Skins for EB?

[Zaknafien]

Salve all,

This is sort of a newbish question but I've been in Afghanistan for the past 10 months and unable to browse the forums for extended periods, though Ive managed to keep up with EB to date.

Where can I find, and how do I install, new skins for units in EB? I have a bare-bones knowledge of installing minor mods and such, for example I use the Res Gestae city models on the strat map, but does anyone know of any good packages of skins or whatnot I can plug into EB to get some more "ooh shiny-ness" out of it until .8 comes out?

Is it possible to use skins from RTR or Res Gestae or something? Forgive my ignorance on this.

[tk-421]

To get EB skins you need to download EB. It is possible to put RTR and Res Gestae units in EB. To do so you need to take the model and skins that you need from RTR or Res Gestae and place them in a folder and then make new entries in the export_descr_unit.text and the descr_model_battle.txt. There are probably some more specific tutorials on this somewhere.

[Zaknafien]

dont misunderstand me, I've got EB, in fact its the only thing Ive played over here during downtime during this whole deployment. I've just not as up to date on reading the forums and such as I used to be, and Ive never added new skins to a mod.. Ive tried to use the search feature for tutorials to no avail..can someone point me to a link that has instructions for putting new skins n models in my EB folder?

Ive managed to download a few other mods, are any of these compatible with EB?

Res Gestae
Ancient Empires
Imperator II
RTR Platinum

I'm trying to make my delux edition of EB in lieu of .8 .. so far Ive added Prometheus' cities and grass, as well as skymod.


Thanks for the reply, TK!

[iberus_generalis]

there are at least 14 units slots free...cuz that thats the total number of new units i've ripped from other mods into my EB install... and from what i can gather there are a lot more slots...don't know how many...
my procedure so far, has been adding units, one by one, so as to know when a unit is a unit too much...

tutorials, i could make, but there are already a few around...i used this one for learning how to add the units...https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=51750 and as i'm not add only faction recruitable units, im adding this new units as mercenarys existent only in a specific province, and as rebel only units, specific to a province only, and for that you can learn https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=68402

for limiting to rebels, and rebel revolts, you can add the unit to the appearing revolts in descr_rebel_faction.txt file, and to add a unit to a specific city at the start of the game, go to descr_strat.txt file at the campaign/imperial campaign file, and add them to the specific cities...

it's simple, and quick, but must done with care, so as not to cause glitches, and if you do something wrong in the mercenaries part, the new imperial campaign might not function...but the result compensates a lot...

after all is added i sugest you to restart the campaign to get a full blast, and for the new units to appear immediatly, cuz although some might appear in the existing save, some others don't...but so far this units, and add on have been save game friendly...

so far i have the Trykimia Hoplitai in the south of italy, and recruitable by all hellenic factions, an hoplite, that acts as principes, so as to fill the gap of now phalanx units in hellenic armys, but they are there to be a minority as they are very expensive for this factions..
from the excelent RTR PE Ancient Empires mod i converted some units into my personal install and have Etruscan rebel only units, picenian, umbrian,samnite hastatis and cavalry, lucanian, all for rebels, being that some of this are also avaible as mercs, but not all..
then i added a new faction recruitable unit to the carthagineans from the same mod, the hannibals veterans, recruitables only from spain..
and the two myrmidons coming from the TWC downloads area...
added also a new roman officer, the roman_legate, for the rebels, so as to make roman officers, from italic peoples officers...it works good..

now i'm thinking on turning my attention to Iberia, adding a lot of units to the Lusitani rebels, coming from the Iberia total war mod wich has a lot of cool models, and adding the asturian warriors, one of the best i've ever seen in a iberia faction...
and then i might get back to the greeks...im adding one by one so help me god=) but i think i read around that 0.8 will add as far as 100 new units, so i guess i still have plenty of space for more units in 0.74...

unfortunately for you all i don't plan at the time on releasing the already done units cuz i don't have permition to do that for now, and until the final version of the AE mod is released, so if you want them you'll have to mod them yourself into your own install, and not to distribute them around afterwards...when the mod is release i think Lime will allow me to release an add on for EB, cuz i've already talked with him about it...

ps. for the samnite cavalry i altered the samnite spearmen form ancient empires so they were horse mounted units..and that you can learn how to do at https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=46265
and this is a possible result
https://img228.imageshack.us/img228/3003/0096vz9.jpg

i guess most of the unit slots to be filled in 0.8..but we are stll 074, and in 0.74 we have space, when 0.8 comes out, we can think about it, but i prefer to think about the here and now...and for the time being this is for personal consumption so it doesn't affect me..and don't forget 0.74 saves won't be used in 0.8..

thats how i done it...this quote is now outdate cuz so far i added 47 new units all around the map....to restrict recruiting to province A B or AB use https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=43747

[Ludens]

Ive managed to download a few other mods, are any of these compatible with EB?

Res Gestae
Ancient Empires
Imperator II
RTR Platinum
No, none of the major mods are compatible with each other. They overwrite the same files, and too many of the files are interconnected with each other. If you want to combine elements from different mods you have to do it manually (e.g. by modding, which can be very time-consuming). In any case, several of these mods require R:TW 1.5, while EB needs R:TW 1.2.

BTW, there is a program called modswitcher that allows you to install multiple mods over one copy of R:TW. However, make sure that this copy of R:TW has the correct patch installed or else it won't work.

[Zaknafien]

Yeah, I manually downgraded my copy of 1.5 to 1.2 for EB, only problem is the banners dont work right on the strat map.

I then used Prometheus' grass add-on and cities and ports for the strat map which looks beautiful and works great I might add.

I know the mods won't work together, I just want to take some of the more accurate looking skins from each to put into my uber-EB mixed drink.

Paticularly, I just want to add the better looking signifiers and centurions to the Roman units, as well as maybe a better hastati and pricepes and equites skin.

If i could figure out how to add new banners for the flags and strat map Id do that too..

:juggle2:

[iberus_generalis]

for signifers, cornicean, aquilifers, vexilifers, and centurions i used Resgestae...SPQR has some good officers too, for trees i used Blue lotus...Pinarius Horses(adapted) for the better looking horses, as well as some horses for generals from Blue Lotus...for the italic peoples, like etruscan, samnites, umbians, picenean, lucan, and brutii, i used RTR platinum editium ancient empires..for some models of the Iberic diferent societies i used Iberia TW... for the greek factions i used quite a few models available at TWC downloads area, and for greek officers, and standards, i used rtr models, for the greek generals i used the ATG greek generals...the grass from proms present in the Resgestae forum here at the org is not the latest, in TWC res gestae's forum there is a newer version with new types of grass, done since the first release... for the strat map, you can use part of the Riczu74 models for the strat map, i can use all except the boats, who IMO are atrocious...way too big, and not as good as EB...personally from riczu74 naval reskin i only use the rebel armies, spies, and ambassadors...

[Zaknafien]

Iberus Generalis, sounds like youve got it all worked out, awesome!

I finally figured out how to switch out skins and managed to get some princeps, hastati, and triarii working on EB with the Res Gestae skins...

however, I'm having alot of trouble with some, like the Equites Romani and the Signifiers, because Prometheus uses different skeletons, and I have no idea how to add these new skeletons into EB without messing up the old ones.

Unfortuntely, now Ive got to go out on patrol, so Ill be gone for a day roughly.

Say, Iberus, is there anyway you could upload your data folder somewhere so I can copy it? Sounds like youve got a perfect home-brewed EB going on.

[iberus_generalis]

well you could do two things...first one forget about his skeletons, and use the ones avalable at EB...that's what i use... or you could get the unified skeleton pack, wich includes EB, Resgestae, and Signifer1 animations, but here you would have to revise all the DMB file...i chose the easyest way...the first, as i don't dislike the standard animations of vanilla and EB...
and if you are getting fed up with the vanilla/eb skys you can use the famous Skymod1.32 wich is compatible with EB...been working in my EB for days, and no errors so far...

i can't say i've got it all worked out...my Custom Edition of EB is never finished, im always adding new things...right now im trying to learn how to add new buildings to EB...so as to add the Prostibilum, lupanaria, popina, taberna diversoria, and thermopolia buildings from Invasio Barbarorum(BI mod) to the roman cities of EB 0.74,as well as some useful buildings from other mods so as to counter the squalor problems, related to high populations i roman cities...besides the changes to the units, i also retextured some of the vanilla buildings, as well as wooden walls...next, i plan on returning to reskin more buildings from settlements, and in the future release a little graphical update to the community....=)

oh and if by chance during your modding you came across some nuisant bug, or error you can visit https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=58801
wich has a good listing of common errors done by modders that can cause CTD's KTM's....as well as ways to solve this issues, and workarounds to some of them...

unfortunately, and do both to legal issues, and permition, and rights of the authors of the mods from wich i take things i can't release, nor share any of my work..this is for personal use only...sorry...i've told roughly the ingredients of my home made EB custom edition..that's pretty much what i can do...the rest you 'll have to do by yourself when you have some free time...all i can release(and it's still in the future) is a reskin pack for some of the vanilla buildings of Rome total, and Walls...not much more than that...sorry...

[Zaknafien]

sounds great, be sure to keep us posted on your advances.. so thats a no on uploading your data folder? :idea2:

how can i avoid using the Res Gestae skeletons? some of the skins seem to require them, for example the signifiers.. parts of them are missing when i load the game to test it out, and all i can think of is the skeleton is different. like, the texture shows up, but there are blank spaces you can see through...

[iberus_generalis]

you must be doing something wrong mate...i'll get some screens in a few moments...with the stock skeleton present....in the mean time can you post the DMB excerpt relative to the signifer?

here is a few screens of resgestae's signifer's with the vanilla standard skeletons...
https://img165.imageshack.us/img165/5838/untitledig4.jpghttps://img322.imageshack.us/img322/545/beareram9.jpg
https://img213.imageshack.us/img213/3599/onmymarkunleashhellhi8.jpg

as you can see all is rendered and textured, it's not a signifer, i know its vexilifer, but the model is pretty much the sam...so you must have done smt wrong..post he part of the DMB refering to the standard(signifer) dude(s)... so that we can see what's wrong..

your signifer entry should look something like this...
type roman_Signifer
skeleton fs_standard_bearer
skeleton_horse fs_m_bearer
skeleton_elephant fs_forest_elephant_rider
skeleton_chariot fs_chariot_sword
skeleton_camel fs_hc_swordsman
indiv_range 40
texture seleucid, data/models_unit/textures/ResGestae_Prom_fant_roma_Signiferoaugusteo_julii.TGA
texture romans_senate, data/models_unit/textures/ResGestae_Prom_fant_roma_Signiferoaugusteo_senatus.TGA
model_flexi_m data/models_unit/Prome_new_unit_roman_Signiferoimperiale_high.cas, 8
model_flexi_m data/models_unit/Prome_new_unit_roman_Signiferoimperiale_high.cas, 15
model_flexi_m data/models_unit/Prome_new_unit_roman_Signiferoimperiale_high.cas, 30
model_flexi_m data/models_unit/Prome_new_unit_roman_Signiferoimperiale_high.cas, 40
model_flexi data/models_unit/officer_roman_standard_70.cas, max
model_sprite romans_senate, 60.0, data/sprites/RG/romans_senate_roman_Signifer_sprite.spr
model_sprite romans_scipii, 60.0, data/sprites/RG/romans_scipii_roman_Signifer_sprite.spr
model_sprite romans_brutii, 60.0, data/sprites/RG/romans_brutii_roman_Signifer_sprite.spr
model_sprite romans_julii, 60.0, data/sprites/RG/romans_julii_roman_Signifer_sprite.spr
model_tri 400, 0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5

[Zaknafien]

youre a big help, Iberus Generalis, I appreciate it. I think i was using the wrong skin, perhaps. could you post a list of what skins you are using for each Roman unit in EB?

For example, i cant figure out which to use for the hastati/pricepes because of the early/late thing and prometheus listings which don't use the same standard.

thanks again for everything,

SGT Brown
2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment
10th Mountain Division

[Zaknafien]

well, for one thing ive found that I dont think I have a type Roman Signifier in my EB..all ive got is Roman Standard bearer and thats what I put the skin on... could this be the problem? did you create the signifier yourself?

Also, how do I add the different banners in for differnet unit types?

[iberus_generalis]

that is the main problem, the wrong skin for the wrong model...you see each model has a specific skin...and normally only that one, or one made from the original will work...by adding the skin(tga.dds file) to the standard bearer, you basicaly told the game to paint a potato, with the colors of a strawberry, if you understand the analogy...in RTW as well as in other games you must atribute a skin to a specific model, so you need the model from res gestae( models are the .cas files) this can be dificult to understand for ppl who are still noobs at modding, but in time you'll see thats pretty simple...you should add an entry for the signifer..because EB, ain't got any....i only reuse entries when there is already one, take the Standard(early, and normal) i used resgestae's models and skins for them, so i altered the old info, with the new names for the models, sprites, and skins...i advice you to read the how to add new units tutorial i mentioned before, as it very well written, and self explainatory, and you will see many of your mistakes and doubts solved...your mistakes now, are some of mine when i started, but in time, and learning from this same mistakes, you'll learn how to add new models, and consequently units to the game, without thought, and not even needing to look at the tutorial...and never forget, for each model, there is a specific skin...it's like painting...for each specific shape, or form, a specific group of colors to paint it...like in the poor excuse for a metaphor i made early...otherwise you get some strange little warriors onscreen how i bet you saw...head colors in the chest...transparent body parts and so on...

as for the diferent banners for diferent units im not understanding? do you mean faction specific banners? the banners you saw early in my screens were tryouts, to see how some skining works i made worked in game..or how some specfic skin looks...those are screens i had scatered at imageshack..and were easy to pick and post here...
i do have some faction specific banners for the roman vexilifer, being the italian Socii symbol for the italic ppls, with a new body armor for the bearer, and a hellenic banner for the epeiros, and greek rebel cities of the south who can hire itallic mercenaries...

[Zaknafien]

thanks for the help, Iberus. Check your PM inbox