M2TW: Expanded Version

HELLO! I am just getting into the Medieval 2 Total War modding community, though I have been striving to discover the secrets of modding strategy games for several years. Finally after stumbling over a tutorial by Musashi, and another by Alpaca, I have begun experimenting with small modifications on the game.
All that time being incapable of modding I came up with quite a few ideas, and those that weren't completely unrealistic as goals I threw out.

The foundation of this mod is to build up a series of small modifications, then move onto a larger bulk of modifications that will expend the timeline of the Medieval 2 game into the beggining of the World War 1 era. So far, this is my gameplan.

Phase 1
-edit arrows to not dissapear once hitting the ground
-add blood-mist for melee blows (only killing blows?)
-add blood-mist for artillery blows (excesive amounts?)
-increase the health of stone walls, especially the larger ones

Phase 2
-add crater/burn-mark textures for artillery when they hit the ground
-set the 'stuck' setting for non-explosive artillery to true
-add in new ambient sounds for battle (current: dull roar of battle. add in things like swords clashing, dying screams 'oh my god!' 'eeagh!')

Phase 3
-increase number of sounds for impact (melee and missile)
-will use recordings of stabbing/shooting/poundings steaks
-increase number of attack/block/dodge animations
-increase number of death animations (drastically! Watching horsemen die the same way 40 times gets old)

Phase 4
-begin experimenting with 'phasing out' units and buildings that are too outdated for the timeline (using swordsmen once muskets are standard is sort of silly)
-begin experimenting with adding new settlement tiers to be more appropriate for more modern combats, progressively
-begin creating models, animations, textures, and files (sounds, weapon, armor) for new units

Phase 5
-begin piecing it all together to be a deep, involving mod!


So if anyone is interested in becoming involved in this effort, or have any hints and tips for someone new who is obviously going in over his head (besides saying don't go in over my head *grin*), that would be great.

Specifics
Things that I particularly would like outside assistance for are all things model. That includes models themselves, animations, and most of the skinning. Thanks for whoever decides to help! :2thumbsup:

Update: I have actually begun to do some modding for myself, and am getting a more realistic view of what this mod will encompass. The new tasks (seemingly going to be completed solo.... nobody interested yet?):
-Permanent arrows (completed)
-Realistic combat
-increase defense of units
-increase armor of units
-modify ranged unit's attack values
-Increase blood mist and blood splatter
-Increase wall resilience
-Implement 'stuck' setting for artillery missiles
-(pending) Implement blood mist for melee

These being the current goals, I will keep the thread updated as new goals are formed and progress is made.

An easier way to increase the length of battles is to reduce units kill rate.

The compilation of my modding efforts is in my sig. You should look around at the tutorials etc and then make a clear plan of what exactly you can/can't do. I've learned its easy to get carried away with the planning only for a mod to drop dead. Take it one step at a time.

Otherwise, good luck. :2thumbsup:

I liked you ideiad, Haiku.... I don't agree with all of then, but most of then seems reasonable and I would like to implement some in a "realistic pack" for medieval. But I have the idea of a mode in a fantasy world that goes from early medieval to late napoleonic era. So If you want to help me with that, I'm quite good on the graphic part, and history telling/writing/creating