thanks for that. haven't played MTW2 in almost 15 something years and it's all coming back. accidently made a wrong back up and can't compare files/scripts but all you need to do is manually delete anything related to "create_unit" for each cheating factions and no more AI spawns when being sieged. i've been playing for almost a week now and no CTDs. i also tweaked king's purse/unit hit points (different files) to make things fair. for ex. Pope State gets wh00ping 50,000 while Kingdom of Jerusalem gets only 1000 per turn but now everyone gets 5,000 annually. appreciate all who worked on this mod and made steam compatible as well. i've tried other mods like chivalry 2, medieval 1100 and 1199 but they didn't feel like i was playing medieval but more of a washed down version of Rome and Rome 2. not trying to bash other modders but i really wanted this mod to work and it did.