[Question] Removing the HRE

[imperium3]

For the new game I'm soon to start I'd like to remove the HRE. It's just a big invincible grey blob and I think my gameplay would be more historical (not to mention fun) without it. So how can I modify the game so that the game starts just with the independent vassals of the HRE (Bavaria etc) and no empire? I don't care if it's still formable, so long as it doesn't exist in the first place.

NB I have no experience modding CK2, though I have done a reasonable amount (mainly small tweaks like this) on other games.

 

[grisamentum]

Titles are mostly governed by a single file:

xxxx\Crusader Kings II\common\landed_titles\landed_titles.txt

Primarily you need to remove e_hre. Landed titles have a nested structure, so you need to take out the first part, starting on line 1696 (usually) -

e_hre = {

	color={ 155 155 155 }
	color2={ 220 220 20 }
	
	capital = 90 # Jülich / Aachen
	
	religion=catholic
	culture = german
	short_name = yes

and the final } on line 3875, right before e_byzantium starts.

There might be a couple other things to tweak as well but doing the above is the main part of removing the HRE.

 

[imperium3]

Wouldn't that make the HRE completely unformable as well (as the title would no longer exist)? Is there a way to remove it from the emperor, so it just isn't a de facto nation in the game?

Edit: Slightly off-topic, but looking through that file, I see the regnal name listings for the Papacy and Ecumenical Patriarchate. If I added that to another title, would rulers acquire regnal names when they attain the title? I'd test it myself, but it seems like wasted effort when someone already has...

Edit2: Well, I answered my original question. I went into history\titles\e_hre and changed to holder=0 as of 1054 (when the last emperor who reigns entirely before 1066 dies). Now it will not appear, unless some German gets powerful enough to form the empire (which is unlikely and also too awesome to prevent).

I'm also mulling some way to make the post of Emperor exist but be borderline powerless, as it was for most of its existence. For example I could allow it to exist even if holder has no land, and give it to some landless guy (who then has power to change the crown laws but nothing else), but because it's elective (which I'm not prepared to change) the title would start falling into the hands of powerful dukes and rolling their lands together. And to stop that I could drop it down to Duke-level, but it seems a bit wrong to have an Emperor only have a Duke title.

Hmmm...

 

[unmerged(53410)]

To make HRE inactive
1. Go to crusader kings ii\history\titles
2. Open e_hre.txt
3. Locate the current holder
4. Set holder to 0
5. save file
6. Not sure but you might all so have to set all direct vassals free by opening their files in crusader kings ii\history\titles and remove liege="e_hre"

P.S. I have not tested to add new titles but I don't see why it should not work.
EDIT: It works, I'm now playing the Overlord of Sweden.

 

[imperium3]

I didn't need to remove the liege line. I'm not sure, but I think that's just for whether the HRE's the de jure liege, which I don't really mind.

Modding's addictive, I've been trawling through the main files adding little tweaks here and there. It's going to be annoying when one day I take Steam out of offline mode and I lose them all to the next update.
So far I've added:
A +1 learning bonus to Shy to make the trait less crap
A -10 church opinion for homosexual, impaler and cruel characters, since the church generally doesn't approve of such things...
Massively cut the chance of "the Great" coming up, since it's a bit generic and my characters get it too often. Of my last 5 rulers, 4 are "the Great" and it's too much.

Random question: Where are the game's text files kept? I want to add a couple of honorary titles (Village Idiot, Handmaiden and Royal Guard) but I think I need to mod the text files as well to add them properly.

 

[Arko]

To make HRE inactive
1. Go to crusader kings ii\history\titles
2. Open e_hre.txt
3. Locate the current holder
4. Set holder to 0
5. save file
6. Not sure but you might all so have to set all direct vassals free by opening their files in crusader kings ii\history\titles and remove liege="e_hre"

P.S. I have not tested to add new titles but I don't see why it should not work.
EDIT: It works, I'm now playing the Overlord of Sweden.

easier : just remove e_hre.txt file or keep it emptied.
emperor will keep his personal domain as titles.

Random question: Where are the game's text files kept? I want to add a couple of honorary titles (Village Idiot, Handmaiden and Royal Guard) but I think I need to mod the text files as well to add them properly.

localisation folder. folder search function of notepadd++ is your friend.