Editing text files

Most of the settings for EU2 is done in text files, and these are all editable. Textfiles should be edited and saved only with text editors (like Notepad, Wordpad or TextPad). If you have MS Excel it will open files with extension *.csv if you double-click them, I advise to not edit/save these files in Excel as it may cause corruption!

The common definition files are listed below. If not stated otherwise they can be found in the db folder.

text.csv, adj_defs.csv, armynames.csv, colonynames.csv, country.csv, events.txt, goods.csv, infra.csv, land.csv, naval.csv, navynames.csv, province.csv, randomleaders.csv, religion.csv, revolt.txt, tax_stab.csv, trade.csv

text.csv

The file text.csv is in the Config folder. This is the file containing all text shown in the game, with a few exceptions. It also contains the translated text for all supported languages.

An entry can look loke this:

CANCEL;Cancel;;;;;;;;;;X

The first entry (in this case 'CANCEL') is the key. It must never be changed! This key is used by EU2 to find the correct texts. Then follows ten semicolons.

Since allmost all of the text shown in the game is contained in this file, there are several things you may edit as you please. I will give a few examples:

Change the name of a country

If you want to change the name of a country e.g. to use the country tag for a new country, you search out the tag:

AMI;Armenia Minor;;@;@;;;@;;@;;X

Then you can change this to any country you would like to add:

AMI;Duchy of Grand Fenwick;;@;@;;;@;;@;;X

Change the rank title of an officer

For some reason the title of Field Marshal is displayed wrongly as 'Field Chief Judge'. You can change this by changing:

RANKFMARSHAL;Field chief judge;;;;;;;;;;X

into:

RANKFMARSHAL;Field Marshal;;;;;;;;;;X

adj_defs.csv

This file is in the Map folder. This is a file added in 1.09 for defining passable straits. This file will also override any adjacency coded in the map files.

The files contains five columns:

309;307;sea;875;Jutland-Sjaelland
266;1470;normal;0;Bugfixing

etc.

The first two colums are the from- and to-provinces which are to be connected. The third column defines the type of connection: 'Sea' is to define a narrow strait where it is possible to pass troops without shipping them with a fleet. In the example above is shown the strait definition for the Jutland-Sjælland connection in Denmark. When defining a sea connection, the fourt column is used to define the sea zone between the provinces. Land units may pass between the two defined provinces as long as there are no hostile fleets in the 'through' sea zone. Type 'normal' is used to add connections between two provinces without a strait inbetween. In the example Karelia (1470) is linked to Kexholm (266). When a normal type connection is defined, the 'through' column is set to zero. The fifth, and last, column is for comments.

armynames.csv/navynames.csv

All militay units have a name. Generic names are given from province names (e.g. 'Hannover Regiment') if names are not specified. This can be done in armynames.csv and navynames.csv in the db folder. The files contains two columns:

FRA;Armée Royale
FRA;Armée des Flandres
FRA;Armée du Nord
FRA;Armée de l'Est
etc.

These are names that will be used for French army units. The first column is the country tag. To add your own, just add them to the two files mentioned.

randomleaders.csv

To add a set of your own names for generic military leaders you must edit the file randomleaders in the db\leaders folder. This file also contains two columns:

FRA;Maurepas
FRA;Crussol
FRA;Lussac
etc.

In the first column it is customary to use the country tag. You can specify a namepool for a group of countries with similar languages and naming tradition by linking them all to a common three-letter code. This is done for most of the German minors with the HEI tag, and for Arabic countries with the MUS tag and all French countries to FRA. The link to randomleaders.csv is set in country.csv (see below).

colonynames.csv

Some colonial countries have defined the names for some colonies. There are also defined some suitable colony names for a few other countries. This is done in colonynames.csv in the db folder. The file contains three columns:

ENG;New Albion;9
ENG;Belize;34
ENG;New Orleans;46
ENG;Savannah;54

...
ENG;Westport;Any
ENG;Canterbury;Any
FRA;Nouvelle Orléans;46
FRA;Mobile;47
...

The first column is the country tag, the second column is the colony name while the last column is the location of the colony. You see that if England colonize province 46 the name of this colony will be New Orleans. If the same province is colonized by France it will be Nouvelle Orléans. To add "random" colonynames, just replace the province number with 'Any'.

country.csv

For each country you can specify the map color, leader language, army and navy sprites and starting domestic policy (DP) settings. The file look like this:

ENG;Red;LightOrange;latin;ENG;ENG;MIN;MIN;8;3;4;6;5;5;7;7;0;X
FRA;LightBlue;LightOrange;latin;FRA;FRA;MIN;MIN;8;3;2;6;5;5;4;8;0;X
...
HES;LightOrange;LightOrange;latin;HES;MIN;MIN;MIN;8;1;4;8;5;6;5;9;1;X
etc.

The second column is the map color for the country selected by the country tag in the first column. If you want to change it just look at the other countries to get an idea of valid color names.

The fourth column is the technology group. In this case the latin group. Valid groups are latin, orthodox, muslim, china and exotic.

The fifth column is the leader language. This defines from what namepool the names of your generic leaders are taken . You can add your own leader names (see above) or just use the names of a related country.

The next three columns defines the graphic (sprites) used on your soldiers, ships and cities. Some countries have custom sprites, like England and France above, while others use the standards. MIN are the standard ones used by most european countries. The graphic are stored in the folder Gfx\Map\Units (see here).

The next eight columns define the starting position of the Domestic Policy sliders. The sliders are Aristocracy, Centralization, Innovative, Mercantilism, Offensive, Land, Quality and Serfdom. For more info on these please refer to your game manual.

The last entry defines if the country is an Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. If so, this is set to 1 instead of 0, set to 2 it give double vote.

goods.csv

The various provinces have a predominant good representing their production. This good can be any of a list of 20 various goods. The province goods is set in province.csv, while their value and effect is set in goods.csv. The file look like this:

Goods;Base Resource Value;Mine;TradePost;NumOfSlaves
CLO;10;0;0;0
COT;7;0;0;1
...
IVOR;7;0;1;0
METAL;15;1;0;0
...
TEA;5;0;0;0
NOTHING;0;0;0;0

The first column is the key. Do not change this! The second column is the base value, giving the relative value of the vaious goods. One can e.g. see that cloth (CLO) is twice the value of tea (TEA).

The 'Mine' column defines the mined goods: gold, iron, copper and salt. The value of the mine in set for each province in province.csv. 'TradePost' mark goods that are valuable when targetted with tradeposts: furs, ivory, chinaware, slaves and spice. The last column, 'NumOfSlaves' define if the good depend on slaves. Settling of provinces with these goods (cotton, sugar and tobacco) will raise the value of slave provinces.

infra.csv

The effect of the different infrastructure levels is defined in infra.csv. The file looks like this:

Level;Cost;Efficiency;
0;1419;20;Base level
1;1425;25;
2;1450;30;
3;1495;35;
4;1535;40;
5;1570;50;
6;1600;60;
7;1640;70;
8;1700;80;
9;1750;90;
10;9999;100;Supa powa

The 'Efficiency' column defines the production efficiency at each infrastructure level.

land.csv

The technology levels for land-tech are defined in land.csv in the db folder. The file has 14 columns:

naval.csv

The technology levels for naval-tech are defined in naval.csv in the db folder. The file has 14 columns:

province.csv

All the provinces and sea-zones in the game are listed in province.csv. Each province have one line like this:

Id;Name;PIW name;Religion;Culture;SizeModifier;Pashas;Climate;Ice?; (etc)
...
382;Calais;coastal;catholic;french;0;0;3;0; (etc)

It's a long line, with a lot of information. The top row contains information about what the different columns contains. To browse the province file I suggest you use Excel or a different spreadsheet. By importing the file using semicolon as a separator Excel get it all nice set up in columns.

The most important columns are:

Province climate specified:

religion.csv

The effects of the various religions are defined in religion.csv in the db folder. The file has 14 columns:

revolt.txt

When one or more provinces have been rebel controlled for a certain time period, they might declare independance as a new country. It is also possible for a player to set some provinces free as a vassal. This is defined in revolt.txt in the db folder. A country setting look like this:

PUR = {
	date = { day = 1 month = january year = 1640 }
	expirydate = { day = 15 month = february year = 1688 }
	minimum = { 244 246 }
	extra = { 248 249 250 }
	capital = 244
	group = latin
	ai = "England.ai"
	culture = anglosaxon
	religion = reformed
}

The date/expirydate set the timespan the country (in this case the English Puritans) can emerge as a new country from revolts. The Puritans can not appear before 1640, and not after 1688.

The provinces that might form the new country is listed as minimum. These provinces are also the ones the country recieves if set free as a vassal. Note that not all of the minimum provinces need to be rebel controlled for a country to form. In case of a declaration of independance from revolts the extra provinces will also join if they are rebel controlled. Note that rebel controlled provinces previous owned by several countries can form a new country this way.

If a country revolts to eliminate another country (e.g. if Catalonia revolts in the last province of Aragon) the game will crash.

You can use an additional 'not = TAG' statement. This will prevent the revolter to form if the specified country exists.

If the province defined as capital is among the revolting provinces it will become capital. If not, the capital is placed random. If the new revolter appears in a province formerly capital of another country, this capital will be relocated - it appears to be to the owned province with the lowest province ID...

You can define a technology group for the new country, as well as an AI file to use.

You may also define a state culture and the state religion of the newly formed country. If these are not defined the revolter receive these from it's capital province. Note: A revolter can have only one state culture.

tax_stab.csv

This file defines the bonuses or penalties to tax income that comes from stability. The stability levels from 3 to -3 are listed, as well as a percentage modifier to tax income.

trade.csv

The effect of the different trade levels is defined in trade.csv. The file looks like this:

Level;Cost;Efficiency;
0;1419;20;Base level
1;1425;60;
2;1475;65;
3;1500;70;
4;1540;75;
5;1570;80;
6;1600;85;
7;1640;90;
8;1700;95;
9;1750;100;
10;9999;100;Supa powa

The 'Efficiency' column defines the trade efficiency at each trade level.

The moddir mode

When you are editing files for, say a new scenario, it will be a good idea if these changes wouldn't affect your existing scenarios. With this in mind the 1.05 patch introduces a moddir mode, where an option added at startup points to a directory with the modified files.

For more about the moddir mode see here.