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Keep in mind that the East Slavs living in the Kingdom of Hungary (who would later be labelled with the name "Rusyns") became Orthodox the same way their East Slavic neighbors living on the other side of the Carpathian mountains did. If your melting pot is meant to represent Christianized Rus', then those Rus' should also become "russian" culture.

That is indeed an issue. For now I've just let them stay the early East Slavic culture, but I admit that it really won't do if we're just a tiny bit pedantic (as I tend to be at times). The ideal from my current point of view would be a unique culture for this area (what name it should have, I don't rightly know) even with such a low number of provinces, but that really can not be justified in relation to the amount of effort required. There's also the fact that, even though the naming list (and culture name) is completely wrong as we progress into the 11th century and beyond, the chances that we'll see any, or any significant amount of characters of this culture by then is quite slim.

I must agree that, barring the effort of making a unique culture, the best option would be to let them become "Ruskyi" as well. My compromise would then be to significantly increase the time it takes for them to adopt it. I've already slowed it down for provinces bordering West Slavic, Altaic, and Magyar culture group provinces as well as any provinces in the Duchy of Galich. My current setup was to disallow it inside the kingdoms of Poland and Hungary, but with your suggestion I think that will also now just amount to a slowing down.

I think compromise is the central word here.

Note that there is a reason I keep referring to this group as Rus' or East Slavs (or Old East Slavic when I talk about language), not Russian or Old Russian or Proto-Russian, and I advise you to try to do the same. People who have "russian" culture in CK2 should not be thought of as being tied to Russian language or culture in any direct sense (both of which arguably only really started emerging as their own, distinct entity around the 15th century). They were Rus', they were all Rus', even though Rus'-dom itself definitely was not the monolith that having just one "final" East Slavic culture would imply. The only reason it is even called "russian" in SWMH's game files is to maintain maximum compatibility with vanilla CK2.

I have a tendency to let language come to the forefront of "culture" rather than "ethnicity" or "tradition" (even though I'm an Ethnology graduate...) and that is, I think, because what we actually see in the game is not so much "ethnicity" or "tradition" playing out (those tend to have a much higher degree of attention in the game's religions) but instead we see tons and tons of text, and thus language. Now, of course it's silly to use one standardised culture and language for the whole East Slavic region, but with the limitations we have at our disposal, and considering gameplay (and ease) this will do. I simply try to bring some life and development into it, my work (just like my the Scandinavian cultures) being more focused on development (diachronic split up) than division (synchronic split up).

If you're going off of the Old Novgorod birch bark letters, one thing you could think about is how this difference in not only language, but also lifestyle (i.e. widespread literacy, a focus on urban culture) and politics (only Novgorod and Pskov adopted republican structures based on their veches, even if veches were present in a lot of other places across Slavdom) came about. One idea could be that this was caused by greater Norse influence in those areas (Norse themselves also having similar, widespread literacy), but then that wouldn't explain why this didn't develop in Kiev. Whatever cultures you choose to represent with your melting pot system, it might not be a bad idea to have something set up to be able to reproduce whatever intra-Rus' split with which you'll want to end up in the 1200's and beyond.

It would indeed be interesting to look at making some later melting pots that can trigger after (or alternatively take the place of) the standard Ruskyi culture spreading in some areas like Novgorod. I do think Novgorod (and Pskov) has some attention in later bookmarks already though, with the republic(s) being a nice contrast to the other Russian princedoms. I may have to revise it at some point, since even though I worked on it extensively, it was more patching gaping holes than polishing up a nice shine...
 
WIP province setup.

Ruskyi spread mostly follows Christian spread (except some border areas).

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I know it might be a hell of work but making monolith 'Slavonic" culture to represent pre-Norse Rus is a bad idea. If anything it should be divided into major tribal cultures later united as a melting pot under the Orthodox rulers.
 
I know it might be a hell of work but making monolith 'Slavonic" culture to represent pre-Norse Rus is a bad idea. If anything it should be divided into major tribal cultures later united as a melting pot under the Orthodox rulers.
This is just the culture layer. They are divided on a tribal and political level into the supposed subdivisions. The good thing about this rather simplified solution is that we don't have to infight about which divisions to have and which not to have, where the lines are drawn, etc. etc.

EDIT: Think of the game's Norse culture as a comparison: We're talking a shared cultural core and a dialect continuum. There also seemed to've been a certain level of fluidity between the subdivisions.

This also applied to the pre-Norse-influenced East Slavic tribes as far as I can tell.
 
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Revision of the Rus setup Vol.2 (31-03-20)
After extensive testing and tweaking, the melting pot is working perfectly and most scenarios, likely or unlikely, are covered for a both plausible and most of the time historical outcome.

Everything is done now, except for finishing the landed titles entries for the two new Russian cultures. Hopefully I will be able to finish that very soon.


00WGCf4.png
 
So, here it is.

Along with a few other changes.


CHANGELOG:
31-03-20
Main Part:
- Two new Russian cultures that function as Pre-Norse-influenced (Slovenisku) and Norse-Rus melting pot (Rusisku) respectively, both of which melt into regular Russian (Ruskyi) culture when Christianity arrives.
- Rurik and Oleg have been given weak claims on Kiev from the start to facilitate a more lasting Norse impression on this area (and somewhat further historical events).
- The province of Staraya Ladoga is now early Rus culture (yet remains Finno-Ugric faith to represent the mix) from the start, and it has a city. This was the main trading hub up until the mid 10th century. The province only has three slots, so it will rightly decline in importance later on.
- The province of Kiev now gets a city in 890 to further its status as the most important settlement of the Kievan Rus. Archeological evidence suggests that the lower city (Podol) was settled in the late 9th century.
- Wendish names and titles revisited, thanks to @ShinsukeNakamura. Culture now called "Slowienski".
- Scottish tribal setup revisited. More progression toward feudalism during the late 10th century and onward, slightly stronger tribal provinces; eastern and central lowlands is feudal with the Dunkelds in 1066.
- Danish personal names revisited to better portray later development (unfortunately this means some Norse names in Denmark will retain diphthongs and other features longer than they should since they are taken out of the early Danish naming list).
- Also some additions and omissions to the Norwegian and Swedish naming lists, but not as severe as the Danish one.
- Normans now more prone to use paternal and maternal grandfather names, to avoid too many old Norse-derived names popping up in later bookmarks.
- Submod-specific landed titles files restructured, thanks to the discovery of @Gatonegro. Should now be compatible with other submods that edit landed titles (except if they include swmh_landed_titles.txt - unfortunately it didn't solve the arbitrary limit to the number of entries in submod-specific files).
No Early Bascinets or Great Helms:
- Early crusader great helm now exclusive between 1200 and 1225 (except for order helmets) after which real great helms appear, and the early type completely disappears in 1250.
- Early enclosed helmets now slightly more accurately appear 25 years later, in 1175.
- Replaced the Viking Age sword hilt behind the hounskull bascinet with a warhammer.
- Slight tweaks and balances to requirements.
Call to Arms:
- EMF features that lower (or in a few instances raise) your liege levy percentages (e.g. empire decay and levy efficiency) will now also lower (or raise) your feudal vassals' opinion. This is to somewhat counter the lower importance of liege levies when you use call to arms, so these features now also make vassals less (or more) likely to accept your summons.
- Taxing your feudal vassals lowers their opinion of you. Since liege levies are a lot less useful with call to arms, this counters the inclination of players to focus on taxes (AI will always keep high levy focus by default).
- Order government lieges do not call order government vassals to arms; they provide full liege levies instead (by default regardless of opinion).
- Fixed an issue where levy control was retained and call to arms disabled when tribal organisation was lowered from high to medium.
Latin and Greek Religious Titles:
- Rearranged structure for landed titles file.




NHO Compilation (31-03-20)

Includes all NHO parts and all tweaks except Call to Arms, No Early Bascinets or Great Helms, and Proper Ruler Designer.

For HIP Frosty2 (EMF and SWMH required) NOTE: Unfortunately doesn't support MiniSWMH anymore.


NHO Main Part

Features:
  • Reworked Norse culture split, including four brand new cultures in Scandinavia and a completely overhauled language setup. See here for details.
  • Overhauled Norse and Norse-derived (including melting pot) character and dynasty names as well as noble and landed title localisation.
  • New or tweaked names and localisation for neighbouring cultures (Anglo-Saxon, Celtic, Balto-Slavic, and Finno-Ugric), including an effort to replace all remaining "High Chiefs".
  • A "Scots" melting-pot that will appear in the Scottish lowlands in the 11th century (around the time of Malcolm III whose descendants are of this anglophile culture along with the Scoto-Norman nobility).
  • Revision of the Rus setup, with two new cultures and melting pot events for early and late Rus, a new Polotsk cadet branch of the Rurikids, revised succession laws for Kiev, fixes to the Novgorod Republic, corrections to the surrounding culture setup, and a split of the Mordvin culture into Erzya and Moksha, etc.
  • Changes and corrections to the title and character setup in and around the Scandinavian kingdoms.
  • Tweaked Norse-Gaelic and Anglo-Danish melting-pots.
  • Slightly lowered taxes and levies of North Sea and Baltic Merchant Republics.
  • Other minor changes that enhance the experience when playing within the Norse sphere of influence (see the changelog).
Requirements:
HIP Frosty2 (EMF and SWMH required)

Download:
Direct
(31-03-20)



No Early Bascinets or Great Helms

Features:
No longer will you see Harald Hardrada wearing a 13th century great helm. Disables bascinets before 1300, great helms before 1225 (for Crusaders 1200), enclosed helmets before 1175, flat top and kettle hats before 1125. The distribution of high martial gear based on martial skill etc. has also been tweaked slightly to accommodate the more fractured emergence of the helmet types - and for a nice transition between them.

Requirements:
HIP Frosty2 (CPRplus required)

Download:
Direct
(31-03-20) NOTE: Not included in the compilation.



Call to Arms

Features:
Any independent ruler, with at least one higher than baron tier vassal, that becomes primary participant in a war will have to call vassals to arms, but when at peace or a secondary participant only, the ruler will get the possibility to raise liege levies once more
NOTE:
- I've created this with inspiration, and some base code, from this mod.
- Many triggers for factions and decisions have been modified to take into account the drop in the liege's perceived power when he no longer has direct control of his vassals' levies.
- Taxing your feudal vassals lowers their opinion of you. Since liege levies are a lot less useful with call to arms, this counters the inclination of players to focus on taxes (AI will always keep high levy focus by default).
- Modifiers that alter feudal liege levy percentages (e.g. imperial decay and levy efficiency) also give negative/positive opinion to your feudal vassals (to alter their chances of joining your wars).
- I've also made new government types for all baron-tier feudal vassals to make sure only vassals that can raise their troops will be called (i.e. feudal county-tier or above).
- Be aware that this feature is very much experimental and will change your experience significantly.


DISCLAIMER: Due to the fundamental changes to balance etc. the HIP developers will not help you troubleshoot your game if you use this tweak.

Requirements:
HIP Frosty2 (EMF required)

Download:
Direct
(31-03-20) NOTE: Not included in the compilation.



Latin and Greek Religious Titles

Features:
Catholic religious titles use Latin, and Orthodox religious titles use Greek, instead of English.
The in-game "Autocephalous Patriarchs" are now called "Mitropolitis" (Metropolitan) since real Patriarchs beside the Ecumenical one only appeared in the Pentarchy and in Bulgaria within the game's time frame; instead the temple holdings where they appeared will now give the title "Patriarkhes" if held by an Orthodox character and "Patriarcha" if held by a Catholic character.

Requirements:
HIP Frosty2 (SWMH/MiniSWMH required)

Download:
Direct
(31-03-20)
 
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Wow, that's a really nice update, my friend!
Thank you!
So, here it is.
Submod-specific landed titles files restructured, thanks to the discovery of @Gatonegro. Should now be compatible with other submods that edit landed titles (except if they include swmh_landed_titles.txt - unfortunately it didn't solve the arbitrary limit to the number of entries in submod-specific files).

Will it work with more cultural names now? I'll re-check it later anyway.
 
Hey, I just want to give my two cents about Call to Arms submod.

While I love the idea, I've found a design ssue that in my opinion destroy the gameplay: it makes factionalism practically useless.

I'm currently playing as a vassal of the Saint Empire Romain, since it was only the kingdom of Italy and there haven't been a single revolt since I added Call to Arms to my playthrough. Problem is, the way faction power is now calculated against liege power, makes any faction shy away from revolting.

The same is true with the ERE, where not a single revolt has plagued them. In fact, I think I haven't seen a revolt agaisnt any ruler, aside from the irrelevant that arise when a ruler revokes a title.

Searching through the map I found a rebellion in Norway. I also remember a couple rebellions in Galicia and Asturias, which can be explained since smaller kingdoms tend to have fewer, relatively more powerful vassals

Here's a screenshot of the worldmap, as you can every kingdom is oddly stable

CAB369836EFC073621F7D8E75C8166E494B728E4




On another topic, do you know if there are compatibility issues between No Early Bascinets and great helms and Cultural Cities Remix? I'm at the middle of 10th Century and bascinets and great helms have made an appearance, which shouldn't happen
 
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Hey, I just want to give my two cents about Call to Arms submod.

While I love the idea, I've found a design ssue that in my opinion destroy the gameplay: it makes factionalism practically useless.

I'm currently playing as a vassal of the Saint Empire Romain, since it was only the kingdom of Italy and there haven't been a single revolt since I added Call to Arms to my playthrough. Problem is, the way faction power is now calculated against liege power, makes any faction shy away from revolting.

The same is true with the ERE, where not a single revolt has plagued them. In fact, I think I haven't seen a revolt agaisnt any ruler, aside from the irrelevant that arise when a ruler revokes a title.

Searching through the map I found a rebellion in Norway. I also remember a couple rebellions in Galicia and Asturias, which can be explained since smaller kingdoms tend to have fewer, relatively more powerful vassals

That is odd. Actually now rebellions should be a bit more frequent with the lowered opinions from empire decay and levy efficiency (especially for larger realms). I've personally seen many big revolts, also in huge realms, and I was actually more nervous that it would be too much rather than too little.

How long have you used it?

In general, also looking at your map, I don't recommend playing the earliest bookmark if you want anything resembling a historical setting.

Also, I highly recommend starting a new game when activating/deactivating Call to Arms.


On another topic, do you know if there are compatibility issues between No Early Bascinets and great helms and Cultural Cities Remix? I'm at the middle of 10th Century and bascinets and great helms have made an appearance, which shouldn't happen

Which version are you using? Only the "+compatible" version is compatible with HIP since the main version includes 00_cultures.txt. In any case, I don't see how it would affect the helmets since it doesn't include the relevant files (neither the full nor the +compatible version).


To be able to troubleshoot both of your issues, I think it's necessary that you post which other mods you're using.
 
That is odd. Actually now rebellions should be a bit more frequent with the lowered opinions from empire decay and levy efficiency (especially for larger realms). I've personally seen many big revolts, also in huge realms, and I was actually more nervous that it would be too much rather than too little.

How long have you used it?

I've been using it for 80-90 years.

I started as Louis Karling of Lombardia, then his legitimate son, and then one of his bastards, trough commands.

I managed to conquer Lotharingia, Bourgogne and Francia Occidentalis, when the realm passed to a legitimate Karling, which I didn't want to play as, since I wanted to play only as direct descendants of Louis.

In general, also looking at your map, I don't recommend playing the earliest bookmark if you want anything resembling a historical setting.

Thanks, I understand that achieving an historical outcome is difficult in the Old Gods bookmark.

Also, I highly recommend starting a new game when activating/deactivating Call to Arms.

Unafortunately I didn't. I'll try on the inmediate future another run to see if my experience with Call to Arms changes.



Which version are you using? Only the "+compatible" version is compatible with HIP since the main version includes 00_cultures.txt. In any case, I don't see how it would affect the helmets since it doesn't include the relevant files (neither the full nor the +compatible version).

Do you mean the Cultural Cities Remix version?
In that case, I'm using the blgccswmh version, according to its read me.

Or the No Early Bascinets Version?
I'm using the bastard 2 compatible version.
Altough outdated, I had used it without troubles in another run in frosty 2.
Nevertheless updating it will be the first thing I do before posting my modlist.

P.S. I just wantto point out that I didn't purposedly keep the mod outdated, I just didn't realize there was an update.

Thank you for your quick response!


EDIT: So I've updated No Early Bascinets to the latest version and I still see a great helm in one of my commanders. Year is 974 which I think it's too early for it to have appeared.

Do you think the fact I started with one (outdated) version of No Early Bascinets have something to do with it not working?
 
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Unafortunately I didn't. I'll try on the inmediate future another run to see if my experience with Call to Arms changes.
Good. I appreciate your feedback :)


Do you mean the Cultural Cities Remix version?
In that case, I'm using the blgccswmh version, according to its read me.

Yeah. You need to make sure that it doesn't include a 00_cultures.txt though, I can't find the version you're referring to. The comp-patches I've found are very outdated.


EDIT: So I've updated No Early Bascinets to the latest version and I still see a great helm in one of my commanders. Year is 974 which I think it's too early for it to have appeared.

Do you think the fact I started with one (outdated) version of No Early Bascinets have something to do with it not working?

The update shouldn't matter much in this case (though it might in other). Are you sure you're not using another mod that changes portrait properties?
 
This is my modlist.
+ A More Navigable Rivers HIP/SWMH
+Baptize Grandchildren
+Better Forts
+Bibliophile
+Bibliophile Heraldic adoption
+Bloodline Fix
+Blue Duke
+Caesar's Book
+Call to Arms - HIP
+Cities of Wonders (HIP & SWMH)
+Co-emperors and Symbasileis (HIP)
+Colored buttons
+Crusader Mounts
+Cultural Cities Remix
+Forts not consumed
+HIP- Expanded Trade
+HIP- Historical Immersion Project
+HIP- Latin and Greek religious Titles
+HIP- More bloodlines
+HIP- No Early Bascinets and Great Helms
+Historical Events Pack - HIP
+MTA - Debug Decisions
+MTA - Divine Bloodline
+MTA - New Artifacts
+MTA - No Court Pruning
+MTA - Specific Punishments
I'll edit this post in order to add the proper link to each of them.

EDIT: Shit, I messed the link ups, sorry. But I checked out some of them and didn't find any 00_cultures file.
I'll check them out thoroughly later, it's pretty late here and I'm going to sleep.

Thanks for your help!

Yeah. You need to make sure that it doesn't include a 00_cultures.txt though, I can't find the version you're referring to. The comp-patches I've found are very outdated.

Steam version is updated to january 20th 2020. Submods (including the BLG/CC for SWMH version) were updated, according to the readme. Those submods are included on the .RAR file which is downloaded from the steam workshop page, by the way.

From readme:

Cultural Cities

Cultural Cities Remix adds diversity to the holdings and houses populating the map
Using building variants, new textures and the many combinations between them
all culture groups will get a new look for their counties.

Installation:

1.) Extract culturalcities.mod and its folder to your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings II/mod folder

2.) If you use overhaul mods, extract the add-on submods inside culturalcities:
* If you use the HIP SWMH mod, play with both Cultural Cities Remix and the BLG/CC for SWMH mod.
* If you use the HIP Extended Mechanics & Flavor mod (without SWMH), play with both Cultural Cities Remix and the BLG/CC for EMF mod.

[...]

3.) * The map models are in gfx\models\Settlements and interface\settlements.gfx.
* The holding icons are in gfx\interface and interface\province_picture.gfx.

Changelog:

20-01-2020
Culture setup made closer to vanilla for default portrait compatibility.
Updates for Egyptian, Coptic and Tocharian cultures.
Updated the submods. AGOT and Tianxia added.

[...]
(Edited to scrap out irrelevant information)

I haven't seen any common/00_cultures archive in this mod, looks like it uses its own custom culture file.
 
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That is a very long list of mods! Every additional mod makes conflicts and issues more likely. Yeah, if you can check that they don't include 00_cultures.txt and also, for the helmets, that they don't include 00_portrait_properties.txt.



Steam version is updated to january 20th 2020. Submods (including the BLG/CC for SWMH version) were updated, according to the readme. Those submods are included on the .RAR file which is downloaded from the steam workshop page, by the way.

From readme:

Cultural Cities

Cultural Cities Remix adds diversity to the holdings and houses populating the map
Using building variants, new textures and the many combinations between them
all culture groups will get a new look for their counties.

Installation:

1.) Extract culturalcities.mod and its folder to your Documents/Paradox Interactive/Crusader Kings II/mod folder

2.) If you use overhaul mods, extract the add-on submods inside culturalcities:
* If you use the HIP SWMH mod, play with both Cultural Cities Remix and the BLG/CC for SWMH mod.
* If you use the HIP Extended Mechanics & Flavor mod (without SWMH), play with both Cultural Cities Remix and the BLG/CC for EMF mod.

[...]

3.) * The map models are in gfx\models\Settlements and interface\settlements.gfx.
* The holding icons are in gfx\interface and interface\province_picture.gfx.

Changelog:

20-01-2020
Culture setup made closer to vanilla for default portrait compatibility.
Updates for Egyptian, Coptic and Tocharian cultures.
Updated the submods. AGOT and Tianxia added.

[...]
(Edited to scrap out irrelevant information)

I haven't seen any common/00_cultures archive in this mod, looks like it uses its own custom culture file.

All right. I only looked at the forum thread, but apparently only workshop comp-patches have been updated. If it doesn't include a 00_cultures.txt or 00_portrait_properties.txt, it should be fine.


PS. It might take a few days for the helmets to change if you're using an old save game.
 
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Is this compatible with the Better Slavs addon?

No. We're forced to use a lot of the same HIP files that can't be made submod-specific (that is, we overwrite the original).
 
Hey Erilaz, I think I've found the mod that could be incompatible with no early bascinets.

Co-Emperors and Symbasileis for HIP

Oh yes, I see it's using 00_portrait_properties.txt. Well done!

What you can do is to extract and install it manually, then delete said file. Then, if you want, you can change all references to "title_co_emperor" in the file inside my mod. That seems to be what he uses it for - something to do with wearing royal/imperial clothing; I'm not sure how important it is, so you might be better off just to delete it and see how it goes.
 
It's for immersion, the appointed co-ruler will wear imperial regalia, I'll add that bit to your mod because I do want to those changes, thanks!

EDIT: So I tried to make a compatch between mods, but apparently I'm doing something wrong.

What I did was I copied the portraits.txt of co-emperors mod and then I copypasted the special helmets lines of your No early bascinets mod into a custom portraits file, since I found your mod was easier to work with, as the co-emperors modifications were more spread out in the file.

Then I added it into its own custom folder, created the .mod file and added the dependencies, but apparently it isn't working.

This is literally my first attemp to mod CK2, am I missing something?

EDIT 2: I'll just upload it in case someone wants to take a look at it

http://www.mediafire.com/file/t62535trf0lauoo/C%26S_NoEB%26GH_%28HIP%29-compatch.zip/file
 
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