@that_guy_gino
Continued:
But if you change the name of these lines, you must also change the name of the graphic files corresponding to the new unit. The file ending with "pbr.tga.dds" corresponds to the 3D of the unit and the file "tga.dds) to the graphics of the unit modifiable with photoshop or others.
And don't forget that the changes I just wrote to you won't allow you to play with the new unit right away unless you're lucky and haven't made a mistake.
We will speak again.

@that_guy_gino
Note that I only put the first part here. You also need to make changes to the "descr_model_battle" file. The name to modify in the "battle" file is that of the "soldier" line of the "export_descr_unit" file (egyptian_archer_elite_new), for example by renaming it (egyptian_big_mama). This is not the name you will see while playing. Then you have to put the same modified name in some lines located at lines below.

pbr_texture data/characters/textures/egyptian_archer_elite_new_pbr.tga
texture data/characters/textures/egyptian_archer_elite_new.tga
(These lines, are the paths that lead to the graphics files of the unit.)

@that_guy_gino
Continued:
* You copy the information of the unit of the file (1) and those of the file (2) and you paste them at the bottom of each of the 2 files (1) and (2) in order to find your modifications easily.
* You just have to rename some lines like the name of the unit, but you have to modify the good lines. For file (1) "descr_unit" , you have to modify the "type" line (egyptian archer elite), the "dictionary" line (egyptian_archer_elite) and the "soldier" line (egyptian_archer_elite_new) and that's it for this file.
If you understand something and want more, let me know. It's not easy to explain that in writing.

@Giovanille Thank you! I'll let you know if I need help, or if all turns out well.

@that_guy_gino: You copy/paste data from a unit, and you modify the name of the unit in the copy of the copied data.
Ex: For the unit "Pharao's Bowmen" you must modify the data of the following 3 files:
The file (1) "export_descr_unit" (It's the capabilities of the unit).
The file (2) "descr_model_battle" (This is the skeleton of the unit and the links to the graphic files of this one).
The file (3) "export_descr_buildings" (This is the place (the building) in which you want the unit to be recruitable during the campaign).

I managed to accidentally rename the Egyptian Bowmen to Kushite Archers, instead of making my unit its own separate unit. And the stats were vanilla instead of what I changed. I did figure out how to rename the files, now I just need to figure out how to make these units unique instead of overwriting existing ones.

So I started, and I followed all the instructions, but I'm not able to rename any of the UI folders. And I know it's likely a problem on my end. The option's not showing up when I right click, any idea how to fix that?

If I start to mess around with this and give up, do I have to reset everything manually, or will I be fine? Because I have a couple units in mind that I'd like to make, but I'm not sure I trust myself to mess around with a bunch of folders like that. Making all factions available was easy enough for me, but this seems like I could screw up pretty easily. And I doubt I'd know how to fix it.

Here are some units I created:
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2688150094
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2781221587
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2781221812
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2745609400
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2781222221
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2686928050
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2686928240
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2688154004
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2519974443
https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2519974443

@tomyson67: You say that your unit does not appear in the game. You mean that it is not visible in the campaign or that it is not visible in "custom battle"?

I followed the steps but my custom unit isn't showing up in game. Which mods folder should the unittemplate folder go in?

do you have a video tutorial on how to do this?

can someone tell me how to download the unit template

Cool stuff, thanks for growing modding community. I will wait for blender tutorial then.

@Kamakaziwarlord, you would need to edit the unit model, so if you have some experience in blender or 3ds max it shouldnt be too hard. However, from what I've gathered, you need to wait for the blender plugins to release, or you could also try the old method through 3ds max. I will be making a tutorial for such as thing as soon as they release the plugin for blender.

How can you change unit armor? Like copy corinthian helmet from armored hopolites to spartans for example?

@Zender up

Super guide. Trying to add archers to Carthage.

Alright! Thanks :)

@The covenant, start up the game and once you get to the mod manager, there is a button that opens the mods folder. You need to move the unittemplate folder into the mods folder.

I'm completely new to this so my question is, do I just move the unittemplate folder into the data folder before I start modifying the files?

Tanks a lot, makes it a lot faster to get back into modding this game :)
Do you know if there is an easy way to create model variants?
In rtw2, warhammer etc, we had "variantmeshes".
Example: Creating a new archer unit for Macedon and applying the armor of the "Royal Pikemen".

@Evocatus Dei , @MrMyst Thanks! I'll look into this

@Mic Boi, and I believe that if you want to have a different “skin” for the soldiers themselves (not the equipment) you would add macedon to the ethnicity as well.

@Mic Boi, I believe you would add Macedon to those units “ownership” in “feral_export_descr_unit”. Also like Evocatus Dei mentioned, you need to modify the “descr_buildings” if you want your unit to be recruitable in campaign.

you need to mod descr_buildings as well so you can recruit them and you need to copy the UI cards in the UI folder from greek cities to amcedon and selucit folder otherwise you will have gray peasant unit card instead.

Hey I am trying to give units that exist in other factions already to other ones. For example, I want to give Macedon and the Seleucids heavy peltasts from the Greeks. Do I simply need to add them to the ownership line in export_descr_units ? Or is there more that needs to be done?

Thanks for this tutorial though, I hope to one day add units so this will be helpful