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Surak-nar
01-09-2003, 05:26
Greetings to all,

I am once again happy to be able to post here, as Moding this game is what brought me to the Org.

I had originally played Shogun and then Shogun WE, and now MTW, which I love, and I am sure all here present as well.

I first got interested in doing some mods, because I felt that although a wonderfull game, it had a flaw, in a non historical perspective. It did not give the opportunity for someone to choose one of the factions and build it from the ground up.

And so the first thing I did was play with the campaign files, and change the starting locations, it is a mod which I have been playing for 3 weeks now and apart from some balancing issues (Some factions get eliminated 10-20 turns after the start of the game), it went smoothly up to the Late periods. This mod starts at the Early Period.

As I read more and more, I learned more things about moding this game, and so I extended the "What if" mod, to also make All of the Units which are linked with a certain Territory also available for building by Any faction occupying that territory, except the Golden Horde, since it is a radically different Invading force from the Far East.

The Mod, is quite simple actually, and compared to some of the things many of you have done I do not consider it a big thing, it does give an alternate strategy overal and playing rules thought. So for the ones that like very long campaigns and like to Build, buildup, Conquer and rebuild...I beleive it is the targeted odiance. It is quite chalenging.

I am finishing the balancing details, and it should be made available in the following days.

Another thing that it Includes is a new Set of Flags for the Byzantine Faction. Historically, its Flag and Emblem was the two headed Eagle, which the Novgorod and Russian factions have in the game, with an Emperial Crown at the Top.

When Constantinopole fell to Turkish forces, the Christian Orthodox Church transfered its headquarters to Russia, and hence Emblems of the Byzantine Empire like the 2 headed Eagle were also adopted there.

In any case I wanted to remedy that "litle" detail that was missing from the Game, and so made new sets of Flags for the Battles, for the Info Panels and for the Campaign map Castle Flags. Modifyed the Campaign Unit Shields also.

The Flag sports a 2 headed Eagle and above it a Crown, it is not the same eagle as the Russian faction, it is one I found from Byzantine Heraldry in the net, still looks nice.

Finally, I would like to close this post by asking a question, as one of the future projects I would like to make some Unit Mods, and I have read the Multipart Post by Wellington, which explained in much detail many aspects yet, my question is based on the part about new units and possibilities, at one point it mentioned that new units could not be added. So it kind of raised more questions.

Did that mean that we can't add new BIF's containing new Animated Sprites? Or did that mean we can't add new Units period not even if we add them in the Crusader Files?

How about using existing BIF's for several Units? With proper Links from the Crusader Files pointing to them, would that work?

Thank you for any feedback on that regard. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Wellington
01-09-2003, 23:28
Hi Surakner,

"Did that mean that we can't add new BIF's containing new Animated Sprites? Or did that mean we can't add new Units period not even if we add them in the Crusader Files?"

Yes and No. The current existing BIF folders (JANNI etc ) are ALL hardcoded inthe MTW executable. There fore we CAN'T add more folders with new/redrawn/amended Animated Sprites.

However, we CAN add 'New Units' as a new unit is defined as a mix and match of images/shields/weapons/mounts. Therefore 'New Units' are possible but ONLY if they use the existing Animated Sprites (defined as 12 frame BIFs) as contained in the existing BIF folders.

"How about using existing BIF's for several Units? With proper Links from the Crusader Files pointing to them, would that work?"

We can add whatever names we wish for these 'New Units' in the crusader_unit_prod11.txt. They willl, however all refer to one or the other of the existing BIF folders (what I refer to as 'generic units&#39http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif.

If you really wish to, you CAN create entirely new images. If you do so, the new images will have to replace one or other of the existing BIF's/folders that MTW recognises as valid. By doing so you will have to lose one of the defined BIF's (and all MTW units that are based on that BIF&#33http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif.

Obviously, if your determined to create an entirly new Mod with entirely different units (ie: Fantasy mod/LoTR, Roman Mod) you can totally dispense with ALL of the existing images and redraw your own. You STILL have to use the same BIf names/folders names however - and it's a hell of a lot of work

Surak-nar
01-10-2003, 05:32
Ahh Excelent

Thank you very much for this clarification Wellington, and of cource, it is nice meeting you http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

After being clarified, I realise that bottom line we are not "that" limited, and that expands a set of all new possibilities...I forsee many sleepless nights ahead of me http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

Thank you again

Wellington
01-10-2003, 12:35
"I forsee many sleepless nights ahead of me"

Yes, er ... join the club http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif