Installing Stainless Steel Mod (V6.4)

[Dark Angel]

[Originally posted by former Officer: Kitbuqa - with thanks]

Hi guys, I am just going to make a quick and easy guide on how to install stainless steel 6.4 using steam. I will explain what this mod adds to m2tw in the tavern. PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST HAVE KINGDOMS IN ORDER FOR THIS TO WORK.

Stainless steel allows you to experience a better campaign & more diverse multiplayer games. it works with the newest update of steam and is suprisingly easy to install. The reason for me making this guide is that very few people play SS on multiplayer and as it is my preference, i would appreciate it if others could play it alongside me.

Firstly go to this website if you want to find out more about stainless steel:
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?417435-Stainless-Steel-6-4-Released!

following this, you need to download the ss 6.3 files. 6.3 is a base mod, and 6.4 is a patch which sorts out various problems.

download them from here, but please try gamefront first: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BzYAR4xwF3hQfmdsTnJoMHhVcWliOG9WazlZblJ4OTctMzF5Qmo1NUVqVjZlN2pQZHpGZ0k&usp=sharing

Create a seperate folder and have all of those files in, and nothing else.
your folder should look like this: http://prntscr.com/4xbn1q
'run as administrator' the SS6.3.exe File.
an installer will pop up, simply ensure that the installer is saving to your STEAM DIRECTORY (OS:C>program files(x86)>steam>steamapps>common>medieval total war II>mods) and then go ahead and install it.

screenshot of the correct directory: http://prntscr.com/4xblnk

After this, a small options box shall pop up with translations and campaigns. select your preferred language and then on campaigns select late and only tick savage AI.

screenshot: http://prntscr.com/4xblxr

OnLineBattles will only work when the players are on the same campaign. think of it as two submods that are not compatible with each other. As i am using late, because its my personal favourite, i encourage anyone who will be playing multiplayer to choose that campaign. of course, if you are not going to play online it is up to you.
savage AI is the medium AI. not in terms of difficulty, but in terms of agressiveness. the others, one is extremely peaceful so it is very difficult to have wars, and the other is very agressive and is very difficult to establish peace, and backstabbing is very common anyway so i recommend savage.

once youve done this step, exit out. find the folder with all those files you installed 6.3 from before (http://prntscr.com/4xbn1q) NOT the steam directory folder. Now go ahead and run SS6.4.exe as administrator. the install will once again happen, ensure that it is in the same folder as specified (steam directory) and install. shouldnt take as long as previously because its just a patch of 6.3. select the same options in the options box at the end of the installation like previously. an error message might come up when you click 'start and exit' but this is fine.

Finally, find the folder you have installed the two SS.exe files into (the steam directory)
this is where you have to exchange a campaign with the mod (it is easy to change back so don't worry). i personally changed the british_isles one.
to make this mod work, choose your least favourite kingdoms campaign and rename it to anything you want. then, change the SS folder to what the kingdoms campaign was previously called. so for example, if you replaced americas, change the americas to 'hello' and then the ss folder to 'americas'. if you ever want to change back just reverse these steps.

once you have done this, go onto steam and run MTW2, select the kingdoms campaign you have changed, so if you changed americas, select americas. SS should now pop up.

If you need any help or assistance with this mod let me know.

Good luck, have fun.

:eagle:

[Dark Angel]

Originally posted by Rock-Puppy:

"Launcher Error! - Unable to locate kingdoms.exe.
Is kingdoms.exe in your MTW2 folder." - offiicial message.

I believe that's currently located in my MTW2 'folder', but I don't know where I should 'copy & paste' it to, so please advise me about how to successfuly improve this issue.

Hi Rock Puppy,
This is the error message you get when trying to launch SS manually.
If you replaced the file correctly (for example americas) you should be running it directly through the game as so:
http://prntscr.com/4xlq5r

remember, you have to rename the folder for this to work.

[Dark Angel]

For the record:

Screen crash on start up with error message 'Unable to locate 'Medieval II.exe'

I am running Windows Vista.

The check we applied that appeared to fix my game start problem was as follows:

C:/Progam Files/Steam/SteamApps/. Right Click Medieval 2 total war, select 'Properties' select the 'Security' tab. Under Group or user names: select 'users'. click edit. once again, under the 'group or user names' box, select 'users'. in the 'permissions for ALL APPLICATION PACKAGES' (the box below), tick full control and modify allow. click apply and exit.

If you have already unpacked the Download for Stainless Steel, re-unpack it to S6.4 folder under Steam/SteamApps/Common/Medieval II/mods folder and rename the file 'americas'. When asked to select Steam select 'No'

Game will run from the Steam start up window without a desktop tab using the selected Kingdoms campaign (in my case 'americas').

Note - if you use another directory other than 'americas' your game will not sync with other players using the same mod in OLBs, so best you use the same folder for consistency. Saving the original 'americas' Kingdom mod elsewhere means you can switch it back any time and as this is the least used campaign it makes most sense.

I hope these notes are useful to other gamers installing this mod.

If you apply this 'permission check' first, you will only have to download and unpack Stainless Steel once. You do not need to alter your UCA functions as suggested in the General Forums.

[Sgt.Knumskull]

Is it possible to do some translation work? Does the translation work would consist in typing into files or is it a little bit more complex? e.g. decompile files and things like that? The German translation is just plain horrible. half german half english. it's a TOTAL TRAINWRECK: Language 2

[Dark Angel]

Originally posted by Sgt.Knumskull:

Is it possible to do some translation work? Does the translation work would consist in typing into files or is it a little bit more complex? e.g. decompile files and things like that? The German translation is just plain horrible. half german half english. it's a TOTAL TRAINWRECK: Language 2

Hi. If I understand you correctly, you would like to work on translating SS mod into a German language version? If so, I would suggest you contact the game developers directly and speak with them about offering your services.

If you would like to translate the notes for the install into German, we have a language sub-forum on the group pages you can use to provide for the German speaking community at Medieval II Total War Gaming Group (MTWGG) on Steam.

[jamesda3asu]

I did this and got a fatal error message upon start up

[Dark Angel]

Originally posted by jamesda3asu:

I did this and got a fatal error message upon start up

It's more than likely you've missed something in the install instructions above, or that your game is corrupted/modified before attempting the installation.

You should go back to a vanilla installation (you can do this by right clicking the game in the Steam menu and selecting 'properties\local files\verify game cache' to rebuild the game to standard installation) and then go through the modding procedure.

If you have previously modded the game, you will more than likely create system errors in attempting to overwrite modified files. Go back to vanilla.

There is nothing wrong with these installation instructions and you are the only person who has stated an error, which indicates the problem precedes the load of the Mod.

[jamesda3asu]

it was my launch properties I had to clear them. I have it working now although it is crashing every few moves or so.

[Dark Angel]

If it is crashing you have a bad install, that's not usual.

[KingBjcb]

It just becomes vanniala when i change the filees name

[Dark Angel]

Originally posted by Heinreich:

It just becomes vanniala when i change the filees name

As I said for modding advice, speak to the producers of the original Mod itself.

I run MTWGG, which is just a gaming group for Steam, it isn't a mod design centre but we support Mods in the gaming community where they are of interest to members.

[tankard]

Dont know if this is a common problem, but when i try to start a campaign, it just goes back to the singel player options. Any help would be great

[Dark Angel]

Originally posted by TinnedCan:

Dont know if this is a common problem, but when i try to start a campaign, it just goes back to the singel player options. Any help would be great

Hmm, sounds like it isn't installed correctly. Go through the install process again and re-unpack and load the file. Make sure you are using one of the existing Kingdom mod files and launching via the Steam M2TW launcher. The common one most players use is 'americas'

Do not use the SS launcher it doesn't work.

[Ross Tha Boss]

Just a note guys if you crash to desktop when launching the mod from steam go into the renamed Stainless steel folder which you renamed to one of the kingdoms campagins from there launch the set up.exe select the options you want even if you already have then click the save and start button

[Dark Angel]

CTD during first run through....

This usually happens when you install the file and then move it to a Kingdom's mod folder replacement of your choice (or rename it). You have to re-run install at the current location and then it will work. It won't find the files at the new location, just run the set up again and it should work fine. :)

It usually happens because the download location is not the final folder destination.

[athewwww]

I can't find part 5 anywhere....