descr_sm_factions.txt

M2TW Example

The "descr_sm_factions.txt" is an important file in Medieval 2 total war, it determines various features of the various factions in-game, such as whether they are available in custom battles or not, what faction symbol to show on the loading screen and several other things. An example entry from the file is shown below:

faction						portugal
culture						southern_european
religion					catholic
symbol						models_strat/symbol_portugal .CAS
rebel_symbol				models_strat/symbol_rebels.CAS
primary_colour				red 215, green 0, blue 0
secondary_colour			red 255, green 210, blue 0
loading_logo				loading_screen/symbols/symbol128_portugal.tga
standard_index				12
logo_index					FACTION_LOGO_PORTUGAL
small_logo_index			SMALL_FACTION_LOGO_PORTUGAL
triumph_value				5
custom_battle_availability	yes
can_sap						no
prefers_naval_invasions		yes
can_have_princess			yes
has_family_tree					yes

RTW Example

Typical example from RTW 1.5:

faction						macedon
culture						greek
symbol						models_strat/symbol_macedon.CAS
rebel_symbol				models_strat/symbol_greek_rebel.CAS
primary_colour				red 0, green 0, blue 0
secondary_colour			red 255, green 75, blue 0
loading_logo				loading_screen/symbols/symbol128_macedon.tga
standard_index				4
logo_index					239
small_logo_index			253
triumph_value				5
intro_movie					fmv/intros/greek_intro_640x480_bars.wmv
victory_movie				fmv/victory/greek_outro_320x240.wmv
defeat_movie				ata/fmv/lose/macedon_eliminated.wmv
death_movie					fmv/death/death_macedon_grass_320x240.wmv
custom_battle_availability	yes
can_sap						yes
prefers_naval_invasions		no

Barbarian Invasion Example

Typical example including hording:

faction						goths, spawns_on_revolt ostrogoths
culture						nomad
symbol						models_strat/symbol_goths.CAS
rebel_symbol				models_strat/symbol_nomad_rebel.CAS
primary_colour				red 247, green 73 blue 2
secondary_colour			red 0, green 0, blue 0
loading_logo				loading_screen/symbols/symbol128_goths.tga
standard_index				9
logo_index					238		; Index into strat3.rsd
small_logo_index			252		; Index into shared.rsd
triumph_value				5
intro_movie
victory_movie				fmv/victory/goths_win.wmv
defeat_movie				fmv/lose/goths_eliminated.wmv
death_movie					fmv/lose/goths_eliminated.wmv
custom_battle_availability	yes
horde_min_units				60
horde_max_units				100
horde_max_units_reduction_every_horde 20
horde_unit_per_settlement_population	300
horde_min_named_characters	4
horde_max_percent_army_stack 80
horde_disband_percent_on_settlement_capture	33
horde_disband_percent_on_settlement_capture	50
horde_disband_percent_on_settlement_capture	100
horde_unit					steppe horde horse
horde_unit					steppe horde spearmen
....
can_sap						yes
prefers_naval_invasions		no

Other Options for Faction line in BI

Factions in BI can also be assigned, spawned_on_event, spawned_on_revolt, shadowing & shadowed_by the explanation of what some of those do can and how a horde faction is set up can be found in Hording and Emergent Factions - RTW/BI

Breaking it down, What it all this means:

faction

This is the faction the data applies to.

culture

The culture group the faction is a part of, this determines what UI it uses and the character portrait set that characters from that faction will use.

religion

The faction's religion. - not used in RTW/BI

symbol

What faction symbol the faction will use.

primary_colour

The main colour of the faction (this determines the middle colour within the border lines on the stratmap, not the colour of stratmap and battlemap models, it also determines the colour of deployment zone borders on the battlemap).

secondary_colour

The secondary colour of the faction (this determines the outer colour of the border lines on the stratmap).

loading_logo

Determines the symbol displayed on loading screens when entering a battle with that faction or loading a campaign.

logo_index

Position of the factions logo in the UI interface files, as defined in the .rsd (RTW/BI) or .sd (M2TW) files.

small_logo_index

Position of the smaller faction logo in the UI interface files, as defined in the .rsd (RTW/BI) or .sd (M2TW) files. This is the smaller version used in the faction strength graphs and diplomacy view etc.

standard_index

The reference to which position on the banners/symbolsX.tga.dds files the faction uses for its strategic map standard logo.

triumph_value

 ? Possibly not used.

custom_battle_availability

Whether or not the faction can be used in custom battles (There is a limit of 20 factions that can be displayed on the custom battle "choose faction screen", any more will not show up unless others are removed.

can_sap

Whether the faction cap sap in seiges (used in RTW and BI, present but not functioning in M2TW)

prefers_naval_invasions

Whether the faction prefers to use naval invasions, important for island nations or factions without much room to expand in their local area (such as spain, portugal and sicily)

can_have_princesses

If the faction can have princesses (must have appropriate stratmap models) - not used in RTW/BI

has_family_tree

Whether or not the faction has a family tree (In vanilla only the Papal States has this, the faction leader must be determined through scripting otherwise the faction will be leaderless when their first leader dies). - not used in RTW/BI

See Also

Emergent Factions in M2TW for section to add if emergent faction is required.