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Bacchon
05-04-2004, 04:09
Thanks to all the excellent guides, advice and inspiration available here at the Org, I am pleased to announce the Beta release of my own personal handiwork: Chaos Total War.

This mod is an addon/expansion to the regular and does not overwrite or alter the original game in any way. (Well, one small way, but I'll get to that in a second.) And by original game, I mean MTW:VI 2.01.

The premise of my mod is to increase both the difficulty and randomness of the original game to improve enjoyment and replayability. I've added many new factions, altered the pre-existing factions and the economic lay of the land. Also, I've brought several units and a couple buildings in from VI in support of a few of the new factions I've created/edited.

I've strived to make the individual factions/cultures more unique, largely by making many of the location-specific units faction-specific, altering tech trees and creating whole new cultures.

Also, to make things a bit more chaotic (hence the mod's name), I've strengthened some of the smaller factions and weakened some of the larger ones (including splitting a couple in half). Also, EVERYBODY is now expansionistic. Or barbarian raiders. >;)

I started this mod after getting mildly irritated with seeing the fact that EVERYBODY and their dog was allied with everybody else and their dog after the first few turns. Now, alliances tend to be more localisized, and lest lasting. In my experience thus far, local alliances are actually to be avoided as most factions must go through 're-unification' movements before they have a good, solid homeland built up.

You may notice that this mod is not the mostly hugely historically accurate, but I made the decision to go for gameplay over accuracy. But suggestions in the accuracy department are more than welcome. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

On to the specifics...

The Faction list:

The Catholics

The Aragonese (now start with Navarre as well, buildable Almughavars)

The Brittanians (continental English, now control Brittany)

The Burgundians (now playable)

The Danes (no changes, but have some highly hostile neighbours)

The English (reduced to Wessex, Northumbria and Mercia)

The French (gained control of Provence)

The Germans (reduced starting provinces)

The Italians (no changes)

The Papacy (Now playable)

The Portugese (control Portugal. Imagine that.)

The Sicilians (no changes)

The Valencians (playable El Cid. Hurrah)


Orthodoxy

The Byzantines (reduced starting provinces)

The Greeks (control the Balkans)

The Hungarians (no changes)

The Kievians (Control the north coast of the Black Sea)

The Moldavians (eastern border of Poland and Hungary)

The People of Novgorod (expanded starting position)

The Polish (no changes)

The Irish (very, very dangerous pirate-types. Can't trust 'em, unique techtree, lots of unique units)

The Russians (control the north-east corner of the campmap)

The Swiss (now playable)


The Pagan Barbarians

The Lithuanians (control the east coast of the Baltic)

The Norse (Norway, Viking raider types. Mostly-new techtree)

The Saxons (control northern Germany, exclusive units)

The Scots (unique techtree)

The Swedes (same as the Norse, but in Sweden)

The Welsh (immedeate and exclusive access to the Longbowman)


As I'm sure you've noted, I've removed the Muslim factions from the game, and turned them into new European factions. Why? Because I needed to fill in Europe with lots of factions without expanding too many of them. Instead the entirety of N.Africa and the Middle East is now one vast rebel-held, Islamic land that should be tough to conquer and harder to hold for any length of time. Once it's been playtested by people other than myself, I'll consider adding the Sahara in as a 'dummy' faction to give the rebels a bigger income, if they require it.

The new units and buildings are mostly just Celtic/Viking units imported from VI, along with a few rebel/merc-only units now made playable.

Since this is the Beta release, and since my higher priority is to get it better balanced, it's currently missing period/faction descriptions, and I've no doubt there are problems with the various new/altered techtrees. Also, the new factions shields are either ripped directly from VI or are (rather amateurish) recolours. I'm working on that for v2.0.

So, without further ado, here's the d/l link.

http://www.totalwar.org/Downloa....End.rar (http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Mtw_Uploads/MTWbeta/TEST_CTW_GameEnd.rar)
http://www.totalwar.org/Downloa....ain.rar (http://www.totalwar.org/Downloads/Mtw_Uploads/MTWbeta/TEST_CTW_Main.rar)

They're .rar files, so you'll need WinRar, which is available at www.rarlabs.com (http://www.rarlabs.com).

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS

These are a bit lengthy, since I had to be wary of filesizes for uploads to the Org's server.

1. Fresh install of VI 2.01 needed. It won't alter your original game in any way and (should) leave you still able to play MP. I haven't tested MP yet... It'll probably conflict with any other mods you have installed...

2. BACK UP Early.txt, High.txt and Late.txt in campmap/startpos. These are the only original files that get overwritten during the install, and only to allow for the new factions. Overwriting them might not be necessary, so if anyone tests that, let me know and I'll alter the files...

3. Unpack TEST_CTW_Main.rar in your main Medieval - Total War directory. Unpack TEST_CTW_GameEnd.rar in /campmap

4. Go to /Textures/campmap/Castleflags and copy ALL the .bifs there into /Textures/campmap/Castleflags

5. This is the arduous bit. I'd have spared you this part if I could, filesizes allowing. When I find somewhere that'll host 10mb files, I'll remove this step...

Do the following: (taken from Starkhorn's excellent guide)

Go into the /Textures/Men directory.
Copy and paste the Peasant directory. Renamed the copied directory to Custom0.
Go into Custom0 directory and rename the .bif files with custom0, i.e.(Peasant_H.bif should be renamed to Custom0_H.bif, Peasant.LBM to Custom0.LBM, etc).

Repeast this for the below directories (Peasant directory is listed below for reference only) whilst renaming them to Custom1, Custom2, etc, etc. The .bif and .LBM files in each of the renamed Custom directories will also need to be changed.

Peasant :- Custom0
ChainHlm :- Custom1
HlPlArSH :- Custom2
LArmWCav :- Custom3
MKnight :- Custom4
MSHelm :- Custom5
PlateS :- Custom6


And that should be it for the install. Once that's been done, you should have a new entry in your Campaign Selection screen called Chaos Period. GA mode MIGHT be playable IF you play one of the original factions, and IF you don't click one of the new faction's shields. MIGHT.

To uninstall the mod just delete CHAOS.txt in campmap/startpos and restore your backups of Early.txt, High.txt and Late.txt.

There is currently only an Early starting point for CTW, but I plan to make High and Late campaigns as well, once the mod is more developed.

All that said, I hope you give this a try and, most especially, if you do, please give me all the feedback you can, especially about bugs and balance issues.

Cheers,

Bacchon


PS--Don't trust the Irish. Especially if you're anywhere near the North Sea. I mean it. They're scary. They've made me cry.

PPS--I've posted this here since I can't yet create topics in the Dungeons.

Gregoshi
05-04-2004, 04:39
I'm moving this to The Engineers Guild forum Bacchon. I believe that is the correct destination since this mod is still under development. If not, LOS or DJ will put it in the right place.

Bacchon
05-04-2004, 04:51
Cheers, thanks Gregoshi

Eastside Character
05-04-2004, 22:37
Quote[/b] (Bacchon @ May 03 2004,22:09)]Orthodoxy

The Hungarians (no changes)

The Polish (no changes)

The Irish (very, very dangerous pirate-types. Can't trust 'em, unique techtree, lots of unique units)

The Swiss (now playable)
Why are these factions orthodox, when they all should be catholic?

Regards,
EC

Bacchon
05-05-2004, 01:01
Oops. The Hungarians, the Swiss and the Polish are both still Catholic, I listed them wrong. I made the Irish Pagan to give them more freedom to persue raiding/piratical acts without interference from the Papacy, not to represent their religous affiliation.

ShadesWolf
05-05-2004, 08:36
Sounds good,

I will give it a go http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-2thumbsup.gif

Bacchon
05-05-2004, 10:45
Hurrah Let me know what you think, suggest, whatever. All goes towards improving the next version.

Cheers,

Bacchon

Highlander X
05-06-2004, 22:02
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-anxious.gif wondering why the scots and welsh are pagan as they were christians long before the english. same reason as why you have the irish pagan i spose.
i'll give it a go. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-party2.gif

Bacchon
05-07-2004, 02:41
Highlander~Yep, that's the one. I made them Pagan so that they wouldn't have to worry about excomming, and so that the religious differances would make it more difficult to hold territory for them. Can't imagine many Frenchmen being willing to be subjugated by a bunch of dirty Irish, eh? http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif


Currently being worked on for the next version...

Faction and unit balancing. I think I overpowered a lot of the Celtic units when I was trying to compensate for the fact that they never get the heavy stuff. I think the 100-strong super-cheap up-armoured units of Gallowglasses are bit much. They can take a flank charge from three fresh Royal Knight units and still kick the righteous gluteal...

I'm also contemplating giving Pikemen to the Swiss right from the get-go, with slightly higher tech requirements (like I did with the Longbowmen for the Welsh). Might give 'em more of a solid army... Although right now, they tend to start carving into the HRE within a few decades...

I've already started working things so that the Rebels (who start out in control of all of N.Africa and the Holy Land with more armies than any two other factions) act more the Muslim factions they replaced. They already have exclusive access to all Muslim units and I've given them a couple ded 'ard heroes to stop the Iberian Catholics and the Byzantines from grabbing too much ground. The dummy-region money-making Sahara is already working wonders.

I need faction shields to replace the VI and recoloured ones. Except, I'm really not a visual artist. Anyone willing to help with this?


I've been reading the discussions around the MedMod 4.0 campmap changes, and I'm really liking the province-within-province idea for Constantinople and maybe a few other major castles. I may have to look at implementing this in v2.0 of CTW...

To those who chose to give it a go, please let me know your thoughts and suggestions. Anything to improve the mod.


Cheers,

Bacchon

Scipio
05-07-2004, 02:54
Lol looks good m8...btw whereabouts in Vancouver??? I never thought Id see the day where another Vancouverite would be here.. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wave.gif

Bacchon
05-07-2004, 03:14
Right now, out in the 'whack. Chiliwack, that is. Just moved down here from the Yukon...

Scipio
05-07-2004, 03:20
Thats cool, I hail from Van city...

Mablung
05-07-2004, 10:05
Sounds good One change, Bretons instead of Britanians as this would be more historiaclly accurate.

Myrddraal
05-07-2004, 14:26
Quote[/b] (Bacchon @ May 04 2004,05:09)]The Welsh (immedeate and exclusive access to the Longbowman)
What period is this set in? Because if the time period is the same as before why do the British not get longbowmen??

Even if the Welsh are the only ones who start with longbowmen, the unit should be region not faction specific. Otherwise you can't have French knights versus english longbowmen.

(unless the welsh take over the Briton which I find unlikely http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif )

Bacchon
05-08-2004, 04:07
Myrddraal~The Welsh have exclusive, faction-specific rights to Longbowmen and beefed-up Welsh Bandits right from the Early Period, mainly because I found the Welsh don't really have much else going for them. Of course, they tend to carve up the island betweeen themselves and the Scots fairly quickly, usually taking Wessex at least, and sometimes Mercia if they get there before the Scots.

Mablung~I called them the Brittanians because their capital province is Brittany. They're the continental English faction.

Mablung
05-08-2004, 06:07
Bacchon, their capital province IMO should be Aquitane, England had ancestral lands in Gascony for a long time. It is also further developed in the game.

Bacchon
05-09-2004, 08:29
::nod::

Thanks, mablung, I'll probably change that.

Myrddraal
05-09-2004, 12:00
Quote[/b] (Bacchon @ May 08 2004,05:07)]Myrddraal~The Welsh have exclusive, faction-specific rights to Longbowmen and beefed-up Welsh Bandits right from the Early Period, mainly because I found the Welsh don't really have much else going for them. Of course, they tend to carve up the island betweeen themselves and the Scots fairly quickly, usually taking Wessex at least, and sometimes Mercia if they get there before the Scots.
I take it u don't like the English http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-furious3.gif

http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Bacchon
05-09-2004, 22:08
Well, I am a MacGregor... http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Actually, I never intended or expected that to happen. I'm contemplating ways to balance things out a little more. The English starting position is just made a lot tougher by the fact that neither the Scots nor the Welsh have anybody else to attack, and by the Irish, Norse and Swedish pirate roaming around the North Sea.

Bacchon
05-10-2004, 09:44
Okay, time for an update. I'm found a few problems (the landbridge between Morocco and Cordoba doesn't appear to be properly severed, for one) that I'm fixing for the next update. Included with this will be unit balancing (the Celtic, esp. Irish, units have been weakened somewhat), some changes to faction starting positions, minor stuff. v1.01 or some such.

There are a few major things I'm going to focus on for the next major update.

The first is new and decent faction shields/flags for the new factions. The Celts and the Norse are fine with the VI shields, but have an Eastern European faction under the sign of the crescent moon is a tad strange. And my recolour jobs ain't exactly great.

Glorious Achievements (at least conquest/homelands) for the new factions, though this may entail making some of them non-playable, at least at first, depending on the amount of work I have to do. I'm not even sure if new GA's are possible, still looking into this.

The other major thing is, I want to make an altered and update version of the stratmap, with the following changes, many of them based on what's being talked about for the MedMod v4.0 map, others on my own thoughts:

I'm going to split Mercia and Wessex both in half, to make the unification of the British Isles a little more difficult, and to give the English a better chance as, right now, they are usually eliminated for reduced to one provinces fairly quickly. If anyone has suggestions for what the new provinces and their castles should be called, please let me know.

Constantinople will be divided up into more pieces, either seperate or subsumed into neighbouring provinces, I haven't decided yet. Furthermore, I shall add inset-view castle-provinces for Constantinople, since I agree that a city of such magnitude should be much harder to conquer. I'm also going to do this with Rome.

Crete and Rhodes I think I will remove in favour of dividing Naples and Greece in half, possibly thirding Greece. That way the Greek faction could actually occupy just Greece, instead of Croatia and Bulgaria, both of whom would make good extra factions if I had the room. Damn those 43 extra factions being defined, yet being restriced to only ten...

Spain I am undecided on. With the Almohads removed and two new factions in place, I'm not sure if new provinces need to added, speaking only for the benefit of gameplay.

France I'd like to added a province or two to. Perhaps divide up the larger provinces, give the Burgundians more territory so they can be more of a viable force earlier in the game. I'd like to see the Brittanians (who will be getting altered to be brought more in line with history, as mablung suggested), the French and the Burgundians all having an equal shot at conquering France.

Scandinavia I'd also like to alter somewhat, though I'm not sure how. As it stands now, the first of the three factions to conquer another ends up beating the third, hands down. I'd like to even up the odds somewhat, maybe cut Sweden in half, make a new rebel province all three have land access to. Also, a land bridge from Sweden to Finland makes some sense to me, and yet it doesn't. Too bad there isn't a way to make crossing certain borders inflict weather-related casualties on your armies. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Eastern Europe I'm going to leave alone. With all those new factions crowding up the place, they need all the land they can get.

I may take some of the renaming suggestions from the MM4.0 thread, I may not. I prefer just using the English-language names for places, not the local names. More atlas-like.


As for new units I'd like to add...well, there aren't any soldier units I can think of that could stand the addition right now. I'm more interested in adding Pagan strategic units and the corresponding buildings. Also, seperate unit portraits for pagan buildings would be nice, too.

For faction changes, there aren't really I can think of that aren't map-related... I'm working on a way to make the Rebels stand in for the Muslim factions more. Having a rich 'dummy' Africa helps a lot, but not enough. Maybe I can assign them a differant AI behaviour. Worth a shot.

As always, I welcome your input. And I'll upload v1.01 in a day or two, once I'm more sure of the unit balancing (goddamn Irish).

Cheers,

Bacchon

BarkingBeagle
05-12-2004, 13:26
Hey...


Quote[/b] ]4. Go to /Textures/campmap/Castleflags and copy ALL the .bifs there into /Textures/campmap/Castleflags

That doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Bacchon
05-12-2004, 21:18
Gah. Copy /Textues/Campmap/Vikings/Castleflags/ to /Textues/Campmap/Castleflags

Thanks for pointing that out.

WhiteMagick
05-15-2004, 09:04
Your mod sounds great. I'll try to play it as soon as possible. But there seem to be some serious historical innacuracies. Greeks=Byzantines but seperate factions? Irish being Orthodox? Why these features?

Bacchon
05-16-2004, 19:17
Heh. Since I'm not yet able to edit my previous posts, I'll just explain this again. The Irish = Orthodox thing is a typo. They're Pagan, and I know that isn't historically accurate, either, but I used it to represent their political behaviour more than their religious ties. They're Pagan so that they are free to raid and loot and pillage and fight everybody without getting Excommed. Same for the Scots, Welsh, Norse and Swedes.

As for the Greeks/Byzantines, I split them up into two factions (Greeks have Balkans, Byzantines have Constantinople and east) so that there wouldn't be one huge, stable and powerful faction in that region, but two, who are likely to go to war, or at least have all that valuable territory divided up between them. Same thing goes for the English/Brittanians.

Cheers, Bacchon

Nom
05-17-2004, 11:48
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif hi i have a problem to use the mod
i think because other linguitch version how i can do to
use the game?

tombom
05-24-2004, 16:47
There's something about Lithuania

When I play this, I can't view the whole world as it simply crashes. When I tried to move an agent there it crashed again. Does anyone have any idea why this is? I'm going to play as the Lithuanians to test this.

EDIT: It CTDs as the lithuanians

SpetzNatz
05-25-2004, 14:50
Are you planning to add Bohemians? Btw, Byzantines are not so powerful and stable. In my other games they are often destroyed by Egyptians and Turkish.

tombom
06-03-2004, 10:16
No-one's replying Grrr... Oh well.

Kropazz
06-03-2004, 20:11
http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/eek.gif Playable Lithuania sounds great to me, definitely have to try this mod. I even could help u find some stuff about historical units (but it's tough one) if u really interested in pagan factions. One is for sure that Lithuanian cav should be able to dismount in to the archers (bulgarian brigands stats at least IMO) during the battle, not only before like in vanilla mtw, coz they where great skirmishers, this way they conquered lands up to Kiev, Moscow and moore http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif

tombom
06-04-2004, 19:35
Kropazz, if you try and play this mod as the Lithuanians, can you please post here whether it CTDs? I think the maker missed out a true, but I'd like to see if my theory right.

Kropazz
06-05-2004, 00:40
Well, i installed it, played without any technical problems, game didn't crashed a single time, but biggest disadvantage is that i could not play my normal MP games, every game in the lobby was version conflict http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-wall.gif So i had to change startpos files again.
And IMO, mod really misses out some specific units for new factions http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/mecry.gif
Suggestion: why don't u join your enthusiasm Bacchom with Wes and make super-buper mod http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

tombom
06-05-2004, 10:26
Ummmm... must be the version I downloaded. And you need an unmodded game to play multiplayer.

johnnytrenton
07-18-2004, 00:36
i cant download it, the it says 'file not found'