Caius Britannicus Presents: "THE CRUSADES"

[Myrddraal]

That I can tell you NO ONE has been able to do before and only "The Crusades" and RTR 7.0 will be doing it in the future.

Why ever should that be the case?

Impressive stuff tho.

[caius britannicus]

Well, thats because we want to keep something for ourselves at RTR since nearly everything we create ends up in someone elses mod we would like for once, to be able to say, "hey we have this, no one else does." ANd until people stumble upon what BDH is doing with his maps it will be something we can boast about for ourselves.

[Lord Adherbal]

right, I'll keep that in mind next time I make a discovery.

[caius britannicus]

so RTR can hold on to something until its published first? No one jumps on EB and all its discoveries that no one can use until they release. When RTR 7.0 is released so will the technique I don't see the reason for being all uptight and upset about it.

How much does Chivalry or EB share nowwith the public before their mods have been released...

[Lord Adherbal]

How much does Chivalry or EB share nowwith the public before their mods have been released...

I don't know about EB because I don't have the time to follow it's development in detail, but I've shared everything I discovered, mostly related to settlement plans.

What's with this "they don't share so neither do I" attitude anyway ? Just because you think EB doesn't share everything doesn't give you the right to do the same. If you wanted to keep something for your own mod you shouldn't be advertising it like that "NO other mod has this and we ain't gonna share it, nya nya". That's just childish and selfish.

[Epistolary Richard]

Let's keep this thread for the development of this particular mod, shall we?

I think a discussion regarding the various closed/open/semi-closed policies of different mod teams - and the benefits/drawbacks to the community - would be very interesting, but better served in Mod Discussion than here.

Also, IIRC EB was jumped on when it converted from being an open project to semi-closed. To the best of my knowledge all the technical discoveries it has made in modding the game have been made public knowledge. And you can be sure that any team that has Simetrical as a team member is playing by the rules.

[caius britannicus]

Okay, as ER said, lets not try and thread jack my post.

But in respose to your calling me childish I take offense. I simply stated that me and RTR not releasing techniques until the end this was something that has precedence. And is now accepted. And what is wrong with saying that we have something unqiue and advertising my mod as such. To me it seems more that, you and your mod and I quote from the TWC wanting to be "the only medieval mod for RTW" are coming in here to debase me, seemingly because of jealously. Who is the one being childish then. I'm sorry if you don't agree with keeping some techniques to your self but if I want to have people interested then I have to have something that someone else doesn't have. And I have to tell people that I have said thing. If that makes people mad because they also want it but can't figure it out then so be it. I see no reason to come in here and be rude to me.

[BDH]

Ok then simply answer this question: Are you modding for BI or for 1.2 ;)
If you created the mountain with hgt-converter I find it unsatisfying, doesn't look too much like the real one. Might be because of the resolution though.

I think what caius is getting at is that despite all the rtw limiations, the map resolution, and other stuff its interesting that it looks anything like real life at all (even a little bit, you can see the major peeks somewhat) on the main campaign map. same for all the other mountains pretty much. i hope some of the others are more accurate..... and surely that none are less!

[Lord Adherbal]

you may think whatever you want. Just know that I've been "attacking" the Zhanghuo mod team aswell for not releasing their battlemap model tool (which would be of great value to me). But if it is normal not to share all RTW modding discoveries with the rest of the modding community then that's fine. Just good to know.
And maybe I can figure it out myself (a wild guess is that it just requires a larger map_heights.tga file) but this quote:

That I can tell you NO ONE has been able to do before and only "The Crusades" and RTR 7.0 will be doing it in the future.

claims otherwise, and I took offence from it.

But let this be the end of this discussion, I told you my oppinion and you told me your own. So to get back on topic:

The units look very good, even though that is to be expected when you use 512x512 sized textures. Personally I choos to stick to 256x256 and keep the system requirements and performance equal to RTW's. If you aim to make a mod popular in MP (like Chiv) then you need to keep a limit on the detail level.

[caius britannicus]

System performance is not a concern for me. There will be all the model requirements and sprites in place. THe texture size will have a minimal effect. Yes performance will be lower (the models have more polys in them then most RTW units) but not to the point where it hinders the game. Just look at mods by Prometheus, the detail he puts into his units is because he uses primarly 512 textures for his models. Also all my screen shots I have taken thus far have been running at 1600x1200, 8xAF, and add on top of that that my sprites aren't in yet and all of them are still using hi poly models only. I've had well over 3000 men on the map and haven't experienced much decrease in performance then I would running RTR or vanilla at those settings.

[caius britannicus]

Got a preview for ya when I thought I wouldn't be able to. Been writing an essay for about 9 hours figure I'd take a break and make these guys:

Hospitaller Cavalry Knights

[al'Callaendor]

wow...very nice!

[EdwardL]

The map is for 1.2 currently but will be converted to BI. As for the mountain. I think you don't understand how it was created. Its NOT, I repeat NOT, a custom battle map made with the battle editor. That mountian is created by the campaign map. The map created by BDH is so detailed it creates near perfect representations of the natural geography on the battle map (ofcourse there are LIMITATIONS caused by the RTW engine). So if you fought at Hattin you will see the teeth of hattin. That I can tell you NO ONE has been able to do before and only "The Crusades" and RTR 7.0 will be doing it in the future.

I wouldnt quote that. It can be accomplished with a tool such as paintshop pro using a zoomed brush to dot click the peaks of hills to raise height terrain to give appearance of "teeth", if you are referring to the "teeth of hattin" as the hill peaks. Of course such detail can only be achieved by someone who takes pride in his/her work, in which I wouldnt limit to only the affore mentioned mods..

BTW how many provinces planned for Crusades?

[alpaca]

Yeah, I think I said it has to do with (map) resolution ;)
I know the rtw.exe runs a kind of "leveling" algorithm on the map_heights.tga while converting it to .hgt (don't ask wherefrom, it took me some time to figure that one out).
I'd be thrilled to see what these peaks look like if you use my hgt converter tool to create the map_heights.hgt instead of using the game engine (I think it works with 1.2, I didn't try it, but I don't assume the file layout has changed).
If you have some spare time (and I realize you probably don't have much, but it shouldn't take you more than about 5 minutes) I'd propose trying it.
If it doesn't deliver better results, you don't lose much and if it does you win a lot.

[BDH]

That is very interesting alpaca.....
I really should look into it. I was meaning to ask you anyway for help with your wonderful hgt converter. I often like to change the maximum elevation on the map through the text files, and the .hgt file has it set into it. PM me with any help, and I would really like to see what happens if that the leveling algorithm is taken out of the picture....

[caius britannicus]

Update today:

Updated Teutonic Cavalry with an early great helm and some german crusaders...

Teutonics and German Crusaders

[al'Callaendor]

more!!!

[caius britannicus]

Little treat today before I head off to school. I was playing a battle (testing out new militia skins real preview tonight) and my grandmasters standard bearer was killed. The standard ended up sticking up in a very cool way that just screamed screenshot. its 1024x768 and makes a pretty darn good wallpaper (I'm using it myself).

[professorspatula]

These are some really good units. Great detailing. I wonder what CA thinks of all these medieval mods if it is thinking of going back to that era. I can't imagine with CA's track record, that their models or skins would be anywhere near as detailed.

By the way, there was a 2 hour documentary on the Crusades last night on the UK History Channel (on British Sky TV). Apparently if some ancient text is to be believed, the crusaders were at one stage attacked by foot archers on a hill-side firing bows by lying on their back and using their feet (!) this gave them incredible range. Will we be seeing this unit in the mod? Oh and if anyone in the UK is interested, the second and final part of the documentary is on the same channel at 9pm tonight.

[skeletor]

Interesting..

That sounds like the Chineese archers seen in the movie Hero!
Using your tight to pull the bow wold obviusly look cool, and five an immense range, but i think the ammount of animationediting wold be a pain in the ...

Anyways, the unit looks fantastic

-Skel-

[caius britannicus]

[Aenarion]

Impressive work caius britannicus! Very well done! Those Hospitallers are magnificent...and nice standing flag btw!

Just wondering, is there any chance there would be a mini-part of this mod in RTW only; leaving out BI?

Thanks,
Aenarion

[caius britannicus]

Update of the Week:

Templar Spearmen



If I have time, I may do just a custom battle version for RTW.

[Myrddraal]

Wow Wow Wow

Hats off for the work so far gents, if you keep this up for not much longer I'd seriously consider giving you Hosting in the Hosted Mods section, and to think you called this mod "mini"

[al'Callaendor]

for when this "mini" mod?

[Randarkmaan]

Update of the Week:

Templar spearmen
https://img379.imageshack.us/img379/...preview6jx.jpg

Not to be an arse or anything, and I know you are not aiming for historical accuracy, but I just have to say this: The spearmen of the knights templar should be templar sergeants, who wore black robes/surcoats with red crosses, the spearmen you have their are more like normal crusading footsoldiers who have stuck a cross on their clothing, they also performed as cavalry alongide the templars and as crossbowmen.

[caius britannicus]

Not to be an arse or anything, and I know you are not aiming for historical accuracy, but I just have to say this: The spearmen of the knights templar should be templar sergeants, who wore black robes/surcoats with red crosses, the spearmen you have their are more like normal crusading footsoldiers who have stuck a cross on their clothing, they also performed as cavalry alongide the templars and as crossbowmen.

Well, they are templar sergeants that is indeed correct. However my source, Osprey Publishings book on the crusades depicts Templar Sergeants as I have them. The orders (templar hospitaller etc) uniforms during the early crusades were never uniform across the order. To say they only had this or that isn't actually 100% accurate. I like the depiction in the osprey I have and thats the one I'll be sticking with.

[Randarkmaan]

Ok.

[Aenarion]

If I have time, I may do just a custom battle version for RTW.

Yes! Thanks for that caius britannicus !!

[monkian]

Are you going to be making religous type fanatics for either side ?

Some kind of crazy flagellating monks for the Crusaders would be rather cool- specially with a beserk ability