Discussion and Announcements

[Rufats]

I hope it will. Thank you guys for your work and everything.

[buckZor]

Quote:
-Movement rates reduced to 70% of vanilla

WHAT?!?!!? Why would you make such a DRASTIC change this far into the mod like this without explanation?!?! Movement speed felt right, I don't get it..?

[Watchman]

It's not like it was terribly difficult to change it back to the vanilla speeds, you know. Just copy-paste the appropriate original text file (terrain_effects or something, I think) over the one in the mod folder.

[DimeBagHo]

It's not all that drastic either. The movement speeds have been at 80% of vanilla for quite a while, so the reduction to 70% is significant, but not huge.

[buckZor]

Would really appreciate manual mod instructions to get the movement speed back to how you had it in previous versions. I'd just like the option, and surely I am not alone..? This is the only mod I play, and the only reason Rome is still installed on my system. I troll this thread and the thread on twcenter, I just don't know how to mod anything beyond what you've laid out for us in your awesome mod.

[kburkert]

I agree buckZor, i too only play this mod. I also reckon you should make the AOR units into the factions colours(this would take time),like if you had 'AOR Italic Legionaries' and say greek cities could recruit them they would have the greek cities colours.
Also i reckon you should add a thew new units for the babrarians because when i play with the romans the barbs lose quickly to the greeks, but this might change the mod from a greek one to a all faction mod.
You should work on the senate like make it playable(i know how to do it) but i mean that you are not in debt from the begining. With the senate ive also noticed that when your men leave italy the other families attack, but this didnt happan in 1.2.

[Zarax]

You shouldn't play the senate, CA stated that it is used by the game to keep statistics and other AI related functions, meaning that if you use it then you screw up the game.

[DimeBagHo]

It is possible to make the Senate playable, but as Zarax said it is unstable, and messes around with too many other aspects of the game.

Adding faction colours for the AOR units is possible, but unlikely. With 20 factions, and 20 odd AOR units, that would be a huge job - somewhere around 350 new skins once you take account of recruitment limitations. Not really worth the effort IMHO.

New units for the barbarians is likely to happen though. Apart from the Barbarians every other faction has at least some new units. If you have any ideas, let me know.

[kburkert]

Ill PM you if i do.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 3.6.10 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://home.comcast.net/~cyumoto/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:
-Added Barbarian Cavalry to Britons
-Added Archer Warband to Britons
-Added Archer Warband to Gauls
-Added Archer Warband to Germans
-Removed British Light Chariots
-Armed British Heavy Chariot crew with javelins
-Corrected some errors in Iberian recruiting
-Added Aqueduct to Carthage and Ptolemies
-Added Sewers and Baths to Eastern Factions
-Forge now requires an Iron resource in the same province

XGM Version 3.6.9

-Revised four historical battles for XGM

XGM Version 3.6.8

-Added lighting to city windows at night (only if you have BI installed)
-Added swiming ability to several light cavalry units
-Added power charge to all spear armed cataphract and armoured horse units

[buckZor]

Side question: I've always wondered what would happen, especially with XGM, if there were some way to launch a campaign game with no human player. I think it'd be extremely interesting to watch the world evolve with the computer playing itself.. and further if you could LOOP it, it'd be the coolest screensaver ever :). This idea from a balance perspective would be very interesting as well, especially if you could do a winning faction count WITH the looping..

Oh geez and imagine if you could toggle, randomly, battle mode so periodically the campaign would zoom in for a battle.. wow that would truly be awesome

[DimeBagHo]

You can do something like that. For testing I often play an out-of-the-way faction like the Britons and just run through 100 or so turns to see how things play out. Advancing the turns automatically might be difficult though. It could probably be done with a script, but it would be complicated because you would have to handle dismissing messages and so on.

[Makanyane]

bukZor, for normal rtw/BI you can watch the computer play it self at campaign level by launching a campaign through a desktop shortcut with (space)-ai at the end of its target line i.e.:
"L:\Rome - Total War\RomeTW-BI.exe" -show_err -ai
Is there any reason that shouldn't work for this mod?

You can't get back in as a human player, or watch battles, but it can be useful to get an idea of how factions develop for balancing issues.

[DimeBagHo]

Thanks for the tip Makanyane. I had completely forgotten about the -ai option.

[Ianofsmeg16]

Have to say Dimebagho, I've downloaded every version of this mod, and each one exceeds its predecessor! carry on modding!

[Helgi]

You can do something like that. For testing I often play an out-of-the-way faction like the Britons and just run through 100 or so turns to see how things play out. Advancing the turns automatically might be difficult though. It could probably be done with a script, but it would be complicated because you would have to handle dismissing messages and so on.

Is there going to be any work on the Scythians in the near future or making the Ptolomies more Hellenic? Just curious, since I love playing this mod.
Cheers
:2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup:

[kburkert]

At the moment im trying to improve the barbarian factions.

I do have a unit design for scythia.

[alahir]

well whatever you add to this mod it still rocks
i love the greeks and this just makes them better

[Helgi]

well whatever you add to this mod it still rocks
i love the greeks and this just makes them better

True:2thumbsup:

[Helgi]

At the moment im trying to improve the barbarian factions.

I do have a unit design for scythia.

The Scythian Cavalry enhances almost any army it's in, hope that the next update or a update in the near future goes there.
:idea2: :idea2: :idea2: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup:

[Zarax]

You can recruit scythian horse archers in steppe regions with 3.6.11

[Helgi]

You can recruit scythian horse archers in steppe regions with 3.6.11

I have, as well as Scythian lancers, but mostly scythian horse archers, they're great against western barbarian factions as well as against a army that doesn't have any Cavalry on the field, it's just safe to back them with the Scythian lancers and some pellasts (hvy pelasts, Thracian, Illyrian), this worked for me in a battle against the Scipii last night.
:2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: :viking: :jawdrop: :charge:

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 3.6.12 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://home.comcast.net/~cyumoto/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

XGM Version 3.6.12

-Added named legions

XGM Version 3.6.11

-Barbarian and Steppe AOR units added to Mundus Magnus
-Carthaginian Levy Phalangites moved up to City Barracks in Italy

You can also get an untested patch file here (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showpost.php?p=899824&postcount=2) that will upgrade the previous release.

Helgi: I don't have any immediate plans for the Scythians, but I might add Scythian lancers as an AOR unit. I do plan to replace desert cavalry with something else, but otherwise I don't plan any more big changes to the Ptolemies.

Ianofsmeg16 & alahir: It's always nice to hear back from people who enjoy the mod.

kburkert: I'm still thinking about those raider units. I need to do a little more research.

[Cesare diBorja]

Hey, DBH,

How about a 4turns per year(or more) script for XGM or even those lithoboli that we talked about earlier? Any plans to make changes as such?

diBorgia

[Helgi]

XGM version 3.6.12 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://home.comcast.net/~cyumoto/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

XGM Version 3.6.12

-Added named legions

XGM Version 3.6.11

-Barbarian and Steppe AOR units added to Mundus Magnus
-Carthaginian Levy Phalangites moved up to City Barracks in Italy

You can also get an untested patch file here (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showpost.php?p=899824&postcount=2) that will upgrade the previous release.

Helgi: I don't have any immediate plans for the Scythians, but I might add Scythian lancers as an AOR unit. I do plan to replace desert cavalry with something else, but otherwise I don't plan any more big changes to the Ptolemies.

Ianofsmeg16 & alahir: It's always nice to hear back from people who enjoy the mod.

kburkert: I'm still thinking about those raider units. I need to do a little more research.

I guess I'll be downloading the new verison tonight, LOL:2thumbsup:

[DimeBagHo]

Cesare diBorja: Four turns per year is not going to be added to the mod. I was planning to take a look at the possibility of having it as an option - but it looks like a fairly complicated add-on, so even that is unlikely to happen.

[sixer19]

thanks for the mod. its great.

i was wondering if there is a way i can decrease the years to make spartans?

also how does the subfaction work?

thanks again for the great work!

:2thumbsup:

[DimeBagHo]

sixer19: Check the readme - there are instructions for reducing the recruitment time for the Spartan Royal Guard. But keep in mind that you are not really supposed to have more than one unit - it's better to wait and recruit Spartan Phalangites.

The GCS start out with leaders for each of the main Greek Cities. That's about all there is to the sub-factions. It's up to you whether you play them independently or not.

[sixer19]

thats cool, i will just use the one.

lets say i wanted to be just sparta and not the gcs. how would i go about doing that?

[kburkert]

Remove the other cities from Greek Cites, by going into descr_strat

[NeoSpartan]

Remove the other cities from Greek Cites, by going into descr_strat

Ok, but once I do that will the other cities be allies or will they just be independent rebel cities?

[kburkert]

They will become independent rebel cities.

[NeoSpartan]

They will become independent rebel cities.

thx man... in that case i think I will try it some time on VH/VH and see if I can break out of Greece (seems like one hell of a challange) :2thumbsup:

-------------------------
"sixer19: Check the readme - there are instructions for reducing the recruitment time for the Spartan Royal Guard. But keep in mind that you are not really supposed to have more than one unit - it's better to wait and recruit Spartan Phalangites." by DimeBagHo

i just wanted to reduce the years so can train another 1 group of Spartan Royal Guard, in case I were to loose the existing one. (I always deploy them, and have come close to loosing all of them on 3 occasions :sweatdrop: ).

[Garvanko]

This mod looks amazing. Downloading..

[Cesare diBorja]

Made slingers and archers have realistic ranges in their missile abilities. Tired of archers and slingers that never get around to firing and getting wiped out by cavalry or very lucky infantry. Should change up the dynamic of the game alot. Realism is close to Holism!(LOL)

diBorgia

[kburkert]

When will next version come out?

[DimeBagHo]

kburkert: It may be a while. Zarax is experimenting with some new features that will require quite a bit of work before they are ready to go.

[Stuie]

Designed for RTW 1.5 and RTW:BI 1.6. It uses the -mod switch so it does not make any changes to your data directory.

Wow - I never noticed this before. :oops:

Downloading now....

[Zarax]

You won't regret it ;-)

[NeoSpartan]

[QUOTE=DimeBagHo]kburkert: It may be a while. Zarax is experimenting with some new features that will require quite a bit of work before they are ready to go.[/QUOTE/]

I can't wait...

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 3.6.13 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://home.comcast.net/~cyumoto/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added AOR Galatian Swordsmen (recruitable by most factions in Galatia)
-Corrected some legion names on Mundus Magnus map
-Corrected Egyptian Large temple of Aphrodite name

You can also get an untested patch file here (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showpost.php?p=899824&postcount=2) that will upgrade the previous release.

[Zarax]

That was fast, I will have to update the experimental stuff...

[Goalie]

how many versions are there for this mod. I downloaded it, it is pretty cool. Also can I mod this mod like the regular RTW?

[Carl_B]

yeh you can. Ive done it a few times.

[Goalie]

how do you go about doing that?

[DimeBagHo]

Take a look at the "modding XGM" section in the readme.

[Goalie]

ok thanks

[methoz]

¨great mod ... i like XGM :2thumbsup:

[Garvanko]

XGM version 3.6.13 is now available for download.Thanks for that.

[Minister of Fear]

This continues to be one of my favourite mods. Would love to see Scythian Nobles recruited AOR style as their horse archer brethren are. Think you could add that or instruct me so I can include it myself. Oh, I'm having a great time as leader of Thrace at the moment; I have every surrounding faction except Scythia attacking me. Back to the wall and falx at the ready.

Keep up the good work, DimeBagHo.

[DimeBagHo]

Minister of Fear: Paste this line into xgm/data/export_descr_buildings.txt. You will need to add it to each level of the equestrian building where you want them to be recruitable. I suggest cavalry_barracks and above.


recruit "merc sarmatian cavalry" 0 requires factions { britons, dacia, gauls, germans, carthaginian, spain, pontus, egyptian, greek, roman, } and hidden_resource steppe

[Pompei the Great]

Having mercenaries in your roster can cause the AI to abandon hiring them. At least, that happened to me. To be honest, I like that part of the game because mercs take up slots in armies and cannot be retrained so an enemy without them is more of a challenge.

[Helgi]

:2thumbsup will add this tonight, should be interesting :2thumbsup:

[DimeBagHo]

*edit* deleted link for the beta - first release will be out shortly

[Zarax]

Oh yeah, this is something great!
BTW, did you include the economic stuff too DBH?

[DimeBagHo]

Not yet. For the next release I'm planning to integrate the economic changes, develop the loyalty character traits and ancilaries stuff a little more, and maybe add loyalty for Carthage and Egypt.

[methoz]

Page URL Not Found!!

The requested page does not exist on this server. The URL you typed or followed is either outdated or inaccurate.

oh no :( very bad
good web for files is : http://www.filefactory.com

[DimeBagHo]

The link should be good now.

[Craterus]

Downloaded the latest version of this mod earlier and I received an error when trying to start up the game. Here's the error:

Script error in data/descr_skeleton.txt at line 56, column 133
AnimDB: could not load - 'data/animations/SG 01 idle 01.cas'


:help:

[DimeBagHo]

Looks like the animations pack was not generated correctly. Check that the file you downloaded is the correct size, and try running the installer again. If that doesn't work, you could try manually installing the animations pack.

You can get it here: http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=464

[Craterus]

Ok thanks. Looks like a great mod, thanks for making it. I just hope I can get it to work.

EDIT: I reran the installer and installed that file manually but it's still not working. :sad:

[DimeBagHo]

Craterus: Are you still getting the same error? Did you install the animations stuff into the xgm/data folder? Do you have any other mods installed? Is your game patched up to 1.5/1.6.

[Garvanko]

Isn't that script error coming from the RTW Data folder, DBH?

[DimeBagHo]

That the way it looks, which suggests that the game is just not finding the xgm animations pack. The xgm animations file is generated by the installer by copying and then patching the vanilla animations pack. Ocasionally people have had problems with the patching process - which leaves the install without an animations file.

[DimeBagHo]

*edit* deleted link for the beta - first release will be out shortly

[methoz]

i install XGM 4 lunch game...and crash do win :embarassed:

[DimeBagHo]

methoz: Did you get an error message? Is your version of RTW patched up to 1.5/1.6? Can you send me the install.log file generated when you ran the installer?

[kburkert]

Could i use some of the units featured in EGM. Like the armoured horse for the greeks and other minor units.

[DimeBagHo]

kburkert: If it's just for personal use, feel free to use whatever you like. If it's for use in a publicly released mod then:

(1) You can use anything except the Spartan units. I didn't make them so I can't give permission to use them.
(1) Let me know what the mod is. I like to know where my work is going. :)
(2) Give credit in your readme etc.

[kburkert]

Ok, i will.

[methoz]

my last version XGM been 3.xx (normal play)
installed version 4.XGM... I only started from desktom and game crash
NOTHING error (message) :embarassed:
i have RTW 1.5 and Bi 1.6 clear

[DimeBagHo]

methoz: Send me the install.log file that was created when you ran the installer. You can send it here: dimebagwhore@yahoo.com

[methoz]

i not find install log...hm...I don't have luck :embarassed:
never mind

[DimeBagHo]

The install log will show up in the same folder as the installer when you run it.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.0.6 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://home.comcast.net/~cyumoto/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Map changed to Mundus Magnus 3.0
-Rome unified, Senate eliminated
-Loyalty activated for Romans and the Greek City States
-Scipii converted to Roman rebels
-Brutii converted to Greek rebels
-Extensive economic changes
-Add Darth Formations to Extras
-Minor bug fixes

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.0.9 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://home.comcast.net/~cyumoto/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added Grain Imports
-Added temple of Thoth to Ptolemies
-Forest elephants restricted to Africa
-Added mercenary gladiators
-Tweaked some building bonuses and AI economic bonuses
-Two serious bug fixes, and one minor bug fix
-Minor bug fixes

This version fixes two serious bugs that can kill your campaign, so I recommend that anyone who is playing versions 4.0.6-4.08 upgrade to this version.

[kburkert]

I am making a mini mod for XGM that concentrates on greece with new factions like Athens, Sparta etc.

If anyone is interested in helping out, like doing the textures please tell me.

More info coming soon.

[methoz]

i like Corinth - make this faction - very good idea :laugh4:

btw- xgm 409 play and allright
thx

[AwesomeArcher]

Just downloaded the mod. Great job on it. The greek units look awesome. Athenian Marine Archer=Sweet. I also like the new Sacred Bands. I started a campiagn with the Greeks. 30 turns for Spartan Royal Guards!!! But i suppose that they are pretty good. I plan to do a little modding with the macedonians and make them be able to compete with the powerful greeks. Great job.:2thumbsup:

P.S. Is it possible to take some units from XGM and integrate them into the regular Rome? I would just mod XGM, but i dont really want to face the really powerful greeks.

[DimeBagHo]

AwesomeArcher: Sorry I missed the question at the end of your post earlier. The answer is yes you can take units from XGM and add them to vanilla RTW. If you need a guide for adding units there is an excellent guide in the scriptorium here. As far as permissions go, if it is for personal use you can use whatever you like.

[kburkert]

Do you want to help on my mini mod?

[Tellos Athenaios]

XGM is simply amazing.

One thing though: using just about the lowest settings, I found out that the Spartans don't have a proper Labda on their shields - it seemed as if the paint turned out not to be waterproof during a downpour. Any way to fix that, while keeping low settings?

[DimeBagHo]

It looks like the skinning is a little messed up on the lowest quality model. i might take a shot at fixing it some time, but until then you can edit xgm/data/descr_model_battle.txt and force the game to use the second lowest detail level.

Here's what the altered entries should look like:

type greek_hoplite_spartan_xgm
skeleton fs_spearman, fs_s1_swordsman
indiv_range 40
texture greek_cities, data/models_unit/textures/UNIT_GREEK_SPARTAN_PHALANGITE.TGA
texture romans_brutii, data/models_unit/textures/UNIT_GREEK_SPARTAN_PHALANGITE.TGA
model_flexi_m xgm/data/models_unit/unit_greek_spartan_phalangite_high.cas, 15
model_flexi_m xgm/data/models_unit/unit_greek_spartan_phalangite_medium.cas, 30
model_flexi_m xgm/data/models_unit/unit_greek_spartan_phalangite_low.cas, 40
model_flexi xgm/data/models_unit/unit_greek_spartan_phalangite_low.cas, max
model_sprite greek_cities, 60.0, xgm/data/sprites/greek_cities_greek_spartan_hoplite_sprite.spr
model_sprite romans_brutii, 60.0, xgm/data/sprites/greek_cities_greek_spartan_hoplite_sprite.spr
model_tri 400, 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f

type greek_spartan_hoplite
skeleton fs_s1_hoplite
indiv_range 40
texture greek_cities, data/models_unit/textures/UNIT_GREEK_SPARTAN_HOPLITE.TGA
texture romans_brutii, data/models_unit/textures/UNIT_GREEK_SPARTAN_HOPLITE.TGA
model_flexi_m xgm/data/models_unit/unit_greek_spartan_hoplite_high.cas, 15
model_flexi_m xgm/data/models_unit/unit_greek_spartan_hoplite_medium.cas, 30
model_flexi_m xgm/data/models_unit/unit_greek_spartan_hoplite_low.cas, 40
model_flexi xgm/data/models_unit/unit_greek_spartan_hoplite_low.cas, max
model_sprite greek_cities, 60.0, xgm/data/sprites/greek_cities_greek_spartan_hoplite_sprite.spr
model_sprite romans_brutii, 60.0, xgm/data/sprites/greek_cities_greek_spartan_hoplite_sprite.spr
model_tri 400, 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f

[AwesomeArcher]

AwesomeArcher: Sorry I missed the question at the end of your post earlier. The answer is yes you can take units from XGM and add them to vanilla RTW. If you need a guide for adding units there is an excellent guide in the scriptorium here. As far as permissions go, if it is for personal use you can use whatever you like.

Alright, thanks. But how do i exactly go about doing that. I looked through the tutorials real quick and didnt find what i was exactly looking for. So either which tutorial is it or how exactly to i take a unit from XGM and move it to RTW.

[kburkert]

ill tell you on msn.

[DimeBagHo]

Here's the guide for adding new units: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=51750

You will have to dig through the xgm/data folder to find the files you need.

[kburkert]

Do you want to help with my mini mod for XGM?

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.0.10 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://home.comcast.net/~cyumoto/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added Hepteres and Deceres to Ptolemies
-Removed grain resources (new campaigns only)
-Limited contsruction of farms in desert regions
-Adjusted some economic bonuses
-Fixed CTD in 177 BC

kburkert: Are you asking me, or just people in general?

[kburkert]

You and eneyone else.

[kburkert]

If i was to create a PBEM for XGM who would play and what version would you like to play it on.

[Tsavong]

ah man this mod rockes!

by the way is it just me or do battles last longer, with units taking longer to fight or rout now? reminds me a little of my MTW days.... which i still play lol

[kburkert]

Play by Email Multiplayer Campaign up, go here https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1164961#post1164961

[Patriarch of Constantinople]

Do a fresh install of RTW and the 1.2 patch, then install XGM 2.1.1, and then start a fresh campaign.

If you really want the extended map then the best idea is probably to wait a few days until I can organize a version that will work correctly with XGM.

Wait isnt this for RTW 1.5? or is that the older version?

[kburkert]

2.1.1 is an older version of XGM that works on 1.2.

[Monarch]

Hi,

I have the official CA spartan skin installed, and to install XGM I'd just be copying my current RTW folder and installing over copy. Cab I do this or will I need to reinstall RTW, BI and the 1.6 patch?

[kburkert]

you should be able to add the .dds files and .cas files in, edit the stats and thats that all done.

[DimeBagHo]

Monarch: I should be fine to just install XGM as is. The CA Spartan skin should not cause any problems, and XGM does not over-write any original files so you don't need a back-up (unless you really really want one :) ).

[kburkert]

So... no one interested in playing a PBEM campaign for XGM. Not even you DimeBagHo?

[Zarax]

Version? Rules? Difficulty?

[kburkert]

check here. https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?p=1164961#post1164961

[Tellos Athenaios]

Just installed the new version of XGM, and reading the readme I came across a small mistake in the Modding XGM section:

"2. Green arrow markers are switched off by default. You can switch them on with: DISABLE_ARROW_MARKERS:FALSE"

To all who don't yet see: FALSE should be TRUE.

Going to try the new version now.

[Jambo]

Started playing this mod the other day. Firstly, I just want to say superb mod! It's much better than vanilla in almost every way. In fact it's exactly the way I'd have chosen to play RTW and here are just a few modifications in particular which caught my attention -

*No fatigue!
*Increasing the morale of units across the board, barring the generals. THis is something I used to do for myself. Very good.
*Slowing the battles down.

I've only noticed one little flaw so far, and that's the Thracian (who I picked) warband don't seem to be able to warcry although they're apparently able to from the descr_export_unit text file. Any ideas why they can't?

Also I do get some lag on the larger campaign map as the AI factions take their turns. Is there ay way to circumvent this?

One suggestion - remove large stone walls completely, as you've done with the epics? They, or the large siege towers used against them, are bugged and what happens is men sometimes fail to go into the large siege tower onto the walls. A human player can work around this, but the AI can't, alas. Anyway, anything above stone walls is rather unnecessary and somewhat fictional... :D

:2thumbsup:

[Stoneface]

Large Stonewall have been downsized to normal level and the small siege towers are used to assault them. Play a bit longer and you will see.

[DimeBagHo]

Jambo: Stoneface is correct - the large stone walls are really small stone walls with a few extra bonuses. For the lag on the strat map you can try lowering pgraphics settings. I think the problem with the Thracian warbands is just that Thrace is not a barbarian faction, so it won't work even if the unit is supposed to have it (thanks for pointing this out - I'll probably remove it in the next version).

[Jambo]

Hi DBH,

Good stuff on the large stone walls!

Regarding Thrace, their units can warcry as I have been able to warcry with other thracian units other than the warband. I actually think it might be because the warband also has the shield wall ability and I don't think it's possible for a unit to have more than one special ability activated by the J key. Hope that helps.

J

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.0.12 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://homepage.mac.com/abradbury/xgmread/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added ATG's Bronze Spartans (Royal Guard)
-Fix for crash in 130 BC

[Guyus Germanicus]

DimeBagHo,
I'm downloading version 4.0.12 from my home PC right now (typing this note from my office PC). Question: I read that your install puts its own icon shortcut on my desktop. Does that mean that if I want to go back to playing the vanilla RTW, I can simply access it through my old RTW desktop icon?

Since the -mod switch doesn't overwrite any of the original files, as you say, I was wondering if the old vanilla RTW will still work if I access RTW through my old desktop icon.

Am looking forward to trying out the Greek mod.

Guyus Germanicus

[The Spartan (Returns)]

Does that mean that if I want to go back to playing the vanilla RTW, I can simply access it through my old RTW desktop icon?yup.

[Guyus Germanicus]

DBH -
I downloaded the mod, then I extracted the files from the zipped-file using Windows. (I have a new machine, W/Windows XP Media Center) purchased just this last February or March. I ran the round XGM Mod icon from the XGM file, (it didn't seem to want to run referenced from the Windows Start/Run option). But it appeared to have installed the mod onto my machine. It added the Extended Greek Mod shortcut to my desktop.

When I executed the EGM shortcut, it brought up the RTW style Menu presentation. The Prologue option showed that it was not allowed in this game. Understandable. But there was no "provincial" menu option like I was expecting from something I read on a post from the author's comments on the TWCenter website. The campaign option appeared to be one of the active choices, and I could select it, but I wouldn't go anywhere. There was an error screen that appeared, but I did not write down the text of the error. It basically said something about expecting a date and there not being one. The pop-up window with the error message showed a line or two of programming code, but it didn't say much more than that.

I couldn't go back to my old RTW icon because it had been disabled in the upload of the Greek mod. When I clicked on it, it would tell me it was inactive.
The XGM icons on my desktop for RTW and BI were both present. I didn't try the BI one.
Don't know if this means anything but I'll mention it. My version of RTW/BI is the Gold Edition. It's supposed to be patched to 1.6. I purchased it in April of this year. So I have assumed that my version of RTW was completely compatible.

So now I'm going to assume that my newer version of RTW in the Gold Edition is either the problem, or there was something about the way I "ran" the XGM icon in the XGM folder for the XGM upload process that screwed the installation of the mod. I removed RTW and BI from my machine and reloaded them so I could play my ongoing campaign. But it also appears to me, that once I load XGM on my machine, the vanilla RTW will no longer be an option.

As an aside, I couldn't get Victoria and Mr. Centurion to shut up last night even when I set their advice on 'low'. Hope I didn't create a problem for myself in RTW in the "failed attempt" to upload XGM.

Comments? Suggestions?

[DimeBagHo]

Guyus Germanicus: Unfortunately, if you bought the Gold Edition in North America (and maybe some other places) it does not really patch the game to 1.6, so you will need to download the 1.6 patch and install it before you install XGM.

Installing XGM should not interfere with your vanilla RTW, so I'm not sure why you had problems with that. When you ran the installer a file should have been generated called install.log, in the folder where the XGM installer was located. Could you e-mail that to me, or post it here? (email: dimebagwhore@yahoo.com).

[Guyus Germanicus]

DBH -
I will look for the install.log when I get home from work today. I will also download the 1.6 patch sometime today when I can. I will try posting the log on the Guild. But barring that, I will forward it to you at your email address.

Thank you for your kind interest in my predicament. Would really love to play the Greeks with the new units. Hopefully, the Eras package they're releasing with the Alexander expansion pack will have everything patched to current.

[Guyus Germanicus]

DBH -
My predicament may be even worse than I thought. I'm reading the README information on the RTW patches, and I think my Gauls are still capable of producing Naked Fanatics, a feature that was supposed to be eliminated in patch 1.5, which means I may have TWO downloads of patches to do to bring my Gold Edition version of RTW up-to-date!!

I do think I have a memory leak in my version of the game - something that both patches deal with. I have had a couple extended-play games go bust on me. It would certainly be nice if SEGA, when marketing a new release of their game, would upgrade the release with all the latest patches regardless of what continent we're living on. It now appears to me that the Gold Edition released late last calendar year is only patched to 1.3.

:furious3:

[Guyus Germanicus]

DBH -
I have downloaded both 1.5 and 1.6 patches. Will install 1.6 after work today. Reading www.totalwar.com website info on the patches, it appears that I probably only need to load patch 1.6, and that the RTW fixes in 1.5 are contained in v1.6. I printed out the README file for closer examination. The website states in italicized print that if you have RTW the Gold Edition, it's already patched. Obviously, not true in my case. Hopefully, this will solve the problem for loading XGM and fix my extended-play memory leak at the same time.

I don't think in my version of RTW that the Academy class buildings are giving a "law" public order bonus. I'll confirm that this evening, as well.

[Guyus Germanicus]

DBH -

Just wanted to let you know my XGM is working now. I installed the RTW/BI patch 1.6. Once I did that I simply tried to load XGM again and it went smoothly.

There is some confusing information out there on the totalwar.com website about versions. Obviously, I bought a version of the Gold Edition that had v 1.4 of BI wedded to version 1.5 of RTW. Bad packaging error on the part of CA/SEGA especially when they state unequivocally on the website that the Gold Edition has the latest patches included. But the README file on the total war website is also misleading. Their update to add a public order bonus for the Academy series of buildings was never coded. Thankfully, someone on the Total War Center support site had the code to show how you can add the logic to the RTW software yourself. It's very simple actually. Also, the README file said that the Gauls can no longer recruit Naked Fanatics. I believe this is false as well. They should either correct the README file or remove it altogether to reduce the confusion.

Couple possible bugs in XGM? In my first battle taking the Greeks vs the Macedonians, my unit of mercenary hoplites never showed any spears. Also, the bow & arrow never showed up when I commanded my mercenary peltests to attack an enemy phalanx. After recommanding them several times and setting them in loose formation, (just coincidence?), they finally started hurling their javelins. But I had to keep reissuing the command to attack.

My goodness, but the action was immediate. Macedonia was heavily fortified with stacks in their cities when the game opened. And they were very aggressive. Their navy was everywhere. The game starts in 280 BC and by 277 BC I had fought three major epic battles with the crossed swords showing on the campaign map. I was expecting a little more build up before such a rough and tumble encounter with the AI. The combat pace is a bit slower than what I was expecting, but I believe you warned users of that. The victory condition seems a bit daunting - 70 regions! Plus conquering the four corners of the world? You have added cities to the campaign map, so perhaps the 70 regions may not be as awesome a task as I'm thinking it is at the moment. I haven't played BI much, so the loyalty bar feature on the faction members screen is something I'll have to get used to.

Another possible bug? Victoria sometimes gives advice when you solicit her inside a city's screen, and sometimes she doesn't. Given that I had more choices for temples and shrines, I was hoping she would make some calls for me as to what I should build, but I wasn't getting any help. Once when I asked her for help at Rhodes, she recommended a building that was whited-out because my cash was so low. Mr. Centurion was gone altogether in the combat screen.

All in all this is a remarkable effort what you all have put together here. You and your team should be proud of yourselves for the coding and design work you did. My compliments.

[kburkert]

DBH -
Victoria sometimes gives advice when you solicit her inside a city's screen, and sometimes she doesn't. Given that I had more choices for temples and shrines, I was hoping she would make some calls for me as to what I should build, but I wasn't getting any help. Once when I asked her for help at Rhodes, she recommended a building that was whited-out because my cash was so low. Mr. Centurion was gone altogether in the combat screen.

That would seem to be something that CA did wrong rather than XGM.

Macedon beats Greek cities.

[kburkert]

Did you have advice turned off or on low?

[Guyus Germanicus]

To answer kburkert,

I had the advice, at first, set to medium. It's usually where I have it set in vanilla RTW too. I believe I switched it around a few times. I will have to do some more gaming on XGM. Since I'm in the middle of a couple campaigns in RTW, I was distracted by those games and didn't want to get into learning all the nooks and crannies of XGM since the game played in a way I wasn't expecting. Because there was no build up, but I was plunged immediately into a life and death struggle with Macedon, I was getting frustrated with the different feel. I thought to be fair, I need to give the game a fresh start without the distraction of another campaign. It's a quirk of mine that I will get deep into a campaign and then start a new one before I've completed the last one. I've got about four different RTW games going at once right now. Seleucia, Carthage, Julii and Scipii.

My "complaint" about the mercenary hoplites having no spears was not valid. DBH said somewhere in one of his write-ups on XGM that these hoplites are not phalanx capable but play the traditional hoplite infantry role. So they're not supposed to have spears. I just didn't realize that.

I like the new skins for the most part. That was one of the things that attracted me to the mod in the first place, that, and the added depth to the "Greek" factions' schedules of units. RTW's Greek faction is so limited. You have no real good cav to speak of, and you max out the infantry development early.

I just wasn't ready for the lack of build-up. (Don't mean to belabor the point.) Had I been playing on hard or very hard, I think selecting the Greeks would have been sure doom. They are at a definite disadvantage to Macedonia at the start. The extra cities - Colchis and Mytilene - along with a strong established navy and a few heavy stacks of units, give Macedonia a definite edge. But . . . that's probably historically accurate for 280 BC. The Greek city states were in a very definite decline during and after Alexander. Macedon was a formidable political and military competitor to the 3rd century BC Roman Republic.

I definitely like the historic correction of "Egypt" in XGM with Ptolemaic Egypt. That's a real irritant with me in vanilla RTW. And, I want to take a closer look at the Seleucids in XGM. They have become me favorite faction in vanilla RTW. Their starting position in RTW is a nice challenge, they have good cash flow once things get going, and they have great depth of military units. They are geographically positioned well for acquiring all the ancient wonders which make good stepping stones on the route to conquering Rome.

[Agathon]

I enjoy playing this mod. I exclusively play greek factions and have been fine tuning some of the units, recruitment and extras as I've read different modding tutorials and applied them to the mod. My favourite thing to do is to add new units to the game. As I remember it, Dimebagho, in an early thread you did recommend your XGM mod as a good spring board for amateurs like me to enter world of RTW modding. I hope you can forgive some of the liberties I've taken with it.

To spice up the Macedonian factions, I've added a greek hoplite unit to the Macedonians and the Seleucids that's better than a merc hoplite unit or militia hoplites, and about the same as regular hoplites in capability but with a slight discount in costs. It's cheaper than its GCS twin, since it represents a standard allied greek hoplite phalanx company of the kind that might have appeared in the composite armies in the Greek theatre where mainline troops might have been recruited from the member cities of the Corinthian League.

I used the "Corinthian" hidden resouce to limit its recruitment exclusively to cities of the pre-classical colonization period. This means that the Seleucid empire could only start a campaign with the ability to recruit allied hoplites in Sardis alone (since Ephesus was a pre-classical Ionian city, and Sardis is the only settlement in the Seleucid empire with Pre-Persian conquest Greek culture.)

The problem with my projects is that I lack both the time and means to engage in extensive skin and texture designs. I've noticed that some have mentioned other greek skins no longer present in XGM that were once available for downloading. Any ideas or recommendations?

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.0 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://homepage.mac.com/abradbury/xgmread/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Old saved games will not work
-Britons converted to Seleucid rebels
-Dacia converted to Ptolemaic rebels
-Loyalty activated for Seleucids and Ptolemies
-Added AOR Indian Spearmen (recruitable by all factions in India)
-Added AOR Indian Longbowmen (recruitable by all factions in India)
-Added AOR Indian War Elephants (recruitable by all factions in India)
-Added Javelin Chariots to Gauls
-Changed starting provinces for Parthia
-Changed starting provinces for Numidia
-Moved Urban Cohorts back to Imperial Barracks

Agathon: There are some excellent Greek skins around. Take a look at these for example:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=24291
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=54958

[bcain13]

One thing I have been looking for lately is new maps to play on. Can you recommend anything? Ideally I would like something with more Mediterranean provinces (Greece, Anatolia, Syria, Egypt, North Africa) and less in Gaul, Germany, north Asia etc.

Looked into doing this myself and quickly realized that it would be beyond my abilities (just a player not a programmer :) )

I know there is a 200 province limit but maybe the number of 'outer' provinces could be reduced for more in other areas. Or change the over all map for just the med and the middle east and then add the barbarians (Gaul, Germany, Scythia, Parthia) on the edges al la RTW Barbarians. An Indian empire off some sorts would be interesting also.

I am not asking much eh? :) Guess I am just finally getting my wish list down on paper!

Cheers

[DimeBagHo]

bcain13: There are not very many alternative maps available. The ones I know of that are available as (more or less) free standing mods, are Mundus Magnus (the map used in XGM), and War Map, which uses a very different approach to map design. Unfortunately I don't think that the type of map you want is readily available.

[bcain13]

Thanks for the info.

One quick question though, i just downloaded 4.1.2 and i am getting an "Invalid or corrupt jarfile" error when i try to install? I have downloaded it twice now to the same effect. Any ideas?

Once again GREAT MOD!

[satchef1]

XGM version 4.1.0 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://homepage.mac.com/abradbury/xgmread/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Old saved games will not work
-Britons converted to Seleucid rebels
-Dacia converted to Ptolemaic rebels
-Loyalty activated for Seleucids and Ptolemies
-Added AOR Indian Spearmen (recruitable by all factions in India)
-Added AOR Indian Longbowmen (recruitable by all factions in India)
-Added AOR Indian War Elephants (recruitable by all factions in India)
-Added Javelin Chariots to Gauls
-Changed starting provinces for Parthia
-Changed starting provinces for Numidia
-Moved Urban Cohorts back to Imperial Barracks

Agathon: There are some excellent Greek skins around. Take a look at these for example:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=24291
http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=54958

Anyone else finding the new version makes things a bit difficult for The Greek Cities and Macedon? The lack of Dacia and The Britons makes The Gauls very powerful very early on!
Ive tried starting a new campaign a few times now and every time Gaul expands through all the lands Dacia would normally hold, theres a distinct lack of any challenger to Gauls power! The result is that if your playing as Macedon, The Greek Cities or Rome you get crushed because the only way to survive is to grab as many rebel provinces as possible at the start of the campaign and the only ones they can get bring them into war with Gaul and each other :wall:
Maybe removing a different faction like Numidia and keeping Dacia would be a better idea?

Other than that the mod is brilliant! Using phalanx based armies is much more fun/easier than it was in Vanilla

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.4 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see a (slightly out of date) readme here (http://homepage.mac.com/abradbury/xgmread/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added Modding Legions skins (by ferres, Pinarius, GODzilla, and others)
-Reskinned Eastern Horse Archers
-Reskinned Cataphract Archers
-Added larger sword to Persian Cavalry and Cataphract Archers

XGM Version 4.1.3

-Fixed CTD on second battle, related to sprites
-Custom and Historical battles now work with BI-XGM (thanks Maced0n!)
-Tweaked Persian cavalry stats

XGM Version 4.1.2

-Added ATGs Greek Generals and General's Horse
-Added Cataphract Camels to Seleucids and Seleucid Rebels
-Added Cataphract Archers to Parthia
-Added Cataphract Camel Archers to Parthia
-Improved Parthia's starting conditions
-Added new victory conditions for Parthia

bcain13: No idea. Might be a corrupt download.

satchef1: In the games I've seen the Romans, Germany, and Thrace usually put pressure on the Gauls. Also Thrace usually expands quite quickly into the area where Dacia used to be. Of course, if you kill the other two mainland Greek factions early you might have some problems.

[satchef1]

seems i reacted a bit quickly, should have tested it a bit more first.
The campaign has become quite interesting, the Iberians suddenly pushed carthage out of Iberia and moved east, destroying Gaul. Thrace is in big trouble, they've managed to end up surrounded by enemies! Rome, Parthia and Germanium are at war with them, i had to take a ceasefire due to Rome suddenly deciding they like the look of some of my cities (whats this about captured roman eagles?). Oddly, the Greek Cities after being pushed out of Greece by me have expanded east and destroyed the Selucids and now have the most land and biggest army! Could be interesting if they suddenly decide to head back to Greece
Its an interesting mod, very different from Vanilla!

[Agathon]

DBHo,

I've wanted to thank you for some time, for the tip about the excellent skins, but I've been selfishly applying them to what is (unfortunately but necessarily must remain) my older version of your mod.

I'm downloading 4.1.5 as I type, so don't think that I won't install it.

I was thinking that editing the numerous names files to standardize Greek names would be a commendable project for someone like myself. I cringe almost every time I see a name like Pefkalos or Anaksarxos or Aristidis. These spellings suggest that the compiler was slightly more comfortable in the Modern Demotic Greek idiom than in either Modern English or Ancient Attic-Ionian Greek.

The extensive doubling of names with their Modern English and Latin equivalents is another mild irritation. For example: Alexandros exists side by side with Alexander, and Demetrios with Demetrius. Philippos probably reappears in three separate forms, one of which, Philipos, is merely an error, as it occurs in neither English, Latin or Greek.:wall:

I know how pedantic this must sound, but I should recommend an "alignment" of the character-names as an improvement.

[Agathon]

Most of my experience with the older version of EGM playing with Greeks is that when I have stalemated the Julii in the great bowling alley that is Italy (that's right, the Julii start tossing large stacks of early roman legionaris early in the campaign toward the 7-10 split that is Tarentum and Croton,) the Julii, once punched in the nose by sturdy greek phalangites, will divert their aggression toward Gaul and Carthage.

Just set Pyrrhus of Epirus up near Cannae and let him solidly defeat the first Vibius Julius who shows up looking for a chance to besiege Tarantum. The "toe" and "heel" of Italy are largely defended by walls of mountains, Defend the few passes between Tarentum and Capua with fortresses and small garrisons and Pyrrhus sits astride the plains near Cannae like a spider in her web, waiting for some inexperienced Romans to enter her trap.

By all means, you should bribe Croton into your Greek alliance as early as possible, and be sure that your emissary reaches Croton before any Romans come to besiege her. Once bribed, Croton gives some good quality troops.

As soon as the Romans lose a significant stack in combat in the South, they'll reverse their tide and turn toward rebel Genua and Carthaginian Aleria. As I've observed, an attack on Genua usually brings the Romans into war with Gaul.

Next time I post, I may mention some observations concerning the Thracian AI and its evident aims.

[Agathon]

I just checked, and discovered that I'm running XGM version 3.6.13 with RTW without BI patched to version 1.5.

Before installing the latest version, I've backed up my old XGM 3.6.13 to mt second hard drive, hoping to save my little unit mods and other tweaks for future reference.

With that in mind, DBHo, I was wondering if you would recommend installing BI when I reinstall my RTW Gold. In short, do you think the XGM in its current form will work best with RTW 1.5 or RTW-BI 1.6?

As a further consideration, do you think that having XGM with BI 1.6 would be more of a help or a hindrance to the kind of continuing modification that I have undertaken in the past?

As to my pedantic little rant about standardizing names files:

You say Alexander. I say Alexandros.
You say Ptolemeus, and I say Ptolemaios.
Alexander - Alexandros -
Ptolemeus - Ptolemaios -
Let's call the whole thing off.:laugh4:

As for editing the names lists, I may have neglected to mention that I have already tried. In fact, I've attacked this thing about three different times, perhaps more than that, if one considers that I was first attracted to the task by the unusually large number of pre-hellenic coptic names attached to the Ptolemaic faction characters. So I began by editing the names of the royal family as found in desc.strat., and, after a whole Saturday's work and a few CD's, I actually was able to get a working version to load with Ptanthotep (or whatever) renamed to Ptolemaios and his heir to Dionysios.

I was able with the Ptolemies to rename all the people in desc.strat from the wives and royal princesses down to the lowliest garrison captains, the Ptolemaic admiral, the diplomat and the spy. However, when I went on to replace Egyptian names *not* used in desc.strat with Greek names, I started to experience CD's again. So my repsonse was to review, overhaul and edit all the names for all the greek factions, and what began as a "day" project, I soon realised, could consume whole weeks with explorer and as many as six or more windows opened on my desktop at a time (not counting the search and replace windows attached to each opened file.):sweatdrop:

My approach to the task from the "editing" standpoint was this:

[1] To spell consistantly existing faction names in accordance with modern phonetic and orthographic standards currently employed in the translation of ancient Greek texts. For example:

faction: greek_cities

characters
Acaeus Akaios
Acamus Akamos
Acestes Akestes
Aclepiades Aklepiades
Acrisias Akrisias
Acroneos Akroneos
Adeimanthos Adeimanthos (unchanged)
Admetos Admetos (unchanged)
Adrastos Adrastos (unchanged)
Adymos Adymos (unchanged)
Aegicoros Aigikoros

So far, the only things that have changed, are that c's have become k's and that the Latin dipthong ae has been hellenized to ai. The significant change to the RTW list is that latinized greek names like Acaeus are no longer present in the revision standing alongside non-latinized names like Admetos.

[2] To replace names duplicated and triplicated in the lists with different (and I might just as well add improbable) spellings with new names whenever and wherever duplicates deviated most from the actual Greek. For example:

Philip Philippias
Philipos Philippides
Philippos Philippos (unchanged)

It's worth noting from the example that RTW's "Philip" is the Modern English form of the Greek "Philippos," and that it is very improbable that RTW's rendering "Philipos" could have been derived from the Greek "Hippos" (horse). In editing, I merely chose to replace what I reasoned to be inconsistant duplicate names with actual alternate derivative forms of Philippos that one could encounter in Greek Literature. (For Philippides of Athens, see Herodotus vi. 105, 106.)

[3] To eradicate silly or baseless names from the lists. If an example is needed, try:

faction: thrace

characters

Mukaboris
Mukos
Mukazeis
Mukakenthos
Mukapaibes
Mukaporis
Mukazenis

It's the entire "M" section for Thrace, a group of frequently recurring names that I privately call the "Mukos-Membrane brothers." My index for Thukydides' History of the Peloponnesian War covers this same ground alphabetically with "Motya, Munichia, and Mykale." The index for Herodotos' Inquiries shows "Mossynoikians, Munychia, Musaios, and Mykale" for the same sequence in the alphabet. Aside from the alternate spellings for the name of a one-goat-town in Attika, the only significant thing to take from these index citings is the apparent absence of "Mukos" derived names. Etymologically, "Mykos" derived names would have proved themselves a more probable option. Take for example Thukydides' statement at 1. 10: "Mykenai certainly was a small place ..." Mycenaean Greek civilization is not quite the same as Mucousaean Membrane civilization, is it?:laugh4:
...

These were the three things about the names (as they are) that I most wanted to change. On the whole, I think it is important to stress that I was not and am not interested in replacing the old names with new ones of my own choosing. Rather, I would like most to simply standardize and, in so doing, hellenize the existing names.:juggle2:

Bearing in mind objectively that standardization and hellenization of the greek names is primarilly in its results a subjective and ascetic pursuit that remains, as it were, in the eyes of the beholder, it remains my opinion that a uniquely "Greek" mod designed for the enhancement of play for those who enjoy playing with "Greek" factions should use standardized hellenic names for the characters in those factions.

[DimeBagHo]

Agathon: Install BI 1.6 if you have it (just make sure it really is 1.6 because some versions of the Gold Edition don't install the correct version of the patch). You will get a bunch of added features, like swimming units, shield_wall formation, city lighting on the battle map, and so on.

As for the names, I can give you some advice about the easy way to do what you want to do. There are three files which control names:

data/descr_names.txt (tells the game which names belong to which factions)
data/descr_names_lookup.txt (tells the game what all the internal names are)
data/text/names.txt (tells the game how each internal name should be displayed to the player)

In data/text/names.txt you will see lines that look like this:

{Amulius} Amulius
The name in the {} curly brackets is the internal name. The name that follows is the displayed name. If you just want to change the way that names appear to the player, all you need to do is change the displayed names. You won't need to change anything else like the names in descr_strat.txt, and as long as you don't remove any lines, or change any of the internal names, you don't need to worry about causing CTDs.

If you feel the urge to fix up the names in the XGM version of the file I would be happy to include the results in the mod. :)

[Agathon]

Thankyou, for the prompt reply and the good info, DBHo.

I do have a BI disk, and a quick check of the readme ... shows ...

"Rome: Total War patches:

Rome: Total War does not need to be patched to install Barbarian Invasion.

Barbarian Invasion patches Rome: Total War to version 1.3. Do not install earlier patches for Rome: Total War after installing the Barabarian Invasion expansion. So doing will cause Barbarian Invasion to malfunction."

Unless this readme is dated and wrong, this seems to say that I'll be downloading and installing patch 1.6 on my own.

If I correctly understand your point on the names files, you just informed me that there's no need to edit the dictionary entries or the desc_strat. That's a relief!

I'm honoured that you would like to see the results of my work. I'll get to it A.S.A.P.:book:

Again, many thanks.

[DimeBagHo]

Version 4.1.6 is available. The changes are mostly minor bug fixes, but I recommend upgrading if you already have 4.1.4 or 4.1.5.

[Agathon]

Just completed a beta revision of text\names.txt. I gave the Egyptians hellenized names, alhough many of these retain distictly Coptic roots (the varios Ammons and Nepthris). After playing a turn or two in a developed campaign (Greek_Cities c. 258 BC), I decided to edit Pontic names too. In the future I should look at the Pharsi-Parthian names and the Carthaginian ones too, which is why I'm calling this a "beta" revision.

{Hekhemmut} Ptolemaios
{Khnumhoptep} Charikles
{Nakhrankh} Mnesiphilos
{Ptahhotep} Peithias
{Ptahotem} Pedaritos
{Wah} Peloros

It still looks good, and I'd be happy to send you a copy of the file.:2thumbsup:

[DimeBagHo]

Sounds good Agathon, if you e-mail it to me (just click my name on the left) I'll put it in the next release.

[Agathon]

This is probably a foolish question, but how does one attach a file to one of these e-mail messages?

Also, I'm downloading 4.1.6.

[DimeBagHo]

Try using your regular e-mail ap. Here's the e-mail address: dimebagwhore@yahoo.com

[Agathon]

DMBHo,

I just finished sending names. Since I made a recent revision to use it with my recently installed XGM v. 4.1.6, I attached it directly from my XGM\Data\Text directory. In short, this is the copy that I'm playing with now.

I think, or rather I just have this feeling that the names for Greek (or almost Greek) female characters should be given more attention. There are dozens of little known (outside of esoteric Hellenic literature) names that could be employed.

As an example, your avatar name, DimeBagHo, has an ancient greek equivalent of which you may not have been aware. Didrachmon was an hetaira whose true name is lost to us, but her nick reveals that she always charged 2 drachma for a session. That was roughly two days wages for a laborer, or the cost of two over-priced eels for the supper of a wealthy patron. So Didrachmon meant or signified to its ancient hearers something very much like "TwoDrachmaHo.":laugh4:

[Agathon]

Evidently (a CTD whispered it into my ear) descr_model_battle.txt has a glass ceiling limit on the number of entries that the file can contain. Since I've had more units in the DMB of my earlier version of XGM, I'm thinking that the lack of space, has something to do with expanding woodwork on the models and textures of the Julii and Scipii.:wall:

Any suggestions about what I should throw overboard first to free up some space?~:confused:

[Agathon]

If anyone is taking what I've written too seriously, just remember:

In exspectatione suspensi caligi Romani in graecum anum meum vivo.
(I live in expectation of the hanging of the Roman boot in my Greek ___).:laugh4:

[DimeBagHo]

Didrachmon sounds like an ancillary waiting to happen. :) Feel free to work on the women's names as well if you want to, and thanks for the new names file - it will be in the next version released.

If you want to cut entries from descr_model_battle.txt you could start with the officers. Just cut the officer lines from any units that have them in export_descr_units.txt as well.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.8 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see a (slightly out of date) readme here (http://homepage.mac.com/abradbury/xgmread/xgmreadme.html).

XGM Version 4.1.8

-Added install option for fatigue setting
-Added install option for Europe to Asia Minor Landbridge
-Added install option for Darth Formations
-Added throwing axes to German Nightraiders
-Added new victory conditions for Seleucids
-Added new victory conditions for Carthage
-Added Darth Vader's charge distance and attack delay settings
-Minor Bug Fixes

XGM Version 4.1.7

-Added AOR Bactrian Cavalry (recruitable by all factions in Bactria)
-Minor bug fixes

XGM Version 4.1.6

-Added AOR Woad Warriors (recruitable by all factions in Briton)
-Some changes to rebel starting forces
-Minor bug fixes

Agathon: Your reformed names file has also been added.

[Agathon]

If this reply seems late, DBHo, you've probably guessed that I've been playing, re-skinning units, adding units, and otherwise modding slightly and then playing the 4.1.6 version. As a campaign player I try to struggle through 1 to 3 turns a night and commit myself to keeping permanent saves every 2.5 years (in the game).

This brings me to another pet project I'd like to work at: Geography.

I'm sure you've noticed this before, so if this seems a bit anal, try to bear with me. I liked the older arrangement of Dalmatia and Illyria where the former was a long coastal province running up the length of the Adriatic between Epiros and Pantavium (Venice), and the latter was an equally long ponderous land-locked country that was roughly representing the same area as the interior of the former Yugoslav state. I noticed that the remapping of the provinces has altered the way the AI coming from Italy (Gauls or Red Romans mostly) approaches these provinces.

Another oddity is Ambracia, which historically was located exactly where the port for Thermon and Aetolia is located on the strategy map. Where Ambracia now appears is actually where Apollonia was in vanilla RTW. Oddly enough, this is where the Historical Apollonia was too. A bit further north, and it would be Epidamnus (the obscure little colony that touched off the Peloponnesian War). I know that it's pointless to say this, since enlarging the land mass of Korfu island to that of a Rhodes or a Mytilenian Lesbos to accommodate a settlement would look ridiculous on the map, but I'd have favored a settlement that represents ancient Corcyra. Again how this could have been done is beyond my imagination!

One thing I should intend to remedy, (if only because it drives me nuts), is the unusual province with Tomi in it. Drawing on historical geography or whatever, I think the province should be divided in half with the Lower Ister or Danube river forming the dividing frontier between Tomi (south of the Danube) and Istria (north of the river) on the Black Sea.

If it's possible to do this, I'll consult the necessary tutorials on making new provinces out of whole cloth.

I know I sound like a solid Hegemonia fan when I rant about the geographical eccentricities of a huge map like the XGM mundus magnus. (Try finding a place to plunk down a fort on the Island of Lesbos, and yet you can put a fort on the southern tip of Rhodes and it seems smaller)!

Anyway, I'm really pleased that you like the appearance of the names file in the game. I've been saving a few screenshots of things that I've been tweaking in my intallation of XGM, since you pointed out those most excellent skins by Hades and Webbird.

I've tried to impliment some of Webbird's thinking on new units in my copy, and I think the AI in XGM is extremely flexible and supportive of new units. (It surprises me that the Seleucid AI will recruit in massive quantity anything that looks and feels better than thoriphoroi at slightly higher cost than thorikitai or levy phalangites).

Since I respect the these things as the domains of their designers, I won't go into much detail about some of the unintended uses I've found for these things in my own personal copy of XGM, but I could be willing to volunteer all the dirty details in e-mail upon request.:idea2:

[DimeBagHo]

This brings me to another pet project I'd like to work at: Geography .... If it's possible to do this, I'll consult the necessary tutorials on making new provinces out of whole cloth.
There are two limitations you would have to deal with. One is that the Mundus Magnus map is already at the limit of the number of provinces the game can support. So if you want to add new provinces, you need to cut some old ones. The other is that any change to the boundaries of a province will break saved game compatibility. That may not be a problem if you just want make these changes for your own use, but I try to maintain saved game compatibility as long as possible in XGM. Simply changing the boundaries is pretty easy though. You just need to edit map_regions.tga with something like photoshop.

The easiest changes to make are name changes for settlements. All you need to do is change the displayed names in [rome]/xgm/data/text/imperial_campaign_regions_and_settlement_names.txt.

I'm always interesting in new ideas for units, so feel free to e-mail your screenshots and ideas. If I like them enough I will try to get permission from whoever created the skins.

[Agathon]

DBho,

Rather than fool with the map and geography, I went into the text directory and started editing the names of greek ancillaries. This led me to try the hellenization of some of the names of the more curious professions.

For the fun of it, I translated the 'courtesans' to 'hetairai.' I found an entry for someone called a 'floozy.' I decided to render the term with the slightly more businesslike greek term 'porne' meaning Ho. This made me feel brave enough to change 'catamite' to the slightly more graphic greek 'paidiopornos' or Boy-ho.:inquisitive: [relax, Special Agent Eavesdropper, FBI, I'm no page and DBHo isn't anything like my congressman].:dizzy2:

The strangest challenge came from an ancillary called something like 'keeper of the royal backside.' The easily compounded term, 'euruproktouphagos,' sprang to mind. It has two advantages. The first being that if you don't know attic greek, it has no easily discernable meaning. The second being, that in attic greek, if you know its three compounded parts, the meaning is as cute as it is precise. Euros is wide almost in the sense of being open or loose; Proktos is the body part studied by the modern proctologist whose professional name is derived from it; and phagos is an eater. If you think europroktos is a rank term, you haven't encountered the ancient 'lakkoproktos' which refers to a concave part of one's anatomy that actually resembles a cistern which is even wider, more open and (to greek minds) exists as a collector of fluid.:laugh4:

So much for that. As for editing these things, "It's a dirty job ..." but I had to do it. I also had some fun with the descriptions. I've been making some added changes to names. I need to 'proof' the files, but I'll be sending them to you soon.:2thumbsup:

[Kieran]

I have down loaded the Extended Greek Mod and it will not work at the moment, the back ground appears but nothing else will work. Can any of you help me?

[Roman_Man#3]

i had the same problem. it finally came down to i had tried to install another mod, and xgm wasnt compatible with it. so i deleted the folder for the mod, reinstalled rtw and tried again. it worked. and for easier switching of mods, i would suggest the mod switcher for the future.

[Kieran]

I don't mean to sound thick, but this is my first time at trying to install a mod, so I need it in fairly basic instructions.

[Tellos Athenaios]

If only you could give some technical information... :idea2:

Well then, check your version of RTW. A clean 1.0 build? Patched till 1.5? Downgraded from RTW Gold? Using BI? In short everything.

For as far as I know: 1.0 patched to 1.2 to 1.3 and then to 1.5 should work fine for the standard version of XGM. Check wether or not those patches aren't corrupted, if need be download them again. (Corrupted patches are a known issue with EB.)

If you are using BI then you should make sure you use the BI installer instead of the 'ordinary' one (inside the package, so no extra downloads required). Maybe you didn't do that, and if so reinstall the whole lot properly.

If you have a downgraded version then you should be aware that various issues with mods exist. You could try to find some help by searching trough the FAQ and known issues threads of some of the hosted mods. (I don't know much about the downgraded version except that people with it seem to have more of a problem with playing (total conversion) mods.)

If all this fails you can always try and redownload the mod itself, and reinstall. Corrupted downloads are a common pain in the ass, especially since the files are pretty big and therefore 'often' get screwed up during the downloads. (For example this problem occurs quite often with downloads of EB.)

If all fails, you could of course describe step by step all of your actions and hope for the best - that is that someone has a flash of insight and provides you with the solution.

If all is well then...:balloon2: :balloon2: :balloon2:

[DimeBagHo]

Kieran: The advice you have been given so far is generally right. You need a clean install of RTW 1.5/1.6. The most likely problem is that you game is not patched to 1.5/1.6.

Agathon: Sounds great - I look forward to seeing the results when you are done.

[william the bastard]

Hi Dime,

First, Congratulations for you work. i enjoy it for a while!
Regarding Independants Greek cities, will they be playable in the final relaease? Or using BI, some of them like Syracuse or Pergame could be emergants factions ??

anyways keep it up

[DimeBagHo]

You can play the Independent Cities if you want to (just move them from the unplayable to the playable section at the top of [rome]/xgm/data/world/maps/campaigns/[campaign_name]/descr_strat.txt. However, because it is a rebel faction your campaign will end as soon as the parent faction (the GCS) is destroyed. That's the reason why I haven't made them playable by default.

[ByzantineKnight]

I tried the game but whenever I tried to do a night battle on the campaign map it said that my general was unable to get it... Under what conditions will a general get a "Night Battle" trait?

[DimeBagHo]

Generals need five command stars before they get the night battle trait.

[ByzantineKnight]

Generals need five command stars before they get the night battle trait.

Ok, thanks!!!

There is no other requirements for getting Night Battle traits, as in defeat 90% of the enemy on the field and have 5 stars?

[Helgi]

Been playing XGM since 2.4 or 2.5, never really had an issue with downloading XGM, it's pretty straight forward and easy:laugh4:

[DimeBagHo]

ByzantineKnight: Nope, that's all you need - five stars.

Helgi: I strive to make it as easy as possible. Cuts down on the support issues that way. :)

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.12 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

XGM Version 4.1.12

-Added Noble Cavalry to Iberia
-Added Royal Stables to Iberia
-Added Scythian Cataphracts to Scythia
-Scythian Early Generals now use Scythian Lancers
-Scythian Late Generals now use Scythian Cataphracts
-Added Royal Stables to Scythia
-Added Militia Cavalry to Thrace
-Removed Light Cavalry from Thrace
-Moved Thracian Cavalry to Cavalry Barracks
-Added Heavy Cavalry to Thrace
-Added Noble Cavalry to Thrace
-Added Megas Hippodromos to Thrace

XGM Version 4.1.11

-Converted Noble Cavalry to Heavy Cavalry
-Converted Gothic Cavalry to Noble Cavalry
-Added Noble Cavalry to Gauls
-Added Royal Stables to Gauls
-Bug fixes

XGM Version 4.1.10

-Added Large Cities for Barbarians
-Added Stone Walls for Barbarians
-Added Dockyards for Barbarians
-Added Guildhall for Barbarians
-Added Cesspit and Cesspool for Barbarians
-Added Hundredmen Hall for Iberia
-Iberian Bull Warriors moved to Army Barracks
-Added Royal Cavalry Stables for Germans
-Gothic cavalry moved to Royal Stables
-Added Agema Hypaspists to Macedon
-Updated Darth Formations
-Minor bug fixes

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.13 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added AOR Dacian Falxmen (recruitable by Barbarian factions in Dacia)
-Added Hundredmen Hall (level 4 barracks) to Germans and Gauls
-Re-named Chosen Axemen to Double-handed Axemen
-Moved Berserkers to level 4 barracks
-Added new Chosen Axemen unit to Germans
-Removed Naked Fanatics from Iberians and Germans
-Re-named Naked Fanatics to Gaesatae
-Moved Gaesatae to level 3 barracks
-Moved Chosen Swordsmen to level 4 barracks-Iberian Infantry re-named to Caetratii
-Round Shield Cavalry converted to light lancers

[Agathon]

I just sent you some screenshots with brief comments. I hope you enjoy them. (I sent them as "whole screens" so you could also see some of the unit cards from the side I made player-active).:yes:

[Helgi]

[quote=DimeBagHo]Helgi: I strive to make it as easy as possible. Cuts down on the support issues that way. :)
And that's one reason why XGM is great and has been always great. like also what you did the Scythians :yes: :egypt: :yes:
Keep up the great work.


[quote=DimeBagHo]XGM version 4.1.12 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

XGM Version 4.1.12

-Added Noble Cavalry to Iberia
-Added Royal Stables to Iberia
-Added Scythian Cataphracts to Scythia
-Scythian Early Generals now use Scythian Lancers
-Scythian Late Generals now use Scythian Cataphracts
-Added Royal Stables to Scythia
-Added Militia Cavalry to Thrace
-Removed Light Cavalry from Thrace
-Moved Thracian Cavalry to Cavalry Barracks
-Added Heavy Cavalry to Thrace
-Added Noble Cavalry to Thrace
-Added Megas Hippodromos to Thrace

[DimeBagHo]

Agathon: Thanks for sending the screenshots. I don't think I'll be using any of those skins myself, but I was inspired to make a few new skins of my own for some of the Hoplite units.

Possible new skin for Carthaginian sacred Band.

https://img261.imageshack.us/img261/6052/sacredbandhl1.jpg

Possible new skin for the Basilikon Guard.

https://img86.imageshack.us/img86/2600/basilikonzx8.jpg

Possible new skin for AOR Hoplites.

https://img120.imageshack.us/img120/8113/hopliteau7.jpg

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.15 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Re-skinned Carthaginian Sacred Band
-Re-skinned Basilikon Guard
-Re-skinned AOR Hoplites
-Viking temple now obsolete
-Temple of Woden converted to violence
-Temple of Donar converted to forge

[Cesare diBorja]

You know, the Macedoniansinvented the Gastrophetes crossbow and the Oxibeles(torsion tension crossbow) duringthe reign of Philip, Alexander's father.
The torsion crossbow had a quarter of a mile range(425 yards).

[Agathon]

Forgive my lapse into total ignorance, DBHo, but what is "AOR" exactly?

As for the Egyptians, I suppose the Basilikon Guard is okay, but as you know, I've never considered the Ptolemaic army as something that was transported to the 3rd century BC in the way-back-machine from bronze age Egypt. I'm sure there were some trappings of "Coptic" Egypt to be found where it was tactically harmless to have them, but the Ptolemaic armies were greek armies nevertheless and weren't likely to be wearing linen and cotton headdresses when their opponents were wearing (more impermeable) Phrygian and Thracian helmets.:egypt:

Most Egyptians in RTW look like Hollywood extras from Cecil B. DeMille's films "Cleopatra" or "The Ten Commandments." Since they must perform reasonably well in battle in their "climate" wearing what they must wear, they almost seem like fantasy units to me, ready to follow Yul Brynner into the red sea in heated pursuit of Charleton Heston.:whip:

The AOR phalangist and the Carthaginian Sacred band are excellent.:2thumbsup:

Don't take my comments about the Egyptian versus Ptolemaic units too much to heart. It's a pet peeve I had about vanilla RTW long before I started playing XGM, and it's not unlike the orthodox arguments I've read about all the skins with Classical "Corinthian" helmets, (an inaccuracy for which, (as you may have noticed), I possess a certain fondness). If you wish, I could send a few more pics to show you a couple of more "greeked-up" egyptian units that I've been trying out. Feel free to send me some of your saves if you are willing.:beam:

[DimeBagHo]

Cesare diBorja: As I understand it the gastraphete was invented way before Philip's time. It was used by Syracuse against the Carthaginians around 400 BC. Same goes for torsion weapons. But Philip and Alexander may have been the first to use them as field artillery.

Agathon: AOR = Area Of Recruitment. The AOR units are the ones available to multiple factions in certain regions.

Yes, the appearance of the Ptolemaic units is really fantasy. I've made changes to bring their unit types and stats more into line with historical reality. But I kept the vanilla style just to relieve the boredom of having five (eight if you include Pontus and the rebel factions) nearly identical looking hellenistic factions. :egypt:

Oh, and I must admit I have a soft spot for Corinthian Helms myself. More pics would be great - you never know it might inspire me to do some more re-skins.

[Nom]

Halo DimeBagHo

i just installed the newest version and it will not work

error:Filename doesn t exist:data/animations/SG 01 idle 01.cas

[DimeBagHo]

That error is caused if the animations file is not generated correctly, which can happen for a few different reasons: (1) You have the wrong version of RTW (you need 1.5/1.6); (2) You installed XGM in the wrong place; or (3) One of the tools used to generate the animations file failed to execute correctly on your machine.

For (1) and (2) you should have recieved a warning during installation. For (3) you can try installing the animations file manually. You can get the animations pack here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=464). Put it in [rome]/xgm/data/animations/.

[Cesare diBorja]

So why don't the GCS and Other Greeks get them, or the Romans even........




OK, DBH

[DimeBagHo]

Cesare diBorja: All of the civilised factions would have been able to make them, but by the RTW time period they were considered obsolete (having been replaced by larger weapons). I gave them to the Seleucids because of all the civilised factions they seemed to most likely to revive them (as a counter to the horse archers used by their opponents).

[Agathon]

DBHo,

Thanks for clarifying the term. And it actually happens that I chose an old skin from the center, (this time a bronze-gold armoured hoplite with Thracian style helmets whose colours fit in with the Ptolemaic armies) to act as so-called agema greek colonial allies. Since the Ptolemies (thanks mostly to their large well-equipped and ubiquitous fleets) seemed at one time or another to control or possess most ports in the Eastern Mediterranean and the the Southern Aegean seas (including Crete and Rhodes), you might say I made them an "AOR" unit for that part of the Map [Cnydos, Rhodes, Halicarnassus, Side, Tarsus, Salamis, Sidon, Alexandria and Cyrene].

I believe that historically a certain amount of units in any large Ptolemaic army detachment were probably what we could call anachronistic or fantasy units with alot of Coptic-Egyptian character, especially when members of the royal family were in command. I was merely suggesting that it would be perhaps more accurate and visually appealing as well if the Ptolemies had more or less equal mixes of represented cultures from their empire - say equally coptic-egyptian, meroe-ethiopian, greek and macedonian types of infantry and cavalry and largely egyptian-ethiopian types of missile units and axemen.

In comparison to the Ptolemies, the way I've observed it, the Seleucid forces are about one-third Eastern-Median-Persian types; and the Pontics and Armenians seem to be about two-thirds to four-fifths Eastern types; and the Thracians seem to be roughly one-half to two-thirds Barbarian. There's still a great amount of variety among greek factions nonetheless. Thanks for putting up with my nonsense.:book:

[Miloshus]

SOS:help:

I have installed the RTW, 1.3 and 1.5 update, but Xgm doesent work,
1.I have installed it
2.When I want to play imperial campaign some window appears
"Please choose an item from the list" and when I click Ok it just throws me back to singleplayer menu.
3. When I leave the game another window appears:" script error in
D:\Program Files\Activision\Rome - Total War\xgm\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign\descr_strat.txt
at line 22 column 1. Expected start date of campaign or battle"

If anybody knows what to do, please tell!!!!

(RTW Alexander is disaster)

[Cesare diBorja]

Why are the GCS so weak, DBH?

[DimeBagHo]

Miloshus: That error is pretty common if you still have the wrong version of the game intalled. Unfortunately the patching process doesn't always work correctly. Check the options screen to see which version you have (should be in the top right corner of the screen).

Cesare diBorja: At the start of the campaign you mean? Historically the GCS were very weak at that point in time. They were dominated by Macedon, and although they made several attempts to break Macedonian control of of mainland Greece, all failed until the Romans finally broke Macedonian power. Then they were dominated by the Romans.

[Agathon]

Cesare,

In my campaigns, playing the Macedonian faction, The Greek states usually break their complete (trade and joint access) alliance with me and attack Larissa (not Corinth) by the summer of 276 BC. By that time, they (the Greeks) have trained up enough troops to make the project of returning them to their rooms without supper a costly and thankless task. (I just took a few screenshots of a really nasty pitched battle tonight near Athens where my Macedonians terminated Antigonus of Sparta with a decently equal number of Spartans and Greeks - not easy to do).:dizzy2:

When playing the Greek Cities themselves, I've found that the double alliance with Macedon and the Seleucid Greeks can be sustained deep into the 760's, giving the Greek cities ample time to expand and grow. Although Independent Rebel Greeks (the Brutii) begin at war with the main Cities faction, they're spread seemingly all over the map and pose no greate threat to the GC. If you play the diplomacy with them carefully, your allies will deal with them where they might wish to deal harshy with you (Asia), and their own problems with the Romans in their centre (Italy and Sicily) will have them accepting an alliance with you by the late 270's.:whip:

The earlier version of XGM that I was playing over the summer had weaker versions of Macedon and the GCS in an Assured-Mutual-Elimination War with the GCS pursuing defense in Tarentum and Pergamum as well as Greece. XGM 4.xx is a huge improvement over that!:2thumbsup:

[Agathon]

That reminds me, DBHo,

Since the posts in this thread (and my posts in particular) sometimes pitch into the topic of XGM-strategy and tactics, instead of XGM-modding and tech issues, don't you think it would be cool to have a separate thread for "in-play" XGM strategies?:book:

Btw, I've been playing around with faction-based hidden resources, (things like Syracusan elite hoplites for factions controlling Sicily and South Italy and (forbidden) Macedonian Cavalry to the GCS if or when they conquer cities within the Macedonian sphere of cultural settlement).:juggle2:

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.21 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

XGM Version 4.1.21

-Rebalanced "Seige of Sparta" historic battle
-Minor bug fixes

XGM Version 4.1.20 (beta version)

-Loyalty activated for Carthage
-Numidia converted to Carthage rebel faction
-Carthage and Numidia unit rosters merged
-Added install option to make Seleucid rebels playable as Baktria
-Added install option to reduce AI economic bonuses
-Added scripts to spawn extra stacks when cities rebel to rebel factions

If you have trouble reaching TWC then you can also take a look here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).


Since the posts in this thread (and my posts in particular) sometimes pitch into the topic of XGM-strategy and tactics, instead of XGM-modding and tech issues, don't you think it would be cool to have a separate thread for "in-play" XGM strategies?
Sounds good to me.

Btw, I've been playing around with faction-based hidden resources, (things like Syracusan elite hoplites for factions controlling Sicily and South Italy and (forbidden) Macedonian Cavalry to the GCS if or when they conquer cities within the Macedonian sphere of cultural settlement).:juggle2:
Opinion seems to differ a lot on regional units. Some people want lots of them, others find it a nuisance to have all these units that need to be shipped home for retraining. For some reason I don't get the same complaints about the mercenary AOR units though. Maybe people view it as a bonus that they can retrain mercenary type units at all. :)

Anyway, my approach has been to pile on the mercenary AOR units in abundance, while trying to limit the number of other regional units.

[wisefather]

Hi, i love your mod. But i do miss having epic stone walls, is there anyway i can make them available again?

[DimeBagHo]

Hi, i love your mod. But i do miss having epic stone walls, is there anyway i can make them available again?
Try deleting [rome]/xgm/data/descr_walls.txt. You will also have to remove the nobuild requirement from export_descr_buildings.txt.

[wisefather]

Thank you!

it works like a charm, i've finally got my walls back ^^

Just one more quick question, it's about the new set of skins for the romans in your mod? is there a new skin for the urban cohorts? and if so, is there anyway to make them available to recruit with there new skins, I'm dying to see!!! :help:

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.22 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.twcenter.net/downloads/db/index.php?mod=712).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The only changes are minor bug fixes. I fixed an issue with the Carthaginian peltasts, and a couple of issues with the Modding Legion units. Modding is likely to remain slow for a while but will still continue. :)

wisefather: There is a Modding Legions skin for Urban Cohorts, but XGM uses the Early Legionary skin instead (because Urbans are supposed to be a garrison unit). You can download the Modding legions pack and install it manually if you want to.

[wisefather]

Ok thanks :)

[unsung]

The download links all apear broken.
Help?

[Zarax]

The new download addresses can be found at www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm

[Davey]

Is it possible to use the 4tpy mod with XGM? If so, where could I find it,and how would I get it implemented?

Thx in advance!

[DimeBagHo]

Is it possible to use the 4tpy mod with XGM? If so, where could I find it,and how would I get it implemented?

Thx in advance!
Unfortunately there is no easy way to combine the two.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.24 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

XGM Version 4.1.24

-Added new victory conditions for most factions
-Added "Force Diplomacy" script

XGM Version 4.1.23

-Added script to spawn garrisons when rebel faction replaces parent faction

Force Diplomacy: This allows you to force any faction to accept any diplomatic offer you make to them. You can access this by clicking on the help button on the diplomacy scroll (the questionmark in the top right corner) and then clicking on the "show me how" button when the advisor comes up.

This option is included so that you can correct for certain weaknesses in the AI. Here are some suggestions for how this option can be used to make the game more realistic and more interesting:

(1) The AI doesn't know when it's beaten. You can use this option to force a faction to accept a ceasefire or protectorate status when they have been beaten down to the point where you could crush them easily. My own house rule is that I can use this option when a faction has been reduced to three regions, I have their capital under siege, and I have enough forces available to crush them easily within a few turns.

(2) The AI often doesn't know a good deal when it sees one. You can use this option to force the AI to accept an offer that is clearly to their advantage.

(3) The AI won't keep an alliance, even with a reliable ally, and even when breaking the alliance would be foolish. If you want to role play a lasting alliance, you can use this option to keep the AI from staring wars that don't make any sense.

If you do use this option it is a good idea to come up with sensible house rules, at the start of your campaign, that govern how and when you can use it. Your game will be a lot less fun if you use this option as a cheat to make the game easier.

[Roman_Man#3]

Excellent. I am for sure going to download this. I liked the version I had earlier, I forget which version.

[Zarax]

Version 1.25 is available at www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm

Simplified faction objectives are available at www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmwinconditions.zip

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 4.1.26 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Changed Heavy Peltasts to javelin/spear unit
-Added Heavy Peltasts to Macedon and Seleucids
-Renamed Heavy Peltasts to Thureophoroi
-Added heavy javelins to Thorakitai
-Re-named Thureophoroi to Doryphoroi
-Added re-coloured skins for GCS and Seleucid rebels (by Maraxus)

The heavy javelins are a new missile type with a range and damage that falls roughly between javelin and pilum. There new rebel skins don't have matching unit cards and sprites yet.

[nnealey1]

downloaded 4.1.26 and am getting this message now....

xgm/data/world/maps/imperial_campaign/descr_regions.txt.at line 4 col 1 couldn't find region 'al-maghrib' in string table.


I notice that prior to this vanilla RTW would not work after you start a campaign it automatically goes back to the Main Menu....



HELP!!!!!!!!!!


nnealey1@hotmail.com



Nick

[DimeBagHo]

nnealey1: Sounds like your main data folder was corrupted/over-written by another mod. The most reliable solution is to completely uninstall and delete RTW off your system, reinstall, re-patch, and then try installing XGM.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Unable to win any faction on VH/VH or H setting.

Unable to win, so far, on VH/M with Rome.

Cannot avoid constant crushing debt. Win battle after battle but lose on attrition as I cannot replace my armies fast enough without sacrificing garrisons and having everything revolt.

Can afford one field army, but any more yields debt -- and as Rome I need 2 or more just to DEFEND what I've got -- any neighbor declares war and attacks. I'm in an endless locust cycle (exterminating everything) and unable to build cities much.

I am not a horrid player of RTW. Thoughts on what I am doing wrong?

[DimeBagHo]

Seamus Fermanagh: Some factions are not that hard to win with, but Rome is pretty tough, especially before the reforms.

Here's a few pointers:

Watch out for the unit upkeeps - especially for cavalry and ranged units. Infantry are generally better value for money, and the city barracks level units are usually the best value for money.

The AI factions get large economic bonuses from the "founding monument" buildings (usually) located in their starting capital city. If you're in an all out war with a faction you should make it a priority to capture their capital.

Especially in the early game you need to go where the money is. If you play Rome it's tempting to go after the Gauls relatively early, but Gaul doesn't pay and you wind up with a long border to defend. Once you take northern and southern Italy it's better to go for Greece, and the islands.

[KLAssurbanipal]

I released my skinpack - 10 Hoplites.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=76046&page=3

Are You interested them for Your mod?
:egypt:

[Flavius Merobaudes]

Hello. I just downloaded 5.0.5b and played some rounds. The culture system is great as it makes the game less easy and campaigns are more interesting. But I'd like to have my stables and archery ranges back. What can I do?:help:

And btw, when playing as Baktria, you can still get the priestess_of_britannia ancillary from the temple of Hermes. But that's just a small thing.

Finally, I might suggest introducing a shrine of Buddha for Baktria. Not that I'm so much into buddhism, just in reference to graeco-buddhism (Buddhas of Bamyan). Effects might be population health bonus and increased public order, or something in that direction.

Thanks for your highly appreciated mod.:2thumbsup:

[DimeBagHo]

King Louise Assurbanipal: Nice skins. I'll keep them in mind if I ever get around to adding more hoplite units. :)

Flavius Merobaudes: Thanks for spotting the ancillaries problem. There were a couple of others that needed fixing as well. Buddhism sounds like a nice idea as well.

BTW there should be a new version of the beta available shortly - I've added hordes.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.0.7 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added horde ability to Scythians, Parthians, Gauls, and Germans
-Added Barbarian Interface from BI
-Added culture mechanism using the religion mechanism from BI
-Removed all Peasant units
-Garrison units (Town Watch etc) moved to Government buildings
-Added culture specific Barracks buildings
-Merged most recruitment to Barracks buildings
-Added Auxiliary Barracks
-AOR units moved to Auxiliary Barracks
-Hippodrome and Circus maximus are now Roman only entertainment buildings
-Catapult Range and Siege Engineer now recruit Siege Weapons only
-Added Grain Exports building to certain regions
-Merged Macedonian and Greek Heavy cavalry units
-Removed Scorpions

Military Infrastructure: Apart from garrison units, AOR units, siege weapons, and naval units, almost all recruiting has been moved to the Barracks buildings. The barracks buildings are also now culture specific. That means that when you capture a settlement that belongs to a different culture group you will need to start building your own barracks before you can recruit anything better than garrison units. Garrison units are now recruitable from government buildings. AOR units are now recruitable from Auxiliary Barracks buildings.

Colonies and Culture: A new culture mechanism has been introduced using the religion mechanism from BI. Populations in a settlement will be divided between three culture groups: Barbarian, Western Civilised, and Eastern Civilised. When you xcapture a settlement that belongs to another culture you can begin converting the population to your own culture by building a colony. This will cause unrest in the short term but greater stability and tax income in the long term. It will also make it possible to build your highest level barracks in the settlement.

[DimeBagHo]

Version 5.0.8 is available. It fixes a problem with the desktop shortcuts that was causing ctds for some people.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.0.9 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added East Africa AOR
-Added AOR Nubian Spearmen recruitable by most factions in East Africa
-Added AOR Nubian Cavalry recruitable by most factions in East Africa
-Added AOR Ethiopian Axemen recruitable by most factions in East Africa
-Added Arabia AOR
-Desert Infantry are now recruitable by all factions in Arabia
-Desert Camel Warriors arenow recruitable by all factions in Arabia
-Desert Camel Archers are now recruitable by all factions in Arabia
-Picked Rhodian Slingers converted to AOR unit recruitable by all factions in Rhodos
-Picked Cretan Archers converted to AOR unit recruitable by all factions in Crete
-Minor bug fixes, economic changes, and adjustments to auxiliary recruiting

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.1.0 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added Indian Ocean and Caspian Sea regions to fix naval AI problems
-Removed Erain and Qatarban regions
-Map fix for several AI path-finding problems
-Added re-coloured skins for Carthage rebels (by Maraxus)
-Added Armour Piercing attribute to slingers
-Minor adjustments to campaign start

This version is not savegame compatible with older versions (because of the map fixes) so don't upgrade unless you are planning to start a new campaign. The changes to the campaign start mostly involve the addition of some large rebel garrisons.

[Roman_Man#3]

WOAH! You guys are popping out new versions like there is no tomorrow. YOu guys are doing an awesome job!!!!!!!1 I got 4.1.4 or 5 when it was relativly new, and it wasn't that long ago. Right now, I think I will stick with this one because I cannot keep up with all this progress.hehe



Keep up the good work:2thumbsup:
RM3

[KLAssurbanipal]

EXTENDED GREEK MOD (XGM):

THORAKITAI:

https://img470.imageshack.us/img470/9670/greekthorakitaiva4.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

https://img470.imageshack.us/img470/9670/greekthorakitaiva4.th.jpg (https://img470.imageshack.us/my.php?image=greekthorakitaiva4.jpg)

[s_tabikha]

You ruined my companion calvary.

:daisy:

[KLAssurbanipal]

You ruined my companion calvary.

i h8 u


What? I don't understand You.
Why You hate me?

:dizzy2: :inquisitive:

[DimeBagHo]

s_tabikha: You might want to be more specific about the problem with the companion cavalry. :)

[s_tabikha]

cataphriacts or whatever
dgaf
have you seen them in alexander?
they look awsome
catraphicts look stupid
but i dont hate you if you made this mod as well
great mod

[s_tabikha]

KLA
How come your unit skins arent in the game>?
also is there anyway i can get your scared ban calvary from punic total war

[s_tabikha]

uh somthings wrong with my units,
they have realy pointy legs and there movement is off

[mystery-x]

Heey everyone

I have a question, when i install xmg 5.1.1 with every file i get a message cannot install this file, push abuse...etc.
What do i have to do?

[mystery-x]

abuse=abort

[KLAssurbanipal]

for Extended Greek Mod:

Greek Cavarly:

https://img502.imageshack.us/img502/8866/greekcavarlymg8.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

https://img502.imageshack.us/img502/8866/greekcavarlymg8.th.jpg (https://img502.imageshack.us/my.php?image=greekcavarlymg8.jpg)

Late Spartan Hoplite:

https://img224.imageshack.us/img224/2070/latespartanhoplitevq0.jpg (https://imageshack.us)

https://img224.imageshack.us/img224/2070/latespartanhoplitevq0.th.jpg (https://img224.imageshack.us/my.php?image=latespartanhoplitevq0.jpg)

https://img207.imageshack.us/img207/6585/extendedgreekmodih6.th.jpg (https://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=extendedgreekmodih6.jpg)

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.2.0 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Cut five regions from the interior of Africa
-Added two regions to the coast of Africa
-Libya Deserta (most of the African Interior) now uncapturable
-Revised starting position for Carthage
-Improved North African Trade
-Reduced farming levels in Iberia
-Removed Carthaginian Levy Phalangites
-Added Poeni Marines to Carthage
-Added AOR Numidian Infantry
-Converted Carthaginian Militia to Phalanx unit

Because of the map changes this one won't work with older saved games.

[Ares cA]

First I'd like to say WOW great mod to everyone envolved. Now to my issue. Im having trouble putting armys onto ships after they've already made one voyage at sea. Mainly the Lesbos island and that other one beside Athens that the name of escapes me. Im sure its not just me having this issue is there anything i can do to try and fix it myself.

[Ares cA]

Oh and I can't edit my earlier post for spelling and to add that im playing as the GCS.

[DimeBagHo]

That's a new one on me. Can you give me a list of the unit types in the armies involved? Maybe there is a unit that doesn't have the ability to board ships.

[Ares cA]

On the Lesbos island I have 3 Generals 3 AOR hoplites my Spartan Royal's (the real reason im desperate to get off the island :oops: Cretean Archers, Cicilian Pirates and Doryphoroi. Im going to reinstall see if it fixes the problem.

[DimeBagHo]

Did you happen to bribe any of the Macedonian family members or units that were already there?

[Ares cA]

Units that were already there yes. I saved up cash and just had an army waiting for me when I landed the generals as I had bribed a wondering captain.

[DimeBagHo]

OK - I'm 90% sure that's the problem. I think I set up the AI Macedonian garrisons so that they couldn't be shipped off the islands. :) Just move those troops out of your stack and you should be fine.

Thanks for bringing this problem to light. I'll find some way to fix it in the next version.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.3.4 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Dacia (formerly Ptolemaic rebels) converted to Sabaeans
-Bactria is now playable
-Removed Loyalty from Seleucids
-Removed Loyalty from Ptolemies
-Added Thebes, Patras, Amphipolis, Ephesus, Cyzicus, Trapezus, Qatarban
-Moved several ports to produce more reasonable trade values
-Cut several under used or island regions
-Arabia Deserta is now uncapturable
-Revised Carthage unit roster
-Revised Iberian unit roster
-Revised Baktrian unit roster
-Revised Horse faction unit rosters (Scythia and Parthia)
-Added many new AOR units

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.4.1 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added Red Sea Axemen
-Added Sabaean Heavy Spearmen
-Added Sabaean Archers
-Added Sabaean Temple Guard
-Added Sabean Heavy Cavalry and new General's Bodyguard
-Added Sabaean Camel Archers
-Added Sabaean War Elephants
-Added Sabaean Chariot Archers
-Added temple of trade for Sabaeans
-Revised trade in and around Arabia
-Minor bug fixes

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Many Compliments!

I am currently playing a Roman campaign using XGM 4.2x or so, set at H/M. I began this campaign shortly after my last post here in early March.

At long last, I have come nearly to a conclusion. I have a stable border across Poland and Romania (rebel provinces as buffer). I have all of Western Europe, Scandanavia, all Med. Islands, the Balkans and Asia Minor. I recently took Antioch and am preparing expeditions to conquer Carthage and Alexandria for the win. Only the Seluecids -- and their 25 or so full stacks worth of troops! -- remain.

This has taken me more than 140 years and more than 900 battles to accomplish.

EASILY the most challenging -- and therefore rewarding -- TW experience I have had. I cannot praise this mod too highly. Made a fun but rather pale game into a real and more historical challenge. Kudos to you!

Finished in 124BC with conquest of Cartha and Alex. A blast. downloaded installed and started on iteration 5 alpha -- very different game. Quite enjoyable thus far.



Minor Notes:

A few units have become locked in "celebration" and immovable thereafter for the rest of some battles (possibly this has been fixed in subsequent iterations).

Attacking a unit that is ascending a siege apparatus is impossible. You can attack a ram unit from behind while ramming, but your unit stops and reforms rather than attacking a unit ascending a ladder or tower -- even if only 1 or 2 figures have begun the ascent (this may be a CA issue however).

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.5.7 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added AOR Thracian Cavalry (recruitable in Thrace, all factions)
-Added AOR Syrian Archers (recruitable in Syria, all factions)
-Added Merchant Marines (mercenaries only, Red Sea regions)
-Added AOR Indian Cavalry (recruitable in India, all factions)
-Re-worked Scythian Light Cavalry as javelin/axe skirmishers
-Added half-armoured horse model for elite Greek cavalry units
-Added new skins and models for imitation legionary units

Seamus Fermanagh: Glad you like the mod. The problem with attacking units on siege equipment is a vanilla problem.

[Poulp']

XGM version 5.5.7 is now available for download.

oh no, my new campaign on the 5.5.6 version was just getting interesting...
speaking of versions, the change between v4.2 and 5.5 is great.

The introduction of colonies is a good idea to prevent the human player from steamrolling the map. (combined with the astronimical cost of units)
The new AOR system makes Carthage a very interesting faction, perfectly suitable for role-playing. (I just love the idea of adapting my army to the environment)
And I'm glad that GCS victory conditions changed.

great mod, and easily moddable to suit one's taste.

Congrats to the XGM team

BTW, playing as Rome on 5.5.6 version, it seems Prometheus' skin does not show up for AI factions: cities in North Africa, Northern Europe and the Far East still have the vanilla skin. However, when I built a roman shipyard in Carthago, the port turned to Prometheus' skin.
Cities in Greece and Asia Minor are already using the new skin right from the beginning.

[DimeBagHo]

Poulp': I'm glad you like the mod. Version 5.5.7 should work with saved games back to version 5.5.3 - though if you have made your own modifications you might encounter some problems.

As far as I know Prometheus only made models for Greek and Roman ports and cities, so only the stuff that was built by Greek and Roman factions will use them. Barbarians and Eastern factions still use the originals.

Some time I might take a shot at making some Eastern versions.

[Poulp']

Poulp': I'm glad you like the mod. Version 5.5.7 should work with saved games back to version 5.5.3 - though if you have made your own modifications you might encounter some problems.

As far as I know Prometheus only made models for Greek and Roman ports and cities, so only the stuff that was built by Greek and Roman factions will use them. Barbarians and Eastern factions still use the originals.

Some time I might take a shot at making some Eastern versions.

Guilty, I already made a few basic modifications to prevent the AI from spamming agents, etc...
That's not really a problem though, I'm still learning how the mod works.
I'll upgrade to 5.5.7 and fine-tune it to my taste later.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Colonies are quite an interesting twist. Makes expansion easier in some ways but also much slower.

Trying a Ptolemies campaign. Funny how the Seluecids have good alliances with everybody but me -- I was never able to get a lasting alliance when I played them. :smartass:

[Poulp']

Colonies are quite an interesting twist. Makes expansion easier in some ways but also much slower.

Trying a Ptolemies campaign. Funny how the Seluecids have good alliances with everybody but me -- I was never able to get a lasting alliance when I played them. :smartass:

Playing as Saba, it's fun to see how many Ptolemaic and Seleucid armies end up in the south of the Arabic peninsula while they should clash in the Sinai...

DimeBagHo,
Playing as Parthia (still on 5.5.6), the 4th tier governement building doesn't allow to train steppe infantry, was it fixed in 5.5.7 ?

still on 5.5.6, Sabean (sp?) general have no heavier, upgraded version available in the custom battle menu, whereas all other factions have
Naked Fanatics (well a unit card which looks like NF) don't have a name in custom battle, they appear as "unspecified name folder" or something (just saw it minutes ago and and can't remember already... getting old is though) ... Gasatae maybe ?

[Poulp']

UP
still on 5.5.6

about the missing unit name, it's actually "unlocated text name" (and the unit is probably Naked Fanatics, Att 19, Unit Cost 800); I have yet to dig into the text files

Median Cavalry's tooltip is missing a capital E ("equipped with composite bow...")

and that's all... for now :beam:

[DimeBagHo]

Poulp': Thanks for spotting those description errors. Version 5.5.8 is available. It fixes those, and a few other minor bugs.

[Poulp']

Thanks for v5.5.8, I'll check the threads on TWC and upgrade this evening.
Keep up the good work

and I wish to submit a few strategy guides, where should I send them ?

edit

upgraded to 5.5.8.2

the Gaesatae's description is still missing, found out why

there are 3 entries in EDU
dictionary barb_naked_fanatics ; Gaesatae
dictionary merc_barb_naked_fanatics ; Gaesatae
dictionary barb_naked_fanatics_horde ; Gaesatae

and only 2 in export_units.txt
{barb_naked_fanatics} Gaesatae
{barb_naked_fanatics_horde} Gaesatae (horde)

that entry is missing,
{merc_barb_naked_fanatics} Gaesatae


re edit

in descr_strat, Numidia is not labelled as re_emergent, is that normal ?
at the same time, Britons (Baktria) is re_emergent, yet it is a playable faction

about Gauls, where is Aulercia on the campaign map ?
they have 7 provinces at the start, and 8 provinces in descr_strat
(Arvenia, Biturigia, Venetia, Cisalpine_Gaul, Aulercia, Liguria, Lugdinensis, Sequania)

edit, found out; Aulercia is a rebel gauls settlement

in export_descr_ancillaries;
Ancillary priest_of_Haphaestus
trigger_priest_of_Haphaestus
in export_ancillaries.txt;
{priest_of_Haphaestus} Priest of Hephaestus
okay, this one is not important...

[DimeBagHo]

Thanks again for the bug spotting Poulp'. The re-emergent errors might cause significant problems.

If you have strategy guides you can post them here (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=120143).

[Kingsilver]

this mod is very well done. keep up the good work!

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.5.13 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added Heavy Spearmen to Gauls, and Germans
-Added AOR Galatian Heavy Spearmen
-Split Barbarian AORs into Celtic, Germanic, and Galatian
-Reduced income for Scythia and Parthia
-Improved autocalc performance for horse archers
-Revised starting temples
-Added Buddhist temples
-Added 4th level temples for Barbarian factions
-Added 5th level temples for all Eastern factions
-All temple types now have five levels
-Minor bug fixes

This should work with saved games back to version 5.5.0.

[Seamus Fermanagh]

DBH:

Have noticed two issues with XGM (generation 5):

1. Some units (usually cavalry) get stuck in "celebrating" mode and are hard to (impossible to) regain tactical control over.

2. After combats in which I have defeated the attacking army and wiped out the garrison that came in as reinforcements, the game will CTD. This occurs perhaps 1 time in every 10 such situations. Once it occurs, I have to re-run the battle until I make a choice that the computer will accept (usually by allowing a unit to live and return to the city and prevent its conquest) so that it will allow the game to continue.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.5.14 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added Slinger Warband to Gauls and Germans
-Added Chosen Slingers to Gauls
-Removed Forester Warband
-Re-skinned German Chosen Archers and converted to Bow/Axe
-Added Berserkers to Gauls
-Revised morale for Iberian units
-Revised AI for Carthage
-Revised AI for Rome

This should work with saved games back to version 5.5.0.

Seamus Fermanagh: The CTD is a known bug - it appears to be a side effect of activating loyalty. I have had reports that you can prevent it by sending a spy into the city.

I haven't seen the cavalry one though. What unit size do you use, and which faction were you playing?

[Seamus Fermanagh]

Seamus Fermanagh: The CTD is a known bug - it appears to be a side effect of activating loyalty. I have had reports that you can prevent it by sending a spy into the city.

I haven't seen the cavalry one though. What unit size do you use, and which faction were you playing?

Now that you mention it, I don't think it has occurred when a spy is present. Wonder why?

Cavalry units are all about 50 blokes, with General Cav around 20-25 for a regular family member. This has occurred for me when playing as Roman, Ptolly, Mac, and Saba.

My Roman game was a Gen4 XGM, and I would lose control of the unit for the rest of the battle as they celebrated for the rest of it unless hammered by an enemy unit. Happened more to family than to regular cavalry as well.

Gen5 XGM I haven't had one lock out forever, like Gen 4, but I have had to give them weird commands like form wedge or walk or some such. They'll often ignore such commands, but usually accept one after 3-7 tries. The bug also seems less frequent in this version.

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.5.16 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Added new faction selection maps by Warmaster
-Added some new unit cards by Dsturbed
-Added install option to use Alexander exe
-Tweaked AI campign starts for several factions

This should work with saved games back to version 5.5.0.

Notes: (1) The Alexander option doesn't make use of any of the new features in Alexander, so the only benefits are possibly improved AI and no unit scattering bug. You will lose some BI features, most notably hording factions, and shieldwall. (2) Saved games appear to work OK with the Alexander exe. To get the in-game maps to show up correctly go to [Rome]\xgm\data\world\maps\campaigns\, make a copy of the Alexander folder and re-name it to barbarian_invasion.

[mrdun]

XGM uses a seperate desktop icon to RTW Vanilla so therefore can you still play RTW? Dp ypu have that option or can you only play XGM? Obviously one at once...

[Poulp']

XGM uses the "mod:xgm" command in its desktop icon
you can still play vanilla by using your standard RTW icon

[barbadicus]

Dont know if Im posting this in the right place but. First I would like to thank you for this mod I have been playing it since 1.2 and still loving it no new game has caught my attention. Second is there anyway to turn off the night battles? I play with huge units and maxed out on most fo the visuals on my machine but for some reasons even with going to minimal graphics for night battles my comp drags on the larger fights. All those torches are just to much I guess. My computer skills end at copy and paste so any help would be great thanks.

[Motep]

Jeez, you guys have been busy. That cavalry bug might get in the way of my fun strategy of bribing an enemy general (preferably in greece), hiring mercs (cav, hops, and archers), and fighting untill they get to a settlement, which they will conquer. Anyways, once I get a good computer, Ill have to get it.

My question is: Does it only work with BI, or will it work with the standard version of rtw?

[DimeBagHo]

barbadicus: You could try removing the night battles enabled line from descr_strat.txt. That will nly affect new campaigns though.

Motep: XGM will work with the original RTW exe, the BI exe, or the Alexander exe.

[Motep]

Motep: XGM will work with the original RTW exe, the BI exe, or the Alexander exe.

Good. Thanks for the info!

[tempest]

Hey everyone how's it going, new to this forum...

I was wondering if anyone knows how to change the code in the game so that you can make the spartan hoplites and the special spartans troops (the one that takes 30 rounds) in all your greek colonies. Thanks for the help, great mod!!!

[DimeBagHo]

tempest: Open [rome]/xgm/data/export_descr_buildings.txt, look for the spartan recruit lines, and remove the bits that say "and hidden_resource sparta".

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.5.19 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The changes since 5.5.16 are mostly minor bug fixes, but if you are using the Alexander exe I strongly recommend upgrading to this version.

[tempest]

XGM version 5.5.19 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The changes since 5.5.16 are mostly minor bug fixes, but if you are using the Alexander exe I strongly recommend upgrading to this version.

hey dbh, thanks for all this great stuff... I was wondering if you could tell me how to get rid of plagues, i'm getting completely boned by it lol, 8 of my cities have it, d'oh. ty bud

[DimeBagHo]

You need to keep all of the units and agents in infected cities where they are until the plague goes away. If you have moved any units or agents out of infected cities then you need to keep them out of other cities, and don't combine them with other stacks. Eventually they will get better (or die).

The biggest problem is if you have enemy spies moving around between your cities. Then you need to recruit spies to flush them out, and assassins to kill them.

Hope that helps. :)

[DimeBagHo]

XGM version 5.6.2 is now available for download.

You can get it here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/).
You can see the readme here (http://www.wmwiki.com/hosted/xgm/xgmreadme.html).

The major changes are:

-Converted Carthage Rebels to Eastern Kingdoms
-Revised AI starting conditions

[Spartan198]

Just downloaded and installed XGM 5_6_2 today,and I love it! Only problem is,I can't save any minor personal changes like turning off plagues and setting warships to 1-turn recruiting. It just tells me to "check file name and path",and I've done everything I can think of to unlock it.

Edit: never mind,I figured out the preblem.

But irregardless,awesome mod. It definitely renewed my still-high enthusiasm for RTW.