Zulu Mod!!!

[Sundjata Keita]

Good, I'm glad you like it, here are a couple of others. I decided to include the shoulders as well so that lots of necklaces and extra bits could be added on. What do you think of the results?




Regards,

Sundjata Keita

[Stormy]

Excellent headdress! I'm looking foward for this mod.
Any map screenshots soon ? Thanks.

[Sundjata Keita]

Hopefully we will get some map screenshots soon (within the next month). We are still looking at the area to cover and the regions will be decided by the towns so our first job is to reconstruct a map of kwa-zulu natal and surrounding border areas with something like 200 towns, the regions will be decided as they were at the time by distinguishing features so up to this mountain range or up to this river etc. because there is no historical reference to Zulu regions, only local names. The good news is this means it won't take too long providing we find enough towns. Anyway, as usual an update coming on Monday

Regards

Sundjata Keita

[Sundjata Keita]

Monday is here again so it's update time. First let's get the pretty screenshots out the way. This week they come in the form of more portraits, 5 to be exact.







Also we now have a new plan of approach to this mod which will allow us hopefully to get something (hopefully a BETA) out for christmas. We have decided to cut back on the amount of factions and therefore units to just the essential ones at the moment. Now we will have the three Zulu factions replacing the Roman ones plus the Zulu "senate", the British, Portuguese and Boers, the Mthethwa and the Ndwandwe. So that is only 9 factions and 4 culture types (excluding rebels). It is enough for now though and will provide the main base for playing the game so after BETA release we can add more factions.

On to my main job this week which was implementing the animations, things have gone pretty well but my RTW needs re-installing so I can redo all the important files again as they are a bit mixed up at the moment with tests and bits and pieces from other mods. The important thing is understanding how it works and I have worked it out now (with some help from Alin and Vercingetorix) so hopefully by next week I can be showing you some of the rifle animations in game providing everything goes smoothly.

Regards,

Sundjata Keita

[King Ragnar]

Great pics and great news on the progress, cant wait for the release.

[Sundjata Keita]

Thanks for the kind words. Well I can't believe it's Monday again already, its been the end of term this week and so had a bit of a party, the I became ill, the list of excuses goes on Well work hasn't totally halted, I did find time to model a new Martini-Henry rifle



And I have been continuing working on the script for Pyradyn, this week I have been learning how to form plural, and singular syllable imperatives in Zulu which has resulted in me getting the translation for some basic commands:

Bayeza - they are coming
Balekani - run away!
Manani - stop!
Hambani - walk (go)!
Ayihlasele - Attack!

I can't actually remember what commands need to be said, if anyone can think of any more that would be really helpful.
Sorry for not giving you any animations this week, I still need to re-install RTW. Well this will be the last update for a few weeks because I am going on holiday. If I get the animations in before I go on Saturaday I will do a mid-week update.

Regards,

Sundjata Keita

[Sundjata Keita]

Hello everyone, I'm back from holiday now so the weekly updates should start again from next monday, although don't expect too much to have been done ;)

[Sundjata Keita]

Well there has once again been delays I'm afraid due to a rethink on how we can incorporate the new features of BI. Work has begun again though and I've made some faction symbols, what do you think guys?



Also we are trying to spread our influence seen as we are relatively unknown at present so if you are without a signiture at the moment how about including our new banner or a link to our forums at TWcenter or even both!

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41


Thanks for your time fans; more updates coming soon,

Sundjata

[Sextus Caecillius]

Well this is one of the last places I know of. We could use some more modders. If any one looks at this post and is interested in helping with the Zulu Total War mod, we could use your help. Please report to the TWC forum if you are interested.
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41


P.S. This is RemusII from the TWC forums

[dclare4]

By the way, for the Scots enthusiasts out there, watch this space. The Scots were greatly involved in the wars for the cape from the beginning when the 91st Argyllshires took the cape from the VOC and again in 1806 the Highland Brigade (93rd Sutherland, 71st Glasgow and 72nd Seaforth) reconquered the Cape which had been given back at the Peace of Amiens, all the way to Majuba Hill where the 92nd Gordons were the first British unit to fight in khaki in Africa. The Highland regiments will be well represented here and (here's hoping) we'll have a Pipe Band which will 'taunt' the enemy with the skirl of bagpipes.

Cheers all,
Harlechman

[al'Callaendor]

very nice

[Sundjata Keita]

I'm in the process of making new animations...

[GiantMonkeyMan]

nice looking units Sundjata Keita.... and i love the faction symbols they are totally unique... keep it up

[Stormy]

Wow... very nice.. I really like those symbols.

[Ilsamir Lord]

Lookin' fine I must say! Those portraits are particularly good! I like the way you've incorporated photos with them.

[Sundjata Keita]

Woah, haven't updated this thread for ages. Forget about the crappy firing animation shown above, I've made a good one now. You can see screenshots at the twcenter forum (just click on my sig) Here's another tasty screenshot of the gloucesters in shoulder arms position.



Also just to let you know we are thinking of releasing an alpha version of the Zulu mod to a few people which will roughly include:

-6 new units, 3 british, 3 zulu (I know its not much but we've been working on other stuff)
-new animations including bayonet stabbing, firing and marching
-new sounds for the Zulus
-new faction symbols
-smoke for rifles
-maybe a square formation

It's not much but we're really just doing it to test the fundemental things and let some of our closest fans experience the work we've done so far.

Regards,

Sundjata

[lanky316]

Not visited for a while but it's good to see this mod is still going strongly. A lot of work's gone into this and it would've been a shame to have seen this one disapear!

[Sundjata Keita]

Graphical update of the Zulus thanks to new, more detailed textures:

[Sundjata Keita]

This one isn't quite finished but you get the general idea

[Epistolary Richard]

Moving a TC mod to release in a month

About a week ago, I was approached to take a leading role in guiding ZTW to its first release - the battlepack - and over the next few weeks I will be working closely with the team to get a product into your hands.

First things first:

Material losses
I have received a selection of some of the material that has previously been previewed, but not all of it. Some has been lost due to a variety of computer difficulties different team members have experienced. If _anyone_ has any ZTW material sitting on their hard drives, or stuff that they were going to send in, then please let me know and send it to me.


Secondly:

The Battlepack

In order to allow you to play this mod just as soon as possible, our current focus is on the release of a battlepack. Important facts about this battlepack are:

1) It will be for v1.5
2) It will use the -mod: switch
3) It will include two factions (British & Zulu) with a selection of units from each
4) Due to the game's limitations in using rifle units properly, custom battles are servicable, but only really playing as the British
5) To accomodate this there will be a battle that allow you to take command of the Zulus against a scripted opponent. The same will also apply for the British.


Thirdly,

Moving to release

Since taking up the role, my first priority has been to complete the unit integration for the battlefield. After a crash course in how to pack animations, this has now been largely accomplished (though there are still job opportunities available, modellers & animators take note....)

One of the final touches was to add a smoke effect to the rifles as they fired, and it is of this that I thought I would show you a glimpse:



And there we can see a small section firing for test purposes...

... of course you're not interested in playing this mod on small unit sizes so here's the effect on a grander scale.

[Epistolary Richard]

The next thing on the agenda after getting the battlefield functioning correctly was the graphical interface elements. It's a case especially with TC mods that there is an expectation of something different and I've been working away to provide a different spin on a few of the same old changes.

More on that later though... for now I thought I would be try to be comprehensive about what's going to be in the battlepack - so I'll start with the core units of either side: the British infantryman and the Zulu warrior as they will appear in the pack:




Here's also a WIP shot of a scripted battle that will be included. As you can see, a British column is surprised by a Zulu force using their favoured 'horns' encirclement tactics.

[Epistolary Richard]

By request, I've tweaked a file that makes the units slightly darker. Here is a new screenshot showing slightly less bright British reds which will be used for the battlepack. People who like to tweak are welcome to do so.

A couple more units that you'll see in the battlepack.

First up, the Queens Own Mounted Dragoons - here seen mounted :) and for the zulus a warrior which, the thread tells me, is a member of a junior regiment denoted by the leopard skin umQhelehas and carries an umBhumbluzo shield. As well as being available to the Zulu faction, this unit will also be acting as a placeholder for other African tribesman units that appear in the scripted battles.

On that topic, here's another WIP of a second scripted battle involving the Zulus against another African tribe.

[Sundjata Keita]

Excellent! The units look much better without that plastic gloss they had before. Much more realistic and dirty.

Yesterday I cut down the number of polys on all of the Zulu models and they are all now below 1000, with most below 900. Units like the chief which has more detail are around the 950 mark but most of the others are about 850 and with no loss of detail (though that kind of shows how bad they were in the first place )

Today I'm going to have a look over the British models and see if I can get rid of a couple of issues such as the weird stretching you see on the main British infantry. Also I'll see about making the gun slightly larger and more in proportion.

Not sure when I will find the time to do any more animations but hopefully I will get a chance in the next couple of days and we can have some basic bayonet stabbing.

Until then here are a couple of pictures. One of the Zulu standard bearer who has a Bull's skull on a stick basically (possibly a tad unrealistic but it looks good) The other picture is of the Zulu chief though this is a picture from a while ago of the high poly version. It looks slightly different now (actually he looks better now)



Regards,

Sundjata

[Epistolary Richard]

More units from the battlepack - this time charting the span of the eras covered in the mod. On the left - British line infantry from the early period of the mod. On the right, a Zulu warrior from the late period with a captured rifle and redcoat.

More work performed on the scripted battles. Here's in-game screenshots from the three that have so far been largely completed.

These are from the 2-sided battle - where players can fight as either the British or the Zulu




As well as recognising a couple of familiar faces as the advisors - this is the first look at the Zulu user interface. The dark-brown, pared-down look evokes a particularly different air from the light stone vanilla UI. The bone-like decoration was included to stick to the design lain down in the ZTW mod logo.

Of particular note are the unit cards. In a different spin on the classic unit card we've 'inverted' the scheme - colouring the background with a combination of faction and unit colours and then presenting a silhouette of the unit which lights from black to white when the unit is activated (as you can see in the first example).

Other completed scripted battles are the Hill battle mentioned previously where you command the Zulus in the early days of their ascendancy facing a far larger force of warriors from other tribtes:



And this one set around a wagoon laager.

[Duke Malcolm]

Awesome.

[Myrddraal]

Great ZULU chief!

[MansaSakura]

Hi Sundjata. good to be back. I finally got some experience in modding. Just finished my first faction (turning egypt to kush). I wanted to bring something to your attention. I believe you have the Assegai/Iklwa story backwards. Assegai are all-purpose throwing spears. They're pretty long and suprisingly accurate. Iklwas were introduced by Shaka (or so the story goes) by simply breaking an assegai and expanding the blade (width was the size of a full adult hand). They are called ilkwas because of the sound they make when pulled from a body wound "ilkwa". Great work so far. i'll be in touch.

[Spartan Soldier]

When do you think it will be realesd?!?

[MansaSakura]

Here's a pic of a Zulu warrior from an elite impi (regiment). notice the white shield. it's the most detailed description of a zulu warrior I've ever seen. hope it helps.


By scottfree at 2007-06-30

[Turk2]

Sorry,but this Mod died before a long time..:(