MTW2 mods

Greetings all, EBI player here.

After making the purchase last year, I've just recently installed MTW2 with the Kingdoms expansion pack so I can get familiarized with the MTW game engine in preparation for EBII. After about a week of play, let's just say the vanilla version has left me a bit underwhelmed after several years of EB (although I definitely look forward to the expanded possibilities for EBII).

I'm wondering if there is any MTW2 mod that I can try for now that would be comparable to EB, and maybe a general consensus if you will on everyone's favorite MTW2 mod. Thanks.

Hehe my experience aswell, M2TW has a lot of near flashy stuff and it's actually quite fun but the campaign is so unbareably boring It's not real fun in the long run and tbh the textures are quite lacking aswell considering the possibilites of the models themselves.

There is one (major)mod that's set in antiquity but neither the EB team nor most of the community endorse it.

There however are PLENTY of AWESOME mods for M2TW out there tho, In this forum I think Broken Cresent is the most popular one, Third age Total war is widely accepted as one of the best M2TW mods(and among the most popular mods overall). Then there are some mods with Complex trait systems etc, Like Deus lo Vult or Schwer und Speer which I personally do not quite like but are quite popular around here aswell.
Furthermore my personal favorites:
Rusichi Total war Rise of Medieval Russia and the mongols
For King or Country English civil war
and last and probably least
The Italian wars a VERY small mod but it feels very cozy and is generally more "sound" than Vanilla.

there are even some ambitious projects still in work that are well worth a glance.

tux recomended peninsula italica me personally i prefer to wait for eb2

I'll throw out an endorsement for Stainless Steel.

Third Age is also excellent though.

I'll +1 Broken Crescent and Stainless Steel.

Go Stainless Steel if you are looking for a totally redone mod that is still familiar and fairly accessible. The setting is the same as vanilla and from what I recall many of the buildings use the old icon (but there are new buildings). This makes it easy to get into without having to learn new graphics or geography.

Broken Crescent is a little more difficult as, for most players I assume, the history and setting are totally foreign. But a very good and well done mod with a focus on the eastern islamic factions more than the Christians.

There are a lot of really really fantastic MII TW mods out there:

Paeninsula Italica, Reconquista (the german one),The Last Kingdom, Invasio Barbarorum: Conquestus Britanniae, Das Heilige Römische Reich, 1648, Broken Crescent, Deus Lo Vult, Regnum Coelis.... to name just a few.
If you take into account all those mods that aren't out yet but sound very promising you can add at least 6-10 more.
(Over at the TWC the "Kingdoms Hosted Mods" section is a good place to get an overview about what's released by now, most of the mods there have a nice "overview/features" topic as well. )

Can't really name a clear favourite but spent the most time playing Reconquista, Das Heilige Römische Reich and Paeninsula Italica if that means anything.

I've tried Stainless Steel, Broken Crescent, Deus Lo Vult, Eras:TW, Chivalry II:Sicilian Vespers, Invasio Barbarorum II and Third Age TW. I would recommend all of them if your bored, procrastinating from homewor, looking for something in the meantime between EBII (and DoTS!), and/or wanting to see what can run on your PC. From what I've heard, mods such as DLV and TATW have a similar 'heaviness' as to what potentially EBII will have on your PC. So try out some of these mods, chances are if they run relatively well on your PC, hopefully EBII will as well.

In answer to the OP, IMO none of these mods really compare to EB historically wise. Graphically, time, effort and gameplay wise you could argue that they do (hey they kept me glued to the screen for ages!) but historically I think EB is miles ahead. SS IMO is a more 'pretty' version of the vanilla, with extra buildings, increased map size, increased AI difficulty with a few extra scripts here and there. BC I really enjoyed as it's centred around the Middle Eastern part of the map and focuses on factions and an era I am unfamiliar with. I think for historical portrayal of factions for that era, this is the best mod for m2tw. DLV I felt had alot more roleplaying elements in it as you can determine what scripts can be activate in each new game. I particularly enjoyed the map (which is very similar to SS) and the various new buildings and factions. Eras:TW is a multi map mod where you can select and play a few eras, I only played the >1500 era. The map was the entire world (quite ambitious!) but I found it slow on loading and turn times (this shouldn't deter you as you most likely have a better PC than me) and I found there were a few 'fantasy' units in the game, ahistorical. CII:SS is another multi era mod (early/high/late), I'm sorry I can't really remember anything from it but I do remember enjoying it (as I've done with all these mods). IB:II is set in the late Roman Era, but I found it to be very vanilla-esc. TATW is a mod about the Lord of the Rings, it's very pretty (both campaign map, battle map and units wise) and great to play (particularly if you've read the books!).

Their generally all pretty good and great to play, but IMO I would recommend SS, BC and DLV. Have fun and enjoy the mods!

I should have mentioned in my OP that I'm a bit of a Romeophile, and I'm definitely looking to play a Roman faction. One of the things I do like about vanilla MTW2 is the chance to play the Byzantine Empire. Having said that, I think I've narrowed my choices down to Invasio Barbarorvm2, and Paeninsula Italica, with a lean towards trying the latter first. Once again, thanks for the input, guys.