Stainless Steel 6.4 Grand Campaign won't start (MacOS)

[haydenjti]

Stainless Steel 6.3 & 6.4 - patch - Grand Campaign (Late Era Campaign) won't start on MacOS

Any and all suggestions are welcome I'm honestly ready to try anything been at this for a couple of days now and if anyone else currently has, or had the same problem please let me know I'm not alone, thanks.

Recently bought a MacBook and am new to using MacOS and so using Steam have re- downloaded and installed in my opinion, still the best game the Total War franchise has pushed out to date. Total War: MEDIEVAL II - Definitive Edition.

Using Wineskin Winery have followed all the steps over Internet forums to create a working "StainlessSteel.app" wrapper.

Primarily the one created by Curtis Stainer -
https://crstanier.co.uk/journal/18-installing-stainless-steel-medieval-total-war-mod-on-steam-version-for-macos

Right clicked and opened package contents of "StainlessSteel.app"
Opened "drive_c"
Copied "SS6.3" directory out of "Program Files" and pasted in the "mods" section of:

Steam -> Medieval II: Total War -> Properties -> Local Files -> Browse Local Files -> Medieval II Data -> mods

Afterwards I start up the game, tick advanced options and enter "--features.mod=mods/SS6.3"
and click "PLAY" which is where it gets strange.

Stainless Steel 6.4 starts up completely normally just how I remember it, click single player, late era campaign, pick my faction, the difficulties and advice level I want and when I click start, cries of warriors and music of a new campaign start however I am sent back to the previous screen look at the options:
- Late Era Campaign
- Custom Battle
- Quick Battle
- Historical Battle

At this page clicking Late Era Campaign does nothing but make the clank noise when you click an option whereas all the other 3 options work, the only way is to click the back button and go to Single Player -> Late Era Campaign and choose your faction again however the result is the same, cries of warriors, music and back to the options page.

Extremely confused and frustrated with myself, please if anyone could help a brother out, would be greatly appreciated.

Safe.

Extra Info:

- I don't know if it has to do with my type of MacOS but I'm on MacOS Mojave 10.14 - can happily revert back to High Sierra if needed to though.

- Have tried verifying game files

- Have tried renaming as one of the kingdoms expansion folders to 'random' and SS6.3 to what the kingdoms folder was, i.e. 'teutonic', and then right-clicking and launching the chosen expansion, also entering "--features.mod=mods/teutonic" in at advanced options which launches to the loading screen of the actual teutonic game even though it has been renamed and then cuts out after less than 5 seconds.

- When I launch the "StainlessSteel.app" wrapper there is a Launcher Error! that comes up that says "Unable to locate kingdoms.exe. Is Kingdoms.exe in your MTW2 folder?"

[Inardesco]

The steam version does not have a kingdoms.exe and you should've gotten the question whether or not you're using the steam or retail version during installation.

Simply copy your medieval2.exe and rename the copy to kingdoms.exe. There is simply no need to rename any of your kingdoms folders.

As for the game deciding to go back to the main menu, simply delete the map.rwm in your stainless steel folder. That should allow the game to rebuild it and thus allow you to carry on.

[haydenjti]

Appreciate the quick reply.

Using steam so I'm assuming I'm using the steam version.

Deleted the "map.rwm" from my StainlessSteel.app wrapper and from the SS6.3 folder in the mods section and the same thing happened just took a little longer on the pick your faction screen before going to the previous options page.

Might be a stupid question but can't find a "medieval2.exe" file only "SS_Launcher.exe" and the set up one, could you specify as to where to find it? i.e. in my wrapper or local files on steam.

[Archie]

Originally posted by haydenjti:

Appreciate the quick reply.

Using steam so I'm assuming I'm using the steam version.

Deleted the "map.rwm" from my StainlessSteel.app wrapper and from the SS6.3 folder in the mods section and the same thing happened just took a little longer on the pick your faction screen before going to the previous options page.

Might be a stupid question but can't find a "medieval2.exe" file only "SS_Launcher.exe" and the set up one, could you specify as to where to find it? i.e. in my wrapper or local files on steam.

Are you only looking in the SS6.3 folder? medieval2.exe is in the main game folder, not the mod subfolder.

[haydenjti]

Yea I was so just to break it down when I click properties of the game on steam and browse local files I have 2 options, Medieval II: Total War the application and a folder Medieval 2 Data. I can't locate any program called medieval2.exe but I'm guessing when I click 'the application:

Medieval II: Total War -> Show Package Contents -> Contents -> MacOS

In that folder is a Unix executable called "Medieval II Total War"

Is this the medieval.exe file I need to copy and rename kingdoms and paste somewhere?

Thanks

[Inardesco]

All executable files are .exe's.

You want to place the copy in the same folder, rename it to kingdoms

[haydenjti]

Copied the .exe file and pasted in the same M2TW folder and renamed it Kingdoms.

Still no change, game continues to go back the options menu whenever I choose my faction and click start

[Inardesco]

You need to delete the map.rwm

[haydenjti]

Deleted the map.rwm and then start up Medieval II Total War, go through to single player, late era campaign and once I've chosen my faction and click start, it freezes for 5 seconds and the same thing happens.

However afterwards I went back into my files and map.rwm has returned, deleted it again, emptied trash and tried again but same outcome it returns.

Do you know how or why? Or how I can just permanently delete it?

[Inardesco]

The game automatically creates a map.rwm if there isn't one present. This often times can be an where the map.rwm doesn't correspond with the campaign map. Thus deleting it tells the game to remake it using the data from the mod folder.

You have copied an existing mod folder into your mods folder and that could very well be the issue. If that folder you've pasted didn't work, it won't work for you regardless of what you do, mainly because you lack the installer, you also lack the launcher set up.

You don't need to rename any of your kingdoms installations and subsequently if you don't like the clutter on your desktop, can ignore the desktop icon that comes with it and use the features method.

https://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?417435-Stainless-Steel-6-4-Released!

You can find the installer for Stainless Steel 6.3 and the 6.4 patch on here. I assume Macbooks are capeable of running installers and not totally incompetent in using every day file extensions.

[Gigantus]

Getting thrown back to the menu is a problem with the descr_strat file. Freezing for a while during loading and then crashing is a missing texture for a strat model.

All the above point to a faulty installation - download the installer mentioned by Inardesco and then have a look here for helpful tips on how to get it going: https://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?605

Here is a guide on how to install on windows, not sure if that is any help

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=861485547