Frequently Asked Questions & Game Fixes

[daelin4]

****This entire thread has been copied from our old forums, and so some elements of the posts may no longer contain relevant or updated information****

Prior to December 21st 2012 this thread was a complete copy from the old forums: I have taken the liberty to edit and update some information. The original author is no longer known, but you may consult our old Yuku forums to find out.

1. I will monitor this thread closely.
2. You may post potential FAQ's in this thread. Please do not comment or post in improper format or it WILL be deleted. Do not waste your own time.
3. I will decide whether or not it should be an FAQ. I will delete ANYTHING that is spam, redundant or not on topic. I want this to be a usable resource for forum members, not a cluttered piece of junk. I will not warn you before I delete your post. It will simply disappear if it is not appropriate.
4. When you see a new thread in the forums that is covered by the FAQ, please post a link to the FAQs in your first response.
5. This is not a thread for asking why your game doesn't work. We have a technical support section for this.
6. Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[daelin4]

Table of Contents

(For easier searching, use the Search Thread feature located at the top toolbars of this page; the Search function of your browser, such as Cntl+F, also helps)

1. I want to use some of the cheat codes. How do I make them work?
2. How do I unlock all the factions?
3. My DVD/CD-R won't recognize my Medieval 2 disc!
4. During battle and on the map sometimes, my game, while scrolling with the keyboard, brings up the console, speed goes to 3x, and the short cut key screen appears in the background.
5. I am having trouble with cavalry not charging, what can I do to ameliorate this problem?
6. How soon can i get to the Americas?
7. How do I make each turn last six months instead of two years, and how do I display the year on the campaign map?
8. How do I get rid of the banners and the green arrows?
9. Can I select my faction heir as in RTW?
10. What do the difficulty settings do?

11. Sometimes Artillery doesn't seem to fire is this a bug?
12. Is it somehow possible to play the campaign multiplayer with, say, two players?
13. Help, I'm broke!
14. How do merchants work?
15. During a siege battle my computer, which has handled huge field battles, suddenly starts to drop in performance.

16. I brought the American Collectors edition of MIITW but the soundtrack CD dosn't have a track listing, does anyone have this please?
17. Sometimes Artillery seems to disappear
18. How do I get rid of the annoying logo screens and startup movie when I launch Medieval? And how do I disable those "The enemy general is dead, m'lord" cutscenes that pop up during battle?
19. How do I make and access screenshots?
20. I disabled one of the agent event videos, how do I turn the videos back on?

21. How do I repair ships?
22. Why are all my princesses not charming?
23. How do I set up a modswitcher?
24. This question has been removed. It has been made redundant by the 1.2 patch.
25. How do I know which version of the game I am playing?

26. How do I get unlimited men on the battlefield?
27. Is there a way to stop my general from picking up the ''bad with taxes'' trait when he is sitting in a castle, and has no chance of avoiding the trait by raising taxes?
28. Is there an alternative to using the modswitcher?
29. How do I fix the armour on the Venetian Heavy Infantry and Venetian archers?
30. Where can I download some of the data files?

31. Where can I see and compare Unit Stats and/or Buildings Information?
32. How do I enable multiplayer hotseat campaign mode?
33. Is there a mod that doesn't do anything except fix bugs?
34. This question has been removed. It has been made redundant by the 1.2 patch.
35. How do I increase the movement points?

36. How do I recruit generals?
37. Why can't I recruit bishops?
38. This question has been removed. It has been made redundant by the 1.2 patch.
39. How do I completely uninstall RTW or M2TW?
40. How do I create a bat file?

41. What do i need to do to open a cfg. file?
42. Why did my army disappear from the campaign map?
43. How do I get the Cinematic Editor to work?
44. What are guilds?
45. Will Medieval 2 work on my PC? What are the minimum specs?

46. When playing hotseat in Kingdoms I can't defend against the AI in battles. Is there any way to fix this?
47. How do I edit the descr_strat and other game files on Windows Vista?
48. What patches and in what order do I need to install to the retail, vanilla version of Medieval II: Total War?
49. How do I form the Union of Kalmar in the Kingdoms' Teutonic campaign?
50. How do I get the various Apachean units while playing the Americas campaign?

51. What is Night Attack and how can you perform perform them?

[daelin4]

Question #1: I want to use some of the cheat codes. How do I make them work?

Answer #1:
When in game, press the console key: this is usually in the form of - ` ~ \ |. The correct key will vary depending on your regional keyboard configuration. This is known as the "tilde" key.

Then enter the respective lines codes for their effect. A comprehensive list can be found in various websites from google.

Important info:
Names vary according to the game code. The game relies on a text file named "descr_names.txt" for all character names, whether they are generals or agents. You can search it in your primary game directory. The game selects a randomized combination of first and last names, according to gender. In rare cases, there will be multiple characters existing in the game with the exact same name, which may lead to conflicts.
Note that epithets, like "the Great" or other titles do NOT count as part the character's actual name, so you will have to remember the full name, or look up the file descr_names.txt found via searching in your main game directory to confirm their names. This may require you to go through multiple names if you do not remember them. The file organizes the list of names by faction, so once you know the faction of the character in question, find his/her faction codename then find or guess the last name.
Some codes require typing character names that have diatrics (ç) or umlauts (ø, ä, ǟ, c̈) commonly not found on your keyboard; normally these can be substituted by their usual letters like c, oe, a, ae, etc. Again, to find out the correct spelling, you will have to consult the descr_names file.
The game will ignore certain numbers that exceed the maximum level expected. So if you type a code that requires you to indicate a number, going over the maximum will only give you the maximum possible. So spawning a unit in the game via cheat with the number 99 will not give you 99 units, or a unit with 99 bonus armour.
You can easily repeat inputted codes by pressing the up or down arrow keys to cycle through past codes. However the game only remembers up to several lines of inputted code. Codes that are NOT inputted (you cancelled out of the console ) will not be remembered.
In most cases it is REQUIRED to include quotation marks when adding character names, unless the characer happens to possess only one name. So a general named simply William will not require quotatios, but a general with the name Wilhem von der Stettin will require quotations, namely "Wilhem von_der_Stettin"

Some of the most common ones are:
A. add_money: This can be applied to yourself, or to another faction by adding their faction code. To give yourself money, type

add_money #
Example: add_money 9000 
OR 
add_money hre 90000

where "9000" is the amount, and "hre" is the position of the faction name, which is required if you want a specific faction to spawn extra money. Without a faction name the game will spawn the money to your own faction.
*It is possible to give negative money, but you can only give/take a maximum of 40000 money for every time you input the code, so to give/take more money, simply type the code multiple times.
**Note that for putting specific faction names, some are not similar to their proper names in-game: for example, the Holy Roman Empire's name code is simply "hre".

B. create_unit: spawns a unit of varying quality and number to a general or settlement. The code will be as follows:

create_unit (settlement OR general's full name) (unit name code) # # # #

*The name code may not be similar to the name of the unit in-game: vast majority of unit names are the same, but some units, like cultural variants, are named differently. Example: a unit of Cavalry Militia of Eastern Europe variety has the name code of "EE Cavalry Militia", while Italian Cavalry Militia are simply "Italian Cavalry Militia". Likewise, Spear Militia of Northern Europe are named "Spear Militia", whilst Southern Europe, Eastern Europe and Middle Eastern versions have the prefix of SE, EE, and ME receptively.

After the name code, you may also add four numbers each from 1-9 if you desire specific upgrades to the unit. The first number determines amount of units spawned (maximum four at a time), the second number the unit or units' experience from 0-9, the third and furth number the unit or units' weapon and armour upgrade, if it has any.

Example: Wanting to create a single unit of Italian Spear Militia in Venice with 4 experience, 2 armor and 2 attack bonus, type in the console the following:

create_unit "Venice" "Italian Spear Militia" 1 4 2 2
OR
create_unit "Domenico Selvo" "Italian Spear Militia" 1 4 2 2

this one makes 1 Italian Spear Militia unit with 4 experience, 2 armor and 2 attack bonus in Venice, or in Domenico Selvo's army


C. give_trait: grants a trait to a character. Characters include generals and agents. It is possible to change other factions' character traits.

give_trait (character name) (trait code) (level)
Example: give_trait "William" GoodCommander 3 
OR
give_trait  Wilhem von_der_Stettin BadDefender 3

The trait name does NOT require quotation marks, BUT is case-sensitive.
The full list of traits can be found in your game directory known as "export_descr_character_traits.txt"
Websites like Honga's Total War Academy also shows a list of traits, levels and even the descriptions found when hovering the cursor over them.
Like the create_unit code, the full name of the character is required.
It is also possible to select a unit, then type the following to input the effect

give_trait this "GoodCommander" 5

D. move_character - teleports a character to a part of the campaign map. You must first move the character out of the city or off the ship before using this one.

The code in use will be as follows

move_character (character name) X,Y
OR
move_character "William 89,100
OR
move_character "Admiral Vito" 118,35

Where X is the row tile number, and X is the column tile number.

To find the tiles, first hover the mouse cursor over the desired part of the map you want to teleport, then type "show_cursorstat". The console will show you the region tile's coordinates, where the first number is the row and the second is the column. The row number determines west or east (lower-higher value), and the column determines north or south (lower-higher value). Micromanaging adjustments will simply require changing the numbers accordingly.
It is possible to "clip" armies by teleporting them onto the same tile at once. This may cause issues.
It is also possible to teleport generals and agents when they are still inside a ship or settlement, but thus causes issues.
It is NOT possible to teleport ships onto land tiles, or armies onto water tiles.
You CAN teleport armies onto islands, or navies onto small lakes.
There are certain parts of the map that will not be accessible, like mountains or rivers, and the game will not teleport successful. The tiles must be one that the army or navy can occupy.

E. toggle_fow: disables or re-enables the Fog of War. The entire campaign map will be revealed, including ALL armies and agents, including those hiding in ambush. Type again to return to normal mode.

Army compositions will NOT be revealed by this code. You will still need nearby agents and generals to ascertain information on the army's units.

F. add_population: add a desired number after the code to increase or decrease a settlement's population amount. To decrease, add the negative integer.

add_population #
OR
add_population Venice 1000
OR
add_population London -9000

Where # is the desired number. Venice will be given an additional 1000 population, whereas London will lose 9000 population

The maximum allowed per input is 9000 or -9000. To gain or lose more, simply repeat the code.
The settlement can never have less than 400 population, and so the code will no longer give any effect once it has fallen to 400.
Changes to the population effects like unrest will not show until the next turn or you adjust taxes or otherwise tweak the settlement in normal fashion.

G. process_cq: instantly finishes a build under construction.

process_cq London

Where "London" is the settlement name. Settlement names can be easily found by simply looking at the name in the campaign map.

The code will finish the entire structure rather than the turn intervals to completion. So a road or a citadel will be isntantly finished by inputting the code once.
The code works in the regular construction sequence, and so te building currently being built will be finished, whereas the other queued structures will not. To finish these structures, repeat the code.
The funds will work as normal; attempting this code when you do not have the funds to begin construction will not yield any results.

H. Many of the cheat codes found on websites do not work at all.

I. Some sites list lots of console commands that can only be enabled via scripting. If you want to know about scripting, I suggest you start here:
forums.totalwar.org/vb/sh...hp?t=46738
If the console says "invalid command" it should mean that it doesn't recognize this command, then this cheat doesn't work or you have inputted the code incorrectly. Remember the code is case-sensitive and often require the exact same line or word. In some cases the word itself is spelled wrong and will have to be spelled the same way.

[daelin4]

Question #2: How do I unlock all the factions?

Answer #2: Once you win a campaign, regardless of its duration, you will unlock all playable factions.

The playable factions are as follows
England
France
Scotland
Holy Roman Empire
Venice
Milan
Spain
Portugal
Denmark
Byzantine Empire
Turks
Moors
Egypt
Russia
Poland
Sicily
Hungary

There are non-playable factions that cannot be unlocked or played without modification. These are
Timurids
Mongols
Papal States
Rebels
Aztecs

If you want to unlock immediately the playable factions (say the Sicilians or the Moors) there's a quick way. Enter your M2TW installation folder (path depends on the way you installed it). Double click on the file medieval2.preferences.cfg, select Note pad from the list of available programs and confirm. You'll see the file as a normal .txt file. Add these lines:

[misc]
unlock_campaign = true

Save the file and close it. Enjoy!

You can also do it the traditional way by modding the descr_strat.txt file in your game's directory. Then cut and paste the factions that you want to be playable or all of them into the playable list.

[daelin4]

Question #3: My DVD/CD-R won't recognize my Medieval 2 disc!

Answer #3: Try installing the drivers from the CD-Rom that came with your DVD Drive, instead of using Microsoft Defaults.

or visit your relevant Drive Manufacturer website and download the last drivers for your model DVD-Rom

Identify your Drive model: do a dxdiag scroll down to Disk & DVD/CDROM Drives the last few numbers and letter after your drive is its model number.

You may also try to install the game by simply copying the files of the CDs onto a single folder in your desktop. This will also avoid the game installer from requesting a change in CDs.

[daelin4]

Question #4: During battle and on the map sometimes, my game, while scrolling with the keyboard, brings up the console, speed goes to 3x, and the short cut key screen appears in the background.

Answer #4: There may be various reasons for erratic behavior in the game. Sometimes the prblem may **** from using a wireless keyboard. This may be due to signal interference. This problem has also occasionally been reported by users using wired keyboards. Other factors may also be keyboards with multi-function keys.

Obvious troubleshooting procedures include updating drivers to latest versions minimize issues of obsolescence and compatibility.

[daelin4]

Question #5 - I am having trouble with cavalry not charging, what can I do to ameliorate this problem?

Answer #5 - Various in-game circumstances can cause a charge to come to a halt or make the cavalry switch weapons: Terrain features, skirmishing units, routing and moving units can all cause lance charges to fail. I have noticed that when the knights are required to do any pathfinding or the enemy moves that the knight charge falls apart.

Some user-based information on how to properly execute cavalry charges:

Tip 1: Charge radius. Basically, every unit has a distance between it and the unit it's engaging before it will charge (longer for Calvary, shorter for infantry). Thus if you want to run (double-click) your unit to get them in place fast and still charge, double-click move them into just inside/outside their charge radius (this is where the practice comes in ). Once just inside/outside that radius, single-click or double-click and your units will charge.

Tip 2: Using Calvary as an opening punch. I've read more then a few posts about not being able to get Calvary out after the charge. You have to time it well and as soon and the first part of the charge stops, double click on a point behind them and they should be more then able to get out clean, with little or no casualties. But you have to order the retreat almost as soon as the front line of the charge reaches its target, that way they will pull out immediately after their charge and not get hung up fighting.

Tip 3: how to get Calvary to charge again. Basically you have to retreat the Calvary as in #2 above and set them up facing the enemy again, and start the process all over again. Sometime they don't even have to be facing the enemy unit, if you just withdraw them to the edge of the charge radius and single-click or double-click, they'll turn and you can get a good charge.
*Note that to truly use the cavalry effectively again after an initial charge, you will have to STRATEGICALLY re-position them outside their charge radius facing the enemy you want to charge again. In previous total war games, Heavy Calvary had the mobility of light cavalry and could be used a lot more rapid fire. This has changed and they are a lot less mobile and flexible in M2:TW. After a charge it will be a WHILE before you can realistically expect to manoeuvre you heavy cavalry to a position where it can do a lot of damage and not kill itself.

Think of heavy cavalry in this way if you want:

Heavy calvary is like a giant infantry battering ram. The "parts" to the battering ram are the Knights and the "assembled" battering ram is the knights in formation. The advantage to this, is that, the parts of the ram are self mobile and so, can break down, rapidly move, and quickly reassemble. This assembled ram is like a door ram in that it uses a huge amount of kinetic energy to destroy everything in it's path, but can only transfer the energy in a strait line, and obviously needs to be fully assembled to work. So assemble your ram (your knights) and charge the "ram" into a stationary target. once the forward momentum of the ram is broken, the pieces can dissolve and the reform the ram again. But for the ram to be effective it has to set up so it can transfer it's energy in that strait line again. So the pieces of the ram have to be told to set the ram up again in a good strategic place to maximize it's effectiveness. You are left to tell the pieces where to set up the ram."

Read the official blog on cavalry charges as well - it's good information: www.totalwarblog.com/

[daelin4]

Question #6: How soon can i get to the Americas?

Answer #6: At some point in the game you will get a notification saying that the Americas were "discovered". This will unlock the ability to build the last tier of naval structures, and consequently be able to construct sea-faring vessels that can traverse the ocean and reach the Americas. Your normal ships will not be able to do so.

There is also a way to modify the game files to make it occur sooner: go to your descr_events file and scroll down until you find the 2 core game events called world_is_round. On both of them delete the existing dates and replace them with
"1 2" (not including the speech marks).

This will expand the map to include the Americas on turn 2. You will still have to build up your ports so you can build the really advanced ships needed to get there but the Americas are ready when you are.

[daelin4]

Question #7: How do I make each turn last six months instead of two years, and how do I display the year on the campaign map?

Answer #7: Find the following files in your main game directory:
descr_strat.txt, found in the folder Medieval II Total War/data/world/maps/campaign/imperial_campaign

Make a copy of the file for backup purposes, then open it. You'll notice a section that says;

start_date 1080 summer
end_date 1530 winter
timescale 2.00

Change timescale to 0.50 for turns to last 6 months. You might also want to display years on the campaign map now, rather than the turn counter. In that case, look for the line that says;

show_date_as_turns

Simply put a ; in front of it so it reads;

;show_date_as_turns

Now save the file. It will tell you it's a read only. It's worth noting that editing the descr_strat.txt will only work in new campaigns, not saved ones.

This will now have the game operate each turn as six months, and will display the year date instead of the number of turns elapsed.

For Kingdoms Expansion, the procedure is the same: find the decr_strat files in the mods folder in the root directory of wherever you have installed the game. The Kingdoms campaigns are classified as mods for MTW2, and so can be found in the mods folder in the main directory, with their respective name.

Question #8 - How do I get rid of the banners and the green arrows?

Answer #8 - Find your medieval2.preferences.cfg file. Make a backup copy of it. Now find the line about arrow markers and change that 1 to a 0. (I'll explain it exactly once I get home and can look at my medieval2.preferences.cfg file).

To get rid of the banners:

In the mediveval2.preference.cfg look for the line:

"show_banners = 1" in the video section. Replace 1 with 0 and you are all set.

[daelin4]

Question # 9 - Can I select my faction heir like in RTW?

Answer # 9 - Unlike Rome: Total War, It is not a possible feature in MTW2. There isn't a heir selection option in M2TW. The heir is chosen by the eldest son in the bloodline. This the official suggestion from Sega Support Centre.
sega-en.custhelp.com/cgi-..._topview=1

"The only way for a new heir to be chosen is to have the current heir die in battle. The best way to do this is to send him off to war on his own against unbeatable odds. This also applies to any family members with unpalatable traits that you might want to dispose of. "

Question #10 - What do the difficulty ratings do?

Answer #10: Various statistical adjustments are made either towards the player or the AI's favour. On harder difficulties the AI starts to get bonuses while the player starts to get penalties. This includes campaign effects like money bonuses and recruitment, and in battle mode where units may be more or less prone on routing.

Traditionally, on VH Battle Difficulty, AI units get +7 attack and +7 morale. On H Battle Difficulty, the AI gets +4 attack and +4 morale. Some people say that one of the devs said that in M2TW the AI only gets a morale bonus on VH or H. Be that as it may.

The difficulties does NOT adjust the AI's intelligence, and in fact heir percpeved incrase in aggression may be due to the various changes. So when the AI has higher morale, it knows that it can use weaker units to attack units it normally would result in failure. The AI is also less likely to rout because of fear caused by elephants, fire or any of the other morale-lowering factors.

On Campaign Difficulty - on VH the AI traditionally got 10000 gold per turn as a bonus. This makes it very hard to bankrupt the AI, even if you blockade all the ports and etc. Some people say that this is no longer the case in M2TW, but I have not been able to verify this.

The AI also traditionally got bonuses to settlement order - so AI cities are less likely to revolt, even with 10 super spies in them.

The AI also gets advantages in auto-resolve - very substantial ones - as can often be seen in naval battles.

The AI in campaign mode also tends to act differently due to these effects, as having more money means it can be more flexible and act in a more aggressive manner, being able to afford much larger armies and mercenaries. It also tends to leave its cities with tiny garrisons, because they are not needed to maintain order. The AI also tends to attack you more often on VH, because the Auto-Calc odds are adjusted in their favour in higher difficulty.

On the lower difficulty settings, the human player simply gets these advantages that the AI would get on Hard or VH.

Question #11: Sometimes Artillery doesn't seem to fire, is this a bug?

Answer #11 - Various factors can affect whether an artillery unit will or will not fire.
Normally missile units will not fire onto enemy units it deems too close to friendly units, unless an order to fire is manually given by the player.
Line of sight issues may also pose a problem. The position of the unit in question may also cause it to constantly attempt to re-position, thus being unable to stop and fire as it must set up correctly to move onto the firing animations. Target units being inside the minimum firing range may also prevent artillery from firing.
The best way to solve this it to just attempt to re-position the unit in question.

Question # 12 - Is it somehow possible to play the campaign multiplayer with, say, two players?

Answer # 12 - Conventionally no, but technically yes, this is known as "Hotseat mode". This is done by emailing or otherwise sending your campaign savegame to other players. Rules like how many turns or how long can be agreed upon between players involved. Due to game limitations you players involved can only control one faction.

Question #13: Help, I'm broke!

Answer #13: Total War requires a sound management of your faction's economy. Without a good economy you will eventually run out of funds, which will limit what you can do and how effectively you can do it.

There are various economy guides out there, and this is not the thread to ask how.

Question #14: How do merchants work?

Answer #14: Merchants operate as economic agents. Throughout the campaign map in MTW2 there are resource icons- by placing an agent onto the top right of these icons, the agent will then start to generate additional income for your faction. These icons need not be in regions that you control, and certain resources will generate more income than others. Distance, monopoly (whether other factions agents are present) also have an effect on the amount of income generated.

Like other agents, merchants are able to level up, gain traits and vices, and thus increase his ability to generate income. The higher his rating, the more durable he is against other merchants and the higher the income he generates. Naturally, reserve the best resources for your highest levelled merchants.

Merchants also can target other merchants just as how assassins can target other agents to eliminate. Successfully eliminating an enemy merchant may yield more money and also a boost to the rating via additional traits gained. Like other agents, it is best to target enemy agents with lower skill than the merchant you are using. And like all other agents, it is possible to fail in the attempt, and even lose the agent in the attempt.
Like all other agents, merchants are vulnerable to assassination.

Note that there is sometimes a bug where the game miscalculates distance from the capital (a factor in the amount of income) and thus the merchant income is reduced to as little as 100% lost. In the event of this bug you can easily solve it by simply switching capitals between your desired settlement to another one.

Additional tricks or exploits include positioning an army over a resource icon and stacking multiple merchants into that army. This will have all your merchants generate income from the same resource icon, a feat normally impossible. This even makes them invulnerable to enemy merchant actions, but not assassination.

Question #15: During a siege battle my computer, which has handled huge field battles, suddenly starts to drop in performance.

Answer #15: MTW2's game engine can only take so many men in the battle at a time that modern computers will still show a drop in performance. This appears to be caused by the AI units all crowding around in the same area. This naturally occurs most often in siege mode, where additional graphics like castles and structures are present alongside the usual armies involved.
Besides deploying with fewer men in battle, you may also opt to manipulate the environment by removing graphical objects deemed cluttering, such as battering rams or siege towers, or simply moving the camera so that fewer men are displayed.


Question #16: I brought the American Collectors edition of MIITW but the soundtrack CD dosn't have a track listing, does anyone have this please?

The names for the track listings are as follows:
Amen
Duke of Death
Going Home
Lilly
Song for Toomba
Bladegrass
Solenka
Nothing Left
Did they have to die today
This Is It
High Winds
Crack your head with a Tabla
Secret Sandals
Mare Nostrum
Lifted to the Hotplate
Grab your Castanets
Octli
Lakota Lambada
Inca
Battle of Tollan
Destiny
Crusaders

Question #17: Sometimes Artillery seems to disappear, they can be used and you can see the men but the actual piece of artillery disappears. What's going on?

Answer #17: If this happens to you, it might be a bug, or maybe your computer isn't up to the task, anyway, there is a work around. Turn off reflections then they shouldn't disappear anymore.