcome!
Hi, do you know how to unpack just the descr_sm_factions and descr_regions files?
I don´t want to have all the other files in there, just those 2 file
Each of the applications you move to the mod folder will unpack a chunk of files. I imagine those two would be unpacked from the same application but I couldn't tell you which one as I simply unpacked them all. If I find out I will update you!
In my game files, there is no "tools" folder. It doesn't exist. I have: data, miles and packs. That's it. Mine was installed from dvd, not steam. Would it be somewhere else in that case?
Thank you for this, very helpful indeed! I have one problem though: I unpacked the files and I can edit them, but the unpacked files for the Britannia and Teutonic campaigns don´t show up. I tried unpacking them separately, but the process won´t finish. I tried unpacking all the files again, but the Britannia and Teutonic files still won´t show up. Any ideas how to fix this?
Strange... have you got all the application files from the data file back in the folder with the unpacker? If you miss one then it can sometimes play up. I'm guessing theres no error code coming up when the process fails to finish!?
That's right, no error code there. I tried again with all twelve .dll files that were in the Medieval II Total War folder, with the same results.
Thanks for your reply!
In my computer the files for those were in the mods folder
Interesting. I checked, but couldn't find them
@@benjaminbernreiter2283 the folder is in read only mode.
Open cmd in administration.
Type "cd" and location of bat file.
Execute bat file in cmd by typing its name.
It worked for me.
Thank you
:)
3:53 in Gold Edition, unpacked files are store in a cartel on Users/AppData/etc.
How it is possibile to change folder ??
[io]
file_first = true
It concludes the video... in some degree...
What happens when you chanced the files but lood up a old save?
Changes to Descr_strat will only affect new games. Most other files will be active in old saves.
When I Unpacked the files the preferences.cfg didn't change into a notepad file, it stayed a CFG, how do I get that to work?
You should be able to open it as a notepad file as it is a compatible text file.
Mine did the same,but you can go into medieval2.pref file by right clicking,go to its properties and click on the big change button.Here you can change it to notepad.Hope it helps.
@@henrywagener1196 Perfect. Thanks!
unpacking the files has caused a ton of text to disappear from the game, I did exactly everything you did in this video
That's very strange! Not something I've come across before! I assume it was back to normal after reinstalling?
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH i have the same problem
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH adding [io] file_first = true is the big issue
The game didn't revert back to it's original file when you set the cog value, the files you edit are not the game files which are packed. The computer is reading from the packed files. When you set the IO file first it tells it to use the edited files. You didn't have to set the cfg to read only.
hey i got a problem that i unpack all. Its takes me like 15 mins then i got nothing in the data folder. I mean nothing new.
If you have gold edition, the unpacking may happen at another destination such as in your virtual store (AppData/Local/Virtual Store/Medieval2) and not in Program Files.
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH didnt find it there
I cant even find this magical "appdata" file. Ive been at this for weeks yet my britannia and teutonic dlcs still wont unpack.
Great videos! I noticed that your settelments on the campaign map are having textures from medieval kingdoms expansions, how can I do that? they look way better than the vanilla cities and castles!
After unpacking the files (to try and sort out the diplomacy bug), the game just won't load anymore. Not even to the start screen. Steam said the game is loading, then kicks me out with no crash dump or anything. I'm not sure what I did wrong
The .dll files that are moved into the mod folder, need to be put back into the Medieval II folder after unpacking. That is most likely the problem. I think I mentioned it a little quickly here and a few people have missed that point before. Hope that is it!
Can I make changes that will affect on ongoing, saved campaign?
Almost all changes will have an ongoing effect on saved campaigns. The descr_strat file being the most notable exception as it's used to create the game start.
@ToNerdistoHumanTNH wow thank you! Does that even include unit size? That you cannot normally change for an ongoing game.
@ToNerdistoHumanTNH so your how to mods have helped me tremendously with what I am currently working on a revamp of medieval 2 total war, but i found only one issue with this video when you tell us to type [io] file_first = true my game starts then crashes so instead of putting [io] and = true i don't put [io] and instead of = true i put 1 this way my game saves all i edit and at the same time does not crash when i start it up. so it looks like this file_first = true
So my unpacker doesn't give me an error like yours without the files in the same folder and when I put the files in the folder when I agree to the terms the unpacker just closes and nothing happens
Hello Thomas I think when I followed your step to unpack second time, it unpacked the same files again plus the new ones.
TNH, how to mod a save game to change unit size mid campaing? (Definitive edition)
If you follow my unit size guide you can make units bigger. It possibly won't change units already recruited but should do when going forward.
Would love in the expansions like britannia to be able to edit turns per year and maybes add France into the map. And also add the pictures of there sigils and title. So if you put a character in York they become Duke of York like they do in stainless steel and darth mod. This would give the game a good edge. 1 turn per year breaks me because your characters only have a life span of like 20 turns and it takes that to get into the game
Can't change the characters ages. It doesn't work. But I did get access to play as The Papl States.
Character ages can be fiddly but that might be down to the family members listed under the armies. I assume the ages need to match up (children being 16 years younger at least for example).
I did exactly what you said, but i cant find the teutonic order units in the file for editing, can you help me?
hello man, do you have any idea how to unpack or decode savegame files? ;d I would like to use mod where u can manage more units per army but none of the programs like Save Parser and so on.. doesnt work for me so I probably need manually to overwrite some files :( I did spend whole yesterday trying to make it work cause I really want a lot to run it :(
I'm afraid I don't have any experience with that sort of modding. Have you tried the Total War Centre? They usually have lots of guides for deep modding :)
www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?3-Medieval-II-Total-War
does the order matter? i forgot to change the preferences file and made the changes i wanted in units and then wrote the [io] file_first = true
Do you have a guide on how to unpack the mods files? Britannia, crusades, teutonic and americhe?
it helps me a lot, thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hello bro! you still there? may i ask how do i edit unit upkeep? or recruitment slot of buildings?
Here's a video about upkeep:
th-cam.com/video/lc5AW-FPoKA/w-d-xo.html
Regarding recruitment slots, this video probably covers that! th-cam.com/video/A3APXpxg9Zo/w-d-xo.html
@@ToNerdistoHumanTNH damn bro you fast! Didt know editing med 2 was that easy. Thanks!
I did everything correctly but now my game wont even launch. I am with Definitive Edition from Steam with the Kingdoms DLCs. Please help.
There is a way to change the background menu of a total war game if i want?
If yes can somenome tell me how?
Update of my Issue these are the errors in my logs.
19:20:36.510 [data.missing] [error] mods/crusades/data/ui/shared.sdfile not found
19:20:36.510 [data.missing] [error] mods/crusades/data/ui/battle.sdfile not found
19:20:36.511 [data.missing] [error] mods/crusades/data/ui/strategy.sdfile not found
where are the logs
Where the hell are the Byzantium soldier textures??? I always wanted to change that stupid purple color, but could never find them.
Hey, I tried changing the ages of the starting characters of the Byzantine Empire and the campaign wouldn't start. Any idea why that happens?
Most likely it is because of the age of other family members. children needing to be a certain amount younger etc... Ages can be fiddly so I tend to fix those separately after I complete the rest of my editing.
i have nothing to open the preference file with?
would love some help. thank you
I don't know the chances of this being read it but if you have an answer please tell me. I put in the [io] file_first = true code in and all that happened is my game crashes shortly after starting. I don't know what is wrong or if I missed something. I opened the preference file in note pad but it don't know if that is a problem. I also did the unpacking in the other tutorial video.
Edit: I am still trying to get this to work and with some testing found that the crashing problem starts when I save [io] file_first = true in the preference tab. I still do not know how to fix this and do not understand why its still not working.
could you do a modding video on the later games? i can never get it working with i.e. Shogun 2...
Pleaseeee replyyyyyy siiiir.
So if i have an on going campaign and i do something in data file (fixing bug like in one of ur videos) does it effect the on going campaign? If it not, what i have to do so it will effect my on going campaign :(
i dont know man, there is no tool folder.. the folders are (data, logs, miles, packs, preferences, saves, temp)... as you can see i have different folder available than you do.... can i fix it?
what if there is no file unpacker. trying to mod Thrones of brit's legitimacy value but cant find it
Hey, I noticed ur tutorial and I did everything in the previous video with unpacking the stuff etc. But I noticed my "mods" the kingdom expansion pack doenst unpack at all. How can I fix this matter?
Do you know how to change the names of regions in this game? If it even is possible.
Hey thanks for posting this video!
I was wondering if you can help me.
I’m trying to add the stone forts to imperial campaign and I’ve unpacked all the files and even unpacked Brittania files separately.
But when I go to “mods>british_isles>data” there is no option for ‘settlements’ and therefore I can’t retrieve the Stone_fort_d file that I want.
Do you know what the problem might be?
Thanks in advance
Another great video!!
Just one question: is there a way to revert the files to their original state after you save your changes? Such as changing the stats and such without individual having to remember them and changing them again.
Best thing is to just keep copies of the originals and copy/paste it back when you want to revert to the original version. Much much easier than editing it back or having to reinstall.
i have a problem
i found the unpacker but i didnt see any error on the screen ,
i started the first step of copying the files to tools folder etc.
in second step i didnt find IDV and steam api but after the first step i found the file of export descr unit
after modification the game doesnt work because of ms32dll is missing
so i took the file from tools to main game folder it works but nothing changed about the units numbers
when i proceed to the batttle the game crashes
Please can you tell me how to play with crusades mod and other mods.... I can't open them at all